Nowhere To Nowhere And E2 To E4

More new music, guaranteed to put a spring in your step and a smile on your face- it did mine anyway- as spring springs, greenery is finally appearing on threadbare trees and there's an occasional glimpse of something called the sun. 

Psychederek lives in Stretford and has made some wonderful tracks in recent years- the Space Arcade EP, Test Card Girl and At The Mountains Of Madness can all be found at Bandcamp and are all worth digging into. Last week he announced the release of an EP titled Alt!, four tracks digitally and on vinyl (all available from early June). There are two to listen to now here, the first a six minute technicolour throb that starts like it's already been playing somewhere else for a while called Nowhere To Nowhere, a song for a psychedelic Stretford, choppy guitars, motorik drums, wired guitar and synth toplines, chunky percussion and  bumping one note bassline. The second is a cover of 808 State's Pacific, a song that I'm happy to hear in almost any version/ remix/ cover, a cover that sets out adrift on memory bliss, a tripped out mellowed out, slowed down, psyched out sunbaked cover with A Certain Ratio's Donald Johnson on drums. If the other two tracks on Alt! are as good, we have one of the EPs of the year looking at us. 

A month ago Psychederek released Tongue- Tied, a single cut from similar (tie dyed) cloth, starting out all laid back with drifting vox but then picking up the pace when the drums kick in. Tongue- Tied is at Bandcamp with a pair of excellent Moodymanc remixes to boot. 

That was to be the end of this post but I got in yesterday and a friend had tipped me off to this, Alex Kassian covering Manuel Gottsching's classic E2- E4, a twelve minute electronic ride into kosmiche/ Balearic/ cosmic disco from Berlin. If that's not enough there are two Mad Professor dub remixes (not available to listen to yet. The full release comes out in late May along with the 12" vinyl- and yes, I've missed out on the vinyl too. Listen etc here. Twelve minutes and twenty one seconds of your day you won't regret. 

Alex Kassian's Spirit Of Eden came out in 2021, one of my favourite releases from that year, a record I do not believe I will ever tire of, a track that sits in a space somewhere between the sun sinking into a melting Mediterranean sea, cosmic dub jazz and the theme tune to The Rockford Files. But miles better than that sounds. 

Spirit Of Eden

Forty Minutes Of Tracey Thorn

A January 1995 episode of Top Of The Pops came up on the repeats on BBC4 recently including this performance of Protection, Tracey Thorn and Massive Attack in imperious form. Protection is one of the 90s best songs, a genuine jaw dropper on first and subsequent listens and a song its impossible to turn off once it starts. Tracey's voice is perfect for the song, her singing a perfect blend of strength and hurt and her lyrics, switching the gender around mid- song, spin the song around. Protection, the album, came out in  September1994. Following up Blue Lines was never going to be easy but Protection mainly manages it with the title track and others- Karmacoma, Sly, Better Things, Three and Spying Glass, some of their best songs. The cover of Light My Fire less so maybe. But Protection is the towering achievement, a song that even mid- 90s Top Of The Pops can't ruin. 

Tracey's songs and recordings outside Everything But The Girl, both solo and with other people, are many and various. I thought, having listened to Protection a few times and then heading to the Andrew Weatherall remix of Tracey's Sister from 2018, that a Tracey Thorn solo/ collaboration mix might work. And it does. 

Forty Minutes Of Tracey Thorn

• Protection (Brian Eno Remix)
• Raise The Roof (Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve Remix)
• Sister
• Sister (Andrew Weatherall Remix)
• Moving Dub
• Night Time

Protection came out in 1995, one of the singles/ songs of the 90s. The 12" came with this Brian Eno remix, a ten minute ambient affair. It had already been the lead song on the album Protection, released in 1994 and an obvious choice for a single. 

Raise The Roof was a 2007 Tracey Thorn single, and on her solo album Out Of The Woods. Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve, Richard Norris and Erol Alkan's psyche outfit, twist it into new shapes and spaces.

Sister was the lead single from Tracey's 2018 album Record, a song with Corinne Bailey Rae and Warpaint's Stella Mozgawa on board. Tracey sings the line 'And I fight like a girl' and makes it sound like the toughest, most menacing line she's ever sung. Andrew Weatherall 's remix (and the dub version too) are ten minutes of late period Weatherall brilliance, chuggy, dubby remix splendour. 

Moving Dub is from No Protection, the Mad Professor dub version of Massive Attack's Protection. Moving Dub, with Tracey on vocals, is Better Things sent through the dub blender. 

Night Time is a cover of a song by The Xx, released as a standalone solo EP in 2011. It has husband Ben Watt on guitar. The Xx asked Tracey to cover it for a compilation of covers of their songs by their favourite artists they were planning. It never happened except for Tracey's cover. Drums, programming and production were courtesy of Ewan Pearson. 

Half An Hour Of Liz Fraser

Liz Fraser's voice, whether with The Cocteau Twins or guest appearances with other artists, is a unique, almost miraculous thing. Trying to describe it is fairly pointless. It swoops and soars and has a magical, otherworldly quality. Sometimes it's gossamer thin, distant and a part of the shimmering, hazy swirl of the Cocteau Twins records, the lyrics difficult to work out and impressionistic. Sometimes it's much bolder and in the foreground, clear and insistent. Here's this week's half hour mix (actually thirty eight minutes) of Liz Fraser's voice, variously with Cocteau Twins, This Mortal Coil, Ian McCulloch, Massive Attack, Harold Budd and Felt. 

Half An Hour Of Liz Fraser

• Cocteau Twins: Pearly Dewdrops' Drop
• Cocteau Twins: The Spangle Maker
• Ian McCulloch: Candleland
• Massive Attack: Teardrop (Mad Professor Mazaruni Vocal Remix)
• This Mortal Coil: Song To The Siren
• This Mortal Coil: Edit To The Siren (In The Valley Re- edit)
• Cocteau Twins: Cherry- coloured Funk
• Felt: Primitive Painters
• Harold Budd, Simon Raymonde, Robin Guthrie, Liz Fraser: Ooze Out And Away, Onehow

Thirty Seven Minutes Of Massive Attack

This week's Sunday half hour mix comes from Bristol courtesy of Massive Attack. It's difficult now to remember exactly the impact Massive Attack had back in 1991 when Blue Lines was released, instantly switching on the heads of people to the reggae/ dub/ hip hop (soon to be trip hop) sound. Ravers, house heads, indie kids, almost everyone, was suddenly listening to something else. They went on to make some stunning songs and records after that but maybe with slightly less of 'the shock of the new' that they had in spring '91 (a time when they also dropped the word Attack from their name due to the bombing of Iraq by the US led coalition). Protection and Mezzanine both had outstanding songs and moments (plus the various remixes and versions, not least Mad Professor's dub of the whole Protection album). After that my interest came and went and I've dipped in and out (dipping back in for the remixes from Heligoland and 2016's Ritual Spirit EP. 

The thirty seven minute mix below tries to avoid the obvious mixes even if it goes for some of the big hitter songs and has a dub vein running through it, ideal for making your Sunday breakfast too. I realised putting it together that it could be three times the length without any drop off in terms of quality. It takes in vocals from Horace Andy, Tracey Thorn, Liz Fraser and Hope Sandoval, remixes by Brian Eno, Mad Professor, Larry Heard and Gui Boratto and has the combined talents of Smith And Mighty, Johnny Dollar and Nellee Hooper at the producer's desk. 

Thirty Seven Minutes Of Massive Attack

• Hymn Of The Big Wheel (Nellee Hooper Mix)
• Protection (The Eno Mix)
• Safe From Harm (Instrumental Original Mix)
• Teardrop (Mad Professor Mazaruni Mix)
• Any Love (Larry Heard Remix)
• Paradise Circus (Gui Boratto Remix)

Things We Do For Dub

At least that's January done and dusted. Apiento's slinky Balearic house song Things We Do For Love was one of 2019's highlights at Bagging Area. I missed out on the 7" at the time (now going for silly money on Discogs) and then missed out on the repress in October too (but more affordable on Discogs). The autumn repress came with a new Mad Professor remix, the song dubbed out to go with the original's blissed out vibes. Very nice and bringing some warmth with it on the first day of February. You can buy the digital versions at Bandcamp. 

Teardrop Trouble

I'm a bit raw at the moment so I'm just going to stick to some music until I get my thoughts together. Thank you to everyone who sent messages ahead of the funeral on Friday, to those of you who wrote posts and to JC (The Vinyl Villain) who came from Glasgow to South Manchester, in his words, to represent the blogging community. 

This Norman Cook remix of Trouble Understanding is a very nicely understated thing indeed, from a man who isn't necessarily always known for restraint or understatement. There's a Massive Attack Teardrop sample in there too. A gorgeous five minutes of sun coming up Balearic/ indie- gospel. 

Trouble Understanding (Norman Cook Remix/ Rudeboy Edit)

This is Massive Attack's Teardrop dubbed out by Mad Professor and Elizabeth Fraser making another appearance on these pages after the Ian McCulloch song a few days ago. . 

Teardrop (Mad Professor Mazaruni Vocal Mix)

Untitled Dub

Mad Professor brings you some speaker shaking dub for Tuesday. Neil Fraser was born in Guyana and emigrated to London aged thirteen. He built his own recording studio and began making music there in 1979. Throughout the 1980s he put out albums on his own label Ariwa Sounds. Especially of note are volumes 1 to 12 of Dub Me Crazy, a series of original and inventive British dub albums, making use of new digital resources. The first Dub Me Crazy was in 1982. When it was re-released in 2005 it came with two untitled dubs as additional tracks, presumably cut from the original vinyl running time for reasons of space (and bass). John Peel was a big fan and regularly playing tracks from the different Dub Me Crazy albums. This is the first of the two untitled extras from the first album and is all horns and bass. As good a way to start the day as any.

Untitled

Towers Of Dub

It's all about the bass. I think there are times when I could sit back and listen to dub bass, on it's own, all day. If I got the chance. This Orb song, remixed by Mad Professor, is nearly fifteen minutes long and has all kind of samples and funny noises in it, and lots of lovely dub bass. Soak it up.

Towers Of Dub (Mad Professor Remix)

Killing The Music Industry

This is, I think, partly what this blogging thing is supposed to be about. I didn't buy The Kills' Blood Pressures album that came out last year. I just missed it, it passed me by. Last month Drew posted one of the songs from it, saying it was his second most played record of 2011. The song was Baby Says. I downloaded it but only got around to hearing it this week when my mp3 player put it on as I pulled out of the carpark leaving work. I almost pulled over to listen to it properly. Since then I've played it whenever I can. I'm ever so slightly obsessed with it- the snakey Gimme Shelter guitar riff, Alison's vocal delivery, the distorted drums, the whole overloadedness of the production. The video is here.

So now I need to buy the album, which I'll do as soon as payday arrives. I notice Baby Says was a 7" single too, there were dub mixes of lead single Satellite and a recent single with some cover versions on the B-side. So there's a good few records I'll pay for due to Drew posting one song. What's the problem music industry? Isn't this what you want?

I found this one in my d/l folder too, can't remember when or where I clicked on it, probably ages ago and then forgotten about, more fool me- Mad Professor remixing the aforementioned Satellite inna dub stylee.

Satellite (Out Of Orbit Dub!)

Some Dub For Friday

Let's welcome Friday in with some dub from Mad Professor, otherwise known as Neil Fraser. Responsible for hundreds of albums and remixes, he mixes traditional dub techniques and instruments with synths and electronics, which led him to his most well known work with Massive Attack in the 1990s when he remixed their Protection album as No Protection. In 1982 he began a series of albums called Dub Me Crazy which as far as I know got to volume 12. The first five are all highly rated, and as you'd expect the afficionados argue about their respective merits. I don't have them all and wouldn't claim to know which is best, but most of his stuff is worth a listen. This track is from Dub Me Crazy (the first one), and is as good an example of his electronic dub as any from that album. If you're at work, play it quietly and take a few minutes to contemplate the day ahead. Actually, if you're at work you probably can't download the bugger if your workplace's internet and download policy is anything like mine so you'll probably have to wait til you get home tonight. If you're lucky enough to be at home at this time on a Friday morning however, brew up, turn up, sit back and enjoy.

Mad Professor_04_Dub Power.mp3

Massive Attack vs Mad Professor 'Radiation Ruling The Nation' (Protection)

I've been listening to quite a bit of dub recently. Some of the proper Jamaican variety but also the post-punk and 90s dance variety. There was an Ashley Beedle mix for Beats In Space floating around just before Christmas, with this track on it. It also had a dub of The Pogues on it. Dub-Irish folk-punk. The whole Massive Attack vs Mad Professor lp is good, one of those cases where buying two versions of one album made sense. Adrian Sherwood did a similar job for Primal Scream on the Vanishing Point album. This is the lead track off the No Protection album- the dub version of Protection featuring Tracey Thorn. Nearly nine minutes of echo, bass, snares, sound effects and Tracey's vocal chopped to bits. It gets into a serious groove about five minutes in. Top track.

Radiation Ruling The nation (No Protection).wma