V.A. Saturday

Back in 2013 Astro Lab Recordings released a double CD compilation called Treasure Hunting. At the time the whole A Love From Outer Space/ chuggy cosmic disco/ Golden Lion/ Scandi- Italo house thing was quite underground and some distance from the bright lights. The Golden Lion didn't even exist in its current form. I was just typing away at this blog in isolation, chasing Andrew Weatherall remixes and music by related artists, and I wasn't really plugged into at all apart from vicariously via the internet, and hadn't made any of the connections and friendships that I have now. Our kids were both young and weekend nights spent dancing until ungodly hours weren't really possible. Treasure Hunting was one of the ways that connected me to that sound, an eighteen track compilation that pulled me in because of the Andrew Weatherall remix of Timothy J. Fairplay's Blizzard/ Snowride. Other names on the CD were by artists I already had music by- Deadstock 33s (Justin Robertson), Daniel Avery (whose debut album Drone Logic came out that year and reconnected me with techno sounds), and some Weatherall associated names from the Scrutton Street axis- Scott Fraser and Hardway Bros- plus the odd name I recognised from mixes Andrew had done for various websites and clubs- Mugwump for instance.

Treasure Hunting is a superb set of tracks, all connected by the chuggy/ sci fi/ cosmic disco sound but many sounding pretty individual too. Across the rest of the CD there are first rate tracks by Marc Pinol, Toby Tobias, Ana Helder, DJ Kaos, Cage and Aviary and several more. There isn't a weak track on it and you can pick it up cheaply second hand. It's probably not a particularly sought after various artists compilation, I doubt it will be seen as a classic in years to come, but it's one that drew me into a sub- world I was looking in at, part of what I was hearing at a distance in 2013, the year coincidentally that Martin and myself started The Flightpath Estate. These three give an idea of the treasure contained within, starting with the 80s synths, bleeps and robotic voices of Marc Pinol's Monotony In Germany, then Mugwump's slower, spacious Belgian grooves on God Is Gracious and finishing with Hardway Bros and an exercise in sci fi, booty shaking hypnosis. More cowbell please. 

Monotony In Germany

God Is Gracious

The Prince In Outer Space

Sean Johnston/ Hardway Bros continues in rude health, DJing, remixing and making his own music. Shortly he will release an EP on Rekids, an EP called Murky, with vocals from Beth Cassidy and a Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve remix. To celebrate this Sean has done a ninety minute mix for House Of Rekids, a deep dive into thumpy, dark electronic music- don't let the slow start get you thinking this is a chilled out mix, it goes in deep quite quickly. Superb stuff from Sean, as ever. Listen to it at Soundcloud. 

Tracklist

• Luminodisco - Jazzclub 
• Rees - Früg (Edit) 
• A.B.Habibi  - Mother Africa 
• Innuendo - Kreaturen Der Nacht 
• Len - Steal My Sunshine (Version Idjut) 
• Roland Leesker -Let It All Go (feat. Dan Diamond) 
• Romare -Wolf's Teeth 
• Shakespeares Sister - Black Sky - Apiento Edit (Unreleased) 
• Toby Tobias - Get Wit Me 
• Jezebell - Weekend Machines 
• Phil Kieran - All Gonna Hurt (Unreleased) 
• Rafiki - Lofi Dreams 
• Crooked Man - YowYow 
• Session Victim - Screen Off /w Ras Stimulant 
• Timo Maas & Marc Werner - Barca Boys 
• Burglar Tom - Lonesome Tonight

And if you want more David Holmes returned to NTS this week for another two hour session with his long running God's Waiting Room series. The latest edition opens with the sublime sounds of Marvin Gaye and then goes full on into spiritual jazz, psychedelic soul and freaked out folk. Listen here.