tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25379882597900857332024-03-18T19:18:35.159-07:00Energy Flash"My purpose was simple: to catch the feel, the pulse of rock, as I had lived through it. What I was after was guts, and flash, and energy, and speed" - NIK COHN -
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "When the music was new and had no rules" -LUNA C SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comBlogger1722125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537988259790085733.post-17451924965126987342024-03-18T10:23:00.000-07:002024-03-18T18:01:13.358-07:00Sixx maniacs<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnYAfixXrEEbir3JHrjJCyeS0tuPYwWl3yif_QFp-ase0sWBGZTJL1z7eNRtsio2ElXX24MEO8l0iMd7lFWZRpxw6TT6AuYBikNZNbSukYO0bNUeB3BybDTEdtEnCX2qRpcQ5Kx4sDAcaPCO4YsIlcjAZQkWgXBlQ-lLC89Y5L-bnkuDeEJBW34x5U_w/s680/vivien%20goldman%20bob%20marley%20funeral.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnYAfixXrEEbir3JHrjJCyeS0tuPYwWl3yif_QFp-ase0sWBGZTJL1z7eNRtsio2ElXX24MEO8l0iMd7lFWZRpxw6TT6AuYBikNZNbSukYO0bNUeB3BybDTEdtEnCX2qRpcQ5Kx4sDAcaPCO4YsIlcjAZQkWgXBlQ-lLC89Y5L-bnkuDeEJBW34x5U_w/s680/vivien%20goldman%20bob%20marley%20funeral.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Yqd9JdW_jgU" width="320" youtube-src-id="Yqd9JdW_jgU"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: center;">Sixx of one, half a dozen of the other...</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Here's a really interesting <a href=" https://pioneerworks.org/broadcast/vivien-goldman-jamaican-bass-bad-mind" target="_blank">piece by</a> <b>Vivien Goldman</b> about <b>Rebel Sixx</b> and what she calls "Bad Mind" - a musical mood of desolation and distrust emanating from Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago. The feature is informed by her decades-long relationship with the Caribbean and its music, including a recent spell living in Jamaica. Along with a rich sense of the economic realities of the region, the piece involves on-the-ground research into the rivalries between different garrison communities, territorialized conflicts that played out in music, in gang strife, and in politics. It draws parallels between the attempted assassination of Bob Marley and the murder of Sixx. <div><br /></div><div>Until reading this long piece, everything I knew about Rebel Sixx was from <b>Kit Mackintosh</b>'s <i>Neon Screams</i>, where his music is extravagantly celebrated in the chapter on trap dancehall and "Trinibad".</div><div><br /></div><div>What struck me reading Goldman's piece is the huge gulf between the ways in which she and Mackintosh respond to the music of Sixx and similar 21st Century dancehall artists. Which is perhaps not that odd given that a couple of generations separate them. Still, it's surprising that there's almost zero overlap, no point of contiguity between the two sensibilities. </div><div><br /></div><div>Mackintosh is a young man intoxicated by the surfaces of the sound, giving himself and his prose over fully to the<a href="https://thequietus.com/articles/30434-kit-mackintosh-neon-screams" target="_blank"> ecstasies of vocal psychedelia</a>: the unearthly transmutation of the human voice through Auto-Tune, Harmony Engine, and other processing technologies pushed to the extreme. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gW8B2pV2ZnM" width="320" youtube-src-id="gW8B2pV2ZnM"></iframe></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>A lifelong lover of and critical champion for Caribbean music. Goldman hears <i>through</i> the surface to the social text. Indeed she finds the songs and singing of Rebel Sixx (and others like Shane-O and Rygin King) haunting "<span style="font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><i>despite
its excessive use of vocoder</i>".</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/V60J_KmU5uk" width="320" youtube-src-id="V60J_KmU5uk"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CIZXGrxOSSI" width="320" youtube-src-id="CIZXGrxOSSI"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/V49_PcJHRfw" width="320" youtube-src-id="V49_PcJHRfw"></iframe><br /><div><div><br /></div><div><div><br /></div></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Kit Mackintosh on Rebel Sixx: </div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"><b>"Rebel Sixx... perpetually phases and fluctuates between multiversal realities in his tracks. He's forever suspended in the slipstreams of quantum superposition as he manages to simultaneously manifest in every form imaginable. Like the hall of mirrors visual distortions observers experience near neutron stars and black holes - multiple-imaging, the wavelengths of light stretching and squashing - Rebel Sixx's vocal timbre shifts at ever turn.</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"><b>"In his tracks - like "Evil Me Dweet', 'Quick Evil Pt. 2', 'Dem Know', 'Evilous', Parliament', 'Rifle War', and 'Looney'- Rebel's voice will be shattered and fractal in one moment, then squished and squeaky in the next, but then bulbous and bubble-shaped immediately afterwards as successive layers of multi-tracking, pitch-shifting, reverbs, choruses and fuck knows what else are interfaced with his Auto-Tune. His voice will sound like anything from the radiant curvature of sunshine around the Earth's atmosphere to the jagged layers of off-centre red and blue you see when you view 3-D images without the special glasses on. Rebel Sixx's music is an exercise in bending, refracting and contorting synaesthetic light.....</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"><b>"To understand Trinibad is to wander through the desolate corridors of abandoned cognition; it has no memories and no associations. The music doesn't harken back to anything, nor does it fill in the blanks. Rather it leaves you suspended in a perpetual year zero... Listening to it you hallucinate states of consciousness but not colours or shapes or places or people.... Nothing really exists in it. Nothing's quite experienced."</b></span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Vivien Goldman on Rebel Sixx: </div><div><br /></div><div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">" A wry intelligence in his voice first drew me in. The way Rebel Sixx sang it, bloody images became a sad seduction, leading to contemplation; his sweet and sour sound poetically, cynically, recounting brutality with a honeyed soprano and heavenly timing.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">"He was a musical original, and I had no idea when I first heard his music that he was dead, let alone the circumstances. When I fell for Rebel like any fangirl, I assumed he was Jamaican as he was so popular there. During that year I spent back on the island, his songs were everywhere—the bleak delicacy of his and Travis World’s “No Trust No Love,” and “Rifle War,” “Ghetto Prophet,” “Message to the Heart.” As I adjusted to the feel of this music, oddly bass-free and with an alarming emphasis on the evils of Bad Mind, realizing my favorites were by one artist helped me to absorb and understand the new sound.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">"Among the phrases Rebel spread was “Fully Dunce,” a backhanded compliment. When the expression wound up on bookbags and t-shirts, Rebel was accused of spreading anti-intellectualism—whereas he was always encouraging youth to keep studying. His sardonic throwaway had been enough to start a craze and a controversy. His early death disturbed me so deeply, I needed to find out what had happened.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">"It was, I soon learned, a direct hit. Two masked men broke in at 11:45 PM on Sunday, July 5, 2020, and shot him 20 times at close range at his home in Bon Air Gardens, Arouca, outside Port of Spain; Rebel hadn’t heard them enter as he was on his Playstation with headphones. Obviously Rebel had upset some people badly – but his music sang so implicitly of humanity with all our foibles! Why would people want Rebel killed, even as his art was deepening?"</span></div></div><div><br /></div><div><div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnYAfixXrEEbir3JHrjJCyeS0tuPYwWl3yif_QFp-ase0sWBGZTJL1z7eNRtsio2ElXX24MEO8l0iMd7lFWZRpxw6TT6AuYBikNZNbSukYO0bNUeB3BybDTEdtEnCX2qRpcQ5Kx4sDAcaPCO4YsIlcjAZQkWgXBlQ-lLC89Y5L-bnkuDeEJBW34x5U_w/s680/vivien%20goldman%20bob%20marley%20funeral.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="510" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnYAfixXrEEbir3JHrjJCyeS0tuPYwWl3yif_QFp-ase0sWBGZTJL1z7eNRtsio2ElXX24MEO8l0iMd7lFWZRpxw6TT6AuYBikNZNbSukYO0bNUeB3BybDTEdtEnCX2qRpcQ5Kx4sDAcaPCO4YsIlcjAZQkWgXBlQ-lLC89Y5L-bnkuDeEJBW34x5U_w/w480-h640/vivien%20goldman%20bob%20marley%20funeral.jpg" width="480" /></a></div></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikzG8eCCM2jHMH23dTJE8H5xAxr_iwKCg5HyOiUnKQvD1Pi2FSCzWi35bENZsar0za-EYeD79qKjoFXfTtzVBUfHnfEJ96lf6bW1LpryZBavck_wn9KJBbt_dp3QhrZW5or2ffkvYu3w_HiLD4GbrltvK-OYfZR0zvrg1EepubTW-BF-yl3MGkfQjYEw/s2010/vivien%20goldman%20bob%20marley%20personal%20reminiscence.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2010" data-original-width="1340" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikzG8eCCM2jHMH23dTJE8H5xAxr_iwKCg5HyOiUnKQvD1Pi2FSCzWi35bENZsar0za-EYeD79qKjoFXfTtzVBUfHnfEJ96lf6bW1LpryZBavck_wn9KJBbt_dp3QhrZW5or2ffkvYu3w_HiLD4GbrltvK-OYfZR0zvrg1EepubTW-BF-yl3MGkfQjYEw/w426-h640/vivien%20goldman%20bob%20marley%20personal%20reminiscence.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><div>I'm from the generation in between Viv and Kit - so it makes sense that I'd be equally attracted to both ways of feeling the music. I'd go further than that, though - where I want to be, critically, is <i>exactly</i> that zone between ecstatic surface and social reality. I'm interested in the membrane between the mythopoeic sound-shapes and the lifeworld that effuses them. Roots and future, content and form, truth and illusion: I wouldn't tip the balance to one side or the other. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Oc_xiGeXfwA" width="320" youtube-src-id="Oc_xiGeXfwA"></iframe></div><br /><div><br /></div></div><div>Tommy Lee Sparta, another totemic / talismanic figure in <i>Neon Screams</i>, also crops up quite a bit in Goldman's "Bad Mind Music" piece. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/83UDdNereZY" width="320" youtube-src-id="83UDdNereZY"></iframe></div><br /><div><br /></div>SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537988259790085733.post-4326771884694132072024-03-16T11:13:00.000-07:002024-03-16T11:13:25.581-07:00"'The fast' is packing them in"<p><a href=" https://racketmn.com/crimes-against-ravers-are-the-fastest-djs-in-minneapolis-st-paul" target="_blank">Interesting piece</a> by <b>Michaelangelo Matos</b> for <i>Racket</i> about Minnesota deejay crew <b>Crimes Against Ravers</b> and their 200 bpm nu-gabber sets, which are drawing local youth to alarmingly crowded house parties.</p><p>Here's one of the crew with a <a href="https://soundcloud.com/soupka/01-cocaine-induced-psychosis" target="_blank">Cocaine Induced Psychosis Mix</a></p><p>Even the cru's graphix flashback to the era of Mokum and K.N.O.R. and Forze.</p><p>"<i>For a recently made limited-edition screenprint T-shirt, Matt drew “a ’90s gabber goblin Calvin [of Calvin & Hobbes] pissing on the turntables.</i>” </p><p>Does seem to be a general drift back to velocity happening on various fronts </p><p>Maybe it's related to this point Matos makes: </p><p><i>"After the pandemic, a lot of kids were locked up for two-three years and are ready to rage. And C.A.R. is an outlet for that.</i></p><p><i>"“That was definitely what I felt a lot at the start,” Joe says. “I think a lot of us felt and still do feel the itch—you’ve just got to get out and dance your heart out.”</i></p><p>But also this:</p><p><i>“It’s that, plus just how fucked up the whole world is,” Matt says. “This is a nice outlet to let off steam.”</i></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537988259790085733.post-61503394209570706362024-03-14T11:54:00.000-07:002024-03-14T11:54:09.338-07:00Jerald the Junglist<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/c8Uxlvk9UZA" width="320" youtube-src-id="c8Uxlvk9UZA"></iframe></div><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_bQ_N5DL3p8" width="320" youtube-src-id="_bQ_N5DL3p8"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4QLjmypHw30" width="320" youtube-src-id="4QLjmypHw30"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DVWMfKEVS9o" width="320" youtube-src-id="DVWMfKEVS9o"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HXCtZLwj4FQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="HXCtZLwj4FQ"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aj20FkqDb7Y" width="320" youtube-src-id="aj20FkqDb7Y"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dI1OMWEd2QU" width="320" youtube-src-id="dI1OMWEd2QU"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537988259790085733.post-23731962145403329652024-03-12T17:29:00.000-07:002024-03-12T17:29:37.594-07:00Junglists, F.C. <p><i> The Arnett Gardens Football Club is a Jamaican professional football club based in Kingston, which currently plays in the Jamaica Premier League.</i></p><p><i>The team is based in the Arnett Gardens community of South Saint Andrew, Jamaica, and plays in the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex.</i></p><p><i>The team came out of a merger between the All Saints and Jones Town Football teams in 1977. Arnett's fans originate primarily from Arnett Gardens and its adjoining communities – Jones Town, Craig Town, Hannah Town & Admiral Town. <b>The Junglists</b>, as their fans are known, are very passionate and vociferous about their team and will travel all over the country in support of the team. The Arnett Gardens part of Kingston is popularly known as the Concrete Jungle, hence the nickname of the club.</i></p>SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537988259790085733.post-44560590127835994082024-02-25T10:56:00.000-08:002024-02-26T16:46:11.434-08:00The Days Before the Deejay Was Cool<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU_qokg2ODrov9j0bLTWQKf3JO4bTmJgbKbwJsw64DHfEFEAFGKDrw11XJTDHqBSdfb1Q4yR6YWwhuYQ56ybwA6KwcR5qivzdvAVPmN2eeiu06OUlLYOf4Qvc7MRhNUAZkUiHMJUw-7KwJiYFHgfFKXGqdjCyw1kQFYF9CUAhhNTziL1ucaICnq6HJTQ/s1109/disc%20jockeys%20association%20of%20great%20britain%2012%20july%201980%20sounds.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1109" data-original-width="683" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU_qokg2ODrov9j0bLTWQKf3JO4bTmJgbKbwJsw64DHfEFEAFGKDrw11XJTDHqBSdfb1Q4yR6YWwhuYQ56ybwA6KwcR5qivzdvAVPmN2eeiu06OUlLYOf4Qvc7MRhNUAZkUiHMJUw-7KwJiYFHgfFKXGqdjCyw1kQFYF9CUAhhNTziL1ucaICnq6HJTQ/w394-h640/disc%20jockeys%20association%20of%20great%20britain%2012%20july%201980%20sounds.jpg" width="394" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp4b08dOM6odwh1T0lS2qzocxMJenRAffgp1ERDmltMkiPdy8zDpPvM2l01H0i-5UIPR4P6oTAAKt6ltqKej8V8CA4v2GrUBennuTvglg1IKIbNl6VT_a7wPqHcdMyH-_3B8f6gEqe1qZufvi0LRz8D9vi50SBlCrPWI59lKRYqa83QSh2_WrRpGuChw/s1483/professional%20deejays%20ad%201979.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1483" data-original-width="1313" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp4b08dOM6odwh1T0lS2qzocxMJenRAffgp1ERDmltMkiPdy8zDpPvM2l01H0i-5UIPR4P6oTAAKt6ltqKej8V8CA4v2GrUBennuTvglg1IKIbNl6VT_a7wPqHcdMyH-_3B8f6gEqe1qZufvi0LRz8D9vi50SBlCrPWI59lKRYqa83QSh2_WrRpGuChw/w566-h640/professional%20deejays%20ad%201979.jpg" width="566" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYIHfb1Xa0fK5fv_JDzRk1hUUS2JZ5HiSbDnj__rqdwV-golD7tCsxeh5qCwzrwXQ1C3Rohfn9iEl_cImAingd5K8Nv_TlCjoYnwdKvjuAVQXHOHzyAl7ZT5sYpyB4qztsKLqQkuy9m0rmoGgeel1VeCZOhAddDXOuqbG1f6-0Goscic7D4UVZ__WdPw/s2048/purple%20haze%20disco.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYIHfb1Xa0fK5fv_JDzRk1hUUS2JZ5HiSbDnj__rqdwV-golD7tCsxeh5qCwzrwXQ1C3Rohfn9iEl_cImAingd5K8Nv_TlCjoYnwdKvjuAVQXHOHzyAl7ZT5sYpyB4qztsKLqQkuy9m0rmoGgeel1VeCZOhAddDXOuqbG1f6-0Goscic7D4UVZ__WdPw/w480-h640/purple%20haze%20disco.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY-qWvLU1lIrL9E1cRguMMh7zIicK45l6OU1-GpJhGvQ1zlGQondp9VLrK4BG0FQruN9CssFRzJSI3ferJaYj_FQONO7Z4NOHb-Qx8kfmmt8b643SREE5A2UO5qp0FzaMxhoK04RItgkjDtgEdmhccz5gxGs2sT6_B_PCMEb-Qs_YDH1hs6wU7rKbTCg/s2048/rent%20a%20disco.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY-qWvLU1lIrL9E1cRguMMh7zIicK45l6OU1-GpJhGvQ1zlGQondp9VLrK4BG0FQruN9CssFRzJSI3ferJaYj_FQONO7Z4NOHb-Qx8kfmmt8b643SREE5A2UO5qp0FzaMxhoK04RItgkjDtgEdmhccz5gxGs2sT6_B_PCMEb-Qs_YDH1hs6wU7rKbTCg/w480-h640/rent%20a%20disco.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1G69jUdyAAKQK-pctWzvNVcnrKRDbCkioim_OQwSLbAHW3QqEPOsKlKludMlNxp6kKo77g2bMQykgL8BoDcxqQpdQFUSfTwmoewsXfwq0UEYW-fBRm68606xZ-fFJNjGhBjllP2mwWK2b96dWTgqhIjz4aM9zusD2eudwFB84j4tQODYGrt0tqaLyJw/s234/mobile%20disco.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="216" data-original-width="234" height="369" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1G69jUdyAAKQK-pctWzvNVcnrKRDbCkioim_OQwSLbAHW3QqEPOsKlKludMlNxp6kKo77g2bMQykgL8BoDcxqQpdQFUSfTwmoewsXfwq0UEYW-fBRm68606xZ-fFJNjGhBjllP2mwWK2b96dWTgqhIjz4aM9zusD2eudwFB84j4tQODYGrt0tqaLyJw/w400-h369/mobile%20disco.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTqG117WkVNkywu68v5kqxwv4TPUJCO00IFgiRf0SFKLXl5boxVyPQYsATa6BuC911PZtt43l1vnR8LCEp0hOlcG47C9CGQcHzfgJCsQsDPnpNvlWVSlxKJQPcLpbh3kY6qbP37PKvmLWRMhr_oGFqQQoQYbpRsw_g3Is3mnXj_vTIr-4Mt1toFaHc/s500/016.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="362" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTqG117WkVNkywu68v5kqxwv4TPUJCO00IFgiRf0SFKLXl5boxVyPQYsATa6BuC911PZtt43l1vnR8LCEp0hOlcG47C9CGQcHzfgJCsQsDPnpNvlWVSlxKJQPcLpbh3kY6qbP37PKvmLWRMhr_oGFqQQoQYbpRsw_g3Is3mnXj_vTIr-4Mt1toFaHc/w464-h640/016.jpg" width="464" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">For decades now, deejays have been lavishly paid superstars, headlining huge raves, doing residencies in Las Vegas... </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">Those not tempted by this prospect could pursue the alternative career path: becoming a cult figure, revered for taste and esoteric knowledge, or for mixing finesse... a respected curator of the musical past, or a tastemaker in the cutting-edge contemporary.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">Either way, renown, remuneration, and international travel are plausible outcomes.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">Disconcerting, perhaps, to cast your mind back to the days when almost all deejays were unglamorous figures - mundane technicians, light entertainment professionals, modestly paid... most of them were resident deejays, regular and unremarked upon fixtures at a local nightclub or tacky discotheque in their home town (many of them part of chains owned and run by big companies like Mecca or EMI)... in status and remuneration only a notch above the bar staff and the bouncers... Or, if they ran a for-hire mobile disco , they might travel a few miles, maybe ten at most, lugging their record boxes and audio equipment and lighting systems out the back of a van in preparation for a long night of entertaining drunken revelers at a wedding, a Christmas office do, a birthday party, or other function. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwV3MJec1OM-Xw2TF56Of63hQuXQXGU49y7kjRvrFA_q1omNIwt42WMUA_rs3IOVfGlou33VZZnMmSLNEhrHyNUMbwG7jqtmSvH3nisafrj1u3Swm1zwLlwpkKoVikSG96aunyaTs8S4AjyaOoKLmopjLiwHmrpHilYEdBNAWaGkVIIXiSIk1jdTZ0_Q/s225/mobile%20disco%20man.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="224" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwV3MJec1OM-Xw2TF56Of63hQuXQXGU49y7kjRvrFA_q1omNIwt42WMUA_rs3IOVfGlou33VZZnMmSLNEhrHyNUMbwG7jqtmSvH3nisafrj1u3Swm1zwLlwpkKoVikSG96aunyaTs8S4AjyaOoKLmopjLiwHmrpHilYEdBNAWaGkVIIXiSIk1jdTZ0_Q/w636-h640/mobile%20disco%20man.jpg" width="636" /></span></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">Okay, in the 1970s, there were a few cult-worshipped jocks... in the New York gay disco scene... at the Cosmic club in Italy... on the Northern Soul circuit... selectors at reggae sound systems.... There was already germinal beginnings of what would become the house / rave / EDM star system. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">But the vast majority of jocks were a humble, faceless lot... usually quite a bit older than their audience... reliable providers of a service.... not known or valued for their selectorial suss or technical deckmanship... simply in the business of punter-pleasing.... request-playing panderers... required to play slowies for body-to-body dancing and smooching at the night's end... </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">Generally they would have recourse to the microphone so as to smarmily segue between records that were not being mixed together. (hence the emphasis in the EMI Dancing advert above on the need for aspiring disc jockeys to have a "<i>good speaking voice</i>" - not a requirement for deejays today!). </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">And the patter would be more than a little Smashy & Nicey.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">Talking of which, probably the closest to deejay-as-star in the modern sense back then were the BBC pop jocks who'd go round the country doing the Radio One Roadshow... </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">One of the things I discovered during my research on <i>Shock and Awe</i> was that the teenybop end of glam 'n' glitter was synonymous with the discotheque - the local disco that every decent-sized town had by the early '70s. There was also a burgeoning economy of mobile deejay systems for hire. Glam was stomp-along and shout-along music, a domineeringly prominent drum sound being a fixture of records that were <i>built for dancing</i>. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">Reviewers often described singles by The Sweet, Suzi Quatro, Mud, et al, as "disco music" or "disco fodder". Gary Glitter's "Rock and Roll, Part 2" became a hit not through radio play but through the discos, gradually breaking out as a chart entry after sixteen weeks. It took nearly four months of dancefloor spins before it got its first play on the radio! </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">Although bands like Slade were big live draws and mightily rocked crowds, for the most part the pop success of glitter rock was won not through gigs but through <i>records</i>.... the tours came <i>after</i> the chart hits. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">The more astute and teenmarket-attuned record labels, like Bell, started to do out-reach to local deejays, sending them promos and in some cases getting feedback about which records were igniting the disco dancefloor. This would influence their decisions on whether to proceed to a proper pressing and a promo push with adverts in the music papers and pluggers pestering radio. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">In short: for several years before disco meant what we think of when we hear the word "disco" - black music - disco in the UK meant white pop-rock aimed at teenyboppers. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">And one of the reasons why some of the big glam 'n 'glitter artists went funk in '74-'75 - Bowie, T. Rex, Glitter - is that a shift in teen taste was happening in the discos: from stompy big-beat rock to the sway-and-shuffle of Philly soul and Van McCoy / Hues Corporation / George Macrae style soft-funk. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">One type of "disco music" was being displaced by another type of "disco music".</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">So abjectly was Bolan in need of a hit in 1975 that the single "Dreamy Lady" was credited not to T.Rex but to <b>T.Rex Disco Party</b>.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjamDxyid9eIbSbSt6sVGTl5px4BkeFMEccafQmmgIHx-X8EAPWJrCaD00P4_ZLZ1G1Tkr_4ze76gtz9g9KxjrpXp-_N8Cc2x44rLFfYToIStM5EKx2vaIG3yZeHP0cyjXizG7Kdg43XONqoa7mP8EJeJFlTPeesztf7igqb5GAYrmjhX61ktj0iaGnmQ/s1560/t%20rex%20disco%20party.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1560" data-original-width="1159" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjamDxyid9eIbSbSt6sVGTl5px4BkeFMEccafQmmgIHx-X8EAPWJrCaD00P4_ZLZ1G1Tkr_4ze76gtz9g9KxjrpXp-_N8Cc2x44rLFfYToIStM5EKx2vaIG3yZeHP0cyjXizG7Kdg43XONqoa7mP8EJeJFlTPeesztf7igqb5GAYrmjhX61ktj0iaGnmQ/w477-h640/t%20rex%20disco%20party.jpg" width="477" /></span></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Here are some snippets from my research</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">June 5<sup>th</sup>
1974 <i>Melody Maker</i> piece by Robert Partridge and Chris Charlesworth, looking at the differences between the pop scene in the U.K. and U.S.A. </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11.5pt;">“<i>The New Pop in Britain has been broken through
the discotheques. Suzi Quatro, Gary Glitter, Mud, Slade, The Sweet... all of
them make good dance records…. But in the United States there is no equivalent discotheques, no natural outlet for the New Pop</i>.”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">They also point to a lack in America of kids-oriented TV shows with pop content of which there were several in Britain. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>September 14<sup>th</sup> 1974 </b><b><i>Melody Maker</i> feature </b><b>"Going to A Go-Go", by </b><b>Geoff Brown and Laurie Henshaw </b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11.5pt;">Jonathan King and his UK Records label use discos as a test market. King will take a demo to a club, gets the deejay to put
it on, and see how kids react.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p>Bell Records - which in the States had a history of working with pop soul - used similar methods in the UK. </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>After the late S</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">ixties, when “<i>kids had stopped dancing and were to be found slumped in
comatose heaps around the floor rather than stomping or clumping or bumping
on it</i>”, there was a revival of danceable pop:</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">the kids “<i>emerged from their deep sleep</i>” and
“<i>attention returned to the feet. To the beat. Slade stamped....T. Rex
boogied… and every other manifestation of “newpop” put out 45s in 4/4 time ideal
for playing loud to the accompaniment of flashing lights and flying limbs.</i>”</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Bell </span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">drew up a list of every club in the land -- with information about the type of kids, the type of records played and the time in the night at which they were played.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">When deejays flipped Glitter's "R</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">ock and Roll, Part 1" over and played the near-instrumental B-side "Rock and Roll, Part 2"... “<i>the Paunch was launched</i>”</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p>Glitter's producer </o:p></span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Mike Leander describes the disco as “<i>a sort of
market research.... We... are with
a record company </i>[Bell]<i> that has terrific contacts and connections on a person to
person basis with deejays in discotheques.... When </i></span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><i>a record is about to come out we now service around 600 discotheques with copies</i>”</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p>Deejays, </o:p></span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">because of “<i>their good relationship
with the company will give a call back and tell us the reaction, especially if
it’s been a good one. You’ll know pretty quickly. Either the place’ll start
jumping up or the kids drift off the dance floor and sit down. The deejay is a
really important cog in the machine… he’s a very good barometer.</i>”</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> "<i>L</i></o:p></span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><i>ook at it is this way. There are, say, a
thousand discos throughout the country each filled with 2,000 kids. Now they’ll
play a popular disco record three times a night and they’ll play it six nights
a week. On a national scale that’s amazing promotion.</i>”</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> "<i>T</i></o:p></span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><i>he kids’ll start going into their local record
shop and ask dealers for a copy. The dealers normally only stock the top 30 but
in one area they’ll become aware over, say, a two week period that they’re
losing a lot of sales, because this one particular record isn’t in stock. S</i></span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><i>o after 40 or 50 kids have been in asking for
the record and this happens in several areas the dealers will start ordering a
dozen or maybe a few dozen copies and this feedback will reach the factory. They’ll notice they’re receiving 300 to 400 orders a week for a record. From
the factory, this will filter back to the company itself.</i>”</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;">But there are some records that kids love to dance to but don't necessarily want to spend 50 p to buy as a single. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Leander: “<i>I'm personally going through a period of making disco hits but I'm not setting out to be a producer of disco records only. I'm making records
to be sold."</i> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b>Side panel on Mobile Discos</b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11.5pt;">Roger Squire used to run his own mobile disco but now runs Disco Centre, a company that sells or hires disco units and lighting equipment for mobile deejays</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span>Squire's business is booming - his annual turnover is £2</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">50,000 </span></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p>He</o:p></span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"> reckons that there are 20 thousand to 25
thousand mobile discos in the UK and about 40 thousand deejays in the country. </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p>Your av</o:p></span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">erage Mobile disco is a two man operation --
the deejay who does the patter and has the personality + a technically minded pal. </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They play at weddings, Masonic dos, football
club functions...</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Average work rate: from two nights a week to seven nights at week.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 15.3333px;">Fee ranges from £</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">15 to </span><span style="font-size: 15.3333px;">£</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">18</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">c.f. what a Radio One deejay can charge for a gig: £250 </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUIiNvhyphenhypheni4mawJheHGNPYTRgFU7Nxz6EMyNvpEmcUpJAstoJpdfkKmS6Xoemwbe35o1mMXxl0iSgd4jhoHVSkcgVl5WkX9Ma8sZVat7HxENgElic3zKBYupXdISobjCik6MkL8sBas2nJB1imTc7QhRBcQ4Aylyvs7LkDr_f_Mw8a3sImHZyigtbX2/s1390/asvert-for-disco-equipment-in-1970s-record-mirror-magazine-2G0TXG5.jpg" style="clear: left; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1390" data-original-width="878" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUIiNvhyphenhypheni4mawJheHGNPYTRgFU7Nxz6EMyNvpEmcUpJAstoJpdfkKmS6Xoemwbe35o1mMXxl0iSgd4jhoHVSkcgVl5WkX9Ma8sZVat7HxENgElic3zKBYupXdISobjCik6MkL8sBas2nJB1imTc7QhRBcQ4Aylyvs7LkDr_f_Mw8a3sImHZyigtbX2/w404-h640/asvert-for-disco-equipment-in-1970s-record-mirror-magazine-2G0TXG5.jpg" width="404" /></a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKrrndYD8By5bDnxDCC5hfWKe8DdW5LMdVV6fQYMOWhD4vwwUvXDaeC0OT5MBEYGFFGMkmLedcHf1TQG500WiFpkLPhuJ36AXTwJLEQ0GQJxu4Udx0pZg8hA3eT4H5XZuD8RLj1X_0_XYIvKOXyc4cRCub9HxxN0_DzKJRwPuuJc7xAbQb0_Dz8lvR/s266/download%20(1).jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" data-original-height="190" data-original-width="266" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKrrndYD8By5bDnxDCC5hfWKe8DdW5LMdVV6fQYMOWhD4vwwUvXDaeC0OT5MBEYGFFGMkmLedcHf1TQG500WiFpkLPhuJ36AXTwJLEQ0GQJxu4Udx0pZg8hA3eT4H5XZuD8RLj1X_0_XYIvKOXyc4cRCub9HxxN0_DzKJRwPuuJc7xAbQb0_Dz8lvR/w400-h286/download%20(1).jpg" width="400" /></span></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji0cdPGh6t3CQX7M7oR6T7nOheCsirKQfuaEDOGSiCNjgE_r_muaJA_J9guJ1cdTbr69UMjRzcxsz4eobkSI8O8kQ_Te4vnNhlkuWQCClBqXz7xsH2s_vnmRiU-g7nAEkhWkesjnV41O-EUG-F5HwUoc5ropadO-iM7-RgdFslfRI12qJ53J_RRWeX/s274/images%20(1).jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" data-original-height="274" data-original-width="184" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji0cdPGh6t3CQX7M7oR6T7nOheCsirKQfuaEDOGSiCNjgE_r_muaJA_J9guJ1cdTbr69UMjRzcxsz4eobkSI8O8kQ_Te4vnNhlkuWQCClBqXz7xsH2s_vnmRiU-g7nAEkhWkesjnV41O-EUG-F5HwUoc5ropadO-iM7-RgdFslfRI12qJ53J_RRWeX/w269-h400/images%20(1).jpg" width="269" /></span></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie9VYXbaWBE_2ZznovZQ5DOpLrIqoyRsOueiELQPZTnJv4tEEC_VkFjp0MVCzGmqIJRp2tz2JeGJQakG8TPi6Tlf6QlyinQf7LA1Xk6pkbaADdcA_PXtbVEfpthpHKn2Zs1Pwab4l1GMGCcTXWOIU1t1BR6fdnou5w9U7EtqmK4DNjl1a5VFJ6yQIs/s1300/roger-squires-advert-record-mirror-1970s-2FYJKP3.jpg" style="clear: left; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1002" data-original-width="1300" height="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie9VYXbaWBE_2ZznovZQ5DOpLrIqoyRsOueiELQPZTnJv4tEEC_VkFjp0MVCzGmqIJRp2tz2JeGJQakG8TPi6Tlf6QlyinQf7LA1Xk6pkbaADdcA_PXtbVEfpthpHKn2Zs1Pwab4l1GMGCcTXWOIU1t1BR6fdnou5w9U7EtqmK4DNjl1a5VFJ6yQIs/w400-h309/roger-squires-advert-record-mirror-1970s-2FYJKP3.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0mISg9sASjgJFG4010viJLy4hzE9AS9PuQ0ePMhW89qi83qkVV80RxdvgAkF9BDNCwf_xCxWg6C6dl67MQAcswhDhIvihVPs1CdsNCEhtl6nXM_FYbtg_-r07VJ6G8UG0-1orBKW2gXW-ixzOt4Wzgdh02QH7n6Ff6qNwflnGQkS65uU4CeYnbcam/s926/squire_1.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" data-original-height="926" data-original-width="749" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0mISg9sASjgJFG4010viJLy4hzE9AS9PuQ0ePMhW89qi83qkVV80RxdvgAkF9BDNCwf_xCxWg6C6dl67MQAcswhDhIvihVPs1CdsNCEhtl6nXM_FYbtg_-r07VJ6G8UG0-1orBKW2gXW-ixzOt4Wzgdh02QH7n6Ff6qNwflnGQkS65uU4CeYnbcam/w518-h640/squire_1.jpg" width="518" /></span></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKR5y8lfvklaZXFrE74wHsrKLdgN9VUJUhRjoMhQMhApJskalCH1zhHKzJRssq9nPHdPNkunZhr-NDrwmu8-VGO09MNAIKxeFD-mkjE9uFMc9013CjlIMijP1oDaLNLuyiwkwlBKPglbFD3dZihNdjucezppwie6YxdHG4kF4eI6sW43AwPtJCZLrRPg/s242/download.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" data-original-height="208" data-original-width="242" height="550" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKR5y8lfvklaZXFrE74wHsrKLdgN9VUJUhRjoMhQMhApJskalCH1zhHKzJRssq9nPHdPNkunZhr-NDrwmu8-VGO09MNAIKxeFD-mkjE9uFMc9013CjlIMijP1oDaLNLuyiwkwlBKPglbFD3dZihNdjucezppwie6YxdHG4kF4eI6sW43AwPtJCZLrRPg/w640-h550/download.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><br /><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3KVSZRDLaHU" width="320" youtube-src-id="3KVSZRDLaHU"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Incidentally, the weekly music paper most plugged into this corner of the music market was <i>Record Mirror</i>. Specifically <i>RM</i> writer <b>James Hamilton </b><a href="https://jameshamiltonsdiscopage.com/about/" target="_blank">and his Disco column</a>. This started in September 1974 around the time the UK meaning of "disco" decisively shifted from glitterstomp to black American music, but clearly is in continuity with the fact that <i>Record Mirror</i> was the most teenybop-friendly of the four weekly music papers, the one with the youngest and most female-leaning readership, and that had pin-ups of the pop idols, along with a column penned by Marc Bolan. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">That said, Hamilton's column was squarely aimed at jocks - indeed he was <a href="https://jameshamiltonsdiscopage.com/1975/06/" target="_blank">a deejay himself</a>, with deep roots in the soul scene. As time went by, Hamilton got into <a href="https://energyflashbysimonreynolds.blogspot.com/2017/03/wobbly-bass-hooked-lurcher-jiggling.html" target="_blank">scrupulously noting the b.p.m. of each track</a> reviewed, and indeed in his capsule reviews even noting the changing b.p.m of different segments of a tune, if the tempo fluctuated. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuhkJQEYs1MHE2OlKLA6zw0JikAZT8RYHoOK2jjpFzsCpKnq9ypqH9sovsPDdYCv-CD-IzzjwuHU8B7OIb-kmTKAXnjOUKOnSZCW-T4DVk_W8nq0CFxfTi7kD9FP2P_CNLYh5cSRZLpQckzyP3auXAFo0sPNDD_2VdxlFtTYWHvyynvDMAASyOOQ9bHg/s1200/cropped-jhdp.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="279" data-original-width="1200" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuhkJQEYs1MHE2OlKLA6zw0JikAZT8RYHoOK2jjpFzsCpKnq9ypqH9sovsPDdYCv-CD-IzzjwuHU8B7OIb-kmTKAXnjOUKOnSZCW-T4DVk_W8nq0CFxfTi7kD9FP2P_CNLYh5cSRZLpQckzyP3auXAFo0sPNDD_2VdxlFtTYWHvyynvDMAASyOOQ9bHg/w640-h149/cropped-jhdp.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2bICNk47AH5jiwmzPr6MWzF1aSFj-LSwPBOb2V8xqb8W9eBvacpmoaSu_HnLVghmk2iO10qosKNnmeTVd7gINa6AOCuTIi86xKsHndPUwTe8orHfE3Iu1OtlGrTti2kAfaggu_j2fZMT5LVY00sK9UvERDdjwY7ujyyAr0V1U0PXMQMgvKx0H6Mhc7w/s1024/Record_Mirror_1975-09-27_disco-768x1024.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2bICNk47AH5jiwmzPr6MWzF1aSFj-LSwPBOb2V8xqb8W9eBvacpmoaSu_HnLVghmk2iO10qosKNnmeTVd7gINa6AOCuTIi86xKsHndPUwTe8orHfE3Iu1OtlGrTti2kAfaggu_j2fZMT5LVY00sK9UvERDdjwY7ujyyAr0V1U0PXMQMgvKx0H6Mhc7w/w480-h640/Record_Mirror_1975-09-27_disco-768x1024.png" width="480" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7ie9DmsZkPKbB2sCkt-z2ckshkHbtQBg3EvTHXM0HqAZAlkOBoaruWJKCxNqzSMAK8wXuCtIdre0kPS23OHwTriIH0ypackY1VbD0ZNJkieEnzvgKLVMV60mhv15bFdNI0ksFuVOhA5O0iLGzpolkdb6opBQv1M7KaohxMPWM2MwKVXVYiZCAmw-NMQ/s1753/record-mirror-11.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1130" data-original-width="1753" height="412" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7ie9DmsZkPKbB2sCkt-z2ckshkHbtQBg3EvTHXM0HqAZAlkOBoaruWJKCxNqzSMAK8wXuCtIdre0kPS23OHwTriIH0ypackY1VbD0ZNJkieEnzvgKLVMV60mhv15bFdNI0ksFuVOhA5O0iLGzpolkdb6opBQv1M7KaohxMPWM2MwKVXVYiZCAmw-NMQ/w640-h412/record-mirror-11.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537988259790085733.post-83113679812828455102024-02-23T11:56:00.000-08:002024-02-23T11:56:06.056-08:00Blissed Out Breakbeat Hardcore!<p>The subtitle of this compilation could hardly push my personal buttons more!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7hNk2l4-q_BMxalSxjN2Goh0o9MRhJuLW5Opy4F1p9ejDmA62AwbPMrtb_Gm3vkEOWW_5ApUsKaO0Fdc30-wVjoFxJjPiGyZ5xMg3WsAUpdMnbjQmt5JXkD2H3phjG9-f7sSL8QVDuugOtcOGSHe9fVUDILzxT2zF9ggkd5mLSTUGl4kdtkYJNH-TqQ/s1400/BLISSED%20OUT%20BREAKBEAT%20HARDCORE.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1400" data-original-width="1400" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7hNk2l4-q_BMxalSxjN2Goh0o9MRhJuLW5Opy4F1p9ejDmA62AwbPMrtb_Gm3vkEOWW_5ApUsKaO0Fdc30-wVjoFxJjPiGyZ5xMg3WsAUpdMnbjQmt5JXkD2H3phjG9-f7sSL8QVDuugOtcOGSHe9fVUDILzxT2zF9ggkd5mLSTUGl4kdtkYJNH-TqQ/w400-h400/BLISSED%20OUT%20BREAKBEAT%20HARDCORE.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Good compilation too - a surprising number of tunes I'd not heard before</p><p><b>1. Sleepwalker - Age of Aquarius (L.D remix)</b></p><p><b>2. Hedgehog Affair - Parameters</b></p><p><b>3. DJ Mayhem - Inesse 07:53</b></p><p><b>4. Luxury - Twirl</b></p><p><b>5. The Invisible Man - The Flute Tune</b></p><p><b>6. Escape - Escape (The Optical Mix)</b></p><p><b>7. Skanna - This Way</b></p><p><b>8. Xray Xperiments - Techcore</b></p><div><br /></div><p>It's the work of <b>Sam Purcell</b>, the man behind the label <b>Blank Mind</b>, whose previous releases include<a href="https://blankmindlabel.bandcamp.com/album/psychotronic" target="_blank"> a reissue </a>of <b><a href="https://energyflashbysimonreynolds.blogspot.com/2023/05/toytown-tekno-6-of.html" target="_blank">Earth Linkage Trip</a></b>'s <i>Psychotronic</i> EP. </p><p>Release rationale for Lost Paradise:</p><p><span style="font-family: courier;">With an intrigue for a particular niche of old UK hardcore which takes cues from Sheffield bleep ambience, heady rave futurism and soft, almost new age synth pads, Blank Mind presents ‘Lost Paradise: Blissed Out Hardcore 91-94’. Though the records gathered for the compilation span a short three-year period and bridge the gap between scenes, the collection manages to find a sweet spot where the influence of Warp’s Artificial Intelligence, back room chill out sonics and the nascent jungle boom meet with elements of Italian piano house and slower breakbeat cuts.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier;">Opting to focus on atmosphere to highlight shared connections; in this case the duality of often serene and calming soundscapes with frenzied breaks and bass (see Hedgehog Affair’s ‘Parameters’ and Luxury’s ‘Twirl’ respectively); Lost Paradise is a formidable collection of tracks plucked from a thriving time for British dance music experimentation. The general themes of ascension and escapism channelled through digital samplers are also inescapably linked to a turbulent time in politics, beginning in the post-Thatcher years and culminating in the year the harshest anti-rave Criminal Justice Act came into force.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier;">Initially building the compilation around DJ Mayhem’s track ‘Inesse’, Blank Mind label founder Sam Purcell and Amsterdam based producer Tammo Hesselink began a process of swapping favourites and deep cuts to spread across this 2x12” doublepack. The compilation avoids any obvious centrepieces through masterful sequencing, allowing for moments of refrain and tempo changes in a way that helps add to their overall vision of what this music is and can be; “We wanted to frame hardcore in a different light, looking at this idea of ecstasy through the traditional meaning of the word and exploring that symbolism”. By drawing from what some might consider the softer edges of the movement, the pair offer a look into the relevance of these tracks in the contemporary era, where the past years have seen both an explosion in popularity of old ambient/new-age music and a certified jungle revival. </span></p><p>Releases March 25, 2024</p><p><a href="https://blankmindlabel.bandcamp.com/album/lost-paradise-blissed-out-breakbeat-hardcore-1991-94" target="_blank">Preorder it here</a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XLKBPkl8_3I" width="320" youtube-src-id="XLKBPkl8_3I"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537988259790085733.post-20679466405394763502024-02-20T18:10:00.000-08:002024-02-20T18:10:28.565-08:00more future talkin' (Death of Rave)<p><b> Xenogothic </b>exhumes a panel discussion from 2014 involving <b>Mark Fisher</b>, <b>Lee Gamble</b>, <b>Kode9</b> aka Steve Goodman, <b>Alex Williams</b>, and <b>Lisa Blanning</b> - and bearing the title <b>The Death of Rave</b> - and does a public service by getting the debate transcribed.</p><p><a href="https://xenogothic.com/2024/02/11/the-death-of-rave-revisited-notes-on-and-a-transcription-of-the-ctm-2013-panel-discussion/" target="_blank">Go here</a> for Matt's reasons for digging this up and reflections of how it relates to current glumness, state of clubbing and club music, as well as the transcription itself</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/do-2HPWhzRw" width="320" youtube-src-id="do-2HPWhzRw"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537988259790085733.post-31315144777005061932024-02-12T16:52:00.000-08:002024-02-12T16:52:45.005-08:00Straight Out of Future<p> An <a href="https://infinitespeeds.substack.com/p/techno-inside-the-museum-of-the-living" target="_blank">interesting article </a>with an interesting title - <i>Techno: Inside the Museum of the Living Dead </i>- from interesting new-ish blog (<a href="https://infinitespeeds.substack.com/" target="_blank">really a Substack</a>) <b>Infinite Speeds</b>, the interesting work (go check the archive of previous essays) of <b>Vincent Jenewin. </b></p><p>This essay juxtaposes the "musealization of techno" with the club-closure crisis.</p><p>I particularly enjoyed the bit about "<i>the little "Drexciya-industrial-complex" that has popped up within the last few years</i>". It is bizarre - yet also all too logical - how that tuff little unit has become the basis for a production line churning out PhDs and dissertations. Not that they haven't made some great records with a fascinating mythos wrapped around them.... But you don't see the same level of exegesis with the equally-rich-and-ripe text that is Marc Acardipane / PCP. Or [insert your own example].</p><p>But more to the point, there's plenty of fantastic electronic dance music that doesn't have any text around it as such - music that sonifies rather than signifies - tracks that simply execute the task it's been set . But for those reasons gives academia nothing to latch onto. </p><p>Musealization seems to capture everything eventually, perhaps it's futile to resist. or pointless to complain... And of course I'm in this business myself, rather often. </p><p>But in the conclusion to the original 1998 <i>Energy Flash</i> I suggest that the vitality of a genre or music movement is in inverse relation to the amount of history written about it, before wryly noting that my own tome might well be an early sign that the prime was passing - had literally become The Past now, past-ure ready for memory-mastication and digestion. For when things are most vital, things move too fast for retrospection: you're in it, living it. Under the bracket "history" could be included not just books but exhibitions, box sets, documentaries, podcasts, oral history features, and every other form of curation and annotation. </p><p>If techno-house etc is fundamentally a bliss-machine, then... well, this old favorite quote springs to mind:</p><p>"<i>Criticism is always historical or prospective... the presentation of bliss is forbidden it: its preferred material is culture, which is everything in us except our present</i>" </p><p>- Roland Barthes, <i>The Pleasure of the Text.</i> </p><p>This one too: </p><p> "<i>Beauty will be amnesiac or it will not be at all</i>."</p><p>~ Sylvère Lotringer, "The Dance of Signs" </p><p><br /></p><p><b>^^^^^^^^^^^^^</b></p><p>Related themes and quandaries - ideas of futurity, lost futures, looking back to looking-forward - flicker through two new excellent bits of writing at <i>Pitchfork...</i></p><p><a href="https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/burial-dreamfear-boy-sent-from-above-ep/" target="_blank">A review </a>by <b>Philip Sherburne</b> of the new <b>Burial </b>release "Dreamfear"<span style="font-family: inherit;">/ “Boy Sent From Above”</span> </p><p><b>Gabriel Szatan</b> s Sunday Review <a href="https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/jeff-mills-live-at-the-liquid-room-tokyo/" target="_blank">flashback to</a> <b>Jeff Mills</b>'s <i>Live at the Liquid Room</i>, <i>Tokyo, </i>the legendary 1996 deejay-mix-CD </p><p>The Burial release - it suddenly struck me that it is now </p><p>A/ almost 20 years since Burial's recording career started </p><p>B/ in reference to the darkcore-'93 flavour of "Dreamfear", we've probably now had<i> </i><a href="https://energyflashbysimonreynolds.blogspot.com/2018/04/x-panded-replica-rave-retro-jungle.html" target="_blank"><i>at least</i> 20 years </a>of aunterlogikal ardkore </p><p>(Well, the very first example dates to 1997 - Jega's "Card Hore" - but then there's a long gap, before you get Zomby's <i>Where Were U in '92? </i>in 2008... I don't think there are any examples between Jega and Zomby... Then again, there was The Caretaker's <i>Death of Rave</i> project)</p><p>Listening to "Dreamfear", I felt the same way I <a href="https://simonreynoldsfavesunfaves.blogspot.com/2022/12/atemporal-faves-of-2022.html" target="_blank">did about</a> <i>Antidawn</i>, that it floats in this zone where it could either seem self-parodic <i>or</i> consummate + inimitable, depending on how you tilted your head. More of the same, only <i>more</i> so. </p><p>Here's how Sherburne negotiates similar feelings: </p><p><span style="font-family: courier;">One of Burial’s chief fixations has long been nostalgia for a halcyon era of renegade freedom... </span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier;">Or i</span><span style="font-family: courier;">s it becoming a shtick? It can be hard to say. If you love Burial—particularly the maudlin turn of his work over the past decade—you’ll love the outsized pathos of “Boy Sent From Above” and the high drama of “Dreamfear.” If you feel like you’ve heard enough pasted-on vinyl crackle to last a lifetime, or aren’t particularly invested in the hagiography of rave music’s formative years, you probably won’t find anything new here.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier;">But newness isn’t the point. Using not just the same tropes but even many of the same samples he’s used before, Burial seems to be pursuing his long-running project of world-building and self-mythology to increasingly hermetic ends, burrowing deeper into a state of déjà vu—as though if by recreating the memory from every possible angle, he could preserve it forever.</span></p><p>And here's the relevant bit in Szatan's incredibly in-depth, gets-into-the-nitty-gritty, nuts-and-bolts-of-turntable-artistry review of <i>Liquid Room</i>, where he zooms out to this question of futurity: </p><p><i><span style="font-family: courier;">"In a recent campaign for fashion house Jil Sander, Mills was asked to expound upon a theme, “mid-’90s optimism”—with the unspoken “that we’ve lost” echoing not far behind. There’s no glint of awe in our collective eye when DJing’s premier cosmologist collaborates with NASA. It’s just a thing that happens. The idea that technology could be inspiring or even fun anymore has dissipated. Accordingly, the notion that techno might be a pathway to revolution has lost resonance. So many arenas and aircraft hangars have passed in front of Mills’ eyes now that, by his own account, he sometimes zones out mid-performance and begins to dream, instead, of the stars. To some degree, he stands as an avatar for a future forestalled.</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: courier;">"Yet I’d encourage you to listen to the mix and consider the opposite: that this is the work of an individual who believed so unreservedly in the possibilities of what lay beyond that they gave up their best years attempting to tear open that wormhole. At the root, Mills told author Hari Kunzru in 1998, his spin on techno has always been “about making people feel they’re in a time ahead of this present time. Like if you’re hearing someone speak in a language you don’t understand, or you’re in surroundings you’ve never seen before.”</span></i></p><p>The final point Szatan makes resonates with me: that for all the talk of posthuman this and posthuman that, 'the machines are taking over" etc etc - that excitingly depersonalized discourse that many of us got caught up in the '90s - what makes the record exciting is that it's a human being grappling in hands-on real-time with (by today's standards) unwieldly mechanical technology and analogue slabs of sound-matter. The friction and the sparks come from this battle between the will-to-flow and the resistance of materiality. The disc captures a pre-digital moment, steampunk almost compared to what can be done today... </p>SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537988259790085733.post-28852252675738263162024-02-09T12:20:00.000-08:002024-02-09T13:06:27.656-08:00Straight Outta Future<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinGWAR3n0fXcJQbeculqoWXtwdvi8Teo3swVHq5TruQMU1JZzRo9EZbkKZfGOTPtD7dvxrCrjliq0FZtVLraZ4w0oSICjK98Yv8VCt3ZNsupsWDU7f0yCGvZkn7fn8WSzhDphu1BmVUY7ZwQcHuGxpoVUGU-mzlsyhHA3xGCEMjXj0wtDejmkp9pWZKg/s1374/PCP%20straight%20outta%20future%20music%20hall%20frankfurt%20feb%2092.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="954" data-original-width="1374" height="444" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinGWAR3n0fXcJQbeculqoWXtwdvi8Teo3swVHq5TruQMU1JZzRo9EZbkKZfGOTPtD7dvxrCrjliq0FZtVLraZ4w0oSICjK98Yv8VCt3ZNsupsWDU7f0yCGvZkn7fn8WSzhDphu1BmVUY7ZwQcHuGxpoVUGU-mzlsyhHA3xGCEMjXj0wtDejmkp9pWZKg/w640-h444/PCP%20straight%20outta%20future%20music%20hall%20frankfurt%20feb%2092.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>I wonder if Frankfurt Music Hall is the inspiration for this PCP-related immensity? </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/De4sHmNO3eU" width="320" youtube-src-id="De4sHmNO3eU"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TfEHhHoKUjo" width="320" youtube-src-id="TfEHhHoKUjo"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RWdSNjqsmCM" width="320" youtube-src-id="RWdSNjqsmCM"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p>SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537988259790085733.post-88999779316493063772024-02-05T10:46:00.000-08:002024-02-05T10:46:17.414-08:00On The Corner / On The Corner<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AIqXprCArdo" width="320" youtube-src-id="AIqXprCArdo"></iframe></div><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gy_s29oGDDc" width="320" youtube-src-id="gy_s29oGDDc"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p>SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537988259790085733.post-63843715961754378892024-02-01T18:21:00.000-08:002024-02-01T21:59:54.803-08:00the full circumference<p> <iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3gqPdYtJbyU" width="320" youtube-src-id="3gqPdYtJbyU"></iframe></p><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Some kind of peak for jungle music</p><p>the ruff and the smooth, frenzy and elegance </p><p>"big up all ghetto youth" versus silky wafting sounds like the EZ-listening that makes Harry Flowers say "turn it up, I like that tune"</p><p>jazzual menace, dubby flickers, "Think" palsy, soundtrackism </p><p>future + retro </p><p>somewhere between Size + Die "11.55" and Kruder & Dorfmeister</p><p>I don't know much at all about <b>Hidden Agenda</b>, but I recently saw this Melody Maker mini-feature go up at<a href="https://twitter.com/nothingelseon" target="_blank"> Nothingelseon</a></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVHO432H4HnFjeQTNnm12hZItIo5YRe2EVIDM6U4QnpdTK1HYkwee13JRvnEyP_h87a3z8q-f6zciV3Sb8cwcyXSdVxKJf8FL7mnVYvSa4upbTxvByS8d9tzZfCQACzd4523dR2Sawi-vacJ1jNQslunEh-V4Ycwswu99XMaW5psM01vzr1DiTWWey1w/s906/veena%20virdi%20hidden%20agenda%20MM%20july%208%201995.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="906" data-original-width="585" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVHO432H4HnFjeQTNnm12hZItIo5YRe2EVIDM6U4QnpdTK1HYkwee13JRvnEyP_h87a3z8q-f6zciV3Sb8cwcyXSdVxKJf8FL7mnVYvSa4upbTxvByS8d9tzZfCQACzd4523dR2Sawi-vacJ1jNQslunEh-V4Ycwswu99XMaW5psM01vzr1DiTWWey1w/w414-h640/veena%20virdi%20hidden%20agenda%20MM%20july%208%201995.jpg" width="414" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>From Newcastle, of course. Gateshead, to be precise. </p><p>The "cutting up grooves" rather than "cutting up breaks' bit is interesting.</p><p>"Is It Love?" came out in mid-1995</p><p>There was another year or so of great things - "Metropolis", the first run of No U Turn, the Full Cycle camp - and then something broke decisively</p><p>Seemed like everything became</p><p>ruff and nothing but (jump-up)</p><p><i>or</i></p><p>smooth and nothing but (liquid funk)</p><p><i>or </i></p><p>anxious and itchy with sci-fi technicality (neuro) </p><p><br /></p><p>tracks that had "the full circumference" within them - the ruff, the smooth, the futuroid, the technical, the dark - <i>all within that one track</i> - became vanishingly rare </p><p>As for Hidden Agenda... never quite taken by anything else they did, to the same extent anyway. </p><p>Always felt like they were one of the outfits who should have done a proper album.</p><p>Actually, checking, it appears they <i>did</i>. In 2000. With the wry title <i>Whatever Happened To..</i>. that seems to acknowledge having missed their moment, taken too bleedin' long</p><p><i>Unless </i>it's a Tynesiders nod to this beloved Britcom</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HgSogQEz_Xo" width="320" youtube-src-id="HgSogQEz_Xo"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zfSWT3sYHuc" width="320" youtube-src-id="zfSWT3sYHuc"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mNnInMrn4tU" width="320" youtube-src-id="mNnInMrn4tU"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>"<i>the only thing to look forward to / the past</i>"</p><p>Ah well, certainly they liked to play up the Tyneside thing - naming a track after <i>Get Carter</i>, after all</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/p7XAVp2dLtU" width="320" youtube-src-id="p7XAVp2dLtU"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ADdzENnhsjo" width="320" youtube-src-id="ADdzENnhsjo"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOThckNc0V9Dfyze9Hvksk3sebNhnOSLFbqrIF8rwekA6LZVoEA1aEX8i05S7Nsefnx_GGnxkYBRwaxV3dfFvc93d89-JDH2i-C6FlrVHCYFLyrkDSRCdS-iNUiqGJV8q7G8ZBskot7-HlEZswXDrEfoG_2AeeEF4xhK3qIHqUXwCdW09Z9KAEfFFFtQ/s599/R-214-1606825422-3632.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="595" data-original-width="599" height="636" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOThckNc0V9Dfyze9Hvksk3sebNhnOSLFbqrIF8rwekA6LZVoEA1aEX8i05S7Nsefnx_GGnxkYBRwaxV3dfFvc93d89-JDH2i-C6FlrVHCYFLyrkDSRCdS-iNUiqGJV8q7G8ZBskot7-HlEZswXDrEfoG_2AeeEF4xhK3qIHqUXwCdW09Z9KAEfFFFtQ/w640-h636/R-214-1606825422-3632.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><h1 class="title_1q3xW" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, "Nimbus Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.25rem; grid-area: 1 / 2 / 2 / 3; hyphens: auto; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0.25rem; margin-left: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: anywhere;"><br /></h1><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Sadly one of the Goodings brothers passed in 2016 (Mark) - but it appears the other (Jason) has reactivated the name Hidden Agenda in the last few years and put out some more tunes. </div>SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537988259790085733.post-74694349420545281462024-01-18T17:29:00.000-08:002024-01-20T11:08:46.787-08:00big up the Originals raving cru<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RW5PHqRrDsQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="RW5PHqRrDsQ"></iframe></div><br />A while ago <b>Spiro </b>alerted me to this great mix of amapiano from a few year back, this outdoor festival in London called <b>The Originals</b>. He pointed out that while the music didn't have any real connection to the Nuum, the peripherals - the MC-ing - were <i>soaked</i> in the London vibe. And it's true - there are points where the MC chants "<i>oi oi!</i>" just like his ancestors would at the Labrynth in '92. <p></p><p>There's one at 36 mins 55 or so, where the MC asks the crowd "<i>who's a true raver?</i>" and then leads a call-and-response of "<i>oggy oggy oggy, oi oi oi</i>".</p><p>Listening again, I noticed another nuumological flicker - it occurs at 31.15 or thereabouts, the MC goes into this chant that sounds like "<i>E come E come alive E come alive</i>" (it might actually be "<i>you come alive you come alive you come alive</i>")</p><p>"<i>E come E come alive E come alive</i>" is a nigh-on <i>thirty-year-old</i> catchphrase from this <a href="https://energyflashbysimonreynolds.blogspot.com/2015/07/go-to-flow-with-e-rush-me-ooh-rush-me.html" target="_blank"><b>Xenophobia</b></a> tune "Rushing The House" that was big in '92. I associate it with Spiral Tribe, on account of the Spiral-connected <b>MC Scallywag</b> being on the record. But it was produced by <b>Grant Nelson</b> aka Wishdokta aka the G in <a href="https://www.discogs.com/artist/22082-NnG" target="_blank">N'n'G</a> aka Bump & Flex aka dozens of aliases up and down the length of the nuum from ardkore to 2step.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fMq_G0vh7-o" width="320" youtube-src-id="fMq_G0vh7-o"></iframe></div><br /><p>It recurs again in the <b>Supa D </b>amapiano mix at about 37.15 reworded as "<i>you come alive, I come alive, you come alive, I come alive</i>". Just before, the MC talks about how he feeds off the buzz from the audience and then gives it back to them. The chant "y<i>ou come alive, I come alive, you come alive, I come alive</i>" crystalizes the feedback-loop between crowd and MC+DJ beautifully.</p><p>It's noticeable also that most of the MC-ing is Jamaican flavored in slang and accent - "<i>big up</i>", "<i>pon</i>" etc. And in this next Originals set, lots of "<i>my selector</i>" "<i>wanna reload?</i>", etc </p><p><span style="text-align: center;">.</span><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wxfwz1HE1O8" width="320" youtube-src-id="wxfwz1HE1O8"></iframe></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Also at </span><span>37.57 or so, there's a shout-out to the four quadrants of the city - "<i>North London, South London, West London, East London</i>", flashing back to the opening interpellation in <b>Gant</b>'s "Soundbwoy Burial (187 Lockdown Dancehall Mix)"</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZiImtjWS-Q8" width="320" youtube-src-id="ZiImtjWS-Q8"></iframe><div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><p>Echoes of jungle and UKG, in 2023- a quarter-century later. And the whole thing representing yet another of those only-in-London recombinations of the Caribbean, the Black American, and now the African. </p><p><br /></p><p><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/F8tEdYNx5sc" width="320" youtube-src-id="F8tEdYNx5sc"></iframe></p><p><br /></p><p>Looking up the Originals festival online, I see the slogan: It's A London Thing.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4ADcWWM-ZmY" width="320" youtube-src-id="4ADcWWM-ZmY"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /></div>SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537988259790085733.post-73756540646023121512024-01-15T17:51:00.000-08:002024-01-16T11:43:00.718-08:00now that's why they call it... <p> you can complete the sentence I'm sure.... </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eLjQXjuFPyo" width="320" youtube-src-id="eLjQXjuFPyo"></iframe></div><br /><p>grrrrrrrrrrrrrrreat 2step-tribute relick remake redream of one of the g<i>rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr</i>eatest of ardkore tracks ever </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lk7wDIH6XQE" width="320" youtube-src-id="lk7wDIH6XQE"></iframe></div><br /><p>Ever!</p><p>Vocal ghosted from </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fwoJedLgZj0" width="320" youtube-src-id="fwoJedLgZj0"></iframe></div><br /><p>Ah, never noticed before, or perhaps forgot - but there's a snippet of the <b>Urban Soul</b> vocal once again - garbled and ultrawoogly - in "Jim Skreech", the track that immediately follows "Menace" on the <i>Darkrider </i>EP. </p><p>At 0.56</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mubW9F-CwOQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="mubW9F-CwOQ"></iframe></div><br /><p>Making it all even more nuum numm nuumy, there's a lovely bleep-tinkle-echo-echo swipe from <b>Sweet Exorcist</b>'s awesome "Clonk's Coming" in "Menace"</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/06NCV_uzwCY" width="320" youtube-src-id="06NCV_uzwCY"></iframe></div><br /><p>Oh never knew this - sweet tremolo'd-2-fuck vocal rip from "Menace" appears in this tune "Sensi Addict" by <b>The Candyman</b> - at 2.26 </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/R7VAY_osb8U" width="320" youtube-src-id="R7VAY_osb8U"></iframe></div><br /><p>Nice tune</p><p>Back to "Jim Skreech", always wondered if there was an inspiration taken from this <b>Big Youth </b>track </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DQeAslTJ7zw" width="320" youtube-src-id="DQeAslTJ7zw"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Must be surely (Goldie had a Rastafari-phase in his past) <div><br /></div><div>In the <b>Rufige Cru </b>tune "Jim Skreech", there's an ultra-jittered vocal lick - "fee-eee-eee-eel it" - sourced in the postdisco song "Life Is Something Special" by<b> the Peech Boys</b>, an era of music where dubby FX enters the mix and especially the <i>re</i>mix, the flipside versions on 12 inches</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kySP5s5faNs" width="320" youtube-src-id="kySP5s5faNs"></iframe></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>But I wonder if <b>Goldie</b> + kru got the "fee-eee-eeel it" second-hand, via late-bleep classic "Feel It" by <b>Coco Steel & Lovebomb</b>? </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QtnKAsfQLIc" width="320" youtube-src-id="QtnKAsfQLIc"></iframe></div><br /><div><br /><p>Well, I never heard this mix... </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/f6fE2KHCHWY" width="320" youtube-src-id="f6fE2KHCHWY"></iframe></div><br /><p>It's dubbier, yet tepid compared to the fevered original. Worthy of Guerrilla Records or Hard Hands.</p><p>There's a Justin Robertson remix that's even duller yet presumptuously calls itself "Dub Excursion".</p><p>This "5 am" mix by Kid Batchelor is a bit better but still too muted</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qARlw1jSk90" width="320" youtube-src-id="qARlw1jSk90"></iframe></div><br /><p>Oh god, somehow I've strayed far <i>far </i>from all that was glorious and world-historical in 92-93!</p><p>It's funny how almost <i>the exact same</i> sources and constituents - dub, house, disco + postdisco- could produce such drastically different results at more or less <i>the exact same</i> time. </p><p>"Dub", in the early '90s- as a track title parenthetical / remix title or just vague invoked ancestry - could be the promise of "Babylon shall fall" tectonic wreckage <i>or</i> milquetoast numbing nothingness </p><p>But let's end on a high</p><p>Back to the era of <b>D.E.A.</b> and its "Menace" remake "Sacrifice"</p><p>Goldie knew what the score was, where the spirit had gone (saw him once, at one of the UKG clubs, gladhanding Spoony from Dreem Teem up in the deejay booth) </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uRJCeE-zbDE" width="320" youtube-src-id="uRJCeE-zbDE"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yEpfMSpzBks" width="320" youtube-src-id="yEpfMSpzBks"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/T7kltjp3DW0" width="320" youtube-src-id="T7kltjp3DW0"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HiSohQIL4KM" width="320" youtube-src-id="HiSohQIL4KM"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Auhku9rRJo4" width="320" youtube-src-id="Auhku9rRJo4"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/H_3VOsFowuc" width="320" youtube-src-id="H_3VOsFowuc"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>But I wish these guys - <b>M.J. Cole</b>, <b>Groove Chronicle</b>s, <b>Grant Nelson</b> aka <b>Bump n' Flex</b> - had been remixing this earlier Goldie + kru tune with <i>the exact same</i> title</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jJ3NhzrDUHg" width="320" youtube-src-id="jJ3NhzrDUHg"></iframe></div><br /><div><p>That would have been a true "<i>now that's why they call it...</i>" moment... </p><p> </p><p><br /></p><p> </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p></div>SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537988259790085733.post-66485313826726578152024-01-09T16:41:00.000-08:002024-01-11T16:54:37.676-08:00a quarter-century+ of UKG<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EyrwEFwBwtU" width="320" youtube-src-id="EyrwEFwBwtU"></iframe></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p>Crazy to think that's it over a quarter-century since UKG! <i>Well</i> over 25 years, actually, depending on when you date it from (e.g. the pre-speed UK garage tunes)</p><p>Below is all my website writing on UKG, 1997-2001, drawn from the annual faves / unfaves surveys. Five of the best years of my listening life. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eLjQXjuFPyo" width="320" youtube-src-id="eLjQXjuFPyo"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Actually there's one thing I left out, the theory-slanted, macro-analytic <a href="https://energyflashbysimonreynolds.blogspot.com/2009/01/footnotes-to-feminine-pressure-2step.html" target="_blank">Feminine Pressure Footnotes</a>. Below is the more juicy stuff - rhythmtexture-evoking paeans to particular tunes. </p><p>It's a textual accompaniment to this 2step garage<a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYrbm00SnK2YLtvq1YoITVJszJIeh51zo" target="_blank"> playlist</a> and this (much shorter) speed garage <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYrbm00SnK2bQTu-gMtO98WlE3vNXCje2" target="_blank">playlist</a> (suggestions for expanding that, or indeed the already very long 2step, most welcome)</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UHearv08Hy0" width="320" youtube-src-id="UHearv08Hy0"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><b><span style="font-size: large;">1997</span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-size: large;">AMBIVALENCE OF THE YEAR: SPEED GARAGE</span></b></p><p><br /></p><p><b>Things I like about Speed Garage</b></p><p><br /></p><p>1/ It's a composite of potent clichés -- the best, most effective (what some call "cheesy") elements from the last ten years of club and rave culture mashed together: garage's skipping, syncopated snares; house's brassy diva vocals and EQ-ing/filtering/phasing/stereopanning effects that make sounds shiver up your spine; 1992 hardcore's squeaky vocals (hence speed garage covers of Jonny L's "Hurt You So", Urban Shakedown's "Some Justice", that "Sexual Feeling Is Mutual" track); 1994 jungle's ragga-dalek timestretched chants and Dred Bass radioactive-glow B-lines and Omni Trio-style soul-diva plasma-acapella loops.</p><p><br /></p><p>2/ Such a simple idea--fusing the best of house and jungle--ruffing up house just at the point when it had gotten a little too sedate and glossy, and joy-juicing up jungle just as it lost its rude-bwoy exuberance and (with neurofunk) became utterly desiccated and frigid, what Peter Shapiro called a "cyber-Calvinist pleasure-free zone".</p><p><br /></p><p>3/ Those lewd, lubricious butt-surging B-lines really erogenize your rump-zone.</p><p><br /></p><p>4/ The Arthur Russell-like dub-spacious and percussadelic side of the sound (artists like Ramsey & Fen) looks like it might develop into "ambient speed garage", while the ragga-sampling and dirty-bass driven end of the scene (what UK Dance's Bat calls "dangerous garage") has already taken over the role of jump-up jungle. This potential split between "musical"/"experimental" speed-garage and the rougher, darker stuff that appeals to "garage ravers" (once a contradiction in terms) could be highly productive or highly amusing, or even both. Either way it's going to be way more interesting than the song-full stuff that just sounds like a slightly tuffer and faster version of New York garage.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Things I Don't Like About Speed Garage:</b></p><p><br /></p><p>1/ Such a simple idea--fusing the best of house and jungle--simple, and once the initial surprise has worn off, kind of obvious. </p><p>2/ Precisely because it's a composite of house and jungle, whereas jungle was a mutant of hip hop and techno -- a mutant that warped all its sources (speeding up and chopping to shreds the breakbeats, for instance). I don't hear an equivalent factor of warpage in Speed Garage yet, I don't hear enough future.</p><p><br /></p><p>3/ Too many tracks with the exact same beat--something you could never say about jungle, at least until 1997 and the tyranny of the two-step trudge. I've heard tracks that interlace and leaven the skipping, wood-chop snares with micro-breaks and percussadelic ticks, but too much speed garage is as rhythmically monotonous as house and trance.</p><p>4/ The "politics" of Speed Garage are so much less interesting than those of jungle, which was shadowed by the desperation and darkside gloom caused by the 1992/93/94 recession, whereas Speed Garage is colored by the feel-goodism and living-large of the late Major/early Blair boom. Hence its reversion to the pre-rave clubland exclusivity of the last economic boom, the mid-to-late loadsamoney Eighties; hence its resemblance to the playaz of post-Puffy rap/post-Timbaland R&B, products of the Clinton boom. Same flash clothes (literally--shiny, man-made, near-fluorescent fabrics), designer-label fetishism, champagne-swigging, we-are-the-beautiful-people/we-be-the-baddest-clique ethos. Now, I don't wanna come across like a playa-hater, but as someone who wears trainers, and crap trainers to boot, I resent the return of style codes and the implicit "quality people, quality sounds" ethos.</p><p>5/ Its victory has been too easy (coming out of the London underground to conquer the rest of the country and penetrate the Top 30 within less than a year); its appeal too straightforward and accountable. Where's the difficulty, the danger?</p><p>Nonetheless, for the curious, here are some killer speed-garage tunes. Shake your ass to:</p><p><b>Gant --"Sound Bwoy Burial (187 Lockdown Dancehall Mix)" (Positiva)</b></p><p><b>187 Lockdown --"Gunman" (EastWestDance)</b></p><p><b>Fabulous Baker Boys --"Oh Boy" (Multiply) [sampling Jonny L's "Hurt You So (Alright)"]</b></p><p><b>D.J. Ride -- "Renegade Bass (Unreleased Mix)" from Power House Recordings</b></p><p><b>Limited Edition Part 1" EP (Power House) [sampling Renegade's "Terrorist"]</b></p><p><b>Ramsey & Fen -- "Underground Explosion" from The Off-Key Experience EP" (Very Important Plastic)</b></p><p><b>The Hornet --"Just 4 U London" from The Hornet Presents "The Rockin' EP" (Sting</b></p><p><b>City) [remake of Bodysnatch's "Euphony" a/k/a "Just 4 U London"]</b></p><p><b>The Unofficials Vol. 1 [bootleg of Notorious BIG track]</b></p><p><b>Underground Distortion --"Everything Is Large" (Satellite)</b></p><p><b>R.I.P. Productions--"The Chant (We R)" (Satellite) [samples Lennie De Underground's "We Are Ie"]</b></p><p><b>Ruff Da' Menace -- "Kick The Party Into Full Effect (Ruff & Menacing Mix)" (Obsessive House)</b></p><p><b>A Baffled Republic--"Bad Boys (Move In Silence)" (One Step/Catch)</b></p><p><b>Double 99 --"Ripgroove" (Satellite)</b></p><p> </p><p><br /></p><p><b><span style="font-size: large;">1998</span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-size: large;">2-STEP GARAGE</span></b></p><p><br /></p><p>The book's verdict on speed garage was that it's "a composite (house plus jungle) where drum and bass was a mutant (hiphop times techno)", that where jungle "twisted and morphed its sources; as yet, an equivalent warp factor is barely audible in speed garage". 1998 was when the warp factor really began to make itself heard, with producers reasserting the breakbeat legacy of jungle and creating the strange nu-funk style called 2-step--basically slow-motion jungle, something for the ladies massive.</p><p>At the same time as being lover's jungle, 2-step is also like a UK response to American R'n'B. Timbaland's twitchy hypersyncopation has long been widely attributed to a drum and bass influence, something steadfastly denied by Tim 'n' Missy. All through '98 you could hear that imagined (?) compliment being repaid by the children of jungle, in the form of 2-step. Dropping the four-to-the-floor house pulse and replacing it with Timbaland's falter-funk kick drum, producers like Dreem Teem, Dem 2, Chris Mac, Steve Gurley, et al are basically making smoov R'n'B filtered through a post-Ecstasy sensorium: midtempop bump'n' grind; sped-up, succulent cyborg-diva vocals; a playa-pleasing patina of deluxe production. At the same time, 2-step is geared towards the UK polydrug culture (where cocaine has usurped E as the paradigm drug, the vibe-setter), so alongside the sexed-up, VIP opulence there's all these dark-but-sensual elements (warped vocal ectoplasm, convulsive hypersyncopations) that hint at coke psychosis on the scene's horizon.</p><p>More on this in <a href="https://www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/essays/the-wire-300_simon-reynolds-on-the-hardcore-continuum-series_6_two-step-garage_1999_" target="_blank">a thinkpiece in the April 99 issue of The Wire </a>(it'll also later get posted in director's cut form on the site--<a href="https://energyflashbysimonreynolds.blogspot.com/2009/01/footnotes-to-feminine-pressure-2step.html" target="_blank">footnotes galore</a>!). Right now, the specifics--in no particular order, my fave 2-step tunes of 1998.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>DEM 2--Destiny (Sleepless) [Locked On]</b></p><p><b>--Destiny (New Vocal Mix) [Locked On]</b></p><p><b>U.S. ALLIANCE --Grunge Dub/All I Know [Locked On]</b></p><p><b>GROOVE CONNEKTION 2--Club Lonely (DEM 2 Don't Cry Dub) [Locked On]</b></p><p>Dem 2--Dean Boylan and Spencer Edwards--are the outfit whose music makes the most convincing argument that 2-step is a brand nu-funk for the Nine Nine. One listen to "Destiny (Sleepless)" is enough to tell you it's not house music; it barely has any relationship to garage as hitherto known. So deceptively simple is its groove (every element--and they're all simultaneously melodic/rhythmic/textural--dovetails with a Zen perfection) that it's almost impossible to describe. It doesn't sound overtly avant-garde or abstract, but I defy you to name a record before 1998 it resembles or owes much to: the tremulous, heartbroken cyborg vocal faintly recalls Zapp, the darting and stinging synth-lick recalls Gary Numan, there's an electro flavor in there, but that's about it. Crisp and juicy, joyous yet tense, "Destiny" is one of those key records in the hardcore/jungle/speed garage continuum, like 2 Bad Mice's "Waremouse", Renegade's "Terrorist" or Gant's "Sound Bwoy Burial", that announces a paradigm shift, codifies a new style, sets the blueprint.</p><p>Dem 2's "Don't Cry Dub" of "Club Lonely"--like the original "Destiny", released way back in late '97--has a similar do-androids-weep-electric-tears? feel. Here you can really hear Dem 2's virtuosity at the diva-manipulation techniques that Bat from ukdance calls "vocal science." Texturally, they scintillate the voice, fluorescize it, make it gleam and refract as though you're hearing it through ears wet with tears; rhythmically, they shred the vocal into micro-syllable and sub-phoneme particles--cyborg-sniffles, sounds as fleetingly iridescent as spit-bubbles in the corner of a sobbing mouth--and make them syncopate against the groove (pure Timbaland twitch-and-bump).</p><p>"Grunge Dub" by U.S. Alliance--a Dem 2 alias--shows the duo's darker direction for 1999: a rhythm matrix so assymetrical, angular and stop-start off-kilter it's almost impossible to dance to (this is 2-step's big break with house's E-d up 4-to-the-floor egalitarianism--you have to be really good at dancing to move to these beats), and a twisted, gibbering groan-riff of a male vocal. </p><p><br /></p><p><b>CHRIS MAC--Plenty More/Get It [Confetti]</b></p><p>Possibly the most accomplished and inventive producer to arise out of UK garage last year, Chris Mac is doing as much as Dem 2 to prove that 2-step is a new thing. "Plenty More" is silky, svelte sensuality corroded with darkness: a simultaneously brittle and supple rhythm track dominated by squishy, spongy snares (possibly reversed), strings that slash across the stereofield like the orchestral equivalent of a skid, and a mix so shiny you almost have to squint your ears against its harsh gloss glare. The vocal is interesting too, plugging into garage's rapacious appetitiveness (all those divas demanding "give me", "I need it"). The voice is ambiguously pitched, recalling Prince's sped-up alter-ego Camille on "If I Was Your Girlfriend"--the lyrics go "not a little girl anymore/used to be the one I adore/but there's plenty more fish in the sea/for me", but you're never sure if it's a diva putting down a guy and asserting her sexual autonomy, or a playa putting a girl in her place by telling her she's disposable, replaceable. Either way, "Plenty More" evokes the coked-up roving eye feasting its gaze on the sexual bounty of the nightclub's babe-arama. "Get It" is even more rapacious, transmitting an ants-in-your-pants alloy of desperation and desire. Brass stabs and jungalistic sub-bass pressure-drops weave around a dense web of drum some of which (in a typical 2-step sleight of subtle avant-gardism) reveal themselves on close inspection as made of the human voice: hiccups, chokings, winces, gasps and stutters.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>OPERATOR and BAFFLED--"Things Are Never (STEVE GURLEY Remix) [Locked On]</b></p><p><b>LENNY FONTANA--"Spirit of the Sun" (STEVE GURLEY Remix) [public</b></p><p><b>Demand]</b></p><p>"Things Are Never" is moody. (It actually reminds me of E.S.G.'s "Moody"). Crisper-than-crisp beats, a baleful bass-drop (making your stomach plummet like you're on a rollercoaster), a one-note synth-bleep wincing like a hypertense vein pulsing in your temple. In the new sonic context crafted by Steve Gurley (ex-Foul Play, a/k/a Rogue Unit), the originally romantic-heartbreak themed diva vocal ("things are never/what they seem") becomes a more general statement of existensial instability. The lush-but-dark vibe reminds me of Nightmares On Wax's "Aftermath", the plinkily metallic, melodic-percussive xylophone riff recalls Unique 3's "7-AM". There's a bunch of tunes around in early 99--like "Slamdown" off New Horizons' Scrap Iron Dubs No. 1 EP--that have a clonking industrial feel that harks back to the bleep-and-bass era of 1990: the first time the British merged house, reggae and electro to make a new sound system stylee.</p><p>"Spirit of the Sun" has the archetypal 2-step mood-blend of euphoria and tension, retaining garage's overwraught diva histronics but resituating them amid dynamics and drops that are totally un-house. The bit where the beat pauses and the "shine on, shine on, shine on" chorus explodes never fails to send goosebumps prickling up my neck. The lyric is kind of interesting too, the diva talking about how she's going to be infused by "the spirit of the sun"--it takes garage's traditional obsession with summer to the verge of Bataille-style helioatry: his worship of solar extravagance and his exaltation of a "will for glory" in the human soul "which would that we live like suns, squandering our goods and our life." Bataille-style will-to-expenditure, aristocratic potlatch, largesse, and garage 'n' R'n'B's luxury, commodity-fetishism and larging it --same thing innit?</p><p><br /></p><p><b>RICHIE BOY AND DJ KLASSE--"Madness On The Street (2 Step Mix)" [Stamp]</b></p><p>Another stunning torsion-and-treatment job on a female R'n'B vocal of unknown (to me) provenance. "I can't stand/All this madness on the street"--this short phrase, pretty funky to start with, is subjected to all kinds of vivisection and resequencing over a sublime cyberfunk groove. Combining the anti-naturalism of R'n'B vocal production with the filtering/panning techniques of late 90s house, producers like Richie Boy and DJ Klasse fracture the vocie into tiny percussive shards, create new accents and stresses, make the vocal haemorrhage or pulse, fold in on itself, buckle, crinkle, or glow uncannily. It's serious posthuman business, you're not listening to a person anymore but a passion that's being enhanced and mutated through interaction with technology. A cyborg, in other words.</p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>SOME TREAT -- Lost In Vegas (JBR)</b></p><p>A tribute to/remake of Shut Up And Dance's 1990 (or was it even 1989?) track "Ten Pounds To Get In," this samples the Suzanne Vega vocal-riff from "Tom's Diner" that SUAD must have got from DNA's unoffical-then-subsequently-sanctioned dance version of the S. Vega track. We're talking multiple levels of citation here, serious intertextuality. On a broader level it's a tribute to the hardcore continuum--getting on for ten years of London's multiracial rave scene, a culture of mixing it up, of hybridising hybrids and mutating mutations; the continual reinvention of flava and vibe. A tradition of futurism. Roots N' Future = the endlessly fresh now.</p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>DOOLALLY--"Straight From The Heart" (Chocolate Boy/Locked On) </b></p><p>A lot of people have said there's a ska element to this tune. There's definitely a skanking vibe-- the trace of a reggae afterbeat, a strange bubbling bassline that winds and weaves around the crisp, push-me pull-you 2-step. So irresistibly poppy and chuneful it made the UK Top 20, "Straight From the Heart"--and its sequel, "Sweet Like Chocolate", released as Shanks and Bigfoot--make the strongest case for 2-step as a millenial update of lover's rock: the UK-spawned hybrid of US soul and reggae that emerged at the end of the 1970s as second-generation Caribbean-British women demanded songs that addressed their concerns (love, relationships) rather than a Rastafarian agenda. As Dick Hebdiges says in Cut 'n' Mix, rather than the fantasy of utopia through repatriation to Ethiopia/Zion, these women's (only slightly less unrealistic?) dream was of a caring man. A song hymning devotion, commitment and holding out for the long-term emotional dividend, "Straight From The Heart" is also a sign that the hardcore nation's grown up and settled down. Borderline cheesy, it reminds me of the way hardcore could alchemize the most cheddary pop hits and make them sublime (c.f. Goldseal Tribe's '92 push-me-pull-you pirate monster "Only The Lonely"). Love it.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>AMIRA--"My Desire (DREEM TEEM Remix) [VC/Virgin/Slip'n'Slide]</b></p><p><b>N-TYCE--"Telefunkin' (FIRST STEPS Remix) [label unknown]</b></p><p><b>JODECI VS CLUB ASYLUM--Freak Me Up (Steppers Vocal Mix) [white label]</b></p><p>US R'n'B gods/goddesses (and some Brit-wannabes) given the now almost obligatory 2-step remix for the London market--sometimes official, sometimes strickly bootleg. "My Desire"--glossy gamelan clatter'n'tinkle of percussion, B-line that hops and skips and flutters like lovestruck butterflies in the stomach, a perpetual forward tumbling flow (pivoting around a micro-second hesitation in the groove that makes all the difference), a trembling-with-joy vocal re-patterned to dovetail with the groove in such snugly funky ways you'll want to leap out your own skin. "Telefunkin'"--slow-burning, svelte menace, hilarious love-junkie phone-sex lyrics ("I've got the fever for your flava", "I'm addicted to you baby/tied to the telephone line"). "Freak Me Up"--simply very, very horny.</p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>NEW HORIZON--"Find The Path" [500 Rekords]</b></p><p><b>--"It's My House (Bashment Mix)" [500 Rekords]</b></p><p><b>--Scrap Iron Dubs No. 1 EP" [500 Rekords]</b></p><p>Not 2-step, but a reggaematic and rootical reinvention of house music so marvellous and peculiar I had include it here. '97's "Find The Path" whisks a Gregory Isaacs-style nightingale croon into a falsetto froth of melisma-plasma that quivers and ripples like the fronds of a jellyfish; organ vamps create an almost Gothic-dub atmosphere. "It's My House (Bashment Mix)"--"bashment" is a dancehall patois term for the ultimate, the works--has this amazing dissonant-verging-on-microtonal blare of drones that's somewhere between the Master Musicians of Jajouka and the old hardcore rave blow-your-own-horn classic "One Time For the Foghorn". Scrap Iron Dubs No.1"--killer tune is "Slamdown"-- is part of what Bat from ukdance identifies as the "latest micro-trend in 2-step... weird techno bleepy clanging noises peppered all over the trax", further pointing out that "This is a pretty radical departure for garage, which has stuck to the same portfolio of 'organic' sounds (real instruments, proper singing etc) for yonks. Now we get those organic noises mixed up with all manner of strange vleeps and metallic klungs - something I haven't heard since the heyday of hardcore and jungle around 1994."</p><p><br /></p><p><b>KMA--Recon Mission EP (Locked On)</b></p><p>The title declares this EP a probe into the unknown (as does the sample "this is a line to the future/leave a message). From the outfit responsible for the dark garage classics "Cape Fear" and "Kaotic Madness," this is one of the most emotionally and rhythmically confused records I've heard in years. My favorite is the third track, "Blue Kards," a hybrid of the first two: disjointed beats that seem to stampede out of the mix, gaseous swirls of phased vocals (sung by producer Six), stricken guitar licks, and an overwraught doubt-wracked bluesiness of mood. Alarmingly the new KMA jam "Kemistry" is a supersmooth four-to-the-floor tune with a full-on vocal; Six's thinking seems to be that the only unpredictable thing left for KMA to do was make a totally conventional garage track. Shame, but the debut album The Unanswered Question, set for Jan 1st 2000 release, might well rival be 2-step's Timeless .</p><p><br /></p><p><b>ANTONIO-- "Hyper Funk" (Locked On)</b></p><p>Crisp-and-spry 2-stepper whose simple drum machine beat, Scritti prickle of glossy funk guitar, and block party MC exhortation ("hype hype hype hype the funk") hark back to early Eighties simplicity. 2-step's very own "Rockerfella Skank"?</p><p><br /></p><p><b>GROOVE CHRONICLES--"Stone Cold" (Groove Chronicles)</b></p><p>Crafted by rising producer Noodles, this languid-yet-foreboding track samples just a few vocal phrases from Aaliyah's sublime "One In A Million" (a Timbaland production which I always though was like a jungle ballad) and totally reinvents them; Aaliyah's hushed devotional tenderness becomes the ghost-of-my-former-self whispers of a love addict going through emotional cold turkey. The key phrase is "desire" (phrased "deee-siyah", putting a sigh in it): in the original, it's Aaliyah promising to do anything her beloved wants, his heart's desire; here, it becomes a floating signifier, pure intransitive craving, and yet another sign of garage's relentless imagery of appetite and neediness ("what you want, what you need', "giving you what you wanted," etc). Killer moment: when the beat and the jazzy sax solo drops out, leaving just Aaliyah's pleas and reproaches ("you don't know, what you do to me"), then in comes the moodiest wah-wah dread bassline ever. Goosepimples a-go-go.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>RAMSEY and FEN--"Love Bug" [BUG]</b></p><p><b>--"Desire" [BUG]</b></p><p><b>--"Love Bug Remixes" [BUG]</b></p><p>What blows me away about "Desire" is the amazing density of rhythmic information RAF are able to cram in without the groove feeling cluttered. The intricate high-end percussion--shakers, hi-hats (closed and open), tambas, the trademark RAF ultra-crisp fills and rolls --is so dazzling and glitterball spangly that the first time I heard it the phrase "cocaine music" sprung into my mind (and it's not a drug I know much about). Turns out that (according to Kodwo Eshun, who heard it from Portishead's engineer) the "cocaine ear" prefers bright, toppy sounds. "Love Bug" is similarly dense-but-groovy with weird detuned drum fills. There's also an amazing "Love Bug" remix out any day with an electro feel--if it's the track I heard Fen playing out, it's got a Roland 808 bass-drop driven groove that throbs and whirs like a monstrous clockwork mechanism. </p><p><b>CLOUD 9--"Do You Want Me (DEM 2 Steps To Heaven Mix) [Locked On]</b></p><p><b>CRAZY BANK--"Your Love" [Locked On]</b></p><p>These go together in my head for some reason; "Do You Want Me" is sheer amorous euphoria with great percussive vocal stabs, which are contorted, twisted and clipped short to make for an exquisitely tender frenzy. Crazy Bank does much the same but with a more desperate tinge, making the diva sound like she's about to leap out of her own skin. There's no narrative coherence to 2-step's love songs: sentences are left hanging, the object noun or qualifier snipped to make the phrase fit the funktionalist requirements of the track. Here it's like the lover's discourse in random shuffle mode.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>M-DUBS--"Over Here (Sugar Shack Break Beat Funk)" [Babyshack Recordings]</b></p><p>A minimal 2-step roller very much in the "Destiny" mold--crisp snare-kick groove, simple synth-vamp, great organ licks and dub-wise flickers in back of the mix. What really makes it though is the fantastic drawling and nasal ragga vocal from the Emperor Richie Dan, playing a ladeez-man tendering his services ("if you wanna take a chance/I'm right over 'ere") while a female backing vocals seem to be singing "Iron Mike" for some reason. </p><p><b>SKYCAP--titles unknown [white label]</b></p><p>Two tracks in the vein of their awesome dark garage tune from '97, "Endorphin". So wired they're dsyfunktional, they make me think the next step after charley-spliffs might be freebasing. The best side has a gibbering and mewling male vocal (which eventually goes into single-phoneme scatting --imagine Bobby McFerrin reduced to a crackhead) strung around an ultra-brittle 2-step anti-groove. The flip, also good, features a seriously overwraught and accusatory diva and some blues-wracked guitar licks. 2-step's journey beyond the pleasure principle should be as interesting as '93 darkcore's.</p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>VARIOUS ARTISTS Locked On, Vol 3: Mixed by Ramsey and Fen [Virgin]</b></p><p><b>DREEM TEEM Dreem Teem In Session Volume 2 [Deconstruction/4 Liberty]</b></p><p>Locked On is the best UK garage compilation yet (the full circumference, 2-step to 4-to-the-floor), and also, I'm afraid, the American reader's best chance of hearing this stuff: a few 2-step tunes are slipping through in the speed garage/UK garage bins, but this is a London thing, inevitably if rather sadly.</p><p>You can find this comp in American specialist dance stores and also in Virgin megastore. Mixed by RAF, it's the bomb: alongside above-mentioned lovelies "Destiny", "Love Bug," Amira, Crazy Bank, it includes such killers as Dreem Teem's bubblicious proto-2stepper "The Theme," the astounding Dem 2 cyberfunk mix of Aftershock's "Slave To the Vibe," M.J. Cole's slick, Bukem-of-2step "Sincere" and RandF's gorgeous Latin garidge mix of The Heartists's "Belo Horizonti." The Dreem Teem comp has many of the same 2-step classics,, plus New Horizon's "It's My House (Bashment Mix)" and a great woozily vocalized Chris Mac cyberballad, "Set It Off".</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><b><span style="font-size: large;">1999</span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-size: large;">2-STEP and U.K. UNDERGROUND GARAGE</span></b></p><p><br /></p><p><b>The Artful Doger--"Rewind" (Public Demand)</b></p><p><b>DJ Double G -- "Poison" (DJs For Life)</b></p><p><b>Shanks & Bigfoot--"Sweet Like Chocolate" (Pepper)</b></p><p><b>Master Stepz. feat Splash--"Melody" (Outlaw)</b></p><p><b>Deetah--"Relax (Bump N' Flex Remix)"</b></p><p><b>U.S. Alliance--"All I Know (Dem 2's Grunge Dub Mix)" (Locked On)</b></p><p><b>Bump N'Flex --"Step 2 Me"</b></p><p><b>DJ Double G - "Special Request"(DJs For Life)</b></p><p><b>Groove Chronicles-- "99/Black Puppet". (Dat Pressure Recordings/DPR)</b></p><p><b>EP of remixes of Ratpack's "The Clipper" aka "Champion Puffer" (Confetti Dubs)</b></p><p><b>Cisco--"Bonnie & Clyde"</b></p><p><b>DJ Dee Kline & Pixie --- "I Don't Smoke" (RAT)</b></p><p><b>The Corruption Crew--"G.A.R.A.G.E." from Tales of the Corrupted EP (Kronik)</b></p><p><b>Groove Chronicles --"Masterplan"</b></p><p><b>M Dubs -"Bump'n'Grind" (Babyshack)</b></p><p><b>M-Dubs -- "Body Killing" (Babyshack)</b></p><p><b>M-Dubs--"For Real"</b></p><p><b>Lee Edwards--"Your Mind, Your Body, and Your Soul"</b></p><p><b>Artists Unknown--Bootleg remix of KP and Envyi's "Swing My Way"</b></p><p><b>Glamma Kid & Shola Ama--"Sweetest Taboo (MJ Cole Remix)"</b></p><p><b>E.S. Dubs--"Standard Hoodlum Issue" (Social Circles)</b></p><p><b>Box Fresh--"Talk To Me" (Prolific)</b></p><p><b>In Sinc-- "Cool The Menta" (500 Rekords)</b></p><p><b>Same People -- "Dangerous" (Locked On)</b></p><p><b>Large Joints--"Dubplate (Brandy--Down With You Bootleg)"</b></p><p><b>Architechs--"B&M Remix/The Boy Is Mine"</b></p><p><b>Y-Tribe--"Enough Is Enough"</b></p><p><b>New Horizons-- "Slamdown" from Scrap Iron Dubs Vol 1 (500 Rekords)</b></p><p><b>DJ Luck and MC Neat--"Little Bit of Luck" (Red Rose Recordings)</b></p><p><b>Angel Farringdon & L'il Smokey--"No Fighting/Clean Rhythm" (JBR)</b></p><p><b>Mad Shag --"Madness on the Streets Remix" (Stamp)</b></p><p><b>10 degrees Below meets Fierce--"Dayz Like That"</b></p><p><b>Norris 'Da Boss' Windross -- "Heartbeat" (Pseudo)</b></p><p><b>Antonio--"Bad Funk/Bad Funk (Dem 2 Remix)" (Locked On)</b></p><p><b>DEA--"Sacrifice" [remake of Rufige Cru's "Menace"] (DEA)</b></p><p><b>Various Artists--Locked On... The Best Of</b></p><p><b>Various Artists--Pure Silk: The Album</b></p><p><b>(to name but a few.....)</b></p><p><br /></p><p>Even after <a href="https://www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/essays/the-wire-300_simon-reynolds-on-the-hardcore-continuum-series_6_two-step-garage_1999_" target="_blank">the "Feminine Pressure" UK garage epic,</a> I find there's always more to say about 2-step, new twists and folds, contours and crinkles. It's endlessly seductive and thought-provocative. For now, just a couple of thoughts: </p><p>A/ I'm always struck by the way the ads for clubs and raves on the pirates go on about the main room playing "house and UK garage". At these events you can be sure you will never hear a house record in any of the commonly accepted senses. You'll be lucky to hear any four-to-the-floor pump, it'll be 95 percent two-step twitch all the way. The latest wave of tunes--by M-Dubs, Groove Chronicles, E.S. Dubs--are moody midtempo breakbeat with evil basslines and dub-spatialized mixes, topped with menacing ragga vocals or pure darkside-revisisted samples. In other words, fuck-all to do with house music or garage. So why this strident prioritisation, "house and UK garage", with the word "house" upfront? Why the reluctance to announce, proclaim, shout from the rooftops, the fabulous novelty of this music? Why the semantic restraint? (M-Dubs actually call what they do "breakbeat funk" but this is really unusual). The insistence on "house" is a re-pledging of allegiance--as if the swerve into jungle, as a named, differentiated genre, distinct from house, was a terrible mistake; the first split that beget all the subdivisions to follow. Yet the re-dedication to "house" is not at all the same as, say, the UK purist house scene's emulation of American deep house maestros, its fidelity to Chicago or New York. It's more about a reinvocation of the spirit (rather than substance) of a specifically British moment, an all-too-brief phase before the subgeneric dis-intergration of the rave diaspora began. This phase, circa 1990, was when house started to get inflected in all kinds of specifically British ways, yet it was still house: the bleep house of Unique 3 and Nightmares On Wax, the hip-house/breakbeat house of Blapps Posse and Shut Up and Dance, the dancehall/dub house of Ragga Twins and Moody Boys, the hardcore house of Congress and Psychotropic. What's being re-proposed is an idea--again British-of a house music that's so elastic, hybrid, and protean, it almost has no stylistic contours, no delimited range of emotion--it can comprehend any influence, any feeling. House as a literally catholic church -- so inclusive and adaptable there's no need for schisms or breakaway heretic sects--because it can be almost anything. And that's what 2-step is--what house sounds like when almost every defining characteristic of house music has been eliminated or tweaked until near-unrecognisable.</p><p>In the tradition of hardcore and jungle before it, London's garage scene works as a gigantic laboratory, a permutation space where new hyphenated hybrids and creole micro-genres flicker into life for a few months or even just weeks, then disappear: speed garage, slow jungle, ska-house, acid swingbeat, hyper-funk, breakbeat garage, disco-ragga, grunge dub, riddim & blues, electro-gamelan, divas-in-the-echo-chamber, crack house, tech-2-step, quiet stormcore, sugarshack breakbeat funk, scrap iron dub, bleep garage, wildstyle soul, lover's jump-up. In this music you hear spectral traces of 20 plus years of London "street sounds" culture---the ghosts of Loose Ends, Janet Kay, Ratpack, Buju Banton, Gappa G & Hypa Hypa, Soul II Soul, Public Enemy, Ali G., Anita "It's the Way" Baker, Cherelle & Anthony O' Neal, Smiley Culture, Tina Moore, Mantronix, Leviticus, JVC Force, Deep Dish, Nina Simone, Kaotic Chemistry---not just in the form of assimilated influences, but often as blatant samples, cheekily plagiarized interpolations, even total remakes like the ones of "Mr Kirk's Nightmare" and "Lord of the Null Lines" going around at the moment.</p><p><br /></p><p>B/ my favorite bit in Artful Dodger's fabtastic "Re-Wind" isn't the "when the crowd say 'bo' selector/re-e-wind"" chorus or the windscreen-smashing beats, but the bit where Craig David croons "got our groove on, dancing yeah, real hardcore." The fact that he can convincingly claim to be "real hardcore" in that silky-soft swingbeat Nutrasweet voice highlights the transvaluation that's taken place; when drum'n'bass started to fall into the grim orbit of techno, the London massive conversely started to feel the gravitational attraction of American R&B--almost as a kind of counter-force. At any rate, what used to be "jungle" got pulled in twain by these opposed gravitational tugs, so that a huge gulf now exists between, say, Optical and Groove Chronicles. The "real hardcore" line, so smoothly crooned amidst the lethal slickness of Artful Dodger's production, emphasizes just how elastic this London subculture is--how it can assimilate pop melodics and R&B smoov-ness and still be ruff, still be hardcore.</p><p>2-step is where the musical advances made during 10 years of collectively living at the cutting edge of rave's drug-technology interface (acidhardcorejungledrum'n'bass) are now being folded back into song-oriented house and American R&B (ie. the humanist, hypersexual pop sounds that ravers originally broke with to pursue manic sexless drug-noise).</p><p><br /></p><p> </p><p><b><span style="font-size: large;">2000</span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-size: large;">2STEP AND UK UNDERGROUND GARAGE</span></b></p><p><br /></p><p><b> CHRIS MAC-- "Dubplate Style" (2step dub mix of 'Baby Gonna Rock Dis') </b></p><p><b>ZED BIAS -- "Neighbourhood" (Locked On)</b></p><p><b>ARCHITECHS -- "Body Groove" (Go Beat)</b></p><p><b>NAPA TAC -- "Dibby Dibby Sound" (white)</b></p><p><b>TRUESTEPPERS FEAT. VICTORIA BECKHAM-- "Out of Your Mind" (Arista)</b></p><p><b>SHOLA AMA--- "Imagine"</b></p><p><b>B15 PROJECT --"Girls Like This"</b></p><p><b>SWEET FEMALE ATTITUDE --"Flowers"</b></p><p><b>OXIDE & NEUTRINO--"Bound 4 Da Reload (Casualty)" (EastWest)</b></p><p><b>CRAIG DAVID--"Fill Me In (Artful Dodger Remix)" (Wildstar)</b></p><p><b>CHRIS MAC PRESENTS UK APACHI & DAVID BOOMAH--"Beep Beep!" (Metrix)</b></p><p><b>LEEE JOHN--"Your Mind, Your Body, Your Soul" (Locked On)</b></p><p><b>DJ ZINC -- "138 Trek" (label unknown)</b></p><p><b>TEEBONE FEAT. MC SPARKS AND MC KIE (a/k/a TKS) -- "Fly Bi' (ditto)</b></p><p><b>WOOKIE -- "Battle" (Soul 2 Soul)</b></p><p><b>VARIOUS MCs-- "Millenium Twist" and "K.O" on the Warm Up EP (Middle Row)</b></p><p><b>ARTIST UNKNOWN-- "Warship" (Pulse)</b></p><p><b>STEALTH MEN--"Chapter 1: Behind the Wall" (Phatt Budd)</b></p><p><b>2 WISEMEN-- "Hardcore Garage" (Ibiza)</b></p><p><b>SO SOLID CREW -- "Dilemma"</b></p><p><b>N&G feat. MC CREED AND ROSE WINDROSS--"Liferide"</b></p><p><b>BASEMENT JAXX--"You Can't Stop Me (Steven Emmanuel Remix)" (XL)</b></p><p><b>TEEBONE & SKIBA DEE -- "Super S" (Solid City Records)</b></p><p><b>SECOND PROTOCOL -- "Basslick" (EastWest)</b></p><p><b>SOVEREIGN -- "There You Go (Pink bootleg)" (All Good)</b></p><p><b>MONSTA BOY feat. DENZIE Denzie-- "Sorry" (Locked On)</b></p><p><b>BRANDY VS X-MEN-- "Angel" (white)</b></p><p><b>MJ COLE---"Sincere Remix" (Talkin' Loud</b></p><p><b>El-B feat. JUICEMAN -- "Digital" (Locked On)</b></p><p><b>Y-TRIBE-- "Computer Love" (label unknown)</b></p><p><b>VARIOUS ARTISTS--- Blackmarket Presents 2Step Vol II (Black Market)</b></p><p><b>VARIOUS ARTISTS--- Pure Garage: Mixed Live by E-Z and Pure Garage III </b></p><p><b>VARIOUS ARTISTS--- The Sound of the Pirates (Locked On)</b></p><p><b>VARIOUS ARTISTS--Masterstepz freebie mix-CD on cover of Mixmag</b></p><p><b>VARIOUS ARTISTS--- 2Step Pressure mixed by Merlin (www.wiggle.cx)</b></p><p><br /></p><p>UK garage/2step enjoyed its fourth fabulous summer in a row, defying both the Law of Subcultural Exhaustion that decrees genres get three years tops before going pear-shaped (e.g. jungle) and the usual problems of over-exposure leading to boredom that accompany mainstream crossover. But I've got to admit I started to lose much of my interest before the summer was out -- assisted by close encounters with the sheer unpleasantness of 2step as club culture (see over-rated of 2000, forthcoming), the mounting drabness of the "breakbeat garage" tendency (see over-rated of 2000, forthcoming), and just personal exhaustion with that sound. If you're really into something, by a certain point, you've accumulated so much of it (and I probably have more UK garage 12's than jungle at this point) that an inverse-ratio syndrome sets in: it becomes harder to be surprised, it feels like the genre isn't moving as fast as it was, fast enough for you. (The same thing happened with drum'n'bass for me around early 97--although I'd argue that was real stagnation setting in, not a perspectival trick). Plus it's tough getting the records in New York, and the excitement doesn't get continually recharged every weekend by being plugged into the electrical grid that is London pirate radio. At any rate, here's an inventory of 2step delights from this year.</p><p>Chris Mack's "Dubplate Style", Leee John's "Your Mind, Your Body, Your Soul": love the way the drums on these tracks are so digitally texturized and glossy, it's like the whole track's made from lustrous fabric that crackles, crinkles and kinks with each percussive impact. The way the latter morphs into the former on that Masterstepz/Mixmag freebie is my fave 2step sleight-of-mix this year. Fabulous also to hear Imagination's Leee John again nearly 20 years after "Bodytalk". "Dubplate" has sticky-the-most snares and this fantastic pinging and chiming xylo-bass that's sort of pizzicato and rib-rattling all at once. Chris Mack generally is a supreme exponent of 2-step's art of decentering and spatializing the drums across the stereo-field---so it's like you're moving through a mesh-space of pointillist percussion, your body buffeted and flexed every-which-way by cross-rhythms and hyper-syncopations. Shame he doesn't often have good-enough songs to work this magic through and around, though ("Beep Beep" and "Baby Gonna Rock Dis" don't quite cut it as Tunes).</p><p>"Vocal science" seems to have faded a bit from the scene--the cyber-melisma effects, the percussive voice-riffs, the way producers make the diva twinkle, tremble, buckle, pulsate, fold in on herself. Nowadays these deployments tend to be more subtle: like the ecstatic shiver-stutter woven electronically into the word "re-e-e-mix" by Artful Dodger on their version of Craig David's already ultra-warbly "Fill Me In." It's unnerving because the line between what's human and what's artificial isn't so clearly defined.</p><p>Oxide & Neutrino's much-detested "Bound 4 Da Reload" --possibly the most tuneless UK Number One ever, but bleakly compelling all the same: those icy staccato strings, that sinisterly bubbling bass. Cool, too, that it infiltrated dancehall's metaphor of the killer track as ordnance in the war of sound versus sound right into the heart of popland. Also on the nu-dark tip, "Warship" which is either by or on Pulse, I'm not sure: the best techstep record since"Metropolis" essentially, albeit substantially slower of course. What's weird is that you'd hear it in the mix with soppy garridge tunes like SFA's "Flowers" orlush musical ones like "Sincere", but this is a track that contains no garage elements whatsoever. Weird also that the scene's getting into the kind of caustic acid-y sounds that originally drove people out of drum'n'bass and into speed garage in the first place. Stealth Men's "Behind The Wall" is in that strung-out coke psychosis mode a la Skycap, and is notable for its creepily effective Tracy Chapman samples --from some song about hearing either wife abuse or child abuse going on in your next door neighbour's flat, but here taking on something of the audio-hallucinatory agony of Coppola's The Conversation. Also plugs into that hardcore continuum of using anything that comes to hand, not being afraid to be cheesy (see also: garage remake of "Tainted Love", the UB40 "One In Ten" chorus borrowed in Suburban Lick's "Here Comes the Lick Again", etc).</p><p>B15's "Girls Like This", Shola Ama's "Imagine".... high-pitched melisma anthems that showcase a crucial aspect of 2step: the way that extreme treble can be as intense as extreme bass, triggering a fizzy-dizzy sensation like champagne running through your veins instead of blood. Leading the counter-reaction to chart-step's trebletastic effervescence, Second Protocol's "Basslick", El-B's "Digital", and So Solid's "Dilemma" bring the new bass-2-dark minimalism... Amazing to see how when the high frequencies are stripped away, the ladeez just disappear from the floor ("gir-rls, don't like this, n--n-n-no no"). "Basslick" is just jump-up jungle slowed to 130 b.p.m., right down to the shlocky classical music intro, but the one-note bassdrone of "Dilemma" is bracingly innovative, echoing electro without replicating it. Shame about the cliched martial arts movie samples, though.</p><p>Why can't 2step's balance of yin and yang, tweeter and woofer, lite and dark, stay where it's at? Especially when the result is chart smashes as jarring and weird as Truesteppers's "Out of Your Mind". I saw them on this crappy CD: UK pop show on TV the night I arrived in England to do a garage story for Spin: Posh Spice wearing one of those R&B singer-style headset microphones and moving amidst this huge phalanx of militaristic-looking backing dancers shrouded in a sinister cloud of dry ice, Jonny L and the other guy lurking at the back with their keyboards. "Out of Your Mind" is so shrill and jagged-sounding it's almost atonal, R&B-meets-Schoenberg. I love the vocal duel between Posh and the indignant vocoderized male singer. And the way she warns "this tune's gonna punish you."</p><p>Wookie's definitely over-rated and liked by the wrong sort (acid-jazzy, Rhodes-fetishising tossers) but the first one-note section of "Battle" is undeniably great, building this fabulous tension. Then it opens up into ghastly Giscomby Brit-Soul. Thank Heaven for the dark mix that's just the tense, terse first part of the song---remixing at its most effective and improving!</p><p>Napa Tac's "Dibby Dibby Sound": one of those great tunes that come out, probably get played a few weeks on the pirates, you'd have to be in the shops that week to get a copy (I just happened to be in London), and then it's gone: a glorious composite of tried-and-true elements from across the hardcore continuum 1990-2000 (lovely housey shimmer-riffs, bit of ragga chat, rolling bass, ravey stabs, bleep'n'bass echoes) that for some reason makes me think of Foul Play at their finest. If you ever see it, buy on sight. </p><p>Teebone feat. Sparks & Kie's "Fly Bi": my favorite of this year's many MC tunes, boisterous, exuberant, insanely catchy. </p><p>What else? The fractured funk of Stephen Emanuel's remix of the Jaxx's "You Can't Stop Me "..... Zed's "Neighbourhood": the plangent roots vocal and twin bass-riffs (a midfrequency blare of drone-swarm distortion and an electro-style battery of sub-low thuds and booms)..... Sovereign's boot of Pink's "There You Go": a tuff little unit, with Star Trek/Lieutenant Uhuru type radio-sonar blips running all the way through.... Monsta Boy "Sorry" with its absurdly weepy and prostate-with-regret sounding Denzie vocal..... Architechs's sultry "Body Groove".... N&G feat. MC Creed and Rose Windross's "Liferide": not sure if this even came out this year, but a melodic/percussive plinky xylo-bass classic, and a good spur to pondering why exactly that garage MC style of prissy, prim, clipped delivery sounds so cool... </p><p>There's probably dozens more I've forgotten. Perhaps strangest of all, and the kind of record that will always keep me fixated on "the sound of the pirates", was Middle Row's The Warm Up EP, with the Dickensian dancehall of "Millenium Twist" complete with comical Fagin impersonation and the bizarre boxing-ring MC narrative that holds together "K.O."</p><p>A good year, then, but we're overdue another paradigm shift from the London hardcore continuum. Within a year, I expect another "all change" on the part of the pirates. Can't wait, and can't imagine what it could be---always a good sign.</p><p><br /></p><p> </p><p><b><span style="font-size: large;">2000</span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-size: large;">BREAKBEAT GARAGE versus "GARAGE RAP"</span></b></p><p><br /></p><p>When this flavour of "garage" first started to come through--must have been late 1999, with Deekline-- I remember being excited by the way the sultry, swinging R&B-2step flow would be disrupted by this much more raw, stripped down and rhythmically unsupple sound that was disconcertingly similar to Big Beat: 130 bpm breaks, bulbous bass, wacky samples. But what was refreshing about these tunes--"I Don't Smoke", later the more electro-flavored "Dilemma" by So Solid--when they were a brief tang of different flavour, becomes tediously homogenous as a scene/sound on its own. Stanton Warriors's "Da Virus" especially seems to be the drab template for a lot of this stuff, and "138 Trek" wore out its welcome fairly quick. There's some cool-enough stuff, I suppose--like Blowfelt's bippety bassline tune "Lickle Rolla"---but generally it sounds too much like jungle minus the extra b.p.m speed-rush, hardcore without the E-fired euphoria. Or worse like nu-skool breaks (alarming to see Rennie 'Stupid Fucking Name' Pilgrem reviewing 2step tunes in Muzik's breakbeat column).</p><p>That said, the last batch of pirate tapes I got, showed signs of a new twist in this breakstep (or whatever they're calling it) direction: not so much jungle-slowed-down, and more like a post-rave, drum'n'bass influenced form of English rap. On these spring 2001 pirate tapes, there's hardly any R&B diva tunes, and every other track features very Lunndunn-sounding MCs or ragga-flavored vocals, over caustic acid-riffs and techsteppy sounds, like some latterday Dillinja production. Unlike with techstep or recent d&b, there's very little distorto-blare in the production, there's this typically 2step clipped, costive feel, an almost prim and dainty quality to the aggression-- a weird combo of nasty and neat-freak. Lyrically, the vibe seems to be similarly pinched in spirit, a harsh, bleak worldview shaped subconsciously by the crumbling infrastructural reality beneath New Labour's fake grin; UKG seems to be already transforming itself from boom-time music to recession blues. The Englishness of the vocals reminds me of 3 Wizemen Men and that perpetual false-dawn for UK rap.</p><p>Lots of killer tunes I can't identify, but one in particular stood out that I could: "Know We" by Pay As U Go Kartel. As I say, quite mean-minded and loveless music but sonically very exciting-- a new twist if not quite paradigm shift from the hardcore continuum.</p><p><br /></p><p><b><span style="font-size: large;">2001</span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-size: medium;">TASTY TRENDS OF 2001: MC GARAGE </span></b></p><p><b>Dynamite, "Boo"/Genius Kru -- "Boom Selection"/Pay As U Go Kartel, "Know We"/Gorillaz, "Clint Eastwood" (Ed Case Remix)/Shut Up And Dance, "Moving Up"/So Solid Crew, -- They Don't Know/Oxide & Neutrino, "Up Middle Finger", Execute/The Streets, "Has It Come To This"/More Fire Crew, "Oi!"/etc etc</b></p><p>The new and often genuinely nasty face of UK youth culture. Proof yet again of the endless productivity of "the streets" as both social reality and pop myth. This MC cru thing in 2step seems to confirm the final utter victory of hip hop values over rave ones in the U.K. (although arguably that hip hop/rave border never really existed in Britain, was always porous; maybe the most exciting subzones of UK dance were always permeated with hip hop values, like hardcore/jungle; maybe it's always been just a "street beats" culture, at least in London). At any rate, ain't no love in the heart of that city no more; to be a raver just means you're someone who steps out and parties at the weekend, there's no cluster of values or attitudes attached to it (unless "bad attitude" counts).</p><p><br /></p><p>(the analysis / recent-history-retracing carried on at Blissblog with this <a href="https://reynoldsretro.blogspot.com/2015/10/garage-rap-footnotes-2003.html">Footnotes to "Garage Rap</a>" I did around <a href="https://www.villagevoice.com/beyond-the-streets/" target="_blank">a piece</a> I did for Village Voice on what was soon to be called grime) </p>SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537988259790085733.post-55171949675527864842024-01-03T14:28:00.000-08:002024-01-16T12:18:22.948-08:00where's it gone, where's it gone<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KTzO-G7Jdk8" width="320" youtube-src-id="KTzO-G7Jdk8"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div> <p></p><div>On a mad jag of listening to peak 2step and UKG - here's <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYrbm00SnK2YLtvq1YoITVJszJIeh51zo" target="_blank">a playlist</a> of the stuff - and this one, <b>Stephen Emmanuel presents Colours</b>, <b>"Hold On (SE22 Mix)"</b> - leaps out at me for its feverish sultry hard-swung insanity.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-dm_mcaGt1Nyas_FiOpfwp33o9acfd4dIy_jRi5bB4pa6WWTIwLAL83af-DHhFhJnuU4GaoVZvxOFFif8awYGqwVwz6hr3PQtGZPvLoevs8q24Vh5a3NXlOiT-rjn5UuVrmjp-gcA3uWX-JjhFQBnXAAxr0yV5IcAPTh9TRDJzpFpLK9Gkw-v6gU_AQ/s600/R-250306-1514576701-8726.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-dm_mcaGt1Nyas_FiOpfwp33o9acfd4dIy_jRi5bB4pa6WWTIwLAL83af-DHhFhJnuU4GaoVZvxOFFif8awYGqwVwz6hr3PQtGZPvLoevs8q24Vh5a3NXlOiT-rjn5UuVrmjp-gcA3uWX-JjhFQBnXAAxr0yV5IcAPTh9TRDJzpFpLK9Gkw-v6gU_AQ/w400-h400/R-250306-1514576701-8726.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /> </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Here's what I wrote about it at the time: </div><div><br /></div><div><i>"The vocal – a paroxysm of hair-trigger blurts and stuttered spasms of passion – doesn’t resemble a human being so much as an out-of-control desiring machine."</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><span style="text-align: center;">Of course, Todd Edwards is overwhelmingly present here as an influence, but I think the student has surpassed the master. As always, the UK pushes the US template just that little bit further, into the deranged. </span></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>Many questions remain unanswered</div><div><br /></div><div>- who <i>was</i> <b>Stephen Emmanuel</b>?</div><div><br /></div><div>- why is it an "<i>SE22</i> Mix"?</div><div><br /></div><div>- was the "Cute Mix" any cop? </div><div><br /></div><div>SE22 - which includes bits of Herne Hill and East Dulwich - is quite near where I used to live (Effra Road, close to Brockwell Park). Although that was back in the early '90s - by 98-99 I was in New York. </div><div><br /></div><div>I must have the vinyl with the 'Cute Mix' on it somewhere.</div><div><br /></div><div>Ah, SE22 is a Stephen Emmanuel alias - S E, geddit?</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Andy Lysandrou</b> is somewhere in the background of the project - A.L. as in Boogie Beat Records and then <b>Ice Cream Records</b> (and also <b>Truesteppers</b>)</div><div><br /></div><div>But apart from a couple of other tunes, SE leaves scarcely any spoor for the nuumologist to track </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oD9C8DDdRCY" width="320" youtube-src-id="oD9C8DDdRCY"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Nice tune - nice 'n ' ripe</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UPKd4eOUG5M" width="320" youtube-src-id="UPKd4eOUG5M"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">10 degrees Below - a name I remember, fairly vaguely</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sbem7QdPd-M" width="320" youtube-src-id="sbem7QdPd-M"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Alongside SE's slim discography, those Basement Jaxx boys had the good taste to invite this mysterious personage to remix one of their tunes </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/087gWFRV9AQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="087gWFRV9AQ"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The SE22 mix of "Hold On" is so preferred by the massive that - even when it isn't credited as such, but just as "Hold On" - that is it what you will find on YouTube. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Aha, hold on a minute - found a version of "Hold On" that <i>isn't </i>"SE22"</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jaUkj9xLY0g" width="320" youtube-src-id="jaUkj9xLY0g"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">But it is a remix, by <b>Y-Tribe</b>, that uses the "SE22" as its launchpad</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">As does this by <b>Duncan Powell</b>, an auteur of "late 2step"</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ic40tjKyhXQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="ic40tjKyhXQ"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">These remixes seem to be from four years or so after the original release </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Neither manages to make "SE22" any more jittery or eroto-delirious than the original </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">If anything, it goes into the Zone of Fruitless Intensification</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Becomes an irritant</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Bit like drill & bass or breakcore's relationship to jungle </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Yet these re-renderings are by tru believers, not outsiders</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Blimey, even more remixes!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zUPpTPqI_Lw" width="320" youtube-src-id="zUPpTPqI_Lw"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">And yet another by Duncan Powell, which admittedly <i>is</i> quite eroto-delirious<br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mKgRu5xRYZs" width="320" youtube-src-id="mKgRu5xRYZs"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">4/4, so basically turns it back into Todd Edwards, but more flailing and disjointed than he'd ever dare.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">And then this one which is just vandalism, and I assume unsanctioned </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4-XHnt85sKE" width="320" youtube-src-id="4-XHnt85sKE"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Back to the immaculately maculate original</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3Hd2XeHkye0" width="320" youtube-src-id="3Hd2XeHkye0"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">But wait a minute! With the YouTube clip above, in the artist and track title, suddenly someone called <b>June Hamm</b> appears!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The vocalist, one must assume. But there's no trace of anything else by someone of that name.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Crikey, another fold in the fabric - <b>Craig David</b> did a kind of cover / rewrite of the tune </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/m2qyyXezxYw" width="320" youtube-src-id="m2qyyXezxYw"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Most of what's good about it is the original - and Craig, mostly, squirts a load of vocal whipped cream over it. The Niche-y Bassline element is nice, but Tinchy's contribution is fairly feeble.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">But I like it - it could hardly fail to tickle my nuumerogenous zones. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Now with nuum, there's always pre-echoes as well as after-echoes</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KTzO-G7Jdk8" width="320" youtube-src-id="KTzO-G7Jdk8"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">And I always connect "Hold On (SE22 Mix)" with earlier febrilities such as this </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OOt16ePuHFA" width="320" youtube-src-id="OOt16ePuHFA"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div><br /></div>SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537988259790085733.post-62353910092597607542023-12-30T09:23:00.000-08:002024-01-02T09:57:38.389-08:00"London Massive!" (the declensions of "Madness On The Street")<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2n8Yxbz87ZU" width="320" youtube-src-id="2n8Yxbz87ZU"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Ooh gosh this sounded so so phuturistic when I first heard it -- all the dainty little keyboard quivers and squiggly blurts, the flickered vocal delays and twitchy hyper-syncopations.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4Rf0IY9Jsvxzp_tI2tc9uPyOzGZ07JUB1_1GWrhXi58AK-qfg_X6uSrtFPCjpH9cH6cw9PpWsrVOpTkT0yrLoX8t2sUH4ur_r9t_8pmLrpvY9C1eEod64xpcYY7dKitG-39i6eoNl3Rdvmx4qHgcGU0hu8PHK-6Zld5w10sf1cpjpbiQwbmUqeHUZ1A/s600/R-339116-1677320643-9963.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4Rf0IY9Jsvxzp_tI2tc9uPyOzGZ07JUB1_1GWrhXi58AK-qfg_X6uSrtFPCjpH9cH6cw9PpWsrVOpTkT0yrLoX8t2sUH4ur_r9t_8pmLrpvY9C1eEod64xpcYY7dKitG-39i6eoNl3Rdvmx4qHgcGU0hu8PHK-6Zld5w10sf1cpjpbiQwbmUqeHUZ1A/w400-h400/R-339116-1677320643-9963.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil8bYA1nYiH_SFE86u58K9t6KVSjogUIe_ROUzl5CXXYlvw_XLWxLLKdUxMkz5M3KiNaTx8SJE3tOUyVLuPZbnrQ0-Gy8_kLlDbkZYslqUjHz-uz6bI3uBqChcXlrhdE05vebM0se2y80IX3MtBTWZ-c2ETm13QTif2ugrKqDonqyCTYcoZW4PTEmoCw/s330/respects%20to%20passion%20fm%20crew.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="117" data-original-width="330" height="141" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil8bYA1nYiH_SFE86u58K9t6KVSjogUIe_ROUzl5CXXYlvw_XLWxLLKdUxMkz5M3KiNaTx8SJE3tOUyVLuPZbnrQ0-Gy8_kLlDbkZYslqUjHz-uz6bI3uBqChcXlrhdE05vebM0se2y80IX3MtBTWZ-c2ETm13QTif2ugrKqDonqyCTYcoZW4PTEmoCw/w400-h141/respects%20to%20passion%20fm%20crew.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>"Respects to All Passion FM Crew"</i> - respect<b>s</b> plural! Each and every one gets their own personal nuff respect... </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Then - now calling <a href="https://www.discogs.com/label/20337-Stamp-Records" target="_blank">themselves</a> the <b>Stamp Crew,</b> rather than <b>Richie Boy & DJ Klasse feat. Fai</b> - came this revamp with the wonderful recurring shout-out to the "Lon-don Mas-sive" </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2q2XteYh6x4" width="320" youtube-src-id="2q2XteYh6x4"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">That I remember and bought at the time.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">But I don't remember this version with the bubblin-criss MC doing his best Creed impersonation</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/m0mOx3tEzzo" width="320" youtube-src-id="m0mOx3tEzzo"></iframe></div><br /> <p></p><p>Ah the "London massive" bit is actually on the original 4/4 bounce version - flipside to the 2step "Madness" - but it's not made as much of as it is on the subsequent declension</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/b7lfNmncis0" width="320" youtube-src-id="b7lfNmncis0"></iframe></div><br /><p>That wriggly oil-slick legato B-line is very DJ Narrows / Niche / Northern Bassline</p><p><br /></p>SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537988259790085733.post-90150382030128265692023-12-27T16:25:00.000-08:002023-12-28T11:41:44.495-08:00Lost In Nuummas<p>At Christmas, my 17-year-old niece was playing tunes and this one grabbed my ear like a terrier snatching turkey shreds from under the table. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mXanvpgcG6A" width="320" youtube-src-id="mXanvpgcG6A"></iframe></div><br /><p>I was like, "I <i>know</i> that groove"</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BBm9dZL7m1g" width="320" youtube-src-id="BBm9dZL7m1g"></iframe></div><br /><p>I had an irresistible urge to inform her what the tune underneath the tune was - regale with tales of buying the 12-inch at the time... just how exciting the UKG-into-2step moment had been. </p><p>But I resisted it. Who wants to be the boring old uncle droning on about things prehistoric? </p><p>Funny thing is, this grime refix of <b>Some Treat</b> - which I'd never heard - is itself really old, <a href="https://www.discogs.com/release/1899867-DJ-Magic-No-Hats-No-Hoods-Edition-1" target="_blank">from 2009</a>. Back then only slightly older than my niece, <b>Chip(munk)</b> is now in his mid-30s!</p><p>The kingdom of atemporality isn't it, music today? Chronology all jumbled, sequence flattened out. Doesn't matter to the youngers, and why should it? They find what they need by lateral drift. </p><p>Later, I remembered there was yet another intertextual layer, a deeper stratum of nuumological history beneath. </p><p>Some Treat's "Lost In Vegas" (1998) is itself a partial rewrite of S<b>hut Up and Dance</b>'s 1990 tune "£10 To Get In"</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6IDsZxgMtPM" width="320" youtube-src-id="6IDsZxgMtPM"></iframe></div><br /><p>The <b>Suzanne Vega</b> element - doubtless heisted indirectly, via the 1990 dance bootleg turned smash hit by <b>DNA</b> - is just one element of deliciousness that gets transferred from "£10 To Get In" to "Lost in Vegas" to "Going On Sho". </p><p>There's also the "<i>turn it down... cos it's too fuckin' loud</i>". </p><p>Now where's that bit from? </p><p>It reappears in a couple of Luke Vibert bits - including a tune <i>named</i> "Turn"</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RoKI00oriiE" width="320" youtube-src-id="RoKI00oriiE"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MEl3yNf61wE" width="320" youtube-src-id="MEl3yNf61wE"></iframe></div><br /><p>And Shut Up and Dance self-sample the Vega lick for just a flicker in this tune </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pAwQllVBo24" width="320" youtube-src-id="pAwQllVBo24"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>But back to the meat in the middle of the Nuum Historical Sandwich</p><p>I don't remember this remix </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_4bAFtlV_yU" width="320" youtube-src-id="_4bAFtlV_yU"></iframe></div><br /><p>But I do remember the name <b>Angel Farringdon </b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_2y7u_G2IDI" width="320" youtube-src-id="_2y7u_G2IDI"></iframe></div><br /><p>Ruff 'n 'rollin' - lovely flickers of filtered breakbeats draped across the 4/4 pump 'n' flex</p><p>Flipside is tuff 'n' slinkier still</p><p><br /></p><p><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2BhbuWCw9X0" width="320" youtube-src-id="2BhbuWCw9X0"></iframe></p><p><br /></p><p>Delicious clattery swing to it. The horn fanfare! The peculiar thin whistling refrain. And that gluey rolling B-line. </p>JBR - Johnny Biscuit Records! <div><br /></div><div>Who was <b>Lil Smokey</b>, then?<br /><p>Angel Farringdon - that's <b>Helen T</b>, aka <b>Helen Taylor </b>- who engineered and programmed <a href="https://www.discogs.com/artist/62164-Some-Treat" target="_blank">Some Treat </a></p><p>That was their one shot - this follow-up is tasteful and flava-free. <b><a href="https://www.discogs.com/artist/78047-Spindrift-2" target="_blank">Spindrift </a></b>is a Helen T alias.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nOiDjhXROl0" width="320" youtube-src-id="nOiDjhXROl0"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p>Angel Farringdon did <a href="https://www.discogs.com/release/13151442-Angel-Farringdon-Russell-Square-Sidewalk-Prototype-1" target="_blank">a record </a>with Russell Square, tee hee. Credited to <b>The Railway People </b>on the white label. </p><p>But although there's another portentous horn part, just like in "Clean Riddem", it's not quite in the same league. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MJxyS4yTFSY" width="320" youtube-src-id="MJxyS4yTFSY"></iframe></div><br /><p>I do like like the backwards-vocal - combined with the ceremonial-sounding horn, there's a bit of an "Eastern promise" vibe. The reverse drums bits. I suspect a past in drum + bass. </p><p>This is identified as "Prototype" but appears to be the same tune. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hG61VETu8Is" width="320" youtube-src-id="hG61VETu8Is"></iframe></div><br /><p>Angel Farringdon also did <a href="https://www.discogs.com/release/4885-Angel-Farringdon-Warren-Street-Total-Solar-Eclipse" target="_blank">a record </a>with Warren Street, tee hee hee.</p><p>Helen T's <a href="https://www.discogs.com/artist/111843-Angel-Farringdon" target="_blank">discography</a> is much more extensive than Some Treat's. Multiple identities, a string of releases. </p><p>El B was prevailed upon to darkdubrmx this one</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/j6nlKREyagA" width="320" youtube-src-id="j6nlKREyagA"></iframe></div><br /><p>There are some vaguely hardhouse, London underground acid, and breaksteppy things later in the discography</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zsrYYtpYyKE" width="320" youtube-src-id="zsrYYtpYyKE"></iframe></div><br /><p>Back to the peak moment</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uWLNsoxAvJY" width="320" youtube-src-id="uWLNsoxAvJY"></iframe></div><br /><p>What days they were... </p><p><br /></p><p>In my mind I always cluster "Lost In Vegas" and "No Fighting" / "Clean Riddem" with this glorious <a href="https://www.discogs.com/release/2472771-Napa-Tac-Dibby-Dibby-Sound" target="_blank">one-off </a>by <b>Napa-Tac</b>, which samples heavily from SUAD's contemporary Rebel MC</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KVMCol00FLc" width="320" youtube-src-id="KVMCol00FLc"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SKkNisuBGys" width="320" youtube-src-id="SKkNisuBGys"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JJ76j3owCDc" width="320" youtube-src-id="JJ76j3owCDc"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LqUsrer1Puw" width="320" youtube-src-id="LqUsrer1Puw"></iframe></div><br /><p>It's like the two ends of the '90s - 1990 and 1999 - are in communication, forming a loop, a perfect circle - or rather an imperfect circle, as things cycle around without merely repeating and reiterating.</p><p>You know it's coming... you know it</p><p><i>That's why they call it a continuum, folks!</i></p><p><br /></p><p>Aha, here's <a href="https://simonreynoldsfavesunfaves.blogspot.com/2008/12/faves-and-over-rated-of-1998-from.html" target="_blank">what I wrote about </a>"Lost In Vegas" back in '98 when rounding up the year's blisses</p><p><b>S<span style="font-family: arial;">OME TREAT -- Lost In Vegas (JBR)</span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">A tribute to/remake of Shut Up And Dance's 1990 (or was it even 1989?) track "Ten Pounds To Get In," this samples the Suzanne Vega vocal-riff from "Tom's Diner" that SUAD must have got from DNA's unoffical-then-subsequently-sanctioned dance version of the S. Vega track. We're talking multiple levels of citation here, serious intertextuality. On a broader level it's a tribute to the hardcore continuum--getting on for ten years of London's multiracial rave scene, a culture of mixing it up, of hybridising hybrids and mutating mutations; the continual reinvention of flava and vibe. A tradition of futurism. Roots N' Future = the endlessly fresh now.</span></p><p><br /></p><p>Now I think about it, that might be the very first time I used the term "hardcore continuum".</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p></div>SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537988259790085733.post-6652277363089805902023-12-20T09:52:00.000-08:002023-12-21T09:40:41.731-08:00the family that raves together<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0JI_XYYOvIKseef-mxfcrHYtsCLYZr_T2iHIsQ-w4nxCoxJDzmh2AdTQU-NZi1FdZYqvNRIUeYGFfE9hVPFDJBgHJ7O5lN-B-TTWmKyXNqJg65F5JM97-Z8ion5oOdilGFcoQwq-PJSLpv-0NxtB-do65GXifD33YBceu0gmqvrrx3TSd9fPQb91Yow/s843/immature%20ravers%20flyers.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="843" data-original-width="843" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0JI_XYYOvIKseef-mxfcrHYtsCLYZr_T2iHIsQ-w4nxCoxJDzmh2AdTQU-NZi1FdZYqvNRIUeYGFfE9hVPFDJBgHJ7O5lN-B-TTWmKyXNqJg65F5JM97-Z8ion5oOdilGFcoQwq-PJSLpv-0NxtB-do65GXifD33YBceu0gmqvrrx3TSd9fPQb91Yow/w400-h400/immature%20ravers%20flyers.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.thebuttermarket.co.uk/event/immature-ravers-xmas-family-rave-in-the-cellars/">https://www.thebuttermarket.co.uk/event/immature-ravers-xmas-family-rave-in-the-cellars/</a></p><p><br /></p><p>This reminds me of when I doing my on-the-ground research into the 2-Step / UK garage culture, around 1999. I came across this flyer for an event that provided a creche. .So you could go to the rave and bring your toddlers and small children with you and they would be left in the care of a qualified child-minder. </p><p>I'll never forget the kicker to the sales pitch: "<i>So there's no excuse, bring the fucking kids</i>". </p><p>And that's why <a href="https://www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/essays/the-wire-300_simon-reynolds-on-the-hardcore-continuum-series_6_two-step-garage_1999_" target="_blank">the piece</a> ended up being called "Adult Hardcore" - the idea was that the teenravers of 91-92 were now settling down, starting families. (Another bit of evidence: seeing a guy behind the counter of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/RhythmDivisionUK/" target="_blank">Rhythm Division</a> in E3, bottle-feeding a baby nestling in the crook of his arm, backdropped by a wall of UKG white labels).</p><p>But this is different - this is going with your kids and raving together with, albeit in the dance music equivalent of those hardcore matinees for under-21s that used to have in the USA. </p><p>Raving <i>en famille</i>? That really is the absolute end of the generation gap.</p><p>I wonder if this an outlier, or whether there'll be more and more events like.</p><p> C.f. rock festivals today, which are real family affairs. You hear of a teenager who'll go to the festival with their parents and they'll all stay in a tent together. Or groups of schoolfriends going to the festival, along with all the parents - the kids going off on their own, the parents likewise socializing mostly with the other parents. Regrouping back at the tents. </p><p>A friend of ours did that with her daughter and her daughter's friends and the friends's parents. Each generational grouping would wait until the younger / elder grouping was out of sight before getting their drugs out. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4rgJJcA6x03fJeFI0ZG_mY5Qn6VP0rq8Qu6XL9gcJ5YHhHcxl1k8yfVh_OVs28g5KG39WSZ0dwKg0dn3QbcHjjDhhzfBhrGnchs73YM6jvCU79JCgmeBWfFeyEdj4RGRnmBPMsKi3adpX1uUYg7KNNgKX_j-KA7uvtypAdaXdNu0e5PvbrrjLAgM9zw/s233/download.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="233" data-original-width="216" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4rgJJcA6x03fJeFI0ZG_mY5Qn6VP0rq8Qu6XL9gcJ5YHhHcxl1k8yfVh_OVs28g5KG39WSZ0dwKg0dn3QbcHjjDhhzfBhrGnchs73YM6jvCU79JCgmeBWfFeyEdj4RGRnmBPMsKi3adpX1uUYg7KNNgKX_j-KA7uvtypAdaXdNu0e5PvbrrjLAgM9zw/w593-h640/download.jpg" width="593" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537988259790085733.post-82241121150961406732023-11-30T12:10:00.000-08:002023-11-30T13:01:24.975-08:00the insulting algorhythm<p>Whenever I am listening to something off YouTube, and the selection in question ends and I'm distractedly doing something else and not making an active choice about what to listen to next... then what plays next automatically is<i> invariably </i>a dub techno mix. Something that descends from Basic Channel / Chain Reaction but drained of all swing, soul, and sensuality. </p><p>Things li<a href="https://www.youtube.com/live/_vw1DaM-6gI?si=VIcQzRDZ8mYk4yYA" target="_blank">ke this </a></p><p>or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/live/YNgco4ihw14?si=CTHe-XCSKmqPY9nH" target="_blank">this</a></p><p>as created by this anonymous - conceivably nonhuman - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@DystopianSoundscapes" target="_blank">YouTube channel</a></p><p>What puzzles me is that this is not music that I habitually listen to, or indeed <i>ever</i> listen to. So where is the algo getting its data from? On what is it basing these suppositions about my supposed audio sweet spot? </p><p>If it was tracking my purposeful activity on Youtube - playlisting, watch-listens, searches etc - and wanted to come up with something appealing to make stick me around... well, it ought to be choosing something from the following categories: peak-era ardkore and jungle, pirate radio sets and pirate radio adverts, weird old East European animations, Britcoms and TV plays from the 1970s, various sorts of avant-garde and electronic library music, maybe some jazz fusion and some reggae...</p><p>Below-par dub techno - it's one of the the last things I'd ever want to hear! Right down there with trance and landfill indie,</p><p>Truthfully, it's music that I've never listened to - <i>except </i>for a period in the late '90s when I scooped up all the classic Basic Channel and for a while religiously bought each new Chain Reaction until the label went right off the boil. I did like Pole. I loved Gas. </p><p>If I was going to listen to that kind of thing, I would listen to <i>exactly </i>that kind of thing - <i>those</i> artists, <i>those</i> labels. I wouldn't seek out some dilute knock-off version. </p><p>But clearly YouTube thinks it's got the measure of me and that's someone who's easily palmed off with the ersatz and tertiary-level derivative. </p><p>Perhaps it can tell that I'm preoccupied with something else, work or reading an article or following some internet spoor ... and thinks to itself "hmmm, this old fart would like something vaguely dancey yet inconspicuous, that'll putter along warmly and soothingly in the background". </p><p>On the contrary - every time it drops into that marshmallowy amorphogroove, I jolt into alertness, exasperated - "not this shit again!".</p><p>I swear there was a week or two where it was the <i>exact same mix</i> that would restart in any YouTube lull.</p><p>Mind you, these dub techno and ambient techno and ambient dub techno mixes, they are all such featureless blanks, so boringly and un-alluringly titled, I might just be imagining it's the identical mix each time... </p>SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537988259790085733.post-85855837973785945002023-11-27T09:56:00.000-08:002023-11-27T10:11:35.886-08:00feel the mellow <p> 31 years on, a mystery tune, on an old Touchdown FM cassette, uncovered!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4Z4ZY0hOREk" width="320" youtube-src-id="4Z4ZY0hOREk"></iframe></div><br /><p>found via this sampled source</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8yAiGOL-DYs" width="320" youtube-src-id="8yAiGOL-DYs"></iframe></div><br /><p>as also heard in this </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wnpcoJMdS34" width="320" youtube-src-id="wnpcoJMdS34"></iframe></div><br /><p>and also this </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/imtv2mWxtoM" width="320" youtube-src-id="imtv2mWxtoM"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>The title "Feel the Mellow" comes from another sample, "feel the melody", from Soul II Soul's "<a href="https://youtu.be/Tt6zOq-Mk_Y?si=s_gCRvxDeksLTV6Y" target="_blank">Back to Life (acapella</a>)", but mostly likely via Njoi's "Anthem".</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mDURChQ7w54" width="320" youtube-src-id="mDURChQ7w54"></iframe></div><br /><p>Almost entirely a composite of other things (prominently Liquid "Sweet Harmony") but "Feel the Mellow" is a tune I've never forgotten and always itched to know what it was</p><p>Here's the flipside, similarly collaged into existence </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/br9YOvXes50" width="320" youtube-src-id="br9YOvXes50"></iframe></div><br /><p>Darren Pearce aka <b>The Tripper</b> seemed to have many <a href="https://www.discogs.com/artist/31232-The-Tripper" target="_blank">alter egos</a></p><p><br /></p>SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537988259790085733.post-87288158081677957812023-11-25T17:28:00.000-08:002023-11-25T17:28:54.744-08:00brux out<p>Via <b>Kode9</b>, an astonishingly blown out ruffride from </p><p><a href="https://djramonsucesso.bandcamp.com/album/sexta-dos-crias" target="_blank">https://djramonsucesso.bandcamp.com/album/sexta-dos-crias</a><br /></p><p>Not sure if this <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/nov/14/if-it-doesnt-smell-like-funk-somethings-wrong-with-your-recipe-brazilian-baile-funk-goes-global-again" target="_blank">bruxaria </a>or some other subset of funk carioca (it's funny how these scenes / styles dip into wider-world view and then dip out again and then.... after quite a bit.... dip back in again... see also the periodic excitements about Jersey Club ) </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6zF3H1vH-6g" width="320" youtube-src-id="6zF3H1vH-6g"></iframe></div><br /><p>It hits that spot of so-wrong-it's-right, is-this-music-yet-I'm-not-sure-who cares that you had with early grime or early darkcore </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uLWPJCBwcaw" width="320" youtube-src-id="uLWPJCBwcaw"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Kode mentioned that a key element of bruxaria is drastic overuse of side-chain compression (see this <a href="https://blissout.blogspot.com/2020/03/stuff-to-read-while-cooped-up-for.html" target="_blank">old blogpost</a> which engages with ideas of <b>Ryan Diduck</b> about side-chain as defining sound of the now)</p><p>It's a bit much for everyday listening (trying to concentrate on anything else almost impossible while it's on!). In truth my metabolism more in alignment with the Andre 3000 record these days....</p><p>But one for the TikTok / ADD generation for sure. </p><p><br /></p>SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537988259790085733.post-49585012494409085792023-11-21T12:59:00.000-08:002023-11-21T15:25:56.661-08:00now jump up all bunglist cru<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kqpsiieAdVk" width="320" youtube-src-id="kqpsiieAdVk"></iframe></div><br /><p></p><div>Production (love the pockets of reverb) and beat mayhem on this = fantastic. A mad skidding scrambled frazzler of a track, <a href="https://www.dissensus.com/threads/14930/" target="_blank">cartoon physics</a> in full effect, until it goes into an idyllic ambi-jungle section... then frenzies up again. Dozens of ideas thrown out with typical 92-93 largesse...</div><div><br /></div><div>But why oh why is it called "Twisted Bungle"? Are there samples from <i>Rainbow</i>? If there are, they are pretty mangled. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FdxIt-sBano" width="320" youtube-src-id="FdxIt-sBano"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>At some point I must embark upon a study of the <b>S.M.F.</b> <a href="https://www.discogs.com/artist/60103-SMF" target="_blank">uuurrrv</a> (or is it SMF? Seems to be inconsistency there) and its various solo tributaries.</div><div><br /></div><div>This one still blows my mind </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Lnziw3A7nVg" width="320" youtube-src-id="Lnziw3A7nVg"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">First heard by me on Don FM in early '93, <i>just before </i>this bit </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ahf_WflyhTg" width="320" youtube-src-id="Ahf_WflyhTg"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>"Rush Stimulator" was a mystery tune for the longest time, had no idea of the title or who made it. </div><div><br /></div><div>Then, one day, grubbing through <span style="text-align: center;">scuffed 12-inches in this stall in Greenwich Market that was a bit of a cache of old kore, I saw the title "Rush Stimulator" and I thought, "that's it, that <i>has </i>to be it" - because of the "you stimulate me so much" sample. </span></div><div><span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/o4AxW31W1PY" width="320" youtube-src-id="o4AxW31W1PY"></iframe></span></div><div><span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7-NkRoBOiyw" width="320" youtube-src-id="7-NkRoBOiyw"></iframe></div><br /><div><br /></div>SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537988259790085733.post-64981980081576510282023-11-16T21:09:00.000-08:002024-02-11T10:43:49.143-08:00non-Sacrilege<p>The other month I went on a bit of <a href="https://energyflashbysimonreynolds.blogspot.com/2023/09/i-nearly-always-found-original-better.html" target="_blank">a rant about remix albums</a> and how shite nearly all of them had been during that late '90s boom. With particular reference to <i>Sacrilege</i>, the Can "tribute", via an Eno sleeve note for that project that more or less recants the whole idea of remixology. </p><p>Well, here's the opposite - the Anti-<i>Sacrilege</i>. A Can remix project that achieves veneration through distillation: <a href="https://tomcaruanamashups.bandcamp.com/album/inner-space-instrumentals">https://tomcaruanamashups.bandcamp.com/album/inner-space-instrumentals</a></p><p>Rather than replace most of the original with some sub-par music of one's own, these remixes are all-Can - I don't think there's anything added at all. Instead <b>Tom Caruana</b> makes loops out of peak moments of Can rotormotion. It's hip hop methodology in excelsis. <br /></p><p>Listening, I was reminded of a fantastic scene in <i>The Get Down - </i>Baz Luhrman's underrated drama about the early days of hip hop in the South Bronx - which juxtaposes "Vitamin C" with graffiti-daubed subway trains rattling along an elevated track at night.</p><p><i>Inner Space Instrumentals</i> is from 2019 and is one of<a href="https://tomcaruanamashups.bandcamp.com/music" target="_blank"> dozens of Caruana re-edit projects</a>. </p><p>Hat tip to <b>Dave Segal</b> who alerted (and who himself hat-tipped <b>Sasha Frere-Jones</b>)</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnu-L3ZXwPW6BsONX-cDlzcQVheH6h9VbncDd0eShgSmYqzrwJ_UNmpNyvyhk5SKyHYdcv4_gm05P-_1Qv808shDolpOMNR7BM-xVsZX_jnTnuFz5Nj1HaTMZjqeavUGeCskSWxogtKzLpK6hG7QXK2Bebpo3hKNkY7fwn8H7Srf9SdpfSKFcqB37kkQ/s700/a1079461424_16.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="700" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnu-L3ZXwPW6BsONX-cDlzcQVheH6h9VbncDd0eShgSmYqzrwJ_UNmpNyvyhk5SKyHYdcv4_gm05P-_1Qv808shDolpOMNR7BM-xVsZX_jnTnuFz5Nj1HaTMZjqeavUGeCskSWxogtKzLpK6hG7QXK2Bebpo3hKNkY7fwn8H7Srf9SdpfSKFcqB37kkQ/s320/a1079461424_16.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>Tracklist for <i>Inner Space Instrumentals</i>:</p><p>1. Bel Air 03:20</p><p>2. Barnacles 02:34</p><p>3. Pnoom 01:57</p><p>4. Midnight Men 02:09</p><p>5. Hunters & Collectors 02:11</p><p>6. Quantum Physics + Come Sta 01:16</p><p>7. I'm So Green 01:36</p><p>8. Dead Pigeon 02:47</p><p>9. Midnight Sky 01:33</p><p>10. Soup 02:01</p><p>11. One More Night + Future Days 03:13</p><p>12. She Brings The Rain 02:33</p><p>13. EFS no. 7 02:12</p><p>14. I'm Too Leise 01:31</p><p>15. Mary So Contrary 01:26</p><p>16. Shikaku 01:48</p><p>17. Radio Beam 01:50</p><p>18. Empress & Ukraine King 01:36</p><p>19. LH 702 02:31</p><p>20. Vitimin C 02:31</p><p>21. Dead Pigeon 2 02:51</p><p>22. Under The Surface 02:32</p><p>23. Messer Scissors Fork Light 02:19</p><p>24. Evening All Day 01:34</p><p>25. Bubble Rap 02:35</p><p>26. Mushroom 02:48</p><p>27. Halleluwah 03:32</p><p>28. Father Cannot Yell 01:47</p><p>29. Harry The Theif 02:21</p><p>30. Spoon 02:25</p><p>31. Gomerrha 02:48</p><p>32. Aumgn 02:57</p><p>33. Cutaway 01:58</p><p>34. Prehistoric Future 03:18</p><p>35. Bring Me Coffee or Tea 01:07</p><p>36. Obscura Primavera 01:36</p><p><br /></p><p>Ah, well I was looking for it on YouTube and quickly discovered that <i>Inner Space Instrumentals</i> is the dubversion of <i>Inner Space</i>, a proper old skool (meaning early 2000s-style) mashup that meshes Canstrumentals with MCs like MF Doom and Kool Keith. Actually, the rapping isn't sampled - Caruana sent the loops to MCs and they came up with stuff to go with it.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/t1MbZ9SoKZo" width="320" youtube-src-id="t1MbZ9SoKZo"></iframe></div><br /><p>So even more redolent of <i>The Get Dow</i>n then... </p><p>It's cleverly done, weaving the rapping with the riddim. But I prefer the pure Can-and-nothing-but-the-Can - even if it's actually a byproduct of the initial project. </p><p><a href="https://tomcaruanamashups.bandcamp.com/album/inner-space-instrumentals" target="_blank">Check it out</a> - it's name-your-price too. </p>SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537988259790085733.post-44470963644440277262023-11-12T16:08:00.000-08:002023-11-12T16:52:26.573-08:00melodic spacing in postdisco boogiefunk (slight return)<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SuK53jk0gZM" width="320" youtube-src-id="SuK53jk0gZM"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>Suddenly remembered this <b>S.O.S. Band</b> deep cut from their 1982 album <i>III</i>.... </div><div><br /></div><div>It has this clipped, staccato melody thing, that would be taken to the limit in their biggest (UK) hits "Just Be Good To Me" and "The Finest". Something I particularly associate with Jam & Lewis's songwriting for them and others (although in the case of "Looking For You" it's not actually written by them)</div><div><br /></div><div>A post-Chic style of "<a href="https://energyflashbysimonreynolds.blogspot.com/2021/09/melodic-spacing-in-postdisco.html" target="_blank">melodic spacing</a>," as discussed earlier here. </div><div><br /></div><div>What's cool about "Looking for You" is that the staccato feel is really strong in the verses, as opposed to where it usually sits, the chorus. (The chorus in "Looking For You" is actually a little blah). In the verses, the choppiness creates a lurching quality that matches the song-character's frantic lovelorn / lover-lost state of mind. That desperation is further supported by an equally jutting distorted rock-guitar riff, that - in tandem with the prickly rhythm guitar part - exacerbates the off-balance feeling. You picture a swivel-eyed person, literally looking around trying to spot their missing lover in the crowd... catching someone with a faint resemblance out of the corner of the eye and for a second hallucinating their face.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537988259790085733.post-55550284440966036372023-11-02T14:16:00.003-07:002023-12-21T21:02:37.220-08:00The Darkside<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qGFawGuuvZY" width="320" youtube-src-id="qGFawGuuvZY"></iframe></div><br /> <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sTTd7Se20P0" width="320" youtube-src-id="sTTd7Se20P0"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Darkside before "darkside"... </div><br /><p>Writing about this next Derrick May tune in early '88 - in the middle of a piece on acid house - I was reminded of Joy Division, indeed describing as one of those "lost Joy Division B-sides". What can I have meant? The compelled-sounding feel of "She's Lost Control"? It certainly doesn't sound like "These Days", the great lost B-side of "Love Will Tear Us Apart". </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/v79hwakTjwk" width="320" youtube-src-id="v79hwakTjwk"></iframe></div><br /><p>Listening to it again now, I can't really hear why it made me flash on Joy Division. If anything, it's closer to an incredibly reduced, emaciated take on "Everything's Gone Green".</p><p><br /></p><p>Hearing postpunk echoes in postfunk sounds outta Detroit... this brings up the strangeness and drifty unfixability of temporality in music. For as much as these records seem "ahead of their time today" (they did in fact blueprint much of '90s techno), <i>at the actual time of writing</i> I said it reminded me of early '80s avant-funk. I even used the phrase "<i>lost future</i>" to describe these vibe-echoes of DAF and Liaisons Dangereuses audible in acid house and the darker side of Detroit (in particular Reese "Just Want Another Chance" and Phuture's "Your Only Friend")</p><p>Probably what I <i>should</i> have said is "interrupted future" - with the guitar-y main body of the Eighties representing a deliberate abstention from technology - sequencers, drum machines, MIDI. By main body, I really refer to the alternative rock sphere - the future carried on unfurling in mainstream rock to some extent, as digital took over in studios. And I suppose there <i>were </i>corners of the alternative - industrial and Electronic Body Music - that embraced the latest tech. Still, with indie, the return of guitars, and the wistful casting-backwards-glances to the 1960s dominant, outright futurism dropped away in alternative music sufficiently for me to wield this trope of "the lost future" - referring to something that went into abeyance <i>only five years earlier</i>. </p><p>Returning our ears to the May heyday, the thing that gets me in his tunes are those egg-whisk sounds - hi-hats, I think - whose scything rustle creates that distinctive nervous propulsion. Heard at their most sibilantly nagging here:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mjKyXj7BBDM" width="320" youtube-src-id="mjKyXj7BBDM"></iframe></div><br /><p>And to lesser degree here:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UBW-7uI5ABw" width="320" youtube-src-id="UBW-7uI5ABw"></iframe></div><br /><p>Also the melodies with their indefinable alloy of serene euphoria and lonely desolation. </p><p>Also the basslines</p><p>Okay, the whole thing is consummate - but I do love the egg-whisk sounds. </p><p>It's kind of ASMR-y, a delicious itch in the ear.</p><p><br /></p>SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.com5