A thirty two minute mix for the summer solstice, the longest day and the shortest night. Here in the north west of England sunset will be at 9.42 pm, at which point Monday morning will be encroaching a little but it'll well worth sitting out in the fading light, making the most of it. This mix, a blend of ambient and trippy wonky acid house, might make a decent half hour soundtrack to any gnostic solstice ceremony you may wish to perform.
- A Winged Victory For The Sullen: Every Solstice & Equinox
- Arrival featuring Kevin McCormick: One (Solstice Mix)
- Manfredas: Meshuga
- Rich Lane: Solstice (12" Instrumental Mix)
- Sheila Chandra: Raqs (Zillas On Acid Mutation)
- Julian Cope: Head (Long Meg And Her Daughters Mix)
Every Solstice & Equinox is from A Winged Victory For The Sullen's 2021 ambient masterpiece Invisible Cities. The Brussels duo made the album to score a ninety minute theatrical version of Italo Calvino's 1972 novel of the same name, premiered at Manchester International Festival in 2019. I didn't go. I didn't even know about it. I should have and wih I'd gone because the album is stunning.
Arrival's 12" One/ Common Place came out on Before I Die in Janaury and I'm going to keep mentioning it here throughout the year because it deserves to be widely heard. Arrival are from Stockport. Kevin McCormick is a veteran Manchester guitarist now resident south of the city where it becomes fields and lanes. The Solstice Mix of One is an ambient glide with Kevin's guitar playing drippled like musical honey.
Multi Culti is a abased in Montreal who have released several compilation EPs under the name Solstice. Multi Culti Solstice I came out in 2021 and featured Manfredas, Red Axes, Tyu and Zillas On Acid. The text that accompanied the first Solstice EP said 'post- pandemic lockdown inspiration can be found in the great planetary balancing act that has taken place since a cataclysmic impact with an asteroid caused mass extinction and set our earth's orbit off axis'. The solstice and equinox series of releases are delivering 'sonic support at peak moments of cosmic significance'. Which as sleeve notes go is better than just, 'we'd like to thank our partners and the record label for their support'. From Solstice I I've chosen Manfredas and the wonky, otherworldly Meshuga and from Solstice II Zillas On Acid's Arabian flavoured acid freakout of Sheila Chandra's Raqs.
Rich Lane's Solstice EP came out in June 2020, a slo mo chuggy dub disco treat that came in four versions. Get it at Bandcamp.
It didn't seem like a Solstice mix would be complete without Julian Cope's involvement. The Long Meg And Her Daughters Mix of Head came out in 1991, a remix by Hugoth Nicolson. Long Meg herself is pictured at the top of this post, photographed when we visited in the summer of 2020. The track and this mix both come to a very sudden stop.
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