Monday, August 10, 2026
Sunday, August 09, 2026
Track Of The Day: DAF – Kebab Träume (Mute)
Watching this video I’m reminded of being in Berlin in June. Not just that but this footage looks very much like the are we stayed in. There were some great kebab shops s couple of metro stops away as well. This is a great track. Slow motion electronic menace. Cold War vibes. A menacing tone implicit within the groove. Ahead of its time this one. We were dancing to it and other insidious grooves at The Chelsea Reach every Tuesday, as well as the State on a Thursday and the System on a Saturday. Fridays at Leighton Court also. I don’t know where I slept in those days, but it was rarely at home.
Saturday, August 08, 2026
Track Of The Day: John Tejada & Arian Leviste - Ramps & Rails (Playhouse)
From the ‘Geriatricks’ EP and picked because I was reminded the John Tejada is till alive & kicking on account of posting his The Lot Radio set earlier today. Is ‘Ramos & Rails’ a skateboarding reference? Anyways, this is the glitchy minimal sound then kids were going crazy for back in the day. As much about the space between the sounds as the noise itself, and funky as hell. Best when part of a set which pairs it up with more depth and linear groove. A kind of pause I the passage if you know what I mean. A pot pour of fragments which have somehow become elongated into their own sonic signatures, and often misunderstood. It’s coming back. Watch this space.
Friday, August 07, 2026
Track Of The Day: Sly & the Family Stone - Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) (Epic)
I’ve just finished reading the eponymously-titled autobiography of Sly Stone. It was good. However, as with most autobiographies of musicians, there is a sense of the whole work being a collection of sequential anecdotes. After what he went though the most amazing thing is that he had any memory left. This is one of his best. Maybe the first time a bass was ever plucked so specifically and disco before it existed. I think the video is important because these recorded TV performances very much recall a time and place. Even though the UK already had its fair share of music-based tv, nothing compares to the technicolour dream of American band performance in the late sixties and early seventies. I don’t know if this particular video is mimed or done live, but it doesn’t really matter. it’s memorable and, as far as an example of a group of musicians standing in front of the cameras is concerned, never bettered.
Thursday, August 06, 2026
Track Of The Day: DJ Sneak - Show Me The Way (Henry Street)
In the mid n nineties DJ Sneak seemed to be recording on every label known to man, although it was probably his work on Relief that brought him more fame than any other. Anyway, ‘Show Me The Way6’ hit the shelves just as filter disco was taking off and there you go. Timing is everything because this tune isn’t that remarkable. It does have that certain something though. Probably familiarity more than anything., You know what’s coming around the corner and if you like those sampled strings along with what sounds like tin cans being banged together then you’re on to a winner. DJ Sneak’s house gangster persona is a little bit hackneyed. He does have the chops to back it up though.
Wednesday, August 05, 2026
Track Of The Day: IAMTHATIAM - The Invisible Children (Fit Sound)
There was a period when Jamal Moss seemed to be releasing a record every five minutes. And the first thing that I would think is “but are they all any good?” The answer is of course no. Interesting though, and with sparks of genuine genius and a feel for the machines. ‘The Invisible Children’ is such a track. It feels like a hauntalogical lost transmission from a parallel world. A sonic imprint that has slipped through the cracks of reality and taken on a new life in a surreal sound clash where the thread of abstraction pootles along but never gets lost.
Chimes At Midnight lV
After having procrastinated like few others do, I finally got my act together for the fourth mix in the ‘Chimes At Midnight’ series, the last one being uploaded around four years ago. This coincided with me getting a dog. However, that’s no excuse. And while I know that the online mix market is one of the most oversaturated in the world, how many mixes are named after a film that features Orson Wells in the role of Falstaff? This doesn’t have any influence on the music though. There are no madrigals featured in these sets. I practiced this once, went on holiday and then got busy on the ones and twos yesterday. The equipment is the same as last time. Two Technics 1210s, two Pioneer XDJ700s and an Allen & Heath Xone:32. I’m sure I speak for most when I say that doing this sort of thing is a cathartic experience. Once finished the sense of accomplishment is similar to that of finishing a long run, (another thing that’s taken up a lot of time since 2022). So here’s the track list. And, although one or two of them might be out of order, this is what I got through.
Russ Gabriel - Peace For Thought (Ferox)
T.Dave - Bilaterale (We’re Going Deep)
Sweater - Feelings Of The Future (Omnidisc)
ARDB - Mind Drift (Geodesic)
Module One - Animation (Luck Of Access)
DKMA - The Safe (Forensic)
Idealist - Mountain Lake (Mojuba)
DJ Catt & DJ Foxx - Casified Modern Music (Deep Mix) (Casa Del Soul)
Olsvanger - Goldman’s Propellor (Craigie Knowes)
SIT - Magnetised (Amphia)
Fred P - Dance Of Rhythms (Syncrophone)
Eversines - Progression (Nous Klaer Audio)
Peace Division - Body & Soul (Low Pressings)
Na Nich - Crust (Space Lab)
JS Zeiter - Open (Lempuyang)
Christopher Leger & Haventepe - Silica (Berg Audio)
Halo Varga - Future (Siesta)
Urges 3 (Appleheadz Remix) (Primitive)
Aril Brikha - On & On (Transmat)
Stochje - Granada (Convextion Remix) (Syncrophone)
Reeko - Para El Conjunto De Las Esferas (KR3)
Thoughtforms - Chicago Trance (Thoughtforms)
VC-118A - Avian (Delsin)
Dominic Cappello - Be Still The Need (Clone Royal Oak)
DJ Compufunk - Beyond Mind (Beltran’s From Detroit With Love Mix) (Creative Issues)
Tuesday, August 04, 2026
Track Of The Day: Underground Resistance - The Illuminator (UR)
The UR quality control is set at a very high level. And ‘The Illuminator’ may be at the highest of all. I think I’ve finally arrived at the point where I think that this transcendent pice of music is, along with ‘Gamma Player’, in my all-time techno top three. I don’t know what number three is yet though, so I’m working on it. Hi-tech soul was invented to describe tracks like this. Coming as part of a double pack in an unassuming brown cardboard sleeve, there’s not m much to rival it in the UR canon. There are some tracks though, and maybe one of them could be number three? I’ve got one in mind now. But nothing touches this for soul. Listening to it is like practicing hydromancy. The results might not always be desirable but that’s life. You take what you can get I guess. So much depth eloquently sustained over eleven minutes. That’s not easy.
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