This is dub broken down into a nebulous suspension. Dub deconstructed, if you will. Coming from Ovatow, the label boss of the excellent Frustrated Funk. The first in a double bill from him, the next coming tomorrow. ‘Phalaenopsis Dub ll’ is the sound of the machines coming around after a log spell of being dormant, Electronic yawns and the slow respiratory beginnings of a new synthetic age. A beat less gossamer thin portrayal of the fragile, but purposeful stirrings of an analogue dawn of time.
Sunday, June 30, 2024
Saturday, June 29, 2024
Track Of The Day: Adultnapper feat. Big Bully) - Low Point On High Ground (DJ Sprinkles Rock Bottom Mix) (Simple)
Elegant in its simplicity, this is the type of dubby, percussive house with an abstract edge the DJ Sprinkles does wonderfully well. What do we have here? A shuffling battery, jarring keys, a repetitive voice intoning “Ignore it”, and sundry disparate sound stabs that open and close along this prowler of a tune. It’s a polyvalent masterpiece: set opener, underlay of choice, peak time low key banger, and spectral anthem. Hypnotic and beguiling, don’t turn it off before the end, and when mixing, let it run its whole length. It’ll enhance anyhting you blend it with.
Friday, June 28, 2024
Track Of The Day: Kraftwerk - Morgenspaziergang (2009 Remaster) (Philips)
Pete Pulford and me stayed up all night listening to ‘Autobahn’ from beginning to end on acid one night at Fort Street many moons ago. Of course the title track is the most played and well-known. However, what often slips under the radar are the peripheral, almost ambient arrangements that make up the rest of the album. I have particular memories of listening to ‘Morgenspaziergang’ while watching an episode of ‘The Legend Of William Tell’, a swords and sorcery fantasy series that has absolutely nothing to do with the real character. The flutes came in and I had a transcendental experience that put me on top of Ayers Rock, right in the heart of New Brighton! You had to be me I guess. 😀
Wednesday, June 26, 2024
Track Of The Day: Eric B & Rakim - Paid In Full [Seven Minutes Of Madness The Coldcut Remix] (4th & Broadway)
Is there anyone who doesn’t think this is one of the definitive hip hop remixes? Taking an already peerless piece of work to another level, Coldcut’s reinterpretation is the seminal mash up. Relying on the languid backing track, littered with vocal samples, of which the original rap is but a bit part, it also brought Ofra Haza to a wider audience. The video is great as well, featuring random Arabic text, (The Qu’ran, apparently), cut up with a variety of images straight out of central casting, but ingeniously juxtaposed, it’s anything but cheesy. And, on a gloriously sunny day like today, it takes me right back to when I first made the move to that London. Living in a squat in the Elephant & Castle and getting my life on track. Apparently Rakim loved this version, but Eric B didn’t. And Coldcut received a pittance for what is one of the first commercially successful remixes. An immortal piece of work.
Monday, June 24, 2024
Track Of The Day: Sterac - Satyricon (100% Pure)
Taken from the immortal ‘Secret Life Of Machines’, Sterac’s ‘Satyricon’ was one of a collection of tracks that heralded an exciting new voice in techno. Matching anything coming out of Detroit at the time, and being obviously influenced by it, but not necessarily of it, this deep, introspective, tranced -out take on machine funk aesthetics is a composition that combined ambience, energy and funk in one transcendent package. It could be music for the end of the world, but then something ushering in a new, golden age. You decide.
Hardway Bros Feat. Beth Cassidy - Murky EP (Incl. Beyond The Wizards Sleeve Re-Animation and Coral Way Dub Mix) (Rekids)
Title: - Murky EP (Incl. Beyond The Wizards Sleeve Re-Animation and Coral Way Dub Mix)
Artist: Hardway Bros Feat. Beth Cassidy
Label: Rekids
Cat Number: REKIDS 245
Genre: Deep House
1: Murky (Vocal Mix)
2: Murky (Beyond The Wizards Sleeve Re-Animation)
3: Murky (Coral Way Dub Mix)
The clue’s in the title, obviously. This track being a hommage on behalf of Sean Johnston to the deep, druggy, low slung sound of Murk, straight out of Miami. The original is all of that. A faithfully realised replication of the roots of dark, spoken word deep house. Erol Alkan and Richard Norris inject the chug and funk up an already impossibly rhythmic template. Slowing the groove down into a rimshot-driven percussive trip. The Coral Way Dub stays closer to the original, stripping it back, sharpening the kick and losing some of the peripheral noise as it does. The vocal is dispensed with and we’re left with a very functional layer of intent. All three versions are very useful with, thankfully, the vocal and Re-Animation offering completely different experiences. Each track is a healthy length as well, spreading its respective wings within its world in order to yield something very special.
Saturday, June 22, 2024
Friday, June 21, 2024
Track Of The Day: Donna Summer - I Feel Love (Patrick Cowley Remix) (Casablanca)
Something for the weekend? There’s no doubting this track’s place in electronic dance music history, it’s influence still continuing to be felt. And enough has been written about it, and this remix, to fill a few books so, there’s nothing really to add other than the only way to make an already perfect track better was, in this case at least, to make it longer. One of the most revolutionary records ever given a new leash of life 5 years after its initial release. The reaction from the dance floor must have been incredible. It sounds great when you’re running as well.
Thursday, June 20, 2024
Track Of The Day: Ardb - Mind Drift (Geodesic)
The sun is out, and summer is here, apparently. So we’re starting the day off with a track that came out in the halcyon days of 2019. This piece of deep electro out of Romania is very typical of a certain aspect of the genre that I really like. I mean I like it all, but some tones resonate more than others don’t they? The artist, Ardeleanu Bogdan, has also put tracks out on other labels, such as Atipic and Fake Society, and when he’s not making records like this, has turned his hands to breaks and deep house, all washed over with an analogue warmth that may, or may not be real. Whatever he’s on, it’s tasty, so dive in.
Wednesday, June 19, 2024
Track Of The Day: Moritz Von Oswald - Watamu Beach (Rework) (Desolat)
Moritz von Oswald is probably the most featured artist in this column on my blog, so it’s never a difficult decision to make to feature him again. This track came out a while back on Locodice’s Desolat, and seems to have passed below most people’s radar. It’s a great composition though. Immersive, as you would expect. As well as being hypnotic and funky. Definitely a track that needs another look.
Monday, June 17, 2024
Radio Slave Ft. Cagedbaby - Amnesia (Lindstrom Remixes) (Rekids)
Title: Amnesia (Lindstrom Remixes)
Artist: Radio Slave ft. Cagedbaby
Label: Rekids
Cat Number: REKIDS 244
Genre: Disco Tex
01: Amnesia (Lindstrom Vocal Mix)
02: Amnesia (Lindstrom Instrumental Mix)
03: Amnesia (Lindstrom Radio Mix)
An absolute monster of a track that is sundry parts blissed out sunset/sunrise Balearic and Barry White. Bittersweet, mind-swelling music blending depth, emotion and momentum. Lindstrom is at the controls so what more do you need? It’s not reinventing the wheel, merely reinforcing hopes on the dance floor. It’s more complicated than that of course. Touching the parts other melodies cannot reach. The drums are quite robust, which serves the tune well as they provide a great foil for the piano and the pervasive synth noodling. There’s no reason whatsoever why this piece of sun kissed Euro disco won’t be filling floors for the forseeable; its panoramic soundscape transcends the moment and reaches the parts others can’t. A great piece that once you get into the groove, like others, is comforting in its familiarity.
DMX Crew - Brain Mutants EP (No Static/Automatic)
Title: Brain Mutants EP
Artist: DMX Crew
Label: No Static/Automatic
Cat Number: NSA007
Genre: Techno/Electro
A1: Mutated Brain Process
A2: Electric Mutant
A3: Non-Euclidean Coordinates
B1: Tunnel Mutant
B2: Depressed Mutant
Ed DMX has been around for a while, and released so much that it’s normal he would be looking to utilise new approaches in order to create his music. So, according to the press for this release, he has been working with “the Aphex Twin created Sample Brain, old disco records and analogue synth notes were fed into the sample mashing web app to create the sounds used on this EP.” With that in mind, the content doesn’t feel any more or less processed than would be expected. Production isn’t compromised. And, the relatively narrow parameters of the prescribed sound are flexed to their utmost. The EP is characterised by a level of whimsey that infuses even the most sinister melodies, perhaps best heard on the bee like signature over the dense techno pummelling on ‘Depressed Mutant’. ‘Non-Euclidean Coordinates’ is a stand out, with its stripped down percussion over a gloomy, bleak backing providing a change from the frictional, and occasionally hesitant first couple of compositions.
Track Of The Day: Gregory Isaacs - Public Eye's (Burning Sounds)
The track that opens Gregory Isaacs’ incredible ‘Slum In Dub’ album, One that puts the listener right in the heart of a sound that was pervasive but also clandestine, at the time. (If you knew where to look, you would find.) A track that contains an apparent rogue apostrophe in its name, and is part of an album assembled at legendary Jamaican studios, Channel One and King Tubby’s. Gregory Isaacs was one of the most famous voices in reggae. However, on this tune it is conspicuous by its absence. This was the rule, rather than the exception, with such releases, most of the time at least. Today’s weather is a call to arms for music like this, and it’s long overdue.
Friday, June 14, 2024
Thursday, June 13, 2024
Track Of The Day: Cristian Vogel - Time (Tresor)
One of my favourite techno tracks, although I’m not really sure that that’s what it really is. It’s funk on stilts as far as I’m concerned, techno or not. However, I’ll categorise it as said genre. Having been issued in the mid nineties, around 30 years ago now, it has all the trappings of that time and, coming out of The UK, has traits that can be found in the releases of other labels of the tie: Ferox, Pure Plastic, etc; and other artists: Mark Bell, Russ Gabriel; etc. It’s a stunning piece of groove, that I think, is indisputable, and its 8 minutes or so let it spread its wings to their full span. Layer it with love, or let it play out on its own. Either way, it’s a stunner.
Wednesday, June 12, 2024
Track Of The Day: The Future Sound Of London - Spineless Jelly (Virgin)
I played the whole of ‘Lifeforms’ last night while preparing and having a stir fry for dinner. I was expecting the fam to reprimand me for playing too much “druggy music”, particularly while eating. However, I had anticipated this by being clever with the volume. The soundscape hovered above those at the table which could mean a few different things: they’re used to this and don’t bother commenting anymore; they were lulled into a false sense of security and unwittingly programmed; they didn’t pay any attention. God knows what; but I was listening and letting my imagination run wild. Something I like to do from time to time.
Tuesday, June 11, 2024
Track Of The Day: Roxy Music - Do The Strand (Island)
Still years ahead of their time, at least this incarnation of Roxy music was. Descending into what often felty like easy listening later on post Eno. Having said that, there’s plenty out there who prefer that version, and who am I to argue. I caught them the first time around, but was a little too young to get too wrapped up in them and Bowie. Still, it was easy to understand that they were something special and original. Everything jars but still comes off. Their pervasive dissonance a calling card, along with Ferry’s delivery. The lyrics are absurd, but ingenious. Finishing with:
“The Sphynx and Mona Lisa, Lolita and Guernica, Did the strand”
Monday, June 10, 2024
PRZ - Lost Art (Cultivated Electronics)
Title: Lost Art
Artist: PRZ
Label: Cultivated Electronics
Cat Number: CE047
Genre: Techno
A1: Introvert
A2: Lazerton
A3: Time To Decide
B1: Azaya
B2: Velocity Shift
C1: Lost Art
C2: Back From 89
D1: Voice Over
D2: Miss You
I guess I’m not too wide of the mark when I say that Cultivated Electronics is a label which has, over time, become known for championing electro above anything else. That definitely isn’t the case here though. It’s present in the form of ‘Velocity Shift’, a tight piece of robofunk which falls more or less in the middle of the sequence and, consequently, feels like its nucleus. The collection is bookended by ‘Introvert’, a beatless, ambient inro, and ‘Miss You’, a bittersweet piece of break beat iridescence. The majority of tracks present are, while structured and cohesive, often chaotic and add odds with themselves. ‘Time To Decide’ swoops dramatically in the manner of a Suburban Knight track, as does ‘Lost Art’. ‘Lazerton’ and ‘Azaya’ are urgent and have ADHD by comparison, and this pattern reoccurs on ‘Back From 89’ and ‘Voice Over’, but to a lesser extend, this pair also having absorbed some of the funkier traits of ‘Time To Decide’. PRZ has put together an album which has a beginning, a middle and an end. The content within, although it feels logically determined is simultaneously disorderly and contradictory. Occasionally arrhythmic, but underscored with solid, machine funk foundations.
Track Of The Day: Dub Syndicate - Mafia (On U Sound)
One of the most influential labels and producers ever. The impact of On U Sound and Adrian Sherwood cannot be calculated in any way, shape or form. Deep, spiritual mind-bending music os what it’s all about. And this particular tune, featuring vocals by Bim Sherman, is one that elegantly homogenises a vibe into something that fits all. As good for your daily run, your supermarket sweep, when you’re imbibing all manner of strange substances, or just enjoying your everyday pleasures of the flesh. Truly a bassline for all seasons.
Sunday, June 09, 2024
Friday, June 07, 2024
Thursday, June 06, 2024
Wednesday, June 05, 2024
Track Of The Day: Eden Burns - Free Your Mind (Public Possession)
There are still plenty of artists making good house music around today. One such is Eden Burns from down under, whose ‘Big Beat Manifesto Vol. Vll’ contains a quartet of such funky minimalism that it reminded me of the halcyon days of Herbert just starting out. That’s the vibe and tone you understand. Three of the four tracks herein hit that sweet spot where a deadpan groove clashes with vocal snippets and other strategic embellishments. I’ve seen that ‘Free Your Mind’ has been quantified as “tech-house” in certain quarters. This is definitely accurate as far as the original categorisation is concerned. I can imagine this, and the other two tracks going down a storm on the more discerning sarf London/Croydon axis of hedonistic dance floors. However, I prefer to label it as simply “house”, taking into account that it’s “a feeling” and also that, pitched right down it could also possibly occupy the upper limits of chug.
Tuesday, June 04, 2024
Track Of The Day: Anderdog - There Are No Streets (Disco Demolition Knight Remix) (Mestnost)
One of those tracks that I’ve just heard and included here, a real life audio slice of life. This is featured on Sean Johnson’s most recent ALFOS EBS and stands out; raising the temperature by dropping euphoric sonic cluster bombs. At first I thought it was a Lindstrom production as it feels similar to his master’s style. This is a remix though, by Disco Demolition Knight, someone who is, I imagine, familiar with the output of Norway’s finest. It’s also one of a bewildering number of tracks on the ‘Dog Remix Dog’ album. A compilation of reinterpretations from ‘Dog Eat Dog’. Anyway, it’s a lovely piece of work which has made me curious to find out more about both artists, which is how this works innit.
Timothy Clerkin - Fading EP (Insult To Injury)
Title: Fading EP
Artist: Timothy Clerkin
Label: Insult To Injury
Cat Number: ITI#024
Genre: Over Souped
1: Fading
2: Sigma
3: Fading (Dub)
4: Collapsed Lung
5: Fading (Radio Edit)
‘Fading’ features here in three versions. The original is some sort of diluted Goa trance tune. The type of tune that when you’re thinking of it you imagine a load of frogs tightrope walking, or something like that. There’s an eponymous vocal and breakdowns which are no doubt, designed to give you pause for thought while grappling with the rave gods in the eye of the synthetic storm. At the beginning of ‘Sigma’, a voice intones, “I don’t give a fuck”, which is nice because I don’t either. So that makes two of us. ‘Sigma’ is a darker and much superior tune to ‘Fading’, having a nice hoover type effect and layered percussion. However, it leaves me feeling daed inside. So there’s that. After all of this hyperactivity, ‘Collapsed Lung’ is more or less ambient. A melancholic track that snakes its way through a sparse, almost beat less environment; it jarrs slightly, but purposefully. It’s not exactly what you’d want on during a come down though. Also, I believe there is a Posthuman remix of the title track, but that’s only on vinyl. I wonder what that’s like?
Monday, June 03, 2024
Track Of The Day: Mac Sample - House Inspector (Subway)
When novelty crosses over into credibility, or the other way round. Mac Attack’s ‘House Inspector’ is in many people’s New Beat must haves, and it’s not difficult to understand why. An irresistible hook that is clearly italo influenced, a moody bass, and a liberal scattering of Clouseau spoken word, as well as the eponymous, gruff bark immediately make this track stand out and gives it a pervasive whiff. I can remember dancing to this in various Merseyside soirees, dropped in between the more recognisable, commercial tunes there was always a nod of recognition as the samples kicked in. To say this track went down well is an understatement. An absolute nailed on party starter.
Sunday, June 02, 2024
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