Track Of The Day: Bassomatic - Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Bass (Virgin)

One of the stand out tunes from my first year at university. It’s no surprise that it’s William Orbit who is behind it, and that it still sounds so good. It doesn’t seek to overwhelm, like so much did at the time, and feels minimal in its approach. It’s one of those tunes that feels like it got everything just right, even the exotic snake charming noises. A great coming together of what was percolating at the time. Vocals, break beats and proto-Goa trance squelches come correct. ‘Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun’, as well as ‘Dark Side of The Moon’, was enjoying a renaissance at the time, and could be heard across campus. This is a nice update, which pays homage to its influences.

Track Of Yesterday: Baxter Dury - Albarone (Heavenly)

Well, this is good. A sort of funked up shaggy dog story done in the only way Baxter Dury knows how. Nothing takes away from the main focus, which is the vocal. The backing vocals are great as well. However, although I like this track, it is maybe a bit too full-on. I think it would be better stripped down a little. It’s a minor quibble though, and something I’ll probably have forgotten about the next time I listen to it. Anyway, the Parrot & Cocker Too remix is arguably denser, but goes down a wall-of-sound route, which is a little bit more out on a limb. Great work all round from Mr Dury who, even though he does sound like his dad, remains distinct.

Track Of Yesterday: Delta Funktionen - Black Endlessness (Radio Matrix)

An aptly-named tune which wastes no time in hurtling the listener into a world entirely of its own design and imagination. The genius of it is that it’s deep house but also puts you in an electro mindset. Maybe it’s the vocoder, or the syncopation. Either way it’s a trip, put into better words than I can manage by whoever wrote the Clone Records website blurb: “Delta Craft XX84 is now approaching Wasteland. Within four hours you will reach the entry point (Chasm of Chills). When entering the Chasm, you will discover a massive Black Endlessness. Don't be alarmed, but be assured: The guardians of the chasm will use their auditory powers to interfere with your emotional responses. Unfortunately, none of this will be visible on your radar. You will create your own images, only visible to you. To diminish disturbance and illuminate your surroundings, use the Pusher at the front of Delta Craft XX84.”

Track Of The Day: F.U.S.E. - Into The Space (Warp)

F.U.S.E., aka Richie Hawtin, released back in 1993 and still sounding fresh. The album ‘Dimension Intrusion’ from whence this has been plucked, was one of the cornerstones of Warp’s ‘Artificial Intelligence’ series of albums, along with Autechre, B12 The Black Dog, Speedy J and Polygon Window. All of those records have stood the test of time, and have only increased in value. It might be difficult for some people to square the present day image of Richie Hawtin with the much younger version who produced this track, and it’s impossible to say if he is still capable of such innovation. That’s if there’s any more room to innovate. Throughout the nineties though, really up to the first five or six years of the noughties, RH was at the forefront of most that was vital regarding electronic dance music, then the hair got asymmetrical and Ibiza took over. I guess he figured that he’d already done everything he needed to, and he’s probably not wrong.

Track Of Yesterday: Talking heads - The Great Curve (Sire)

What a track! One of a few that marked Talking heads as being out on their own. Of course, like a lot on ‘Remain In Light’ the music is clearly influenced by a lot of what was coming out of Africa at the time. The horn stabs are pure Africa 70, but brought into an age and area where the glistening, sharp sound of video games was starting to evolve. The percussion takes James Brown a step further into the future, while the vocals work in perfect call and response harmony with each other. Dominating when it wants to though, is the guitar solo, which sounds like a tear in a time portal. Crying out for a chug edit this. Wouldn’t be easy though.

HELENA HAUFF B2B IMOGEN @ THE DRUMSHEDS LIVE 29.11.2025

IMOGEN / Wigs · HELENA HAUFF B2B IMOGEN @ THE DRUMSHEDS LIVE 29.11.2025

NI75 | CMD

 

Neptunian Influence · NI75 | CMD

Track Of The Day: Peer Du - Spezial

Following on from ‘Fever’ a couple of days ago, this is another tune plucked from Sean Johnston & Vladimir Ivkovic’s ‘Live In The Adriatic’ mix from last summer. The whole selection is great, but it really takes off when the tunes flow, and what better way to do that than throw an Italo-inspired synth monster into the set. The vocoder really tops it off, turning the track into a euphoria-inducing, shape-throwing, feels-facilitating purveyor of disco heaven. 

This is EleKtro

 

ElektroGlobal · This is EleKtro

Track Of The Day: Miles Davis - Mtume (Columbia)

‘Get Up With It’, the Miles Davis album that this track has been plucked from, is the perfect music to listen to while cooking the Sunday roast. I’ve already featured ‘He Loved Him Madly’, Davis’ tribute to Duke Ellington, a long, careering 30 or so minute piece of abstraction, and now this, not as long, and maybe more coherent. Mtume provided percussion for Davis in the early 70s. “it is crazy to me that his hands didn't just fall off with the way he played those congas. Plus, he was blasting a drum machine into a mic in the early 70s. It's crazy how much Mtume's work with Miles during that period foreshadowed drum and bass music.” Quote from a Reddit post around the time of James Mtume’s death a few years ago. You don’t get a Miles Davis tune named after you just by making up the numbers.

Track Of The Day: David Shaw & The Beat - Fever (Virgin Music FR LAS S & D)

First released in the mid-fifties, popularised by Peggy Lee, and covered by everyone, form Elvis, to The cramps and Madonna, ‘Fever’, sung here by David Shaw, has never sounded so sleazy. There’s a low throb of longing throughout, as well as some crystalline highs, which makes it perfect for the ALFOS massive. And I guess it wouldn’t be here had I not heard its power channelled through Sean Johnston. Proper filth.

LPY Mix Series 24 - Kenneth Christiansen

 

lempuyang · LPY Mix Series 24 - Kenneth Christiansen

Track Of The Day: 23 Skidoo: Just Like Everybody (Fetish)

The Second track in a row from 80s UK bastion of the out-of-kilter Fetish (I think this track first appeared on this label), ‘Just Like Everybody’ is typical 23 Skidoo. Grainy, disembodied and quintessentially political, it’s the type of that almost seeped out of the underground around the time of its release, and represented a distillation of industrial=leaning influences, as well as going on to be very influential in turn. It’s a soundscape which feels like it’s emerged from a ouija board experiment gone wrong. Voices from beyond the 5^th dimension listened toby Burroughs and Gysin as they discuss the proclivities of a new experimental kinaesthetic device.

Track Of Yesterday: Clock DVA - '4 Hours' (Fetish)

Coming from Sheffield and, therefore, sometimes mentioned in the same breath as contemporaries Cabaret Voltaire and The Human League; Clock DVA were a bit of a one-off and, as this track makes clear, not necessarily the same at all. ‘4 Hours’ is, I guess, very post punk but eschews the industrial that Clock DVA were always runmoured to be a part of. It’s a great tune. All because of an out of tune synth wail, that sounds like it may have been made on a wasp (look it up). Anyway, memories are hazy as to the exact provenance of said sound, which is as it should be.