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Colonel Abrams – Music Is The Answer (Dub)

Marcus — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:19:12 +0000

This slice of hypnotic, dubby disco came out of New York in 1984 and, as with most standout tracks from the time, still sounds totally fresh today. Apparently Ron Hardy used to beat the shit out of this at the Music Box, and you can definitely hear the sound that went on to influence the young guys in Chicago who created the first house records. It has all the necessary ingredients to keep a dancefloor moving – a great groove, a pounding bassline, and a smattering of delayed vocals singing stuff about “motivation in your mind”. Best of all is the fact that Colonel Abrams is his real name. Cheers Colonel, I’m not entirely sure what the question is, but if this music is indeed the answer then I’m more than satisfied.

The Chemical Brothers feat. The Flaming Lips – The Golden Path (Ewan’s Rave Hell Dub)

Marcus — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 19:33:08 +0000

After unpacking my records from a recent house move, I rediscovered this absolute belter of a record. Somehow I’d managed to completely forget about it, and finding it again is one of the best things to come out of moving house so far. The original version is one of the Chemical Brothers’ better moments, but as it was done in collaboration with The Flaming Lips that shouldn’t come as a surprise. As was standard practice for him back in 2004, Ewan Pearson churned out 2 killer remixes and in doing so turned a pleasant poppy dance record into absolute dancefloor dynamite. It’s the dub version which does it for me – it has a killer bass line, bleeps galore and some trancy sections that bring back good memories of rushing hard. It’s definitely going to be in the bag for our next party on 10th March, and I’ll be very surprised if it doesn’t get an airing.

Robert Wyatt – Biko

Simon — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 23:55:15 +0000

It’s easy to find socio-politically motivated songs a bit of a sickly pill to swallow, especially ones with such heavy subject matter; however, Robert Wyatt‘s cover of the Peter Gabriel song Biko – a song documenting the fatal treatment of Stephen Biko, who was tortured to death by South African police in his prison cell in 1977 for preaching his anti-apartheid sentiments – is a different matter. Where the Gabriel original feels overloaded and somewhat earnest in its attempts to make a point, bookended by African chants with tribal grunts and jarring shrieks, Wyatt’s lispy delivery over a rich synth-pad backing brings a gentle gravitas to the song, never patronising the subject matter with such obvious production tropes. It’s a short, understated and subtly delivered song, and a sublime cover.

Mutant Beat Dance – Another World

Marcus — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:13:18 +0000

I got my hands on this new release from Mutant Beat Dance today, and having listened to both sides all the way through I have concluded that this EP is pretty ridiculous (in a good way). Mutant Beat Dance is a collaboration between 2 chaps from Chicago who happen to have names as brilliant as their music – Beau Wanzer and Melvin Oliphant III (also known as DJ Traxx). I don’t know much about Mr Wanzer, but I’ve been an admirer of DJ Traxx for a long time. It’s as if he has the spirit of Chicago flowing through his veins and into all the music he produces – long winding jack tracks loaded with handclaps and 303 lines. The sort of music that makes very little sense in a living room but complete sense in a dark and smoky club. This release came out last month on DJ Spun’s Rong Music label and is, as you’d expect, two tracks of old-school influenced Chicago house. Another World, on the A side, is as psychedelic as house music gets, with creepy synths, plenty of trippy sound effects, distorted vocals and a pounding bassline. New News is Old News on the B [...]

Trophy – Slow Flight

Simon — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:43:01 +0000

Following my previous entry from the Fuzz Dance catalogues, Trophy‘s Slow Dance is a bold, poppy italo record from a guy who seems to have done very little else with his music career bar a bit of cheeky guitar work here and there. One of those great italo one-hit-wonders that you can expect to empty the coppers jar for, then. Chunky, plodding drums, essential arpeggiating synths, a glowing lead keyboard harmony and some vocoded nonsense, it ticks pretty much all of my personal prerequisite Italo boxes, then tops it off with enviable break sections where the vocals drop out and leave you to enjoy the dance untainted by some Italian dude trying out his favourite phonics cassette (bless him).

Efdemnin – Nighttrain (Portable Remix)

Marcus — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:55:29 +0000

For some reason, I passed on this record when I first listened to it in Phonica last year. Thankfully I rediscovered it a few months later and was still able to pick it up, which is good because I bloody love it. Although I don’t like everything he puts out, there’s no denying there’s real quality in pretty much all of Portable’s productions. His remix of Efdemin’s Nighttrain (taken from the excellent “Chicago” album) is no exception. It’s quite a psychedelic record with a great groove, some trippy bleeps and melancholic chords. Most importantly though, it makes me want to dance and you can’t ask much more of a house record than that.

Glitterball X: Welcome to Glam Rock!

Glitterball — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:21:47 +0000

Glitterball X: Welcome to Glam Rock!

10th March 2012, Passion, 251 Amhurst Road, London

It's 1971. Marc Bolan renames his band T-Rex, splashes himself with glitter and worries a nation of prudes with his choice in leggings. David Bowie re-imagines himself as an alien being and discovers the makeup section in Boots. Glam Rock is born.

Flash & The Pan – Midnight Man

Marcus — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 21:47:05 +0000

This little diamond of a record arrived in the post for me today. It’s arrival was made even better by the fact it was delivered by the happiest and campest postman I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. He was singing Oh What A Beautiful Morning at the top of his voice to the whole street, and it wasn’t even that nice a morning. Onto the record in question though – Flash & The Pan were a couple of Aussie guys who, in addition to having a great name, also released some great records (including the lovely Walking In The Rain, which was covered by non-other than Grace Jones). Midnight Man was given both an extended mix and an instrumental mix. It’s instrumental verison was mixed by Francois K, which is probably why it’s my favourite on the EP. It’s a leftfield rocky disco number with enough dubbyness to ensure it doesn’t get too cheesy (unlike the vocal version), and it also has some amazingly enjoyable electric guitar action. I don’t really know how to describe it better than that, which probably means it’s very Balearic.

Zed – Plastic Love

Simon — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 21:57:29 +0000

Rare as a hen’s gum shield and pricier than a return ticket to Glasgow (possibly) this a real gem of a record. Even the bootleg costs upwards of £40. It’s just one of a number of superlative releases on the Italian Fuzz Dance label, which put out a number of records from owner Maurizio Dami (aka Alexander Robotnick) under his various incarnations (such as the excellent Problèmes D’Amour), often with ludicrously large inner labels and sometimes on coloured vinyl. Incorrectly labelled “italo-disco” in the link below, it’s more akin to the sort of sparse synth-pop that makes up the recent minimal wave faux-genre. For me it’s the warm pads that kick in at around the 1:50 mark that makes this record great. Will post up another Fuzz Dance number in the coming days. Plenty of gems to pick from…

Glittermix 016 – RUFUS&Bambi

Glitterball — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 18:58:28 +0000

I bumped into RUFUS&Bambi – Elena Colombi to her mum – on a night out while rearranging my feet to some electronic weirdness by the DJ booth. We were both admiring the cabling as I recall. Some chinwags ensued, and it transpired Ms Bambi had been to one of our first parties. “Questa è una coincidenza!” I cried, mostly to myself, before enquiring after her own boot-shuffling enterprise; the impressively sexy meat-market “Abattoir”. I popped down there a month or so later to witness Ivan Smagghe doing some dirty music-based things and shamelessly asking if she’d do us a mix. She made me happy as a clam when she agreed, and a week or so later this beaut landed in my inbox. Oof. There’s x-wave, electro, what I can only describe as “infectiously twangy world music”, synth disco, and some Turkatech, capped off with a spot of Buddy Holly. Tracklist Available on request