Notts duo Coyote, Timm Sure and Ampo, have been in the business of playing and making music since meeting at legendary Nottingham club Venus. They have a new EP out next month, the second in a series of four special editions reelased on their re- edit label Magic Wand and they shared one of the songs from it a few days ago. Lonely is eight minutes of slowed down emotive perfection, Balearica meets psychedelia with a gently persuasive groove and a heartstring tugging vocal. The last couple of minutes are particularly affecting and entrancing, as the hand drums, layers of strings and synths, and hazy vocal combine. The sort of song you can't play just once.
Edit: Lonely is of course, as C pointed out, an edit/ restructure of the 1982 single Ever So Lonely by Monsoon.
As a DJ duo their live sets at Bodega, Nottingham are always worth dedicating some time too. Today, while all that pomp and circumstance nonsense goes on down in London and a man in a golden carriage inherits the right to be our head of state without any of us being asked, you could do a lot worse than sit back and play this, a three and a half hour set from Bodega in October 2022. The first minute and a half is like being there, voices and noises, the sound of drinks and conversation, and then suddenly the music kicks into focus and we're a million miles away from wherever you are. Listen to Coyote playing live at Soundcloud.
Duncan Gray has a story to tell in the musical world that orbits around Andrew Weatherall. As a DJ and producer and as a member of Sons Of Slough (with Andrew's brother Ian- they also released a 12" as IWDG, a cover of New Order's In A Lonely Place), as Jnr. Poon (who released the first 7" on Andrew's Hidden Library label) and as part of The Summerisle Trio with Sean Johnston and Sarah Rebecca. As well as all of that Duncan founded the label tici taci, ten years ago this year, a label that consistently releases superb leftfield dance music- chuggy, slinky, dubby, wonky floor filling dance music. Uz Pa Gaz's Tiranan Balearica Omo Can was featured here in April and various tici taci artists, including Duncan himself, Rude Audio and Dan Wainwright, Boy Division, The Long Champs, Jack Butters, Mystic Thug, Mr BC and Fjordfunk have graced these pages in the past.
Tici Taci is celebrating its tenth birthday with a slew of releases including Tici Taci Decade Volume One. Duncan asked me if he could take over Bagging Area for a day and say a few words about his favourite releases on the label. He was happy to answer a few questions too, about his musical life, his work with Andrew and Tici Taci.
Bagging Area: Where
did it all start for you musically?
Duncan: I'll be 60 this year, so my appreciation of music starts back in the 1970s. The
first band I ever saw was Tangerine Dream. It sounds cool to say that now but
at the time it kind of went over my head. I was in bands from the age of 16,
but what really stimulated me creatively was the advent of home recording and
the purchase of a cassette based porta-studio. That's where a lifelong
obsession with making music really started. Music has led me into all sorts of
scrapes over the years. I've made decisions which were (financially) poor in
order to pursue music. My life has been much more interesting as a result,
although there have been many times when I had to borrow money to pay the rent.
I started tici taci with the final scrapings of redundancy money from my last
proper job.
Bagging Area: tici taci is 10 years old. What’s the best thing about running a label?
Duncan: The best thing has to be watching it grow in popularity and gaining its own
identity, to the point where like-minded producers naturally want to get their
music released on the label. Then it becomes a case of other people making me
look good. Also there's been the DJing. I really thought my DJ days were over
when I started Tici Taci, but I was offered my first return gig at Slide
in Brixton almost right away, and from there the offers started coming in from
all over the place. It's a real shame how Brexit has killed the opportunities
to DJ in Europe. I used to get more Euro gigs than UK but now it's the other
way around.
Bagging Area: There’s
an Albanian connection with Tici Taci, artists from Tirana seem to feature
heavily and make some wonderful music (your remix of Pines In The Sun and the
recent Uj Pa Gaz release both come to mind). How did that connection come
about?
Duncan: Lindi (Uj Pa Gaz) was the original connection. I guess he heard the label
through Soundcloud and sent in a couple of tracks for consideration. Almost
more than any other producer on Tici Taci Lindi really understood the sound of
the label from the word go. From there, Genti Aliaj got in touch to see if I
would be interested in DJing in Tirana. Genti is Albanian but has lived in the
UK for 25 years, and offered to travel with me and chaperone me on my first
visit. Albania has this terrible cartoon reputation of being a dangerous place
based on tired Hollywood cliches in general and the Taken movies in
particular. In fact Tirana is one of THE friendliest places I've ever been.
I've had so many great weekends there, including the opportunity to play bass
for Damo Suzuki in a pick-up band which included both Lindi and Genti and the
very talented Bledi Boraku. The last time I spent any significant time with The
Guv was when he came to Tirana to DJ at Discobox in January 2020. A truly
memorable weekend.
Bagging Area: What’s next for tici taci?
Duncan: We have a ton of stuff to release this year. It being the ten year anniversary,
I'm hoping to have releases from all of our regular featured artists, plus a
couple of new signings. Our next release (after Decade Vol 1) is the debut from
Rule Six which is going down a storm, and at the end of June we have something
from another producer who is new to the label. Watch this space. There will be
an EP from the Long Champs, one from Mr BC, something from Jack Butters, more
from myself, a couple of new tracks from Sons of Slough, and maybe even
something from Boy Division. That lot should take us through to the end of the
year.
Bagging Area: Some
questions outside tici taci if I can…
Your guitar and bass are all over a lot of Andrew Weatherall remixes and
releases from a few years ago. What was working with Andrew like? What memories
do you have of him? What’s your favourite remix/ production you worked on with
Andrew?
Duncan: When Andrew invited me to play on some remixes it came at a very crucial time
in my life. I had been made redundant from the work I was doing in TV and film
post production, and could not find another job. Andrew really helped me get
through that time firstly by encouraging me and then helping me to set up the
label, and then by inviting me to play on some remixes. The first one was his
rework of Craig Bratley's Obsession where he asked me to add some punk-funk
scratchy guitar. It was a lot of fun working with him and Tim Fairplay at the
Bunker in Scrutton Street, and my playing seemed to fit well with the
Asphodells sound. I ended up playing on maybe half a dozen remixes until the
eviction from Scrutton Steet drew a line under that. The cool thing was that
Andrew really encouraged me to "play the sound" - it wasn't about
being a great guitarist (which is just as well because I am, at best, average),
it was about using the guitar and effects as a sound source, and that has
influenced my playing ever since. My personal favourites from those remix
sessions are Emiliana Torrini's "Speed of Dark" and Rock Section's
"Dayglo Maradonna" which, as many of you will know, is Julian Cope.
If someone had told my younger self that one day I would end up playing guitar
on an Andrew Weatherall remix of Moby I would not have believed it.
[coincidentally, this Andrew remix of Emilia Torrini's Speed Of Dark was spun by Mark from Rude Audio when we were DJing at The Golden Lion last weekend so Duncan picking it to feature here is a nice touch]
Bagging Area: What
else is going on outside tici taci? You seem to have a few projects on the go,
the dubtastic Hardway- Monkton remixes and Sons Of Slough are about to return I
believe….
Duncan: Since we lost Andrew, Sean Johnston and I have grown a lot closer and after
some initial dabblings we really found our collaborative voice with the Hardway
meets Monkton remixes. Uptown for Dub, Downtown for Disco. I think we've both
learned a lot from each other and I think it's fair to say we've produced some
pretty decent remixes and collaborations over the last three years, including
last year's "Enjoy the Day" for Phil Kieran and Green Velvet. We keep
talking about compiling our best work for release on a limited edition CD but
we've not managed to make that a reality yet. Soon come. We've also had the
opportunity to DJ together with 4 decks and effects (what we call "the
uptown thing") and I'm hoping we get to do a bit more of that. And yes,
the Sons of Slough are indeed a working unit once again. After we returned to
the studio a couple of years ago (for the mini album "Bring me
Sunshine") we did the tribute to Andrew as IWDG ("In A Lonely Place") and then thought we would retire the Sons of Slough brand but
continue under a different name, however.... We have been encouraged out of
retirement by the offer of some live work. We thought long and hard about it
but, I think I the cat is out of the bag on this one, we are going to be
playing some live shows together for the first time in 18 years. I can't say
too much more at this stage but we've been rehearsing and it is all systems go.
[again, coincidentally, I had a conversation with Ian Weatherall in The Golden Lion on Sunday about Sons Of Slough playing live last weekend- more news when we get it]
That's the interview. Now I'm handing over the rest of this post to Duncan...
Tici Taci Decade Volume One
The ten year anniversary of the label is the first time I'd considered putting
out a various artists compilation, so I went back through the archive to choose
my personal favourites. It's very Duncan Gray heavy, this release, because initially that's what the label was for - to put out my own tracks. There will be three
more compilations coming this year and the artist roster gets way more
diverse the further we go. But for now, here are my favourites from the first
two and a bit years of Tici Taci's history.
Duncan Gray - Electric Plum (2023 remaster)
Electric Plum was the first release on tici taci - initially it was vinyl only
and came with a remix from Kieran Holden. The original vinyl cut wasn't so
great so this version has been freshly remastered by Rich Lane in 2023. It's
never sounded so good.
Duncan Gray - Lychee (2023 mixdown and remaster)
The original version of Lychee was the first thing of mine that I heard Andrew
play at an ALFOS, back in 2013. Tim Dorney (of Flowered Up and Republica fame)
put in an extraordinary effort for his remix which, I think it's fair to say,
may have been overlooked by the tici taci faithful. Employing the services of
Republica drummer Conor Lawrence, Tim turbocharged the original and has done a
fresh mixdown from the original multitrack for this 2023 remaster by Rich Lane.
Future Bones - What U Want
I couldn't believe it when Leo and Stephen of Future Bones agreed to let me put out their
first EP on tici taci. All three tracks are absolute gems, and this low-slung
groover is probably the most sparkling of all. Signing Future Bones to the
label really cemented my belief in what I was doing and if they made any more
tracks together I would put them out in a heartbeat.
Will
Piecey - Jolt
Will's Jolt was the first outside signing to tici taci, although it was
released after the Future Bones EP, I am eternally grateful to Will for putting
his faith in my fledgling label. This track was championed by Ewan Pearson
which was another much appreciated show of support.
Future Bones - Pain Killer (Duncan Gray remix)
Future Bones' second remix and probably the first of my own remixes that I was truly
proud of. Initially it was released as a "tici taci remix" before I
realised that was pointlessly modest.
Mr Cogs - Wizard Prang
Mr Cogs was my nom de plume for stuff which was a bit more techno sounding.
Again, the whole alias thing didn't last long and I hardly listened to this
since release, but when exploring the back catalogue for lost gems I was
delighted to find out just how chunky this one sounded.
Future Bones - Dirty Profit (Mr Cogs remix)
Another tough sounding remix under the Mr Cogs moniker. Easy to get a decent
remix when the source material is so strong.
Duncan Gray - Chugboat (Rich Lane remix)
The first of the bona fide ALFOS classics. Rich Lane set the standard with this
one. It still sounds great, I played it at AW60 in Glasgow and it still rocks
the boat.
Duncan Gray - Slidden (Club Bizarre remix)
A remix of a track which never got released, but this magnificent rework from
Philippe and Sam became another ALFOS winner upon release. There's some great
video of Andrew and Sean playing it in Leeds with some amazing projected
visuals.
Nein and tici taci were both founded in 2013 and Neil and I exchanged tracks
for each other's labels. An easy decision when Neil's original came with this
head fizzing remix from Iniago Vontier.
Future Bones - Gone Again (Rich Lane remix)
The killer combination of the Bones and Rich Lane. This is so down and dirty.
It just bubbles away with a huge sense of menace until it it finally kicks the
doors in.
A Best Man Dead - Follow The Shoe
This acid nugget is as close as we'll ever get to a tici taci version of Winx'
Higher State. Play it in a set now. It will not disappoint. A stone tici taci
classic.
Kieran Holden - Parakeet
I love Kieran's work. I just wish he'd make more tunes! This is such an oddball
mix of bleep and ambience, there's really nothing like it.
Iko & Gibb - Praying Mantis (Peza remix)
The first of three releases by Maxime Iko and Markus Gibb - they're all great
cuts, but this one is particularly notable for being the first time I manged to
persuade Peza to get on the remix roster for tici taci. Needless to say all the
Peza hallmarks are there from all the way back in 2014.
Gemini Brothers - Eridu Eridu (Duncan Gray remix)
These two Romanian brothers were all over everything back in 2014 and 2015 and
boy were they keen to get a track out on tici taci. When we finally found
something everybody was happy with, it came out with (I think) 5 remixes. And
rather immodestly I have selected my own version as a favourite because (a) I
was dead pleased with how it came out (it changes direction in an unexpected
manner) and (b) because it was another one that the Guv really liked.
Thank you Duncan- it's been a pleasure. There's a sampler mix at Soundcloud you can listen to here, an hour of premium grade machine funk and quality chug, and this is the very latest Hardway- Monkton release, an eight minute disco- dub remix of Hardway Bros Here's To The Wild.
David Harrow's back story goes way back to the early 80s and his work with Anne Clark followed by time served with among others Jah Wobble, On U Sound, Psychic TV and Andrew Weatherall. In the 90s he moved to Los Angeles and found a second (or maybe third musical life) as James Hardway while penning Billie Ray Martin's Your Loving Arms. His releases in recent years take in ambient and dub, modular synths and deep bass.
His latest release is a two track EP for Mighty Force, two pieces of sweet sounding electronic grooves in a space somewhere between dub, acid and techno. Jitter is a five minute slice of dark dub grooves that twist and turn, never quite doing what you think it might. Quite jittery in fact but deeply rewarding too, music to get lost in. Jitter is followed by '97, a six and half minute dubbed out ride with squiggly bass, echoic synth sounds, clicking percussion and some real bounce to the rhythm. Jitter can be bought at Mighty Force's Bandcamp page.
Slipping back three and a half decades, Anne Clark's Sleeper In Metropolis, with David's spectacular analogue keyboards and synths, electronic drums and Anne's conversational/ spoken word vocal was recorded in 1985 and sounds utterly contemporary.
When I've got my head back together, no easy task given the excitement and excesses of the weekend, composed myself and the dust has settled I'll write a fuller account of AW60 at The Golden Lion on Saturday night and Sunday. Suffice to say, it was the best of times in the best pub in the world with the nicest people and the best crowd to play music to and in Richard and Gig the best and most generous hosts.
This track, an Ivan Smagghe remix of Canadian band Suuns from 2013, was played at some point in the afternoon (by Dan) and sounded superb. I was playing it at home recently and made a mental note to post it here so Dan's selection of it was a good prompt. Up Past The Nursery opens with an odd, trippy vocal humming over a single drumbeat, lots of reverb and then a ticking hi hat and a single guitar line- a masterclass in understated tension being built. An isolated voice sings, a little tense and nervous, as the drum continues to thump away and the guitar line repeats itself, all very hypnotically.
This is newly out, On And On (Again), a collaboration between Daniel Avery and Confidence Man, five minutes of bouncy techno/ rave pop which sounds tailor made for summer, a track that will light up everything from barbecues to festivals.
Last year Daniel remixed Confidence Man's Feels Like A Different Thing, a chunky breakbeat driven track with sirens and distorted synth sounds and one fragment of vocal looped up, 'You know I love it'- an altogether heavier, slightly darker affair.
In a similar area Underworld have a new single out too, a full on thumper from Karl and Rick, Karl intoning, 'And the colour red', as the drums kick up a storm, the bass pumps away and the synth squiggles flicker in and out.
The first day of May, a bank holiday and a new feelgood song from Balearic heroes A Man Called Adam. The Girl With The Hole In Her Heart in it's album version is six minutes plus of upbeat, pulsing, house with Morodor keyboards, early 80s Sheffield rhythms and a slice of electro- pop thrown in. It's one of those songs that will get played through until the autumn. Lyrically the song draws from Sally Rodgers' earliest memories and overhearing an adult talking about the girl next door having a hole in her heart, 'a wildly visual and evocative image for a child to comprehend' as Sally says.
At the band's Bandcamp page Sally writes about how their new album walks 'the ugly, lovely industrial coastline of the North East of England, stopping to soak up the breathtaking scenery and watch everyday life carrying on in the face of rapid deindustrialisation'. One of those beaches, Crimdon, is in the picture above from our visit last month and Sally is absolutely spot on.
The day after the night before. I wrote this in advance so have no idea how yesterday's DJ extravaganza at The Golden Lion went- let's assume for the sake of argument that it was a massive success, that the tune selection and mixing was flawless, that we pitched the music and the crowd perfectly throughout the afternoon and evening and set it up beautifully for Justin Robertson to come in and take us all higher.
I thought seeing as today is till part of the AW60 celebrations and there's plenty to see and enjoy at The Golden Lion today that today's mix should be Weatherall related but also a little downtempo and chilled to ease any sore heads and bodies into the day. This is the result, a forty five minutes Sabres Of Paradise mix, some of the more ambient, downtempo, dubbier and beatific tracks from the Andrew Weatherall, Jagz Kooner and Gary Burns back catalogue.
The bookends of this mix, Jacob Street and Chapel Street, are both from the 1994 Haunted Dancehall album, a Sabres masterclass. Ambient tracks to listen to as the city wakes, Jacob Street is serene and wobbly, while Chapel Street's synths sound like seagulls and the shimmering haze they conjure is quite beautiful. Theme 4, a short dub noise interlude on the album is a version of the single Theme, also from 1994. Flight Path Estate comes from Haunted Dancehall too.
Siege Refrain is a short experiment is delay and distortion, calmed ambient sound with some a little edge. It was track three on the Wilmot CD single.
Return Of Carter and Edge 6 were the twin B-sides from Theme, two of my favourite Sabres dub outings, wonderfully early 90s revisioning of the King Tubby sound.
R.S.D. appeared on the 1993 album Sabresonic, propulsive dub techno. The initials stand for Red Stripe Dubs, an advertising tie in brokered by Mark who DJed last night as one of the Flightpath Estate DJs. He swears somewhere he has a cassette with three different versions of this track but alas to date he has been unable to put his hands on it.
In The Nursery's modern classical cover version of Haunted Dancehall's title track came as part of a triple vinyl remix set, on 7", 10" and 12" along with remixes by Depth Charge, The Chemical Brothers, Nightmares On Wax and LFO. It's a very beautiful few minutes, a new version rather than a remix. Weirdly the BBC's plans for the death of a monarch that were drawn up decades ago stipulated that it would be the only music to be played on Radio One in the event of the Queen dying. It was broadcast repeatedly in the immediate aftermath of the death of Diana back in 1997. I'm not sure it's what anyone involved in creating it intended.
Smokebelch II (Beatless Mix) is a gorgeous ambient version of the Sabres 12" single from 1993, Smokebelch II. It's become an ambient/ chill out classic and been subjected to advertising mobile phones in the past but that shouldn't blind you to its beauty. It was originally available as a one sided 7" single with limited copies of Haunted Dancehall. We played it at the graveside at Isaac's funeral in December 2021 and I can still listen to it now, so that's something.
Today is the final leg of the AW60 events, the month of
celebrations of what would have been Andrew Weatherall’s 60th
birthday. Following nights in London, Glasgow and Belfast the fourth event is
at The Golden Lion in Todmorden. The Golden Lion is a special place, ‘a
portal’, as a man standing at the bar told me last time I was there, ‘outside
it’s Tod, in here it’s another world’. The Golden Lion is a pub in the hills,
on the Lancashire/ West Yorkshire border that hosts gigs, events and DJ nights,
hosted by Richard and Gig. Andrew played there regularly. In 2018 he hosted a
weekend of events in West Yorkshire, Weatherall in the Calder Valley, playing a
gig in Hebden Bridge with A Certain Ratio and DJ events at the Lion. His
travelling cosmic disco, A Love From Outer Space, with Sean Johnston often
appeared at the Lion.
The turn of events that has led to me and four friends
actually being part of the celebrations and DJing in the Lion today, from 1pm
through until Justin Robertson taking over as headliner at 10pm is as baffling
to me as it is to others. We started out administering the Flightpath Estate
Facebook group (a place for Andrew’s fans to share music and news). It grew
slowly and then when Andrew died in February 2020 became a place for people to
be, to share stories and enjoy the music. At some point Richard asked us if
we’d like to DJ at the Lion and in what I can only describe as a sudden
escalation of events, towards the end of last year we were asked to be part of
AW60. Much of this is due to the internet and the way it has brought people together, made connections and turned online friendships into real life ones. My involvement comes ultimately because of this blog, the hundreds of posts I've written about Andrew and his music and the connections made through it, something I started back in 2010 with no real idea what I was doing and ending up here.
Today’s celebrations have us playing in turn and
back-to-back throughout the afternoon and evening, handing over to Justin
Robertson around 10. At 9, in the upstairs room Timothy J. Fairplay will play
live with a battery of synths and drum machines. Across the road old friends of
Andrew’s Dave Beer and Bernie Connor will play records. Tomorrow, Andrew’s
friends Curley and Sherman are both DJing at the Golden Lion (admission is free
if you’re in the area) with a live set by Chris Rotter and Andy Bell in the
evening where they will play the songs Chris played guitar on and helped create on Andrew's Pox On The Pioneers solo album. Later on, as
bank holiday Monday beckons, Heidi Lawden and Lovefingers will be on.
Back in October we were invited to play with David Holmes,
warming up for him. The afternoon was fairly quiet and were more or less
playing songs for ourselves and each other plus a few afternoon drinkers. As
the evening drew on the pub filled up a little and then in a way that still
causes me to pinch myself, I was in the booth at 8.45 as David Holmes turned
up, said hello and told me to keep playing. A few records later I handed over
to him, the sort of thing that I never really expected to happen- why would I
end up DJing with David Holmes? I can’t even mix very well. Today we have a
long slot, will be taking it in turns with an hour each and then as the pub
turns to a ticketed (and sold out) event, we’ll switch on and off with each
other, three tracks each back to back, no doubt with someone putting on a
record that is unfollowable or unmixable, with a knowing smile. I have become
more nervous about this gig as the week has gone on, playing a DJ set in a pub
filled with Andrew Weatherall’s friends, family and fans. I’ve woken up every
morning fretting about track selection, technical details, general performance
anxiety. And I’ve told myself too to relax and enjoy it- the room will be full
of lovely people who just want to socialise, hear good music and have a good
time.
‘Just what is it that you want to do?’
‘We want to be free to do what we wanna do… and
we wanna get loaded and we wanna have a good time.’
What Andrew would have made of all of this, I have no idea.
A chuckle, a shake of the head, a grimace at a messed up transition between one
record and the next as his fans try to emulate him.
Andrew and Justin remixed each other several times. In 2013 Andrew along with Timothy J. Fairplay as The Asphodells remixed Justin's Deadstock 33s track The Circular Path- crunchy sci fi electronic house music for the future.
Three years later Justin remixed The Confidence Man, a song from Andrew's solo album Convenanza (the original version I plan to play at some point today). Justin's remix goes full on with the squelchy bass and slo- mo space action.
Alex Paterson's Orb side project Chocolate Hills announced a new song and album recently, the song called Cracking Kraken and the album Yarns From The Chocolate Triangle (out in June). Sometimes I think Orb world is being spread a bit a thin, release after release by multiple incarnations and offshoots but the quality remains high and Cracking Kraken seems to promise a lot- piano, deep sea submersion, ambient sound, distant drums, synths with a rupture towards the end and sampled voices and noises. No doubt it will all make more complete sense in the context of the full album.
Chocolate Hills is Paul Conboy with Alex. Paul swears off computers using only analogue kit and pre- digital age gear. The ten track album is a musical expedition, an imaginary voyage by sea to the Bermuda Triangle and back. Back in 2019 Chocolate Hills released an album called A Pail Of Air, a deeply ambient and atmospheric seven track exploration of synths, sounds and samples which is one of the highlights of the recent Orb related releases.
Out today from Jezebell, two new three track EPs with a
single starting point but multiple routes- Trading Places (Daytime and Nightime
Versions). Jezebell are Jesse Fahnestock and Darren Bell. They have an Ibiza
takeover imminent, and these six tracks tell the story of a night out, the ebb
and flow of day to night and back again in musical form. The six tracks,
Trading Places 11AM, 3PM and 6PM on the daytime EP and Trading Places 10PM, 2AM
and 5AM on the Nighttime, all began with the same initial sample and span out
from there, ideas shuttling between them, music as infinite
possibilities. Songs begin with a single spark- an idea, a riff, a sample, a
line, a beat- and the decisions taken then fix that track/ song for the creator
(and for the listener at the end). The six tracks here show what can happen
when you take not just one route, but several, when ideas are followed not just
this way, but that way too. Endless possibilities, nothing is fixed.
Trading Places (11AM) launches the day in easy style, a
low-slung start with mid- paced drums and a padding bassline. Handclaps, a
repeating synth part, bubbling sounds and eventually a horn part. Take a swig,
get a little perked up, it’s still before lunch, no need to go mad.
3PM is a good time to be out, the whole day and night ahead,
all sorts of possibilities in front and choices to be made. The track kicks a
bit harder than 11AM with a clipped, choppy
guitar riff and looped ‘ah oh oh’ backing vocal. The funk bass synth
bumps away. Upbeat, feel good, nothing to worry about.
6PM. You’re in the mood now, you’ve been out for a while,
everything’s nicely groovy, the sun is out and the beer is cold. The track
slides in lazily, catching your attention as it builds, synths parts and some
hand drums. At thirty seconds the rhythm kicks in and pulls you forwards, the
kick drum becoming more insistent. The vibrating synth toplines hit and there’s
the stutter of a vocal sample. A female voice weaves her way in, suddenly and
unexpectedly revealing itself as Siouxsie Sioux, imperiously saying peek- a
boo. The bass pushes forward wrapping itself around the track and then
Siouxsie’s back, ‘strobe lights pump and flicker… that’s right now hit the
floor’. Not a request, more a command.
10PM. But then without you really noticing when, it’s gone
dark and you’re somewhere else, somewhere familiar but with that thrill of the
unknown. Lights and sound beckon, the thump of bass and the slight breathless
feeling as the bass hits, feeling in the chest. ‘You know it’s us… start the
music’ the voice says, ‘no trading places…’. Hypnotic and enveloping sound,
music bursting out of the speakers and into the room, building. You couldn’t
stop yourself now even if you wanted to. It’s out of your hands, the music’s in
control. Breakdown and whooshing sounds at five minutes in give a pause for
breath but only for a moment because when that kick drum comes back you’re
moving again, caught in the moment.
2AM. Oh heck. Sirens. Throbbing bass. Speakers vibrating.
Senses distorted. Smoke and dry ice. Everywhere. Your friends have vanished. No
matter. The people you’re dancing with are our new friends. Everyone locked in
to the same moment, the same feeling. ‘You you you… get up get up’ a voice
says, somewhere in the mix, behind you maybe, or above you. Another vocal,
chopped up and re- arranged. Limbs moving, hair now sticky with sweat. Drinks
ordered and poured. Nods of recognition on the floor as the bass comes back.
Smiles. Cheers. Whistles.
5AM. It’s late now. Or early, difficult to tell which. The
voice is back, the one saying, ‘you know it’s us’. Things are slowing down
slightly, the groove less insistent, the tempo a little slower. The voice there
again, ‘Leave no traces/ Know your rights/ No trading places’. But things aren’t
really easing up, the groove is still strong, the snare still cracking, the
bass wanting to push you for one last spin round the floor, no let up even now,
lost in it all. At dawn.
Both EPs are available from Bandcamp from today, Daytime Versions are here and Nighttime Versions are here. I recommend both as you can probably tell.
Three Nico and The Velvet Underground coincidences came to me recently and I don't ignore these things when it comes to writing posts for the blog. First, the latest issue of Mojo (the music magazine for middle aged men) has a feature on the 50 Best Lou Reed and Velvet Underground songs in it, in which the song below features (as you'd expect). Second, the day after reading this countdown I played a clip to my GCSE History class about opposition to the Vietnam War. As the footage of students demonstrating, soldiers fixing bayonets and tear gas blowing about played the familiar and thrilling sounds of All Tomorrow's Parties came into earshot, John Cale's treated piano powering its way into my classroom as Moe Tucker's drums bashed away. Nico's deadpan, monotone vocal just about started as the clip finished. I had a little moment quietly to myself in front of a class of fifteen and sixteen year olds, a small shudder of 'fuck me, that was good', almost like hearing it for the first time again.
It is by any standards an amazing song, discordant and adrenaline filled, with nagging, off key guitar lines (Lou's famous ostrich guitar tuning) and claustrophobic production. The song is about Andy Warhol's clique at The Factory, a place where everyone said the 'most astonishing things, the craziest things, the funniest things, the saddest things', while Andy just watched. Cale later said it was about a girl called Darryl, 'a beautiful, petite blonde with three kids, two of whom were taken away from her'. Which is one of the saddest things as an observation on its own.
Lou Reed and the others didn't want Nico in the band. Andy pushed her in, believing she could be a star. All Tomorrow's Parties was written partly to give her something to do on stage. But she makes it- her flat, accented, dead eyed, double tracked vocals are as important to this song as any other element of it.
The third part of the triptych of coincidences was that not long ago I finished reading Nico, Songs They Never Play On The Radio, an account of Nico and her life from 1982- 1988, by James Young, the pianist in her touring band in the 80s. It's really well written recreation of the demi- world of Manchester musicians, hangers on and promoters who orbited around her, while she existed on heroin, red wine and cigarettes. There's no money, few gigs, no seems to enjoy themselves apart from occasionally very briefly, Nico hates everyone she's stuck with, especially the musicians- sometimes she appears on stage on her own with her harmonium, reluctant to let her ban join her. Occasionally they play a gig somewhere in Europe and an uber- fan appears which pisses her off as much as no one turning up. Touring is the only way to make any money but it disrupts her drug habit. James witnesses it all, participates in the gigs and recordings, writing sympathetically and making it clear there's little romance in this world (somehow though, even the absolute lack of romance has its own grimly romantic appeal). The book finishes with Nico's sad death in Ibiza in 1988 and her funeral in Germany, the mystery of her father and what happened to him and what he did during the war all wrapped up as part of Nico's allure. Highly recommended if you're after something to read.
A Certain Ratio played Manchester's New Century Hall on Saturday night, a homecoming gig three nights into a UK tour and an evening with lots of familiar faces in the crowd, a real gathering of the fans in a room that holds 1300 people. Not too long ago they were playing much smaller venues in the city and to smaller crowds- the deal with Mute, subsequent re- issueing of their back catalogue and the run of album and EP releases over the last few years has brought a real ACR renaissance. They are very much a band who don't want to repeat themselves, don't want to just play the old songs and who want to continue to move forward and break new ground.
ACR take the stage at nine and play a seventeen song spanning over four decades, kicking off with Winter Hill, from 1981, a tense, urgent instrumental built around a clattering rhythm and a load of oscillating drones. It's followed by the title track from their recent album 1982, a piece of retro- futuristic dark funk, Jez singing of the year in question, on record all synths and robotic backing vocals, live on stage all dark disco- funk. Martin Moscrop and Don Johnson swap instruments throughout the night, between drums and guitar.
New singer Ellen Beth Abdi, stepping into a gap left by the huge presence of the late Denise Johnson, bounds on stage for the third song, Get A Grip (from 2020's Loco). What she lacks in years she more than makes up for in voice and energy, her vocals on both the new songs and old ones absolutely spot on. After a wild romp through Emperor Machine they hit the back catalogue with Lucinda from Sextet, a record from the early 80s, discordant otherworldly dance/ post- punk and follow this with one of the night's highlights, an immense and tense version of Flight, the 1980 single that laid so many of the foundations of their sound, Martin Hannett's dark and dense 1980 production filled out by this new six piece ACR. Current single Samo returns us to the present via the past, a Eno- Byrne indebted drum intro and Jez's spoken vocals building up to a joyous disco/ punk- funk/ rap tribute to Jean- Michel Basquiat's art and the New York crossover scenes of the early 80s. Do The Du is dropped in, early ACR's thrilling, stepped mechanical funk, a song which has been with me since first hearing it in 1987, when it was on a compilation tape my friend Darren made for me (who is here tonight, standing next to me, decades later).
Jez Kerr had a bad year last year, a bout of serious illness and time out of the band- 'I was on sabbatical' he quips at one point. To help with this ACR have recruited a new bass player, the youthful Viv Griffin more than filling in for Jez so he can concentrate on singing, cowbell and whistles with the odd bit of bass. On one song, there are three members of ACR playing bass- Jez, Viv and Martin Moscrop. 'That's the problem with this band', Jez says, 'too many bass players'.
Berlin from Loco is another highlight, pulsing bass, keyboards and soaring twin vocals from Jez and Ellen, with it's memorable chorus line 'You never, ever leave/ Your head alone'. Then they give us Mickey Way from 1986's Force, jazz- funk from the middle of the 80s sounding very much reborn with ascending trumpet and flute lines. The home straight brings the crowd pleasers- there are few ACR songs I'd want to hear more live than the next ones. First, the 1989 dance pop of The Big E (with the house piano chords pointing to Bernard Sumner's much loved remix, Won't Stop Loving You, a song dedicated to Denise- earlier Jez dedicated a song to Mark Stewart who died the day before, whose group The Pop Group were an enormous influence of early ACR). Then Good Together, one of my favourite ACR songs, with an acid house 303 squiggle, some borrowed Beach Boys lyrics and full on Hacienda rhythms, again sounding not retro but modernised. The final song is Shack Up, the scratchy, punk- funk cover that has been played in ACR sets since 1980. Declining to go off stage and back for the encore, they stay where they are- 'it's too far', Jez tells us- Knife Slits Water's weird, danceable, skeletal funk, pumped up sound and funked up basslines filling the hall, a song with post- punk's ominous instruction to dance despite it all, now sounding celebratory rather than full of early 80s dread.
The usual ACR set closer is Si Fermir O Grido, the samba grooves from Force where everyone on stage grabs a cowbell, shaker, whistle and drums, a Latin Manchester, and they don't let us down tonight. Martin and Don swap places at the drum stool mid song, Don slapping the bass, everyone else powering their way to the finale. This photo, one of three taken by Jez as the finish has me in far left of the shot, hands above my head applauding.
Afterwards the band play a DJ set in the bar below New Century Hall where I bump into friends from Newcastle, previously only known via social media. We eventually leave via the foyer with a rather nice poster and a t- shirt, and after a while the realisation we have yet again managed to miss the last tram home, all the while Do The Du's stuttering funk rhythms playing in my head.
Mark Stewart's death at the age of 62 was announced on Friday. Mark was a towering presence in post- punk and in music thereafter, a man who saw music as an art form that should be provocative and challenging. The Pop Group, the Bristol group he led, brought together punk's guitars and confrontation, dub's space, free jazz's noise and funk's basslines with Stewart's politicised, expressive and sometimes ranting vocals, with Dennis Bovell at the controls. They were hugely important in influencing the wave of 80s and 90s industrial bands. When the group fractured in 1980 Stewart went on to New Age Steppers and then to work with a like- minded soul in Adrian Sherwood and the On U Sound collective. His Mark Stewart and The Maffia records were made firstly with On U musicians from Creation Rebel and later on the Tackhead trio of Doug Wimbish, Skip McDonald and Keith LeBlanc.
This song was from 1983, the title track from his debut album although the edited version here is from a flexi- disc given away with a Dutch magazine. The album, all cut up electro beats, dub bass, distorted, sample- like vocals and Mark's politics, isn't an easy listen and it's not supposed to be.
In 2019 Mark's voice and denunciation of Brexit and all those who pushed it were at the centre of a single recorded by Jah Wobble and a post- punk supergroup containing Youth, Richard Dudanski, Keith Levene and drum tracks and loops courtesy of Andrew Weatherall and Nina Walsh. Mark Stewart- one of those people who you feel we shall not see the likes of again. R.I.P.
Last Sunday three fifths of the Flightpath Estate DJ team (myself, Dan and Martin) played a six hour, vinyl only set at Blossom Street Social, a bar in Ancoats. We had a great time, a few people came down and seemed to enjoy the tunes. The idea was to celebrate the music and influences of Andrew Weatherall, so his music and remixes were obviously going to feature heavily in the setlist. The technical set up in the bar is first class- a pair of Technics 1210 turntables and a beautiful rotary mixer. The set was recorded live from the mixer and went up on Mixcloud yesterday. You can listen to it here.
The session, which in Weatherall style/ homage we dubbed The First Mission, was six hours of unrehearsed live performance. It is therefore filled with moments of idiosyncratic charm. One person's idiosyncratic charm is of course another person's mistake (or total fucking mess) but if we were to do it again there are a few things we'd want to iron out. The second track in, my second record, Richard Norris' remix of Mark Peters' Sundowning, is a 33rpm record which I played at 45. I might have got away with this if Dot Allison's vocals two thirds of the way into the song weren't clearly too fast and too high. Embarrassingly I followed this with my next record, the ambient mix of Miranda Sex Garden's Gush Forth My Tears (by The Orb's Thrash) at 33 when it is a 45. Less noticeable but still, amateurish stuff. In my defence, I couldn't get the headphones working at this point and was busy sorting records out. Fortunately, the next tune, Malcolm McLaren's Madame Butterfly is played at the correct speed, as are the next four, at which point I handed over to Dan. Here I am pictured wondering what this knob does....
More pictures- from the top Andrew Weatherall's remix of Galliano's Skunk Funk spinning, part of a dubby section I played three hours in. It was during this section that, with the headphones now working, I managed to put on the Leo Mas and Fabrice remix 291out's Hannabera at 33rpm, switch it up to 45 and then change it back to the correct speed of 33. Below that Dan at the decks, shortly before being told off for playing customer frightening electro slightly too loud for a Sunday afternoon and then below that Dan and Martin, one of them possibly about to catch the stylus and bounce it off the surface of the record with a loud scratching clunk noise. The full tracklist is at the bottom. The mixing, rpm issues, stylus being bounced off by shirt sleeves and general incompetence are all our own work. The music is impeccable.
{Adam}
[0:00] Andy Bell - The Sky Without You (David Holmes Radical Mycology Remix)
[6:00] Mark Peters- Sundowning (Richard Norris Remix) * wrong speed
[11:00] Miranda Sex Garden- Gush Forth My Tears (Ambient Remix) * wrong speed
[18:00] Sunsonic- Innocent Man
[23:00] Peace Together – Be Still (Sabres Of Paradise Remix)
[34:00] Malcolm McLaren - Madam Butterfly
[40:00] AMOR - Unravel
[46:00] Scott Fraser - A Life Of Silence
[53:00] Beth Orton - Galaxy Of Emptiness
[57:00] IWDG - In A Lonely Place (David Holmes Remix)
{Dan}
[1:01:00] Spiritualized - Come Together (Two Lone Swordsmen Mix)
[1:11:00] Sabres Of Paradise - Edge 6
[1:16:00] Creation Rebel & New Age Steppers - Chemical Specialist
[1:20:00] Tackhead - Now What?
[1:27:00] Solar Bears - Separate From The Arc (Andrew Weatherall Mix 1)
{1:28:00} {Dan twats stylus}
[1:31:00] Sabres Of Paradise - Ballad Of Nicky McGuire
[1:39:00] Eyes Of Others - Once, Twice, Thrice
[1:42:00] Pleasure Pool - Modern Nature
[1:46:00] Scott Fraser - Together More
[1:55:00] Phil Kieran - Find Love (Andrew Weatherall Remix)
{Martin}
[2:02:00] Chris & Cosey - October (Love Song)
[2:05:00] Two Lone Swordsmen - Get Out Of My Kingdom
[2:12:00] Pete Molinari - Hang My Head In Shame
[2:16:00] Johnny Bond - All I Can Do Is Cry
[2:17:00] Buddy Greco - They Took John Away
[2:20:00] Billy Fury - Don't Jump
[2:23:00] Two Lone Swordsmen - No Girl In My Plan
[2:29:00] David Holmes - I Heard Wonders (Andrew Weatherall Remix)
[2:35:00] Summerisle Trio - Willow's Song
{2:35:30} {Martin twats stylus}
[2:40:00] Skylab - Seashell
[2:46:00] Love T.K.O. - For What It's Worth
[2:52:00] Two Lone Swordsmen - Brother Foster Through The Phones
[2:55:00] New Order - Regret (Sabres Slow N Lo)
{Adam}
[3:02:00] St. Etienne - Only Love Can Break Your Heart (A Mix Of Two Halves)
[3:06:00] Meatraffle - Meatraffle On The Moon (Andrew Weatherall Remix)
[3:13:00] The Liminanas - Garden Of Love (Lundi Mouille Mix)
[3:16:00] Richard Sen - Songs Of Pressure (Asphodells Remix)
[3:19:00] The Sexual Objects- Sometimes (Andrew Weatherall Remix)
[3:22:00] Galliano- Skunk Funk (The Soldiers Mix)
[3:27:00] The Clash - Street Parade
[3:30:00] Baris K - 200 (Asphodells Remix)
{3:33:00} {Adam plays with the 33/45 selector}
[3:34:00] 291out- Hannabera (Leo Mas and Fabrice Remix)
[3:39:00] The Vendetta Suite - Purple Haze, Yellow Sunrise (David Holmes Remix)
{Dan}
[3:45:00] Stereo MC's - Everything (Everything Grooves Pt.2)
[3:55:00] LCMDF - Gandhi (Weatherall Remix 2)
[4:01:00] Pleasure Pool - Ask Your Body
[4:07:00] Curses - Ghost Of Arms
[4:11:00] New Order - Your Silent Face
{Martin}
[4:17:00] Mike Garry & Joe Duddell - St Anthony: An Ode to Anthony H Wilson (Andrew Weatherall Remix)
[4:25:00] Sam Roberts Band - We're All In This Together (Andrew Weatherall Remix)
[4:30:00] Mugwump - Until You're Worth It (Andrew Weatherall Remix)
[4:35:00] Primal Scream - Come Together (7" Edit)
{Adam}
[4:39:00] A Certain Ratio - Do The Du
[4:42:00] Crocodiles - Foolin' Around
[4:45:00] Echo & The Bunnymen - Angels And Devils
[4:49:00] Andrew Weatherall - Kicking The River
[4:52:00] Wooden Shjips - Crossing (Andrew Weatherall Remix)
[4:55:00] Moon Duo - White Rose
[5:01:00] Silver Apples - Edge Of Wonder (Andrew Weatherall Remix)
{Dan}
[5:08:00] Yello- Frautonium (Andrew Weatherall Warehouse Remix)
[5:16:00] Andrew Weatherall- The Moton 5.2
{Martin}
[5:22:00] The Orielles - Sugar Tastes Like Salt (Andrew Weatherall Remix)
[5:25:00] Bocca Juniors - Raise (DJ History 7" Mix)
[5:30:00] Primal Scream - Don't Fight It Feel It (Scat Mix)
[5:36:00] Sabres Of Paradise - Smokebelch (Beatless)
{Adam}
[5:38:00] Carly Simon - Why
At this point having decided that full on Sunday evening Balearic dance action was the way forward I had the Tribal Remix of Pete Wylie's Sinful cued up and ready to play, but Dan and Martin had both just departed and my driver arrived outside and that was that, end of session, time to pack up and go home. But I think we will definitely do it again at some point.
Back at the start of March I posted a half hour Sunday mix of The Woodentops and then a little over a month later chief Woodentop, Rolo McGinty, put a brand new song onto Bandcamp. The new song, Ride A Cloud, went onto the wider internet streaming sites a couple of days ago and is a thing of joy, a little bit of space Balearica, with acoustic guitars and wobbly synth sounds and Rolo singing about the dangers of following your dreams and getting what you want- 'If you can ride a cloud like a horse/ You can get there'.
Ride A Cloud concerns the story of Mike Massimo, a man who's ambition was to become an astronaut and work on the Hubble space telescope. He achieved this dream but when working up there, three hundred miles above the earth, he broke it. While unscrewing a bolt it snapped and in order to repair it he had to break a door open. The song is one of 2023's joys to date and I heartily recommend it.
The band had a fearsome live reputation in the mid- 80s, a band playing upbeat and off kilter indie pop, getting faster and faster as the decade went on. Here they are filmed for Whistle Test in 1985 while playing in Derby, a shirtless Rolo leading the band through two songs- Move Me and It Will Come-
In this clip three years later, filmed at the Dominion Theatre in London (at David Bowie's request) they romp through their best- known song, a seven minute version of Why Why Why, stand up drumming from Benny Staples, hubcaps being banged, the varnish being scrubbed off the tops of their guitars while Frank de Freitas plays a superbly rubbery bassline.
This is the full twenty five minute set which the above clip is taken from, Bowie dancing in the wings.
In 1986 the group had been recorded while playing a gig in Los Angeles, the frenetic Live Hypno Beat Live album (released in 1987). Why crossed over from this album to Ibiza when Alfredo began playing it in his sets and then back again to London's burgeoning clubland (it was a massive favourite at Shoom), the speed of the guitars, Rolo's delivery, all intensity and rush. The gig at The Palace in Hollywood was apparently the first time they were introduced to E.
This came out last Friday on Duncan Grey's ever wonderful Tici Taci label, a two track release from Tirana, Albania, by Uj Pa Gaz. The frist track is Omo Can, all shimmer, flutter and bounce, jangly Balkan/ Balearica, five minutes of blissful sounds and a slice of summer come early. It's only April I know and it doesn't really feel like spring has arrived yet but May is just around the corner and this is the sort of track to play as you feel the first warmth of the sun coming through, as we have a little this week (the word for that is one of my favourite words- apricity- feeling the warmth of the sun in winter). Omo Can has a two note bassline, an acoustic guitar riff that sounds a little like The Woodentops, some synth judders and an irrepressibly upbeat tone.
The second track is Fritz, cut from the same cloth but slightly wiggier, funky and for dancing. There's a lovely backwards guitar line/ synth line running through the last few minutes, Balkan cosmische. Back in 2019 there was a superb release also from Tirana and also connected to Duncan (via a remix) by an artist called Pines In The Sun who put out an EP with three tracks, Zig Zag Sea and Sun (plus the remix) and which this has prompted me to revisit. I'll follow it up here soon.
This is the fifth of five Luke Vibert posts, from my ongoing collaboration with reader Spencer- we have a new project that should have started by now. I've been a bit all over the place with things in recent weeks but will make every effort to get onto that now this run of posts is coming to a close.
In 2004 Luke Vibert in his Wagon Christ mode held a remix competition via the magazine Future Music CD. That competition was won by Aphex Twin who remixed Wagon Christ's Sci Fi Staircase into this...
It is Richard D James at his very best, opening with alternating synth notes and then an acid squiggle. A crunchy breakbeat hits after forty seconds and the three elements loop and spiral around each other, a hiss eventually pushing in too. More synths, a rising and falling topline that dances, almost visibly. The sudden stop at two minutes twelve gives the shortest of breaks and then the second half develops, more of the same but different slightly. There is some very loud sub-bass kicking in before the end section at around four minutes goes much deeper, into ambient techno territory and a long ending, sub bass capable of making car speakers jump from their moorings. It is deceptively beautiful, endlessly imaginative and quite beautiful.
It may seem a little unfair that Aphex Twin won the competition. He knows Luke well from Cornwall and he put out many of Luke's recordings. On AFX's Soundcloud page he added some notes about the track which I put here verbatim...
best way i can explain this was falling in love with someone that didnt exist, it couldve been applied to anyone and everyone. liferush. I mean it was for luke's competition but when I was making it I obviously had other thoughts going around me ed. Was hard keeping it a secret from him, i had an advantage, i knew better than most what luke liked !-) I gave the prize to the runner up, i forgot his name now. It's quite quiet because the sub is so loud and low, trade/off.
I've sequenced the five Luke Vibert tracks from this mini- series into one twenty- seven mix but including the alternative version of Spiral Staircase rather than the one above, a minute shorter and opening with that sub bass wobble and then the dancing melody line.
Dicky Continental, the new musical vehicle for Red Snapper's drummer Rich Thair, has an album out on Acid Jazz. Un... is a distinctive album, a very urban sounding marriage of light and shade, with some mid- 90s trip hop vibes going on and dub influences and production. Recorded at Rich's studio in South Wales, his intention was to work quickly, acting on simple ideas, ones that came first and weren't overworked- most of the eleven songs are three to four minutes long, tracks moving by quickly and then its on to the next one. It sounds very much like it was made using a 'first thought best' philosophy, it has a freshness and a directness to its grooves despite some of it being shrouded in some dark atmospherics and textures. Un... is an album for late night listening, for drives round after dark, moody and overcast but with sultry and soulful moments too.
Evolution 2 is a mid- paced smoky crawl, horns and the chatter and hubbub of voices. Chico Flores is named after the Spanish footballer, centre back for Swansea City between 2012 and 2014, three minutes of tripped out disco funk. Pike has a off kilter accordion or organ line, a ticking cymbal and discordant noises. Final song Hammersmith is all spooked synth sounds, a drum machine on the edge, and some Sabres Of Paradise menace working its way in. This one is Split , a slightly dislocated song for the small hours, piano, then drums and a blurry, backwards sound that throws it off kilter, with Jo Sims' soulful but half asleep vocals layered on top.
A new album from On U Sound legends African Head Charge was hinted at last year by Adrian Sherwood and last week the first fruits of it appeared online in the shape of a single titled Microdosing. Percussionist and drummer Bonjo Nyabinghi Noah formed African Head Charge in the early 80s, a wide cast of players, contributors and musicians joining in across a multitude of albums, most released on On U Sound- many of them have been re- released in recent years along with a box set. From 1981's My Life In A Hole In The Ground to the classic Songs Of Praise in 1990, Sherwood and Bonjo set about fulfilling a vision to realise a psychedelic Africa, 'outernational' rhythms and drumming crossed with dub. In 2020 an album of outtakes from 1990- 1993, the Churchical Chant Of The Iyabinghi, was released and the box set Drumming Is A Language pulled together the recordings from 1990 to 2016 across five CDs. You can't go wrong with anything with the African Head Charge name on it really.
Healing Father's Dub was on Churchical Chant... a very mashed up, dubbed out version of a track from the mighty Songs Of Praise.
New track Microdosing comes ahead of the album A Trip To Bolgatanga, out in July, inspired by a trip to Bonjo's current home in Ghana. Stringed instruments, chanting, hand drums, organ, Sherwood's dub space and echo- a deceptively complex track too, each listen revealing more. Hearing it in the context of the album with a further nine songs around it promises to be one of summer's highlights.
The newest release on Mighty Force is by a duo named M- Paths, the latest in a line of impressive albums coming out on the Exeter label. Marcus Farley and Nick Murray met at school and came together through backgrounds in DJing and drumming and have pooled their experiences and influences- chill out rooms in early 90s clubs and the meditative ambient/ indie of the 4AD bands. One of the tracks on Hope is titled M- Paths By Name, Empaths By Nature- as well as this and the names of some of the other songs (Grow, Calm, The Connection, The Path, Autumn's Safe Haven) the music, ambient techno and warm electronica, feels like it is facing the sun after a long winter. M- Paths want to feel connected to nature and to people and the thirteen tracks on Hope all point in an optimistic direction.
Grow (Part Two) is a perfect example of what can be found on Hope- shimmering, colourful synths, pulsebeat drums and sparkling melodic toplines, unfolding over seven minutes. Natural feeling ambient techno, full of warmth and and done with a real lightness of touch.
The last track on Hope, The Colour Of The Trees, is another long one, clocking in at over eight minutes, and worth giving the time to fully. It starts out slowly with what sounds like a deep exhalation of breath. Repeating synth lines work their way in with some piano, running water and rumbles of distant thunder, building gradually, the rippling melodies circling over the backdrop of found sounds, birds and rain. Hope can be bought/ listened to at Bandcamp.
