Lift Going Up

I couple of weeks ago I posted 808 State and Bjork's Ooops off 1991's Ex:el album. Ctel then posted a recent remix of In Yer Face from the same album so I went back and listened to the whole thing for the first time in ages. 1991 has been all over the internet in the last few days, mainly because September 1991 saw the release of Screamadelica, Teenage Fanclub's Bandwagonesque, Nirvana's Nevermind and A Tribe Called Qwest's Low End Theory amongst others. Not a bad month all things considered. In November My Bloody Valentine put out Loveless. Ex:el came out in May so pre-empted the autumn rush but what a good album it is. Both Bjork songs are superb, In Yer Face is techno heaven, then there's the Bernard Sumner sung Spanish Heart, Cubik, Olympic and the spooky Nefertiti. It also uses the Willy Wonka Gene Wilder sample- 'we are the music makers and we are the dreamers of dreams'. Tucked away inside Ex:el is this, Lift, a wonderful, uplifting, updating of Kraftwerk with rave drums.

Lift

Capricorn Constellation

In the comment box on my Sabres Of Paradise live post on Monday reader and occasional commenter Niv mentioned going to the Herbal Tea Party night's in Manchester, saying that they were the first time he heard David Holmes' remix of Smokebelch and Capricorn's 20Hz, 'Seminal moments in my life!' said Niv and who are we to disagree.

20Hz came out in 1993, the work of Dutch artist Hans Weekhout. It is a massive tribal techno record, melodic too, perfect for strobe lit, dry ice filled dancefloors. Hands in the air.

20Hz

Low Blood Sugar

Yesterday's Sabres live set led to a reader called KevM asking if any of Weatherall's Blood Sugar sets were online. I think I've got some as mp3s on another hard drive but haven't been able to check but instead I had a look on the net and found this...



If you go here there are several more, all from between 1998 and 2000. Deep and dark, subterranean minimal dub techno. Lots of hiss, echo and flutter. Slow and low. Rhythm and Sound. Head nodding, feet shuffling.

Blood Sugar was also an alias for Weatherall and producer Dave Harrow. They put out a double pack on red and white vinyl called Levels which I have downstairs but don't have a rip of currently. In 1995 a 12" came out where Blood Sugar remixed Soma's Percy X. Breakbeat driven techno.

-3 (Emissions 1)

-3 (Emissions 2)

Crossed Swords

In 1994 Andrew Weatherall put together a live band version of Sabres Of Paradise who played several sets around the country, Weatherall standing at the back twiddling knobs and smoking while Gary Burns, Jagz Kooner and Phil Mossman dealt with the live bass, keys, guitars and percussion. Until now no recordings of these live sets have existed on the interwebs.  Herbal Tea Party have found and uploaded a recording of Sabres Of Paradise playing live in 1994 at one of their nights in Manchester. The motherlode. The first half hour is Andrew Weatherall playing a down tempo, laid back set. Then Sabres join in and work their way through Bubble And Slide II, Tow Truck, Theme and a pounding, bent out of shape Smokebelch. Those of you who are Weatherall/Sabres fans will understand the excitement this recording causes.

Backside Of The Moon

The Aubrey Mixes: The Ultraworld Excursions was a remix album of The Orb's Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld, released in December 1991 and deleted on the same day, offering alternate mixes of seven of the tracks. All work just as well as the original ones, this one in particular being an expansive Sunday morning treat.

Backside Of The Moon (Under Water Deep Space)

Wedding Bells

My brother (the next one down from me in age, there are five of us pus two sisters) is getting married today in Manchester Cathedral, the building behind Joy Division in the picture. He lives in the centre of town so it is his local church. Good luck to the pair of you Z and C, may you be very happy together.

Back in 1987 LL Cool J released the single I Need Love. For hip hop loving B Boys like my brother I think this was the moment they parted company with Cool James. Have the intervening twenty nine years been kind to the song?

Nope.



If you want a much earthier, slinkier and more streetsmart rap love song you could do worse than Method Man and Mary J Blige's 1995 hit I'll Be There For You/You're All I Need To Get By, a reworking of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's from 1968. Headnodding beats and Method Man's delivery ('I got mad love to give') matched by Mary J Blige's chorus. Does this still sound good in 2016?



Yes it does.

Autumn Leaves

My diary tells me it is now officially autumn. This Coldcut track remixed by the Irresistible Force and produced by Mixmaster Morris is a wonderful sprawling piece of ambient house (some use the phrase chill out but I can't bring myself to do it). At first it doesn't sound that autumnal but as it unwinds and the vocal comes in, the sense of seasons changing and the sun diminishing becomes overpowering.

Autumn Leaves (Irresistible Force Full Length Mix)