Love, Sweat And Beers

I'm a big fan of the music of Dirt Bogarde. His run of singles, rounded up at the start of this year in an eight track compilation called Blowback Vol. 1, contains some of my favourite electronic/ cosmic/ chuff dark disco from the last few years- check out Heavy Blotter as a starting point and then go onto Cloud Walkin', Backroom Sunrise and Triumphe Der Liebe.

Today marks the release day of Dirt's first album, eight tracks under the title Love, Sweat And Beers. It is in part a love letter to the Stourbridge scene of Dirt's youth, the pub The Mitre which played a key role in the bands who came from Stourbridge in the 80s-  PWEI, Diamond Head, Ned's Atomic Dustbin, and The Wonderstuff all came through the pub. Upstairs the pub had rare groove nights and the proximity of a local art college with its tribes of acid house kids, indie kids, shoegazers, grebos, rockers and goths made the place lively and inspiring. Not that Love, Sweat And Beers sounds like much of those types of music (acid house excepted) but roots are deep and it's clear Dirt (Adrian) sees The Mitre and everything that went with it as foundational for him. 

The album is a class act, electronic music to fill the back rooms of pubs and basements. Opener Gramercy Riffs is heavy duty slo mo chug, grinding bassline and synths firing off. Den Of Thieves is pulses and chugs, snatches of vocals bouncing around. From The Full Moon is wide eyed Balearica, rippling organ riff, ticking percussion and multi- tracked voice, the waves lapping gently on the beach as the moon replaces the sun. The Escape Of Roger Dean is deeper, darker, a swirling psychedelic murk with crisp snares and an acid line that rides in and pushes to the fore. The second half keeps the darker sound rolling with Speedball, ominous synths and a big breakbeat. After that comes Real Slow, a distorted voice chanting the title, the synths taking an age to kick in, a descending bassline eventually arriving to give the track a push and then lighter keyboard chords,  like clouds parting to let the sunshine in. Rothko 61 is the longest track on the album, nearly nine minutes of burbling synths, crunchy drums and fat bass. Mark Rothko's painting Untitled 1961 is one of those giant canvasses he painted, one that you can lose your self in, a pair of orange/ red blocks against a darker background- the sound of the track works similarly, a huge block of repetitive sounds to lose yourself in. Love, Sweat And Beers finished with Je Le Savais, more moody synths, touch drums and atmosphere, plenty of atmosphere. Dirt Bogarde likes to live in the shadows and there are shadows all over this album, eight tracks that have that balance of light and shade, of darkness and bright colours, machine music made with synths, keyboards, computers and filters but with a very human element running through it from start to finish. You can listen and buy it at Bandcamp from today, a pay what you like deal. After that, at the end of August, it'll go onto all the streaming services. 

There will be nothing here now for a week. We're on holiday, seeking some sunshine on Fuerteventura, a sandy Spanish island in the Atlantic, off the coast of Morocco. See you next week.