AlthoughI’ve already posted the title track from this monster of a release, I couldn’t ast too long without giving this beast its due. ‘Distorted Name’ again allows VC-118A to reply his singular take on electro. The beats and the superstructure are there, but what makes his productions so interesting is their depth, drive and dirt. The sound is dirty. Everything is frayed around the edges, but together. There’s a feeling in a track like this that sonic decomposition is taking place. However, before it has a chance to fall apart, it’s reassembled by the next beat. This is the soundtrack to the dust murmurations in the asteroid belt, and that of one of those rocks breaking free and finally hurting towards Earth.
Friday, November 07, 2025
Thursday, November 06, 2025
Track Of The Day: Eno & Byrne - America is Waiting (Sire)
Preceded by The Cabs‘Voice Of America’, not by that much though; ‘America Is Waiting’ opens ‘My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts’, which means that whenever we played the whole album, this robotic funk barrages the first thing to pummel our often baked brains. It’s approach to sampling is very much reminiscent of Double D & Steinski. Voices become instruments blending in with their accompaniment. Such a great track from such an amazing album. The amount of times I’ve heard this in my head alongside an imagined entrance into Vinny’s old bedroom is incalculable.
Wednesday, November 05, 2025
Track Of The day: Skymaster - Shooting Stars (Offshoot)
What makes this is “the noise”. You’ll know what I’m talking about as soon as it kicks in. Like some primeval behemoth yawning at the dawn of time. Something from beyond the 5th dimension, previously seen in the imagination of H.P. Lovecraft. I remember some things so well they defy description. And so it was that when visiting Fabric for the first time, probably it’s second or third week, I heard Derrick May play this on that system. The beans were very good back then so the effect that it has open me was instant and cataclysmic. It’s funny because the rest of the track isn’t normally the type of groove I’m fond of, but the monster’s groan keeps things effervescent.
Track Of Yesterday: DJ LInus - Who Stole The Soul (P.Weeks & D.Duriez remix) (Brique Rouge Trax)
A great example of a remix that really takes the original into another dimension. The boogied original is good, but Messrs Duriez & Weeks really deliver some much needed oomph in the shape of bass and keys. Everything is amped on this with great results. It fairly lopes along the deep house steppes of machine funk. The keys remind me of some of the sounds Robert Hood was deploying during his minimal/M-Plant heyday. Sadly long gone. You can do it again Robert, we believe in you!
Monday, November 03, 2025
Track Of The Day: Amfibian - Pa Relax (Jark Prongo Remix) (Touche)
Three posts ago is to blame for this. Drawn into listening to another excellent ‘Abstract Dance’ show from the one and only Colin Dale, I was immediately transported back to the carefree days of the mid nineties when this came bounding in. And it does bound. It’s like trance with beats on steroids. One of the best tracks on Touche, along with Tata Box Inhibitors, 51 Days and Trancesetters. The production of Dark Prongo has that ineffable Dutch strap. Everything seems like it’s riding on a cushion of air. Proper uplifting pill music. It’s difficult sometimes to remember how good the nineties were, then you hear a track like this and it sort of condenses all the positive energy into a druggy sonic symphony. Then the Internet started and it was the beginning of the end. Possibly.
Sunday, November 02, 2025
Track Of Yesterday: E.R.P. - Microcentric (Syncrophone)
It’s debatable as to whether Gerard Hanson has ever made a duff track. I say this as a fan, but also as a student of dramatic music tension, particularly in the electro context. And, while most of the genre’s kingpins have a recognisable signature sound, there’s no one who can match him for a sense of the grandiose. This tune, taken from his just released eponymously named EP is a case in point. It’s excellent and, while not unique in the Hanson repertoire, always feels fresh and unique. This is Hanson’s second release on Syncrophone, the previous one being ‘Torc’ as Convextion. And, on the basis of this track alone, it’s better..
Track Of The Day: Basic Channel - Lyot Rmx (Basic Channel)
So I’ve chosen this one because it sort of echoes my dissipated state right now. This morning I ran the ‘Bonfire Burn’, a 10K in North Cambridge that is mostly on road, but goes off for around a third of its route. I had to dig deep, but hit was worth it, as I came through with a time of around 43:40. I’m really happy if I can still go under 45 minutes at this distance, so it’s a bonus that I go even faster. Anyway, I’m sitting on the couch, my bones slowly knitting themselves back into some sort off symmetry, watching lower league FA Cup action, and about to wrestle with the necessity of roasting a chicken. Slowly does it. Rather like this reverse, respiratory soundscape.
Friday, October 31, 2025
Track Of The Day: Pile - 1 Of Those Days (Perlon)
Following on from the last post, this is the first Perlon release I bought, back in 1999 from IQ Records on Lexington St, Soho. Staff included Deano, Dave Mothersole and Andy Jaggers, who was the manager I think. IQ was a relatively short-lived, but great shop. The amount of parties I found out about just by walking into the shop on any given day is incalculable. Also the amount of good records I bought from there. This is one of the earliest Perlon releases, and also one of the most unique. I don’t know of any others that have a spoken word monologue similar to it. Having said that, I haven’t listened to all of them. It’s also minimal to the core, a full three years before the Ben Nevile track was released.
Track Of Yesterday: Ben Nevile - Shiver (Mosaic)
A track like this underlines how influential a label Mosaic is. Coming out in 2002, ‘Shiver’ was on the cusp of the minimal explosion. Person had started releasing a good few years before mind. However, a tune like this hidden away on a B side, although not the the of stuff Mosaic is normally associated with, broadened its repertoire and seemed a natural progression. This piece of stripped down deep house,,for that is what it is, and much like it, is imbued with funk, and its patchwork quilt approach is as good as anything contemporary.
Wednesday, October 29, 2025
Track Of The Day: Featherstone -- Morning Star (Who Is Paula)
A great track that I discovered recently when listening to 214’s ‘October Mix’. A mix of ambience, electro and heady emotional content. It comes from the recently released ‘Shapeshifter’, and is one of five excellent tracks. Featherstone comes from Australia, of all places. However, it is also one of those places that is becoming an electro hotbed. This EP isn’t completely composed of B -Boy beats, but shows a sonic sleight of hand which culminates in this, possibly the stand out of the package.
Cabaret Voltaire - Nag Nag Nag - FORGE Warehouse, Sheffield - 25 October...
I will be in Birmingham next month to see this. Can't wait.
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