Cool, Calm & Collected

2008-05-15 by P Rice

Homeliss Derilex – Survivin’ The Game

Underground bay area Hip Hop from 1994 which passed me by at the time but I’m so glad emerged into my musical consciousness some years later. It features on J-Rocc’s Breakin’ Atoms mixtape, and also on a 12” released by Stones Throw records a few years ago, along with some other Homeliss Derilex gems. Peanut Butter Wolf is a huge fan and I’m sure I’d have never heard of HD if it hadn’t been for the likes of him and J-Rocc giving them a push.

What do I like about this tune? Everything really. Lazy doped out beats and really deep, lush production topped off by 50 Grand’s (AKA Grand The Visitor) rhymes. He’s got a very special style (check his appearance on Peanut Butter Wolf’s ‘Competition Gets None’ – has swearing ever sounded quite so good?).

Download MP3 (3:46min / 4MB)

"Can You Call Bill Oddie and..."

2008-05-14 by Hal Berstram

Brother Typewriter – The Sanctuary

Apologies for lack of posts in the last couple of months – things have just been increbily hectic. Here’s another one in the occasional series of East Anglian-themed ambient releases from north Essex’s finest, Brother Typewriter.

This track basically consists of a long sample from an old BBC record of East Anglian bird noises (complete with preposterously posh-sounding narrator) which I found in a charity shop in Saxmundham, Suffolk. It was in reasonably good but not perfect condition, hence the vinyl crackle in places. The basic track was slowed down to about 60% of its original speed – the narrator sounds much better at this speed, although perhaps slightly out of it. The sample was then heavily reverbed and modulated and some suitably atmospheric keyboards (Yamaha AN1X and Arturia CS80V) added over the top. At some point I’ll get round to releasing an album of this kind of thing when I have enough material. More bits and pieces from the Burning Lodge sessions soon…

Download MP3 (4:35min / 6MB)

Pierre #1: The Original Acid Track

2008-05-13 by The Double K

Phuture – Acid Tracks

Continuing the more-spurious-by- the-day Acid House tribute to Albert Hofmann (RIP), here’s another trio of acid house tunes, this time all featuring DJ Pierre – one of the originators of the genre, and master of the archetypal “Just a 303 and a drum machine” style of Acid House.

This track is a must for any kind of acid house run-down. It is widely regarded as being the first ever Acid House track, put together in 1985 and played out (four times, apparently!) at the opening night of Ron Hardy’s Music Box, although it didn’t make it to vinyl until pressed up by Trax records in 1987.

Phuture was at that time formed by DJ Pierre, Earl ‘Spanky’ Smith and Herbert Jackson, although from Pierre’s recollections Acid Tracks was something of a technological immaculate conception, making Acid House a sound born entirely of machine: one day Earl Spanky bought a Roland 303 and Spanky, Pierre and Herbert J had a go with it: “We didn’t know how to program. When we plugged it in, it was already making that sound. It had plenty of different acid loops. As we didn’t know how to ‘create’, we worked on the only one that sounded good. No one really invented it, it was already in there. We sequenced it, and Spanky made the beats.” [Emphasis added]

Download MP3 (12:16min / 20MB)

"Lucky" Pierre #2: Pierre & Spanky

2008-05-13 by The Double K

Luminous Lollipop – Acid Pop

“Lucky” due only to being the filling in today’s Acid sandwich, here’s more quality just-a-303-and-a-drum- machine action from Pierre and Spanky, who (as far as I can tell) make up Luminous Lollipop.

This comes from Acid Trax Volume 3, a 1988 acid house compilation.

Download MP3 (7:38min / 9MB)

Pierre #3: More Straight-up Acid House

2008-05-13 by The Double K

DJ Pierre – Box Energy

This third track is Pierre on his own, a classic that appears on many acid compilation LPs. I know Tommy Squeaker was a big fan of this one back in the day, in large part due to the “sffss ssffffssffs” sound in the intro, as well as the incredible acid squidge line that comes in later on.

Download MP3 (5:03min / 7MB)

Pud the needle on the record

2008-05-12 by Kevvy K

Blancmange – Feel Me (12 inch version)

Blancmange are my latest rediscovery in a, “actually, they were quite good in retrospect” kind of way, now that we’ve all gotten over the petty distate of the mid-80s synth-pop backlash.

Innersounds Jez posted the extended mix of Don’t Tell Me a while back, which I loved, and then I caught hot snatches of Living on the Ceiling on the Beroca advert on TV, then I IDed Feel Me off a wonderful little 80s synth mix I used to listen to a whole lot off the old Tiger Sushi website. This was their first, minor chart hit – I was wondering if Blancmange had been viewed with disdain back in the day, but I actually got hold of this through a collection of John Peel’s annual Festive Fifties.

I love the fact that the vocals get quite excited and emotive, and the female backer gets in little yelps to add to the build up, so that by the end the glacial cool has been totally blown and it does actually feel quite visceral. Wonderfully crafted electro-synth pop that doesn’t feel at all dated.

The Hands Off Iraqi Oil folks are turning up for the Shell AGM between 9 and 11 AM next Tuesday (20th May) at the Barbican Centre, Silk Street, if anyone fancies joining them.

Download MP3 (6:57min / 8MB)

Short But Sweet

2008-05-10 by P Rice

Omar-S – Day

A little something from Detroit’s Omar-S to put a spring in all our steps for the day.

Omar-S has a great website where he sells his own records very cheap. You have to email your order. I think we should all get in touch and support the man.

Download MP3 (2:14min / 3MB)

Triple-Dipped Friday: Dip 1

2008-05-09 by The Double K

Tyree – Acid Over (Tyree’s Mix)

1! 2! 3! Are you ready?, Are you ready?

A trio of acid tracks here for you, to help kick off the weekend in fine style. Dip 1 is a classic from 1987: Acid Over, apparently so titled because by 1987 Tyree was already “tired of acid music in Chicago”, where Ron Hardy had been playing Phuture’s Acid Tracks (amongst other things!) since 1985.

Many thanks to cubikmusik for sending us a pure acid version of this track earlier in the week, but I’ve gone for Tyree’s Mix, which lightens the mood with the addition of some great vocoded vocals and sublime lounge-style piano chords.

A pitched-down version of the main acid line on this track was used by Luke Vibert in his Acidisco, which we had up here a while ago.

Download MP3 (6:32min / 9MB)

Triple-Dipped Friday: Dip 2

2008-05-09 by The Double K

Hokus Pokus – Different World

Do not try to hold back from this track! This is a track that will put you into a different world… A world of ACID!

Dip 2, and we’re going deeper and darker, with layered acid basslines and layered vocals (mainly a guy saying “a world of acid” over and over). This is yet another track taken from Jackmaster Phuture Trax, but, well it’s a great compilation!

Download MP3 (4:53min / 7MB)

Triple-Dipped Friday: Dip 3

2008-05-09 by The Double K

Farley “Jackmaster” Funk – I Need A Friend

Remember earlier this week I mentioned that I had some dark and scary acid tunes? Well Dip 3 is one of the darkest and scariest.

The Jackmaster brings us deep, deep acid bass coupled with violins, giving this tune a really strange atmosphere. Add Farley’s sampled voice “I Need A Friend” repeated over and over, and you have something that is (as a reviewer on Discogs puts it) “peculiar to the ear and moving to the soul”.

The track is taken from Farley’s 1988 LP No Vocals Necessary, one side of which is pure acid madness like this and the other side is all happy-clappy deep house; very odd indeed.

Download MP3 (5:33min / 9MB)