Friday/ Saturday Bandcamp Bonanza

Bandcamp Friday yesterday dropped a ton of new music into my Inbox and while today is a day late in terms of the benefits the artists get from the monthly Bandcamp Friday (Bandcamp waive their fees for one day a month) it's still worth posting some of the highlights- and yesterday was packed full of highlights.

We'll start with a 10: 40 remix of Puerto Montt City orchestra, a song called Hey You, out on Brighton's Higher Love label. By his own admission Jesse's work as 10: 40 has been an ongoing mission to make music/ remixes that channel Spiritualized and this one takes that to the nth degree- cue up Jason Spaceman's Lay Back In The Sun either before or after this and enjoy the sun drenched, blissed out ride....

                                                 

The song is a cover of 14 Iced Bears' Hay Fever, an 80s indie classic. You can get buy the 10: 40 remix of Puerto Montt City Orchestra at Bandcamp.

Next, another murky, underground, radiophonic, analogue synth missive from Pye Corner Audio, the first one for a few months, this one titled Texture Reels. Four minutes and forty five seconds of subterranean, kosmische reel to reel intensity. Get it at Bandcamp, pay what you want. 

Thirdly, Emma. Matty Ducasse records as Skylab. His Skylab International offshoot released a new single onto Bandcamp yesterday, a cover of Hot Chocolate's Emma. Mat plays and produces, Zoe Filthy- Rich songs. The drum machine pitter patters, chunky machine rhythms. The synths ping and blip. Hot Chocolate's mid- 70s pop- soul hit is darker than you might think. Producer Mickie Most asked singer Errol Brown for 'darkness and depth'. Errol gave him lyrics about lost childhood and suicide, a film star 'who can't keep living on dreams no more'. Mat and Zoe dredge up all of the pain and darkness that Errol piled into his lyrics. The EP is at Bandcamp, remix, edit and instrumental.

Lastly, Richard Norris whose Oracle Sound dub project has become essential listening. Richard has recorded three albums of dubs, available digitally and on vinyl via his subscription service. Recently he hosted his friend Jon Carter, who DJed at the Heavenly Social in the 90s and recorded as Monkey Mafia as well as under his own name. Richard wanted to show Jon some new kit. They ended up making a dub track called Ceefax- rocking drums and bass, space echo, melodica and an Ampp Freq live dub machine. The results come in three parts- Ceefax, a Norris dub and a Carter dub. All three are at Bandcamp. As I keep typing. 

You can buy all the music above for less than the price of a pint of lager in central London (and some central Manchester pubs). And while the lager may look briefly colder and more enticing, the music will last longer. 

Forty Five Minutes Of Rheinzand

In the five years they've been releasing music Rheinzand have racked up an impressive back catalogue- two albums, a bunch of singles and a slew of remixes (the remix package of tracks from their debut album ran to twenty three- there's that number again- different remixes by twenty two other artists and one by themselves). Straight outta Ghent, Belgium, the three piece group consist of singer Charlotte Caluwaerts, multi- instrumentalist and producer Reinhard Vanbergen and DJ/ producer Mo Disko. The slick, sleek and irresistible sound they make pulls from house, disco, Balearica, soul, funk and pop, building on dance music's history while aiming for the future. I love them- you should too. This mix tries to not just feature four- four dancefloor bangers but offer a slightly blurrier, out of focus selection of Rheinzand songs, a little off kilter but with hooks and beats aplenty. 

Forty Five Minutes Of Rheinzand

• We'll Be Alright (Single Edit)
• Break of Dawn
• Obey (Hardway Bros Live At The SSL Dub)
• Kills And Kisses (Skylab Remix)
• Electrify Me
• Slippery People
• Porque

We'll Be Alright was a single released in October 2021, a song written as the world emerged from lockdown and released as a point of optimism, a message that things might just be ok. It flutters and dances about, minor piano chords and a rising bassline pushing forwards. Charlotte's vocal soothes and soars, 'high tide, low tide, we'll be alright'. Synths and a sitar float around. We'll Be Alright is a gently psychedelic pop song- heady stuff at the time and since. 

Break of Dawn was the opening song on their self titled debut, released in March 2020 just as the world began to shut down due to Covid and a record that is among the best of that strange year's albums. It fades in in a blur of sound and bass, sounding not a million miles from an early 80s Talking Heads offcut, before some slide guitar appears. 

Obey was a 2019 single, remixed by a trio of excellent people- Scorpio Twins, SIRS and Hardway Bros. The Hardway Bros Live At The SSL Dub is a dubby take, the burbling synths and a two note guitar line riding on top of a growing groove, the sinuous bassline always at the centre of things. Sean Johnston is in no rush, as ever, and stretches things out for over eight minutes.

Kills And Kisses was a 2019 single, also like Obey on the debut album. Skylab's remix was on the mammoth remix package from 2021 along with remixes by the best names in the business- loops, chopped up vocals, thumping rhythms, stop- start sections, head spinning dynamics. 

Electrify Me is a nine minute epic from Rheinzand's second album, 2022's  Atlantis Atlantis, a song that sounds like an explosion at a disco factory with Barry White narrating while the tempo speeds up and slows down like the drum machine's got a mind of its own. 

Slippery People is a cover of the 1984 Talking Heads song, from the 2020 debut album- as good a cover of Talking Heads as any I've heard with a distorted buzzing bassline, disco strings and chanted playground vocals. Porque is from that album as well, a gorgeous dance - pop song, Charlotte's singing of the word 'porque' worth the price of the record alone. Porque is Spanish for because, which is as good an explanation of what Rheinzand do as anything else. 

Music From Two Mats

The first day of March is the first day of meteorological spring, the emergence from winter. It feels like it's been a long winter, the dark mornings and evenings hanging around for a long time. I've been unwell this week, spending two days off work and in bed. And last week I did this to my finger (ring finger, left hand)...

That x- ray shows my dislocated finger, done playing football when the ball struck my hand end on. Straight away I knew it was bad, not an injury I would just run off. I got to A&E at Wythenshawe at just after 10pm last Tuesday night and was told there was an eight hour wait, that I'd be better off going home, trying to sleep and coming back at 8am the next morning. The following morning a very nice A&E nurse sent me for an x- ray (above), diagnosed a dislocated finger and brought in the gas and air for me to inhale while she pulled my finger back into socket. 'Ooh, I felt a click, did you?', she said at one point. I can confirm that gas and air is first rate as a pain killer and can make a patient feel quite light headed. Also that yes, I felt a click too. A visit to hand clinic last Thursday saw me leave with a splint. It's been badly bruised, swollen, various shades of purple and painful ever since. But obviously better than it was in that x- ray where two thirds of my finger are very much not where they should be. 

This week on Tuesday morning I took yet more painkillers and felt nauseous straight away. I went to work and got on with things and took more pain killers near lunchtime. Later on I was sick in my classroom bin (thankfully not in front of any of my classes- memorable for them maybe but not something that I'd choose to happen). Whether I've overdone the pain killers or picked up a bug that the medicines I've been taking reacted with I don't know, but by the time I got home on Tuesday evening I was done in and spend most of Wednesday and much of Thursday in bed. I'm also currently taking an anti- histamine for my chronic sinusitis and eustachian tube dysfunction (long standing and ongoing, possibly an after effect of Covid, possibly an allergic reaction to something) and statins (inherited high cholesterol, diagnosed last summer). Pills 'n' thrills and bellyache, as the Happy Mondays had it on their album of 1990.  

Enough of my moaning- today is therefore not just the first day of spring but the first day I've felt any better this week so here are two different recent releases from varying ends of the electronic music spectrum. First, some calming and beautiful ambient/ modern classical music from Mat Ducasse. Mat was once Matty Skylab, one of the four people in Skylab along with Howie B, Masayuko Kudo and Toshio Nakanishi. Their back catalogue is full of weird and wonderful electronic delights, experimental mid- 90s trip hop and electronica. In recent years Mat's solo recordings have been excursions into deep listening, ambient soundscapes. His latest release is two versions of Song For David, a track recorded in memory of a friend who died of prostate cancer. Both versions, one with bells and the other without, are sublime, with oscillations, washes of synth, long chords and brightly hued ambience. You can find Song For David here. 

In 1997 Mat Ducasse remixed this song along with William Orbit, Psyche Rock, by French pair Pierre Henry and Michel Colombier, a song oringally from 1967, a leftfield, rocking late 90s update on mid 60s Franco- psychedelia. 

It provides a nice link to Elexperimental by Matt Gunn, a four track EP that came out yesterday, described by Matt as 'akin to Kraftwerk and LCD with a bass after a night on the sauce'. This is music that is vibrant and up for it, music that thumps out of speakers and blows the dust away. Golden Graham is breakbeats and fuzzed up synths over a white knuckle bassline, kicking and jerking around. Bingo's Crime (with Louis Gordon)is electronic funk and long keyboard chords beamed in from Dusseldorf four decades ago, bleeps riding on top. Third track, Drive Thru Century, starts with the sound of cars spinning their wheels and revving their engines, a souped up take on Autobahn, then more drum machines and synths/ keys from West Germany, a lovely padding bassline and the sound of the future, then, now. The EP finishes with We Are Ninja, in collaboration with Toffeetronic, mid 80s electro- pop, fizzing, bubbling synths, needle scratches and a vocal chanting the title. Lots of fun, something for everyone and also tracks that never quite do what you expect them to do. Buy the Elexperimental EP here. 

Monday's Long Song

This was featured in the middle of David Holmes' recent show at NTS (posted yesterday) but I've been meaning to post it in its own right since I bought it, it's nine minutes long so fits in perfectly for this long running Monday series and is in aid of a very good cause. 

Bunny's Lullabye, nine minutes of beautiful guitar playing (courtesy of Chris Mackin and Kenji Suzuki) and some twinkling synths, is a gorgeous piece of music and send off, a cosmic lullaby. Buy it at Bandcamp. All profits from its release will be going to Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital.

Mat Ducasse is/ was Matty Skylab. Back in 1999 Skylab remixed Holmes' 69 Police, the lead song from Homer's Bow Down To The Exit Sign, an album of instrumentals, guest vocalists (Bobby Gillespie, Jon Spencer, Martina Topley- Bird) and street sounds. On this remix Matty loops the organ sounds and adds some squealing guitar or sax, maybe both, over a dusty chuggy rhythm. Music for a nightclub scene in a dystopian future film. 

This Is My List

Here is my list, self indulgent as Drew says, but fun to do. I've enjoyed more new music during 2015 than any in recent years. These are the albums and songs/singles that have struck a chord with me and that have stuck with me since their release.

Albums

12. Mbongwana Star 'From Kinshasa'
Traditional African forms coupled with electronics. Still startling.

11. Mick Jones 'Ex Libris'
Vinyl only, six track instrumental.

10. MonoLife 'Phrenology'
The skull from Hull with some cracking old school dance music.

9. The Orb 'Moonbuilding 2703AD'
A return to form, four very long pieces full of ambient buzz.

8. Le Volume Courbe 'I Wish Dee Dee Ramone Was Here With Me'
Contains two of my favourite songs of this year- The House and Rusty.

7. Steve Cobby 'Everliving'
It could have been 'Revolutions' as well. Both are full of sumptuous electronic tunes and ideas.

6. Gwenno 'Y Dyad Olaf'
Perfect psychedelic pop sung in Welsh (except for the one sung in Cornish).

5. Crocodiles 'Boys'
Dirty, sexy, brash guitars from San Diego. If you haven't heard Foolin' Around, click play now.



4. Moon Duo 'Shadows Of The Sun'
Loads of uptempo two chord motorik psyche but with In A Cloud they had one of the year's most beautiful, almost Balearic guitar moments.

3. Sexwitch 'Sexwitch'.
Six covers recorded by Natasha Khan, Toy and Dan Carey. The intense stomp of the Middle Eastern songs take some beating and Natasha's vocals are superbly focused while also slightly unhinged. Possessed and obsessive.

2. The Charlatans 'Modern Nature'.
Recorded after the death of drummer Jon Brookes, a band back on form and determined to celebrate life with some of the best, soaring songs of the year- So Oh and Come Home Baby especially.

1. Jamie Xx 'In Colour'
A history of dance music from house to grime, emotionally charged from start to finish, with moments of ecstasy, clarity and genuine beauty. I'm still playing it from start to finish.



Singles/Songs
The hand and influence of Mr Weatherall is all over this section. That's just the way it's been this year. Both lists show I've been veering far more towards dance/electronics this year. A top seventeen for no real reason.

17. Noel Gallagher 'In The Heat Of The Moment' Andrew Weatherall Remix
It came out last year online but was released on vinyl in April. Glorious remix.

16. Dubrobots 'Forever'
This Cardiff based producer sent me two versions of this massively dub influenced song. Still rattling my ribcage.

15. Public Service Broadcasting 'Gagarin' Richard Norris Remix
The album did nothing for me but this remix, full of Spanish acoustic guitars, sent Yuri to Ibiza.

14. jennylee 'Never'
Warpaint's foxy bassist with an early 80s single that pushed the right buttons.

13. Gwenno 'Chwyldro' Andrew Weatherall Remix
Further, stranger, slower.

12. Unloved 'Guilty Of Love'
David Holmes' new project taking in 60s/70s filmscores with a girl group vibe. Also had two long dubby Weatherall remixes.

11.  Vox Low 'Cast Upward Through the Waves, A Ruby Glow
Strange stuff from a French duo finding weird spaces between rock and dance.

10. Heretic 'Pollux' Andrew Weatherall Remix
I'm getting repetitive strain from typing those three words- this one took early New Order and merged it with some sparse electronics and a spooky vocal refrain.

9. Timothy J. Fairplay
Timothy J released several superb four track e.p.s this year, full of vintage synths- Stories Of Prison, Love And Columbium, No News From New York. Take your pick. Together they'd make a potential album of the year.

8. Paresse 'Rosita'.
Super smooth stuff from Scandinavia. Wraps your ears up all warm.

7. Haunted Doorbell 'Unconnected Thoughts On Jacking'
I'm cheating here- Fairplay again, this time with Matilda Tristam. Four outstanding instrumentals joining the various dots. The e.p. and title track gave us the song title of the year. Beautiful Sheffield is exactly as it sounds.

6. Patti Yang Group 'I'm Ready'
Chris Rotter, Matty Skylab and Patti Yang with a thumping piece of hymnal house. Do you want a free download?



5. Jamie Xx 'Loud Places' John Talabot's Higher Dub
I posted this last week. It's stunningly good, reworking an album highlight into something else with mesmerising, euphoric peaks.

4. C.A.R. 'Glock'd' Asphodells Remix
Super glam stomp, a massive wobbly bass, dirty guitars, French accented vocals; the sound of the future.

3. Sinkane x Peaking Lights 'Mean Dub'
This ten minute dub version of Yacha was the sound of my summer. All four tracks on the reworked dub e.p. were top quality stuff but Yacha is something else entirely and from somewhere else entirely too. Fast dub.



2. Pearl's Cab Ride 'Sunrise' (MonoLife Extended  Trip)
A Humberside funk and soul sixpiece taken on a long trip by MonoLife- trumpet, distorted vocal, two note bass, drifting but always moving forwards. Beautiful.



1. Mike Garry and Joe Duddell 'St Anthony: An Ode to Anthony H Wilson'
This came out in August, an emotional tribute to Mr Manchester set to Joe Duddell's Your Silent Face inspired strings, full of Mike Garry's poetic references to the city and its sounds. All proceeds go to The Christie so if you haven't bought it yet, there's another reason to do so. Almost inevitably, there's a Weatherall remix on the other side (which isn't too shabby either. In fact it's very, very good). Still prone to move me after umpteen listens.

Ready For Dub

Last week I posted The Patti Yang Group's I'm Ready, a smashing slice of summery house from Chris Mackin, Matty Skylab and Jagz Kooner. Quite a few of you seemed to approve. Chris has since provided this dub version, the romantically titled I'm Ready For Love Bog Dub

I'm Ready

New and free to download from a group of sonic adventurers- Chris Mackin (Chris Rotter, guitarist for Andrew Weatherall or rather the man who says Andrew Weatherall is the singer in his band), Matty Skylab, Jagz Kooner (Sabres of Paradise, The Aloof) and sultry vocals by Patti Yang- is this very relaxed slice of Chicago house by way of the Balaeric Isles. Rooftop terrace. Sun on skin. Fag ends in empty beer bottles. Thumpy bass. Nice build up to the end. Classy.