Wednesday, July 31, 2024
Sunday, July 21, 2024
Track Of The Day: Maceo Plex - Stimulation (Ellum Audio)
Such is the arbitrary nature of music that a track that I had never heard before today makes its way forward to place itself in the foremost attic of my mind. For the next hour at least. Has to be heard in the mix I think, to be properly appreciated. Starting things as they mean to go on, and then being followed up by an equally momentous rave monster, tinged with interstellar longing. One for the messy hour. Featured in the previous post.
Friday, July 19, 2024
Thursday, July 18, 2024
Bleaching Agent - Widowbait EP (Ransom Note)
Title: Widowbait EP
Artist: Bleaching Agent
Label: Ransom Note
Cat Number: R$N46
Genre: Danceable
1: Cahoots
2: Widowbait
3: Of Now But Not
4: Widowbait (DJ Subaru Remix)
Interesting release this. ‘Cahoots’ gets the ball rolling. It’s a mucky piece of guitar led disco with a reptilian vocal. Occupying the middle ground between rock and chug, it’s followed by the title track, which feels like some sort of synthetic country and western. There’s harmonicas in there innit. It also reminds me uncannily of that track ‘Poison Lips’ by Vitalic. It doesn’t really sound anything like it, but that was the first thing that came into my head. “It’s a funny old game Saint”. “That’s football Greavsie”. Anyway, ‘Widowbait’ is much more laid back. The remix by DJ Subaru is a much denser and dubby version, and will definitely be popular on the more discerning dance floors. The press release mentions ALFOS so I don’t have to. Listening to ‘Of Now But Not’ feels a bit strange. It’s production is much cleaner than the other tracks, and it’s that little bit more uptempo, usiing classic Detroit style string samples over a riff with similar provenance, it’s a bit of an outlier here, but no less excellent. All in all, a package that is more than worth your while and one in which each track not only keeps you on your toes, but makes you think. Which is always good.
Track Of The Day: Bitstream - Monolith (Signal)
An amazing, uncategorizable piece of UK electro; ‘Monolith’ has long been a recognised classic, it’s value enhanced by its rarity and beauty. “Bit Stream are brothers Steve & Dave Connor”, (with Rob Hollway at the time).They haven’t released under this name for four years now, with two recentish releases coming out on Frustrated Funk, a label that Dave has also released music on as Adapta. The majority of their output dates from the noughties though. ‘Monolith’ got a rerelease around seven years ago on Vinyl Underground in Northampton, which is where the brothers are from. A jewel in the crown of British electronic music, ‘Monolith’ is a lush piece of electronica which uses a goose pimple inducing melody over an electro template to create a piece of pure magic. It’s one of those tracks that touches the parts others cannot reach.
Monday, July 15, 2024
Track Of The Day: Majic 12 - The Last Battle Pts 1 & 2 (Beau Monde)
A great piece of old school electro, lost in the winds of time. Beau Monde was one of those peripheral labels which dabbled in a genre that, when I was buying a lot of music back in the mid nineties, was peripheral to most of it. I have always loved electro though, and was very susceptible to boutique labels specialising in, what was at the time something that was already in danger of being forgotten. Except by the geeks. And thank god for them because were would we be otherwise. Now I know nothing about Majic 12, except that he was also known as Ultra Modern Art, Lexx & Uriel, all nom de plumes that he also produced as for Beau Monde. His real name is Scott Edward Hodgson and he’s made loads of ace music, a lot of which should be snaffled up while it’s not too pricey on the ‘cogs. Anyway, get your Adidas trackies on, Kangol your tete and start those headspins.
Friday, July 12, 2024
Track Of The Day: Wang Chung - Dance Hall Days (Geffen)
Well, there’s a coincidence. I started writing this and then came across the news that a pair of edits have just been released; one by Peak High and the other form Sean Johnson/Hardway Bros. And it’s free. Needless to say both are essential chug and absolutely ace. However, the original is what we’re here for and, even though it was never a record I even remotely thought of buying at the time, (far too commercial); it’s one of those hardy perennial earworms which, when heard over the supermarket Tannoy, requires enormous self-control to restrain shape throwing in public. The video’s great as well. Those jumpers? All the rage in Wallasey in the early eighties. Stock in trade at M & S at the time. Tucking them into baggy, pleated flannels merely adding to their mystique. It all starts to unravel with the violin posturing, but the haircuts and the mainly random lyrics ensure that there are more distractions to keep you wandering “why?” A heavy layer of nostalgia if nothing else.
Thursday, July 11, 2024
Track Of The Day: John Coltrane - A Love Supreme, Pt. III Pursuance (Impulse!)
I remember buying this record, one Saturday morning in Liverpool, around 1981, 1982 . . . one of those visits to see my dad. We’d go and have a coffee somewhere and after that, I’d wander off to a record shop and spend any money he’d just given me on music. This cost around £3.00 new. It’s a bit of a flimsy pressing, but it doesn’t matter. I’ve still got it and give it a spin from time to time. I was just finding my feet with jazz, a genre I’m still very much learning about and discovering. I must have been around 18 at the time and had made the sideways jump from the funked up sounds I was listening to at the time to their influences and foundation. This track is like some sort of hard bop abstraction, with solos peppered within it. McCoy Tyner’s piano in the first four minutes is stunning, the drumming of Elvin Jones is industrial; Coltrane’s saxophone is savage, and then it all comes to a crashing halt before the last few minutes are taken up by Jimmy Garrison and his double bass, which almost has a Spanish feel to it. It’s all here.
Wednesday, July 10, 2024
Dro San - Labour In Love (Labour Jacks)
Title: Labour In Love
Artist: Dro San
Label: Labour Jacks
Cat Number: LJX002
Genre: Tracky
1: One Legged Scrawny
2: A Culpa é do Tico
3: Oiço Campainhas
4: 4U Paulinho
Sounding very much like something that would have come out on Relief during the halcyon house days of the mid nineties, but also having a certain undefinable something more of now than of then; Dro San’s ‘Labour In Love’, is a release full of minimal bangers. There’s not a lot of sophistication here, but if we wanted that we’d be listening to something else, right? This is visceral, stripped down funk which, for all its lack of finesse, does harbour a certain mystique. It took a relatively long time for music like this to evolve, even though its always been with us so, while I’m well aware I’m going around in circles here, I’m going to begin with the last track ‘4U Paulinho’ which is probably the most individual item here. Detroit style synth stabs allied with frenetic rimshots realised through a fractured lens. ‘One Legged Scrawny’ has a similar itch to be scratched, but is far more restrained and funky. ‘A Culpa é do Tico’ & ‘Oiço Campainhas’ are both of the more pounding variety, with the formers amped up squelching complemented by the latter’s alarm bells over rampant percussion. If you can’t jack your body to these, well there isn’t any point is there?
Track Of The Day: Matthias - Psy Dance (Re Discovery)
I can’t remember how I came across this track, chasing one online tenuous link after another I suppose. Anyway, here we are and its great. How to quantify it? Well, the first thing I notice about it is the beat something that, if slowed down enough, could slide into a set of cerebral chug with ease. Apart from that, what’s noticeable are its floating elements. The undulating, bottom heavy synth; the disembodied vocoder that ensure a healthy amount of dance floor disorientation. There’s also a pervasive Detroit influence here which while not necessarily fully manifested, hangs over the track like 100% humidity.. The rest of the release is also well worth your while.
Tuesday, July 09, 2024
Track Of The Day: Miles Davis - In a Silent Way (Columbia)
There’s always one that’s forgotten, no matter how often its played or comes into the mind. This track carries so many memories within it that the music is secondary. For me its all about the mood and the various moments it creates. The intro has to be one of the most memorable. It’s the sound of a new day, but also all of the different elements which contribute to its evolution. It’s music being played in a different dimension. Elegant, evocative, imaginative and still ahead of its time. Nothing I can write about this track can add anything new to what has already been said. All I can do is recommend taking it into new situations and contexts in order to assert its power.
Void Complet - Their Idea Of Fun (CHOBU)
Title: Their Idea Of Fun
Artist: Void Complet
Label: CHOBU
Cat Number: CHOBU005
Genre: Neither One Thing Or The Other
1: Picture This (Kassian Remix)
2: d’ACID (LDLDN Darkness Mix)
3: d’ACID (Slow Assembly Remix)
4: 1011 90M1(Zoid Tazer8 Remix)
5: Picture This (Nortworks Deconstructed Dub)
6: d’ACID (Void Complet’s 6am Refix)
Not being familiar with Void Complet in the slightest, I approach this package with an oopen mind, rather in the spirit of one of today’s teenagers being asked to review anything by peak Public Enemy. Remix packages are often hit and miss, but that’s the glory of the digital platform You take what you want innit. Anyway, as far as my early Tuesday morning brain is concerned, this is quite good. There are three versions of ‘D’Acid’ which, I’m pleased to say, all sound quite distinct from each other. I particularly like ‘ Void Complet’s 6am Refix’, which takes the track in an energetic, tranced out direction. The ‘ LDLDN Darkness Mix’ does what it says on the tin, being a dense piece of sonic warfare, while the ‘Slow Assembly Remix’ is a stripped back, bare bones on break beats banger. Kassian’s remix of ‘ Picture This’ is excellent. A bass-heavy, apparently baile funk influenced piece of rampant tribal tension. (Checks note. I love baile funk, while knowing nothing whatsoever about it). ‘ Nortworks Deconstructed Dub’ is the sound of molecular dissonance trying to reconstitute over a fragmented surface of sound, and ‘1011 90M1(Zoid Tazer8 Remix)’ utilises break beats over an undulating bass mattress to come up with something which is an immersive, improvised piece of off key drunken jazz. Lovely stuff.
Monday, July 08, 2024
Track Of The Day: Federsen - Mesa Dub (Ranges)
Taken from the excellent ‘Ranges 10 Years’ compilation that was released a month or so ago, this piece of excellent dub techno from Federsen is typical of everything like about the sub-genre. Dub techno comes in many shapes and sizes. However, it’s at its best when it’s funky and not bogged down in sonic mud. And although that can also be appealing, it’s not as easy to cavort to as this strain.
Sunday, July 07, 2024
Track Of The Day: Jah Wobble, Jake Liebezeit, Holder Czukay - How Much Are They ? (Virgin)
One of those compositions that feels like pure improvisation. It’s being made up as it goes along. They’re chanting “You don’t know what you’re doing” on the sonic sidelines. However, everything about this track is tight. It’s elastic reality within close confines. Energy bursting to be heard. Jah Wobble made this over 40 years ago and was already a powerful force in the underground avant-garde, and he continues to be one. His co-collaborators here being par for the course throughout his career. A gloriously deceptive piece of dub from one of its innovators.
Saturday, July 06, 2024
Album Of The Day: Keith Jarrett РThe K̦ln Concert (ECM)
Track Of The Day: Serge Gainsbourg - Aux armes et cætera - 2 Aux armes et caetera (Philips)
Friday, July 05, 2024
Wednesday, July 03, 2024
Track Of The Day: Thelonious Monk - Blue Monk (Norway, 1966)
Thelonious Monk, an otherworldly presence, communicating through his piano in a style only matched by a bongo player. Every time I listen to him I’m waiting to hear something jar but, in spite of his out-of-kilter approach, nothing does. I’m convinced that Monk, like Sun Ra, was a celestial being, sent here to spread a word so far out that we haven’t caught on yet. Les Dawson got close though.
Tuesday, July 02, 2024
Track of The Day: Francis Harris - You Can Always Leave (DJ Sprinkles Remix) (Scissor & Thread)
Another day, another incredible DJ Sprinkles remix that repurposes the original track and turns it into something that embodies the essence of house. The original is good, but this remix raises it to new levels of abstraction. An exemplary shuffling beat, adorned with all manner of sonic embellishment, the stand out of which has to be the steel drum flourishes; this is a deep, expressive masterpiece that should be required listening for anyone who doubts the healing qualities of music. Check the Youtube comments. They’re fab!
Monday, July 01, 2024
Jezebell - Weekend Machines EP (Ransome Note Records)
Title: Weekend Machines EP
Artist: Jezebell
Label: Ransome Note Records
Cat Number: R$N45
Genre: Italo Chug (Really!)
1: Weekend Machines
2: Autostrada
3: Citric
4: Weekend Machines (Shubostar Remix)
After having found out about Jezebell via the excellent ‘Jezebell Beats Vol. 1’, and duly snaffled that up, I was more than a little pleased to have ‘Weekend Machines’ drop into my inbox unsolicited. And it does’t disappoint. The title track is an angular piece of concave funk. Metallic overlays and an all important disembodied vocal sample that floats in and out of focus are the all important elements that constitute it. ‘Autostrada’ is up next, and there’s a similar “popcorn” style noise to that used in ‘Weekend Machines’ underlaying it. It also has a rather reassuring phased buzzsaw feel to it. (Don’t ask me. I know what I mean.) ‘Citric’ is a departure from the preceding two tunes. And the jury’s still deliberating. It’s got handclaps, a nice bassline, but sounds a little too bubblegum for me right now. The Shubostar remix of the title track on the other hand, adds more flesh to the original’s bones. The result is a fuller, more symphonic piece with a synth line that sounds dangerously similar to Moby’s ‘Go’. Which is nice.
Track Of The Day: Ovatow - Flame (Harbour City Sorrow)
One of my favourite electro tracks. The work of Klen, aka Ovatow, on the sadly defunct Harbour City Sorrow, this is abstract by default, yet it’s not. What it sound like is a signal from a distant galaxy. The beats are coherent, but everything else feels like a dissonant fabrication. “The record is dedicated to the loss of South Rotterdam based DJ Juvenile Jay, who played an important role in the early career of . . . . Klen . . . “ It’s a brilliant evocation of the febrile transmissions that inhabit the space between all levels of consciousness, and which, in this case, are as at home on the dance floor as the headspace. Incredibly imaginative.
