A quarter century since this was released. That makes you think innit. I can remember going into Black Market Records in Soho to buy this. And when ‘Miura’ came out shortly after 9/11 I repeated the process. This is such a great, understated track though. Three parts electro and three parts disco, lifted from the lino onto the dance floor. I used to play ‘24K’ out a lot more, but would throw this on if the crowd needed a Kraftwerk fix. Bloody marvellous.
Title: Heritage Vol. 2
Artist: Innershades
Label: Altered Circuits
Cat Number: ALT023
Genre: Evocative Sleaze
1: Mind State
2: System Breach
3: Fuse Memory
4: Rhythm Composer
I guess if anything it falls into the loosely-categorised compartment of “club music”, currently used as a coverall for the dark, the seedy and the messy, then this might be a good example. The kick is stronger on ‘Mind State’ and ‘Rhythm Composer’, with the latter running away with itself into the hills of trance. ‘System Breach’ and ‘Fuse Memory’ are lighter, and a little slower. There are certain motifs that cover most bases here though. Such as the electronic barrel organ sound that Innershades seems to be particularly fond of. This dominates ‘Mind State’ particularly and pops up sporadically on tracks 2 and 3. It has arpeggios in its DNA. There’s a very euro disco through the looking glass feel to the whole release which is a very good thing. However, a little bit more variation on a theme would be nice.
Title: Our Darkness
Artist: Anne Clark
Label: Dark Entries
Cat Number: DE-340
Genre: Electro Disco
1: Our Darkness (Remix)
2: Our Darkness (Dub Mix)
3: Our Darkness (Razormaid Mix)
4: Sleeper In Metropolis (Extended Remix)
5: Poem For A Nuclear Romance
I have to confess that this is a new one on me, whether or not it was played in the clubs I used to frequent in mid 80s Liverpool. A very minimal, dense and autodidactic piece of work. The vocal is spoken and comes across as somewhere between a proclamation and a poem, delivered in such a way as to amplify the pain between the lines.This type of stuff has always been appealing on the discerning dancefloor, the one that treads a fine line between hope and despair. So, It’s easy to see how it was so influential in the early Chicago and Detroit scenes. There’s not much variety between the three versions here btw. ‘Sleeper In Metropolis’ goes down a similar path, utilising slowed down breakbeats and an intense, arpeggiated synth. ‘Poem For A Nuclear Romance’ terminates this release and is very much of its time. I’m glad I didn’t hear this at the height of the cold war. Maybe play it before watching ‘Threads’, just to get in the mood?
Still sounding fresh today, ‘So Tough’ appeared on ‘Cut’ and has funk in spades. The rest of the world is still catching up with stuff like this, in spite of it being almost fifty years old. And if there is one group which was ahead of the curve at this time it was The Slits. No other quartet playing at that time made light of such a wide range of influences and, in the process, managed to fuse them into something unique. The Pop Group would not have existed without them, nor the next generation of DIY beat combos. Their influence runs deep and they aren’t lauded enough.
Here are gentle hippie folk System 7, aka Steve Hillage and Martine Giraudy, getting theremin treatment from Plastikman, aka Richie Hawtin, at the height of his powers. There’s something so satisfying about the sound that comes from the 303 on this track. It’s ust a kick and a long drawn out acidic squelch until the handclaps come in, and they sound magnificent too. This is big room techno before the concept existed, but the beauty of it is is it’s excellent. Not a loopy cop out. And once the hi-hats come in at around4 minutes there’s no going back. The intensity just builds and builds. Layer upon layer of sound battering you into submission. And yet it manages to remain eternally funky.
From the ‘Minimal Nation’ double pack on Axis that I discovered while leafing through the disorganised boxes in Salinas, a record shop in Montmartre in the early nineties. Tracks like ‘Museum’ defined Robert Hood’s artistic vision at the time and usher din a whole new approach to techno which was undeniably from Detroit, but darker, more introspective, funky and subtle. ‘Museum’ is probably most notable for its elastic approach to syncopation. So much is done with singular elements in this track. Less is more innit.
If Peace Division are known for anything, it’s for their all-out percussive bombs, most of which coincided with the west coast tribal tech house boom at the turn if the century. ‘Feel My Drums’ sort of eponymously explains this. Like a lot of the tracks of the time it sounds better pitched down. Even doing this doesn’t distract from the sonic maelstrom that you find yourself in the middle of though. The drums are the sharpest tool in the box here, with the other elements ranging from the dub, to the parasitic, synthetic embellishments that provide focal points throughout. This was made more than twenty years ago and the magnitude of this sound has never been replicated.
An incredible, early piece of work from Carl Finlow, amongst others. ‘Surface Intention’ is the AA side to the magnificent ‘Moonax’. It’s a brooding, intergalactic monster whose power is in its restraint. I mean the drums don’t kick in until around half way through. It’s all about rewarding the listener, but it is also a bit of a tease. I like tracks where the different elements seem to have been atomised. Everything here feels like constituent base element meltdown. This what happens when you attempt to put a tune in a centrifuge and then try and make sense of it while your head is still spinning.
It’s great when a track sums up its title in such a contradictory way. ‘Feelings Of The Future’ is one such expression. This would have been appropriate in the mid eighties, around the time I visited Berlin for the first time, (about to go for the second this June), and the cold war was in full swing. Not that I was A space-age synth disco connoisseur at that time. That would have made life more interesting. It did seep through though, from time to time. And whether or not I was immersed in it, this track IS it. The “looking back to look forward” aesthetic distilled into fine freaky minutes.
