The Further You Fall, The Higher You Fly

The next few days will be highlighting some of my favourites from 2022, beginning with a selection of great remixes from the mass of singles that I've purchased (mainly on Bandcamp Friday) this year. 

 

Many DJs and producers could have warranted a 'best of' selection in their own right, given the quantity and quality of music they've released this year. An honorable mention then to those that only have one appearance here but easily could have had several: Andy Bell & GLOK, Bedford Falls Players, David Holmes & Unloved, Hardway Bros, HiFi Sean, Joe Goddard, Richard Norris and Rude Audio.

Albums by Mattiel, A Mountain Of One and Warmduscher have come recommended and appear in other 2022 countdowns in the blogosphere. I bought a lot of albums (mostly digital) this year but these are all still on my shopping list.

Continuing the 80s indie flavour, Andres Y Xavi make an appearance for the second year running with another track/remix featuring The Woodentops' Rolo McGinty. In a delightful and unexpected move, BMX Bandits' 2017 song Razorblades & Honey, co-written by Duglas T. Stewart and Anton Newcombe, was remixed by founder member, former Soup Dragon and DJ/producer par excellence Sean Dickson aka HiFi Sean. It's even better than you'd imagine it could be.

 

Jesse Fahnestock and Darren Bell are back as Jezebell (I warned you on Christmas Eve), breaking my own rule for this selection by appearing twice. In my defence, one is a remix of another artist (Ian Vale) and the other is a remix of one of their own songs by, er, themselves. Oh, why should I justify myself? They're both excellent!

 

In addition to an excellent album and clutch of singles with Unloved, David Holmes released the stunning single It's Over, If We Run Out Of Love featuring Raven Violet on Valentines Day this year, with a stunning remix package following at the end of March. Hard to pick a favourite to be honest, but Sean Johnston's brace of remixes won out.

 

Likewise, Richard Norris' pair of remixes of Sundowning by Mark Peters featuring Dot Allison released in late October are jaw droppingly beautiful. I've ditched the beats and gone for the ambient version to close this selection. 

 

All of these are available digitally, some on physical formats, via Bandcamp and other retailers. All highly recommended. 

 

More 2022 highlights tomorrow.

 

1) Subterranean Dub (Raf Rundell's Salty Man Dub): Mattiel

2) You Feed Me (Rude Audio Remix): Field Of Dreams

3) What Do You See In Me (Xavi Dub 2) (Remix By Steve Ellis): Andres Y Xavi ft. Rolo McGinty

4) Star (Yo Miro Remix): A Mountain Of One

5) Red Shift (Bedford Falls Players Remix): MAN2.0

6) Dimension Z (Pete Bones Remix): TR20

7) Razorblades & Honey (HiFi Sean Extended Revision): BMX Bandits ft. Anton Newcombe

8) Loft Music (Jezebell's DC Metro Mix): Ian Vale

9) It's Over, If We Run Out Of Love (Hardway Bros Live At The SSL Dub): David Holmes ft. Raven Violet

10) Wavygravy (GLOK Remix): Flyying Colours

11) Dancing (Not Fighting) (The Drop Acid Not Bombs Mix): Jezebell

12) Famous (The Reflex Re√ision): Parcels

13) Fatso (Joe Goddard Remix): Warmduscher

14) Sundowning (Richard Norris Ambient Remix): Mark Peters ft. Dot Allison

The Further You Fall, The Higher You Fly (1:27:08) (Box) (Mega)

Thinking About All That Sunlight

Bringing the beats back home for the weekend with (just under) an hour of electronic grooves from 2022 that have got me shuffling around and throwing shapes. 

 

First up we have Steady State aka Dublin-based DJ and producer Eric Whelan with the title track (in German) of the excellent Shelter Me compilation. Out on the Paisley Dark Records label for six weeks only in May, all profits from album sales went to national housing and homelessness chariy, Shelter. A reliably brilliant selection featuring Jezebell, Richard Sen, Matt Gunn, Pete Bones and Bedford Falls Players amongst others, Beschütze Mich was the opening song and a highlight.

 

Cosmosolar is Alejandro Gamba from Argentina, who I first heard in June via his remix of Mundo D's Fight Your Enemy, which I've featured in a previous selection. I picked up Cosmosolar's All The Reasons EP on Bandcamp Friday in September, a four track feast with the title track featuring here. Another release on Nein Records, like Paisley Dark, a label that's relatively new to me that's fast become a go to for quality music.

 

Omri Smadar featured in the same selection as the Mundo D/Cosmosolar remix in July and this is another track from the rather special Phase Of Motion EP. Yuksek was on remix duties last time; this time around it's Omri himself with neighbour Obas Nenor aka Ronen Sabo.

 

I've been a fan and follower of Luxxury's music for a loooong time, initially coming via remixes and re-edits of the likes of Health, Led Zeppelin, Donna Summer, Little Boots and David Bowie. Blake Robin has also been producing his own music since the mid-2000s. Third album, Alright, came out in July and continues the theme of 1980s-inspired pop/dance tunes, drenched in Californian sunshine. 

 

A Mountain Of One also released their third album in 2022, Stars Planets Dust Me, emerging in early May. It completely passed me by until Swiss Adam highlighted the clutch of remixes accompanying second single Star over at Bagging Area in August. All highly recommended. For this selection, I've gone for the laidback grooves of Dublin DJ and producer Arveene Juthan. As an aside, today's photo/album cover is a cheeky, remixed nod to Swiss Adam's original holiday photo accompanying his post.

 

What Do You See In Me by Andres Y Xavi featuring Rolo McGinty (The Woodentops) had been out in 2021 but in March a remix package was released, including three sublime Balearic classics from Max Essa. I've previously selected the vocal mix; I've gone for the instrumental here which despite Rolo's absence is still a wonderful, blissful 8 minutes.

 

Ibibio Sound Machine released their fourth studio album Electricity in March and I completely missed it. Luckily, Jez over at A History Of Dubious Taste came to the rescue by posting a review a couple of weeks later and I immediately purchased the album in April. Produced by Hot Chip, the album is chock full of tunes that you can't help but move to. The album is still on heavy rotation, six months later.

 

You may have guessed from my review of last Saturday's Blancmange gig that (a) I like them a lot; (b) I like the post-reformation/Neil Arthur 'solo' Blancmange a lot; and (c) I like current album Private View, released at the end of September, a lot. Everything Is Connected, track seven of ten on the album, is one of the reasons why.

 

Franc Moody were completely unknown to me until I bought the 100-track EarthPercent x Earth Day Compilation Album, a digital behemoth that spawned a Dubhed Selection in early September. From what I can gather, Franc Moody are a London-based six-piece formed by Ned Franc and Jon Moody, performing a contemporary update of 70s/80s pop funk. Perhaps inevitably, they've also remixed Jamiroquai. The instrumental song featured here isn't entirely representative of the other songs I've heard but I was sufficiently intrigued to check out Franc Moody on YouTube and I'd recommend a peek.

 

The selection closes with Al Mackenzie (D:Ream, Field Of Dreams) and Sail On, his tribute to the greatly missed Andrew Weatherall. It's a beautiful song tinged with melancholy and optimism, Al's one-take vocal of the title all that needs to be said, really. The song is still available as a free/name your price download on Bandcamp, with all profit from sales going to I'm Homeless, get Me Out Of Here!, a Birmingham-based homeless charity that Al supports. Do the right thing.

 

It was only when writing the sleeve notes that I realised the link between the first and last songs, which feels even more pertinent with the departure of KamiKwasi, the return of Jeremy Hunt (if that's not Cockney rhyming slang by now, it should be) and the continued downward spiral of our un-Truss-tworthy PM. When I worked for Shelter many years ago, the aspiration was working towards a day when there was no longer a housing crisis and Shelter and other like-minded charities would no longer be needed. We're continuing to accelerate in completely the opposite direction, so thank goodness there are people and charities out there every day, trying to help and make a difference.

 

1) Beschütze Mich (from Shelter Me): Steady State

2) All The Reasons (from the eponymous EP): Cosmosolar

3) Smolyan (Night Mix) (from the Phase Of Motion EP): Omri Smadar

4) Midnight Special (Edit) (from Alright (Deluxx)): Luxxury

5) Star (Arveene Remix) (from the eponymous EP): A Mountain Of One

6) What Do You See In Me (Max Essa Extended Instrumental Mix) (from the eponymous EP): Andres Y Xavi

7) Casio (Yak Nda Nda) (from Electricity): Ibibio Sound Machine

8) Everything Is Connected (from Private View): Blancmange

9) Water (Instrumental) (from EarthPercent x Earth Day Compilation Album): Franc Moody

10) Sail On (from the eponymous single): Al Mackenzie

 

Thinking About All That Sunlight (57:00)

Dirty Starlight

GLOK is the electronic alter ego of Andy Bell and is currently matching pace with Andy’s prodigious output under his own name, with two albums, a clutch of singles and multiple remixes to immerse yourself in.

 

I thought I'd posted a fair bit of GLOK here already; it turns out, not so much. So, to make amends, I've cherry picked 8 tracks either by or remixed by Andy Bell to create a clumsily stitched together GLOK selection, coming in at just under an hour. 

Transformative music for travelling, even if you have no particular place to go.

Today's photo was a delve back into my archives, prompted by recollections the other day of a trip to Japan. This photo was taken one evening in May 2005, coming out of the Tokyo Metro into the madness of Shibuya, the foreground actually a criss-crossed zebra crossing, completely obscured by the surge of crossing, passing people. The riot of neon lights and signage seemed even crazier than my memory of Times Square in New York. It was an almost overwhelming experience for Mrs. K and I, all senses going into overload...at least for us. Everyone else seemed completely unfazed and indifferent to it all. 

I've played around with filters and exposure a bit, but the photo seemed to perfectly complement the title of today's selection.

 

1) Dirty Hugs (Leaf Edit): GLOK (2021)

2) Gone Gold (GLOK Remix): Herrmann Kristoffersen (2021)

3) Taboo Groves (GLOK Remix): Flamingods (2017)

4) Dissident (Richard Sen Remix): GLOK (2020)

5) Kid Corner (GLOK Remix): Archive ft. Holly Martin (2020)

6) Cloud Cover (Andrew Weatherall Remix): GLOK (2020)

7) Eternity (GLOK Remix): Seagoth (2021)

8) Star (GLOK Starlight Dub): A Mountain Of One (2022)

 

2017: Majesty Remixed: 2

2020: Dissident Remixed: 4, 6

2020: Versions: Remixed: 5 

2021: Eternity EP: 7

2021: Gone Gold EP: 2 

2021: Pattern Recognition: 1

2022: Star EP: 8

 

Dirty Starlight (59:17) (GD) (M)