There’s a conversation on Facebook right now, started by Dan Curtin, about how to categorise a certain strain of techno, notably that made by certain British artists in the late 80s, early 90s. Something obviously influenced by Detroit, but which took on a life of its own, went deeper and more melodic than most, and elicited such a depth of feeling that, in my opinion anyway, the drugs were very much major players in inspiring what came out of the studio. Although it’s all techno, there are many different takes, and we could sub-genre until we niche ourselves into infinity. Dan Curtin says that this music has “a uniquely English sound” and I agree with him up to a point. The Dutch were at it as well though, with labels such as Eevolute, and also Djax-Up-Beats. It’s probable, however, that they themselves were under the spell of what had been coming out of The UK up until then. Anyway, here’s a great example of what was coming out of The Netherlands in the early-mid 1990s. ‘Flow Charts’ has all of the warm, analogue credentials that the UK tunes do. Emotive and deep, with a bittersweet positivity emanating from the grooves, there’s more than a whiff of bleep as well. The funny thing is that Ismistik wasn’t even Dutch, it was Norwegian disco fiend Bjorn Torske, in an early phase of his sonic existence. Which is nice.
Sunday, April 30, 2023
Saturday, April 29, 2023
Track Of The Day: Yello - You Gotta Say Yes To Another Excess (Stiff)
The genius of Yello is obvious, and they did so many tracks that fly undert the radar compared to others. This one is the title track to the album which sort of relaunched their careers.They had released 2 albums on Ralph Records up till then, which was the label The Residents used to record on, so they probably felt that they were being sidelined in the weirdo market. Anyway, this was their first album to embrace the disco full on, on Stiff Records no less (another strange choice methinks). I remember buying it from Reaction Records in New Brighton. The hippies that ran it were well into it. They had broad taste, as long as it was cosmic. I remember plucking it from the crammed boxes of sleeves that were packed into boxes like sardines. I was vaguely aware of Yello at the time, but can’t remember if I’d actually heard any of their music before, so I bought it on a hunch, as so many record purchases used to be made. I can’t remember which album I bought with it, as I definitely bought two records that day. Anyway, waffle aside, this is boss and needs a remix.
Friday, April 28, 2023
Track Of The Day: Perception - Mirage (UR)
From the incredible ‘Interstellar Fugitives’ triple pack that, to the best of my knowledge still hasn’t been repressed despite being released in 1998, this piece of ominous, emotive electro is hard hitting, funky as hell and shows a facet of Detroit at its indigenous best. I’ve seen UR a few times, but the one that always stands out was the ‘IF’ tour in Vauxhall. I remember going into the west end for this gig, only to be told (I can’t remember how, probably at the venue), that it had been moved to Vauxhall. All I remember of that night is that amongst various DJs playing, it was Rolando’s UK debut (maybe), and 4 Hero, or Dego, was also there (I think). Obviously vibes were off the scale. The lyrics of this track echo the general theme of ‘The Matrix’, which came out a year later I think. Play this one loud, the production demands it.
Thursday, April 27, 2023
Freddy Fresh - Iman EP (EPMmusic)
Title: Iman EP
Artist: Freddy Fresh
Label: EPMmusic
Cat Number: EPM105
Genre: Electro/Beats
1: Iman
2: After Thought
3: EMF Theme
4: Tattered (Space Traxx)
Top modular geek Freddy Fresh comes correct here with a release of analogue electro goodies on an EP named after David Bowie’s wife. Perhaps the most intriguing track is ‘After Thought’ which skilfully blends electro and italo disco. It’s the melody over the top that is the most memorable feature, with the beats playing a secondary role. ‘EMF Theme’ is a delicate piece of playful breakbeat that feels like the sun shining through the window at 7am on a Sunday morning. ‘Iman’ is electro, complete with robot voices and a throbbing bass. It’s definitely on the breakdancing side of things, rather than the floaty and airy and reminds me a little of Dynamix ll. And the aptly named ‘Tattered (Space Traxx)’ is an interstellar symphony that drifts into the outer reaches powered by its own solar flatulence. Quiet a few bases are covered on this interesting and inventive release.
Track Of The day- Midnight Star - The Midas Touch (Hell Interface Remix)
Is this the greatest remix of all time? Far from me to be hyperbolic, but it just might be. Hell Interface, aka Boards Of Canada, do something spectral with Midnight Star’s happy go lucky ode to joy, turning it into something spectacular, dark and disturbing. The original is great in any case, an evergreen earworm, but this Through The Looking Glass interpretation is pitch perfect. It’s a piece of body-popping, weird electro brilliance that exists in a world of its own. The vocals are trifled with just so, in other words not much at all, except for one or two off-kilter embellishments. There’s a soaring grandeur that just builds throughout, leading you up the garden path of delights, then you hit a pause of sorts at around the 3:10 mark, which drops you into a gorge of uncertainty. Boards Of Canada promised to “seduce and frighten” with their music. I think they more than deliver that here.
Wednesday, April 26, 2023
Gratts ft. Nathan Haines & Mr Beale - Sun Circles (For Leo & Ziggy) (Be Strong Be Free)
Title: Sun Circles (For Leo & Ziggy)
Artist: Gratts ft. Nathan Haines & Mr Beale
Label: Be Strong Be Free
Cat Number: BSBF1210
Genre: Disco
1: Sun Circles (For Leo & Ziggy) (Original Mix)
2: Sun Circles (For Leo & Ziggy) (Radio Edit)
3: Sun Circles (For Leo & Ziggy) (Instrumental)
So we’re sticking to the original mix here, which is a long, lingering, sun-kissed piece of west coast-tinged Balearic. Got that? There’s a Kenny G horn that dips in and out, but that’s ok. It’s not irritating. The vocal is a bit self-help, and feels like its been telephoned in from the correct floor of the local Waterstones. That’s not to say it doesn’t do the trick though. The flute underlines the track’s hippy credentials (doesn’t it?) And the tracks ever so slightly fluctuating keys really do the trick. Definitely a track that that is way more than the sum of its parts. Now, where’s my copy of ‘Earth Is The Place’?
Tuesday, April 25, 2023
Track Of The Day- DJ Hell & Richard Bartz - Take A Shot (Kurbel)
A deceptively simple track, the power of which I was reminded of at around the 3:35 mark on this mix. What we have is a loop that is wrapped around the spoken word. ‘Take a sniff of me, I’ll make you feel fine. Take a shot of me, I’ll make you fly,” (sampled from Future's 'Your Only Friend'). And that’s it. At normal speed it’s a bit quick, and sounds better pitched down. What really makes it though are the effects, which sound like supersonic hoovers coming in and out after the first line has been said. Rhythmic crack.
Sascha Dive - Beautiful People EP (Bondage Music)
Title: Beautiful People EP
Artist: Sascha Dive
Label: Bondage Music
Cat Number: BOND12069
Genre: Dub Techno
A1: Dub Chronicles
A2: Late Night Up North
B1: Beautiful People ft. Robert Owens
B2: Meditation
“It’s dub techno Jim, and it’s got plenty of kick”, which is essential to move the genre on from the chin stroking to the dance floor. Although I love the dynamics of the genre, it can occasionally get bogged down in its own sonic sludge. So, it’s always nice to hear it when it breaks free and expresses itself a bit. There’s a lot of it about though, and I think that a problem has always been a real one. Tracks do tend to sound the same, aside from bespoke flourishes. What Sascha Dive has done here is loosened the shackles a little. Of course a track called ‘Dub Chronicles’ pretty much speaks for itself. However, starting with ‘Late Night Up North’, the tempo begins to swing a bit, until we end up with ‘Meditation’, which feels like it unleashes the releases pent up momentum. In between we’ve got the Robert Owens voiced ‘ Beautiful People’, which is what it is. A dub techno track with Robert Owens repeating the phrase ‘Beautiful People’ at strategic intervals. It’s dub techno, but it’s more like dub house, which is dub techno at a house tempo, or is it? Either way, it’s good.
Monday, April 24, 2023
Track Of The Day- Choice - Acid Eiffel (FNAC)
The offspring of Laurent Garnier, Ludovic Navarre and Shazz maybe he best track featuring the 303 ever made. It’s also a contender for the best techno track that is also a trance tune. However, it maybe better to consider trance being used as an adjective and therefore remove any unnecessary baggage. It’s definitely one of the deepest pieces of techno and something which is possibly too short at 13 minutes long. A composition that can make you look at things differently and which is thirty years old this year. This is real last known trajectory stuff, incredibly evocative and emotive. I recently wrote that I think ‘Gamma Player’ is the best techno track ever made. Well, this isn’t far off.
Rave Child - The Calling EP (Kokölò Records)
Title: The Calling EP
Artist: Rave Child
Label: Kokölò Records
Cat Number: KOL003
Genre: Rave?
1: The Calling
2: The Calling (VRIL Remix)
3: Good Vibrations
4: 812
In its original form ‘The Calling’ is a throwback to the early days of trance, when it wasn’t a dirty word and was still flopping about as techno’s appendix. It’s atmospheric, glacial and emotive; very nice if you like that sort of thing, and I do like it. VRIL scrapes out its vitals to reveal a minimal percussive husk and vocals that hang over it like a ghostly shroud. and a low key intensity that few can match. ‘Good Vibrations’ might as well be by The Beach Boys. It’s so different in tone to what goes before. Using an eponymous vocal sample from ‘Ride On Time’, it’s a big room pounder without much to recommend it. ‘812’ is an improvement, but, apart from the synth stabs that drive it along and change pitch to add a bit of variety, it could do better. Worth it for the title track and remix alone.
Sunday, April 23, 2023
Track Of The Day- The Parallax Corporation - Anti - Social Tendencies (Viewlexx)
The Parallax Corporation are I-F and Intergalactic Gary and this track is their finest, no arguments. It’s a wonderful piece of seedy italo – inspired disco that relies on a few disparate elements being thrown together in order to germinate sonic sleaze. Perhaps the most effective part is the soaring synth line that veers in and out of focus, before the track changes shape before a latin-tinged, percussive interlude gives way to a section were the sounds seem to be micro dosed. And all the while we’ve got the sound of the popping syndrums to hold things together. The loop is a long one but the certainty of its destinatio n keeps you going and wanting more. The definitive track on Viewlexx I think. An absolute classic.
Saturday, April 22, 2023
Track Of The Day: Industrial Bass Machine - The Voice of World Control (Joey Boy)
I bought this, and a couple of others on the same label, from IQ Records, a shop on Lexington Street in Soho, where Andy Jaggers (ADJ), Deano (Sub Terrain at The End resident), and Dave Mothersole worked, amongst others. I imagine that Mr Jaggers was behind stocking it, staunch and learned electro curator that he is. For what it’s worth, this has to be one of the most complete B-Boy electro anthems out there. It’s got everything: sci-fi synths, arpeggiated overflaps, depth and scratching, a retro video game ambience and most importantly, a ROBOT VOICE, which is, indeed, the voice of world control.
ALFOS EBS40 - Sean Johnston (21-04-2023)
Jerusalem Mark Stewart and The Maffia
LOVEBIRDS FT. URI GINCEL _tuna melts my heart_master NEU(2444)
TRAKA - Yosai (Commodo Remix) TRAKA
B.D.F.Q. 79.5
53X - Crow Dub - Digital Master
Ni Idea Cuerpos
Scraggler Pura Scout
53X - Eagle Flight - Digital Master
For Love Passarella Death Squad
Witchy Feel (Counter Mix) MAPS
Alek_Lee_-_The_Back_Door_(Original_Mix)
Da_Iguana_-_Basilic_Ballistics_(Original_Mix)
Da_Iguana_-_Nothing_Lasts_Forever_(Original_Mix)
BASS - THE FINAL FRONTIER (David Holmes Remix)_CBMasterv1
Carmico My Friend Dario
Godless Ceremony (HArdway Bros Live At The SSL ALT Dub) ) islandman
Da_Iguana_-_Timerider_(Original_Mix)
It Doesn't iD!R
The Seventh Seagull Danse Alice
Stations - Pete Herbert Remix Fernando
Nikita Boogie Shumin Nikita
Alek_Lee_-_Fima_Is_Back_(Original_Mix)
Easy Sunday My Friend Dario
I Hear Ghosts (Original Mix) Dad Of The Year & Eddy Romero
53X - Solitude - Digital Master
Greece 2000 (Three Drives Cover) Low Volume
Malas Lenguas Cuerpos
Market Of Dark ( Panthera Krause Remix ) Roe Deers
BASS - THE FINAL FRONTIER (Original Mix)_CBMasterv2
Rule Six - The Ride [Cotton Bud Master]
Blackout Mr. G & Duncan Forbes
Digital Waterfall (Elec Remix) Blindsmyth
Big Companies, Large Tentacles (Album Version)(Instrumental) Eyes of Others
Tarp Raudonų Šviesų ( Bawrut Remix ) Roe Deers feat. Palmės Žiedas
Somethin’ Higher You Man
The Night ft. M.I.L.K (Original Mix) Yuksek, Juveniles
Higher Danse Alice
Phrygian Trance (Original Mix) Cosman
Trading Places (6PM)
Turnaround (Nick Catchdubs Remix) Lovetempo
Living in Ghosts Feat Woolfy Stay on Top
Club Level 79.5
Überfahrt (NORLYZ Remix) Blindsmyth
Da_Iguana_-_Bells_Projection_(Original_Mix)
Mareas - Pete Herbert Remix Fernando
LOVEBIRDS FT. URI GINCEL _fly away_master(2444)
Lauer & Dena - Where's Your Love Gone? (Club Mix) - Digital Master
Cannonball Casino Times
Dark Room Dancing (Eagles & Butterflies Dub Mix) RY X
AS_DA_Remain Edit_MSTRD
Rimini (Spree Version) Dina Summer
Most Wanted (Remastered 2023) Alan Braxe & Fred Falke
Dance 'O Drome (Original Mix) Yuksek
Heya Yaha (Counter Mix) MAPS
El Camarón (Loris Remix) Matias Aguayo
Clown (Original Mix) The Ghostbusters
4 FOR THE MONEY-MOMENT IN TIME (CB RE-RUB)
Wild Life (Dub Mix) Radio Slave
And The Colour Red (Original Mix) Underworld
Eyez On Me Sunday Noise, Sebastian Ledher
Tanzen (Club Mix) Hidden Spheres
Big Sam Chris Muñoz
Le Voyage Seul Megablast, Resonanzz
Zumbi (Yotam Russo Zumbis in Tel Aviv Remix) Cosman
Alek_Lee_-_Fun_Control_(Prins_Thomas_Diskomiks)
Robot Voices (Westbam Edit) DJ Hell
Strobe Queen Radio Slave
Looking In (Clive From Accounts Remix) Underground System
What's Life (Idjut Boys Seven Slackers Remix) De Lux
Spacer (Mooglie’s Four Twenty In The Closing Club Edit) Mooglie, Agoria, Noemie
Can You Dig It (Original Mix) Moscoman
Love On You K1ng
Enjoy Your Life (Instrumental Mix) Romy
Friday, April 21, 2023
Track Of The Day- The Pop Group - Where There's A Will (Rough Trade)
The golden age is when your taste is formed and also your world view. It’s impossible to overstate how important tracks like this are. Listening to it/them on repeat in Vinny’s bedroom, getting wrecked with his parents sitting in the living room below, the width of a ceiling separating us. All windows open, calor gas going on the floor. Music like this marked a turning point in taste. The traditional band set up was still relevant, but this was a whiff of the funky future. It was sink or swim. Go with tradition, or embrace the shape of things to come. You began to question things and become open to difference. Not long after this I bought my first records by Miles Davis and Gil Scott Heron, even travelling down from Merseyside to see him play at the Commonwealth Institute in Kensington. It wasn’t just the Pop Group who represented a zealous political passion that hasn’t lost its relevance. And the sad news about Mark Stewart has just made me write this, causing waves of nostalgia to break.
Thursday, April 20, 2023
Track Of The Day: Traumprinz - All The Things (Giegling)
Maps - Counter Mixes (Mute)
Title: Counter Mixes
Artist: Maps
Label: Mute
Cat Number:
Genre: The Disco’s In The Field On The Left
1: Witchy Feel (GLOK Remix)
2: Lack Of Sleep (Pye Corner Audio Remix)
3: Witchy Feel (Counter Mix)
4: Heya Yaha (Counter Mix)
Maps aka James Chapman, recently released an album, ‘Counter Melodies’, form which he chose to rework two tracks, and commission a couple of remixes. The two that he did: ‘Heya Yaha’ and ‘Witchy Feel’, are symphonic, orchestral journeys through grandiose soundscapes, with the former built around a spaced-out wispiness that gradually hardens, and the latter sounding like a homage to Jean-Michel Jarre. Both are excellent and I recommend experiencing them in a cathedral. On drugs. Glok, aka Ride’s Andy Bell, also has a stab at ‘Witchy Feel’, and concocts a bass-driven throbber with a breakbeat core. Pye Corner Audio’s version of ‘Lack Of Sleep’ has an acid nucleus which, aligned with the use of vocals and a pervasive dustiness, feels somnolent and energetic simultaneously. No mean feat. And again, you’re missing out if you don’t get wasted while listening to this stuff, under controlled conditions, you understand.
Wednesday, April 19, 2023
Track Of The Day- Colourbox - You Keep Me Hangin' On (4AD)
A very good cover of the Supremes classic. Sped and beefed up, with a machine funk backing that gives it depth and adds to the drama. There’s also a choppy guitar riff that still floats into my head from nowhere on any given day. I know nothing about Colourbox, and when I bought this album it was directly as a consequence of them being on 4AD and me wanting to have the set. The bane of the record collector is such. However, the release was a great find and the brains behind the name, Martyn and Steven Young went on to be a part of MIAIRIRIS. Lovely stuff.
Al Wootton - Vitus (Optimo Music)
Title: Vitus
Artist: Al Wootton
Label: Optimo Music
Cat Number: OMDD49
Genre: Dub House Disco
1: Vitus
2: Libera
One thing that always gives me renewed faith in almost everything is when I can be safe in the knowledge that music is still being made in order to, not only make you dance, but also to screw around with your senses. Al Wootton produces such music and, as such, performs a public service. ‘Vitus’, which has been produced for the lovely people at Optimo displays its dance credentials right from the get go, utilising dub and disco tropes, never getting ahead of itself, so that it creates a couple of temporal autonomous zones within which anything goes. ‘Libera’ is a stomping, deadly dub-infused monster of a track that occasionally threatens to get out of control, but is reigned in on the point of no return. ‘Vitus’ is a bongo led electronic journey with strong More Kante ‘Yeke Yeke’ energy due to the vocal. This is a good thing as it simply reminds you of the possible influence without copying it. BPM wise we’re probably in the 120-122 region, (just a guess, I’m not counting), the funk is being simmered, smelted and contantly evolving. I’m a big fan of all the little noises going on in the mix, each one a slight tug on reality.
Tuesday, April 18, 2023
Track Of The Day: Dizzy Gillespie - Kush (Impulse!)
Another sprawling live jazz jam you say? In a similar vein to Coltrane’s ‘My Favourite Things’, but quite different all the same. I can’t remember the first time I heard this track but, like so many others, it has its roots in the 80s depths of Fort St; Pete Pulford, Mike Wilkinson, Colin Nuttall and others who passed through its portals. It’s an expansive piece of music which is reasonably tight considering its length. When I moved down to London in 1987 I made it my mission to see as many jazz giants as I could. I got to see Stan Getz, Miles Davis, Max Roach, Jimmy Smith and Dizzy Gillespie, amongst others. Unfortunately I was a bit of a typhoid Mary, as they all died quite soon after my patronage. In any case, the Gillespie gig, with his United Nations orchestra, was one of the more memorable and the recording was released as an album. ‘Kush’ is there, as it had to be. Not as long as this version, but still enough of it to make an impact.
Reedale Rise - Sesuvium (Delsin)
Title: Sesuvium
Artist: Reedale Rise
Label: Delsin
Cat Number:
Genre: Electro
1: Littoral Zone
2: Globular
3: Driftwood
4: Artemia
This is electro, however, it’s more an accompaniment to the scrurrying of trilobites on the Silurian sea bed, and the emergence of the first fish from water to land, than a breakdance in Time Square. It’s dawn of time shizzle and I’m very much on board with it. The sound design is gossamer thin, but also has a flexible tension, reinforced by atmospheric sound swathes throughout. ‘Littoral Zone’ has handclaps that are so sharp they feel like small daggers; ‘Globular’ due to its concave synth work, does evoke a glob, or at least my imaging of what a glob feels like to live within, so there’s that. ‘Drfitwood’ is where everything comes together, and is a masterpiece of emotive, epic electronics; and ‘Artemia’ is where the funk is decomposed and broken down into its frictional, constituent elements into a slow-mo primal ooze. This is molecular electro at work, and I’m under its spell.
Monday, April 17, 2023
Track Of The Day: Rising Sun - Lift Up Your Faces (Sven Weisemann's In Da Face Remix) ( Kristofferson Kristofferson)
On this first properly sunny day since that freak week two months ago when I ran a half marathon, what better track of the day than something with appropriate warmth. So, here’s such a track. One to get lost in as the sun filters through the blinds and you feel its heat on the side of your face. Or as you’re walking the dog in the local park, and you hear the distant cries of excited kids, amazed that the weather hasn’t caved in to rain. It’s a deep dive into a multi-layered subconscious, the occupants of which are many and varied. It’s the perfect warm up track. It could go on forever given half a chance. However, although anything could be dropped in or extracted, you must abide by the vibe.
Gilles Renneson - Callisto (Spheres)
Title: Callisto
Artist: Gilles Renneson
Label: Spheres
Cat Number: SPHERE002
Genre: Break Beats
1: Kid Reflex
2: Terminal
3: Unknown Stranger (fest. Lisson K)
4: Yara
With ‘Callisto’, Gilles Renneson has created a fragile nether world where the beats are tempered by a liquid flexibility, allowing the listener to exercise their imagination and fill the space with a hallucinogenic sensibility. The beat frequency varies across the four tracks: ‘Kid Reflex’ is a sort of geiger counter gamelan. It’s a high tension piece playing across a wide spacial range. ‘Terminal’ is slightly slower and moodier, but no less inventive and atmospheric. ‘Unknown Stranger (feat. Lisson K)’ is a voyage into fragmented sound design which, when assembled, fits together like a moving jigsaw. ‘Yara’ is the most overtly techno influenced of the four, recalling early Axis era Jeff Mills in its approach. It’s also the most regularly cohesive piece here, and finishes off with a samba-like swing. Great production and attention to detail all round.
