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.
