Life's A Flow

I've had a MP3 of Amoriphous Androgynous' half-hour set at The Creation Of Peace Festival in Russia on 30th August 2008 for several years and was convinced that I'd previously posted the video here, but apparently not.

The Creation Of Peace Festival (this was the first) took place in Kazan, capital city of the republic Of Tatarstan, located in Eastern Europe. The packed line-up included the Adrian Belew Trio, White Flag, Manu Chao, Eddie Jobson, Tony Levin and Patti Smith. Audience numbers reportedly hit 250,000

Sets were reported kept to 20-30 minutes, culminating in a 15-minute jam of All You Need Is Love and Whole Lotta Love, with pretty much everyone packed on stage.

So, all things considered, Amorphous Androgynous were a perfect addition to the line-up.

Half an hour, half a dozen songs, guest vocals from Alisha Sufit and the finale a classic from The Future Sound Of London catalogue.

Mind-blowingly brilliant.

1) The Mello Hippo Disco Show (Slo-Mo / Life's A Flow

2) The Lovers

3) Riders (On The Circadian Rhythm) 

4) All Is Harvest

5) Elysian Feels

6) We Have Explosive

Release The Beats

Immersed as we are in end of year round ups and best ofs, I'm swimming with the current and today's 64-minute selection rounds up some choice choons from the year to date. 

A couple of these tracks have appeared on previous selections, but are too good not to bring back in. 

Like Fire by Airsine came out on the ever-excellent Paisley Dark Records label in March and I've been obsessed with it ever since. Today's selection meaning that I've now posted all four versions from the EP, every one a winner, as they say.

Speaking of fire, Leo Zero has been on fire (musically speaking, not literally) with a truckload of releases that haven't skimped on quality. June saw Nebulon Systems Vol. 1, a 20-track monster of an album, with Orangutan placed smack dab in the middle, at track ten. Not only a great album, but a ridiculous bargain at £4.00 for the lot.

Another mind-boggling bargain was the Powder Wax Vol. 2 EP by Jesse Fahnestock, revisiting his 10:40 alias, whilst also delivering a dizzying array of music in 2025 with Darren Bell as Jezebell. 

Powder Wax Vol. 2 arrived in February as a 'name your price' purchase, comprising two songs, Beneath The Waves and Miracle Me. Both appeared on 2025 highlights selections in March and May, and Beneath The Waves makes a welcome return here.  

Pye Corner Audio have frequently dropped a new track in time for Bandcamp Friday, always an automatic 'add to cart' come the day. The Deep Cut appeared in March, one of five new standalone tracks in 2025, all of this calibre.

Orange Sunshine was originally on a flexi 7" with limited vinyl quantities of Hifi Sean and David McAlmont's album Twillight. In April, Orange Sunshine appeared as a standalone single, featuring rapper Sawlty (and David's nephew). Feel it!

In 2024, sLEdger provided Fluke with a superb remix of Fluke's single Real Magnificent. June saw the favour returned, with Jon Fugler and Mike Tournier's remix of Tweeba, sLEdger given a refreshing Fluke rinse. Wonderful stuff.

I've continued with The Future Sound Of London's 'calendar' compilations of outtakes and unreleased music for a few years now, and still get a buzz when each monthly link arrives, building up a 12-track collection by year end. PSUN K arrived in November, the penultimate piece from another cracking collection.

August saw the return of Puerto Montt City Orchestra with And We'd Be So Happy, a lovely slice of Balearic sunshine with a spoken word vocal by Kitty Salter, the daughter of band member Tim. The initial single was backed with The Cruel Mistress Mix, included here, with two further remixes from Balearic Ultras and downtownLOOP arriving a fortnight later. Sounds just as good in winter as it did in summer.

Fluke's spectacular comeback continued with May's release of I Wanna Be, a bouncing, life-affirming single in it's original form, and given a fantastic dub rinse by Justin Robertson's Five Green Moons. I am over the moon (all five of 'em) to have new Fluke music in my life.

Wrapping up this final round up of 2025's beautiful beats is Tambores En Benirras, who I splurged my cash on during Bandcamp Friday earlier this month, snapping up the entire catalogue in one go. It was worth every penny, not least for the trio of remix EPs accompanying the album Ondas Horizontales. 

It was almost impossible to pick just one, but I've settled with Steve Cobby's nine-and-a-half minute revision of Extensor Entregado from the inaugural EP. Highly recommended!

1) Like Fire (Mindbender Remix By Mårten Attling): Airsine

2) Orangutan: Leo Zero

3) Beneath The Waves: 10:40

4) The Deep Cut: Pye Corner Audio

5) Orange Sunshine (Single Version): Hifi Sean & David McAlmont ft. Sawlty

6) Tweeba (Fluke Remix By Jon Fugler & Mike Tournier): sLEdger

7) PSUN K: The Future Sound Of London

8) And We'd Be So Happy (The Cruel Mistress Mix): Puerto Montt City Orchestra ft. Kitty Salter

9) I Wanna Be (Justin Robertson - Five Green Moons Remix): Fluke

10) Extensor Entregado (Steve Cobby Remix): Tambores En Benirras

Release The Beats (1:04:11) (GD) (M)

More 2025 beats on prescription via these previous Dubhed selections: 

28th March: It's A Glamorous World 

11th May: Doused In Dopamine

4th July: Staring Into Air

9th August: Is It Obvious? Or Is It Delirium?

Decadance II: 1992

Side 1 of a mixtape mockery, focusing on the 1990s and today in particular, 1992. It's also Dubhed post number 1,400, whatever that's worth.

 

1992 was a weird year in that, after a few years working and travelling, I decided to go back to college. I originally went to college straight from school, had a really crap time, dropped out half way through and vowed 'never again'. How fickle we human beings are, eh?

 

It was slightly better the second time around, although my outsider status was maintained by being older than the majority of my fellows, though I would hesitate to describe myself as a 'mature student'. Mature I most definitely was not. 

 

I wasn't even the oldest student there. That dubious honour was reserved for a forty-something woman in my English Literature class who frequently expressed her frustration at the juvenile antics of her peers.

 

I wouldn't say that I had the time of my life, but I enjoyed the classes, liked most of the people, fell in love with a girl, and got to make some horrendous fashion choices on a daily basis. Oh, and I had a part-time job so that I could afford to run a car and have a social life. Critical, considering that I was back home living with my parents out in the sticks.

 

Music-wise, I was out of sync with my contemporaries. The college jukebox was great, but invariably had Nirvana, Soundgarden or Pearl effing Jam on constant rotation. Whenever I got the opportunity, I would stick on Don't Fight It, Feel It by Primal Scream, the 7 minute Andrew Weatherall Scat Mix on the B-side, naturally, Denise Johnson's voice resounding around the room to general indifference. Philistines!

 

Today's eclectic selection reflects the times and my tastes. I was still leaning heavily into dance music (literally, on some club nights when I'd been at it for hours without a break) but I was still knocked for six by a new indie tune. I was just as inclined to listen to Pete Tong's Essential Selection as I was John Peel or Annie Nightingale's Request Show.

 

Opening song, the Kate Bush-sampling Something Good by Utah Saints is the only one from 1992's Top 40 best-selling UK singles, scraping in at #36. 

 

Another sacrilegious sample carries Messiah's Temple Of Dreams, it's shameless lift of This Mortal Coil's cover of Song To The Siren giving Elizabeth Fraser an unexpected (and uncredited) #20 hit in June 1992.

 

Less contentious is Orbital's use of Kirsty Hawkshaw's la la la's from Opus III's It's A Fine Day on the sublime Halcyon. The dictionary definition "denoting a period of time in the past that was idyllically happy and peaceful" is in keeping with the tone of the tune. However, the song is dedicated to Phil and Paul Hartnoll's mother, who was addicted to the tranquilliser Halcion (Triazolam) for many years.

 

A couple of songs were technically contenders for the previous year. Lithium first appeared on Nirvana's gargantuan album Nevermind in 1991, but wasn't released as a single until the following July. 

 

Hit by The Sugarcubes was officially on sale as a single on 30th December 1991, though it's prophetic (optimistic?) title was fulfilled a couple of weeks later, in January 1992.

 

Whilst you are thankfully spared big hitters (is that a typo?) by Whitney Houston, Boyz II Men, Jimmy Nail, Wet Wet Wet and Billy Ray Cyrus, a ridiculously big shortlist means that R.E.M., Beastie Boys, PJ Harvey, Suede and Neneh Cherry also failed to make the final dozen.

I had to find a place for Julian Cope, though. The Arch Drude released his magnum opus Jehovahkill in 1992, and lead/sole single Fear Loves This Place is as good a single as Julian's released at any point in his career. 

1992's MAW (Mandatory Andrew Weatherall) is Papua New Guinea by The Future Sound Of London, a ground breaking song in it's own right, transformed into an 11-minute aural odyssey by Mr. W. As with Finitribe last week, even the 3-minute edit featured here (found on the B-side of the 7" single) is epic.

 

Representing indie discos were a couple of absolute classics, the minute they burst onto the airwaves. Weirdo by The Charlatans, with it's juddering intro that sounded like the noise my car made, trying to get it started on a cold morning, remains one of my favourites by Tim and the band. 

 

As for The Auteurs, what better song than Showgirl as a statement of intent. How was this not a huge hit in 1992?!

 

Rounding things up, The Age Of Love released their eponymous single multiple times though it was another five years before it became a UK hit. 1992 however saw the debut of the superb remixes by Jam & Spoon, which for me remain the definitive versions of the song.

 

Bassheads burned briefly but brightly, and I thought they were great. A clutch of singles, an album and a handful of remixes and that was it. Back To The Old School is itself now old school, yet still gets the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. And when the beat kicks in... perfection.

More Nineties nonsense tomorrow. Who will win? Who will lose? And which Weatherall shall I choose?

1) Something Good (7-Inch): Utah Saints ft. Doctor Douglas
2) Weirdo (Album Version By Flood): The Charlatans
3) Hit (Album Version): The Sugarcubes
4) Showgirl (Single Version): The Auteurs
5) Back To The Old School (Edit): Bassheads

6) Temple Of Dreams (U.S. Edit By Messiah & Ralph P. Ruppert): Messiah

7) Halcyon (Edit): Orbital

8) Papua New Guinea (Andrew Weatherall Mix) (7" Edit): The Future Sound Of London

9) The Age Of Love (Jam & Spoon Radio Edit): The Age Of Love

10) Lithium (Album Version): Nirvana

11) Fear Loves This Place (Album Version): Julian Cope

12) Hallelujah (Leftfield Edit): Inner City

19th January 1992: Stick Around For Joy (#17): 3

19th March 1992: Weirdo EP (#19): 2

5th April 1992: Hallelujah '92 EP (#22): 12

24th May 1992: Papua New Guinea EP (#22): 8

31st May 1992: Back To The Old School EP (#12): 5

21st June 1992: Something Good EP (#4): 1

28th June 1992: Temple Of Dreams EP (#20): 6 

26th July 1992: Nevermind (#11): 10

27th July 1992: The Age Of Love EP (# n/a): 9

20th September 1992: Radiccio EP (#37): 7

18th October 1992: Jehovahkill (#42): 11

November 1992: Showgirl EP (# n/a): 4

Side One (46:09) (GD) (M)

Themes For Cryonic Suspension

Liquid Cool by Apollo 440 popped onto my playlist, prompting a discovery on YouTube of the accompanying video for the single from three decades ago. A bit disappointing to be honest (the video, I mean) but a testament to modest budgets and what you can come up with when all you've got is a corridor, a gurney, a chair and a small box of props and costumes.

 

To give the song it's full 'proper' title, Liquid Cool (Theme For Cryonic Suspension) closed side 1 of Apollo 440's debut album Millennium Fever in 1993 and a remix appeared on the B-side of the Rumble EP the same year.

In September 1994, a promo triple pack 12" started doing the rounds, following by the then de rigeur single release across two CDs, all packed with remixes. 

 

I bought the latter shiny discs, containing 9 versions in total, which Additive Sphere has thoughtfully collected as posted as one album-length experience.

 

Probably a bit much as a single listening experience but, mindful of that, there are jumping on points for each of the individual mixes. Deep Forest was very much in vogue at the time so you get three from them (tracks 2, 6 & 8). Of more interest to me at the time were the remixes by The Future Sound Of London and Jah Wobble, the latter dipping into drum 'n' bass waters, whilst the legendary bass floats over the top. 

 

There are a couple of versions by Apollo 440 themselves and rounding out the CD package, two by Rhythm Of Space, the Space Colonization Remix providing nearly 14 minutes of deep techno. 

 

The second is titled Space -320°F Biostatic Ambient Mix Part 1 and is just over eleven minutes of, you guessed it, dub-heavy ambient sounds. As the title suggests, it's a truncated version of the full-length excursion to be found on side 4 of the promo 12" vinyl and runs to twenty four and a half minutes. Ultra evolution? Not half!

Still Dripping Onto My Tongue

Side 2 of a cassette compilation recorded 13th January 2003. A return trip to the early-to-mid 1990s with some mid-week bangers.

 

The first of a double bill of The Grid on this side, Dave Ball and Richard Norris remixing one of Dublin's finest, Fionán Martin Hanvey aka Gavin Friday. You Me And World War Three was a single from Gavin's criminally underrated album, Shag Tobacco. 

From Dublin to London via Bristol as Way Out West rework Lucky Monkeys... well, it's Fluke really, using an alias to release the rather tip top tune Bjango on another label. Bjeautiful bjeats, one might say.

Next up a game of "Where's Bryan?" as Monsieur Ferry's cover of a Screamin' Jay Hawkins classic gets remixed beyond recognition by The Future Sound Of London. There were two Yage mixes on the CD single, one at 5 minutes and the 'Long Version' featured here just tipping the 10 minute mark. 

Shades Of Rhythm are Nick Slater, Kevin Lancaster and Rayan Hepburn. In 1991, they released Sound Of Eden on ZTT, with a re-release featuring a ton of remixes following a couple of years later. The Coco, Steel & Lovebomb Mix featured here is from the re-release (CD single). It's the only Shades Of Rhythm record that I own, but I've just discovered that they've been steadily releasing music from the archives on Bandcamp for the last couple of years, so I will check it out.

Back to The Grid with standalone single Diablo from 1995, featuring the vocals of another Dubhed favourite, Vanessa Contenay-Quiñones. Similar in tone to mega hit Swamp Thing, replacing the Deep South for Mexico, Diablo didn't match the success of the former but I never tire of hearing this song, especially in the full length version included here.

Rounding off this side is Rising High Collective aka Plavka Lonich and Caspar Pound. Caspar sadly passed in 2004, only 33 years old. Plavka has continued in music, both as a collaborator - most famously with Jam & Spoon - and as a solo artist. Her latest single, In The VIP, was released last month and you can find Plavka's recent releases on YouTube.

 

1) You Me And World War Three (Armageddon Mix By The Grid aka Dave Ball & Richard Norris): Gavin Friday (1996)

2) Bjango (Way Out West 'Bjangin' Dub) (Remix By Nick Warren & Jody Wisternoff): Lucky Monkeys (1996) 

3) I Put A Spell On You (Yage Mix Long Version By The Future Sound Of London aka Brian Dougans & Garry Cobain) (Cover of Screamin' Jay Hawkins): Bryan Ferry (1993)

4) Sound Of Eden (Coco, Steel & Lovebomb Mix By Chris Mellor): Shades Of Rhythm (1993)

5) Diablo (Acapulco Gold Mix By Dave Ball & Richard Norris): The Grid ft. Vanessa Contenay-Quiñones (1995)

6) Liquid (Perry & Rhodan Mix By Ralph Hertwig & Tommi Eckart): Rising High Collective (1994)

 

Side Two (45:55) (KF) (Mega)

Side One here

All You Need Is Dub

As a Bank Holiday special here in the UK, here's both sides of a mixtape I compiled on 5th September 1993. Nearly thirty years ago. What happened?

I've recorded two compilations called All You Need Is Dub, this one on cassette and the other in 2005 on CD-R, both very different selections. The latter was more rooted in old school dub and it's influence on later artists. This mixtape is very much all about electronic music circa 1990-1993, vocals dubbed to a minimum or removed altogether to enhance the dancefloor experience.

 

Setting the bar high is Andrew Weatherall's still jaw-dropping remix of Papua New Guinea by The Future Sound Of London. The 12" single was packed with top notch mixes but this one was on another tier altogether. 

 

Fearlessly following up are the Hartnoll Brothers, Phil and Paul adding a heft to Daydream by Back To The Planet that makes me wish the band had got Orbital to remix more of their music. I first got this on 7" vinyl, the flip side to the original version and an Adrian Sherwood dub. Probably paid less than a couple of quid for it at the time. What a bargain.

Miranda Sex Garden were on the Mute record label but always felt more suited to 4AD. This remix by Danny Rampling only appeared on the 12" single along with a couple more mixes, including another rather good one by Thrash aka Kris Weston of The Orb.

I'd like to pretend I was so on it that I picked up the Palatial single by Love Corporation aka Edward Ball of The Times. Not a chance. However, Creation Records were good at ensuring you didn't miss out by putting out a shedload of compilations that mopped up lots of essential purchases. This version turned up on Do You Believe In Love? released in 1990, the same year as the single. Palatial II was originally a B-side and perhaps in the shadow of Danny Rampling's monumental remix, but I like this mix by Doug Martin a lot.

 

After several attempts with What Time Is Love?, The KLF finally released a chart-smashing version in 1990. I went for the limited edition 12" single which featured an unexpected remix by Echo & The Bunnymen. Much as I'd love to imagine Ian McCulloch at the controls, he was long gone by this point and this is the unloved incarnation that released the Reverberation album which hasn't quite been erased from Bunnymen history. The remix is credited to the band but I'm guessing it maybe largely if not solely Will Sargeant's work. Lots going on, with sitar and tabla replacing the main chord, fuzzy guitar, Star Trek transporter SFX, soundbite samples including Gordon Rollings' "Herbidacious" from a beloved TV series from my childhood. Great stuff.

From Bunnymen to Bowie, with his 1992 comeback single and one of three remixes by Leftfield, who at the time were embroiled in record label shenanigans that prevented them from releasing new music of their own and resulted in some astonishing remixes for other artists. Their 'Dub Oddity' mix of Jump They Say was one of three but (hard) hands down, the best.

Sunsonic were born from the ashes of The Flowerpot Men, who I also liked a lot, though sadly even more short-lived, producing a brilliant album (Melting Down On Motor Angel) and three fantastic singles in 1990. Driveaway was their last, the main single remixed by Graham Massey/808 State, the limited edition 12" single reworked by the band themselves. The Primate Mix strips away the vocals, ups the tempo and adds sparkling synth lines to great effect. 

 

Cabaret Voltaire took what many considered a back step in 1989/90 by making a commercial album that seemed rooted in the present music scene rather than setting the pace for others to follow. Regardless, I loved what they were doing although even I questioned the choice of Easy Life as the third and final single. No matter, the remixes were great including the suitably named Very Strange Mix by Robert Gordon of Forgmasters/Fon Force fame (oh, and a co-founder of Warp Records). 

 

White Love by One Dove was one of those singles that I bought in multiple formats as it was impossible to choose just one. The CD single included Andrew Weatherall remixes and a beautiful 10-minute demo version, whilst the limited edition 12" single featured a brace of Slam remixes that redefined epic. This mixtape features the first of these, a fifteen-and-a-half minute journey from ambient to vocal to techno and back again without ever seeming like it's time to end. Still stunning today.

 

Happiest Girl was one of two new songs accompanying the single release of World In Your Eyes by Depeche Mode. To be honest, I wasn't all that blown away by the single or 12" versions until I bought the (you guessed it) limited edition 12" single. It was a sod to get into, sealed in a blue plastic outer sleeve that you had to physically cut to retrieve the record inside, which included a 'standard' 12" and lavish inner sleeve. Goodness only knows how much the band lost on this one. But the music within was a revelation, not least The Pulsating Orbital Mix of Happiest Girl. Not to be confused with Phil and Paul, who appeared earlier, this was Alex Paterson and Kris Weston aka The Orb, who also had a habit of using the word Orbital in their mix titles to confuse the heck out of we mere record-buying mortals. The Vocal Mix is more readily available these days and pops up on most compilations. No offence Dave Gahan, but this is the go-to mix for me.

 

System 7 had already made an impression with their debut album and singles and 7:7 Expansion was an encouraging primer for the new material that was to follow in 1992. Youth aka Martin Glover delivers a brilliant 10-minute mix with vocal samples echoing Buffalo Gals by Malcolm McLaren and trademark guitar squalls from Steve Hillage. 

 

And back to where we started with the Dub Mix reprise at the end, Brian Dougans and Garry Cobain remixing their own song in succinct fashion.

 

The majority of these versions were only available on vinyl formats back in the day and many have yet to be re-released digitally and/or duplicated in my collection. In other words, there's a fair bit of crisp and crackle in several tracks, betraying their wax origins. I don't think any of it detracts from how bloody good the music is though. 

 

Side One

1) Papua New Guinea (Andrew Weatherall Mix): The Future Sound Of London (1991)

2) Daydream (Orbital Mix By Paul Hartnoll & Phil Hartnoll): Back To The Planet (1993)

3) Gush Forth My Tears (Dance Mix By Danny Rampling): Miranda Sex Garden (1991)

4) Palatial II (Remixed By Doug Martin): Love Corporation (1990)

5) What Time Is Love? (Echo & The Bunnymen Mix): The KLF ft. The Children Of The Revolution (1990)

6) Jump They Say (Dub Oddity Mix By Leftfield aka Neil Barnes & Paul Daley): David Bowie (1992)

Side Two

1) Driveaway (Primate Mix By Sunsonic aka Adam Peters & Ben Watkins): Sunsonic (1991)

2) Easy Life (Very Strange Mix By Robert Gordon): Cabaret Voltaire (1990)

3) White Love (Slam Mix By Stuart McMillan & Orde Meikle): One Dove (1993)

4) Happiest Girl (The Pulsating Orbital Mix By The Orb aka Alex Paterson & Kris Weston): Depeche Mode (1990)

5) 7:7 Expansion (Conspiracy Mix By Youth): System 7 (1992)

6) Papua New Guinea (Dub Mix By Brian Dougans & Garry Cobain): The Future Sound Of London (1991)

Side One (46:35) (KF) (Mega)

Side Two (46:04) (KF) (Mega)

Altered States

A 20-track, 80-minute journey through cosmic consciousness, courtesy of The Future Sound Of London. 

A seemingly random but well-timed comment last weekend coincided with an idea that had been percolating in my mind for a while. In response to the Stuff compilation CD I posted, blureu enquired,

"Have you ever done a The Future Sound Of London compilation post? Just curious. Thanks!"

My immediate thought was, "Yes, lots!", so I was quite surprised that whilst Brian Dougans and Gary Cobain have featured here regularly, they've only had one selection dedicated to their own work, in August 2021. Even then, it was a relatively brisk (under an hour) selection of remixes of other artists as either The Future Sound Of London or The Amorphous Androgynous. You can find that post and selection here.

 

I was suitably inspired to have a go at creating a new selection and, I'll be honest, I'm really pleased with it. One of those mixes where each track was offering itself up whilst the previous one was playing; the sequencing is my first take, no changes, no fancy mixing, quite a lot of edits and overlays and...I love it.

 

I also surprised myself with some of the track choices and the feel of the selection overall. It was an entirely intuitive mix so whilst I expected to include Lifeforms or Cascades, for example, I instead found myself choosing Max from 1996's Dead Cities or an obscure John Peel session from 1992 or a FSOL remix of Candese, one of their many aliases and collected on the essential Earthbeat compilation.

It's also given me the opportunity to share a few tracks from their annual calendar series, which I've subscribed to for the past few years. 

This one inevitably is for blureu - thanks, I got a real buzz from creating this selection.

1) Eyes Pop - Skin Explodes - Everybody Dead (Live ISDN Transmission From The Kitchen, New York) (1994) 

2) Elaborate Burn (1994)

3) Max (1996)

4) Papua New Guinea (Mellow Magic Maze Mix By Patrick Woodcock & Pierre Begon-Lours) (2001)

5) Papua New Guinea (Andrew Weatherall Mix - 7" Edit) (1992)

6) Hidden Sign (2008)

7) Space Hippy (John Peel Session) (1992) 

8) Deconstructed Room (2019)

9) We Have Explosive (Pt. 1-outro / Pt. 2-Remix By Leon Mar / Pt. 3-intro) (1997)

10) Day One (FSOL Cosmic Jukebox Mix v1): Deadly Avenger (2002)

11) 100 Baby Spiders (2008)

12) You Took My Love (Earth Mix By The Future Sound Of London): Candese (1991)

13) Mango Tree (Version) (2007)

14) Papua New Guinea (Translation 8: The Big Blue) (2009)

15) Utterance (2020)

16) Are They Fightin Us (1994)

17) Slow Photo (2017)

18) Opk Machines Trx M2 (2022)

19) Zen Jenny (2021)

20) Calcium (Album Version) (1991)

1991: Accelerator: 20

1991: You Took My Love EP: 12

1992: Papua New Guinea EP: 5

1992: The BBC Sessions EP (bootleg): 7

1994: ISDN: 1, 16

1994: Lifeforms: 2

1996: Dead Cities: 3

1997: We Have Explosive EP: 9

2001: Accelerator / Papua New Guinea Mix Anthology (2x CD): 4

2002: We Took Pelham EP: 10 

2007: From The Archives Vol. 3: 13

2008: From The Archives Vol. 4: 6, 11

2009: Papua New Guinea Translations: 14

2020: FSOL Calendar 2020: 15

2021: FSOL Calendar 2021: 19

2022: FSOL Calendar 2022: 8, 18

2023: FSOL Calendar 2023: 17

Altered States (1:22:28) (Box) (Mega)

Hep Hop Excursion

Side 2 of an arguably more 'chiller' than 'chill out' compilation tape, recorded circa July to September 1996.

 

This selection is weighted towards acts from or based in my birthplace Bristol - Massive Attack, Tricky, Carlton, Earthling - and recorded following (and possibly as a reaction to) the proliferation of trip hop compilations in 1994/1995. The term trip hop was apparently coined by Andy Pemberton in June 1994 and first appeared in Mixmag when he reviewed DJ Shadow & RPM's single In/Flux. However, it also became seemingly inextricably linked with "The Bristol Sound", even though many of the tagged artists either had already or would soon transcend such a label.  

 

Renegade Soundwave deliver a suitably spine-tingling take on Pop Will Eat Itself's Underbelly. I remember hearing this over the Virgin Megastore PA when PWEI's remix album Two Fingers My Friends! was released and it was enough for me to shell out for the limited edition 2CD there and then. 

 

Another album I bought on spec, having read about but not heard, was ISDN by The Future Sound Of London although I knew exactly what I was letting myself in for. ISDN is a 15-track album edited together from various live broadcasts that FSOL had transmitted during 1994 to radio stations all over the world using ISDN networking, then a relatively new technology. 

 

Hot Knives featured on the initial limited edition (of 10,000) "cruciform velcro-sealed embossed card case with separate card sleeve". What the Discogs description doesn't mention is that visually ISDN is also a dead ringer for Spinal Tap's Smell The Glove (or original motion picture soundtrack album, if you're a pedant). ISDN was reissued six months later with a more conventional sleeve design and jewel case and a slightly different tracklisting, swapping out three tracks from the original issue, including Hot Knives.

Scorn was formed in 1991 by Mick Harris and Nik Bullen, both ex-Napalm Death and quite far removed from the music of their former band. I only have two CDs by Scorn, the Deliverance EP and Ellipsis. Both are remix projects so possibly unrepresentative of Scorn’s output as a whole, but sphincter-troubling electronic music all the same. By the time of Ellipsis, Scorn had become a solo vehicle for Mick Harris, the album mostly remixing tracks from their last album as a duo, 1994's Evanescence. I have no idea what the original version of Night Tide sounds like but here Scanner aka Robin Rimbaud rebuilds the track around his trademark use of mobile phone and police radio scanners to disturbing effect.

Finally, an honourable mention for several of my favourite chanteuses, all featured here with standout tracks: Martina Topley-Bird, Róisín Murphy, Sarah Cracknell and Tracey Thorn.

 

If you're feeling the heat again today - a peak of 33°C is expected in my neck of the woods - then stick this on for 45 minutes and you may start to experience shivering and goosebumps, which may help.

1) Underbelly (Renegade Soundwave Blackout Mix): Pop Will Eat Itself (1995)

2) Aftermath (Version 1): Tricky ft. Martina Topley-Bird (1994)

3) 1 To 1 Religion (Skankapella Remix By Dobie): Bomb The Bass ft. Carlton (1994)

4) Dominoid (Radio Mix): Moloko (1996)

5) Hot Knives (Live ISDN Transmission, VPRO Radio, Netherlands): The Future Sound Of London (1994)

6) Night Tide (Scanner - "Flaneur Electronique" Mix): Scorn (1995)

7) Gone (Alter Ego Decoding Gone, Pt. 2): David Holmes ft. Sarah Cracknell (1995)

8) Protection (7" Edit): Massive Attack ft. Tracey Thorn (1994)

9) Nefisa (Faraway Moses) (Remix By Plunderphonics): Earthling (1995)

1994: 1 To 1 Religion EP: 3

1994: Aftermath EP: 2

1994: ISDN (limited edition first issue): 5 

1994: Protection EP: 8

1995: Ellipsis: 6 

1995: Gone EP: 7 

1995: Nefisa EP: 9

1995: Two Fingers My Friends!: 1

1996: Dominoid EP: 4

Side Two (45:13) (KF) (Mega)

Octogintennial

Happy 80th birthday, Dad. 

I've recorded various mixtapes over the years to variously appease or expand my Dad's musical tastes, none of which are featured here today. Instead, today's selection is topped and tailed with a song from the year of his birth and the current year, sandwiching 1994, the year that my Dad was 52, the same age that I am now.

This has proved to be quite an enlightening shortlist and an odd tribute insofar as I can pretty much guarantee that my Dad will have hated (and would still hate) every track between #'s 2 to 11. If I'm honest, I don't think he'd be that bothered by The Alabama Singers or Andy Bell either. 

 

Dad's record collection was meagre but introduced me to Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis and, for a bit of nostalgia, Glenn Miller. Oh, and he loved a bit of Status Quo. I'm saying all this in the past tense as I don't think he particularly listens to music these days, bar what's on the radio whilst driving or the latest hapless schmuck shuffling onto stage in the latest "talent" show on TV.

 

Dad hated (and probably still hates) Julian Cope's music, especially World Shut Your Mouth, so our musical differences were apparent quite early on. Thinking about what I subjected him to, musically-speaking, at the age of 52 - I temporarily moved back in with my folks between bedsit moves in 1994 - I feel I've got off lightly so far with my daughter, who has yet to subject me to comparable aural challenges.

 

Weather-permitting, we'll be joining other family members today in my parents' back garden celebrating Dad's milestone achievement. If it's pissing down with rain, the party's off and we'll be forming an orderly queue to celebrate indoors in a one-in, one-out basis, a sign of these post-Covid cautionary times with vulnerable loved ones.

 

Happy birthday, Dad, with lots of love...and apologies for subjecting you to my eclectic music taste for at least half of your life so far. There's more to come.

 

1) Jesus Met The Woman At The Well (Cover of traditional song): The Alabama Singers (1942) 

2) Jacob Street 7am: The Sabres Of Paradise (1994)

3) 1st Transmission (Album Version): Earthling (1994)

4) Middle Class Revolt (Album Version): The Fall (1994)

5) Heat Miser (Album Version): Massive Attack (1994)

6) New Dawn Fades (Single Version) (Cover of Joy Division): Moby (1994)

7) Riddimwize (Part II - Re-Assess Your Style) (Remix By Nick Manasseh, Martin Madhatter & Peps): Danny Red (1994)

8) Freak Like Me (Dub Instrumental) (Remix By Mass Order): Adina Howard (1994)

9) Fall (Voyage To The Bottom Of The Dub Remix By Noko 440 aka Norman Fisher-Jones & Stuart Crichton): Single Gun Theory (1994)

10) It's My Mind That Works (Live ISDN Transmission @ The Kitchen, New York): The Future Sound Of London (1994)

11) Dead Eyes Opened (Re-Opened) (Remix By Robert Racic & Kathy Naunton): Severed Heads ft. Edgar Lustgarten (1994)

12) Lifeline: Andy Bell (2022)

 

Octogintennial (54:52)