The White Noise Revisited

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2010-04-27T21:29:00.001Z

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Peace, I'm outta here...

2010-04-23T11:32:00.006Z

All good things must come to an end and the good people at Blogger's decision to stop supporting ftp websites means that I am bringing the curtain down on The White Noise Revisited. I could have moved it somewhere else and carried on but it seems like the right time to call it a day. I started this blog back in August 2006 and in that time I have had two lovely daughters and my job requires me to expend all of my (limited) creative juices on a daily basis. These two factors have resulted in the gradual decline of TWNR. It ain't what it used to be (back in the day it got props in The Guardian) and that was really rammed home to me when I went back and compiled the roll call of featured artists below. I've loved doing this though, and I still want to keep an outlet for my sporadic musical musings - so anyone who is still interested will be able to find me at -

Ecstasy in Slow Motion

I am hoping to sort it out so that The White Noise Revisited remains alive as an archive but, as of May 1st, there's a chance that it may cease to exist.

*blubs*

But hey, it will live on in our hearts and minds, right?

Bye bye.

x

Those we have loved...

The Boo Radleys/Hijack/Working for a Nuclear Free City/Northstation/Spitfire/The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa/East Flatbush Project/Hardfloor/Ice T & the Time/Penfold Plum/The Sonics/Field Music/Blur/Phuture Assassins/The Flaming Stars/Arab Strap/Aphex Twin/Caustic Window/Add N to X/Regular Fries/Two Lone Swordsmen/Clark/The Hitsville House Band/Four Tet/LB/Colder/Skream/Revolver/The Black Angels/New Order/bravecaptain/Soul Brothers Six/Squarepusher/Dean Parrish/Freelance Hellraiser/Underworld/Hellfire Sermons/Laura Groves/Milieu/T La Rock/James/Mogwai/R.E.M./Low/fIREHOSE/Kid Frost/Z-3 MC's/Public Enemy/Adam & the Ants/Sonovac/Scientist/Bronnt Industries Kapital/Jadell/Immense/Boards of Canada/The Scientist/Don Loves You/Ride/CJ Bolland/The Ruby Suns/Magazine/The Third Eye Foundation/Kool G Rap & DJ Polo/Reigns/Talk Talk/"Little" Johny Taylor/David Holmes/Spiritualized/Lupine Howl/Ram Trilogy/Kraftwerk/Chet Baker/Eminem/The Telescopes/Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam/Just-Ice/Reload/Maps/Outputmessage/Matmos/2 Bad Mice/Happy Mondays/Mark Gardener/The Ronettes/Bournemouth Symphony Chorus/Half Man Half Biscuit/Wisp/The Longcut/AFX/Matinee Orchestra/King Biscuit Time/Beirut/Psapp/Emmy the Great/Sunset Rubdown/L.Pierre/Flowered Up/Papoose/The Fall/The Black Serpent Choir/Tuff Crew/Quickspace/The Beatnuts/The Nightjars/Freestyle/Campag Velocet/Radicalfashion/DJ Mink/The Aliens/The Beta Band/Jake Slazenger/KAOS/Fairport Convention/The Tambourines/Slowdive/Amusement Parks on Fire/Windmill/Primal Scream/Coldcut/D.O.P./React 2 Rhythm/Dr Atomic/The Electric Prunes/U.N.K.L.E/Autokat/The Bluetones/Super Furry Animals/My Bloody Valentine/Caribou/Casino vs Japan/The Art of Noise/Feedle/The Knights of the Turntables/The Irresistible Force/Autechre/Chapterhouse/Bubbah's Tum/Hey-O-Hansen/Spiral Tribe/PFM/The Chameleon/Demon Boyz/Speedy J/New Fast Automatic Daffodils/Cable/Bronze Age Fox/Wooden Spoon/Azalea City Penis Club/Steady B/The Tuss/The Loungs/The Sabres of Paradise/Penthouse/ABBA/Aleksi Perälä/S.K.A.W./Twin Hype/Roxanne Shante/J.V.C. Force/Jungle Brothers/EPMD/Morton Valance/Imperial Brothers/The Flaming Lips/David Devant & His Spirit Wife/Higher Intelligence Agency/Herrmann & Kleine/Gravenhurst/Blitzen Trapper/Max Tundra/Public Image Limited/Chris 'The Glove' Taylor, Dave Storrs & Ice-T/Wayne Smith/Sister Nancy/The Cimarons/Breantford All-Stars/Horace Andy/Mosca/Joy Division/Salt Tank/Blue States/Aleem/Ultramagnetic MCs/Aaliyah/Ivor Cutler Trio/Depeche Mode/M.I.A./Principal Participant/808 State/Spacemen 3/Black Dog Productions/Manitoba/Afrika Bambaataa & The Soul Sonic Force/Schoolly D/Eric B & Rakim/MC Shan/Boogie Down Productions/Big Daddy Kane/Toddy Tee/Eazy-E/Kissy Sell Out vs The Human League/Glasvegas/Ringo Deathstarr/Human Resource/National Lampoon/My Jealous God/Friendly Fires/Nic Nell/Spirea X/F.U.S.E./Luke Slater/Hardfloor/Hashim/The Earlies/Montag/Neil Burrell/Gramme/The Boy Lucas/Life Without Buildings/Duran Duran/Ghetto Brothers/Electralane/Amiina/Marnie Stern/Avey Tare & Kria Brekkan/Battles/Dizzee Rascal/Black Affair/Burial/Sennen/Soulsavers/Lady Sovereign/7 Hurtz/Reubens/The Good, the Bad & the Queen/Miranda Lee Richards/Panda Bear/Motorbass/Holland Buffalo/Zephyr Nova/Beak/School of Language/Polygon Window/3rd Bass/Fuck Buttons/The Heliocentrics/Holy Fuck/The Charlatans/Cine City/69/Six By Seven/Fizzarum/Boom Bip/Jega/The Marcia Blaine School for Girls/Factory Floor/Atlas Sound/Deerhunter/Autolux/Pan Sonic/Flying Saucer Attack/Sand/Stetsasonic/Shut Up & Dance feat. Ragga Twins/Fatboy Slim/Pedro/Adventure/Warp 9/The Russell Brothers/C-Jam & Kid Frost/Whodini/Captain Rock/Man Parrish/The L.A. Dream Team/The Latin Rascals/Newcleus/Daniel Land & the Modern Painters/Chris Moss Acid/Gang Gang Dance/Portishead/Televise/Lesser Gonzales Alvarez/The Travelling Band/M83/Mandy Smith/Koushik/Banjo Or Freakout/Ergo Phizmiz & His Orchestra/Kaotic Chemistry/Blame/Eugenius/The Vaselines/Dan Deacon/Papercuts/The Early Years/Mike & Rich/Squarepusher & AFX/Laurent Garnier/LFO/Nathan Fake/Black Moth Super Rainbow/Johnny Boy/Big Two Hundred/Eddy Current Suppression Ring/Tusken Raiders/Andrea/The Micronawtz/Xena/Debbie Deb/World Class Wreckin' Cru/Jamie Jupitor/Egyptian Lover/19th Fleet/Cli-N-Tel/MC Craig G/The Classical II/True Mathematics/Three Times Dope/Marley Marl Allstars/Echoboy/Scott 4/Walter Pico/Scaffolding/The Ruling Class/Gang Starr/2 Live Crew/Alex Reece/Starkey/William Orbit...

Thanks to Spoilt Victorian Child (imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and I have shamelessly pilfered everything from you), GS (techy shizzle & wordz of wizdom), Feedle (musique incredible), Dave B (ace scribbler), Domino Jones (contributor/genius) and everyone who took the time to leave a comment or send me some music. x

Just Dropping It Onto My Tongue

2010-04-07T19:15:00.000Z

William Orbit - Water From a Vine Leaf (Spooky's Xylem Flow Mix)

When the Balearic Classics Panel* meet later on this month to decide the next batch of records to be inducted into its hall of fame, I have a suggestion for them. The Xylem Flow Mix of the Madonna and Blur producer William Orbit's Water from a Vine Leaf by progressive house legends Spooky. I'm not sure what the exact criteria is for a Balearic classic - it's an eclectic, freeform genre that takes in a diverse range of artists and music including The Blow Monkeys, Talk Talk, Nitzer Ebb, The Woodentops, The Beloved, The Grid and erm, Mandy Smith and the theme tune from Hill Street Blues - but I'd imagine any song that can provide the soundtrack to chilling as the sun sets at Café del Mar and larging it on the terrace at Space fits the bill. Spooky absolutely nail that brief with this one, transforming Orbit's slight piece of whimsical chill-out (from the third instalment of his Strange Cargo series) with vocals from Beth Orton, into a euphoric dancefloor destroyer - still retaining the delicate melodies of the original. When the exquisite acid droplets rain down at about the 4-minute mark the only people without their hands in the air are those wearing straitjackets. Prog-house heads in the audience might recognise the tune from its inclusion on the seminal 1996 Sasha and Digweed mix album Northern Exposure.

* This only exists in my imagination - Alfredo chairs the meeting, and DJ Harvey and Danny Rampling are on the panel.

Search eBay for Water From a Vine Leaf
William Orbit website
Spooky website - still going strong!
DJ Alfredo's 25 All-Time Balearic Classics here
Search eBay for Balearic classics

Intergalactic Bass Transmissions

2010-03-30T14:37:00.004Z

2 Live Crew - Ghetto Bass

There's a book out there waiting to be written (hopefully by Simon Reynolds), entitled The Evolution of the Bass in Dance Music. I'm not nearly knowledgeable enough to know where to begin (or end or what to write in the middle), but my first experience of bass as something that wasn't a four-stringed instrument wielded by Mark King was through the 2 Live Crew back in the mid-Eighties. Before they went all cartoon porno they used to be part of the Miami bass scene releasing records like Ghetto Bass (posted above), which had (for the time) sub-bass that the speakers on my crappy ghettoblaster definitely weren't equipped to deal with.

If I had the time or the inclination I'd trace my bassline journey from here in infinite detail, but instead we'll pick up the trail in 1991 as the rave scene exploded and producers made their basslines more and more ridiculous in order to mess with raver's addled minds. I'm talking about Beltram's Energy Flash, the Hypnotist's Death by Dub (above), Radio Babylon by Meat Beat Manifesto, LFO by LFO, ... I could go on and on and on and on.

Alex Reece - Pulp Fiction

Brief detour down memory lane.... I went to a rave somewhere in Dorset in 1995, and the main action was taking place in a large cattle shed where the DJ was spinning banging techno - normally my bag, but I got a bit bored and wandered off. I stumbled (literally) upon a small shed, which seemed to be crammed full of pretty smiling girls all swaying hypnotically in time to a sparse, minimal track with the sickest, window-rattling bassline I'd ever heard (turned out to be Pulp Fiction by Alex Reece). It got a couple of rewinds and I needed scraping off the ceiling before I went home that night. Couldn't hear properly for a week. And if you're talking about sexy dnb basslines (I was), then I can't not mention PFM's One and Only - but I already waxed on that one at length here. And if you're talking about sick dnb b-lines (we are) try these three belters -

DJ Trace - Mutant Revisited

Bad Company - The Nine.

Ed Rush & Optical - Pacman (Ram Trilogy Remix)

Starkey - Fidelio

But wait! There is a point to this disjointed bass-related musing and here it is - Starkey's got a new album out (Ear Drums and Black Holes, Planet Mu, April 19, 2010) and he's absolutely fckng NAILED it. He calls the music he makes "Street Bass" but "Space Bass" might be more appropriate as he is taking low-end rumblings into another galaxy. I'm sure it's no coincidence that Starkey shares his chosen moniker with "a global supplier of technologically advanced hearing products that assist with hearing loss". Too many nights with your head in the bins listening to this and you'll need them.

Unlike a lot of the dark, minimal dubstep out there, the Philadelphia-based wunderkid is blending his gnarly space bass emissions with gorgeous, warm synths - check Fidelio. It starts off sounding like the incidental music from 2001: A Space Odyssey , before Starkey drops the bass along with a terse, military beat. Then, mid-flow, it breaks off into a melodic interlude that Boards of Canada would be proud of. Elsewhere on Ear Drums... are collaborations with grime artist P-Money and the Texan MC Cerebral Vortex that aren't a million miles away from the prototype booty bass of the 2 Live Crew. And we've come full circle...

Pre-order Ear Drums and Black Holes from Boomkat
Starkey website
Starkey at Planet Mu
Starkey MySpace

Fakesch's Electronic Swap Shop

2010-03-18T12:00:00.000Z

Scaffolding - D-Tron (Fakesch Remix)

One of my favourite things in the whole wide world is pint-sized-yet-perfectly-formed itchy lil' acid-electro bangers, so this Michael Fakesch remix of Scaffolding is so far up my street that it's disappeared round the corner. You might remember Fakesch from his tour of duty with the brilliant electronikglitchheadz Funkstörung - they did amazing things to Björk and Wu Tang Clan and were just a nail's width away from being better than Autechre, but sadly divorced in 2006 due to "musical, personal and practical differences".

Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked - Fakesch is still doing ace things to other people's songs (he also did the music for the Aygo by Toyota ads that fans of T4 will be familiar with) but under his own name these days and Exchange, a collection of Fakesch reworkings of tracks by artists including Von Sudenfed, Mr Oizo, Bomb the Bass, Herbert and the Notwist to name but five, is due out on April 5, 2010 on Musik Aus Strom. Most of the remixes have never been released before. As mentioned above, the highlight is Fakesch's remix of Scaffolding's D-Tron, which sounds to these ears like a techno cocktail mixed by Hardfloor, consisting of two parts Mr Oizo's Flat Beat to one part Windowlicker by Aphex Twin, and a swizzlestick made of laser beams. I'd never heard of Scaffolding before, but they're from Denver and do a nice line in minimal techy electronica.

Buy Michael Fakesch from Boomkat
Michael Fakesch website
Michael Fakesch discography
Michael Fakesch MySpace
Buy Narratives by Scaffolding from Plastic Sound Supply
Funkstörung website

They Wanna Be Adored

2010-03-05T10:00:00.002Z

The Ruling Class - Sleeping Beauty

There is a part of me that will forever be stuck in 1990, stood in the back room of 1 Arbutus Close wigging out to the latest baggy/shoegaze twelve that I'd procured from Big Brian (without whom etc etc). A halcyon era (if viewed through the ol' rose-tinted bifocals) when the only things I really cared about was music, music, music and getting strawberry-eye butted. Oh, and mooning over seemingly unobtainable girls. There was lots of mooning. And a bit of acid. That was then and this is now...

But here come The Ruling Class, sounding more "then" than anything did at the time. The perfect combination of Madchester and shoegaze - Some Friendly-era Charlatans (minus the swirling Hammond), the Roses and just a smidgen of Slowdive's sonic cathedral guitars. They've got the hair (bowl cut, fringe in the eyes) and that sense of wide-eyed, psychedelic wonder that permeated all the best music of that era. Back in 1990 I would have creamed in my pants but the first time I heard Sleeping Beauty I thought it was a low-rent pastiche. A piss-take. You might as well go and watch a Stone Roses tribute band or just buy the albums by the bands The Ruling Class are so obviously in thrall of, I thought. Every bone in my body was telling me it was derivative nonsense but I still couldn't stop playing it. And the more you listen, the more you realise the reverence the band have for the era. They have expertly recreated the sound to such a level where you wonder if (with the right producer and label on board) they could go on to supercede their influences. Or at the very least, make a half-decent album. The Ruling Class, take a bow. If I had a time machine, you'd be my new favourite band.

Buy Sleeping Beauty/Marian Shine 7" on eBay
The Ruling Class website
The Ruling Class at MySpace

Stop, think for a moment ok?

2010-03-01T21:03:00.003Z

Gang Starr - Manifest

Spare a though for Keithy-E aka the Guru who, as I type these words, is in a coma following a heart attack. There were rumours circulating last night that he had passed away but these have been dismissed by DJ Premier, his former partner in beats'n' rhymes in Gang Starr. Guru would definitely make my Top 10 Hip-Hop MCs of All-Time list - with his laidback flows and lyrical dexterity he's up there with Kool Keith, Rakim, Kool G Rap and KRS-One. My most played cassette of 1989 was a C90 that had De La Soul's 3 Feet High and Rising on one side, with No More Mr Nice Guy, Gang Starr's awesome debut album, on the other. Here's hoping he makes a full recovery...

***UPDATE***

From the man himself: "I am doing fine and I am recovering! I'm weak though. I appreciate your well wishes and all the love!"

Buy Full Clip: A Decade of Gang Starr from Amazon
Gang Starr discography
Gang Starr at MySpace

No rabbit in a hat tricks...

2010-02-02T14:57:00.005Z

Walter Pico - My Alter Ego (Remix)
Walter Pico -Bad Guys
Walter Pico - Don't Ask
Walter Pico - Flash in the Pan

If I had an ounce of musical talent in my bones I think I would have ended up making music like Walter Pico. We've been leading parallel lives. As a kid, he saved up the money from two paper rounds to feed his desire to acquire hip-hop classics on wax. Me too! Then he became obsessed with gangsta rap - "If an album didn't feature a Parental Advisory sticker it wasn't worth the time of play," he says in his biography. Yep, I went through that phase too - the ultimate teen wigga, wandering the mean streets of Dorchy in my bomber jacket with the rest of the DTP (Dorchester Town Posse), NWA lyrics running through our brains every time a cop car cruised by. Me and Walter even became disillusioned with hip-hop at the same time, when it "started to resemble one of those scandalous, but colourful, glossy gossip magazines. Peeps recording in the booth were talking about whose necklace is the biggest and sparkles the most, who gets to date the 'model chicks' and who has the most cars parked up in front of mum's house." Couldn't have put it better myself. Plus we both rock a fat beatbox... So, yeah, we got a lot in common, me and Mr Pico. But the BIG BIG BIG difference is that he channeled his disillusionment into producing beats and rhymes of his very own. I got into techno and lost it in the bass bins...

With these impeccable credentials and bonafide old school influences, it's not surprising that Walter Pico makes brilliant music. He's a bit like Money Mark, playing wicked little keyboard riffs with awesome beats, snatches of vocal samples and the odd dose of old school "wiggy wiggy scratching". You can tell he's into Jurassic 5, and it's not just the fact that he's sporting one of their tees in the photo above. His music is a throw back to the good ol' days of hip-hop: "Original beats and real live MCs"... And he's a funny guy - occasionally I've found myself giggling away on public transport at some of his two-liners. Imagine Kid Acne if he came from the Home Counties. There's also a bit of the Flight of the Conchords in there. Sometimes you know he's taking the piss - it can almost verge on a pastiche of old school hip-hop - but he's doing it with intelligence and the quality never drops.

They obviously work better in context (ie wit da music), but here's a few examples of his lyrical flows. Little bit of politics + nifty wordplay = the win...

I dreamed of me, possibly, as an MC, but then thought just how nice it might be,
With life being high-speed and expensive, to change the ‘C’ to a ‘P’ and claim expenses.

Emcees with beef I eat like Black Eyed Peas, I used to slurp a lot until I caught Brain Freeze, now I wear a Parker with a pocket on the sleeve, with luminescent markers in the dark to write ideas.

Available to purchase now is My Alter Ego - an 11-track concept EP that introduces Walter Pico to the record buying public. It's the precursor to his first full-length LP, which should be out later on this year. And Mr Pico very kindly hooked me up with some exclusives that don't feature on the EP. There are four tracks up there for your downloading pleasure that actually make up a quality EP in their own right. When the outtakes are this good, you know you need to hook yourself up with some of the real shit. Link to buy below.

The talented Mr P even makes his own videos. Check this one for early single, Let's Get It Together - a crude but charming take on Aardman's stop-motion plasticine shizzle -

Buy My Alter Ego by Walter Pico from Norman Records
Walter Pico MySpace
Walter Pico at Crazy Worm Records- loads of good content here - tunes, videos and the like...

You're a Piece of Shit...

2010-01-29T12:00:00.002Z

Scott 4 - Aspirins

Recorded in State LP, the debut album from Scott 4, is another one to file under "lost classics"... Along with the Beta Band, Scott Blixen's merry trio of electronic cowpunks soundtracked the end of Nineties for me. They were slightly different to the Betas - a bit more country, a bit more krauty - but they had a similar schtick, blending lo-fi country rock with hip-hop beats. If I was being lazy, I'd say they sound a bit like Beck. But Beck if he was into Neu!

Aspirins is probably a weird choice for posting. I should have gone for something a bit more upbeat but this lovely, anguished slice of the blues is as bittersweet as chewing a handful of the titular analgesic and Maltesers at the same time. And I like pictures of pills. It has played in the background during many an angst-ridden moment in my life. What a beauty.

They ended up signing to V2 for half a million squids, recorded one more album and then disappeared. The flip side of their first single for V2 was 23 minutes and 15 seconds long so they were never really cut out for mainstream success. Still much missed in this neck of the woods.

Note to new bands: naming yourself after a seminal album by Scott Walker doesn't help much with the web searches.

Buy Scott 4 Recorded in State LP from Soul Jazz
Scott 4 discography
Search eBay for Scott 4

The Freddy Adu of Music

2010-01-12T10:00:00.001Z

Echoboy - Broken Hearts

I read a brilliant feature on goal.com about the Top 10 Lost Talents of the Decade in the world of football and it got me thinking about who were the great lost musical talents of the decade? Who was the Freddy Adu of music in the Noughties? I kept coming back to one person - Rich Warren. Now that's not to say that he didn't make some absolutely incredible music throughout the decade, but in terms of the size of his talent and potential, you'd have to say that his story is one of no hits and near misses.

Rich Warren was a prodigy; a fantastically talented songwriter and guitarist who had been in various bands since he was a teenager. He signed his first deal with Heavenly as one-third of the Hybirds in 1996, when Britpop was at its peak. Like most bands at that time there was a huge buzz of anticipation surrounding the Hybirds - retro-rockers carved in the image of the Jam and the Who, with Rich's inspired riffing elevating it above the dross - but they only released one album in 1997, and split at the end of the decade.

Following this false start, Rich holed up with an 8-track and a Casio and set about creating new worlds from above his mum's hair salon in Nottingham under the Echoboy moniker. He signed to Mute at the start of the Noughties and his debut album (Volume 1) was critically acclaimed and adored by me. I've posted Broken Hearts above - the point at which a supergroup featuring members of Neu!, Kraftwerk and Spiritualized come together to make some of the most affecting instrumental music you are ever likely to hear. The whole album is a belter. He made two more albums for Mute, including the brilliant Giraffe, which was produced by Flood. His last outing as Echoboy was Elektrik Soul Psymphonie in 2006.

In 2003, Noel Gallagher asked Rich to join Oasis. He declined, leading to The Sun headline: "He's not mad for it - he's just mad!" (Andy Bell eventually got the nod but it's a decision Rich doesn't regret). He played bass for Spiritualized for a while and also played guitar for Starsailor and Soulsavers, co-writing two songs on the latter's acclaimed 2009 album Broken. All extremely noteworthy achievements for any jobbing guitarist but a man of Rich's talents should be centre stage - the midfield playmaker, not in the holding role. Zidane, not Makelele. But unlike footballers, the careers of musicians don't necessarily fade with age so there's still hope that Rich's talent will be truly realised - and appreciated. In 2010, he's releasing an album under his own name for the first time - step forward mate, the spotlight awaits...

Buy Echoboy from Norman Records - Volume 1 is availble for the ludicrously cheap price of £4.99!
Echoboy website
Echoboy MySpace

[PS Haloscan have started charging for their comments service and I can't import the old comments into Blogger (or work out how to switch it back to Blogger's basic comment service. So until I work this out (any help much appreciated), all feedback or requests can be directed to me at joeclay23 [at] hotmail.com. Ta!]

His beats my rhymes are a perfect blend

2009-12-30T10:00:00.002Z

I was planning to end the year with a monster Best of the Decade post but I've read so many of them now across the blogosphere that I'm sure the world doesn't need another. What the world can never have enough of is old school hip-hop, so instead I'm rounding off the year with a corking ten track selection - Can't Stop Won't Stop Volume II - a follow-up to the one that accompanied my post about Jeff Chang's amazing book, Can't Stop Won't Stop (definitely my book of the decade) that you can read here. Happy New Year! See you all in 2010...

1. M.C. Craig "G" - Shout (Rap Version)

The man like Marley Marl is at the controls of this magnificent cacophony from 1985. Clattering beats, jittery edits, a cheeky Tears for Fears sample and the teenage Craig Curry belting out his rhymes. And who is credited for the brilliant, chopped-up edits? None other than techno legend Jeff Mills.

Find it on Beat Classics LP (DC Recordings)

2. MC Shan - Down By Law

Another masterly Marley Marl joint here, this time in tandem with his cousin MC Shan with whom he fought the Bridge Wars in the mid-Eighties. Down By Law was the title track of Shan's debut album and makes great use of the keyboard riff from 7th Wonder's Daisy Lady. Traffic released an awesome 2CD special edition of 'Down By Law' a couple of years ago (packed with rarities) that is well worth hunting down.

Find it on MC Shan - Down By Law LP

3. The Classical II - New Generation

This funksome underground classic was produced by Teddy Riley, the "King of New Jack Swing", when he was just 15 years old. Riley would go on to work with Bobby Brown and Jacko, but here his bumpin' New Jack beats underpin rhymes from The Lord K Born & L.A. Bru, a pair of rappers from the Bronx.

Find it on Word Vol. 1 (Jive Records) LP

4. True Mathematics - After Dark

A nifty companion piece to Whodini's Freaks Come Out At Night, After Dark was credited to True Mathematics, a mysterious rap act generally thought to be a collaboration between Public Enemy's Chuck D and the producer Hank Shocklee, with raps by Eric Sadler who, along with Chuck D and Shocklee, formed the devastating production unit The Bomb Squad. The laidback funk and smooth raps of After Dark couldn't be farther away from the incendiary beats and rhymes of Public Enemy - could it really have been created by the same people?

Find it on Champion 12"

5. Three Times Dope - Once More (You Hear The Dope Stuff)

Philly hip-hop trio and once part of the Hilltop Hustlers crew along with Steady B and Cool C, Three Times Dope (3XD) made one brilliant album (1989's Original Stylin'), from which this awesome song is lifted) and two less good efforts, before main rapper EST went on to become an award-winning songwriter, penning ditties for RnB royalty like Destiny's Child. This is classic late-Eighties hip-hop fare - packed full of funk samples, fat beats and EST's rasping flow. Quality - or as 3XD would put it, "acknickulous".

Find it on Three Times Dope - Original Stylin' LP

6. Schoolly D - Gangster Boogie

For his fourth album, Am I Black Enough For You, Schoolly D eased back on the posturing and consigned the thug-raps about gangsta life to the trash, opting instead to convey a fairly positive, pro-black message (if you ignore the lamentable Pussy Ain't Nothin'), while musing on the difficulties of life in the ghetto. It wasn't a huge critical or commercial success, but it's my favourite album of his. Notable for using extremely long, largely unaccompanied, samples of well-known material, including chunks of spoken word and loads of James Brown and old funk tracks. Gangster Boogie is the bomb - uptempo and insanely funky. The Chemical Brothers got their Block Rockin' Beats sample from Gucci Again, another killer cut on this album.

Find it on Schoolly D - Am I Black Enough For You LP

7. Marley Marl Allstars - The Symphony

Marley Marl again, showing modern hip-hop producers how it should be done. Cue up a dope beat and get a group of quality MCs to drop science all over it - simples.

Find it on Marley Marl - In Control Vol. 1 LP

8. EPMD - So What Cha Sayin'

Ranked seventh by Chris Rock in Rolling Stones list of the Top 25 Hip-Hop Records of All Time, Unfinished Business is about as good as it gets, and opener So What Cha Sayin' is the album's stand-out track. You can even let them off for murdering Luther Vandross's So Amazing - stick to the rapping guys. I don't think anyone used samples better then EPMD - this one appropriates If It Don't Turn You On (You Outta Leave It Alone) by B.T. Express, One Nation Under a Groove by Funkadelic and Impeach the President by The Honey Drippers to totally devastating effect.

Find it on EPMD - Unfinished Business LP

9. Ultramagnetic MCs - Poppa Large (East Coast Mix)

Everyone bangs on about Ultramagnetic MCs debut album Critical Beatdown (and with good reason - it is one of the greatest), but when it comes to individual tracks, Poppa Large is up there. Taken from their second album Funk Your Head Up, the East Coast Mix by the mighty Beatminerz is a party-starting chunka killer funk and a guaranteed dancefloor filler. Kool Keith is on fire, as per usual.

Find it on Ultramagnetic MCs - Funk Your Head Up LP

10. Eric B & Rakim - Juice (Know The Ledge)

There are very few songs that could follow Poppa Large but this is one of them - the title track of the 1992 film 'Juice' (which starred the late 2-Pac) is Eric B & Rakim's finest hour (or four minutes) by a country mile. Its inclusion on the Chemical Brothers' Live At The Social Volume 1 - one of the finest mix albums - seals its place in my affections.

Find it on Juice - The Original Soundtrack

Let Me Upgrade You: Electromix Volume II

2009-11-12T16:00:00.000Z

Another monster electro selection from the vaults. I'm posting the full length versions, but I've ordered the tracks with a sweet ten track mix in mind. Enjoy...

1. The Micronawtz - (I Can Do It...You Can Do It) Letzmurph Acrossdasurf (Club Mix Dub Version)

The second 12" release on the seminal New York label Tuff City, this primitive slice of electro was written by Barry Michael Cooper, who would go on to achieve fame as the screenwriter of New Jack City (which starred Ice-T). It's truly notable for being mixed by Afrika Bambaataa, credited on the flip as "The Peacemaker" for the role he played in bringing together warring gangs in NYC in late 1970s. It's a curious track but very influential - the cartoon voices would later be all the rage on the electro scene - and I love the simple, childlike melody.

Find it on Old School Rarities: The Electro Jams

2. Warp 9 - Light Years Away

I'd only really heard 'Nunk' by Warp 9, but I've really been getting into them lately. Blending synth-pop, smooth soul and galactic funk together they made some of the catchiest, poppiest electro around. Their first album, 'It's a Beat Wave', was released in 1983 by Prism Records. 'Light Years Away' was the third single from the album and was produced by John 'Jellybean' Benitez, who ended up working with Madonna.

Find it on Warp 9: It's a Beat Wave

3. Xena - On the Upside (Dub Version)

Electro-heads like myself will know the original version of this corker from 'Electro 2' - a properly uplifting number, bursting with lyrical positivity from Lisa Fischer (a Grammy award-winning vocalist who worked with Luther Vandross). It was produced by the same team behind Shannon's 'Let the Music Play' (another fave of mine). I'm posting the 'Dub Version' so you can check the production work in all its glory. As the dude on discogs says: "If you happen to be playing a gay Italo party this will set your mix on fire." Exactly.

Find it on Emergency Records 12"

4. Debbie Deb - When I Hear Music (12" Club Mix)

Debbie Deb was discovered by the mighty Pretty Tony (best-known for his production work as Freestyle - his track 'Don't Stop the Rock' was recently used by Cadbury's on that ad where the kids waggled their eyebrows). She co-wrote the catchy electro-pop smash 'When I Hear Music' with Tony and it was a massive club hit that still endures to this day (both Diplo and Craze put it on their Fabric.Live mix albums). Her story is a sad one - on the chubby side, the record company would often hire imposters, Milli Vanilli-style, to pose as her for live PAs and wouldn't put her on the cover of her records. Her confidence crushed, she faded into obscurity. It's not all bad though - Gwen Stafani often bigs up Deb, Janet Jackson covered another of her hits, 'Lookout Weekend', and she is part of a freestyle revival show with artists like Lisa Lisa, The Cover Girls and Shannon.

Find it on Street Jams: Electric Funk Volume 2

5. World Class Wreckin' Cru - Juice

It's common knowledge now that Dr Dre (NWA, Eminen) was once a member of this rap ensemble, who enjoyed dressing up in shiny gold suits and wearing make-up. They also made some pretty decent music, including this pioneering West Coast electro thumper with some industrial-strength heavy breathing, vocodered vocals, a melody reminscient of the Airwolf theme tune and some nifty scratching. Pure Eighties gold.

Find it on Street Jams: Electric Funk Volume 4

6. Jamie Jupitor - Computer Power

A protégé of the Egyptian Lover (see below), Jamie Jupitor has traded off this one track for his entire career, which perhaps gives an indication of how good it is. But it was written, produced and arranged by the Egyptian one, who also did the artwork, so I'm not quite where Jupitor fits in. I'm guessing his is the distopian voice that proclaims: "Computers are the future world, we program for the boys and girls, there's nothing we don't understand, we're smarter than the normal man...Computer power!"

Find it on Street Jams: Electric Funk Volume 4

7. Newcleus - Jam On It (Instrumental)

As much as I love the original of this, I've listened to it to death. So to avoid overkill, here's the 9-minute instrumental mix with that awesome keyboard line that Nightmares on Wax sampled on 'I'm For Real' in all its glory. Newcleus were skilled producers - a fact often overshadowed by their penchant for outlandish costumes and helium vocal gimmicks. To me, this is one of the best pieces of music to come out of the era.

Find it on Sunnyview Records 12"

8. Egyptian Lover - Dubb Girls (The Ultimate Mix)

The Barry White of electro works himself into a reet lather over all the "pretty, pretty girls" (are those sirens at the beginning the sound of an ambulance come to cart EL off to hospital after panting himself towards a coronary?) in this outstanding dub mix of one of his finest tracks. He overdoes it a bit on the old sampler but I'd let him off anything - his beat production skills are out of this world. A legend.

Find it on Egyptian Empire Records 12"

9. 19th Fleet - Star Raid (Dub Version)

I don't know a huge amount about this track. The vocal mix was on 'Electro 10', which was one of the best in the series so that probably explains why I'm so fond of it. Electro artists of the Eighties were completely obsessed with space travel and the future (as this ten track selection amply demonstrates), though it all seems rather quaint now. It changes hands for silly amounts of money these days so is obviously well regarded and extremely rare.

Find it on Midnight Sun Records 12"

10. Cli-N-Tel - 2030

Another future-predictin' slice of electro greatness, this time from Cli-N-Tel who was a cohort of Dre's in the World Class Wreckin' Cru. This banger was released on the Unknown DJ's Techno Hop label in 1986 and imagines a futuristic world where alien computers rule over human beings.

Find it on The Best of Techno Hop Volume One

Der Geruch auf dem Polizei

2009-10-08T10:00:00.001Z

Principal Participant - Fragrance Polizei

I first wrote about the mysterious Principal Participant on this blog back in 2007 when his identity was still being kept under wraps. I think I made some quip about it being "the side project of a mythical electronic artist". Well, now the cat is out of the bag, or rather, the minotaur is out of the maze - ahem - as it is now common knowledge that the man behind these gloriously funky techno sounds is none other than that "sad electronic hero" David Edwards aka Minotaur Shock.

David released two twelves as PP on the Part One imprint in 2007, as well as remixing Bloc Party, The Cribs and Blitzen Trapper. Things were all quiet on the PP front until September when he gave away a three-track Principal Participant download EP via the Minotaur Shock mailing list, featuring the three original PP tracks to be released so far - 'Wonderful', 'Principles' and 'Fragrance Polizei'.

It's absolutely top-notch gear - I'm posting 'Fragrance Polizei', a wonderful hybrid of early-Human League synthpop and Harthouse techno circa 1992 - gorgeous, twitchy, melodic, bleepy, banging, jackin' techno music. And as with everything David does, the more time you spend with it, the more you get back. I love the little drum fills and that hands in the air moment when the melody first drops. My only complaint (which is a common one from me) is that it should go on for another three minutes at least. It builds up such a wicked groove that I'm always disappointed when it's over so soon - then again, I usually just head back to the beginning again.

According to the PP website, David is working on a debut album, which is very exciting news indeed. He has also said that he may make some more of the unreleased PP material available for download soon, so if you dig it, best to join the mailing list here (scroll to the bottom of the page and enter your email).

Principal Participant website
Principal Participant MySpace
Minotaur Shock website

Angry Andrea

2009-09-29T12:00:00.001Z

Andrea - Temper Tantrum

I can't remember the last time I bought a record on the strength of the cover alone, but while killing time in the record shops of Soho before meeting a friend earlier on this summer, I was immediately drawn to this striking cartoon image of a girl. I think it was the green eyes that sold me. Anyway, minimal label information intrigued me further. I'd never heard of Millie or Andrea before - turns out that's just a pseudonym for high profile dubstep/techno producers MLZ (aka Pendle Coven) and Andy Stott. Both also make brilliant records for Modern Love, the techno label of which Daphne (home to Millie & Andrea) is an offshoot.

Anyway, geeky shit out of the way - what about da muziks? Well, 'Temper Tantrum' (credited to Andrea) is obscenely good. The main problem I've always had with the majority of dubstep is that it is, well, a bit dull. And yes, I'm fully aware that this is as a result of my ignorance of the music itself. I've not heard nearly enough and have never been to a proper dubstep club night (where I'm reliably informed, people smile a lot and go mental) to form a considered opinion. But 'Temper Tantrum' is seriously banging gear, like a much better produced and less busy version of early hardcore rave music. I'm thinking particularly of stuff on Strictly Hardcore, one of the proto-jungle labels, or even early Prodigy. The deep, dark basslines and chopped-up breaks also put me in mind of really early Meat Beat Manifesto.

The flip side, 'Vigilance' (credited to Millie) is even darker - sparse, dubbed-out rimshots and clattering drums and the sort of bowel-loosening low-end bass that makes my cat freeze wherever he is and his eyes bulge even further out of his head than usual. Reminds me a bit of dub techno pioneers Bandulu - remember them?

And the moral of the story is - do judge a book by its cover if the cover is really good. Or something.

Millie & Andrea at Boomkat - all three 12's sold out now - try eBay.
Mille & Andrea on Last FM
Andy Stott MySpace
Pendle Coven MySpace

Some Greedy Ass Fake Bullshit...

2009-09-24T21:39:00.003Z

Tusken Raiders - The Motorbike Track

Apologies for the massive break in transmission... I suddenly realised that if I didn't slap something down it would be the first month I hadn't posted since I started this blog back in 2006. A sorry state of affairs for sure... If anyone stilll cares, there's loads of music I'd love to post. I just need to get back in the blogging habit.

So let's have some mad love for Mike P and this phenomenal slab of insanecore from 1999 under his Tusken Raiders moniker. I can remember being at the Reading Festival in the same year and stumbling across the man himself tearing the crowd a new asshole in a packed tent in mid-afternoon with this absolutely banging tune - judicious use of the amen break, brutal nu-school dnb breaks, a fat, filthy bassline and a quality hip-hop sample (not sure where it's from). I don't think Mike P has ever got the respect he deserves, purely by dint of not being the Aphex Twin. But he was and is a true pioneer and this tune still sounds different class, ten years on. "Y'all need to knock that shit off...."

Tusken Raiders at bleep.com
Tusken Raiders discography
Planet µ website
Mike P/µ-ziq My Space

I Switch On I Switch Off I Switch On

2009-08-06T19:43:00.005Z

Eddy Current Suppression Ring - Colour Television

I've got a new favourite band! Eddy Current Suppression Ring fucking rule. I am completely and utterly addicted, hooked, smitten - call it what you want - to 'Primary Colours' the second album by the Melbourne-based Aussie post punkers. When the album was released in Australia it reached # 6 in the national charts and recently won the Australian Music Prize (their equivalent of the Mercury Music Prize). I'm not surprised - it's brilliant, combining the primal, raw intensity of the Stooges ('Sunday's Coming'; 'Memory Lane'), the slipshod nonchalance and genius of early Fall ('Which Way to Go'; 'Colour Television'), metronomic Krauty grooves ('I Admit My Faults'; the instrumental 'That's Inside of Me') and simple, catchy singalong tunes ('Wrapped Up'). There's even a bit of the Stranglers going on when they bust out the melodic synths on 'We'll Be Turned On'. It comes across as being totally effortless, with songs seemingly flicked out with the same ease you or I would reserve for picking our noses, which just makes it even cooler. If there's any justice they'll be massive in the UK too, though with the Ashes going on, British love for our Antipodean mates perhaps isn't at it's highest... But that's cricket, and this is music!

Those very nice people at Melodic in Manchester are releasing 'Primary Colours' in a special edition with the band's eponymous debut (which I haven't got around to listening to yet as I can't stop listening to 'Primary Colours', but the band reckon sounds more 1976 than 1982) as a double CD package for the bargain price of £11 (or £8 for the download) which is an absolute bargain. The download is available now, the CD due on August 17th 2009.

Buy 'Primary Colours' from the Melodic website
There's loads of great clips of the band playing live, videos, free downloads etc on the band's official website
Eddy Current Suppression Ring MySpace
Ignore my inane gibberings and head straight for this far more cultured, considered and contextual review from Melbourne website Beat

Go Take That California Trip...

2009-07-15T07:57:00.002Z

Depeche Mode - Route 66 (Beatmasters Mix)

Depeche Mode must be one of the most covered bands in history. There's an entire website devoted to all the different bands who've reinterpreted their songs. According to that website, 'Enjoy the Silence' has been covered a staggering 176 times - although admittedly the bands on that list whose names I recognise I could count on one hand. But for a band who have been covered so many times, they have only actually covered two songs themselves - 'Dirt' by the Stooges (which featured on the b-side of the 2001 single 'I Feel Loved') and 'Route 66' (on the flip of 'Behind the Wheel', released in 1987).

'Route 66' was written by Bobby Troup, originally recorded by the King Cole Trio in 1946 (as '(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66'), popularised by Chuck Berry and the Rolling Stones in the 1960s, before the Basildon boys got their hands on it. It was when I was writing this piece that I found out that it was Martin Gore who sang it. I still can't quite believe that, it sounds so much like Gahany. Anyway, the Beatmasters version is a classic late-1980s flavoured remix, packed with snatches of film and TV dialogue and is also a megamix of sorts as it features elements of 'Behind the Wheel'. There is also an awesome bongo breakdown halfway through and a little drum break at about 4m 15s that I used to love so much when I was a teenager that I did a little re-edit of my own on a double cassette deck, looping it over and over again and extending the mix by about two minutes. A fledgling Beatmaster in the making? Not quite...

I'm going old school Mode crazy at the moment so keep an eye on my Twitter page as I'll definitely be lobbing a few tracks up on there - twitter.com/joewhitenoise

Search eBay for 'Behind the Wheel'
Official Depeche Mode website
Depeche Mode MySpace
Beatmasters MySpace

Dubnovoodoobasswithmyheadman

2009-07-01T12:00:00.001Z

Big Two Hundred - Drum Spell

Since disbanding Bizarre Inc back in 1996 after their second album, 'Surprise', was a commercial flop, Andrew Meecham and Dean Meredith have been incredibly creatively fertile, together and apart, with less chart success but with an increasingly eclectic sound. They both dabbled in Big Beat as Sir Drew and Psychedeliasmith respectively, before coming together again as Chicken Lips in 1999 and exploring the outer reaches of space funk, nu-disco and leftfield house. On the solo tip, Meecham has been recording spaced-out analogue disco as the Emperor Machine for DC Recordings since 2003 (more on that one day - the 'Vertical Tones and Horizontal Noise' series is brilliant), and Meredith's White Light Circus project (also on DC) is Moroder/Kraftwerk influenced dirty old school electro and celestial funk (again, I should really cover this some day as it is equally good).

But my favourite post-Bizarre Inc incarnation for Meecham and Meredith was Big Two Hundred. Under that alias they recorded a solitary album, 'Your Personal Filth', released on DC Recordings in 2003; a rampant collection of dub disco, punk funk and psychedelic garage rock, very much in thrall to Bristol's late-1970s post punk pioneers The Pop Group and with nods to The Clash and PiL. It's a fucking freaky far out and hugely underrated album with a dirty, stoned sound enhanced by the fact that it was all recorded on vintage analogue equipment. Check 'Drum Spell', which sounds like an outtake from a Can album - 12-minutes of locked Krauty grooves, a bucketload of spooky echo effects and insane, voodoo-influenced, dubbed-out percussion that sounds like it's being played with human bones. And to think this fell out of the same heads that made 'I'm Gonna Get You'. I want some of whatever it was they'd been taking...

Search eBay for Big Two Hundred
DC Recordings website
DC Recordings MySpace
Chicken Lips MySpace
The Emperor Machine MySpace
White Light Circus MySpace

I Just Can't Help Believing...

2009-06-24T06:00:00.000Z

Johnny Boy - You are the Generation That Bought More Shoes and You Get What You Deserve

Sorry it's been a bit quiet here of late. I've got a lot on my plate at the moment, but one of the things I have been doing is starting to think about my end of the decade list. Yep, the first decade of the noughties (I hate that term but can't think of a decent substitute) is almost over. While I was sorting out an initial list (91 songs at the moment, hoping to whittle that down to 20 over the coming weeks), I came across this amazing song by Johnny Boy. I don't think my iPod has ever thrown this up in any shuffle and as it's the only song I have by them it's got swamped, but by crikey it's GOOD! Named after a character in Scorsese's 'Mean Streets', the Liverpool-based duo of Lolly Hayes and Davo were a precursor to the Ting Tings - boy/girl duo doing catchy indie pop - only far, far superior. Their second single, 'You are the Generation That Bought More Shoes and You Get What You Deserve' was a call to arms against consumerism, produced by the Manics' James Dean Bradfield and released in 2004, when it reached # 50 in the hit parade. It's a brilliant tune - like Phil Spector producing Saint Etienne - with an infectious, euphoric, shout-along chorus. Unfortuntately, for various reasons it took them three years and two record companies before their self-titled debut album hit the shelves, and nothing on the album matched the brilliance of '...Generation'. But not many bands get it so very right at such an early stage in their career, so for that alone they should be lauded. Definitely one of the great lost singles of the decade.

Search eBay for Johnny Boy
Johnny Boy MySpace

Paint the Whole World With a Rainbow

2009-05-28T07:36:00.004Z

Black Moth Super Rainbow - Twin Of Myself

Black Moth Super Rainbow win band name of the year, if not the decade. But then great band names are in their DNA - previous monikers have included Allegheny White Fish (Pittsburgh-slang for a condom floating down the river) and satanstompingcaterpillars. Emerging from a chrysalis in an obscure Pennsylvanian forest glen in 2003, the fully-formed Black Moth comprise vocoder-wielding front man Tobacco, backed by four mysterious musical forces known as The Seven Fields of Aphelion, Power Pill Fist, Iffernaut and Father Hummingbird. So far so freaky deaky, weirdy beardy, right? Wrong. The biggest surprise of all is that the music concocted by the five-piece on their latest album, 'Eating Us', isn't as way out there as you might think. Sure, it's full-on under-the-influence-of-super-strong-blotter-acid psychedelia, but then whack your ears around 'Twin of Myself' - it's sublime psychedelic pop music, an inspired amalgam of Air's floaty Gallic goodness and some top drawer childlike melodies that could have come out of the Boards of Canada songbook. It's accessible and catchy - it wouldn't surprise me if it didn't worry the Top 40 if their UK label, Memphis Industries, released it as a single.

Granted, 'Twin Of Myself' is the poppermost moment on 'Eating Us', but the rest of the album is still easy on the ear. Produced by Dave Fridmann, it's a proper summer album, radiating warmth from start to finish, mainly due to the predominance of analogue electronic instruments including Tobacco's ubiquitous vocoder (which is set on soft and warm, not harsh and robotic), as well as a lush Rhodes piano and space-age Novatron. Other highlights include opening track 'Born on a Day the Sun Didn't Shine', which is a futuristic 'Strawberry Fields Forever', with heavy, looped beats and a gorgeous Rhodes, while 'Iron Lemonade' is a woozy bad trip, with a melody bizarrely reminiscent of the Grange Hill theme tune as re-imagined Plone. Not surprisingly, Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips is a big fan, naming the song 'I Was Zapped by the Lucky Super Rainbow' after them.

'Eating Us' is a wonderful example of machine music with an organic, human heart and can be double-dropped straight into the day-glo melting pot of psychedelic classics.

'Eating Us' by Black Moth Super Rainbow is released in the UK by Memphis Industries on June 8th 2009. Pre-order it from Norman Records
Black Moth Super Rainbow MySpace
Black Moth Super Rainbow website
Memphis Industries website

Jackin' in the Community

2009-05-21T08:00:00.001Z

Nathan Fake - Castle Rising

Norfolk’s finest big-haired knob-worrier Nathan Fake is back with a new six-track mini-album ‘Hard Islands’, which was released by James Holden’s mighty Border Community imprint on Monday. I caned the arse of Fake’s 2006 debut album, ‘Drowning in a Sea of Love’ - an inspired concoction of toytown synths, blissful, life-affirming distortion and thumping beats, and definitely up there with the best of the Noughties. His latest offering finds the prodigious 25-year-old hitting his stride, remodelling his style with a tougher sound, honed over the last few years spent roughing up the dancefloors of Europe. “Playing live a lot over the last couple of years has had a profound influence on the way I make music now,” Fake says.

Opening track ‘The Turtle’ is a straight-up banger – marvellous bubbly, squidgy acid, while on ‘Basic Mountain’, Fake staples his trademark fuzzy, pastoral electronica to hard-edged, analogue techno beats. ‘Castle Rising’ is rough, raw and loopily experimental acid house, recalling the glorious early years of 808 State, when A Guy Called Gerald was behind the wheel; and both ‘Narrier’ and ‘Fentiger’ are packed with gnarly Aphexisms, off-kilter melodies and brutal beats. I only have one complaint – it’s far too short. More please.

Nathan Fake - Outhouse (Main Mix)

The music of 'Hard Islands' is a return to Fake's roots - 'Outhouse' was the single he burst on to the scene with back in November 2003, an absolutely bruising monster of a tune, with only an eerie, dissonant AFX circa-Polygon Window melody to keep the relentless percussion at bay. If he's now 25 (I think) that means he would've been, er, about 19-years-old when he produced this. Suddenly those "Norfolk's answer to the Aphex Twin" comparisons have some resonance.

Buy 'Hard Islands' from Norman Records
Nathan Fake MySpace
Nathan Fake website
Border Community website

Spirited Away

2009-05-15T08:09:00.005Z

LFO - Tied Up (Spiritualized Electric Mainline Mix

When I first got wind of this union between the Gods of bleep techno and Jason Pierce’s psychedelic space rockers - probably in the news section of the NME - I messed my pants in excitement. An inspired collaboration if ever there was one, the results did not disappoint as Jason Pierce took the original bass-heavy techno thumper and transformed it into a blissful nine-minutes of strung-out ambient wonder, easily on a par with Global Communication's reworking of Chapterhouse's 'Blood Music'. Coincidentally, the only other remix Pierce ever did (until last year's effort for Goldfrapp) was of the Global Communication track 'Maiden Voyage' around the same time as this.

Pierce had obviously been rummaging around in the darkest recesses of former cohort Sonic Boom's drug bag, as there's not a trumpet or gospel choir in sight. This isn't so much a remix as a piece of music inspired by the original, with oscillating synths and drones, a gently plucked guitar, washes of beautiful, dissonant noise and the vaguest hint of melody to tie this rework to the original. It evolves so gradually the changes are barely noticeable and is a wonderful demonstration of tonal control. This is right up there with the best things Pierce ever did, and if he's considering a change of direction post 'Songs in A&E' I'd suggest a trip back in time...

Search eBay for LFO 'Tied Up'
LFO MySpace
Official Spiritualized® website
Spiritualized® MySpace

The Return of Elf Magic

2009-05-07T19:28:00.002Z

Wisp - Keeper Of The Hills

Deep in a mountain valley in Middle Earth stands the mighty Wisp – resplendent in his wizard’s robes, the Merlin of electronic music thrusts his knotted staff towards the three-mooned sky as he orchestrates a deranged army of dancing Orcs, goblins and elves, whipped into a frenzy by an insane musical collision between Aphex Twin and Genesis. Welcome to the wonderful world of Progtronica.

And no, that tag is not meant to be disingenuous. ‘The Shimmering Hour’ is an epic and conceptual album, as much influenced by medieval folklore as it is by the electronic music scene. Wisp came upon his artist name while reading ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy and has been known to dabble in the odd game of Dungeons and Dragons. The progressive element can also be found in Wisp’s exceptional musicality – the boy can play as well as program, and like the key protagonists of the progressive rock scene, he is not afraid to indulge himself. All he needs is to don a fox’s head for live performances a la Peter Gabriel and the link would be complete.

As an artist who has done all his growing up in public – releasing a plethora of high quality net releases for free and frequenting electronic music messageboards - Reid “Wisp” Dunn of Niagara Falls, New York has always been judged by the harshest critics of all; the notoriously hard-to-please IDM fanboy community. But Dunn has emerged unscathed, virtually bulletproof to the jealous sniping and totally driven by his own convictions rather than someone else’s idea of what electronic music should sound like in 2009.

‘The Shimmering Hour’ is the follow-up to 2005’s excellent ‘NRTHNDR’, Dunn’s first “proper” (i.e. you had to pay for it) album. There are references to all the various stages of his prolific musical career within, making ‘TSH’ his masterwork. There is no doubting Dunn’s technical prowess – his programming and production skills are exceptional - but what makes ‘TSH’ so special is the fact that you can tell he has poured his heart and soul into it. In an oft-faceless scene, Dunn’s quirky personality shines forth from every second of his music and his sound is unique. You could spot a Wisp track a mile off. Yes, he is undoubtedly under the influence of Aphex, but Aphex soundtracking ‘The Legend of Zelda’ as directed by Peter Jackson.

Joyous paint-the-sky melodies, fucked-up acid grooves, banging, emotive Euro-rave, Bukem-esque ambient jungle, bewitching medieval folk, lush breakdowns and complex, pulse-quickening breakbeats are all dropped into the musical cauldron and bubbled into life to create a magical brew, rich with the spirit of Bardic lore but driven by cutting-edge electronic production skills. Wisp is at the peak of his powers now; it won't be long before you all fall under his spell.

Buy 'The Shimmering Hour' from Norman Records
Incredible Wisp archive - all his net-label recordings are available to download for free!
Wisp MySpace

Box Fresh Techno

2009-04-30T07:40:00.004Z

Laurent Garnier - Astral Dreams (Speakers Mix)
Laurent Garnier - Astral Dreams (Headphones Mix)

The thing about top-notch quality techno is that it never seems to age. Take Laurent Garnier’s ‘Astral Dreams (Speakers Mix)’. It is nearly 15 years old, but rather than sounding dusty and ancient it still sounds box fresh today, like it was cooked up on Reason and burnt onto a CDr by some prodigious teen techno producer last week. 15 years is a long time, but the track is timeless, with super crispy production. OK, so if you were playing it out now you’d have to pitch it up a bit, but I probably would have given it a bit of a nudge even back then - you want everything to go faster when you’re young. As the ‘Speakers Mix’ suggests, this was one for the dancefloor, designed to shred ears – if you stood too close to the PA it sounded like a gigantic metallic dog was barking directly into your brain.

The ‘Speakers Mix’ originally surfaced on a 12” on FComm – the precursor to the French techno wizard’s debut album ‘Shot in the Dark’, which was released in the autumn of 1994. There was a ‘Headphones Mix’ that I’m also posting - this is a laidback, trancier affair that is more of the period and does sound slightly dated. But when that insidious acid line kicks in it’s a dead ringer for peak-‘Brown Album’ Orbital, which is a very, very good thing indeed.

Search eBay for 'Shot in the Dark'
Laurent Garnier discography
Laurent Garnier MySpace

As a footnote - I'm on Twitter now. You can find me here. Not sure how I'm going to use it at the moment, but I am considering doing occasional exclusive Twitter posts - 140 character reviews with tinyurl links to downloadable tracks - that won't feature on the main TWNR site. It may never happen, but if you want to see if it does - follow me! If I get 12 followers, I'll organise a supper for us all somewhere nice*.

* I won't.

Liberation Through Collaboration

2009-04-16T12:00:00.010Z

Mike & Rich - Vodka

Back in early 1996 when rumours of a collaboration between electronic behemoths Richard D. James and Mike Paradinas first reached my ears, I was so excited you would have thought it had just been announced that a re-animated Albert Einstein was getting together with Professor Stephen Hawking to finalise plans for a teleportation device. The reality was something far less highbrow - as Mike P revealed of their union: "With Rich it was ... fooling around pissed and on acid".

So not the groundbreaking, experimental electronic-fest everyone was expecting. Instead we got a couple of equipment-obsessed techno boffins getting mullered on vodka and acid in a studio and concocting some cheesy tuneage, though the resulting album, 'Mike & Rich' ('Extreme Knob Twiddlers' was a subtitle), is an underrated, joyful affair. Of the process itself, Mike P said in an interview with the brilliant Milk Factory website: "It started round his (Richard's) place and we just did this track. I think we both enjoyed working together, it was quite a laugh, so we carried it on. We were serious about the music though - it's not a pisstake, just elements of joy."

Many critics saw Mike P as the dominant force in the recording process, and the free-jazz keys of opener 'Mr Frosty' were certainly evocative of the music he produced under his Jake Slazenger moniker. Throughout, the playful synths and odd samples recall prime Rephlex-era µ-ziq material. But this simplistic view doesn't allow for the fact that (according to Mike P) the sessions were partly inspired by the unreleased Aphex Twin album 'Melodies from Mars'. Plus I can't imagine such a strong personality as RDJ would have been subservient to another producer - it's far more likely that he felt suitably liberated by the collaborative process, relaxed by multiple vodka shots, off his face on acid, and in the mood to create something a little bit different from his usual output. The crunchy techno of 'Vodka', with its off-kilter melodies is very Aphex, and 'Winner Takes All' recalls 'Cow Cud is a Twin' from the 'I Care Because You Do' album, while also being reminiscent of contemporary Luke Vibert's output as Wagon Christ.

'Mike & Rich' has aged pretty well considering and the cover is an absolute classic. Seeing the youthful Mike and Rich enjoying a game of Downfall is a reminder of more innocent times.

Squarepusher/AFX - Freeman Hardy & Willis Acid

Luke Vibert sent many a fan boy's pulse racing when he disclosed (again in an interview with The Milk Factory in 2003) that all of the electronic music scene's powerhouses have worked together at some point. "(Me and Richard) do work loads. Nearly every time I see him, we make music together. Same with Squarepusher. We’ve done tracks with Tom, I’ve done tracks with Mike Paradinas, everyone’s done tracks together." But, unfortunately, it appears that not many of these collaborations will ever see the light of day as they simply aren't good enough - too unfocused, sprawling and messy to be worthy of a proper release. Though tantalisingly, Vibert said that he might give some of them away via the internet - as far as I'm aware, this hasn't happened yet.

However, one track that did make it into the public domain was a collaboration between Tom 'Squarepusher' Jenkinson and RDJ under his AFX guise. Recorded to celebrate Warp Records’ 100th release and named after the popular high street shoe retailer, 'Freeman, Hardy & Willis Acid' marries some mournful Aphexian melodies to jazzy, rolling Squarepusher d'n'b beats. Then the ante is upped as the drums go all splattercore and it finally delivers on the acid promised by the title with some vintage squidge. With Warp celebrating their 20th anniversary this year, perhaps a few more collaborations between the old school heavyweights could be on the cards. Here's hoping...

Buy 'Mike & Rich' from Boomkat
Mike P's Planet Mu website
Aphex Twin fan resource/forum at WATMM - strictly for the hardcore fanboize - you have been warned!
Squarepusher MySpace
Warp Records website