juicy

Loved this pop-core tune back in the day ('92)

That's the juiciest mix but this one has its a-peel 

Still, pipped to the post by the original mix. 

Skin Up had another entertaining cheesy-quaver moment

Is that the voice of Neil the Hippie in there? 

Ha, something I only just noticed - Skin Up, aka Jason Laurence Cohen, went on to the Big Beat artist Laidback, who recorded for a label I was fond of for a moment - Bolshi

However I don't remember being that struck by the Laidback tunes - the outfits I liked most were Rasmus and Beachcomas

The latter did this fruit 'n veg themed oddity -  possibly Gardeners Question Time sourced samples that go "peaches, shaped like doughnuts... split and juicy",  "strawberries", "nuts.... and medleys"

Love it to the marrow. (Boom boom)

A Mekons sample too wouldyabelieve

One of my absolute favorites out of that late '90s harvest, the ripening bounty before all went to shit in the early 2000s

That's my video by the way, illustrated with idyllic images of the Chilterns (watch out for my mum) and Oxfordshire and Maryon Park, South London -  the bulk of the pix first aired in this elegiac post

toytown tekno 1 of ?

 

The naughty naughty joke here is that "Rhubard and Custards" were red and yellow capsules of Ecstasy very popular in '92.

The pills were described warmly by a nostalgic raver on the Discogs thread  as "very rushy!"

That might be because they had amphetamine and methamphetamine in them as well as a decent amount of MDMA, at least according to this late '90s medical journal article. 

"ardcore? are you sure?"

ad for Music Power Records, Haringey!

and the full ad break from Pulse FM June 28th 1992 (half way through Adrian H & MJ)

via Deep Inside the Oldskool, which has the whole Adrian H & MJ set

also
via this cache of pirate tapes (c/o Mikus Musik)
a Pulse FM show by Chris Simon who co-ran Music Power Records

even more Pulse-ating power

ravey house / housey rave

"in the Love Lounge - Christian Woodyear, Alastair Whitehead, Neil Mason, DJ Geoff, Mikey C, Kieran the Herbalist, and Ricky Stowe"

Always used to wonder about the people who went along to the big mentalist raves like Fantazia but out of the choice of "three rooms of pulsating power" they went for the lowest-wattage option - the house room (in the case of  Fantazia NYE 92/93, the Love Lounge line-up above). Rather than the main room with the big-name deejays and live rave acts. Or the techno room, where you could get could get proper cabbaged and sledged courtesy slamming sets by the likes of SS and Shaggy & Breeze.

Presumably in the Love Lounge you'd be hearing things like this



or this



or maybe this



or perhaps even this




Go to 5.05 in this for a Fantazia NY's Eve 92/93 advert with the "three rooms of pulsating power" described in full



There is barely a trace of info out there about Kieran the Herbalist.

Always wondered what Shaggy & Breeze sounded like.

they're having the time of their lives

the sham men

(via Alex Petridis)


They did some good stuff, though, The Shamen - I enjoyed them around En-Tact







Credit where it's due - more than any of the other indie-dance crossover artists of that era, they managed to master the new musical language - and they did it by themselves. (Primal Scream needed Andy Weatherall's help).

Almost by chance - without intent, certainly -  I have seen The Shamen play live as many times - possibly more times - than any other band I can think of.

They were on a lot of bills in the late Eighties when they were pure psychedelic revivalists: Op Art imagery, liquid lightshow projections,  phased and flanged guitars, Electric Prunes-y kinda vibes, fey monastic vocals. They were sorta kinda fellow-travelers with C86, and in a different way, with the Loop tendency - but slightly too professional and clean sounding.

Closer to Porcupine Tree than Spacemen 3.





Saw them once in their uneasy transitional stage going from acid-rock to acid-house, when the results were bit clumpy and didactic.



And then a couple of times during the full-blown techno-rave stage.

Interviewed them too, for a piece that never came out. What struck me was the seriousness, even piousness, with which they talked about psychedelics as a tool of consciousness-elevation.

Then they became pop stars, with this imperishable bit of period kitsch.



Oh dear




Dearie me

facefull rave bollix

plus one not on XL