V.A. Saturday

This Various Artists compilation came out in November last year and I didn't get around to reviewing it- in fact it was a few weeks before I got round to listening to it and going back to it recently was a treat, its full of the elements that make a great VA album. Aficionado is a long running Mancunian institution, a club founded by Jason Boardman and Moonboots with an anything goes musical policy and some rules to abide by. Back in 1998 they were looking for a space (literal and metaphorical) to play records away from the mainstream club/ bar culture, kindred spirits (both in some sense of the word Balearic DJs) who wanted to play good records with no attempt at fitting in with any trends or fashions. Aficionado, or Nado as it became known, had a No Mixing policy, the guests and residents playing one record after another from any style, period or genre, with an eye on keeping it fun. Nado found various homes in central Manchester. I went to a few at Aqua, a long lost bar by the canal round the corner from where the Hacienda used to be. It moved to Sundays and for many regulars Sundays at 'Nado became the high point of the weekend, a day of hedonism- I don't know how many of the punters had to go to work on Monday but some must have had sore heads. I never went when it moved to the Arch in Hulme but the sessions there have a legendary status. 

Aficonado 25 is a compilation album celebrating 'Nado's quarter of a century with Jason and Moonboots selecting a range of the unknown and lesser known, the laid back and the funky, the great and the good, the Balearic and the unclassifiable. You can find the whole thing here- although this is one of those releases where the digital and vinyl editions have different numbers of tracks with the double vinyl extended to seventeen against the digital's eleven. This one is one of my favourites from the album, the opening track and a rather beautiful way to glide into the four sides of vinyl, an ambient/ post rock instrumental inspired by the work of Talk Talk and Mark Hollis by Held By Trees. 

In The Trees (Ambient)

 It's testament to Nado 25's eclecticism and selection that none of the other tracks on it sound anything like Held By Trees. There's acoustic guitar funkiness courtesy of Mudd, laid back Mediterranean 80s sounds from Canyons, reggae sounds from Korallreven and 60s psyche/ funk from The Superimposers and Mancunian future jazz funk from Factory records band Kalima among the four sides of vinyl. Something for everyone.