‘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.
Tuesday, December 09, 2025
Monday, December 08, 2025
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.
Sunday, December 07, 2025
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 5th 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.
Friday, December 05, 2025
Track Of The Day: L.B. Dub Corp - Only The Good Times (Dekmantel)
An absolutely incredible tune from Luke Slater, which is remixed by Burial on the B side. However, that remix is put in the shade by this, the original. It’s a unique piece of music which uses space as a weapon, and puts the vocals front and centre. Unusual for a techno track, if that’s what this is. It sounds amazing in the mix as well, particularly with added muscle.
Thursday, December 04, 2025
Wednesday, December 03, 2025
Track Of The Day: Carl Craig - At Les (Planet E)
Absolute classic klaxon. First seeing the light of day in 1993, ‘At Les’ is a unique piece of work that merges a strange synth line that seems displace from ‘Close Encounters . . . ‘, break beats, a rumbling, urgent bassline and a huge amount of ambience. Craig would have been around 23 when it came out, some achievement really. And, although he may have equalled it, has it ever been bettered? It would be difficult to imagine him making anything as deep now. It would be good if he tried though, just to prove that his best efforts weren’t those produced in the flowering of his youth (relatively speaking).
Tuesday, December 02, 2025
Track Of The Day: Talking Heads - I Zimbra (Sire)
From ‘Fear Of Music’ and probably the most played track from that album. ‘I Zimbra’ rode the wave of rising interest in African music prevalent at that time. We have the NME to thank for eliciting such an interest in the UK, and it was a masterstroke. Post-punk was influenced by, and thrived on such riddims, whether it realised it or not. And Talking Heads were wearing it a little bit more on their sleeves than most. Just over three minutes of polyrhythmic perfection.
