I caught the amazing end montage sequence of this via the isolated graphics Instagram account the other day. You can watch the whole thing or skip forward to the 17.40 part where the montage begins. Another age but so much of this is more exciting to me than 99% of digital art out there.
Revolution Records
My latest radio show is streaming from 2pm today wherever you are in the world on @rovr_live New music from The Beat Machine label, Visioneers, Totem Projects, Jem Stone, Robert Leiner, Beautify Junkyards, Bernard Fevre, Space Drum Meditation, Paul Cousins and more plus a vintage megamix from the vaults.
Listen at ROVR radio, Friday Dec 20th at 2pm wherever you are in the world. Download the app to get archive access. APPLE or ANDROID
Show #10 Dec 2024
DJ Food – Electrik Collage #22
Ticklish – Lost
Naco – Wavefunk
Paul Cousins – Artefact 12
Pablo Dread – Hardcore Blips (Fanu Remix)
Time Signature – Brklyn (Slow)
Visioneers – Mystic Brew
Beautify Junkyards – Dancers Reward
DJ Food – Electrik Collage #31
Midnight Heist – Teriyaki Sauce
Totem Projects – You
Totem Projects – Love
MagicTouch – Kyousoku 2
Visioneers – Red Cactus (album version)
Jem Stone – Fake Ghost
DJ Food – Electrik Collage #41
As One – Fractured Light
Akufen – You Look Delicious
Varonos – A Hauz U
Robert Leiner – Echobox
Various Artists – House Mix ’90
Space Drum Meditation – Oviraptor
DJ Food – Electrik Collage #33
Beautify Junkyards – Somersault
Paul Cousins – Thought Loops
Akio / Okihide – Phoenix At Desert
Virgo – Prelude
Bernard Fevre – Earth Message
Bernard Fevre – Central Way
Space Drum Meditation – Sarkanda
A few weeks ago I stumbled across this badge on eBay from a seller in the UK. The name piqued my interest as The Sunshine Makers was a documentary about Tim Scully and Nicholas Sand, two west coast chemists who manufactured Orange Sunshine LSD in the sixties, considerd the gold standard of acid production.
I wondered if this was connected in some way? Maybe something produced by and for those in the know who also made or distributed the drug? An innocuous signifier to those hip to it that confirmed the wearer as someone to be trusted maybe? The back of the badge bears the hallmark: W.O. Lewis Badge which must be Lewis Badges from Birmingham and puts the origin of manufacture as the UK. They had no info on it either as their records only go so far back.
I couldn’t find anything about ‘the league…’ on the web aside from the above documentary and a reference to a 1935 cartoon of the same name which is most likely a coincidence rather than anything else.
It niggled me that there was nothing out there, and there was no info in the original eBay listing either but I did find a mental health organisation called Shine who also used a light house in one of their logos. A google picture search returned a very similar looking badge under the name ‘LightKeepers of the Missions to Seamen’ which is appararently an organization that supports seafarers, including those who work on lighthouses and lightships.
I wondered if the lighthouse pictured was a clue so contacted the Association of Lighthouse Owners in the UK to enquire if they had any reference for it.
Their response came back:
“We’ve checked our catalogue and drawn a blank. If we had such a badge, we would have been sure to record the text. The badge depicts a generic rock lighthouse. If it was meant to represent any particular lighthouse or lighthouse service, one would expect more of a clue.
It might not be lighthouse-related at all. Christian churches and charities frequently appropriate the word lighthouse or lighthouse symbolism for their own missions.”
Now there’s a thought, anyone recognise or know the origins of this oddity? Please leave a comment if you do.
It’s been a while and things have been piling up on the desktop so… above is a Japanese jazz album called, I believe, ‘Forbidden Love’, released on RCA in I’d guess the late 60s. It includes covers of The Beatles and The Mindbenders and the cover looks like either Victor Moscoso or Peter Max but maybe it’s a take off of that style that was so prevalent back then.
Below is a Muppets Electric Mayhem LP sleeve I discovered by Matt Taylor after seeing his poster for McCartney’s Got Back tour featured below.
Below are three Portable Flower Factory 45 sleeves, a project from Bob Dorough with cover versions of popular songs for kids on the Scholastic label made between 1970-1972. The artist is uncredited but what fabulous sleeves.
Below is an advert for a psychedelic light from a girl’s comic from 1970, love the “Invite BOYS to assemble Love Lites.. and stay for a come together Jam session” line. Below that a light show of the laser kind for a Beatles-themed run at the Laserium, probably around 1983.
Carson Morris illustrated San Francisco International Pop Festival poster from October 1968.
Love and Big Brother & The Holding Company poster with an early design by Stanley Mouse and Alton Kelley from 1966 (+ lights by Bill Ham!)
The Yardbirds / Doors gig at the Fillmore, 1967 by Bonnie MacLean with the original below
Another entry in the stalled but occasional Mini CDs series (I have loads yet to feature), The Clerkenwell Kid, aka The Real Tuesday Weld, aka Stephen Coates – just released Songs For Crow. A double mini CD release with download, badge and concertina booklet that I put together at top speed with Stephen some months back. Available in two versions: a deluxe gift box with discs and ephemera…
…or an audio Xmas card edition. Order either or both, here
I curated this month’s Dust & Grooves You Dig? newsletter – tons of record-related links in there for your Sunday
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More killer examples of Jason Galea‘s poster work for King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard who seem to eternally be on tour this year. Through the magic of apps like Procreate we can see one minute timelapses of how these posters were created, films of which Jason posted on his Instagram the day after I started on this entry.
His poster art book just arrived too – ten years of flyer and poster work!
Nearly the end of the year but no ‘best of’ round ups when we still have four weeks to go, that always appears at some point on Dec 31st on this site. Still a virtual avalanche of great music turning up out there, the Visioneers album being a good example of old tunes made new coupled with some new ones harking back to a golden age. The Virtual Dreams II compilation of 90s ambient music from Japan is quite otherworldly as is As One‘s new album on De:tuned (cover by yours truly, *cough*). Top left is abstract electronica by graffiti artist Soda, exclusively on cassette – think LP5-era Autechre and you’re in the ballpark. Middle image is the new Bakesale comp from Cheeba Cheeba Records, haven’t heard it all yet but they’re a great label and the release comes with a Dan Lish comic so it’s an instant buy. Bottom middle is the MagicTouch single I posted about before, up for pre-order and bottom right is Bsidewinsagain‘s tribute to Depth Charge and The Octagon Man – RIP J Saul Kane.
My latest ROVR radio show featuring some of these (including an exclusive edit I made of a DJ Prime Cuts track) was aired on Friday Nov 22nd and should be available to listen back to now via the ROVR live app APPLE or ANDROID
I’ve been waiting for this day for several years – Dust & Grooves delivery day! Having worked with Eilon Paz over the last few years on parts of this I know the blood, sweat and tears that have gone into just a small portion of it but nothing prepared me for seeing the final product last week at the launch night in London.
The new book is HUGE, it weighs a ton and looks incredible. The attention to detail throughout is beautiful, with spot varnish and embossing on the slipcase of the deluxe edition plus printed insides and a free poster.
The first volume has been re-covered and fits snugly with the second, make no mistake, this is a huge piece of work and will test the strength of any bookcase. I’m extremely proud to have contributed three extensive features to the back half of the book as well as several for the Dust & Grooves website (the Alex Paterson one is already up there with several yet to come that didn’t fit in the book). Interviews with Kid Koala, Andy Votel and Tom Ravenscroft fill pages alongside Eilon’s incredible photography and make this a must for all serious diggers out there.
We’ll never own all these records but we can share in the knowledge and stories behind them via this tome. As you could see from the photos of the launch party in London the other week, it bought together collectors from around the UK with nothing but goodwill and shared enthusiasm. Well done to Eilon and all the editors, designers and proofreaders who helped make this happen. Grab your own copy here
Let’s not the forget the Portables book that Eilon shot alongside the Dust & Grooves volume 2 one! The man’s a machine and this book lovingly catalogues 222 portable turntables – available now, here
Supposedly produced by label founder Larry Sherman in 1987 according to the Discogs entry, the tape kicks off side A with a ten minute megamix which I’d say was of UK origin by the use of spoken word samples and scratches, maybe Double Trouble who did lots of mixes for compilations round this time. No track list for this but it includes ‘Hey Rocky!’, ‘No Way Back’ and more. Next up we have approx one minute snippets of forthcoming releases with a spoken word intro to each and here’s where the fun starts. The Discogs entry has simply copied the track list from the tape inlay but several listed titles don’t feature, some are by different artists and a couple aren’t listed at all. You can see from my photo that the previous owner had scribbled out the corrections as they listened to it. The tape plays a bit faster than most of the recordings released and you can hear all of this over on my Mixcloud Select channel, subscribe for £3 p/m to gain access to over 200 uploads.
Side A:
Various Artists – Trax Records Medley
– Soon To Be Released Cuts
Dalis And Co. – Rock Steady (announced as by Barnes and Brand but eventually released as just Dalis in 1987)
On The House – Give Me Back My Love (eventually released as ‘Give Me Back THE Love’ in 1987)
On The House – Got To Go (announced as ‘Just A Little Bit’ – possibly unreleased elsewhere)
The Jungle Wonz–Time Marches On (not on the tape)
Kevin Irving – Children Of The Night (released 1987)
Kevin lrving – Ride The Rhythm (announced as by and released as Marshall Jefferson / On The House with Marshall Jefferson – this is the Frankie Knuckles Mix I think, released 1986)
Kevin lrving–If You Want Me (not on the tape)
Eric Bell – Your Love (this is the instrumental – released 1987)
Harry Dennis & Bam Bam – Risky Love Affair (possibly unreleased elsewhere)
Dezz – I Like It (possibly unreleased elsewhere)
Dezz–You Stole My Bass Line (not on the tape)
William S.*–Never Let You Go (not on the tape)
Hercules–Lost In The Groove (not on the tape)
Darryl Pandy – Chains (possibly unreleased elsewhere)
MG2 – My House Is Bigger Than Your House (this was actually the first release on the Hot Mix 5 Record label in 1986)
Fingers – Never No More Lonely (released on Jack Trax on the Fingers Inc. Another Side LP in 1988 and 12” in 1989)
The Housemaster – (no title) (this is a version of Terry Baldwin’s ‘Housemaster’ but a different one from the mix released in 1987)
Kevin Irving – Can’t Let Go (possibly unreleased elsewhere)
Sweet D.–Move My Body (not on the tape)
Robert Owens–Never No More Lonely (not on the tape)
Side B:
– Catalog Hits (with year of release added after the title)
Boris Badenough – Hey Rocky! 1986
Marshall Jefferson – Move Your Body 1986
On The House – Ride The Rhythm (remix) (announced and released as by Marshall Jefferson / On The House with Marshall Jefferson – not sure which mix this is but it doesn’t sound like the one released) 1986
Jungle Wonz – The Jungle 1986
Adonis – No Way Back 1986
Adonis – We’re Rockin’ Down The House 1986
Santos – Work The Box 1986
Mr. Fingers – Can You Feel It 1986
Robert Owens – Bring Down The Walls 1986
Liddell Townsell – Party People Jack Your Body 1987
Jesse Saunders – Funk-U-Up 1984
Jesse Saunders – Waiting On My Angel 1985
Lillian – Night Flight (released on Precision Records) 1986
Fresh – Dum Dum (Reprise) 1984
Sweet D – House Trax (announced as ‘Thank You’ – released as ‘Thank Ya’ in 1986)
Farm Boy–Jackin’ Me Around (not on the tape)
Dezz – Beat Me Till I Jack (actually released under the name Fat Albert in 1989!)
Dezz – Funny Love (actually released on Precision Records under the name Dezz 7 in 1985)
Sampson Butch Moore – House Beat Box 1986
Radio Fashion – You Get What You Deserve 1987
Virgo – Free Yourself 1986
Jack Master*–Sensuous Woman Goes Disco (not on the tape)
Farley Keith*–Funkin With The Drums (not on the tape)
Sleezy D*–I’ve Lost Control (not on the tape)
Here’s an interview with Larry Sherman from Soul Underground magazine in 1988 – he sure didn’t pull his punches!
My latest radio show is streaming from 2pm today wherever you are in the world on @rovr_live New music from Visioneers, LL Cool J, Nidia & Valentina, Robert Leiner, Forsaj, Gaslamp Killer, DJ Prime Cuts, Beautify Junkyards, Paul Cousins, Benedict Drew and more…
Listen at ROVR radio, Friday Nov 22nd at 2pm wherever you are in the world. Download the app to get archive access. APPLE or ANDROID
Show #9 Nov 2024
DJ Food – Electrik Collage #13
Visioneers – Today
LL Cool J – The Force
Midnight Heist – Deep Thrust
LL Cool J – Runnit Back
Nídia & Valentina
Nídia & Valentina – Rapido
Visioneers – Heather
DJ Food – Electrik Collage #32
Forsaj – Pierogi Funk
Robert Leiner – My Dream
Lextron – Jaunt
Bush Doctors – Turn It Out
DJ Food – Electrik Collage #36
Alex Kassian – A reference to E2-E4 (Mad Professor’s Quantas Crazy Remix)
Robert Leiner – Analog Days
Gaslamp Killer & Jason Wool – Chaos (Club Edit)
DJ Prime Cuts – Out Time Is Now (DJ Food re-edit)
Dave Lombardo – Vicissitude
Beautify Junkyards – Turn the Tide
DJ Food – Electrik Collage #24
Beautify Junkyards – Here Everything Is Still Floating
Paul Cousins – Tessellation Pact
Dub Squad – Blown Fruit
Lo Five – The Observer Trap
Palomatic – Flutter
Benedict Drew – Optical Frame Work (excerpt)
DJ Food – Electrik Collage #13
Paul Cousins – Thought Loops
I’m lucky enough to have a dub plate copy of this as I’m doing to some work with the Japanese label Delic Records at the moment. They kindly sent me a copy for my set this Tuesday at the BBE store for the Dust & Grooves launch party (with a line up like that you need something special in the bag).
‘Kyousoku’ translates as ‘teaching’ or ‘instruction’ = ‘Lesson’ (as inspired by Double D & Steinski’s Lesson megamixes). The contents are exclusively sampled from 70’s-80’s Japanese artists and instructional records and a limited release is planned for next spring – keep an eye on their Bandcamp for more info
Magictouch (@dupeginger)
Delic Records (@delic_ishiyama)
My friend Forsaj invited me to do a guest mix for his radio show on Subtle Radio so I decided to do a 30 min excerpt from a current DJ set using 7″s only. A DJ’s set is a constant work in progress and I find it’s good to put things like this down occasionally and listen back to them to identify what’s working and what’s not, what could be done slightly different and get a handle on the general pacing. I’d say this is about 80% there, it could do with a little space here and there with some of the blends but I was deliberately going for very fast changes between records, especially in the first half. Anyway, if you book me to DJ using vinyl then this is some of the sort of thing I’d be playing during 2024/5.
Raw Silk – Do It To The Music (Dub Mix)
Itsu Uno – Noise Of the B-Boy (Break faster mix)
KH – Question
J Large – J Zimbra
King Bee – Cold Slammin’ feat. the Ultramagnetic MCs
The Allergies – Let Me Hear You Say
Itsu Uno – B-Boy Rave for the Ageing Hipster Pt 2
Renegade Soundwave – Thunder
The Minute Men – OK, Alright (Mike Brown Re-edit)
Mister Mixi & Skinny Scotty – I Can Handle It
Aquasky – Another Day (TV edit)
The Todd Terry Project – Back To The Beat
M.C. Showbiz & the Lap 1 Crew – Gotta Turn The Music Up (Hard-core mix)
Adonis – No Way Back
Not Just Gigalos – Take Me To The Disco
Backstreet Inc – Can’t Do It Alone
Heaven 17 – Play To Win
Newly discovered ads featuring Zappa and The Mothers of Invention from the LA Free Press. Some, if not all of these, were designed by Zappa in his spindly lettered, collage style. I’ve featured some of these before but they are generally better quality and some crazy person has gone through all the magazines at the link above, scanning the Zappa/Mothers appearances.
I’ll be at the Leicester Print Workshop this weekend, helping Kvist Studio launch her new Fantasy 45’s screen and riso prints as well as new stationary, Buchla and Galt Toys-inspired risos. These are now online in her shop.
There will be loads of other artists selling and exhibiting with an open evening on Friday to start the weekend. Details on the last image. Come down and say hello!
Founded by Tony Prince and named after his radio show, Disco Mix Club began releasing tapes in 1983 to provide a promo service for DJs in the UK. Subscribers were vetted to make sure they were practising pro or semi-pro DJs and a subscription service provided promotional tapes and vinyl (and later CDs) of upfront dance music, megamixes and remixes by a cache of DJs working with the club. This cassette isn’t listed on Discogs and dates from just before any that are there (the first is February 1983), sounding more like a promo for the company at times, it could well be the first DMC tape or certainly one of the first. Initially the organisation would send out between two and four cassettes a month before vinyl versions arrived mid-1984.
Side 1
Tony Prince intro and interjections over Shalamar Megamix 1 by Alan Coulthard – 11.27 mins
Love the way he pronounces ‘genuinity’ (is that even a word?) and the address of DMC near the end.
The unexpurgated Shalamar mix is available on the February 1983 DMC tape
Excerpts from the K-Tel’s ‘Disco Dancer’ album interspersed with very of their time DMC jingles in between sections highlighting mix crossover points between tracks – 3.21 mins
Tracks included:
Evelyn King – Love Come Down
Rockers Revenge – Walking On Sunshine
Raw Silk – Do It To The Music
David Christie – Saddle Up (ooof!)
Shakatak – Easier Said Than Done
Imagination – Just An Illusion
The Sugarhill Gang – The Lover In You
Daryl Hall & John Oates – I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do)
The K-Tel album in question is this one, again, mixed by Alan ‘The Judge’ Coulthard (due to his training in law). One of the founding DJs of Disco Mix Club, Alan provided many mixes for the company from 1982-86 before he parted company with them, returning in 1992. He sadly passed away in 2021.
DMC advert inc. Indeep – Last Night A DJ Saved My Life – 0.42 mins
Excerpts from 22 forthcoming ‘disco’ releases introduced by Tony Prince
Each preview runs for approximately 3 minutes before Prince cuts in to introduce the next one and information usually includes the label and release date. Most are slated for January or February of 1983 hence my guess at the date of this tape as none exists on the cover although I’d also guess this was recorded in late 1982 making it one of the first DMC tapes.
Tracks:
Michael Jackson – Billie Jean (just the first of many singles from Thriller)
Ray Parker – Bad Boy (no hit here for Ray but Ghostbusters was only 2 years away)
Syl Johnson – Ms. Fine Brown Frame
Aretha Franklin – Love Me Tonight
Thompson Twins – Love On Your Side (their first big breakthrough pop hit)
David Jospeh – You Can’t Hide Your Love
The Peech Boys – Do Something Special (future classic)
Set The Tone – Dance Sucker (obscure post punk/ electro funk from Glasgow)
Side 2:
The previews continue…
Stevie Wonder – Frontline
Bobby M – Lets’ Stay Together (The Al Green classic later covered by Tina Turner to great effect)
The Dazz Band – Let It Whip
Icehouse – Hey Little Girl (minor hit here that’s stood the test of time)
Melba Moore – Mind Up Tonight
Kajagoogoo – Too Shy (which of course ended up going to No.1)
Bumble & The Bees – My Life
Level 42 – The Chinese Way (another huge hit to be)
Janet Jackson – Come Give Your Love To Me (no hit here but her time would come)
Howard Johnson – Say You Wanna
Stone – Girl I Like The Way You Move (absolute monster electro funk, check the B side Dub mix for some serious tweaking electro – sampled by many later)
Art School & The Mighty Motor Gang – Emotion Explosion
Jerome Jasper – I’ll Do Anything For You
Rockers Revenge – The Harder They Come (another cover but no follow up hit here guys)
I’ve just finished Matthew Worley‘s excellent Zerox Machine book about UK fanzines from punk into the late 80’s. It’s opened up a hidden world and had me going down several rabbit holes online.
Above – Irish fanzine Blast #4 with a Savage Pencil cover, below the three covers of Juniper Beri Beri, a Scottish fanzine by Annabel, Peter McArthur, Jill Bryson and Stephen from The Pastels.
Hand-painted cover of Jungleland #9 – produced by Mike Scott of the Waterboys
A collage page from Adventures In Reality – issue G by Alan Rider
An Ian Wright illustration for 80s magazine The Catalogue
It’s been a vinyl kind of weekend, starting on Friday with a visit to Deptford where the hardcore diggers descended on new shop Perfect Lives for their opening. Run by Danny and Bruno, it’s a countercultural wonderland of books, magazines, fanzines and records, the likes of you which rarely see or have never seen before. It’s a small spot at 6a Florence Road, London, SE14 6TW and they’re open Wednesday to Sunday, not cheap but you don’t see some of this stuff every day unless it’s in a museum or a book.
Deptford’s really becoming a spot now with Upside Down Records on the high street and new vinyl listening bar, Jazu down the other end. In the arches on Resolution Way across from the train station you have The Shop which sells music gear and records and further up, the Villages bar where we went to hear Huw from Mr Bongos play a Halloween-themed set.
Saturday was the Groovy Record Fayre at the Mildmay Club on Newington Green for as much of a social catch up with a million friends as a dig for the black crack. Despite finding a few bits and pieces I actually managed to leave a clutch of 45s behind at the end because I was nattering.
Sunday was a day of rest but Rich Headland‘s Record Shop Stories has just published the jaunt to the Book & Record Bar in West Norwood that we took a few weeks back. Read it here, give Rich’s substack a follow and pay the shop a visit if this piece piques your interest.
It’s not all records around here though, next week is all about light shows and painting one of my son’s bedroom, then the print fair in Leicester at the Print Workshop next weekend.
It’s been a while coming but I’ve finally had some time to dive into the pile of cassettes I got at Revolution Records in Penge this summer. Just to refresh your memory; I found a stash of tapes that obviously came from someone who worked in the dance music industry in the 80s and 90s and the next round of posts will be my attempts at deciphering what’s on them. Most have little or no info on them but now we have Discogs and Shazam so finding out about their contents is a little easier than back in the day.
This first tape is simply entitled ‘Megamixers No.1 / No.2’, recorded on a TDK tape and most likely dates from 1986. It’s essentially two DJ mixes but there’s more to it than that. I’m putting these up on my Mixcloud Select subscription page so if you’d like to hear then sign up for £3 p/m for access including over 200 archive mixes from the Solid Steel days.
Side 1
Up until the Art of Noise track this mix is the 1983 Disconet Top Tune Medley from Vo.6 Program 9 – mixed by John Matarazzo and Mike Arato. Disconet was an American DJ pool series of albums with hot promo tracks and exclusive remixes or megamixes similar to the UK’s Disco Mix Club.
I’m guessing whoever made this tape had that record and added their own extras onto the end.
After Thomas Dolby you’ll notice that the pace of blends slows somewhat and the tracks are cut into each other rather than beat mixed, there was also a jump in volume when AON was introduced which I’ve levelled out here. Both Trouble Funk tracks are intercut back and forth before introducing the Beastie Boys’ ‘Hold It Now, Hit It’ (which samples a piece of ‘Drop The Bomb’ for its chorus – there’s the connection) and a big drop in tempo. There’s an extended section at the end where it sounds like the DJ is playing with two copies of the instrumental for a bit after the main song finishes and then we get an album cut by Lovebug Starski. This plays in full and, after a pause, the mix reconvenes in the middle of a couple of hip hop tracks, probably a previous set that was taped over.
Tracklist:
Shannon – Let The Music Play intro
Men Without Hats – The Safety Dance
S.O.S. Band – Just Be Good To Me
Yazoo – State Farm (Extended Version)
Herbie Hancock – Rockit
Madonna – Holiday
Michael Jackson – Billie Jean
Freez – AEIOU
Shannon – Let The Music Play (12” version)
Lime – Angel Eyes (remix)
Irene Cara – Flashdance… What A Feeling (Extended remix)
Eurythmics – Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)
Thomas Dolby – She Blinded Me With Science (Extended Version)
Art of Noise – Legs (Inside Leg Mix)
Trouble Funk – Drop The Bomb
Trouble Funk – Pump Me Up
Beastie Boys – Hold It Now, Hit It
Beastie Boys – Hold It Now, Hit It (Instrumental)
Lovebug Starski – Say What You Wanna Say
Salt ’n Pepa – The Showstopper
Roxanne Shante – The Def Fresh Crew (cuts off near the end)
Side 2
This side sounds like it was a mix by the DJ rather than a pre-recorded megamix – sadly (or thankfully) it cuts off in the middle to make way for three Beastie Boys and Run DMC demos
Tracklist:
Rochelle – My Magic Man (Magic Mix)
(an unknown house track is mixing in near the end but then abruptly cuts off early)
Beastie Boys – Time To Get Ill (demo version)
Run DMC – Slow & Low (demo version)
Beastie Boys – I’m Down (demo version)
At this point the tape cuts into two Beastie Boys demos from Licensed to Ill – the acoustic version of ‘I’m Down’ (a cut that never made it onto the album) and a version of ‘Time To Get Ill’ – that are different to any of the other demos on the web that I could find, certainly better quality. Also inbetween the two is a hissy recording of Run DMC’s original demo of ‘Slow & Low’ which they originally wrote and the Beasties would later record. I ran these by my friend Noah Uman in the US who has an amazing archive of hip hop and a ton of knowledge and he came back with, “The song I’m Down was meant for Licensed To Ill but the Beatles blocked it, I’m pretty sure it showed up semi commercially on a CMJ release (College Music Journal) in 1986.”
This might be the more rock guitar-orientated version that’s out there on the web. The Run DMC recording would later surface in much better quality on an expanded version of King of Rock but I’ve tried to clean it up here as best I can, the tape sounds like it’s recorded through a sock.
About the Run DMC demo Noah said, “The Slow And Low demo of Run DMC doing it, I actually uncovered that from a DNU tape (do not use), whenever I saw that written on tapes I knew we had to check it haha…After I had it released on the reissue it started popping up on bootlegs, one of my few proud record industry moments!”
I’m guessing that whoever had access to these tracks had to quickly find a tape to record them onto from another industry source, hence the random inclusion in the middle of a side.
(The mix reconvenes in the middle of an unknown house track before…)
Kenny ‘Jammin’ Jason – Jam Tracks
Farley ‘Jackmaster’ Funk – Jack The Bass
Unknown – (more Jam Tracks?)
Mantronix – Hardcore Hip Hop
And that’s it, a snapshot in time from the early to mid 80s. Disco mix classics on side 1 with golden era hip hop cuts and a snatch of early house music on side 2 with some rap history interjected randomly in the middle. More soon, I’ll try to get them out on a weekly basis on a Friday morning as before and if anyone is interested in the actual tapes, they’re for sale if you want to make an offer (although this one is already sold).
Coming out of the Summer months and into Autumn there’s a slow trickle of new releases as we ramp up towards Xmas. Featured across the top are three Castles In Space acts including the Field Lines Cartographer performance at the label’s Levitation festival last month that I was was lucky enough to witness (possibly from just behind where this photo was taken actually as he was on after Graham Dunning and I).
I have to register an interest in the middle and middle left releases as I designed both covers; left is As One‘s new album (see previous post) and middle is Dave Barbarossa’s new venture, Third House and their Inside Outisde EP – out Nov 1st!. To their right is Fracture‘s SLOW860 – an ambient take on his 0860 pirate radio project, imagine the KLF‘s Chill Out recorded in Hackney rather than Memphis. So many sleeves with no titles on them this month, bottom left is Valentina Magaletti and Nidia‘s collaboration and far right is the new Floating Points on Ninja Tune. Tim Exile is BACK after his recent troubles (cancer, a failing business and newborn twins to look after) and has made an EP from his hospital bed as a thankyou to everyone who contributed to the fundraiser set up by his family. Good to hear he’s on the mend.
Oh and I probably should mention that there is NO Bandcamp Friday on the 1st but the platform is still your best bet for putting the largest slice of revenue into the hands of the artist and labels short of going to their shows or buying merch direct from them.
My latest ROVR radio show featuring some of these was aired on Friday Oct 25th and should be available to listen back to now via the ROVR live app APPLE or ANDROID