Decadance V: 1998

Side 1 of an imaginary 90s compilation cassette, spooling out in 1998.

This selection went through several last minute changes as I discovered that several songs, whilst listed as or appearing on albums in 1998, weren't released or charted as singles until 1999. You may see some of those tomorrow, but the short list was already rather long, so maybe not...

Not the substitutes were sloppy seconds and, in what I think is a record for this series, a third of the selection all hit the UK #1 spot. Mind you, this was at a time when new releases would crash into the Top 5 in the first week and promptly disappear without trace the next. I'm not even sure that the guaranteed Top Of The Pops appearance carried all that much weight by then.

This was the first time I struggled to fill the MAW slot in this series. In 1998, Andrew Weatherall and Keith Tenniswood's cuts as Two Lone Swordsmen tended to be glitchy, queasy electro numbers, either very short or very long and with little or no vocals. 

The only real contender for me was their epic remix of Come Together by Spiritualized. The only problems being that it was over fifteen and a half minutes long, with not the faintest trace of Jason Pierce to be found. 

My solution - Lord Sabre forgive me - was to create my own vocal edit. I found a bootleg MP3 of the filtered vocal of Come Together and with some painstaking cutting, editing and sequencing, ended up with a version that comes in at just over four and a half minutes. The sound quality is shonky. the editing amaterish, but it's not as awful as I thought. Please feel free to disagree, I will not argue!

Cornershop were one the surprise #1s, entirely thanks to Norman Cook who was everywhere at the time as Fatboy Slim. Brimful Of Asha was a (very) modest hit in 1997, but Norman liked it, wanted to include it in his sets but needed to speed it up a bit. Cue the trademark big beats and carousel swirls and a chart topper was born. I still quite get over Tjinder Singh sounding like a member of Alvin & The Chipmunks and I will also prefer the original over the remix, but I'm happy that it gave Cornershop (and their album) a well-deserved boost.

A fair bit of rap here, from the masters Run-D.M.C. to new kids on the block Jurassic 5 and superb homegrown talent in Asian Dub Foundation. 

Roni Size Reprazent, er, represented my birthplace and, fresh off of winning the 1997 Mercury Music Prize, ploughed the prize money straight back into Bristol. Not the only Bristol artist though: Massive Attack return, this time with Elizabeth Fraser for Teardrop. Even the truncated promo edit featured here is phenomenal, and seeing it performed live last year was a real 'pinch me' moment.

Madonna returned with William Orbit at the controls for Frozen, with a Chris Cunningham-created video that had Madge looking her Gothic best. A slew of remixes accompanied the single as you might expect, though Stereo MC's version was head and shoulders above the rest.

Just outside the Top 30 was Don't Die Just Yet by David Holmes, sampling Serge Gainsbourg with aplomb. David remixed Failure by Skinny, label mates with Dido who also provided backing vocals on the song.

Speaking of samples, somehow Italian duo The Tamperer aka Alex Farolfi and Mario Fargetta managed to clear a hefty sample of The Jacksons' 1981 hit Can You Feel It? for their own song. 

Frankly, the sample does all the heavy lifting, but American singer and actor Maya Days gamely adapts lyrics from Urban Discharge's 1995 single Wanna Drop A House (On That Bitch), including the unforgettable line, "What's she gonna look like with a chimney on her?"  They don't write 'em like that anymore...

As a counter to all of the hits, 1998 closes with a 'flop' single from what proved to be one of my favourite albums of the year, by the wonderful Solex aka Elisabeth Esselink. Solex vs. The Hitmeister featured 12 songs, every single one featuring Solex in the title. I hadn't heard any of the music, but was so taken by the review I read that I tracked it down and bought the CD. A fabulously quirky album and a perfect way to round off the year.

Amazingly, sadly (for me at least), Sunday will see the final instalment of this alternative tour of the 1990s. Pre-millennium tension? Not 'arf!

 
1) Black White (Brendan Lynch Mix): Asian Dub Foundation

2) Concrete Schoolyard (Clean Radio Edit): Jurassic 5

3) Failure (Radio Mix): Skinny ft. Lee Stevens, Dido & Pauline Taylor

4) Watching Windows (Roni Size Vocal Remix): Roni Size Reprazent ft. Onallee

5) Brimful Of Asha (Brighton) (Norman Cook Remix Single Version): Cornershop

6) It's Like That (Drop The Break Radio Edit): Run-D.M.C. vs. Jason Nevins

7) Feel It (Blunt Edit): The Tamperer ft. Maya

8) Frozen (Stereo MC's Remix Edit): Madonna

9) Don't Die Just Yet (Radio Edit): David Holmes

10) Teardrop (Edit): Massive Attack ft. Elizabeth Fraser

11) Come Together (Two Lone Swordsmen Meet Khayem Downtown) (Vocal Edit): Spiritualized

12) Solex All Licketysplit (Album Version): Solex

4th January 1998: Don't Die Just Yet EP (#33): 9

22nd February 1998: Brimful Of Asha EP (#1): 5

1st March 1998: Frozen EP (#1): 8

8th March 1998: Watching Windows EP (#28): 4

15th March 1998: It's Like That EP (#1): 6

5th April 1998: Failure EP (#31): 3

12th April 1998: Solex vs. The Hitmeister (#n/a): 12

3rd May 1998: Teardrop EP (#10): 10

24th May 1998: Feel It EP (#1): 7

31st May 1998: The Abbey Road EP (#39): 11

28th June 1998: Black White EP (#52): 1

18th October 1998: Concrete Schoolyard EP (#35): 2

Side One (46:56) (KF) (Mega)

All Licketysplit

Solex vs. The Hitmeister was released on 10th March 1998 on Matador Records and I bought it on the back of a review in Melody Maker, NME, Sounds or some such, without having heard a single note despite a John Peel session to promote the album in May that year.

 

Here's some background info on Solex from the John Peel area of the BBC website, which summarises it better than I could:

 

Solex is the pseudonym of singer-songwriter Elisabeth Esselink. Formerly the singer in the Dutch group Sonetic Vet and owner of an Amsterdam record store, Esselink decided to go solo and came up with a deft blend of low-key techno and 'found' sounds. 'Solex vs. The Hitmeister' was her debut album for Matador in 1998 and was comprised of snippets from all the records in her shop that she couldn't sell. In a change of tack, 1999's 'Pick Up' was painstakingly constructed from dozens of recordings that she'd secretly made at live shows in Amsterdam. This extraordinary technique was continued on the albums 'Low Kick And Hard Bop' (2001) and 'The Laughing Stock of Indie Rock' (2004) which showcased Esselink's wry sense of humour. Her latest album is 2005's 'In The Fishtank'. Oh, and Solex is a Hungarian moped if you're interested.

"My favorite session was a live show in the studio (2000). We played twosets on air in front of a live audience. Peel, who did the show from thesame room, said the audience should get closer to the band and not make itthat obvious they were only there for the free beers and snacks.When he aired our final session in 2002, I listened to the live webcast. He said some nice things and I dropped him an email right away. I joked about doing the next sessions at Peel acres. He read the email on the show and said that the Peel acres session was a very good idea. Unfortunately that session never happened."

What also attracted me to the debut album was that all 12 songs (13 if you happened to buy the Japanese import with a bonus song) had 'Solex' in the title. Solex All Licketysplit was the sole single release from Solex vs. The Hitmeister and it's a wonderful statement of intent and a possible comment on the trials and tribulations of signing with a record label, 

As soon as I got a paycheck
You ask me to make it high tech
And to bleach my flecks.
Tabloids will be all over it
Do you think I should be timid?
All licketysplit

"Upswing,
Plaything!"
That's very flattering

"Brand new!"
And that's just a preview

"One-two!"
I wouldn't know how to...

As soon as I got a paycheck
You ask me to make it high tech
And to bleach my flecks.
Tabloids will be all over it
Do you think I should be timid?
All licketysplit

"Upswing,
Plaything!"
That's very flattering

"Brand new!"
And that's just a preview

"One-two!"
I wouldn't know how to...

I wouldn't know how to...
I wouldn't... 

As soon as I got a paycheck
You ask me to make it high tech
And to bleach my flecks.

I've only just discovered that a video was made to accompany Solex All Licketysplit, directed by Birgit Rathsmann and Bruce Alcock. It's a bonkers couple of minutes of jump cuts, rapid editing, freight trains, bridges, rivers and Elisabeth bouncing around in a variety of brightly coloured clothes. All absolutely in sync with the song's character.

I loved the album and I had the good fortune to see Solex live in concert around the time. I've long lost the ticket and there's no info online to narrow down the date but I think it would have been late 1998, more likely 1999. What I do remember is that it was in the bowels of The Thekla, a former cargo ship permanently moored in Bristol's floating harbour and which I'd only known as a gig/club venue (it's still around and going strong, I'm happy to report).

Gigs in The Thekla, certainly in the 1980s and 1990s, were cramped, sweaty but energetic affairs and Solex was no exception. I saw Elisabeth carting her kit on stage, performing a great gig and then heading off to staff the merch stall afterwards. All de rigeur, I guess, but it just made me like Solex even more. 

To update the discography, Solex went on to release a further two albums. Amsterdam Throwdown King Street Showdown! was a collaboration with Cristina Martinez and Jon Spencer, released in 2010. Solex Ahoy! The Sound Map of the Netherlands followed in 2013. In a 2019 interview, Elisabeth referred to working on a new album that she hoped to release the following year. The subsequent COVID pandemic as well as the usual obstacles of recording and releasing a record have inevitably had an effect but I really hope it sees the light of day as I'm interested to hear what Solex in the 2020s would sound like.

Here's a link to my previous Solex post from July 2021, including an hour-long DJ mix from 2007 and the aforementioned 2019 interview.

Watching, Not Wanting

Side 2 of a mixtape, compiled 8th August 1998.

 

Some dirty, downtempo beats for you today, with a selection of tracks from the 1996-1998 period. Goodness knows how I managed to squeeze this onto a C90 cassette side, but...

Starting off with a superior demo of Blue Mug by GusGus, which subsequently appeared on their 1999 album This Is Normal and ending with a swampy remix of Massive Attack's Teardrop by Primal Scream, featuring the superlative vocals of Liz Fraser. In between, you get a couple of early 90s rappers - Justin Warfield and MC Tunes - in their respective new groups, One Inch Punch and Dust Junkys. 

 

Solex vs. The Hitmeister was one of my favourite albums of 1998 and Solex aka Elisabeth Esselink was a great live act, as was Laika, both of whom I saw at the time, to undeservedly modest audiences.

 

New Forms by Roni Size Reprazent was ubiquitous in 1998, yet more than lived up to the hype around it. The same can be said for When I Was Born For The 7th Time, Cornershop's 'surprise' hit on the back of a number 1 single with Brimful Of Asha.

 

I only have this one single by Rare and undoubtedly bought it for the Justin Robertson remix, not included here, but quite liked the other versions on the CD. As an added bonus for fact fans, Rare was a short-lived band from Derry, Northern Ireland, featuring none other than John O'Neill (credited as Seán Ó'Néill), formerly of The Undertones and That Petrol Emotion. The following year, Rare disbanded, The Undertones reformed without Feargal Sharkey, and continue to this day.

 

1) Blue Mug (Demo Version): GusGus (1998)

2) Metaphysics (ft. Mannish): One Inch Punch (1996)

3) Watching Windows (Album Version): Roni Size Reprazent ft. Onallee (1997)

4) Looking For The Jackalope (Single Version): Laika (1997)

5) The Foundation (Album Version): Thievery Corporation (1996)

6) Your Selfish Ways (Album Version By Mark Van Hoen): Locust ft. Zoe Niblett (1997)

7) What Is Happening: Cornershop (1997)

8) Solex In A Slipshod Style: Solex (1998)

9) Mind My Make-Up (Dust Junkys Remix): Finitribe ft. Katy Morrison (1998)

10) Seems Like (Bang Bang Mix By Xavier Jamaux): Rare (1998)

11) Teardrop (Scream Team Remix): Massive Attack ft. Elizabeth Fraser (1998)
 

Side Two (46:56) (Box) (Mega)

Kinesthesia

Side 1 of a mixtape, compiled in 1998 for my brother and his wife, probably as a Christmas/New Year gift. 

 

The selection is essentially my 'favourites of 1998', with one or two in-year purchases thrown in for good measure. Two of the standout albums for 1998 were Like Weather and Solex vs. The Hitmeister, whilst UNKLE finally delivered their debut as an artist, Psyence Fiction, which had a impressive line-up of guests and almost - but didn't quite - live up to the hype. However, it delivered an outstanding video for Rabbit In Your Headlights and remix by 3D from Massive Attack.

 

Singles-wise, Cornershop's Sleep On The Left Side included a brace of great remixes from Ashley Beedle, plus the none-more-80s retrofit from Les Rythmes Digitales aka Stuart Price, back when he was masquerading as French DJ Jacques Lu Cont. 

 

Opening track To Ulrike M. appeared on a Select magazine promo CD; the single itself featured remixes by Zero 7 and Tosca (aka Richard Dorfmeister & Rupert Huber), which I've still yet to hear. Every time I hear this track I remind myself that I need to track down a copy, then promptly forget. This has been going on for over two decades now.

 

Likewise, the Jungle Brothers remix is another that popped up on a promo CD in 1998, this time Melody Maker, and may well have been the first music I'd heard by Midfield General aka Skint label head Damian Harris. The line-up of remixers for the single is a snapshot of 1998: Stereo MCs, Natural Born Chillers, Da Beatminerz, Hardknox, even The Fugees.

 

A couple of songs were criminally relegated to B-side/EP status, namely Barry Adamson's cinematic cover of Da Juice's 1991 club track Hear The Angels and another track tucked away on the multi-format release of Mansun's Being A Girl. I wasn't a particular fan of Mansun, although I liked the lead track, but I bought one of the two CD singles specifically for Railings, written by and featuring a guest vocal from Howard Devoto. You may not be surprised to read that, in my opinion, it's Mansun's finest song.

 

Today's photo was taken in St. John's Lane, a side street in Gloucester that leads from the main shopping area and in a roundabout way eventually connects to the cathedral and garden, where I'll often spend a lunch break, when I'm working in the city. The main grafitti quotes Martin Luther King from a speech he gave in St. Louis on 22nd March 1964. 

 

You'll have to zoom in to see it, but I was struck by the handwritten note stuck on the boarding to the left of it, which reads (sic) "If you are readin this, you and your vehicle? are being recorded on C.C.T.V." Judging by the hand prints and stains around the notice, this apparently was an irresistible invitation for some. I hope the C.C.T.V. captured their best side...

 

1) To Ulrike M. (Original Mix): Doris Days (1998)

2) Behind The Mask (The Orbital Remix): Yellow Magic Orchestra (1992)

3) Sleep On The Left Side (Paris) (Les Rythmes Digitales' Living By Numbers Mix By Stuart Price): Cornershop (1998)

4) Madam, Your Carriage Awaits: Bentley Rhythm Ace (1998)

5) Hear The Angels (Cover of Da Juice): Barry Adamson (1996)

6) Rabbit In Your Headlights (3D Mix-Reverse Light) (Remix By Robert Del Naja & Neil Davidge): UNKLE (1998)

7) Something: Leila ft. Luca Santucci (1998)

8) Brain (Midfield General Remix By Damian Harris): Jungle Brothers (1997)

9) There's A Solex On The Run: Solex (1998)

10) Railings: Mansun ft. Howard Devoto (1998)

 

1992: Hi-Tech / No Crime: 2

1997: Brain EP: 8 

1998: Being A Girl EP: 10

1998: Can't Get Loose EP: 5

1998: For Your Ears Only: 4 

1998: Like Weather: 7

1998: Rabbit In Your Headlights EP: 6

1998: Sleep On The Left Side EP: 3 

1998: Solex vs. The Hitmeister: 9

1998: To Ulrike M. EP: 1

 

 

Side One (46:14) (Box) (Mega)

Say Captain, Say What

Elisabeth Esselink is a Dutch musician, DJ and artist known as Solex. Named after her cat, in turn named after a Hungarian motor scooter/bicycle hybrid, Solex first appeared on my radar with her debut album on Matador records in 1998, Solex vs. The Hitmeister. I saw her perform live to a small crowd in the bowels of the ship-cum-venue The Thekla in Bristol around 1999 (I think). Solex released several more albums after that, either self-released/solo or in collaboration with the Maarten Altena Ensemble, Cristina Martinez & Jon Spencer, the last being Solex Ahoy! The Sound Map Of The Netherlands in 2013. Apart from a remix of Psychopath by St. Vincent in 2014, Esselink has worked predominantly on sound & music for TV, although a 2019 interview promised a new album "next year". We all know what happened in 2020, but I hope that we will see more music from Solex in the near future.

There was a Solex website running in the noughties, which included a free download cover version of The Stooges' 1969 as well as a number of DJ mixes. This one dates from 2007, a 1980s-influenced excursion. None of the mixes included a tracklisting and, to be honest, I haven't a clue what half of the songs are. However, amongst them, you'll find J.J. Cale (twice) with Lean On Me and Right Down Here, Italo disco with La Bionda's I Wanna Be Your Lover, the 'Mutant Dance Move' mix of Move On by Fashion, Pump Up The Volume by M/A/R/R/S, The The's epic Giant and, giving the mix it's title, the 12" version of Wot! by Captain Sensible. All together, just over an hour of fun.

 

Say Captain, Say What (2007) (1:05:45) (KF) (Mega)

 

Psychopath (Solex Remix): St. Vincent (2014)

1969 (Cover of The Stooges): Solex (2002) (available to buy on Bandcamp) 

2019 interview with Elisabeth Esselink on the Polish website Porcys (in English)