Our Desires Still Burn

As far as understatements go, opening David Harrow's profile on Discogs with "British keyboardist" is up there with the best of them.

I've been interested in David Harrow's work for pretty much as long as I've been buying and collecting music, although admittedly this was largely subconscious to begin with. 

Our Darkness by Anne Clark made a huge impression on me, though it didn't really register that David Harrow had co-written and remixed the song until years later when his name also appeared in the credits for On-U Sound releases by Gary Clail and Barmy Army or Jah Wobble or alongside Andrew Weatherall.

David's roots in dub music resonate deeply with me, but it's also the breadth of his experimentation and, in the last couple of years, excellent collaborations with Little Annie, Hugo Nicholson and Red Snapper that continue to draw me back for me.

And, given his prodigious work rate, there's always more top notch music coming.

If you're new to David Harrow, here are nine reasons why you should get familiar. If you know what he's about, then here's 46 minutes of dub-infused excellence.

1) Revolvalution (David Harrow Circle Squared Remix): Hugo Nicolson & David Harrow (2024)

2) Fall (Lickwood Sax Dub) (Mixed By David Harrow): Deep Joy (1990)

3) Fussing And Fighting (David Harrow Mix): Bob Marley (2001)

4) Our Darkness (Remix By Anne Clark & David Harrow): Anne Clark (1984)

5) Skratchy (Level 4): Bloodsugar (Andrew Weatherall & David Harrow) (1995)

6) Tight Chest: Red Snapper ft. David Harrow (2024)

7) Loverman (Remix By James Hardway aka David Harrow): Billie Holiday (2004)

8) Maskup Dub: David Harrow (2020)

9) End Of Times (Rude Audio's Immutable Remix By Mark Ratcliff): David Harrow + Little Annie (2024)

1984: Our Darkness EP: 4

1990: Fall EP: 2

1995: Levels EP: 5

2001: In Dub & Remixed: 3

2004: Ladies Of Jazz Remixed: 7

2020: Virus Dubs: 8

2024: End Of Times EP: 9

2024: Revolvalution EP: 1

2024: Tight Chest EP: 6

Our Desires Still Burn (46:00) (GD) (M)

Desperate To Disappear And Still Be Someone

Continuing with the A-Z of artist releases from 2025 that I haven't yet bought, but are on the shopping (long) list for this Bandcamp Friday.

Yesterday covered A to F; today, it's my picks of artists from G to M, specifically

Gwenno remixed by Cornelius

Horizontals aka Leo Zero

Ibibio Sound Machine

Jah Wobble

KLOUDs

Little Annie & Baby Dee ft. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy

MAN2.0 remixed by Tronik Youth

Gwenno's fourth album Utopia came out in July, her first predominantly in English, with previous albums in Welsh or Cornish. What's not changed is Gwenno's way with a song and this carries through into the Utopia Remixes EP, released last week. Versions by QUINQUIS and Stone Club both recommended, but I've opted here for the unexpected and delightful remix from Japanese legend Cornelius. 

Leo Zero has been a busy man this year and it's been hard to keep up with everything he's put out there, including two excellent EPs as Junk System (there's a third to come), 20-track disco monster Nebulon Systems Vol. 1, plus a ton of edits, remixes and one-offs.

Wild Light by Horizontals is Leo's ambient/balearic project, 10 tracks of on-the-nose bliss, including this one. 

I was a bit slow on the uptake with Ibibio Sound Machine, but I'm now all in, so the arrival last week of a new EP, Anyone Like You, is very good news indeed. In addition to three versions of the title song is the "cosmic funk" of Jagaban, featured here. The title is from Hausa, a widely spoken language in Nigeria, and translates as "leader of warriors". 

When Jah Wobble drops an album called Dub Volume One, you know what you're going to get, and you know it's going to be great. And of course it is.

Written, performed, and recorded entirely solo by Jah Wobble, mastered by Anthony Chapman (Collapsed Lung) and issued on Dimple Discs, the indie label founded in 2018 by Damian O'Neill (The Undertones, That Petrol Emotion) and Brian O'Neill (not related).

I could have chosen any of the eight tracks, opting here for the wonderfully titled Tragic Slav Dub.

KLOUDs is a collaboration between Ukrainian-born Sam Levin aka Zullah, and Israel's Itay Menashe aka Fistuk. I can't say that I've heard of either of them, but I really like this 2-track single, pairing PALMS and Côte D'Ivoire. Released in August on the Stereo MC's label called - what else? - Connected, it's a welcome ray of sunshine and recollection of summer in this damp, dark English winter.

I have loved Little Annie, since I first discovered her music in the early 1990s, courtesy of Adrian Sherwood / ON-U Sound. As the title suggests, With is an 8-song collection of 21st century collaborations with like-minded artists. 

The album opens with a rousing 2008 live version of Yesterday When I Was Young with Marc Almond and ends with Some Things We Do, from Swans' 2014 album To Be Kind. Included in between are team ups with Coil, Kid Congo Powers, Paul Wallfisch and Larsen.

I've gone for State Of Grace, the title track of the 2012 album by Little Annie & Baby Dee, featuring Bonnie "Prince" Billy.

Last but not least is MAN2.0's latest, on the ever dependable NEIN Records label. I'm a big fan of MAN2.0's previous music and mixes and this 5-track EP from July offers up two versions of CTRL ALT DEL (with Precious Blood) and three of Nightmare Walking.

All five tracks mean business, including this stunning remix by NEIN label boss Tronik Youth.

More tomorrow.

You Don't Dance...Except At The Weekend

2024 has served up it's fair share of top notch electronic music and remixes and here's another eight reasons why.

Just over an hour of tunes that have been pumping on my stereo, a mix of well-known names and artists that I've heard for the first time on my many online shopping runs this year. 

All of today's selections are available to purchase digitally (links included in the song title), if you're considering a gift to yourself as a thank you for buying presents for all those other people.

1) Like This (Mindbender Remix By Mårten Attling): Stylic

2) You Don't Dance (Kenneth Bager Remix): Hess Is More

3) Ecce Homo (Apparition Remix By Michael Heffernan): Gavin Friday

4) Blind On A Galloping Horse (Sons Of Slough Remix By Duncan Gray & Ian Weatherall): David Holmes ft. Raven Violet

5) Aerodromes (David Holmes Remix): Acid Klaus ft. Philly Piper

6) Weekend Machines (Shubostar Remix By Jiyoung Bak): Jezebell

7) End Of Times (Rude Audio's Protean Remix By Mark Ratcliff): David Harrow + Little Annie

8) Real Magnificent (sLEdger Remix By Robin Dallison): Fluke ft. Leah Cleaver

You Don't Dance...Except At The Weekend (1:01:13) (KF) (Mega)

Happening

Strange Things Are Happening, Richard Norris' memoir of a frankly incredible life, dropped through my letterbox last weekend. I ordered it back in October 2023 so to say that I have been eagerly awaiting it's arrival is an understatement. 

I ordered the book via Heavenly so not only is it signed by Richard, there's a bonus CD featuring "Mixes and Collaborations 1988-2023". Of the 14 tracks, half are completely new to me, but when the ones I already own include remixes of Floatation by The Grid, Roscoe by Midlake, Disco/Very by Warpaint and Willow's Song by Katy J Pearson, then it's wonderful to have them all together on one shiny disc.

I've not started reading Strange Things Are Happening yet, as I'm (now hurriedly) trying to finish another book that I'd not long started but I'd still have no hesitation in recommending it. Given the sheer breadth and depth of Richard's contribution to music, which has been ever present for more than two thirds of my life, I am looking forward to experiencing those moments through his eyes, memories and words. 

I've tried a few times before to present Richard's music via a Dubhed selection, whether Beyond The Wizards Sleeve, The Grid or an attempt to encapsulate his wider work. An impossible task really but nature loves a trier so I've had another go.

This time, it's a mammoth 22 tracks, clocking in at exactly one hour and forty five minutes. In respect of sequencing and segueways, it's an absolute mess: if you've come here for amateurish crossfades, jarring edits and incongruous tracklist partners, then you've come to the right place. If I tried this in person in a public place, I'd be out on the pavement, my hard drive bouncing off my skull as the proprietor lobbed it after me.

However, focus past my ham-fisted attempts at mixing and marvel at the ambition and creativity of the artist at the heart of it all. Whether his own compositions, partnerships with Dave Ball, Erol Alkan, Finnur Bjarnason or more recently with Rachel Thomas and Stuart Carter as The Order Of The 12, Richard has the uncanny knack of tapping into something special. This transcends genres, hitting the sweet spot whether aimed at  club, dub or ambient heads, to name but a few.

Many of these are significantly edited - the original version of Ultramarine is twenty minutes long - but all are worth tracking down in digital or physical formats. A good starting point is Richard's Bandcamp page. I've been a subscriber for over a year and it's worth every penny.

 

1) Couldn't Do (The Time & Space Machine Remix By Richard Norris): Cheval Sombre (2014) 

2) Promises (Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve Reanimation By Richard Norris & Erol Alkan): Badly Drawn Boy (2007) 

3) Winter In June: Beyond The Wizards Sleeve ft. Percy Thrower (2007)

4) 10 Killer Hurtz More (Remix By Little Annie, Richard Norris & Skip McDonald): Little Annie (1994)

5) Texas Cowboys (Low Plains Prankster Mix By Justin Robertson): The Grid (1993)

6) Ultramarine (Edit): Richard Norris (2023)

7) April (Edit): Richard Norris (2021)

8) Ghost Dance: Richard Norris (2021)

9) This Too Shall Pass Away (Album Version By The Grid): World Of Twist (1991)

10) Morning Velvet Sky (Richard Norris Dub): Gulp (2018)

11) Meet Every Situation Head On (DJ Jackmaster Tab Fitness Mix By Richard Norris): M.E.S.H. (1988)

12) I Love I Hate (Lakeside Mix By The Grid): Neil Arthur (1994)

13) Pagan Dub (Edit): Richard Norris (2024)

14) Inner Communication Dub (Edit): Richard Norris (2024)

15) Find Yourself (Richard Norris Remix): Jacco Gardner (2015)

16) Lundi Bleu (The Grid 'Praise The Lord' Mix By Dave Ball & Richard Norris) (Cover of 'Blue Monday' by New Order): The Times (1992)

17) House Of Love (Single Version By The Grid): Billie Ray Martin (1993)

18) Abide With Me (Holy Dub - Remix By The Grid) (Cover of traditional song): Vic Reeves (1991)

19) Finally (The Time & Space Machine Re-Edit By Richard Norris) (Cover of Ce Ce Peniston): Cherry Ghost (2010) 

20) Somewhere Nearly Gone: The Order Of The 12 (2022)

21) Before Tomorrow (Richard Norris' Avalon Remix): Hollow Hand ft. Tim Smith (2023)

22) Hotel Du Lac 66º N2 (Edit): The Long Now (2018)

 

1988: Meet Every Situation Head On EP: 11 

1991: Abide With Me EP: 18

1991: Quality Street: 9 

1992: Lundi Bleu EP: 16

1993: 4 Ambient Tales EP: 17

1993: Texas Cowboys EP: 5 

1994: I Love I Hate EP: 12

1994: In Dread With Little Annie EP: 4

2007: Promises EP: 2

2007: West EP: 3 

2010: We Sleep On Stones EP: 19

2014: Couldn't Do EP: 1

2015: Find Yourself EP: 15

2018: Morning Velvet Sky EP: 10 

2018: Restoration EP: 22

2021: Music For Healing: January-December: 7

2021: Music For Soundtracks, Vol. 1: 8 

2022: Lore Of The Land: 20

2023: Before Tomorrow EP: 21

2023: Music For Healing: Colours: 6 

2024: Oracle Sound Volume Two: 13

2024: Oracle Sound Volume 3: Dub In Progress: 14

 

Happening (1:45:00) (KF) (Mega)

For your further listening pleasure:

Beyond The Wizards Sleeve: How Do We Start? (23rd July 2021)

The Grid: Think For Yourself And Question Authority (3rd December 2022)

Richard Norris: Clarity (6th August 2023)

Random Bag

As the title suggests, a dip into my bag of Bandcamp Friday purchases and a selection that's not quite as eclectic as a glance at the line-up might indicate. 

 

1) Obsolescence Programmée: schroothoop (2020)

2) Space Drohne (Duncan Gray Remix): Matt Gunn (2023)

3) Old Hands: The Scientist (2015)

4) Maria De Barro: Disco For The People (2019)

5) You're All In Disguise (Marshall Neeko Remix): Jimmy Riley (2024)

6) End Of Times (Ono-Sendai Sound Version): David Harrow + Little Annie (2024)

7) Eye Co (Cover of 'Jock-A-Mo' by James 'Sugar Boy' Crawford & His Cane Cutters): Marshall Watson (2024)

8) Inspiration (Instrumental) 2: Kerri 'Kaoz' Chandler Presents Arnold Jarvis (2021)

9) Like A Bird: Dan Wainwright (2024)

 

2015: Old Hands EP: 3 

2019: Chapter One Edits EP: 4

2020: Global Riddims Volume 2: 1

2023: Mostly Fiction: 2 

2024: Dad Giveaway: 8

2024: Dan Wainwright: 9

2024: End Of Times EP: 6

2024: Eye Co EP: 7

2024: Solidarity Riddim: 5

 

Random Bag (44:28) (KF) (Mega)

Whatcha Gonna Do?

Hifi Sean (aka Sean Dickson) and David McAlmont have announced three UK live dates in February 2024, in Glasgow, Manchester and London. Whilst holding out hope that further dates will follow, particularly in my neck of the woods, I've snapped up tickets for The Big Smoke, so determined am I to see them.

I completely missed Hifi Sean's debut album, Ft., and it's companion. Ft. Excursions, when they were originally released in 2016 and 2017. Lockdown and a greater commitment to the excellent and inspirational music blogs out there meant that I belatedly discovered them courtesy of JC and The Vinyl Villain. 

From David McAlmont's guest appearance on both, a creative partnership was formed and the fruits of this appeared as singles in 2020 and 2021, teasing a full-length album, Happy Ending. The impact of the singles was enough for me to subscribe to Last Night From Glasgow in December 2022 and buy the album on glorious yellow vinyl in a beautifully designed gatefold sleeve. 

 

Although Happy Ending had an official worldwide, multi-format release in February 2023, I used my LNFG membership privilege and early access to the album to cheat and declare Happy Ending my favourite album of 2022.

 

We're 203 days into 2023 and personally, it's still the album to beat for my end of year list. I have lost track now of how many times I've listened to Happy Ending and I cannot express how deeply it moves me on each listen. I run the gamut of emotions, whether enjoying the music on a superficial level, immersing myself in the beautifully constructed soundscapes or forensically poring over the gorgeously designed lyric booklet and finding meaning and nuances in the words of each song. Seriously, everyone needs a Happy Ending. BUY IT NOW!

 

To celebrate the virtual tickets I'm now (virtually) clutching in my (real) hand, a Hifi Sean selection was inevitable today. I've kept it relatively short and snappy, nine songs in just over three quarters of an hour. Three feature the incomparable vocals of David McAlmont, Crystal Waters appears on a couple more whilst Little Annie and Norman Blake make up the other guest spots. There's a standalone Hifi Sean single too, plus one of several collaborations with NY DJ Peter Shalvoy.

 

The selection kicks off with Testify, the song that JC introduced me to back in 2020 and ends with Hurricanes, from Happy Ending, which is just sublime. Just one listen to this selection and my synapses are firing, I'm flooded with endorphins and I just know that this is going to be a good Saturday. I don't need to be psychic to know that Saturday 10th February 2024 is going to be even better.

1) Testify (Album Version): Hifi Sean ft. Crystal Waters (2016)

2) All In The World (Album Version): Hifi Sean & David McAlmont (2022)

3) 18th (Azaxx Late Night Reprise) (Remix By Xavier Jean): Hifi Sean ft. Norman Blake (2017)

4) You're Just Another Song (Album Version): Hifi Sean ft. Little Annie (2016)

5) Like Josephine Baker (Omnichord Excursion) (Remix By Hifi Sean): Hifi Sean ft. David McAlmont (2017)

6) Love Is On The House (Extended Mix): Hifi Sean (2019)

7) Heavy Dub (Remix By Hifi Sean): Hifi Sean ft. Crystal Waters (2019)

8) Charlie: Hifi Sean / Shalvoy (2017)

9) Hurricanes (Album Version): Hifi Sean & David McAlmont (2022)

 

Whatcha Gonna Do? (47:20) (KF) (Mega)

I Am The Sky, Who Are You?

With a nod to C's comment about New Age Steppers on Thursday, I'd been planning a dub flavoured selection for Sunday anyway and I was consequently nudged towards Adrian Sherwood and On-U Sound.

The selection is book-ended by fresh music from this year, both by artists named Andy. The first features the late, great Andy Fairley, who departed in 1999 but whose voice and words were liberally used across On-U Sound releases in the 1990s, not least the incredible System Vertigo album released under his own name in 1992. This is one of two new tracks featured in the latest volume of the Pay It All Back series. The selection closes with Horace Andy, thankfully very much still with us and sounding in incredible form. Midnight Rocker is a highlight of 2022 and companion album Midnight Scorchers, out in mid-September, promises to be the same.

 

Another voice inextricably linked with On-U Sound is Bim Sherman, who pops up on Side Two twice. The first is a classic 10" side from Singers & Players, reworking one of Bim's songs from 1975 to great effect. Later, he features with Dub Syndicate with an alternate vocal version of Forever More, renamed Money Dealers. The original version was on 1984 album Tunes From The Missing Channel. This alternate version was finally made available in 2017 on the compilation Displaced Masters, which I bought as part of the Ambience In Dub 1982-1985 CD boxset. 

 

Speaking of CD boxsets, in 2021 On-U Sound released Stepping Into A New Age 1980-2012, a similarly beautifully packaged collection of New Age Steppers' albums. Problems is a cover of the 1977 song by Horace Andy featured on their 1981 debut Action Battlefield. Ari Up deftly goes from English to German vocals and back again, before the dub half drops like a ton of bricks, demolishing the song then building it back up. 

 

With African Head Charge, I was sorely tempted to draw something from My Life In A Hole In The Ground, their incredible album from 1981. I've gone instead for Voodoo Of The Godsent, released three decades later, Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah and Adrian Sherwood's partnership showing no signs of slowing down. 

 

Speaking of partnerships, Lee 'Scratch' Perry & Dub Syndicate were surely a match made in heaven. Time Boom x De Devil Dead remains one of my favourite On-U Sound releases and I've gone here for the (almost) title track, which also supplies the name for today's selection.

 

A bit of a cheat as it appeared on Real World Records (founded by Peter Gabriel) rather than On-U Sound, but I felt I couldn't have an Adrian Sherwood selection without including a song from one his solo albums. Hari Up Hari is song two on Sherwood's 2003 debut, Never Trust A Hippy, and features pioneer of Indian fusion music Hariharan Anantha Subramani. 

 

Little Annie, previously Annie Anxiety, found a spiritual - and literal - home with Adrian Sherwood. According to her On-U Sound biog on Bandcamp, Annie lived in a shed at the bottom of Adrian's garden! Watch The World Go Bye originally featured on 1992's Short And Sweet, her third album and first under the Little Annie moniker. Watch The World Go Bye In Dub appears on the reworked, remixed and resequenced USA-only album, Short, Sweet And Dread, which you can also find on Bandcamp.

 

Rounding out the On-U Sound team is Audio Active, a Japanese experimental dub fusion band, starting as a solo vehicle for singer/songwriter Masa Osada before expanding to a full band in 1991. Sadly no longer active, several of the band's albums were produced by Adrian Sherwood, this track with additional programming support from David Harrow, another mainstay of the On-U Sound collective in the 1990s and continuing to produce his own wonderful electronic dub sounds to this day.

 

I've split today's selection into two vinyl-friendly sides with a full Dubhed Selection to squeeze onto a virtual side of a C90, if you want the whole experience in one go.

 

Side One

1) Your Best Tune: Andy Fairley (2022)

2) Problems (Album Version By Adrian Sherwood) (Cover of Horace Andy): New Age Steppers (1981)

3) Badman Plan (Album Version By Adrian Sherwood): African Head Charge (2011)

4) De Devil Dead (Album Version By Lee 'Scratch' Perry & Adrian Sherwood): Lee 'Scratch' Perry & Dub Syndicate (1987)

5) Hari Up Hari: Adrian Sherwood ft. Hariharan (2003)

Side Two

1) Danger (10" Version By Adrian Sherwood): Singers & Players ft. Bim Sherman (1982)

2) Watch The World Go Bye In Dub (Album Version By David Harrow): Little Annie (1992)

3) Dub In An Abyss (Album Version By Audio Active & Adrian Sherwood): Audio Active ft. David Harrow (1995)

4) Money Dealers (Version By Adrian Sherwood): Dub Syndicate ft. Bim Sherman (1984)

5) Watch Over Them (Album Version By Adrian Sherwood): Horace Andy (2022)

1981: Action Battlefield: A2 

1982: Virgin/Danger EP: B1

1987: Time Boom x De Devil Dead: A4

1994: Short, Sweet And Dread: B2 

1994: Happy Happer: B3

2003: Never Trust A Hippy: A5

2011: Voodoo Of The Godsent: A3

2017: Displaced Masters: Unreleased Versions From The Vault: B4

2022: Midnight Rocker: B5

2022: Pay It All Back Vol. 8: A1

Side One (22:16)

Side Two (22:54)

Full Dubhed Selection (45:06)

Summer Sunshine Cover Up

This may be the only karaoke bar where you'll find Little Annie, Frank Sidebottom, Miley Cyrus, Bobby Womack and Marc Bolan in the same room. An hour of summer sunshine - don't forget your SPF 50+.

1) That Summer Feeling: The Vaccines sing Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers (2012)

2) Good Day Sunshine: Roy Redmond sings The Beatles (1967)

3) Summer Wine: Evan Dando & Sabrina Brooke sing Nancy Sinatra (2002)

4) This Ain't The Summer Of Love: L7 sing Blue Öyster Cult (1997)

5) Summer Nights: 14 Iced Bears sing John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John (1990)

6) Sunshine Of Your Love: Spanky Wilson sings Cream (1970)

7) Summer In The City (Special Disco Version): Evolution sing The Lovin' Spoonful (1978)

8) Walking On Sunshine (Club Mix): Loopzilla sing Eddy Grant (1990)

9) Paris Summer (Live at The Olympia Theatre, Paris): The Last Shadow Puppets & Alison Mosshart sing Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood (2008)

10) Indian Summer: Luna sing Beat Happening (2006)

11) In The Summertime: Frank Sidebottom sings Mungo Jerry (1985)

12) Boys (Summertime Love): Something Happens sing Sabrina (1990)

13) Summertime Sadness (Live Lounge Session, BBC Radio 1): Miley Cyrus sings Lana Del Rey (2013)

14) Summertime: Bobby Womack & The Roots sing Abbie Mitchell (1998)

15) The Summer Knows: Little Annie & Paul Wallfisch sing Barbra Streisand & Michel Legrand (2008)

16) Summertime Blues (Electric Warrior Demo): T. Rex sing Eddie Cochran (1971)

17) You Are My Sunshine: Bryan Ferry sings The Pine Ridge Boys (1974)

 

Summer Sunshine Cover Up (1:09:51)