Today's long song is an unreleased Andrew Weatherall remix from 2016, ripped from one of Andrew's monthly Music's Not For Everyone shows for NTS (and the absence of those is a massive monthly gap in my life). Piano Magic were a London based band who started out in the summer of 1996 and wrapped things up in 2016. In between they recorded umpteen albums starting out as a bedroom project centred around Glen Johnson and a four track portastudio and evolving into a full band, eventually at the turn of the millennium landing on 4AD before departing again. At some point in the 2000s Frank Alba joined them on guitar- he would later be involved in Weatherall and Nina Walsh's excursions with Woodleigh Research Facility and Moine Dubh (and I'm guessing he was part of the mysterious Fort Beulah N.U. collective). There's a detailed biography of the group's history at their website here.
Weatherall's unreleased remix dates from 2016. His nine minute re-work of Exile is slower paced and languorous, with a sultry live bassline and a moody guitar part. It's quite unlike his other remixes from that year- New Order's Restless, Solar Bears' Separate From The Arc, The Liminanas and Peter Hook's Garden Of Love, Craig Bratley's Play The Game, Unloved's When A Woman Is Around. Andrew released his Convenanza solo album and the debut album by WRF that year too, a fruitful and golden period. Mind you, looking at that list the remixes Andrew completed in 2016 are a very varied bunch.
Exile (Andrew Weatherall Remix unreleased)
I've no idea why this remix didn't get a proper release. Piano Magic called it a day in December 2016 so that may have had something to do with it. Their website is still being updated and there's material on Bandcamp along with the original song the remix comes from.
3 comments:
I had to run downstairs to check the shelves when I saw the name Piano Magic. We used to own a number of their releases, but I guess Mrs S might've taken them with her when she left. The double compilation Seasonally Affective is all that remains in this house - I'll give it a spin when I get home from work tonight. That Weatherall remix is very good indeed. I don't know the Closure album, a bit after my time.
I hadn't heard of them before hearing the remix (already 4 years ago now) . There's plenty of back catalogue to explore.
That's a beautiful track. New to me - band and track. We should lobby them to release it. Thanks Adam.
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