Five Go Mad For Friday

Some tracks from the corners of the internet you might not delve into to brighten up this Friday in April with little tying them together other than they all caught my eyes and ears recently. 

First, from January 2025, a German band called Magic Source releasing on Favourite Recordings, a label based in Paris- a funky jazz/ disco cover version of A Guy Called Gerald's Voodoo Ray. 

There's an argument that Voodoo Ray is the best British house/ dance record, the numero uno of UK dance music. Magic Source manage to bring a freshness to Voodoo Ray, a quirkiness that makes it bounce- the ooh ah ahh vocals, the funked up glockenspiels, the springy rhythm, the synth squiggle four minutes in, all in all a certain je ne sais quoi to a track that began life in the Crescents in Hulme in late 80s Manchester. 

Magic Source pair Voodoo Ray with Interplanetary Bounce, their own composition, light on its feet and looking to boogie. Find both at Bandcamp. 

Next, from Nottingham and the Coyote duo is an EP that goes heavy on their recent dub excursions. Nag Champa is three tracks, led by Fittest, a Balearic/ dub crossover with toasting, rolling hand drums and whistles. Nag Champa Dub follows, a Nyabinghi- inspired slow and low cut, psychedelic Jamaica with melodica. The final of the three is Teacher, less dub, more chilled Balearica, with one of those expertly selected vocal samples that Coyote are so good at finding- 'whatever resonates, resonates... no big deal... there's nothing you have to do, this is the wonderfulness of consciousness'. The Nag Champa EP is at Bandcamp. 

Thirdly, Coco Steel and Lovebomb put out this at the end of March, a full on acid party track, totally infectious and sonically superb. E1 AC1D0 is sheer joy- a rocking breakbeat, acid squelch, birdsong, female vocal, six minutes of summer come early. Find it here. 

Finally, another cover- Kenneth Bager and Le Bacoll with a dance/ Balearic cover of R.E.M.'s What's the Frequency, Kenneth? The first time I clicked on this I wasn't sure about it at all- and left it alone for some time. I can easily see that some R.E.M. fans may see it as sacrilege but it's grown on me, I can see it causing a fuss on certain dancefloors at certain times and I'm pretty sure Michael Stipe would be out there shaking his arse to it. 

This is the remixed version of Kenneth from the 2019 remix of Monster, a record that producer Scott Litt went back to and remixed. The 1994 version of Monster was full of guitars and Michael Stipe's voice was low in the mix, there was a sense of murkiness about some of the songs and as the group stepped out for their arena tour a vague feeling that the album hadn't quite nailed it. I don't think anyone in the band was especially keen for Litt to remix the record in 2019, or even asked for it, it was one of those things that just happened and was interesting enough. Weirdly, what maybe sounded off in 1994, sounds just fine now. But the companion version is an interesting listen regardless. 

Litt's version of Kenneth pushes everything to the fore, Stipe's vocal included, strips the guitars a bit and makes the drums louder. The rhythmic pull of Bill Berry's drums is odd on this version, he seems to be holding the song back rather than letting it go. 

What's The Frequency, Kenneth? (2019 Remix)

Monday's Long Songs

Sewell And The Gong's Patron Saint Of Elsewhere is one of my most played LPs of this year, a beautifully lightfooted, reflective collection of instrumentals finding a sweet spot somewhere in the middle of folk, Balearic and cosmic ambient. Quiet Storm, one of the album's seven tracks, has recently been released as a pair of remixes. Manchester's Ruf Dug, DJ, producer, radio show host and label boss, turns in a wonderful six minute and forty eight seconds long version, beautifully weighted ambient with some deep bass and a bell. A vocal sample warns of the perils of anger and its power to cause division. 

After that there's an even longer Chris Coco remix, nine minutes of slow motion Balearica with bubbling bass, storm clouds and thunder, chanting, acoustic guitar and eventually- wait for it- a massively slowed down shout of 'Can you feel it?', borrowed from Mr. Fingers, that sent shivers up and down my spine the first time I heard it. 

Get the remixes and the original at Bandcamp. 

September Songs

Few months mark the start of something new as much as 1st September does, a real change in the seasons, change of mood, new phase of the year,  the whole back to school routine (which as someone who has worked in education since the early 90s is very much part of my annual rhythm). 

In 1984 Ian McCulloch tested the water for a solo career with a single released under his own name, outside the Bunnymen with a cover of Kurt Weill's September Song. Weill's song looks forward to autumn coming...

'But it's a long, long while from May to December
And the days grow short when you reach September
And the autumn weather turns the leaves to flame
And I haven't got time for waiting game

And the days dwindle down to a precious few
September, November
And these few precious days I'd spend with you'

September Song (Long Version)

In 1987 David Sylvian released a solo album, Secrets Of The Beehive which had this song to open it, one minute and seventeen seconds of David and piano. For David, the inevitability of September and the changes it brings are shot through with melancholy...

'The sun shines high above, the sounds of laughter
The birds swoop down upon the crosses of old grey churches
We say that we're in love while secretly wishing for rain
Sipping Coke and playing games

September's here again'

September

Much more recently, in 2021, Chris Coco and George Solar released September On The Island, a tribute to Ibiza after all the tourists have gone home...

September On The Island (Dub Version)

The Chill Out Tent

There are a slew of interesting and musically wide ranging compilation albums hitting the shelves at the moment, both digital and physical releases, so much music that it feels difficult to keep up sometimes. In recent weeks I've been delving into various Various Artist albums- Luke Una presents E Soul Cultura, the Spun Out Agency's More Of That Frightful Oompty Bumpty Music, Paul Hillery's We Are The Children Of The Sun and The Chill Out Tent Volume 1 to name but four. Eventually I'll get round to posting something about each of these, but I'll start today with the last one- The Chill Out Tent Volume 1. 

The 1990s/ early 2000s really marred the chill out compilation CD. More often than not just an excuse for some identikit blandness to play in a bar while wearing bad sunglasses- it became a very debased concept, piles of double CDs destined for bargain bins in motorway service stations. The Chill Out Tent compilation, put together by the Chill Out Tent crew, is a very strong attempt to renew the concept with a twelve track album of Balearic/ dance/ dub/ reggae tracks, based around what they call 'acid house hippy'. There's so much to enjoy inside it the compilation- all exclusive to the album- from opening pair of songs onwards, starting out with the sitars and dub burblings of Calm's Summer Night Dream and the Uptown Top Ranking sampling of Turbotito's To Feel In Love. Balearic DJ and producer Chris Coco contributes remixes and versions on six of the twelve songs with his remix of Sauco's Sun Goddess and a collaboration with Hear And Now both already sounding like high summer and his remix of Projections Original Cell is drifting, ambient/ Balearic bliss (I've posted some of Projections music before here). The album finishes with a song from Mallorca by Joan Bibiloni, five minutes of sounds to watch the sun go down to- whistles, hand drums, Spanish guitar, synths. Nottingham's Balearic duo Coyote are on there too. Home Grown is a beauty, slowly edging forward with keys and padded drums, in no hurry to get to it's destination. 

The Chill Out Tent Volume 1 can be bought here, out in full at the start of July. 

Earlier this year Coyote released a new EP on French label Citizens Of Vice, two new tracks- As The Crow Flies and Steely Dad (song title of the year alert). It came with some remixes including this one of As The Crow Flies by Chris Coco, which has some of the most heart tugging, happy/ sad piano chords you'll have the pleasure of hearing today. Buy it here if you're so inclined.

Tears And September

Two slices of late summer Balearica from the reliable hands of DJ/ producer/ musician/ journalist Chris Coco, perfect for this sweltering September heat wave. I sat in the garden last night, the sky an inky deep blue and the trees silhouetted in black against it. It was still 25 degrees centigrade, hotter than it was in August. There are some bats that flit over the garden- you catch them out of the corner of your eye as they zig zag left and right. They brighten my day up every time I half see them. 

Back to the Balearica. First is Chris Coco with George Solar and their Lagrimas De San Lorenzo, a blend of spaced out synths, warm summer sounds and some jazzy guitar. Proper back garden watching the bats against the night sky in the heat music.

The Coyote remix is even better. I can't find a Youtube clip for it so you'll have to go to Bandcamp to listen to it- you can do that here. Coyote, a Notts DJ/ producer duo, have been everywhere I turn this year and an album is due out shortly. The remix slows things down, stretches it out and finds a very cool groove. 

Chris and George released this recently too, a dub version of September On The Island, a tribute to Ibiza when the season has ended and the beaches are empty. Nice work if you can get it. Low slung Balearic dub with a lovely wandering trombone part. Buy it here. 

Cicada Interlude

Chris Coco's Balearic/ ambient/ found sound/ folktronica label has just announced the release of a four track EP by Nick And Samantha called Summer Is Here, a release which leads with a cover of Barry White's You're My First, the Last, My Everything- but you can't hear that yet. Instead they've trailed it with a forty five second track called Cicada Interlude, which is pretty much just cicadas doing their thing and some echo/ FX. And who wouldn't enjoy that on a Saturday morning in the middle of August? I know I do. 

Get it here. 

Which reminds me of this 1995 samples and funky organ single by Beastie Boys' keyboard player and repair man Money Mark...

Insects Are All Around Us

When All This Is Over

A new Bagging Area mix for Sunday, an optimistic sounding one now that the days are getting longer and the summer seems to be just round the corner. A lot of these songs have been posted here recently individually but they sounded good together. I'm not sure there's a huge amount of cause for optimism with the continuing, ceaseless flow of bad news, bad government and virus rates increasing but maybe it's best to turn the news channel off for a while and unplug. It's at Mixcloud, it won't embed but you can find it here. 

As the voice says in the opening Coyote song, 'when all this is over.... I plan to go north...' 

• Coyote: Café Con Leche
• Private Agenda: Malanai Ascending (Seahawks Remix)
• Chris Coco: Rainy Season
• Reinhard Vanbergen and Charlotte Carulaerts: Julien
• Primal Scream: Inner Flight
• Justin Deighton and Leo Zero: I Feel Edit
• Cantoma: The Mountain (Lexx Remix)
• HiFi Sean Ft. Yoko Ono: In Love With Life
• A Certain Ratio: Berlin (album version)
• Coyote: Feedback Valley
• Future Beat Alliance: Birth (Claude Young Remix)

Rainy Season

My internet friend/ Balearic overlord Dr Rob tipped me off to this, a new album from Chris Coco. Jamu is six tracks long and inspired by the island of Bali. The music was made in lockdown, the tracks passed around a group of friends, each playing their parts based on the original grooves and soundscapes, building on what the person before had added. At the end Chris edited it all together. It's been the soundtrack to my evening walks this week, the light lasting a little later, the crescent moon very bright and low in the sky and a welcome distraction from all the nonsense life and work sends your way. The album is here. Album opener Rainy Season is an immersive experience (especially through headphones), voices scattered in the mix with traditional instruments and ambient sounds.