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)

Back In The Underworld

Back to Underworld after last week's run of posts. I can't get enough at the moment, their music soundtracking my daily commute. In 1992 this pair of Underworld/ Darren Emerson remixes were released, long progressive house thumpers, some trademark Underworld sounds and styles pulsing through the grooves. 

108 Grand were Ben Chapman and Dee Vaz. Darren remixed Te Quiro twice, this one being the longer of the pair coming in at a shade under ten minutes, powerful, driving proto- trance that builds and builds, a proper dancing track with a funked up bassline and full on piano/ synth repeating topline.

Te Quiero (Darren Emerson Underworld Remix)

Eagle's Prey were John Kennedy, Lee Grainge and Paul Coleman. Darren's remix of Tonto's Drum is in a similar vein, chunky drums, a sampled squeak at the top end, moody synth bass and a male voice intoning, give it to them... give it to them', the sort of combination of sounds that in a dark room filled with dry ice caused shivers down spines. Karl Hyde's clipped guitar chords and the female vocal add to the tension. The track (as above) builds and builds, breaking down partly at four minutes forty with the drums then crashing back in. The piano house breakdown at six fifty gives a pause for breath, an arms in the air moment and then Darren starts to bring it back, everything more intense and on it goes, nine minutes, ten minutes, eleven... 

Tonto's Drum (Darren Emerson Remix)

Monday's Long Songs

David Holmes' It's Over, If We Run Out Of Love is right up there in terms of single releases of 2022. The remix package came out two weeks ago, six reworkings of the original from Lovefingers and Heidi Lawden, Working Men's Club, Darren Emerson and Hardway Bros. All push it onwards and outwards. 

Darren Emerson's Huffa Remix is nine minutes long, a pulsing, building, thundering, epic early 90s Underworld style remix with Raven Violet's vocal intact. The breakdown and re- entry at the six minute mark, whooshing noises and enormous kickdrum with the synths and bassline well into the red, is thrilling stuff. For the last three minutes we're then riding the midnight train from Romford/ Belfast/ wherever you are. 

Hardway Bros Live At The SSL Dub picks out a distorted synthline and crunching drums and builds a full head of steam, threatening to turn into Man 2 Man and Man Parish's Male Stripper, a glam/ chug stomp. 

Lovefingers and Heidi Lawden offer two remixes, Low Tide and High Tide versions. The Low Tide one echoes mid- 80s New Order, shades of Bizarre Love Triangle and The Perfect Kiss, Holmes and Raven sent onto the dancefloor circa 1986 with cowbell and lasers.

Working Men's Club's remix is the shortest (under seven minutes) and the furthest from the original, a darkly frenetic, stripped down, acidic banger- close your eyes and the strobe will be flashing. 

More Treasures

On Sunday I posted David Holmes' set for Brother Joseph's Sonic Treasures, a radio station beaming delights out of Glasgow. October's show opened with a ninety minute mix from Glok (Andy Bell, guitarist and singer from Ride and more recently a solo artist responsible for some of the best songs of the last couple of years). Glok is a sleek, kosmische, synth based outlet for Andy's music. The first Glok album- Dissident- came out in 2019 and the follow up called Pattern Recognition is due this year (currently another victim of the crisis affecting vinyl pressing plants). Andy's mix for Sonic Treasures is a perfect way into the Glok world, gliding between several Glok tracks (Day Three, Invocation, Kolokol, Closer, Pulsing), Andy's Indica (remixed by Pye Corner Audio and then remixed by Glok- yes, Andy remixing a remix of himself), his Glok remix of Hermann Kristofersson from earlier this year, an unreleased Andy Bell song called Drone, some sublime ambient techno courtesy of The Primitive Painter, Freur's Doot- Doot (proto- Underworld from 1983), Roisin Murphy, Sensate Focus and Porter Ricks. It's a lovely trip, chilled and hypnotic. Find it at Soundcloud. 

Glok's return with Pattern Recognition was led back in March with the release of That Time Of Night, a warm, throbbing synths and electronic shimmer, the voice of Shiarra celebrating the collective experience of losing yourself in the crowd and on the floor- 'in the heat and the light and the flashing/ Being a small part of the whole crowd of people'. The version below is an edit, the full length one is nine minutes long and together with a Darren Emerson remix can be gotten here. 

The entire six hour broadcast of Brother Joseph's Sonic Treasures for October- Glok, Joseph, Stephen Haldane and David Holmes- can be found at Soundcloud, handily chunked into seven sections.