Unexpected Item In Bagging Area*

* Before Swiss Adam's solicitor takes further action, I state for the record that this post relates to Bandcamp Friday, not their client's illustrious blog.

Yes, it's that time again when I wade through the mass of emails, all telling me about music that I should be spending my pennies on in the next 24 hours.

Sometimes they're expected. I often receive similar communications in the weeks, sometimes months, leading up to release. Sometimes, they're unexpected, literally dropped in whilst I've been asleep. And knowing how little I sleep, that's no mean feat.

Lots to choose from, here are five that will be ringing through the checkout this Friday:

First up is Bristol's Diz Undone, formerly known as Dizraeli, who I've come to late but feel very glad that I made it. By his own admission, Diz Undone has made a career of (artistically speaking) "distributing explosions that journalists find hard to describe."

He's right, but I like what I hear and Normal, featuring Grove andTom Caruana hits the spot, with a cracking video to boot.

I'm biased, as I'll buy anything that has Bedford Falls Players aka Mark Cooper's name attached to it, but North Star is another satisfying bass-heavy seven minutes "Inspired by The North Star of Andrew Weatherall".

From Maidenhead, Berkshire to Gydnia in Poland and reggae/dub specialists Muflon Dub Soundsystem, with Empty Church. There's a vocal and dub version, both featuring Karolina; the latter edges it slightly for me.

Another "no need to try, go ahead and buy" is anything on the Paisley Dark Records label, and Engage by Krabberz is the latest addition to the list. I'm not familiar with Krabberz but the line-up of artists on this remix EP are firm favourites: Airsine, Högt I Tak, Jay-Son and 10:40. All for three quid. A steal!

Lastly, a new single from Transglobal Underground that's so fresh that it's not yet available at the time of posting. Head over to their Bandcamp page after 10.00am GMT to discover double A-side Doin' The Moonshine / Darjeeling Train.

Bag It Up, I'll Take It

Bandcamp Friday beckons and my shopping bag demands to be fed yet again.

Here are a dozen hors d'oeuvres to whet your appetite. What else will I bring home?

1) Brand New Me (Brand New Me EP): Saint Etienne x Confidence Man

2) Better (All That Is Over): SPRINTS

3) Housin' (Planet Roll): Wagon Christ

4) Greasy Off The Racing Line (Tremor): Daniel Avery ft. Alison Mosshart

5) Weeping Roses (Lomond Campbell Remix) (Subconsciousology): Dot Allison

6) Tales Of Freedom (Cosmikuro Remix) (Tales Of Freedom EP): Jay-Son

7) Thinkin' Bout U (Mercury) (Thinkin' Bout U EP): Psychederek

8) A Moment Longer (Songs For Nina & Johanna): James Yorkston ft. Nina Persson

9) Militants (Atomized Dub) (Imploded Versions EP): The Bug vs Ghost Dubs

10) Under the Bed (Buddhist Hipsters): The Orb

11) Porcupine (Madder! EP): Sparks

12) Everybody Needs (On The Edge Of A Lost And Lonely World (Deluxe Edition)): Humanist ft. Emily Breeze

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Elect Tronik

Today's selection features Tronik Youth aka Neil Parnell, and is a follow up of sorts to last Wednesday's spotlight on recent purchases from NEIN Records, the label Neil co-founded with Ian Considine over a decade ago.

 

In a 2018 interview celebrating 5 years of NEIN, Neil described the label's mission as "trying to spread some dark magic around the worlds dance floors" and this brief, C90-friendly mix attempts to reflect some of that in his own remixes and releases as Tronik Youth.

Most of the tracks are from the last few years, but I have included Tronik Youth's debut in 2006 with a remix of Listen Up! by Gossip. At the time Neil, a record shop boss and DJ, got involved with a friend who ran Back Yard Records. The two discovered and signed Gossip, Neil had a go at doing a remix and the rest is history.

 

If you're new to Tronik Youth and like what you hear, head first to NEIN Records on Bandcamp, where you will find a fair few Tronik Youth releases, re-edits and remixes of other label artists for your listening pleasure. 

However, a quick online search will also throw up a vast catalogue of music released on other labels and with other artists in the past two decades, as 2014's Suicide Doors on tici taci (included here) illustrates.

 

1) Cult Haze (One Of Us) (Tronik Youth 'Ritual' Remix): Dan Wainwright (2021)

2) Wrong System (Jay-Son Remix): Tronik Youth (2024)

3) Suicide Doors (Inaigo Vontier Remix): Tronik Youth (2014)

4) I Say Yes (Tronik Youth Remix): Cosman (2024)

5) Listen Up! (Tronik Youth Remix) (Edit): Gossip (2006)

6) Red Shift (Tronik Youth Remix): MAN2.0 (2022)

7) Serpens Caput (Tronik Youth Remix): Celestino (2023)

8) Ghosted Me: Tronik Youth (2024)

 

2008: Rework It: 5

2021: The Universal Energy Within EP: 1

2022: Red Shift EP: 6

2023: tici taci Decade Volume 1: 3

2023: We Are Nothing But Space Dust Remixes EP: 7

2024: I Say Yes EP: 4 

2024: Tronik Youth Club Edits EP: 8

2024: Wrong System EP: 2

 

Elect Tronik (45:28) (GD) (M)

...Aber Ja

I took advantage of Berlin-based NEIN Records' recent half price sale on Bandcamp to update my digital collection.

Formed in 2012 by Ian Considine, his son Jonah, and lifelong friend Ian Parnell, Nein Records initially existed to release the latter's music as Tronik Youth. I had a few Tronik Youth edits and remixes in that decade, but I only really became aware of Nein Records, like many other labels, during lockdown in 2020, when I started investing in digital music (and frequenting Bandcamp) more heavily.

Since those early days, Nein Records has built up an impressive roster of artists, whether regular or one-off releases, and are fast approaching 500 releases on Bandcamp alone.

Here are a few examples from my recent bargain shopping trip.

Japanese Limo Boys are Niev, Pedro Laghi and Fabio Kstro from Brazil. Teaming up with Maria Eugênia Feirabend, who made contact with the Shanenawa tribe and negotiated agreement to lend their voices to the Boys' music. Envira is the first of two songs to be released, not your typical Nein Records banger, but a laidback groove, underpinning tribal chants. More Byrne and Eno than Deep Forest, I'm looking forward to hearing the second track, Shanenawa, when it's released in September.

 

Cosman is a DJ and Producer from Lithuania  and currently based in the Baltic coastal resort of Palanga. As such, the environ infuses and influences his music although as the mix titles of latest single I Say Yes boldly proclaim, there's an interest in all things 90s style. Cosman delivers an Indie Dance and Euro 90s remix of the song. I've gone for the former, but both deliver as do the 'guest remixes from label boss Tronik Youth and Spain's Adrián Peña Sánchez aka Calystarr.

 

Back to the UK for the last of today's picks with the wonderfully titled Acid In Wonderland EP by Jay-Son aka Jason Dixon. In addition to the title track, you get Balearic Spike and today's featured track, Ibizian Magic. All chugtastic, although the final song does bring the tempo down a little and sprinkles a "rebirth of disco" sample to sweeten the taste.