‘Martians At Work’ has that rare quality of being of nothing else but Detroit, but also whimsical and onomatopoeic. If you’ve got an imagination that dabbles in such things, then use it to visualise a 1950s realisation of those weird space aliens engaging in gardening, or some other sort of manual labour. Juan Atkins? A funster? I don’t believe it!
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Tuesday, September 29, 2026
Track Of The Day: Talking Heads - Houses In Motion (Sire)
I have no idea why ‘Houses In Motion’ has taken up residence in my head over the past few days. If I’d heard a chug edit of it at Convenanza then there’s where the blame would lie. But I didn’t (next year maybe?), so there. Anyway, what a song, and here it is in all its unfettered, spontaneous live glory. I never saw them live, and they’re right at the top of my wish list. It obviously won’t happen but I’d splurge for the chance. Whenever I post a track by them I always think of being in Berlin in December 1984. The two releases that were postered all over town were '1984' by The Eurythmics, and 'Stop Making Sense', probably the best film of a concert ever. There have been others, but none featuring just one band that had the power to engage so grippingly over the course of the whole transmission. Out on their own.
Monday, September 28, 2026
Track Of The Day: Gary Martin - Interview With An Alien (Delano Smith Remix) (DET313)
Back from Carcassone, which was great as per. And here’s Delano Smith’s superior interpretation of Gary Martin’s ‘Interview With An Alien’. I say superior because I think that this is better than the original. So why? Well maybe it’s because I’m getting older (although we all are innit), but this laid back groove-laden version knocks the socks off the more urgent and slightly more fidgety original. Gary Martin was/is one off the most idiosyncratic producers to come out of Detroit. Here though Basic Channel/Mood ll Swing inspired minimal house wins out over the burlesque. One of the moments at Carcassone on Saturday night was hearing Basic Channel being played within the walls of the chateau. Which very much goes to show that less is more. When a groove is being carried it better hadn’t be dropped. Maintaining the energy with tracks like this is a real skill. There’s nowhere to hide. Play this one loud and let its dynamics ooze out.
Thursday, September 24, 2026
Track Of Yesterday: The Future Sound Of London - Papua New Guinea (Andrew Weatherall Mix) (Jumping' & Pumpin')
Off to Convenanza tomorrow so any remix from AW is appropriate and, although I don’t think this is one of his best, it would sound great within the confines of the chateau in Carcassone. It takes a different route to the original in that while the sound is less dense and less evocative of the landscape it sonically describes, it’s more danceable due to being infused with break beats. Not just your normal linear beaks either. There’s a pitch change shortly after the eponymous spoken word. Breaks have been subtly dominating a lot of modern electronic music recently so I guess what sets this apart are its early nineties analogue production values. It feels a lot more raw than a lot of today’s efforts. The tribal chanting that rise up in the second half of the tracks feel a little odd by today’s standards. However, they also feel very much on the spirit of the cut up. The only bit I really don’t like that much are the symphonic episodes, which feel a little over-produced by comparison. That doesn’t mean to say I won’t have my hands in the air as soon as I hear them though.
Tuesday, September 22, 2026
Track Of The Day: Liquid, Liquid - Cavern (99 Records)
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Track Of Yesterday: A Certain Ratio - Shack Up (Factory Benelux)
Probably A Certain Ratio’s break out track. This cover of Banbarra’s release of about six years earlier came after ‘All Night Party’ and the amazing ‘Flight’. It’s this though that ultimately did the most damage. Thanks, no doubt as much to the deadpan vocals of Simon Topping as to the full-bodied, and at times brittle funk of the band itself. This is another slant of the sound of the smoke-filled bedrooms of my youth. And in those days we could find somewhere to dance to it that didn’t mean travelling to a boutique event in some far-flung corner of the country. I must have seen ACR five or six times n the early eighties, and I’m off to see them again in a week or two in London. Should be ace.
Monday, September 21, 2026
Sunday, September 20, 2026
Track Of The Day: Prince Jammy- War In The Asteroid Belt (Greensleeves)
Plucked from the fabulously named ‘Prince Jammy Destroys The Invaders’ I suppose albums like this, and that of Scientist ‘Scientist Meets The Space Invaders’ documented changing trends as well as new social norms. Back then it was arcade games, now I guess it would be a slant on social media. Whatever. The fact that what passes for something new nowadays hasn’t been immortalised in dub is very telling. Prince Jammy is 78 now and I guess could still possibly tour, just like Scientist is early next year. Anyway it’s Sunday, September and the sun is still shining. Play this loud and then get to grips with the rest of the album.
Saturday, September 19, 2026
Track Of The Day: The Orb - Perpetual Dawn Ultrabass 2 (AW Remix) (Big Life)
This is another of those tracks that revels in its cross-pollination and takes you back to a time when you had the feeling that things were a little bit more under control. They weren’t really, it was just an impression. And it’s another that could only have come out of The UK. We’ve always been good at making music focussed on dancing, hedging the boundaries cheese in some cases. I don’t think that this is one of AW’s best. It really feels like he’s thrown a lot of stuff in to the mixer and not given a damn to a certain extent. That type of approach can often go wrong. What saves this is the bass and other low end fidgeting.
Friday, September 18, 2026
Track Of The Day: Les Rita Mitsouko - C'est Comme Ca (Virgin)
Uncatergorizable, but very French. So that’s a type of oxymoron innit. Energetic and with a riff to die for. It gets more and more intense. This is very much of its time, but if it were to be released now it would be at the vanguard of pop. There’s o doubt that this is one of the grooviest pieces of pop ever recorded. Amazing voice which slid off its mortal coil earlier this week. So this is a belated recognition of its greatness.
Thursday, September 17, 2026
Track Of The Day: Decius - X-Ray Shocks (Decius Trax)
A tricky piece of techno with a spring in its step that one could imagine slipping into the set of Sean Johnson or Jeff Mills. Decius played Convenanza in 2022, the comeback! This was the first one I went to and they were brilliant. A lot of that was down to their front man Lias Saoudi also of Fat White Family. The other members were a lot more static but are responsible for a sound that comes correct when blending acid house, techno and the outer limits of electronic disco. They take no prisoners innit.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026
Track Of The Day: Jah Wobble - Blow Out (Lago Records)
Great piece of serious eighties pop from Jah Wobble. That is to say it seems to extract many sonic traits of the decade in order to come up with something of its time which also transcends it. I’m not listening to this in 2026 thinking it’s cheesy. The production sound crisp and from Nassau. Like so much music from that decade I feel it could have soundtracked an episode of ‘Miami Vice’ and I may not have liked it if it did, even though I had a secret respect for Crockett and Tubbs. The vocals have a gravitas to them that ounce come straight from the dominant larynxes of that era. That is to say a resurgent ‘Let’s Dance’ David Bowie and, of course, some of his pop offspring. Dave Gahan and Frank Tovey. Even Howard Devoto. The vocalist is Bob Shipton who, according to Discogs, didn’t duo much else.It feels like a quantum leap to have been playing bass on ‘Public Image’ a few years before. Not for a polymath like Wobble though. Great chug potential. Somebody make an edit?
Tuesday, September 15, 2026
Track Of The Day: Robotman - Do Da Doo (Plastikman's Acid House Remix) (Definitive Recordings)
Another one of those “I thought I’d already posted this.” And why not? What a track. There was no one working the 3030 better than Richie haw tin back in the early n reties and this, along with his remix of System 7’s ‘Alpha Wave’ defined houses deep acid. If that makes any sense. Playing this now brings on a nostalgic rush of energy, or should I’d that be an energetic rush of nostalgia. If ever a tune defined “party starter” then it’s this one. The percussion just shuffles, and then you’ve got the angelic voices at the end. I feel like I’m rushing just listening to this again. No extra help needed.
Monday, September 14, 2026
Track Of The Day: Amevicious - Wood People (Undo Remix) (Amevicious)
Great piece of dark chug this. Suffused with the spirit of new beat and off-kilter acid, this is a decadent piece of kit. One for the heads down crew. Off to Convenanza at the end of next week so I hope to hear some similar stuff while I’m there. And I’d like to write more, but after a very long run this afternoon, I’m cream crackered.
Sunday, September 13, 2026
Track Of The Day: Bioroot - 124NUN (Roger Gerressen Pressure Dub) (Kontakt)
Kontakt Records out of Denmark have a great back catalogue. Mostly pressed on coloured vinyl and with a wide swathe of remixers. This is a very random choice from 2020. It’s a Roger Gerressen ‘Pressure Dub’ of ‘124NUN’ by Bioroot. A lovely piece of dub techno that can easily cross over into a deep house set. Lovely stuff!
Track Of Yesterday: B. Calloway - Round & Round (JShaw Remix) (BHive Music)
I came across B. Calloway a while back. He’s a Detroit artist who either prefers to operate within the shadows or has been unfairly ignored. Either way he’s under appreciated. And this track from 2019, remixed by JShaw, aka Shawescape Renegade, is a great piece of jittery sci-fi electro. The type that could only come from Detroit. The production is deep and clean and is over much too soon. It does from the ‘3000 B.C.’ release which is, according to Discogs, B. Calloway’s most recent vinyl release. A digital-only release called ‘Lost In Time Vol. 1’ came out in 2020. So how about a follow up?
Friday, September 11, 2026
Track Of The Day: Biz - Enlightenment
I couldn’t find the video for this on Youtube, if it even exists. However, it was Colin Dale’s most recent Abstract Dance show which brought me here. This track comes in between forty and fifty minutes and it’s brilliant. You just know when you see the track list and you randomly select a part of the show that the title fits. Biz is a gentleman from Australia whom I know nothing about., but I shall be buying the eponymously titled EP this track comes from. “Why?” I hear you say. “Because it’s ace and shows an intuitive grasp of high level machine funk” I say. And that’s all there is to it really.
Track Of Yesterday: Marco Shuttle - WyMEKE (Marco Shuttle Productions)
A very sophisticated piece of deep, sci-fi techno with obvious Jeff Mills influences, but also standing apart. This is pure atmosphere building, deep sci-fi space music with a kitsch twist. That is to say that although this is s serious tune, it also soundtracks a parallel vision of the future. One that is deep[lying embedded in a post-war, cold war ‘reds under the bed” threat. It’s difficult to know how much mileage an apparently future proofed genre such as techno has. However, the best of it always looks back in order to go forward, no matter how counterintuitive that ,may be. And this is such a tune.
Thursday, September 10, 2026
Wednesday, September 09, 2026
Track Of The Day: RV800 - Subsync (Haventepe Version)
I posted the original of this a while back, so there’s no reason why this version shouldn’t go up as well. Haventepe doesn’t release enough music, that said, he’s probably Turkey’s most under appreciated export. He does keep a low profile though, so it’s probably something that doesn’t worry him that much. For this remix of ‘Subsync’ he inhabits the softer, more gossamer frayed layers of dub techno and turns in a masterclass of ambience, restraint and longevity. It’s cut from a different cloth than Basic channel, but it’s every bit as good in its own way. More rhythmic maybe? What it lacks in surprise and mutation it makes up for in pace and groove. Brilliant!
Tuesday, September 08, 2026
Track Of The Day: .VRIL - Signum Ex Auro (Delsin)
New .VRIL on Delsin is always a reason to celebrate, and ‘Signum Ex Auro’ delivers insofar as grainy dub techno with a penchant for the portentous and panoramic are concerned. When I listen to music like this I always wonder what inspires it and how does it make the journey to its manifestation. The sum total of influence, and that influence itself, that goes into the birth of this tune is completely beyond my comprehension. Where did the idea come from. Was it a random thought while buying a frozen pizza at a well-known discount supermarket? We might never know.
Monday, September 07, 2026
Track Of The Day: Kalkulator - Big Black Eyes (Nullptr remix) (Alien Communications)
Marvellous, otherworldly (which is the point innit) electro from Kalkulator remixed by Nullptr. Slow and insidious which maximises the funk, this sounds like a description of an alien and I haven’t been able to get it out of my head since I first heard it. I don’t know of any other tracks by Kalkulator, this one comes as part of a gargantuan 51 track release on a usb stick. Thankfully it’s available separately on Bandcamp. Lovely stuff. Let’s put ‘The X-Files’ on.
Track Of Yesterday: Rene Breitbarth - Der Seelenreiniger (Treibstoff)
This track came out in 1998, a time when Treibstoff was in full ascendancy. It was a label which effortlessly blended deep house and techno and although I don’t own many of its releases, (two I think), it was one I always monitored. I remember buying one release at Flying Records in Soho just before going to a Faith party with some of the DJs there. They opened the shop late on Saturday evening and we all piled in after the pub and played records together before going to the party. All I can remember about that was Maurice Fulton & Justin Robertson played, as well as the residents. And I’m going off on a tangent, which is a pity because this track by Rene Breitbarth is a killer. It’s mid-paced and as deep as you like. And what really raises the hairs on the back of the neck is the little vibey flourish that hovers above the bass which blends in with what sounds like a short wave radio being tuned. Lovely analogue warmth.
Saturday, September 05, 2026
Track Of The Day: Rhythm & Sound - Music A Fe Rule (Part 1) (Wackies)
It’s getting late and inspiration is in short supply. Not a problem. Just reach for the Rhythm & Sound back catalogue. There’s something that hasn’t been plundered on these pages for a while. And the vibe on this is very much in tandem with the way I feel right now. There’s a positive sense of inertia that comes from this tune. Neutral stasis. The brain is lying in state while the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. I struggle to think of anything original to write when commenting on one of Maurizio’s productions. So I’ll return to the inevitable and just wrap myself up in it.
Friday, September 04, 2026
Track Of The Day: Cabanne - Smiling Papers (Perlon)
French clairvoyant Cabanne started releasing music at the turn of the century and, by the time this track came out on Perlon’s ‘Superlongevity 4’, the minimal movement was at its height. Cabanne has never had a solo release on the label, but I guess having one tucked away on four slabs of vinyl is really as good as it gets, inasmuch as it forces the diggers to go that one step further. And ‘Smiling Papers’ is so very typical of the genre. Having said that, it shows a whimsical side and sounds like the type of music that the occupants of Bagpuss’ house might record if they were let loose with some good beans. It’s unerringly funky and around every corner there’s a wild animal. Small furry creatures make noises that can only come from the depths of a forest at midnight while the percussion sounds like the product of a hoodoo hoedown.;. And then you’ve got the vocal sample which feels like punctuation and percussion combined. This stuff is coming back better than before.
Thursday, September 03, 2026
Track Of The Day: Nicola Cruz - Heliocenter (Kalahari Oyster Cult)
Lots of great electro coming out at the moment, and this release on the always interesting Kalahari Oyster Cult from Nicola Cruz from the ‘Telemagenta’ EP is something that gets it just right. It’s a nice, smooth glide through the intergalactic pathways of funk with enough going on around the beats to give it an extra dimension. Beat metamorphosis through a variety of tempos and environmental factors feels effortless. There’s also good use of a disembodied spoken word, the gist of which I’m yet to understand. But that’s what it’s all about isn't it? Fragments of futuristic consciousness coalescing at an undefined velocity.
Wednesday, September 02, 2026
Track Of The Day: The Dominican - Equator Fever (Forensic)
Like many others I first heard this track on Terry Francis’ immortal Essential Mix back in 1998. And it really is a corker. Trance trace elements blend with wild pitch to create a piece of house that is both functional and show stopping. It probably has more in common with what was coming out on the likes of Tribal and Twisted than most other labels of the time. Terry Francis, Nathan Coles and Eddie Richards all had a preternatural ability to seek out the best of the best. It didn’t matter what the labels was or whether it was techno or house. And it was inevitable that the terminology would be bastardised to describe the most overproduced and soulless stuff imaginable when all that it described was the best of multiple genres that could be mixed together and induce systematic shape throwing. Forensic put out some good stuff. Amongst which were three releases by DKMA, aka Dana Kelley, aka Callisto. All worth seeking out.
Tuesday, September 01, 2026
Track Of The Day: Joshua - Let The Spirit (Prescription)
This track comes from ‘The Foot Therapy’ EP, which was the first Prescription release I bought, as well as the first time I heard Joshua on record. He became one of my go to producers for a while. There was something unique about the way he fused dub and house. This track isn’t like that at all though. Instead it blends disco cut ups with house and an overarching symphonic feel. It’s probably my favourite tune from this release, which is no mean feat when Abacus, Ron Trent and Chez Damoier are the other artists who contribute. There’s something very full-bodied and soulful about this track that is unsurpassable. Of course there are many as good, but none better. One from the burring heart of house music.