Still Boogie

One of 2026's early album treats was Number's Pollinate, a ten track dance/ post- punk/ punk funk affair from the Red Snapper duo of Rich Thair and Ali Friend. This A Certain Ratio rework of Amber ratchets the buzz and the rhythms up a few notches too. A vinyl release of Pollinate is happening- get it here. 

As well as Number and Red Snapper Rich Thair records as Dicky Continental and has recently remixed Hungarian artist Doktorhokashi and his track It's Still Boogie...

The drums rattle in like a New York subway train, the bass rumbles and a nagging synth part works its way through. The vocals, slightly lower in the mix, and a repeated 'Hey!' echoed by a softer 'boogie'. The sound of the Hungarian underground. Out on Budapest's Mana Mana Records and available here. 

Twenty Five Minutes Of Sounds From The Flightpath Estate Volume 2

Our second album, Sounds From The Flightpath Estate, went on sale for pre- orders last week (as announced here on Monday and on various Flightpath Estate social media platforms). We are pressing 1500 copies. We did 1000 of Volume 1 and sold them all, something that still amazes me although it shouldn't- the music was so good it should have been no surprise we'd sell out. Flightpath and Rude Audio main man Mark Ratcliff has done a taster mix of all ten tracks for Volume 2, deftly sequenced and mixed, with the unreleased Sabres Of Paradise track making its presence known more than once. 

The unreleased version of Lick Wid Nit Wit stands alongside anything else Sabres recorded and released. It got it sole airing when Andrew Weatherall played it as part of his legendary 1993 Essential Mix at the BBC and even then that version is not the same as the one we have. 

As well as that track Mark has mixed in the nine other brand new tracks, music by Richard Fearless, Red Snapper, A Certain Ratio re-worked by Number, David Harrow, Bedford Falls Players, Dicky Continental, Richard Norris, Unit 14 and a cover of Two Lone Swordsmen's Sick When We Kiss by Sleaford Mods. Mark's mix, featuring excerpts from all ten tracks, can be found here. Mark has adeptly brought together mid- 90s dub/ techno skank, 21st century machine techno, Manc noir, North African percussion, chuggy cosmische, thumpy acid house, clattering Notts post- punk and much more into one sequence- you can play guess which track is which.

Sounds From The Flightpath Estate Volume 2, double vinyl clad in a beautiful sleeve courtesy of Personality Crisis, can be pre- ordered from Golden Lion Sounds and/ or the GLS Bandcamp. There are still some copies left but don't hang around- as with Volume 1 there will be no repress. When they're gone, they're gone. 

Lay Down Dot

There's lots of new music around as we head into February. I have a list in my notebook that's a page long, all of which I intend to write about here. Today's new music is a pair of releases that came out at the end of January from opposite hemispheres. First up is Eduardo, my friend from Sao Paulo, Brazil, who records as Pandit Pam Pam. His latest is a six track mini- album titled Dot. Pandit Pam Pam's previous EP, Ar, was a musical response to the poor quality of air in Sao Paulo. Dot  was originally lined up to be on that EP but Eduardo was persuaded to leave it off and make something new with Dot as the starting point. Eduardo has a young baby and his recording is to some extent built around the baby's needs as the second track- Recorded With Diogo In My Arms- makes clear. 

Dot, the title track, doesn't appear until five tracks into the EP. Shuffling drums, echo, a rippling melody on top, bags of atmosphere, and then at nearly two minutes in a female voice drifts in and out again. It's a gorgeous piece of music, calling to mind a fractured version of One Dove or Death In Vegas gone ambient. 

The rest of the EP is equally beautiful, from ambient opener Samba De Longe to the eight minute modular synth/ sleeping babe track mentioned above, the skittery ambience of Fot and even more hazy Interludio. The EP ends with Guitar 2- background buzz of static, wash of FX and picked guitar notes creating a very blissed out, blurred out track that stretches time. You can listen and buy at Bandcamp. Highly recommended for small hours and headphones listening. 

Back in the UK comes an EP from Velvett called Lay Down. Velvett are Jo Sims and Natali Williams. Lay Down starts out ambient but drums kick in and then Natali's vocal, both suggesting mid- 90s trip hop is in the ether again (Kruder and Dorfmeister were featured here only a few days ago). Slowed down late night sounds. 

There are remixes, one from Warehouse Preservation Society which toughens up the rhythms and stretches it out into something darker, and one from Dicky Continental (Red Snapper's Rich Thair) which builds slowly, drums and strings, and snatches of the original mix flitting in and out, Rich cutting from one element to another. The trip hop vibe continues. 

There's also a Velvett club mix, the Rubber Dub Club Mix which suddenly switches everything into gay disco mode, bouncing bassline, whooshes, and Hi NRG sequencers. You can find the whole EP at Bandcamp.  

Bagging Area Tak Tent Mix Nine

My latest hour long mix for Tak Tent Radio went live at the weekend. Tak Tent have been broadcasting out of Scotland on the internet since June 2020, with a range of contributors including the legendary Richard Youngs. The latest Bagging Area mix is my ninth for Tak Tent and contains solely music from this year. You can listen to it here or directly at Mixcloud. Don't let them tell you there's no good new music any more. 

• Alex Kassian: Lifestream
• Marshall Watson: High Desert (Seahawks High Sky Remix)
• Whitelands: Setting Sun (AR Kane Initiation Dub)
• Dot Allison: Unchanged (GLOK Remix)
• Dicky Continental: Simon Says (Congagong rework)
• African Head Charge: Passing Clouds
• Coyote: After All These Years
• Steve Queralt and Michael Smith: Chaldean Oracle (GLOK Remix)
• Jo Sims: Bass- The Final Frontier (David Holmes Remix)
• Richard Norris: The Third Day
• JIM: Still River Flow (Generalisation Dub)

Simon Says

Dicky Continental's album Un.. came out on Acid Jazz in April this year and has become one of my favourites from this year so far, Rich Thair's excursion into dub, trip hop and atmospherics sounding good in all kinds of settings. Rich has released the track Simon Says in a new form, the Congagong Rework, with congas and hand drums leading the way- it takes the song somewhere else, to festivals and the outdoors sounding like it could go head to head on a stage with ACR and African Head Charge. Get it digitally here- well worth every penny. 

Split

Dicky Continental, the new musical vehicle for Red Snapper's drummer Rich Thair, has an album out on Acid Jazz. Un... is a distinctive album, a very urban sounding marriage of light and shade, with some mid- 90s trip hop vibes going on and dub influences and production. Recorded at Rich's studio in South Wales, his intention was to work quickly, acting on simple ideas, ones that came first and weren't overworked- most of the eleven songs are three to four minutes long, tracks moving by quickly and then its on to the next one. It sounds very much like it was made using a 'first thought best' philosophy, it has a freshness and a directness to its grooves despite some of it being shrouded in some dark atmospherics and textures. Un... is an album for late night listening, for drives round after dark, moody and overcast but with sultry and soulful moments too. 

Evolution 2 is a mid- paced smoky crawl, horns and the chatter and hubbub of voices. Chico Flores is named after the Spanish footballer, centre back for Swansea City between 2012 and 2014, three minutes of tripped out disco funk. Pike has a off kilter accordion or organ line, a ticking cymbal and discordant noises. Final song Hammersmith is all spooked synth sounds, a drum machine on the edge, and some Sabres Of Paradise menace working its way in. This one is Split , a slightly dislocated song for the small hours, piano, then drums and a blurry, backwards sound that throws it off kilter, with Jo Sims' soulful but half asleep vocals layered on top. 

Un... is at Bandcamp. 

Make Them Disappear

Dicky Continental is the new project from Red Snapper's Rich Thair, eleven new tracks based on the idea that first thought is often best and that simple ideas beat complicated ones. This song, Make Them Disappear, is sketchy and scratchy, blurry atmospherics, sounds conjured up from the dusk in the Welsh countryside and a slow motion drumbeat, an undergrowth of synths and organ and vocals from Jo Sims, a soulful croon of, 'I'll take all your troubles/ make them disappear'. The album Un... is out on Acid Jazz in April.