V.A. Saturday

As mentioned yesterday, Andrew Weatherall's Masterpiece is a king in the various artists world. The Masterpiece series comes out via Ministry Of Sound and has also featured compilations put together by Carl Craig, Giles Peterson , Goldie, Jazzie B, David Rodigan, Francoise K, Annie Nightingale and Fabio And Grooverider. Andrew's is an absolute joy, a masterclass in record selection, mixing and the art of pacing a set. There are two editions, one on vinyl and one on CD. 

The vinyl is much sought after now- the current asking price in Discogs starts at £150.00-, a twelve track, unmixed, triple disc version that starts with his remix of Grinderman's Heathen Child, has five further contemporary Weatherall remixes (Timothy J Fairplay, The Horrors, Woooden Shjips, Toddla T and Primal Scream's Uptown- at least two of these are all timers in the Weatherall remix pantheon). Alongside this he selects cuts from Andrew and Tim's Asphodells, Kaspar Bjork, Walls, Ajello, The Subs, Mario Vesta and an 80s indie/ dreampop classic from AR Kane, the song that gave his travelling cosmic disco its name- A Love From Outer Space. 

Masterpiece came out in 2012. ALFOS, the club night, started in 2010 (at The Drop, a basement in Stoke Newington). By 2012 Andrew and Sean had built a following, an ALFOS crew who travelled to Glasgow and Belfast for the nights out and the sound they were after had had time to develop, to brew. Masterpiece is a reflection of that, the 2012 ALFOS sound- a warm, embracing, inclusive, trippy,  cosmic disco, electro and dubby house records often pitched down to hit that 122 bpm sweet spot, 'an oasis of slowness in a world of increasing velocity', as Andrew put it. They played underground dance music alongside lost 80s gems, 70s krautrock, mid 80s Belgian New Beat, whatever tickled their musical fancy. Masterpiece is a six sides of vinyl/ three CD version of that. 

The three CD version goes further and deeper, three discs- Eleven O'Clock Drop, Twelve O'Clock Drop and One O'clock Drop (a nod to the lysergic adventures of his youth in Slough and Windsor and to his early 00s post- punk Nine O'Clock Drop compilation). The CD is perfection. Mixed live in his bunker. Andrew said at the time that if he made a mistake he had go back and start the entire mix over again. Thirty five tracks that in the truest sense of a DJ mix, take the listener on a journey. He was a one off. 

The vinyl was essential. The CD was too. I know some people* who decided against purchasing at the time because they didn't like the sleeve. I know people who bought both formats**. Here for your Saturday listening pleasure is one track from each of the three CDs, an eleven, twelve and one o' clock drop.

First, from disc one comes Walls, a London krautpop duo and a track from 2012 on German label Kompackt. On a perfectly judged and pitched disc, peppered with his own remixes and Apiento's The Orange Place (see yesterday's post) Walls slo- mo sci fi throb and distant vocal still stands out, Andrew's track selection never letting him down. 

Into Our Midst

From disc two this is Emperor Machine's remix of Sons And Daughters' Orion, Glasgow indie/ country punks Sons And Daughters fed through the cosmic blender by Emperor Machine for eleven minutes, a pulsating and intense with slowed down, slurred vocals.  

Orion (Emperor Machine Remix)

Finally, one from disc three and Toddla T's Watch Me Dance, guest vocals from Roots Manuva and remixed by Andrew himself. A truly deranged dance record. Pens with the thump of True Faith style drums, a robotic voice and then a huge, canal dredging bassline. Brain frying synth arpeggios flicker around, there are key changes, drops, echo- laden guitar chords, a female voice wailing 'oh, we have lost contoooool', and the sense of total dance floor mayhem. Released in the summer of 2011, Masterpiece became the only way to own this remix on vinyl after the warehouse the standalone 12s from that summer were stored in awaiting delivery went up in flames. It's not surprising- this record is too hot for a warehouse to contain it. Never let anyone tell you that remixes are not a valid artform.  

Watch Me Dance (Andrew Weatherall Remix)

* Hi Baz!

** Hi me!

High Noon MF

Posts this week featuring Unkle and David Axelrod have pointed me in the direction of DJ Shadow. Shadow was a big part of Unkle in the late 90s, the Psyence Fiction album especially, and his album Endtroducing... is one of the 1990s defining records, a four sided tribute to crate digging, sampling and instrumental hip hop created uisng nothing but an Akai sampler and drum machine, a pair of turntables and an early version of Pro Tools. 

Shadow followed Endtroducing... with a 12" single called High Noon, a twangy guitar and drums from Curtis Knight (who played drums for Hendrix). At the time there was a sense of anti- climax about this release, after the ground breaking sounds of Endtroducing... in '96 but listening to it now it sounds spot on. 

High Noon

This one from 2003, GDMFSOB, is a breakbeat powered monster with words from Roots Manuva and Unkle on remix duties. 

GDMFSOB (Unkle Uncensored)

Bagging Area End Of Year Annual Review #2

All the proper blogs have end of year reviews and lists and I did one last year so here goes again...

I really don't think I can offer any broad, balanced or authoritative review of new music. I read Drew's list and crumbled, voted in Song, By Toad's list and not for the right kind of artists, read other bloggers lists and realise how out of touch I am. This is partly financial- I just haven't had the money this year to buy loads of new records (albums, singles, e.p.s, vinyl, cds, shellac, any format). I don't have the time/concentration span to listen to new albums all the way through anymore and I don't want to just make a list of my favourite songs of the year because I fear it'd stop at around number 17. I'm going to try to sum up my 2011, the music I've listened to that's been released this year, in some spurious categories I've invented for this post. My favourites of the year rather than an objective 'best of'.


Best Andrew Weatherall Remix Of 2011

My favourite category and a fistful of career highlights from Mr Weatherall who has been on fire for two or three years now. The contenders include; DJ Harvey 'Gunship' (Weatherall Dub), Alice Gold 'Runaway Love' (Weatherall Dub)- one of the most popular tracks/posts here at Bagging Area this year-, The Shoes 'Cliche' (Weatherall Remix), and the recent Cut Copy 'Sun God' (Weatherall Remix). Recently Weatherall remixed Soft Rocks 'We Hunt Buffalo Now' turning it into a glam-rockabilly monster, but it's the runner up I'm afraid, as the winner has to be Toddla T and Roots Manuva's 'Watch Me Dance' (Weatherall Remix), a massive slice of dub disco, my song of the year and the song that soundtracked us driving around France this summer, while England burned. The 12" copies of this record burned also, in that factory. The moment when civil disobedience went way too far.

Best Album I Bought As A Result Of Listening To Andrew Weatherall On His BBC 6 Mix Radio Show

From the morass of stuff Weatherall plays on his irregular radio show I got two standout albums, completely different from each other and I love both. One is the synthy, krautesque, heady and melodic Here Come The Warm Digits by The Warm Digits which I thoroughly recommend, kind of like a less noisy, less headsplitting Fuck Buttons. The other was the 60s garage psyche of The People's Temple, again highly recommended.

Best Drone-Rock Kraut Inspired Fuzzed-up Guitar Album

Two way split between Moon Duo's Mazes and Wooden Shjips' West. Same album really. Same band (or very similar). Lovely. Repetitive but lovely.

Best 'What Do We Call This Music Cos I Don't Think You Can Dance To It?' Dance Music

Two winners here- the Massive Attack v Burial 12" was very good, especially the Paradise Circus side. Death In Vegas' Trans-Love Energies is dark, scary and very absorbing. Jamie Xx's single was good but I find his/their stuff easier to admire than to love.

Best Neo- Balearic Records

Thanks to Nolan Micron at Castles In Space I loved Free School's Lemon single, especially the Time And Space Remix. Back in the spring Gatto Fritto's full length debut album had me skipping around the house. Ace both. DJ Harvey's Locusolus was chock full of electronic delights as well.

Best British Guitar Stuff

I wasn't knocked out by the album but Arctic Monkeys recorded the best song this year that expertly spliced peak period Bunnymen with peak period New Order- That's Where You're Wrong, a great song. The Horrors Skying has been played a lot, and their song Still Life is a contender for something or other, although at times those early Simple Minds keyboards are a little too much (I know, I should like Simple Minds early stuff). Despite their generic, derivative, two chord indie fuzz album being generic and derivative I can't dislike The Vaccines debut album. It's good to singalong to in the car (sounds like a very Dad thing to say).

Best Half Man Half Biscuit Album

That would be 90 Bisodol (Crimond). A little underwhelming at first but it's wormed it's way in, what with Iceland, Tommy Walsh's eco house, the Gok Wan acolytes, the Duke of Westminster and his good lady wife, Razor Ruddock, so-called soccer sofas on so-called soccer Saturdays, the bands Curry Night and TBA (they do two sets and take requests, 'play one the drummer knows'), jigsaws of Nazi war criminals and much, much more. And you can phone up about the much, much more. Nigel did so and they lied to him on their poster.

Best Billy Childish Record

The Spartan Dreggs, which added some 60s whimsy to the mod/garage Childishness.

Best US Garage Rock Record

Kid Congo Powers and The Pink Monkey Birds album, Gorilla Rose, was good. The Black Keys El Camino is pretty rocking too, especially the album opener Lonely Boy, if you like that guitar-drums duo thing. Similarly, I loved much of Cults debut album not that it's garage rock. The Dirtbombs Party Store, guitar covers of Detroit techno was hit and miss but when it was good, it was very good.

The Rest

Lykke Li's Wounded Rhymes, played a lot earlier in the year and again more recently. Jimmy Cliff's Sacred Fire e.p. with it's Guns Of Brixton cover version, available in green vinyl. I really liked Discodeine's collaboration with Jarvis Cocker Synchronise, though the rest of the album didn't grab me as much. And despite all the internet grumbles and gripes Lana Del Rey's Video Games got me in the end as well.

Best Records (Or More Likely Downloads) That People Who Don't Go On Music Blogs Bought

A while back daughter Eliza told me 'When I go in other peoples' cars their Mums and Dads play pop songs on the radio or Now albums. We just listen to old music by weird people'. Or was it weird music by old people? Either way she may have a point. For the record I have very much liked Beyonce's Countdown, the more recent Cher lloyd single (I know, I know) and eventually Rhianna's We Found Love. Eliza's gone for Professor Green's Read All About It and Jessie J's Pricetag (kerching, kerching). I think she likes Cher Lloyd too, so at least we agree on something.

I know I should've heard the PJ Harvey album. I haven't. Therefore I can't offer my opinion on it. Peaking Lights 936 is Piccadilly Records album of the year; their opinion is always worth bearing in mind, and I will go looking for this soon.


I think that's it for what it's worth. I may have forgotten something. I definitely missed things that other people have rated and raved about. This was the record of my year. It'll only be up for a little while seeing as the physical copies got melted and it was only available as a download.

Watch Me Dance (Andrew Weatherall Remix)

Watch Him Dance

Roots Manuva is back with a new album. This is a freebie in advance of it- Watch Me Dance. It's a real summer groover, dark and funky. I love it. You can't knock a man who rhymes Boulogne with groin. Written with Sheffield's Toddla T a version of it appears on Toddla's album too, which is worth looking out for. The killer is the Weatherall remix which I pointed you towards on Soundcloud a few weeks ago and which you should have ordered from Ninja Tune already.

Watch Me Dance (Radio Edit)