Radio Utopia

People remember the Sixties pirate radio heyday, when the pirates were literally boats at sea.... and they remember the Eighties terrestial tower-block resurgence of reggae and soul and jazz and funk and early rap stations.... and of course they remember the Nineties onwards rave hardcore jungle UK garage grime etc explosion of piracy...

But what about the in-between bits? 

Even after the Labour government (Tony Benn specifically) squashed the pop-crazed offshore pirates in '67, and the big buccaneers accepted "pardons" and joined Radio One as its first roster of deejays.... some people carried on broadcasting outside the law. Via pirate radio scholar Rob Chapman, here's a roundup from May 1971, from an enthusiast's zine called Newsbeat Newsletter. 

Love the fact that a bunch of these are broadcasting from the Home Counties - Hertfordshire, Sussex, Surrey, Berkshire (where the intriguingly named Radio Utopia transmits from, or at least can be picked up in)

(Echo here of my repeated and enormous delight in the fact that Herts was something of a bastion for the Hardcore Continuum. Indeed there was a jungle pirate out of Luton  - Perception FM. Gappa G and Hypa Hypa were involved)

Radio Free Rhubarb feels more like a Home Counties type name than Radio Utopia... I'd like to imagine it was some kind of renegade counterpart to Gardeners Question Time, eccentric views on herbaceous borders and composting, the kind of horticultural heresy that Radio 4 wouldn't allow on the airwaves... but I imagine the name is goofy, perhaps a little Goonsy or Pythonesque. Or just the old slang meaning...

Also intriguing - The Voice of Freedom. A rare example of the political pirate in Britain? I believe there was some kind of right-wing pirate, opposed to the unions - I think this comes up in the Andy Beckett book. And then there were a few short-lived pirates from the other side of the struggle, started during strikes... This is all hazy memory, though. 

Check out Rob Chapman's pirate radio archive - he has recordings of 1960s pirates but also some prime 90s hardcore rave junglism action via a Manchester radio station (not actually a pirate, I'm repeatedly told by someone - it was somehow legal). 

A whole thesis - beautifully illustrated and designed, more like a book - on London Pirate Radio of the Nummy Nuum Nuum era, by Frederik Birket-Smith. Although as this blog post shows, the title should really be Not Just 4 U London.... 

Pirate radio zines and newsletters via Offshore Radio Museum

RIP Max Romeo

 

Romeo reaches rave through this unlikely conduit 

While we're paying tribute to Max, this tune is oddly topical - reusing the "War Inna Babylon" rhythm 

Would love to read something really probing on the Anti-Papacy subcurrents in Rasta 'n' roots culture. 

Given that Rasta is essentially Afro-Protestant - a  Caribbean cousin of the born-again, fundamentalist, Scripture-is-literal-truth offshoots of Calvinism in America - one explanation would be that it is simply sourced in the anti-Catholic paranoia that impregnates Protestantism from the start: the idea that the Church of Rome is an ungodly perversion of true Christianity.  It taps into the same wellsprings that led to the anti-Catholic secret societies in 19th Century and early 20th Century America, the nativist newspapers with their fears of an influx of Catholic immigrants from Ireland, Italy, Poland, changing the fundamental make-up of the country. At its extreme edge, there were fevered fears of the Pope arriving at the head of a new Armada to conquer the USA. 

But perhaps there are some uniquely Jamaican ingredients involved.... 

I seem to remember reading that at dancehall events to this day (or at least whenever it was I read the piece) you would get anti-Pope shout-outs from the deejay

Here's another Vatican-themed tune - Lee Perry, no Max - about the Conclave itself

Here's a really sharp piece of writing about Lee Perry - specifically his way with a kick drum, but also his whole sono-spiritual project - by Nick Coleman at his Substack. There's also some great outlandish quotes from Scratch from an interview Nick did some time ago. 

A Number of Names, A Trove of Titles

Talking about futuromania, about phases when the chase to get to tomorrow ahead of the pack is the fiercest... oooh that first half of the '90s. 

Looking back, it feels like not just the music and the  beats but everything that surrounded them and was attached to them - the names and the titles, the record artwork and typography, the flyers, promo videos - all of it, the sonics and the para-sonix constituted a massive surge of urge-to-newness

A kind of concerted front of cultural patricide - an across-the-board push by the young to make an adventure out of their own time.  

A will to junk as much of the old still-lingering pop culture and to innovate, often gauchely, on all fronts simultaneously: sound, dance moves, fashion, graphics, slang...

Here are some of my favorite titles trawled from that fast-forward era: 

"Noise Bleed"

100HZ - LOW FEQUENCY OVERLOAD (HEBREPHENIC MIX)

"Ooh Aah…Just A Little Bit (Hysteric Ego Dub)"

Lory D – "Allucinazioneacustica"

"Techno Cat (Dance Like Your Dad)"

"God Shave the Queen"

Generator - Belgium Calling (Clash Mix)

C-Tank "House Hallucination"

Brain Cycl - Mind Darts (1994)

Spira - Disturbulance (1994)

Babies from Gong

(Oink Oink Version)

Hardware - Heavy Metal (Doing! Doing! Doing!) (1994)

Zoomroom - "Black Fumes"

"Straight Up (Wris Spec)"

"The Mad One"

"Brutal Deluxe"

Two Terrorists - "Welcome to Jurassick Park"

Amethyst - Krakatoa

(Dharma Bums Mix)

The Bionaut - Octopus

Dee Rex - Gaia's Revenge

"Drum Fire"

Skinnybumblebee (Stingin Dub)

Flying Forest - Cyberlove

Amorph - Sunflow

The Paingang

Flange Squad - "Justice Juice (The Justice Jam)"

"Warriors of Mind"

Dos Deviants - "Sharkbyte"

London Tranceport - "Argon"

Genetic Waste - "Palace of Wisdom"

"Throw the Madness" 

Members of Mayday - "Endspurt"

Braincell - "Time Is Suspended"

"Sunburst" 

"Innerstream of Consciousness"

Public Art 

"Transpulsation"

The Dentist - "Arena of the Gods"

"Burning Trash Floor"

"Starkissed"

"Possessed By Fire"

"Stealth Sonic Soul"

Disgraced Rolemodel

Z-Plane - "Hopium"

"Under City Rave"

"The Devil's Dandruff"

Holocube - "Noizology"

"Uncle Bob's Burly House"

"Angel-Headed Hipster"

"Nude Restaurant"

Energyflow - "Thunderstorm"

"I Could Be Him, I Could Be Her"

Annexia  - "Escalation Fantasy"

"King of Death Posture (Attack Version)"

"Plasma Flights, Pt 1"

"The Trancequilizer" 

"Mantra of X-Tremism"

Force Mass Motion - "The Pressor"

Phrenetic System - "Concrete Box"

"Nut Haus"

"Drying the Tears of the Forest"

"A Sonic Fairy Tale"

(Puddle Mix)

The Desintegrators - "Perfumes of the Deep"

Dancing Dolphins

"Bad Moog Rising"

Syncrotron II

"Tekno Bangelang"

"Sunhump"

Encephaloid Disturbance - Magnetic Neurosis

Encephaloid Disturbance  - Renegade Ectoplasm

Encephaloid Disturbance - Spasmodic Fusion 

"Moments of Inertia"

(Exterminated in 3D Mix)

"Infinite Climax"

Stardate 1973 - Planetfall (1992)

Ramirez - El Ritmo Barbaro (El Flagelo Mix) (1992)

Tracid Posse - Vivarium (1992)

The Saucer Crew - "Ghost Star (Long Drum Mix)"

Edge of Motion - "Overvolt"

Jambo - "Drumattack"

Spirit of Adventure - "L'Hysterie"

"Monotone Sickness"

"Waiting 4 My Shell 2 Crack"

"Xabrax (Drill Mix)"

"Outermind (Glide Mix)"

"Percussion Overdose"

Dry Throats - "Acid Speed"

Cyberpsychose – You Will Die 

Generator - Narcomaniac (Adrenochrome Mix)

D.B. Hazard - Detro Mental

Mental & Dangerous - Xtrosy (Mary Poppins Hardcore Mix)

The Dead Kirks - "Mr. Kirk (Death Mix)"

Dry Throats - Acid Speed (1992)

DJ Dick - The Iron Raver (Part I) (1993)

Vauvenage - Flange Stereo (1993)

Nasty Django - Ey Loco! (Kinky Muthaship) (1992)

Phenomania - Phenothememia (1992)

i - Percussion Overdose (1992)

"Acid Eiffel"

Bi-Face - "Flota (Two)"

"Cyclotron"

"Lost and Intellect"

"The Realm of Spoo"

Aquastep - "Oempa Loempa"

Pot Cycl

"Franthic Thigh"

Sulfurex

"I Still Want Ya (the Nooshty Mix)"

Severe Damage - "Red Alert (Tremble Mix)"

"Afro Compressor"

 "Sugar Robots" 

"Megadrôme D'Yore"

"Jungle (Flappy Ears Version)"

Techno Trash Volume II - "Noise!"

"Mastercore (Brain Mix)"

Phase Phorce

"Industrial Metal"

"Face the Mastermind"

"Turntable Tribal"

4-Nu-Tek

"Locked in Madness"

Exoterrorist

"Microillusions (Day-Mix)"

"Illegal Consume"

"Hatt Flash"

"Victim of Hardware"

"Bash Your Brains In"

"Night of the Neon Maniacs"

Pultec

"Drugtrash"

"Psycho Drums"

Dutch Department of Techno

"Original Mix with Bats"

Force Mass Motion

"Feef Logic"

The Brotherhood of Structure EP

"First Fright (Video Mix)"

"Space Paranoia"

"Psycho Fly"

"Cosmonoise"

E-Rection - Colonisation Of Space (1995)

Gigi Galaxy - Interview with An Alien

Gigi Galaxy - Spores from Outer Space

Gigi Galaxy - Cosmic Forces As They Were Taught In Mu

Ilsa Gold

Emmanuel Top

"Moby Tits" 

Koenig Cylinders

Spastic Egg

"Entropy Step"

Public Energy

"Chronoclasm"

"Nightmares Are Reality"

Labworks

"Reptilian Tank"

Egma

"Stomach Basher"

"Korrekte Atmosphere"

"Trip to E-Land"

 Hypp & Krimson,

"Tibetan Jazz"

"Are Am Eye"

 Aldrin Buzz

Edge of Motion

 "The Glitch Relapse"

"Zombies in the Mist"

 "Sick (Dominator Is Dead)"

"Space Luxury"

 "Faces of the Moon"

Meng Syndicate

"(Heinous Scream Version)"

"Ravedrug"

"Rush Bubble Mix"

Pneumatic Distress

"Fulminic"

Tones Energy

"Tone Exploitation"

"(Fratty Energy Version)"

Master Techno

"Time Problem"

Problem House

 "Rhyde the Rithum"

"Twin Freaks"

80 AUM

E-Dancer

"My First Fantastic F.F."

"Tunnel Inspection

"Mindcontroller (The Obscure Mix)"

"The Kraken"

"Fairy Dust"

"Chiswick Days"

"Air Bounce"

"Cybernatic Noisefly"

"God's Percussion Dream"

"The Dove (Coloured Dream)"

"Planet Jupiter (Raggae Dream)"

"Acid Heartcore"

"Mutation Step"

"Technoblast"

"Biolunch"

"Single Minded People"

"Acid Creak"

"Trac-X"

Numbers & Feelings

"(Sexx Ambient Mix)"

Charlie Lownoise

Syncope

"Explosion of a Dancemode"

"X-Plosion of a Dancemode"

"Stronger Than Steel"

"Trance? Never Heard Before"

Xylem Tube

"Space Metal (Pt 1 and Pt 2)"

"Sulphur Stories"

"The Ravesignal"

"Demonomania"

"Walk on Base"

Spiritual Combat

"Lake of Dreams (Bay of Rainbow Mix)"

"Lake of Dreams (Dream of Drums)"

DJ Edge, "Bass Trnce"

Boscanese Hedgehogs Fall To Earth

Madame Xerox, "Fluxpod"

Cyberchrist

Sons of Aliens

(Sadcore Mix)

"Ooh Aah…Just A Little Bit (Hysteric Ego Dub)"

"Techno Cat (Dance Like Your Dad)"

"God Shave the Queen"

Generator - Belgium Calling (Clash Mix)

C-Tank "House Hallucination"

Spira - Disturbulance

Brain Cycl - Mind Darts (1994)

Babies from Gong

(Oink Oink Version)

Hardware - Heavy Metal (Doing! Doing! Doing!) (1994)

Zoomroom - "Black Fumes"

"Straight Up (Wris Spec)"

"The Mad One"

"Brutal Deluxe"

Two Terrorists - "Welcome to Jurassick Park"

Generator - Narcomaniac (Adrenochrome Mix)

D.B. Hazard - Detro Mental

Mental & Dangerous - Xtrosy (Mary Poppins Hardcore Mix)

The Dead Kirks - "Mr. Kirk (Death Mix)"

Dry Throats - Acid Speed (1992)

DJ Dick - The Iron Raver (Part I) (1993)

Vauvenage - Flange Stereo (1993)

Nasty Django - Ey Loco! (Kinky Muthaship) (1992)

Phenomania - Phenothememia (1992)

i - Percussion Overdose (1992)

"Acid Eiffel"

Bi-Face - "Flota (Two)"

"Cyclotron"

"Lost and Intellect"

"The Realm of Spoo"

Aquastep - "Oempa Loempa"

Pot Cycl

"Franthic Thigh"

Sulfurex

"I Still Want Ya (the Nooshty Mix)"

Severe Damage - "Red Alert (Tremble Mix)"

"Afro Compressor"

 "Sugar Robots" 

"Megadrôme D'Yore"

"Jungle (Flappy Ears Version)"

Techno Trash Volume II - "Noise!"

"Mastercore (Brain Mix)"

Phase Phorce

"Industrial Metal"

"Face the Mastermind"

"Turntable Tribal"

4-Nu-Tek

"Locked in Madness"

Exoterrorist

"Microillusions (Day-Mix)"

"Illegal Consume"

"Hatt Flash"

"Victim of Hardware"

"Bash Your Brains In"

"Night of the Neon Maniacs"

Pultec

"Drugtrash"

"Psycho Drums"

Dutch Department of Techno

"Original Mix with Bats"

Force Mass Motion

"Feef Logic"

The Brotherhood of Structure EP

"First Fright (Video Mix)"

"Space Paranoia"

"Psycho Fly"

"Cosmonoise"

Ilsa Gold

Emmanuel Top

"Moby Tits" 

Koenig Cylinders

Spastic Egg

"Entropy Step"

Public Energy

"Chronoclasm"

"Nightmares Are Reality"

Labworks

"Reptilian Tank"

Egma

"Stomach Basher"

"Korrekte Atmosphere"

"Trip to E-Land"

 Hypp & Krimson,

"Tibetan Jazz"

"Are Am Eye"

 Aldrin Buzz

Edge of Motion

 "The Glitch Relapse"

"Zombies in the Mist"

 "Sick (Dominator Is Dead)"

"Space Luxury"

 "Faces of the Moon"

Meng Syndicate

"(Heinous Scream Version)"

"Ravedrug"

"Rush Bubble Mix"

Pneumatic Distress

"Fulminic"

Tones Energy

"Tone Exploitation"

"(Fratty Energy Version)"

Master Techno

"Time Problem"

Problem House

 "Rhyde the Rithum"

"Twin Freaks"

80 AUM

E-Dancer

"My First Fantastic F.F."

"Tunnel Inspection

"Mindcontroller (The Obscure Mix)"

"The Kraken"

"Fairy Dust"

"Chiswick Days"

"Air Bounce"

"Cybernatic Noisefly"

"God's Percussion Dream"

"The Dove (Coloured Dream)"

"Planet Jupiter (Raggae Dream)"

"Acid Heartcore"

"Mutation Step"

"Technoblast"

"Biolunch"

"Single Minded People"

"Acid Creak"

"Trac-X"

Numbers & Feelings

"(Sexx Ambient Mix)"

Charlie Lownoise

Syncope

"Explosion of a Dancemode"

"X-Plosion of a Dancemode"

"Stronger Than Steel"

"Trance? Never Heard Before"

Xylem Tube

"Space Metal (Pt 1 and Pt 2)"

"Sulphur Stories"

"The Ravesignal"

"Demonomania"

"Walk on Base"

Spiritual Combat

"Lake of Dreams (Bay of Rainbow Mix)"

"Lake of Dreams (Dream of Drums)"

DJ Edge, "Bass Trnce"

Boscanese Hedgehogs Fall To Earth

Madame Xerox, "Fluxpod"

Cyberchrist

Sons of Aliens

(Sadcore Mix)

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Other neophiliac fever phases

The original "neophiliac" era, the 1960s - that would be the real rival. But it had older sonic forms embedded within it - blues, soul, folk, country....  Although FX, electrification, amplification, and studio tricknology increasingly come into play, the instrumental line-up is largely shared with earlier forms of popular music like jazz: drums, guitars, horns, bass.  So not quite as a big a break as the digital 90s.

New Wave is another rival (especially with all the  inorganic fabrics and hair-dyes... the angular graphic language and dance-moves... the quirky vocal styles and herky-jerky rhythms and melodies). But New Wave was largely based in rock's well-established instrumental template (gtr-bs-drms)  and it had echoes and deliberate reach-backs to the Sixties in much of it. Rather than synths, New Wavers tended to use keyboards - 60s-style organs, Farfisa etc. So overall it doesn't match the tekno-rave era for full-bore futurism . The first half of the '90s had all these newness-enabling tools to work with (samplers, digital audio workstations). 

Eighties synthpop, yes - but it is still tied to the Song, and to the impassioned human voice - to the idea of  "soul"  and to actual influences from soul music (think of all those fire-and-ice singer + synthesist duos). 

Electro... yes, especially with the clothes and the dancing. But it was over a bit too quick. Perhaps it is like a preliminary stage, a dry run, for the '90s eruption (so many ravers had electro childhoods). Mantronix and Nitro Deluxe in particular seem like bridges between electro and the house-techno-rave moment. 

Theory of Names, aka Nameology. 

I've mooted this before, based on ample empirical evidence that the shitness /  non-shitness of a genre is in direct relation to the shitness / non-shitness of its artist names and track titles. (Same applies to the decline of a once-great genre - the canary in the coalmine is the enshittification of names, titles, graphics).  

To me it makes sense - the names and titles would be a textual efflorescence of the music, reflecting and revealing its inner essence. 

The milquetoast mildness of most postdubstep is given away at the pre-auditory stage from the aroma wafting off  the artist aliases and the opaque titles they come up for their tunes.... Ditto broken beat, ditto downtempo, ditto all the other tasteful, "good music society", cosmopolitan / cosmigroovy sounds.  

The you-won't-like-this-steer-clear of most contemporary music (not just dance, across the genrescape) alerts my antennae through the advance warning system of  names (the album artwork is also a fairly reliable giveaway - has it ever been shitter than the present era?).  

But that corny-yet-awesome spirit of the '90s survived in pockets into the 21st Century...  flickering in bassline, in donk, in brostep, a little bit in deeptech....   UK drill too...  and I daresay it is out there to be found even now. 

nuumiest of the nuum nuum

 

Well I did not know this existed until recently  (via Pearsall at Dissensus )

An almost remake of this just-pre-nuum classic