Friday, December 20, 2024
Thursday, December 19, 2024
Wednesday, December 18, 2024
Monday, December 16, 2024
Track Of The Day: Laurent Garnier - The Man With The Red Face (Svek Remix) (F Com)
Definitely the best of the remixes and is comparable with the original’s majesty. Svek, aka Jesper Dahlback and Stephan Grieder were already a nineties moment of musical perfection trapped in sonic amber and resuscitated in order to sort this out. And they did a great job. I think some of Svek’s early releases are as good as anything house/techno has produced. And although they were already past their best when this was released, this allows a glimpse of former glories.
Lake Hills - Chrome (Soulfulxnature)
Title: Chrome
Artist: Lake Hills
Label: SOULFULXNATURE
Cat Number: SXN139
Genre: Techno
1: SMS
2: Chrome
3: Permanent
4: Pay Online
I like the texture and patterns. I guess these are key components of what is essentially loop-based techno. The hint of a threatening, interplanetary invertebrate super race is also key. This definitely comes across throughout this release. Possibly more on the title track than the others. Refining characteristics is what’s essential to music like this and, the closer you listen, the more susceptible you become to miniscule fluctuations and idiosyncrasies. ‘Chrome’ also has this in spades. Both ‘Permanent’ and ‘Pay Online’ roll more manically, with each of them employing a prominent low ending occasionally tempered by inventive percussive workouts. There’s nothing groundbreaking here, but a great attention to detail is shown which extracts the impurities and pulls you into other worlds.
Sunday, December 15, 2024
Track Of The Day: D'Julz - Acid Tricks (Main Mix) (Ovum)
Acid done just how I like it. Somehow D’julz manages to expertly balance restraint and excess within these grooves. The very definition of organised chaos. And the multiple samples providing the flourishes on top. A truly great, polyvalent piece of work that should suit a variety of dance floor persuasions. And possibly in my top three acid tracks of all time, along with ‘Acid Eiffel’ and ‘Acperience’.
Friday, December 13, 2024
Track Of The Day: Nick Holder - Erotic Illusions (Seductive Mix) (DNH Recordings)
There’s not a lot to this. A shuffling beat, “murkesque” keys & bass, and a vocal sample that kicks in when needed. The ‘Sensual’ mix is a little shorter and not quite as full-bodied (no pun intended). DNH was buy on sight from the mid to late nineties, and this is one of the best. It’s also another ace release called ‘Erotic Illusions’, with Abacus’s being the other one. I wonder if they ever met and discussed their complementary levels of groovy eroticism?
Thursday, December 12, 2024
Wednesday, December 11, 2024
Sad Prom - SP001 (Sad Prom)
Title: SP001
Artist: Sad Prom
Label: Sad Prom
Cat Number: SP001
Genre: Techno
1: Fourth Wave
2: Slave To The Algorithm
3: Automatic Garden
4: Liebestraum
5: Universe 25
On first contact with this release the feeling is of retro analogue warmth. ‘Fourth Wave’ is short, but within its lifespan it manages to conjure up an all important “looking back to go forward” dawn of time ambience that, paradoxically, allows it to spread beyond its limits. This impression is mirrored by ‘Universe 25’ which closes the release on a more strident note, but an equally emotive one. In between we have three tunes which are more stripped down, more “big room” maybe, but also not simple facsimiles of each other. ‘Slave To The Algorithm’ fuses a moody bass at one extreme and loud, cavernous synth washes at the other. Floating around in the middle is a minimalist, stripped down rave cornucopia. ‘Automatic Garden’ is another example (there’s currently a lot of it about) of where tracky Chicago house influences collide with techno. And ‘Liebestraum’ is an atmospheric piece of techno which takes its cues from the best of Juan Atkins, sounding like a lost track from ‘Deep Space’. Of course the genre is a broad church. Generally though, it’s difficult to make a techno release sound fresh right now, but Sad Prom manages to do it on this expansive collection.
Monday, December 09, 2024
Track Of The Day: The Orb - Towers Of Dub (Wau! Mr Modo Recordings)
A wonderful way to spend 15 minutes of your time, which gets off to a great start with the Victor Lewis-Smith crank call sample. From the ‘UFOrb’ album, which has definitely aged well, I it was around this time that myself and Peter Pulford went to see them at The Mountford Hall in Liverpool. I have very fragmented memories of that evening, only that it was the beginning of my final year at university, having just returned from a year studying in New Jersey. As can be seen from the setlist, ‘Towers Of Dub’ was played. Detail is sketchy however. I went to a lot of gigs there and they are all one big sensory lump inside a vast space. There’s something very English and pastoral about this track (as well as Jamaican, obvs); the whimsy sets in quickly and it feels like the soundtrack to one of those perfect summer’s days you only get in a place that’s used to so many shit ones.
Sunday, December 08, 2024
Track Of The Day: Sharp as a Needle - Barmy Army (On U-Sound)
Another piece of genius from Adrian Sherwood, this time as ‘Barmy Army’ in a homage to Kenny Dalglish. Predictably big with John Peel back in the day, its beats straddle the highlands in majestic fashion. Fortunately you don’t have to be a football fan in order to enjoy this record. However, while it used to transcend tribalism when it was released, it might have a harder job nowadays.
Friday, December 06, 2024
Thursday, December 05, 2024
Track Of The Day: T. Rex - Life's A Gas (EMI)
‘Life’s a Gas’ came out in 1971 and was on the ‘Electric Warrior’ album. The lyrics feel like Marc Bolan was ad libbing, which is what they all felt like really, but it has a great guitar riff. And sort of bridges the psychedelic/glam rock divide, which isn’t bad for a track that is shy of two and a half minutes.
Wednesday, December 04, 2024
Track Of The Day: Holden & Thompson - Nothing (Silver City Remix) (Loaded)
I have this record, somewhere. I say that because I have quite a few and I need to get rid of some. So maybe I’ll find it when I start culling. Or it could have been one of those lost during the great flood of 2016. I don’t know. What I do know is that it’s part of a double pack which retials for not an insignificant amount of money on Discogs, and it’s by far the best version, even though no one else seems to think so, preferring the trancier, more “Holdenesque” workouts. Ignore that. This one from Silver City, who were enjoying their moment in the sun around the time this was produced, has everything. It’s the only real straight up house version, but also manages to blend in the originals congenital traits at the same time. It’s the bassline that makes the difference. Anthemic in the best sense of the word.
Tuesday, December 03, 2024
Track Of The Day: Aquarhythms Bodyjazz Bodyfusion (Carl Craig Experience) (Aquarhythms)
Such a great track, and very much slept on. One of Carl Craig’s best remixes from that period. I can still remember the first time I heard it played in Rough Trade Paris. It was buy on sight, like so much was back then. The ‘Greetings From Deepest America’ compilation that came out on Phono, Herbert’s label, is a great fragment of lost analogue time. Absolutely wonderful and much more appreciated now than then.
Second Storey - Are Hands Waterproof (No Static/Automatic)
Title: Are Hands Waterproof?
Artist: Second Storey
Label: No Static / Automatic
Cat Number: NSA010
Genre: Electro
1. Are Hands Waterproof?
2. Avia Kultura
3. Fhain Gales
4. Holografix
5. The Foundry
Innovation isn’t easy with electro. I guess that whenever something different is tried there’s a risk of stepping outside the genre and risking its sanctity. So, on this release, Second Storey generally tries to remain true to the form by creating dense soundscapes that preserve its inviolability, while still allowing room for what feels like spontaneity and improvisation. The beat templates are present, but there is organized chaos scattered over the top. The title track is perhaps the best representation of this, and feels quite clean compared to the gnarly sounds that follow. If one track does stray it’s ‘Avia Kutlura’ which is down to its bare bones and feels just funky but has a totally different beat pattern. It’s a hoodoo hoedown in a shipping container. Of what remains, all three tracks have a definite Drexciyan touch to them. When listening to them time feels like its slowing down and the gears are grinding. The tempo descends from ‘Fhain Gales’ down to ‘The Foundry’, which is haunting, evocative and, like everything here, really makes you speculate on why these sounds were conceived.
Man Power - Inner Space Steel Cathedral (Live At Robert Johnson)
Title: Inner Space/Steel Cathedral
Artist: Man Power
Label: Live At Robert Johnson
Cat Number: PLAYRJC118
Genre: House
1: Inner Space
2: Steel Cathedral
‘Inner Space ‘ feels like just that. A panoramic piece that conveys what it says on the tin. Minimal and driving, it gathers momentum in the time tested way of adding and subtracting tuneful tweaks. This happens in such a way as to beguile the listener into thinking that it’s barely getting out of second gear when, in fact, the feet are moving in a different dimension to the mind. A great piece of layering that feels both big room and Balearic. ‘Steel Cathedral’ is more tightly-wound. Coming off like a piece of tracky, Relief-inspired tuneage, (there’s a lot of it about), but utilising a haunting, dramatic melody underneath; it’s not as raw as many of it’s ilk, and this is to its credit. Once all of its components chime in it sounds like a piece of techno, the sharp edges of which have been smudged into something that goes beyond mere functionality.
Monday, December 02, 2024
Track Of The day: Department S - Is Vic There (Demon Records)
A few reasons for posting this today. Chief amongst them is that yesterday was World AIDS Day, and singer Vaughn Toulouse lost his life to it at the beginning of the 90s. Also, I woke up with it in my head, which immediately took me back to December 1981 at the Michael Sobell Sports Centre in Islington. Where myself and Pete Hillis saw the Jam, Dept. S, The Questions and a very raw Bananarama play. We travelled down from Merseyside for this and I remember it being snowy and almost certainly freezing cold. Bananarama only played 3 tunes, and had a drum machine to back them. I don’t remember The Questions at all, but I do remember Department S, and Vaughn Toulouse, who definitely had presence. ‘Is Vic There?’ is a great track, with a big nod, whether by accident or design, to Blue Oyster cult’s ‘Don’t Fear The Reaper’, proving that it’s all about context and delivery. We went back the same evening, and I remember feeling that £18 for the return journey felt like a bit of a rip off at the time.
Saturday, November 30, 2024
Track Of The Day: Les Rita Mitsouko - Marcia Baïla (Virgin)
Predating my arrival in Paris by ten years, but still residing deep within its psychic layers, ‘Marcia Baïla’ is one of those tracks which typifies French pop of a certain time and place, yet remains timeless and non-genre specific. It’s boss and everyone should know it. That’s what counts.
Friday, November 29, 2024
Wednesday, November 27, 2024
Track Of The Day: Black - Wonderful Life (Ugly Man/A&M)
There’s always a time and a place for this song. I muct have seen Black quite a few times in his early days and, although impressed by his voice, mainstream chart success came out of the blue. The melancholic steel drum backing is the perfect foundation for Colin Vearncombe’s equally tortured vocals which, just like gin and tonic, combine to form an unbeatable combination. In this video Vearncombe is shot like a matinee idol from the thirties, with my home town New Brighton, providing the perfect bacdrop. I lived just a short walk away from where a lot of this was shot when the track was initially released. It’s changed a lot since then, mostly for the better.
Tuesday, November 26, 2024
Salbany - Crossroads (Paraiso)
Title: Crossroads
Artist: Salbany
Label: Paraiso
Cat Number: PARAISO014
Genre: Techno
A1: My Life
A2: Crossroads
A3: Next Morning
B1: Mito
B2: Crossroads (Cisco Ferreira Lisbon Dub Remix)
B3: Mito (AMX Remix)
Digital bonus: Crossroads (Cisco Ferreira Elexated Mix)
This is more like a mini album coming, as it does, with three versions of the title track (one not available on vinyl, which is nice. More power to the digital bonus track!) And it’s unapologetic rechno all the way from “local legend-in-the-making Salbany”. These tracks are all good, but as with a lot of techno it’s nice to have something within the grooves that distinguishes them a little more than their relentlessness. So where the title track is concerned, I’m more drawn to the ‘ Cisco Ferreira Lisbon Dub Remix’ which slows things down just a tadge by using the backing synth washes as friction. His ‘ Elexated Mix’ is very Millsian, very insect menace, while the original is similar to the dub, but more in-your-face. All of these tracks will work wonderfully well in a big room with the speakers spitting air. ‘My Life’ is great. The spoken word and the keyboard flourishes taking it up a level. Of the two versions of ‘Mito’, AMX’s version is more stripped down and becomes more urgent towards its conclusion, and ‘Next Morning’ gathers momentum using an isolated drum roll and loping bass. This release swings from start to finish.
Uf0 - Uf0 (Fourier Transform)
Title: Uf0
Artist: Uf0
Label: Fourier Transform
Cat Number: FTV004
Genre: Techno
1: God Moving Arps
2: Enzo
3: 303 Corp
4: Talitha Modmatrix
Having first heard of Uf0, aka Sergio Garcia, courtesy of his release on Further Electronix (the magnificent ‘You Will Shine’ being the case in point), I was more than a little pleased to find this release in my inbox a couple of months ago. And it’s his first release this year under this name, having also done something as Braindance Warrios. “Braindance” is another name for intelligent techno/dance music” I suppose. A title I am loath to use but I guess can serve a purpose if you’re pissed and trying to explain genres to that certain someone. And while this release is something that could fall into that category, to me it’s all just fifty shades of techno. Sorry for the generalisation, which I hope doesn’t take anything away from how good this release is. The first two tracks are more stretched, with ‘God Moving Arps’ being a floaty, ambient new age symphony with a relaxed break beat underlay. It’s the best track here. ‘Enzo’ feels like a four to the floor nursery rhyme. The sounds are warm and embracing and whisk you away into a safe place which hints at instability. Both ‘303 Corp’ and ‘Talitha Modmatrix’ twist drum and bass into intermittent chaos, the dominant motifs being contrastingly upbeat and constanty trying to break free from their percussive anchors. It’s all about impressions isn’t it, and this is all very good, but far too short.
Monday, November 25, 2024
Track Of The Day: Jah Wobble, The Edge, Holgar Czukay - Snake Charmer (Island)
I went to see Jah Wobble & the Invaders Of The Heart last night. They played The Apex Theatre in Bury St. Edmunds, a gig which had originally been scheduled for April last year, but was cancelled at short notice. Last night was a cosy, under attended affair. The band ran through their set in 90 minutes. Playing three Public Image tracks that I recognised, the highlight of the whole night being an excellent version of ‘Poptones’. There were jazzy, improv-style interludes, as well as a cover of ‘Liquidator’, amongst other stuff. Wobble moaned about his lumbar cushion and generally payed the geezer from his chair. All very nice. On the way out a chap in the row behind me asked me if I’d enjoyed it, and then said that he’d been to the gig he did in Chelmsford, which was around the time of the cancelled Bury one. At which time he’d played for three hours and had his two sons in the band. I had wanted to go to this gig, but the missus said she wasn’t interested. D’oh. Anyway, this track, as can be seen from the line up, is a bit of a curiosity, and comes from an eponymous EP. Francois Kevorkian was also involved. And now I think about it, it doesn’t sound a million miles away from the spaced out interludes of last night.
Saturday, November 23, 2024
Track Of The Day: Andy Simion - Gen Y All (Palinoia)
A nice trancey builder. I know very little about Andu Simion, except what it says in Discogs about him, which is that he’s a “DJ, producer and photographer based in Ploieşti / Romania. Ploieşti, the home of the mighty Petrolul . . . anyway, this is a great piece of layering. The grout that holds a set together and subtly adds to it. One of the earlier releases on Eric Cloutier’s excellent Palinoia label, a great, hypnotic piece of music.
Friday, November 22, 2024
Track Of The Day: Altitude - Internal Memory (Vade Mecum)
Dub techno is one of the funkiest genres out there. That feels a bit counterintuitive to write, but it’s definitely the case. It can also be one of the most misunderstood, and most negatively stereotyped. I’ve posted quite a few tracks of its ilk in this column and it’s probably fair to say that if they were all played back to back in a continuous mix there might not be that many “moments”. I suppose that’s why I wouldn’t do that in the first place, and why tracks like this piece of atmosphere creating minimalism are so important, functioning on so many levels; adding energy to the mix while invoking the imagination.
Thursday, November 21, 2024
Monday, November 18, 2024
Track Of The Day: Sabres Of Paradise - Tow Truck (Depth Charge Mix) (Warp)
One of two quite similar remixes that J. Saul Kane did around thirty years ago for The Sabres. This one was released along with a version by The Chemical Brothers and still has what it takes. It’s a wonderful, shuffling behemoth of dubbed out idiosyncrasies which segues seemingly disparate syncopation into one linear voyage of analogue heaviness. An interesting and humorous piece with a life of its own; primarily driven by guitar stabs and a throbbing low end. Unique amongst a sea of pretenders from the man that brought you ‘Han Do Jin’.
Sunday, November 17, 2024
Track Of The Day: Leonel Castillo - Stealer (Sushitech Records)
Nothing to see here, just a piece of groovy, funky, dubby minimalism served up for the discerning listener. Sonically very engaging because with tracks like these its all about what may happen rather than what does, and what does is very good. The pulsing vibes and shuffling percussion are perfectly timed so that when certain flourishes clash it feels like there are small explosions going off. Is this dub techno? Of course it is. Crucially it’s a good seven or so minutes long with plenty of swing. The perfect foundation for the mix and mass hysteria. Hypnotic and mesmerising, this is nothing you haven’t heard before, but it is executed with panache and style.
Friday, November 15, 2024
Track Of The Day: Janeret - Scape (Original Mix) (Berg Audio)
A track that’s just been released, ‘Scape’ has all of Janeret’s hallmarks. Deep, driving, hypnotic; something that will hold its own as a highlight as well as adding another crucial layer to the mix. It’s not rocket science os it? He’s hit on a winning formula and if it ain’t broke? Anyway, this might sound like these tracks are a bit predictable. Well, they are. However, when it’s what you come to expect and want, it’s just the ticket. This particular tune feels a little bit faster than some of his other recent productions, so I would pitch it down a little. It’s a keeper though. And, dare I say it, a banger.
Thursday, November 14, 2024
Luke's Anger - Corporate Hell EP (Co-Accused Records)
Title: Corporate Hell EP
Artist: Luke's Anger
Label: Co-Accused Records
Cat Number: CR007
Genre: Tracky
A1: Corporate Hell
A2: The Sentinel
B1: UFOh No!
B2: Haffa Bar Jack
I guess the highest compliment I can pay a release like this is that it wouldn’t sound too out of place had it been released on Relief around 30 years ago. And I hope that sounds like the compliment it’s supposed to be, rather than a thinly-veiled comment on a lack of imagination in house music nowadays. Because this is house, rather than techno, even though it wouldn’t be out of place in such a set. ‘Corporate Hell’ is an exuberant piece of four to the floor excellence. It’s energy is palpable and it’s impossible to listen to without smiling. ‘The Sentinel’ is more minimal and goes harder. The rimshots are amazing, as is the farting bottom heavy backdrop. ‘UFOh No!’ is where we cross over from house into techno proper I reckon. The groove is tighter, the hi hats more emphasised, and the funk reeks of insect menace. It jars in the best way possible. And ‘Haffa Bar Jack’ signs us off in a similar way to ‘Corporate Hell’ only everything is amped up and those bonkers noises that Neil Landstrumm used to specialise in have been enlisted to ensure dance floor mania. There are a lot of similar sounding releases to this around at the moment, there have been for a year or two now. However, this is possibly the best I’ve heard. “Superbe”, as they say in France.
