Infinite Sunrise

The Orb's 1991 song Perpetual Dawn is one of the greatest singles and album tracks of the year, decade, all time, in any genre. I never tire of listening to it and it sounds as 'now' in 2024 as it did over three decades ago.

Clearly in agreement, the full nine-and-a-half minute version from The Orb's Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld has been reissued with a brand new video, visualised by Kavi-Karnapura Robin Buckley.

Alex Paterson pops up here and there, vintage footage woven into the visual fabric. Thomas Fehlmann joins him on the decks at 4:42 and Alex and Youth aka Martin Glover come together for a split-second 'then and now' segment at 4:51. 

The narrative, such as it is, either makes no sense or complete sense, depending on how you approach it but as someone who is ambivalent about AI and/or CGI, this is a compelling watch and if it introduces a new audience to the greatness of The Orb and Perpetual Dawn, all the better.

I Am Damo Suzuki

Celebrating Damo Suzuki, 16th January 1950 to 9th February 2024.

 

This one damn near broke me. And I don't mean on an emotional level, but physically trying to get today's selection and post up here. I like to think that in some other plane of existence, Damo is aware of my amateurish efforts and chain of mishaps this morning and is having a belly laugh at my expense, before turning his attention to things of greater cosmic import.

 

I had another post lined up for today, but I woke this morning to the news of Damo's passing and decided that I wanted to post a tribute to him instead.

 

To be honest, I didn't expect it to be a very big job: I have relatively little by Can to begin with and Damo was with them from 1970 to 1973 which narrowed the selection further. I have absolutely nothing of Damo's post-Can career. 

 

And the news that I could have seen Damo play a gig with Fuzz Against Junk in the intimate surrounds of Fiddlers Club in south Bristol in March 2004 is a non-story as I decided not to get a ticket. In retrospect, I should have gone and taken the following day off work.

I then got it into my head that, in the spirit of Damo's improvisational style, I should actually try and cut-and-paste collage of all of the entire longlist, throwing in cover versions and remixes of Damo-era Can songs to boot. So I suddenly had about 20-odd songs and about 3+ hours of material to work with. Okay, so it was going to take a big longer than usual, but I was game...

I was about 3 songs in and thinking that it had got off to a reasonably good start when the Apple Music app which holds my digital music collection starting acting weirdly, shortly followed by the on-screen announcement that the wireless mouse has 1% charge left. Closing down and re-opening the app completely wiped the working playlist that I'd created. No problem, I said through gritted teeth (okay, I did swear a bit too), I'll start over again.

I do have a 'backup' wireless mouse. Unfortunately, it's the 'original' one whose increasingly impaired performance resulted in the purchase of the 'current' one, which had less than 1% at this point and promptly lost connection. The 'backup' had 20% charge which would be fine. However, one it's quirks is unpredictable cursor action, usually resulting in you getting the complete opposite of what you're trying to achieve. Cue lots of examples in the Audacity app of highlighting, moving, editing and cutting  anything but the bit of the music that I was actually working on. 

I could see the job doubling and trebling in length. Thankfully, after an hour there was sufficient charge on the 'current' mouse to abandon the 'backup' and have some hope of completing and posting this selection before Sunday is over.

Another 'improvised' decision as a result of my tech woes, but which may be a blessing to you dear readers, is that the selection is a mere 14 songs. I decided to cut my losses after Halleluhwah and tacked the intended closing song Turtles Have Short Legs at the end. 

So you are denied/spared (delete as applicable) Future Days, Moonshake, Paperhouse, Sing Swan Song, Mighty Girl*, Vitamin C and Yoo Do Right. What you do get is two hours of music edited down to roughly 66 minutes, all giving a nod to Damo's brilliance.

Mother Sky switches between the Can original and the Pilooski edit. On Mushroom, you'll hear Damo duetting with Jim Reid for the first and last time. Mark E. Smith inevitably gets in on the act with The Fall's own tribute from 1985. 

 

Oh Yeah appears in three increasingly shorter sections, courtesy of Can, Kris Needs and Mute label maestro Daniel Miller. There's the wonderfully titled Tape Kebab from a John Peel session* and three versions of Can's masterwork Halleluhwah.

 

First up is the 1995 version by Spirit Feel, featuring Claudia Brücken and Susanne Freytag formerly of Propaganda. This is followed by Damo fronting the original album version. Both of these push beyond 18 minutes; you get much less here, but the addition of a third, closing section from - who else? - The Orb, released a couple of years after the Spirit Feel cover version.

The closer, Turtles Have Short Leg, is incredibly short by Can standards, but one of many examples of their lighter, poppier moments. Well, relatively speaking.

Neither the words nor the selection really do justice to Damo the man, the musician, the uniquely talented individual and front person, be it Can, Damo Suzuki's Network or the numerous collaborations and improvisations that he's been responsible for. 

 

But in reading about my amateurish efforts and chain of mishaps to get this out here today, I hope you'll join Damo in a chuckle, a laugh or a full-on belly laugh. And then go and play some more of his music, long and loud.

See you, Damo.

 

1) I'm So Green: Can (1973)

2) Mother Sky (Album Version): Can (1970)

3) Mother Sky (Pilooski Edit By Cédric Marszewski): Can (2007)

4) Mushroom (Album Version): Can (1971)

5) Mushroom (Live In Nuremburg): The Jesus & Mary Chain (1986)

6) I Am Damo Suzuki: The Fall (1985)

7) Oh Yeah (Album Version): Can (1971)

8) Oh Yeah (Secret Knowledge Mix By Kris Needs & Henry Cullen ft. Jah Wobble): Can (1997)

9) Oh Yeah (Sunroof! Mix By Daniel Miller & Gareth Jones): Can (1997)

10) Tape Kebab (John Peel Session): Can (1974) 

11) Halleluhwah: Spirit Feel ft. Claudia Brücken & Susanne Freytag (1995)

12) Halleluhwah (Album Version): (1971)

13) Halleluhwah (Halleluwa Orbus II) (Remix By The Orb aka Alex Paterson & Andy Hughes) (1997)

14) Turtles Have Short Legs: Can (1971)

 

I Am Damo Suzuki (1:06:16) (KF) (Mega)

Sendimentary Sedentary

Some heavy shit for a Sunday...or a selection of soothing sounds? You decide.

A couple of 1970s monolithic classics signposted by Julian Cope in his Japrocksampler from 2007 and providing my introduction to Flower Travellin' Band and Taj Mahal Travellers. The rest is 21st Century chillout music courtesy of Moby and Richard Norris, along with spikey prog from Steven Wilson and an Orbient excursion from Chocolate Hills aka Alex Paterson and Paul Conboy.

Hopefully, the two hours will have passed without your noticing and you won't get into trouble for not doing that job you were supposed to have done an hour and a half ago. If not, well... c'est la vie.

For your extended listening pleasure, I've revived links to a couple of previous epic-length mixes, just in case you haven't got anything better to do than listen to my self-indulgent selections...!

 

1) Hiroshima (Live @ Yokosuka Bunka Kaikan, Japan): Flower Travellin' Band (1972)

2) LA1: Moby (2016)

3) Radier II: Steven Wilson (2011)

4) Midsummer 3: Richard Norris (2023)

5) IV: Taj Mahal Travellers (1974)

6) And At The Same Time: Chocolate Hills (2019)

 

1973: Make Up: 1

1975: August 1974: 5

2011: Grace For Drowning: 3

2016: Long Ambients 1: Calm. Sleep.: 2

2019: A Pail Of Air: 6

2023: Music For Healing: Equinox 7: 4

 

Sendimentary Sedentary (2:08:55) (GD) (M)

Monoliths from May 2023 is available here 

On a similar theme, you can also find Chic Thug Stuttered Through A Stereo Dream from August 2021 here 

Definitely His Final & Most Fabulous Creation

Side 2 of a mixtape compiled for me by my brother, circa 1995.

For a mid-90s compilation, like Side 1 before it, this selection focuses quite heavily on the tail end of the 80s, with the rest made up of tracks that were already a couple of years old. All essential tracks though, in this blogger's humble opinion.

M|A|R|R|S start things off with what is still one of the finest four minutes of chop and edit sampladelic music ever. Incredible at the time, incredible now to believe that this is 36 years old. Still sounding fresh after all these years.

Ché aka Alex Johnson was completely new to me when I first heard this cassette but will have been included as a club classic from the days before I started going clubbing with my brother and also because I was really getting into Adrian Sherwood, who produced and remixed this song. I've managed to track down other versions of this song since but this remains the definitive version for me.

I loved System 7 from the first time I borrowed my brother's handful of 12" singles and the Ultraworld Colony Mix of Mia is simply spectacular. The Orb's Alex Paterson was 'mix consultant' on this and it shows, lots of trademark Orbient sounds complementing Steve Hillage and Miquette Giraudy's sonic palette. Producer Nigel Butler also gets a co-writing credit on this one.

For a brief period in the 1980s, Psychic TV went about as pop as they could and ever would, exploring the 1960s in a way that no Levis advert-endorsed reissue or cover version was at the time. None of it really troubled the charts but it was spectacular, including Godstar, their homage to Brian Jones, and a surprisingly faithful cover of The Beach Boys' Good Vibrations which makes every second of it's 7-minute 12" version count. 

The Chrono Psionic Interface is a much-loved song by A Man Called Adam, even more so with Andrew Weatherall at the controls. The Godiva Mix is the one that seems to pop up on t'internet the most though I also love the more conventional, radio friendly mix included here, not least because it features Sally Rodgers' vocals in full.

I might be in a minority here but I think that, as Jesus Loves You, Boy George produced some of the finest music of his career and it still holds up really well. Massive Attack's bass-heavy, sample-laden remix of One On One is just brilliant, up there with their rework of Neneh Cherry's Manchild.

The selection - and the compilation - ends with Fluke, who I adored...and still do. They didn't seem to attract the same level of credit and respect that, say, Orbital and Underworld got, The Chemical Brothers and Fatboy Slim later, and certainly not the stellar commercial success that any of these achieved, which always seemed hugely unjust to me. So many classic singles and remixes throughout the 1990s, though it doesn't get much better than their Make Mine A 99 remix of Groovy Feeling. Thirty years later, still a masterclass in making huge, euphoric dance music.

Damn, is it really on Tuesday? Suddenly feels like a Friday. Oh well, only one thing for it... (presses 'repeat')

1) Pump Up The Volume (7" Version): M|A|R|R|S (1987)

2) Be My (Powerstation) (Bloodsucker Mix By Adrian Sherwood, Ché & Fats Comet): Ché (1986)

3) Mia (Ultraworld Colony Mix By Steve Hillage, Nigel Butler & Alex Paterson): System 7 (1991)

4) Good Vibrations (Kundalini Mix By Phil Harding) (Cover of The Beach Boys): Psychic TV (1986)

5) The Chrono Psionic Interface (Spaced Out Mix By Andrew Weatherall): A Man Called Adam (1991)

6) One On One (Massive Attack Mix): Jesus Loves You (1990)

7) Groovy Feeling (Make Mine A 99): Fluke (1993)

 

Side Two (45:57) (Box) (Mega)

Side One here

Celestial Dreams

Side 1 of a mixtape labelled "The Best Of Trance Europe Express" and compiled sometime in 1998.

Trance Europe Express was an off-shoot of the Volume book/magazine/CD series, focusing on (as you may have guessed from the title) electronic music. Trance Europe Express released five 2CD volumes between 1993 and 1997, a total of 120 tracks, most of which were songs or versions unique to the series.

 

The handwritten title on the mixtape is intentionally misleading: this 13-track cassette couldn't hope to be a "best of", as the quality throughout the five volumes remained incredibly high. However, the selected tracks are a good representation of the series as a whole.

Scubadevils was a one-off collaboration between David Holmes and Dub Federation aka Andy Ellison and Pete Latham. A different mix of Celestial Symphony popped up on a split single released in 1993 and will eventually pop up here on an archive David Holmes mixtape. The original mix featured here pips it as the superior version.

 

German duo Resistance D aka Maik Maurice and Pascal Dardoufas had been performing live since 1990, releasing a number of singles and EPs, culminating in second and final album, A Modern World Of Today, in 2001. Pascal sadly passed in May 2020.

 

Zeno Messis and Laggy Pantell released 7 singles and an album as Megalon between 1993 and 1997. Pantell subsequently recorded as Underground Science and Hijacker, although I can't find any further releases after 2018. I've found that Messis has released a steady stream of music as zedmeco, the most recent being May 2022's album, The Pentland Hills, inspired by a move to Scotland. This and other releases are available on Bandcamp and, on a brief listen so far, it's worth further investigation.

Glamorous Hooligan have appeared here previously, in July 2021, as part of a "hip-hop/rap/dancefloor sample-heavy mish-mash" mix CD. This is a slightly different beast, but the influences are still clear. Glamorous Hooligan apparently took their name from the members’ past experiences "running with a local football firm". Being Bradford-based, Google bets are on either The Ointment or Bradford Section Five. Presumably part of the glamour is proudly wearing your lapel badge, available for a tenner on Etsy. And no, I'm not going to provide a link.

 

Bytesize Nuns were an electronic super group, comprising Alex Paterson, Andy Hughes, Nick Burton, Simon Phillips (numerous projects but essentially all The Orb at that time) with Kris Needs (music journo in excelsis and prolific remixer and recording artist as Secret Knowledge and Delta Lady). As far as I can tell, Codpiece was their only release as Bytesize Nuns and exclusive to Trance Europe Express 4.

 

Salt Tank were a particular favourite, a duo of David Gates & Malcolm Stanners. One of my very first - if not the first - online purchases in August 2000 was Head Straight For The Salt Tank Mix, a CD-R compilation of "Salt Tank Remixing Trax" limited to 50 copies, produced & sold through the official Salt Tank website. A copy is currently going on Discogs for £120.00, not including P&P. It's good, but not worth that much, as most of the tracks are available in other formats and probably for a lot less. There's a great, unreleased mix of Lush by Orbital that may feature here in a future selection. Dreams was the Salt Tank track that started it all for me and a solid end to this side of the mixtape.

 

1) Celestial Symphony (Original Mix By David Holmes & Dub Federation): Scubadevils (1993)

2) Unknown: Resistance D (1995)

3) Symbols: Megalon (1994)

4) Breakin' Knees (Revenge Of The 23 Stone Bodypopper): Glamorous Hooligan (1997)

5) Codpiece (Trouser Torpedo Mix): Bytesize Nuns (1995)

6) Dreams: Salt Tank (1994)

 

1993: Trance Europe Express: 1

1994: Trance Europe Express²: 3, 6

1995: Trance Europe Express 3: 2 

1995: Trance Europe Express 4: 5

1997: Trance Europe Express 5: 4

Side One (46:08) (KF) (Mega)

There's Help, If You Know Where To Look

Side 2 of a mixtape, recorded sometime in 1998. 

 

This one's a bit of a mystery as the original cassette is long lost and I only came across the track listing whilst sorting through a box of paperwork. I've no idea if I did the mixtape for myself or a friend, but it's big on beats and euphoric synths so it's ideal for getting up and out on Saturday after an exceptionally long week at work.

1) Salva Mea (Album Version By Rollo & Sister Bliss): Faithless (1996)

2) Atom Bomb (Atomix 4): Fluke (1996)

3) A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules From The Centre Of The Ultraworld (Orbital Dance Mix By Alex Paterson & Jimmy Cauty): The Orb (1990)

4) The Way (Joshua's Dubwise Mix By Joshua Michaels): Global Communication (1996)

5) La La La (Fatboy Slim Mix By Norman Cook): Tranquility Bass (1997)

Side Two (45:26) (KF) (Mega)

There Could Never Be A Time More Vital To This Earth

I had no idea who Steve Hillage was before System 7. I had very little interest in prog rock or it's subsequent pretenders to the crown. The closest I came being my school friend Phil, who lent me his Marillion albums and singles. I don't think I ever need to listen to 18 minute B-side Grendel ever again...

 

But I digress. Steve Hillage and Miquette Giraudy formed System 7 as a response to the late 1980s emerging dance music movement, collaborating with Alex Paterson/The Orb on 1990 debut single Sunburst. Collaboration was key from the start and other fellow travellers in those early recordings included Youth (Killing Joke), Paul Oakenfold, Thrash (aka Kris Weston), Derrick May, Steve Waddington (The Beloved), Nigel Butler (subsequently of Hysterix & theaudience) and vocal performers Aniff Cousins (Chapter + The Verse), Monday Michiru and Zoë, to name a few.

 

My brother had been buying loads of 12" singles whilst I'd been away travelling during 1990/91 and had Habibi and Freedom Fighters, which were my entry point to System 7. I've followed them intermittently since and they're still going strong. Hillage was entering his 40s when System 7 formed and turned 70 this August. Proof if needed that you're never too old to create music for the head and the feet, even if my body audibly creaks a lot more when I move...

 

I was going through some boxes in the attic last week and came across this C90 cassette that I recorded in September 1992, compiling my brother's 12" singles on one side and a cut-down version of The Shamen's En-Tact CD on the other. We'd found ourselves both living back at home with our parents: he'd just finished a degree; I'd gone back to college to do A-Levels, after dropping out six months in the first time around. I guess we were both looking for some kind of escape.

 

1) Habibi (Another World Mix By Robin Hancock & Hein Hoven) (ft. Olu Rowe)

2) Mia (Ultraworld Colony Mix By Steve Hillage, Nigel Butler & Alex Paterson)

3) Freedom Fighters (Praying By The Sea Mix By Robin Hancock) (ft. Aniff Cousins, Monday Michiru & Zoë)

4) Miracle (Orb Remix By Alex Paterson & Thrash) (Full Length)

5) Habibi (The Camel Mix By Miquette Giraudy & Andy Falconer) 

6) Depth Disco (Extended Mix By Steve Hillage & Tyrrell)

 

1991: MIracle EP: 2, 4

1991: Habibi EP: 1

1991: Freedom Fighters EP: 3, 6 

1993: Feed Your Head: 5

 

Note: 

Track 4 was originally the 5:35 edit found on the 12" of Habibi. The full length version here is from the Miracle CD single and also on the USA version of System 7's debut album, confusingly titled 777 by 777.

 

Track 5 was originally the Tex Mix, found on the limited edition clear vinyl 12" of Habibi. I don't have my own copy of this so I've swapped it for a completely different mix, which also more or less retains the running time of my original cassette.

There Could Never Be A Time More Vital To This Earth (46:27) (Box) (Mega)