A Full Tank Of Gas, Brand New Tyres And A Hundred Years 'Til The License Expires

Remembering Mr. Andrew Weatherall who died on this day six years ago and whose music, art, outlook and style affected my world so much: the remixes that began for me with the purchase of Loaded in February 1990 and the Weatherall/ Oakenfold Club Mix of Hallelujah by Happy Mondays a month or two earlier and then went on from there, the words Andy Weatherall Remix in brackets after a song being a guarantee in those early years of something you definitely hadn't heard before, even when you hadn't heard of the artist he was remixing; the music he made and produced first in Sabres Of Paradise and then Two Lone Swordsmen and solo; DJ sets at various venues around the north west of England; the  perfectly selected compilation albums, Nine O'Clock Drop, Hyper City Force Tracks, Sci Fi Lo Fi, Watch The Ride; the interviews in the music press and magazines with opinions and arcane references, tales and stories, and  of what's hot and what's not; the hour long mixes given to websites; the radio shows for the BBC and NTS with scores of artists and records to chase and tasters of forthcoming Weatherall related releases; the labels he created, Sabres Of Paradise, Emissions, Moine Dubh, Bird Scarer, with those handwritten press releases and lovingly designed artwork; the year he spent as Faber's artist in residence; the advice and references, signs and symbols, he dropped throughout what he was determined to avoid calling a career.

This is thirty minutes of music Andrew made circa 2007 (unbelievably, nearly twenty years ago now), the Two Lone Swordsmen live rock 'n' roll/ garage band, Weatherall at the microphone, solo album part of his inspired and wayward musical life, ably abetted by a cast of musicians including Keith Tenniswood, Chris Rotter, Tim Fairplay, Subway Lung, Nick Burton, Nina Walsh, Julian Wright, Steve Boardman and Gordon Mills, all of whom appeared at different times on Two Lone Swordsman's Wrong Meeting pair of albums and Andrew's Pox On The Pioneers.

Half An Hour Of Andrew Weatherall Circa 2007

• Two Lone Swordsmen: Get Out Of My Kingdom
• X- Press 2: Witchi Tai To (Andrew Weatherall Remix)
• Andrew Weatherall: Privately Electrified
• Two Lone Swordsmen: Patient Saints
• Villalobos: Dexter (Two Lone Swordsmen Remix)
• Two Lone Swordsmen: Glories Yesterday

Moine Dubh Journey

Another long one today, a tad over an hour's worth of folky freakery for you. Back in September Andrew Weatherall guested on 6 Music's Freak Zone and played a load of unreleased songs from his Moine Dubh label. The first bunch of songs were released as part of a 7" vinyl subscription a year ago, five singles for fifty quid. The follow up, which is what I'm assuming this will become, is in this big mp3 file.

A Journey Into Moine Dubh (Freak Zone September 2017)

There's a mixture of Moine Dubh artists here, old and new. Frank Alba and Barry Woolnough both appeared in the first singles club or at the live night at Crystal Palace, Woolnough with the spooky song of loss Great Spirit Father In The Sky. Fireflies, Echowood and Lowroad did too. Nina Walsh, who is in this mix a few times including twice solo with some sparkling acoustic guitar songs, is half of the Woodleigh Research Facility and a long time musical partner. Rootmasters, Jessica Cahill, Eva Eden and Kave are all new ones to me. Over the course of an hour there's some strange modern British folk, some weird psych and some killer tunes.

December's Not For Everyone

Andrew Weatherall was back at the controls at NTS a few days ago with two hours of his customary wide-ranging brilliance Music's Not For Everyone. It includes two new remixes (one less a remix, more complete destruction according to the man himself) and one from his new band with Nina Walsh, The Woodleigh Research Facility. You can listen to it here (Mixcloud won't embed again for some reason).

Another Weatherall project is here, with the rarest vinyl remix he's released yet. Lil Mo is a crowd funding project, an attempt to restore an Austin A60 Suntor camper van, the incentive being that for a £5 donation you get a Weatherall dub mp3. For a mere £250 donation a limited 7" version of that dub is yours, one of only five copies. Hurry though- one has been claimed already. If you're feeling really flush you could donate £500 and get for the 7" single numbered 001. Despite my completist nature with all things Weatherall my contribution has been just a fiver for the mp3.

Finally we've now received three of the five Moine Dubh singles from the subscription only singles club and they are shaping up to be a very nice set- strange, dusty folk music. Random copies have a little patch of cloth, hand printed, initialed and numbered- I haven't been lucky yet. Drew has (verdict... 'a bit pish'). When the first single missed it's release date, due to the newfound interest in vinyl pressing plants from the major record labels bumping little independents down the priority list, Moine Dubh sent subscribers an mp3 by The Woodleigh Research Facility. The album entitled The Phoenix Suburb (And Other Stories) is shaping up to be a cross between a bit of folk, a lot of strangeness and a bucket of dub and is due for release in January.

Weatherall Antenna

Now we're well into September, everyone's back at school with their new school shoes and pencil cases. I've started a new job, same place but new role, which is a bit daunting. It's noticeably darker earlier. Brrrr.

This mix from Andrew Weatherall was uploaded recently, his dj set from the Moine Dubh launch night back in July, recorded at Antenna Studios. It's an hour and a quarter of psychedelia, folk, baroque with a bit of country, moving through Manfred Mann, Jane Weaver, Captain Beefheart's most lovely moment, Townes van Zandt, Melody's Echo Chamber, The Liminanas, Shilpa Ray and Harpers Bizarre to name but a few. It feels just right for this time of the year.

You can listen to it at Mixcloud or at Rotters Golf Club (which if you dig around a bit will also give up his second quarterly reading list). Other Weatherall related news for those that are interested- the first subscription 7" single from Moine Dubh is about to go out via the postman. I resisted signing up for a quite a while, weeks maybe. Then I cracked. He's done a remix of the New Order single Restless which is out in October on green vinyl, one for David  Holmes' Unloved group (also October, don't know what colour the vinyl is yet) and one for Beck too. And he's hosting a festival at Carcasonne castle in south west France at the end of the month. If you're going, I envy you.

Moine Dubh

Andrew Weatherall's new folk influenced record label Moine Dubh is open for business. The vinyl-only subscription cost is £50. This gets you five 7" singles, released monthly starting in September, working out at a tenner a single. The record label was launched in London last month with the various artists playing live. A recording of this event, an hour and half long, is below. Dark, electronic-flecked folk from the dusty corners of the minds and imaginations of Andrew Weatherall, Nina Walsh, Franck Alba, Fireflies, Echowood, Dani Cali, Lowroad and Barry Woolnough.

Stoney Lane

Stoney Lane by The Fireflies is strange electric psyche-folk, slowburning, smoky and mysterious, with some real subtlety to the playing and vocals. It sounds like the song the band were playing late at night in a stone wall pub, after a weird night out in the English countryside.

Stoney Lane is coming out soon on Moine Dubh, a new label from Andrew Weatherall. 7" vinyl only, via subscription. He knows how to draw us in.