Forty Minutes Of Music Inspired By Jodrell Bank

We had a day out at Jodrell Bank yesterday, home of the Lovell telescope which has been sending radiowaves into space since 1957 playing a huge part in our understanding of space. The dish is enormous, once the largest in the world, still the third largest. It moves too so it can be pointed in any direction. We saw it move while we were there, rotating round the track it sits on, which was actually really exciting. 

A new visitor centre has been built since we were last there and is full of brain frying information about the universe, galaxies, pulsars, black holes, quasars and dark matter. It's a humbling place to visit and spend a few hours at, the vastness of space and what's out there compared to the smallness of us and what's down here. There are several artistic responses too which neatly connect science and art, space and poetry. Frighteningly the UK Research and Innovation agency have decided to cut Jodrell Bank's funding from April 2028 and without this the facility- pioneering scientifically, grade 1 listed and a UNESCO world heritage site- may close down. 

I had two major takeaways from the masses of information we read. The first was that when we see light coming from space, the stars for example, we're actually looking back in time- the light is coming from hundreds/ thousands/ millions of years ago and is only reaching us now so what we are seeing has already happened. Jodrell Bank identified the Crab Pulsar, a supernova explosion seen and recorded in China in the year 1054, recorded at the time as a 'guest star' that was bright enough to be seen for several days during daylight. The second was that when we tune between TV or radio channels about 1% of the noise we hear that the antennae pick up is actually 'the fading glow of the Big Bang'. 

The phrase 'the fading glow of the Big Bang' stuck with me for some time. On the way back some of what I'd been reading about and seeing at Jodrell Bank made connections with music and songs and this hastily thrown together mix is a response to that. Musically it's all over the place in the first half but then settles into a dance music groove.

Forty Minutes Of Music Inspired By Jodrell Bank

• Beth Orton: Galaxy Of Emptiness
• Ride: Pulsar
• Timothy J. Fairplay: Dreams Of Andromeda
• Mr Fingers: Qwazars
• Kolsch and Gregor Schwellenbach: Cassiopeia
• Sub Sub: Space Face

Jodrell Bank and the Lovell telescope have conducted research into galaxies and clusters, including gravitational lensing studies of galaxies (the bending of light from a distant source as it travels past a massive object such as a galaxy or galaxy cluster, apparently). 

Beth Orton's Galaxy Of Emptiness is from her album Trailer Park in 1996, a track mixed and produced by Andrew Weatherall and Keith Tenniswood in their studio under the flight path at Hounslow. Sonically it's incredible, all space, detail, Weatherallian FX and Ali Friend's double bass ricocheting down the line. Lyrically, it's vast and tiny, cosmic existentialism. Loss. 

A pulsar is a pulsating star, a highly magnetised rotating star that is emitting beams of radiation out of its magnetic poles. Galactic lighthouses. 

Ride's Pulsar was the lead song on their Tomorrow's Shore EP, released in 2018. I'm not sure the post re- union Ride have recorded a more exciting song than Pulsar. It is in their own words, 'a space anthem' about light, existence and trying to get home. 

The Andromeda Galaxy is the nearest major spiral galaxy to our own, the Milky Way, located about 2.5 million light years away and sometimes visible to the naked eye. 

Timothy J. Fairplay's Free Andromeda album came out on Hoga Nord in 2022, a very fine nine track selection of synth electronics and drum machines. Worth revisiting if you haven't spun it for a while. 

A quasar is an extremely bright and distant, active galactic nucleus, powered by a super massive black hole. I'm typing this but I'm not sure I fully understand it. But I like the idea that there are things that are much bigger than us that we can only stare at in wonder. 

Mr Fingers came back with Cerebral Hemispheres in 2018, cosmic acid/ dance music. Qwazars was a stand out, a rotating synth pattern and chord change that is utterly hypnotic.

Cassiopeia is a constellation in the northern sky. It's five brightest stars form a W in the sky, visible to the naked eye. A section of the Milky way runs through it containing a number of young luminous galactic disc stars and nebulae. 

Kolsch's Cassiopeia came out in 2014 with piano and strings by Gregor Schwellenbach. Minimal, emotive 2010s house music. 

The Lovell Telescope appeared on the sleeve of Sub Sub's Space Face, a 1991 record that blew up in clubs at the time not least The Hacienda, thundering breakbeats and Balearic pianos with an aptly chosen sample, 'My god, it's full of stars' (taken from a 1984 film called 2010- The year We Make Contact). Sub Sub were local boys, from Wilmslow, just down the road from Jodrell Bank. As I'm sure you know, a few years later after a fire that destroyed their studio/ rehearsal space on Blossom Street in Ancoats they became Doves. In 2011 they played an acoustic gig at Jodrell Bank in front of the Lovell telescope. Here they are playing a Bagging Area favourite, Kingdom Of Rust. 

Touch Me With Your Love

The recent Disco Pogo Tribute To Andrew Weatherall book has a section on many of Andrew's remix and production work, along with interviews with the artists involved from the earliest days (Hallelujah and Loaded) to Andrew's last released remix (GLOK's Cloud Cover). In between, much else is covered including a part on the production and mixing Andrew and Keith Tenniswood did for Beth Orton, that resulted in three songs that came out on Beth's album Trailer Park. Beth talks glowingly of the time spent in the Two Lone Swordsmen studio and the work the three of them created together. Beth had already recorded the basis of the three songs- Galaxy Of Emptiness, Tangent and Touch Me With Your Love- with some top musicians including the wonderful double bass of Red Snapper's Ali Friend. Andrew and Keith took the three songs and set about remixing them in the studio with Beth recording new vocals on the spot. They way Beth describes it, it all sounds very organic and natural, easy and creative. 

My go to from Trailer Park is usually Galaxy Of Emptiness, ten minutes of spaced out, cosmic existential splendour. But I went back to the other two and Touch Me With Your Love particularly sounded superb- it was almost like listening to it anew. 

Touch Me With Your Love

Ali's double bass, woody and vibrating, sits at the centre. Around it Andrew and Keith weave a rich and detailed sonic tapestry, whirrs and clicks, FX, acres of s-p-a-c-e and Beth's distinctive voice, everything sprinkled the Weatherall magic dust. Trailer Park, as much as any other record from 1996, invented folktronica- a clumsy label but a fitting one and one that she seems happy to accept. Beth says that at the time she wished that Andrew and Keith could have done the entire album but it wasn't to be and she's OK with that- those three Weatherall/ Tenniswood produced songs on Trailer Park are more than enough. 

Oblique Saturdays

A series for Saturdays in 2026 inspired by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt's set of cards, Oblique Strategies (Over One Hundred Worthwhile Dilemmas). Eno and Schmidt created them to be used to unblock creative impasses and approach problems from unexpected angles. Each week I'll turn over an Oblique Strategy card and post a song or songs inspired by the suggestion. 

Last week's Oblique Strategy suggestion was Be less critical more often. 

This took me to San Pedro's Minutemen and their 1984 album Double Nickels On The Dime. The Oblique Saturdays collective weighed in various critical/ non- critical suggestions- Bob Dylan's Don't Think Twice, It's Alright (Trail Of Bread), Lyle Lovett and A House (Ernie Goggins), Herbie Hancock and Miles Davis and the incredible self- taught shambling proto- punk/ indie of The Shaggs (Rongniss), Dodgy (John Medd), George Bean and The Runner Beans (Rol- deftly avoiding Alexander O'Neal), Boo Radleys (Al G), Whitney Houston (anonymous), and Mojo Nixon (Chris ZenArcade).

This weeks Oblique Strategy card reads simply this- Water. 

For musicians in the studio I can picture numerous responses to this as they change their playing, use samples and found sounds. My response was much more literal songs with Water in the title. Ironically, given the multiple heatwaves we've had this summer, the falling water levels in reservoirs, drought warnings and scorched grass, there is no shortage of water at Bagging Area. This a selection of water songs, mainly lesser heard and less well known ones...

First up, Sordid Sound System, Los Angeles via Glasgow's Optimo and a 2022 EP Neon Noir- very persuasive electronic music, chunky and percussive with watery synths. The text accompanying the EP quotes Raymond Chandler-

'I drove on almost to Malibu and then parked and went and sat on a big rock that was inside somebody's wire fence. It was about half-tide and coming in. The air smelled of kelp and glowed like neon noir. I watched the water for a while and then I pulled a string of Bohemian glass imitation pearls out of my pocket and cut the knot at one end and slipped the pearls off one by one.

When I had them all loose in my left hand I held them like that for a while and thought. There wasn't really anything to think about. I was sure.

"To the Gods below," I said aloud.
I flipped her pearls out into the water one by one. I was as hollow and empty as the spaces between stars." 

Falling Out Of Water

From 2020, Dreems and Shark Water, an Australian exploration into the deep blue seas on the other side of the world....

Shark Water (Abyss Mix)

Two from Factory. Kalima emerged from Swamp Children, becoming Kalima in 1983 and making several records, latin and jazz based excursions. Black Water is moody, slinky and cool and then the vocal comes in and lifts it up a level (from their 1986 album Night Time Shadows)...

Black Water

The members of A Certain Ratio were deeply involved with Kalima. In 1981 ACR put out Water Line, a 12" that is the early ACR sound honed to perfection- taut but rubbery bass, skittery drums, otherworldly production, the sense of something being not quite right...

Water Line

Andrew Weatherall and Michael Smith's Unreal City has been here fairly recently, a 2013 ambient/ soundtrack/ spoken word project, that found Andrew and Nina Walsh providing soundscapes for Michael to read passages from his book over.

On Water Music Michael finds his way into London from the Kent coast into the city and down some steps to the side of the Thames. Michael sees 'light on the water, lights from the Millenium dome... lights from the sugar factory at Silvertown...'...

Water Music

Lastly, back to the recently departed William Orbit and his 1993 evergreen Water From A Vine Leaf. Water From A Vine Leaf was remixed by Underworld not once but three times, in total well over twenty minutes of 1993 trance house techno. 

Part 1 is the go to- chopped up synth squiggles, synthetic horns, chunky drums, widescreen cinematic progressive house that deals in hypnosis and delivers euphoria. 

Water From A Vine Leaf (Underworld Mix Part 1)

Part 2 is a twelve minute trip into the Orbit/ Orton/ Underworld dreamworld, a spaced out, relatively stripped back bubbling psychedelic adventure- Beth's vocals are FXed and looped, the pace is slow, there are tropical birds, a very loose guitar line and layers of synths. Chilled restraint is the order of the day on Part 2. 

Water From A Vine Leaf (Underworld Mix Part 2)

Feel free to drop your own responses to Water into the comment box. 

William Orbit RIP

On Friday news arrived of the death of William Orbit. He died on the 23rd of July aged 69 and leaves behind him a rich, wild and varied back catalogue of music that reaches from the early 80s underground to worldwide fame and success with Madonna and All Saints via some essential acid house and ambient records. His trademark sound- bubbling, liquid, in motion, widescreen and trippy, like staring at a sunflare- lit up a huge number of artists, his own music and production and remix work for others. In some ways 69 seems young but he packed a lot into those years and lived the life to go with it. Until recently he was still producing, reworking and revisiting his own music and releasing it as an album on Bandcamp titled WFO and an EP called Starbeam in 2021. 

This fifty minute mix contains some of the big hitters from his back catalogue with that Orbit sound running right through the middle of it. 

Fifty Minutes Of William Orbit

• William Orbit: The Story Of Light
• One Dove: Breakdown (William Orbit Stereo Odyssey)
• William Orbit: Water From A Vine Leaf (Xylem Flow Mix)
• Torch Song: P2E Remix
• Les Negresses Verte: Zobi La Mouche (William Orbit Remix)
• The Shamen: Hyperreal Orbit
• Madonna: Ray Of Light (Liquid Mix)
• Bassomatic: Fascinating Rhythm (Soul Odyssey Mix)

The Story of Light is an ambient classic from William's third album in his Strange Cargo series, Strange Cargo III, produced at Guerilla Studios while he was knee deep in the Guerilla Records label, one he set up with Dick O'Dell and John Gosling. Progressive dub house records clad in a distinctive camouflage sleeve. The Story of Light is bubbly and warm, a swirly sound with chunky drums and bass, pianos and guitars and a 'let your love shine on me' vocal refrain.

One Dove are no strangers to this blog, Morning Dove White and its singles being at the core of my musical life. Andrew Weatherall's production and William Orbit's remix on Breakdown are a perfect 1993 combination. 

Water From A Vine Leaf was a single and also the centre piece of Strange Cargo III with Beth Orton on vocals. Epic, swirling, liquid ambient acid house. There were several essential remixes, Underworld's twelve minute thumper for one and the Xylem Flow mix I've included here by Spooky, as good as anything else that came out in '93. If you want a new version of Water From A Vine Leaf, San Francisco producer Marshall Watson has one here, his Endless Motion Edit. 

Torch Song were Orbit's first outfit, an early 80s ambient/ electronic he formed with Laurie Mayer and Grant Gilbert. P2E Remix was featured on Andrew Weatherall's 200 compilation Nine O'Clock Drop which brought a number of early 80s bands back to the surface, A Certain Ratio, 400 Blows, Shriekback, Quando Quango, Chris & Cosey among them. 

Les Negresses Vertes are/ were a French band, alternative rock/ folk from Paris- they were sometimes referred to as the French Pogues. Orbit's remix of Zobi La Mouche is a fantastic record, just the right amount of Balearic/ acid house edge added to the original- I played it not that long ago in one of our sets at The Golden Lion and it sounded superb on the Lion's sound system. Paul Oakenfold was listening- he borrowed some of it for his remix of Happy Mondays' WFL.

The Shamen's Hyperreal came out in 1990, a key moment for the group as they shifted from psychedelic guitars and samples to full on electronic. Massive techno- pop/ house with multiple remixes. 

In 1997 William Orbit when overground with Madonna, becoming the producer on what's probably her best album, Ray Of Light. The title track along is a huge record, soaring, adult pop. Orbit sometimes went further in the studio than Madonna wanted him to, producing endless versions and remixes. The Liquid Mix is a wonderful synth- pop version of Ray Of Light. The song took four and a half months to create, Orbit returning to the multi tracks time and time again, adding, mixing, removing, remixing, playing guitar, manipulating sounds, repairing broken computers- all worth it in the end. His work with Madonna began when he remixed Justify My Love in 1990, a remix and song that are both such a key part of 1990. 

Also in 1990 Bassomatic appeared on BBC 2's Dance Energy, miming to Fascinating Rhythm in front of a youthful and enthusiastic crowd. 

Bassomatic was William Orbit's breakthrough, a late 80s/ early 90s house/ acid house collective that took him to the charts. Fascinating Rhythm is one of 1990's best singles, totally of its time but enduring too- chunky, optimistic pop with acid house and rap sewn into it. There's a bass heavy Renegade Soundwave remix I nearly included but this version, a piano led Balearic elegy felt right for he finale and to remember him by. 

RIP William Orbit. 

Barbed, Feathered, Reeled, Skinned, Snappered

Red Snapper have an exciting and busy 2025 ahead of them. The band Ali Friend and Rich Thair started with David Ayres in 1993 celebrate the 30th anniversary of their 1995 album Reeled And Skinned, an album that was one of '95's highlights from Beth Orton's voice on Snapper and the extended ten minute guitar freak out In Deep to the endless groove of Sabres Of Paradise remix of Hot Flush. The re- issue on vinyl and digital is on Warp and expands the album out to ten songs, with the extra track Area 51. The re- issue is out this Friday- find it at Warp's Bandcamp. 

Reeled And Skinned's fusion of electronics with live double bass, drums and percussion, guitar and keys/ synth saw them cross between smoked out trip hop, rocking jazz, funk, Afro, surf, dub, sci fi blues and all points in between. They head out on tour this week, starting in Swansea on Thursday and finishing in Glasgow on the 29th March. I saw them at The Golden Lion two summers ago, a venue they're playing again this time around, and they rocked the house, the full band sound bouncing round the pub, Ali's double bass and Rich's drums always leading the way. 

They also have a new album coming out in April, Barb And Feather. Last year they released an EP called Tight Chest, four tracks led by a collaboration with David Harrow, the superb dubbed out sounds of  Hold My Hand Up...

Those four tracks are going to be on the new album along with four other new ones, recorded by the rocking and raucous Red Snapper live outfit. The breadth and power of the four new songs shows a band not just trading on former glories but in the flow of a creative period, new songs to stand alongside the old ones. Opening track Ban- Di- To is a riot, the sound of 1940s jump blues welded to fuzz guitar, horns and Zoot suits a- go- go, punchy and funky, infectious, pounding rhythms. Tolminka slows things down, basement blues, a cinematic noir sound with echo, sax and spindly guitar. It's followed by Sirocco, the groove coming together slowly, clipped guitar and jazzy percussion and then a wonderful snaking, descending sax line. The EP closes with a cover they played live on the last tour, Bowie's Sound And Vision, the stand up double bass bubbling away, a stew of instruments providing the song's famous melody lines and Ali's vocals playing off against the horns. Lovely stuff. Hear Ban- Di- To and find Barb And Feather at Bandcamp. 

As a bonus here's The Thin White Duke, David Bowie himself, in Tokyo in 1990 playing Sound And Vision, teeth gleaming white and hair in a perfect quiff and Adrian Belew on guitar, for the enjoyment of a stadium of Japanese Bowie fans. 

Forty Five Minutes Of Beth Orton

A couple of weeks ago I was crate digging in Altrincham, flicking through a box of records that even though it was outdoors smelt like it had been recently recovered from a damp garage. In among the finds and the rejects was a Beth Orton 10" single, Touch Me With Your Love, from 1996. Weirdly while the sleeve was in bits, water damaged and splitting at the seams, the record was in really good condition and though there was no inner sleeve around the disc the free postcard (a black and white photo of Beth) was inside with the record. The 10" single had four songs, the title track (from her debut album Trailer Park), an instrumental version, the B-side song Pedestal and a live version of the epically beautiful Galaxy Of Emptiness recorded at the Shepherd's Bush Empire in November 1996. I took it along with a copy of Bruce Hornsby And The Range's The Way It Is on 12", a compilation of Pentangle on Pickwick Records from the late 1960s and Warm Leatherette by Grace Jones, paid my tenner and shuffled off. 

As a result, a Beth Orton Sunday mix seemed to be a good idea. 

Forty Five Minutes Of Beth Orton

• Galaxy Of Emptiness
• It's This I Find I Am
• Bobby Gentry
• Touch Me With Your Love
• Anywhere (Two Lone Swordsmen Remix)
• Water On A Vine Leaf (Underworld Mix Part 1)

Galaxy Of Emptiness is the ten minute closer from Beth's debut Trailer Park, an Andrew Weatherall produced epic, with Red Snapper's Rich Thair and Ali Friend on brushed drums and stand up double bass. It's one of Weatherall's greatest 90s productions, full of space and atmosphere.

It's This I Find I Am was the B-side to the Someone's Daughter single from 1997, another Weatherall production and a bit of a lost gem. 

Bobby Gentry, named after the singer of 60s classic Ode To Billie Joe, came out a 2003 compilation that followed her Daybreaker album called The Other Side Of Daybreak. It's been a favourite of mine since I first heard it twenty years ago, a cinematic beauty with strings and heartbreak lyrics including this piece of poetry- 'Collecting dead rainbows/ From puddles and mires/ Taking them home to warm by the fire'.

Touch Me With Your Love was a 1996 single as mentioned above, CD and 10" vinyl on Heavenly. 

Anywhere was remixed by Two Lone Swordsmen, with some superb Keith Tenniswood programming, Beth sent into electro heaven, TLS remix gold. Anywhere was on Daybreaker, Beth's third album from 2002. There were Adrian Sherwood and Photek remixes too.

Water On A Vine Leaf was one of Beth's first vocal appearances, the result of studio time with William Orbit. This single from 1993 is one of the year's and William Orbit's best. Some of the songs Beth and William worked on resurfaced on Trailer Park under different names. There are several remixes that are right up there in terms of 90s acid house/ progressive house brilliance, three from Underworld and the Xylem Flow remix by Spooky. I could have chosen any and went for Underworld's Part 1 mix. 

Fate's Faithful Punchline

A few weeks ago Nina Walsh rediscovered and shared a YouTube playlist made my Andrew Weatherall when he and Nina were doing Moine Dubh (the record label they formed to put out weird, off kilter folk music based in Crystal Palace). Nina said Andrew often forgot his usernames and passwords for YouTube and was constantly having to create new accounts- it's nice to know that's something that affects top DJs and producers as well as the rest of us. The playlist, Dubh Drops, is here and features an array of acts including Cheval Sombre, The Shadow Project, Hungry Ghosts, Amanda Palmer and Edward Ka- Spel, The Black Ryder, Dean Wareham, Rose City Band, The Carpenters and Negative Lovers. It also includes this gem by The Legendary Pink Dots...

Fate's Faithful Punchline

Led by finger picked acoustic guitar and Edward Ka- Spel's echo- drenched voice and eventually some strings, Fate's Faithful Punchline is moving, gorgeous and elegiac psychedelic folk. The Legendary Pink Dots are an Anglo- Dutch group, formed in London in 1980 and have since then released forty- seven albums, twenty- six live albums and forty- eight  compilations. And you thought The Fall were prolific. 

I included Fate's Faithful Punchline on my latest mix for Tak Tent Radio which went live at the weekend, an hour of songs that you can listen to here at Tak Tent or here at Mixcloud. Andrew Weatherall's fingerprints are to be found elsewhere in the mix in the form of his remix of The Impossibles from 1991 and a Beth Orton song he produced that was a B-side on the Someone's Daughter CD single. 

• Alex Kassian: Spirit Of Eden
• Martin Duffy: Promenading
• Eden Ahbez: Full Moon
• 10:40: Ninety- Now
• Coyote: Nothing Rests
• David Holmes: No- One Is Smarter Than History
• Gal Costa: Baby
• The Impossibles: The Drum (Andrew Weatherall Remix)
• A Certain Ratio: Houses In Motion (Version 1)
• Ultramarine: Stella
• Beth Orton: It’s This I Find I Am
• The Legendary Pink Dots: Fate’s Faithful Punchline

Water

John Medd is the author of the Are We There Yet?, a blog I have been visiting for years, a treasure trove of music, photography, art, reports on travels and adventures and slices of life. John has set himself the target of using the first post of each month in 2023 to set himself a photography challenge. On 1st January he went for numbers and posted three photos all depicting the number one (here). He sent me a message to ask if I'd like to join in and I said I would. February's theme is water. The water above is the reservoir at Rivington Pike, part of the West Pennine Moors near Bolton and Chorley (although it could easily in that picture be part of a Scandi- noir or gothic horror. Don't go into the woods. Or near the reservoir). 

Despite being inland we're blessed with water round here although it's fairly industrial in nature. I thought for John's water themed first of the month post I'd give you a short tour of the waterways we have near us. The Manchester ship canal runs from not far north of here to meet the Mersey and then onto Liverpool, the gateway to the world during the Industrial Revolution. Again to the north of us, a short walk away, is one of Manchester's three rivers, the Mersey. We can walk along the Mersey in either direction. Heading east the river runs to its source in Stockport, disappearing under the Mersey shopping centre. The point shown here is under the M60 near Northenden. 

Manchester's other two great rivers are the Irwell and the Medlock. This is the Medlock as it runs through the southern edge of the city centre, the dirty old town of legend caught on camera. 

This is the Irwell running past Peel Park in Salford, behind the university, a point where the river is wide and slow. Historically it marks the boundary between Manchester and Salford. It runs west where it feeds into the ship canal. The picture here was taken last September, when everything was a bit greener than it is now.

Half a mile to our east we have the Bridgewater Canal, an extension of the first canal in the world (which can be found at Worsley) built by the Duke of Bridgewater to transport his coal to Castlefield to sell. The Industrial Revolution was born there, Manchester's entire reason for being kick started by coal (and then cotton). Today the canal seems pretty clean and is used by narrow boats. When I walk down the towpath I often wonder about the pleasures and drawbacks of living on a narrow boat (storing thousands of records and books being the chief drawback). This photo is also from last summer. 

Today's water theme gives me a chance to extend my recent immersion into the world of Underworld in the 90s. In 1993 they remixed William Orbit's Water From A Vine Leaf, an epic track even before Darren Emerson got his hands on it. Part 1 is twelve minutes long, massive chunky drums and a synth horn sample, the bassline coming to the fore at points and then the piano riff leading the way. In the second half the piano becomes a tinkling topline, Beth Orton's vocal appears and it's all very much perfect 90s progressive house. 

Water From A Vine Leaf (Underwater Mix Part 1)

Part 2 starts out slow, Beth's voice chopped up and a stuttering synth part dropping in and out. Gradually it slips into a groove, the elements building up in layers, Karl Hyde's guitar on top, but it's a very chilled and dubbed out affair

Water From A Vine Leaf (Underwater Mix Part 2)

Straight To Your Heart

It is two years ago today that Andrew Weatherall died aged just 57 and it seems right that this blog pays tribute to him on the occasion- his work and music has contributed to 602 posts here, well over 10% of my postings. At The Flightpath Estate (a Facebook group that I'm co- admin of) there is a semi- regular feature called Sunday Social, a Sunday evening comment thread with a theme where anyone can chip in. A few weeks ago there was an event at the (real) Social in London with David Holmes DJing, a launch party for the pair of Heavenly compilations of Andrew's remixes of the labels acts. Many of the Flightpath's membership attended and on the Sunday night the Social was a thread where we suggested and posted links to songs and tracks that might make the ideal accompaniment for a hangover/ sore head/ comedown. The mix below is a group effort, the suggestions on the thread from the Sunday night. I've stitched them all together into one mix, an hour and a quarter of songs and tracks produced, written or remixed by Andrew plus one from Radioactive Man, Andrew's collaborator in Two Lone Swordsmen, Keith Tenniswood, in solo mode. It's slow and low, a downtempo mix, ambient in places, dubby in others and song based in yet more, laid out maybe rather than laid back. I hesitate to say it's Weatherall in chill out mode but it's definitely one for contemplation and reflection.  And I hope in some way it pays tribute to a man who is very much still missed. Stream at Mixcloud or download below. 

The Flightpath Estate Sunday Social Mix February 2022

• Andrew Weatherall and Keith Tenniswood: The Crescents
• Two Lone Swordsmen: Tiny Reminder No. 3 (Calexico Remix)
• Calexico: III (Two Lone Swordsmen remix)
• Percy X v Blood Sugar: -3 (Emissions 2)
• Beth Orton: It’s This I Find I Am
• Two Lone Swordsmen: It’s Not The Worst I’ve Ever Looked… (Lali Puna Remix)
• Sabres Of Paradise: Siege Refrain
• Radioactive Man: Goodnight Morton
• Woodleigh Research Facility: Somnium
• The Liminanas Ft. Peter Hook: Garden Of Love (Lundi Mouille Mix)
• Peace Together: Be Still (Sabres Of Paradise Remix)
• Two Lone Swordsmen: The Big Clapper (CPIJ Remix)
• Two Lone Swordsmen: As Worldly Pleasures Wave Goodbye
• Primal Scream: Carry Me Home
• One Dove: Why Don’t You Take Me

Monday's Long Song

William Orbit's career took him from early 80s synth act Torch Song to a wonderful album in 1990 as Bass- O- Matic and a series of solo albums titled Strange Cargo (I, II and III). After that he moved into production and remixes for the big players- Madonna, Prince, Britney et al. Strange Cargo III in 1993 was a tour de force of Balearic and ambient dance- pop, layers of FX and chugging rhythms led by Water From A Vine Leaf (featuring the voice of Beth Orton), seven minutes of tropical rainforest/ electronic ambience. 

Water From A Vine Leaf

The Underworld remixes of Water From A Vine Leaf are superb but I've posted them before. This one is a throbbing, uptempo remix by Spooky, driving and bit trancey and none the worse for it.  

Water From A Vine Leaf (Xylem Flow Mix) 

It's This I Find I Am

This song turned up out of the blue while looking for something else, on a Beth Orton CD single from 1997. Someone's Daughter was on Beth's debut album, Trailer Park, an album partly produced by Andrew Weatherall and Keith Tenniswood. It's This I Find I Am is a cover of a song originally by American singer- songwriter Evie Sands, a B-side to a 1970 single (Evie's own background was in folk/ soul/ 60s pop and rock, a career that took her from the mid 1960s as a teenager through the '70s and then a 90s revival). The instrumentation and arrangement, double bass and brushed drums, slightly folky/ trip hop sound, spaced out jazz folk, all suggest it was recorded at the same time as the album. Red Snapper's Ali Friend played double bass on Trailer Park and it sounds like him here too, with Weatherall and Tenniswood's production skills working their magic.

It's This I Find I Am

Never Get To Zion Without Jah Love

Bringing together several recent themes today I'm offering you some prime Underworld remixes from the mid 90s, a time when we could actually feel fairly optimistic about the world.

Underworld have been all over my stereo recently with the Drift Series 1 Sampler (posted at the weekend). In addition the 90s incarnation of Underworld (Hyde, Smith and Emerson) were at The Vinyl Villain fairy recently with their epic ten minute remix of Human Behaviour- a beat heavy, tribal techno delight, Bjork skipping into the night, called by the drums.

Dreadzone have made a career out of righteous dance- floor based sounds, dub, reggae, techno and progressive house mixed into a heady stew with some politics in there to shake it all up. In Zion Youth singer Earl 16 give the wrongdoers a simple message- heads up Tories...

'You'll never get to Zion without Jah love
Never reach that land you're dreaming of
You must be good you must be careful
Live upright like you know you should...

...No evildoers will be there
No backstabbers will be there'

This remix is a ten minute long excursion- a looped keyboard part, Earl's voice, some echoey, whooshing noises bouncing around and those trademark Underworld rhythms building up a head of steam. There's a break down at eight minutes in and then it's all back on the dub techno train to the fade.

Zion Youth (Underworld Mix)

I have pondered before about an Underworld remix album, a compilation of the cream of their 90s remixes, and am really surprised no one ever put one out, especially in the heyday of CDs when a double disc remix edition would have surely been a winner.

This one from 1993 would have made the cut, a thirteen minute rejigging of William Orbit's Water From A Vine Leaf, a stomping chugger of the highest order. In among all the sonics there's a magnificent piano riff that is worth the price of entry alone, a parping synth part, a nagging upper register synth riff that goes straight to the back of the brain, a snatch of Beth Orton's vocal and a squiggly acid bassline that would cut straight through the dry ice- layers of sounds aimed at feet and the head.

Water From A Vine Leaf (Underwater Mix Part 1) 

Here's the 1993 remix of Bjork, the 110 BPM version from the A-side of the 12". On the flip was a faster one, the 125 BPM Dub, but to my mind this is the pick of the pair. The build up alone is longer (and better) than many songs. This sort of thing could pack a dance-floor tight in the early/mid 90s.

Human Behaviour (The Underworld Mix 110BPM)

This could run and run and I have posted some of these before- there are some heavy duty One Dove remixes, a pair of very techno Chemical Brothers bangers, a tasty remix of The Drum Club's Sound System, a fifteen minute St Etienne remix, Orbital's Lush and some outliers like Front 242 and Shakespeare's Sister (neither of which it seems I own either digitally of physically).

Monday's Long Song

Over on social media this weekend a friend posted a Beth Orton song from 1996. Touch Me With Your Love was on Beth's debut album Trailer Park and was also released as a single in January 1997. The production and mixing was by Andrew Weatherall and Keith Tenniswood, then Two Lone Swordsmen.



This sent me back to Trailer Park where Weatherall and Tenniswood contributed to three other songs including the otherworldly and breathtaking ten minute album closer Galaxy Of Emptiness, a song that unfolds gently, is in no great hurry to get anywhere quickly and all the better for it. Beth sings 'Won't you please knock me off my feet for a while?' and this song does just that.

Galaxy Of Emptiness

Vine Leaf

This post follows on (coincidentally) from Drew's on Friday where he posted a different mix of the same song. William Orbit's Water From A Vine Leaf is a long progressive house tune from 1993 with a Beth Orton vocal. Over twenty years on it sounds good to these ears, still has a freshness about it. This remix is even better than the original mix though I think. In 1993 Underworld were on top of their game, Emerson, Hyde and Smith capable of turning out ten minute remixes that reshaped the source matter and drove it onwards. This one adds a certain moodiness to Orbit's original version, perfect for the dancefloor and the headphones. Underworld really should compile their best remixes- they had so many from this time.

Water From A Vine Leaf (Underwater Mix Part 1)

1973

Beth Orton is back and has put away the acoustic guitar and replaced it with synths and programmed drums. One half of Fuck Buttons, Andrew Hung, is on production if you need another reference to convince you to give it a listen. 1973 is a sumptuous piece of electronica, with an 80s groove and Beth's sweet vocals. Her first album Trailer Park had production by Weatherall and William Orbit and this song revisits those and updates them in fine style. Album Kidsticks is out at the end of the month. The video is seductive too, all warm and hazy Californian sun drenched colours...



And this one from 2002 fits right in with it too, Anywhere, remixed beautifully and minimally by Two Lone Swordsmen.

Anywhere (Two Lone Swordsmen Remix)

Beth Orton 'Bobby Gentry'

Beth Orton, the comedown queen. I've got bits and bobs by her-Trailor Park because of the Weatherall productions and She Cries Your Name, some songs she did with Johnny Marr, the Two Lone Swordsmen remixes, and The Other Side Of Daybreak, an album of off-cuts, remixes and extras from Daybreak. This was on it and it's stunning. Starts out with lovely acoustic guitar, great husky vocals, and at the first chorus these beautiful swooping strings come in, and stay throughout the next 4 minutes. It also contains a brilliant line in the second verse- 'Collecting dead rainbows from puddles and mires, and taking them home to warm by the fire', which is a bit hippyish but hits me every time. No idea why it's called Bobby Gentry but it adds to the overall brilliance of this track.

05 Bobby Gentry.wma