Straight To Tape

Hot on the heels of Leicester's dark synth/ ambient dystopia duo Smoke Test come Rentamax 2000, a retro- futuristic duo devoted to early 80s synth sounds and the humble c90 cassette, the most democratic if imperfect, music format of the 20th century. Rentamax are also railing against Spotify- the format wars may not be over yet! 

Leicester has a history of non- conformism and grass roots pop culture (see the Unglamorous Music Project, a wave of all female punk bands founded by local legend Ruth Miller before her death in October 2023). Rentamax 2000 come in that outsider, grass roots tradition. Their album Straight To Tape is available at Bandcamp where it can be bought digitally and on cassette, ten tracks in forty five minutes, inspired by the then futuristic sounds of the early 80s, tape experiments, synthesizers, Cold War paranoia, Tomorrow's World, TV rental shops, flickering graphics and worn out VHS recordings, the promise of a future that didn't arrive- or maybe it did but then swiftly departed. 

Stakeout is the sound of  a cop chase round a deserted warehouse, cars screeching on gravel and men in polyester trousers giving chase. Rumbelows is mutant instrumental synth pop, Fad Gadget in wind down mode. Tuesday am with synths is this year's most literal track title (I should have posted this yesterday though) and sounds like a New Order/ OMD rehearsal where everyone switched the machines on, went for a cigarette and came back to find a glorious, accidental, repetitious noise. Straight To Tape ends with Ignorance Is Bliss, a seven minute, slo mo, polyphonic synth playground, Kraftwerk's robots running out of juice and powering down. Rentamax 2000's Straight To Tape is here. Join the resistance. 

For some reason, Rentamax also make me think of this...

As mentioned above the Unglamorous Music Project has given birth to over a dozen all female punk bands, women the other side of fifty who to quote Alison Dunne/ Fish, has 'no fucks to give any more about what people think of me'. They write their own music and value prior musical experience less important than enthusiasm. Alison/ Fish's band Boilers is loud, shouty and have something to say, something by middle aged women, a group of people not normally afforded much time near microphones. 

Boilers EP We Are Boilers is at Bandcamp here, five songs recorded live 108 days after forming. Fellow Leciester punk band Bad Toaster are an all female three piece with two EPs of menopausal punk, Burnt Offerings and Sports Bra- shouty, punky, irreverent fun. 

Moments

This song came my way again at the weekend, on Sunday night as I was getting my head around work the day after I think, a very welcome postcard from 1989 courtesy of J.T. And The Big Family. It led to a train of music in my head, one song leading to another, all links in a late 80s/ early 90s musical chain.

J.T. And The Big Family's Moments In Soul was created and mixed at Strawberry Studios in Stockport, one of many records passing through that studio in the 1980s, the state of the art desk and facilities paid for by 10cc's hit singles and desire to have a good studio to record in close to home and not have to go to London to make records. J.T. And The Big Family were Italian and created Moments In Soul largely from samples- the two you'll pick up on straight away are the synth stabs from The Art Of Noise's ambient classic Moments In Love and the summer  of '89/ '90 shuffle of Soul II Soul's Keep On Movin', plus the very familiar, 'ah yeah' vocal sample, and vocals by an uncredited Susy del Gesso. 

Moments In Soul 

Here's the two main source samples, Art Of Noise and their 1986 masterpiece, a song that in 12" form is one the 1980s best moments.

Moments In Love

Keep On Movin' was a March 1989 single for Soul II Soul, the second single from Club Classics Vol. One, with Caron Wheeler's vocal and Nellee Hooper and Jazzie B's production. One of those songs from a year when great singles seemed to be released on a weekly basis. 

Keep On Movin'

Moments In Soul was a top ten hit and a summer of '89 classic, a slowed down chugger giving dancers a few minutes of respite from the higher bpm tracks. The provenance of all those samples and their sources takes in a list of artists including Biz Markie, Toots And The Maytals, The O'Jays, Bobby Byrd, Foxy Brown and Grand Central Station (whose The Jam provided Soul II Soul with their drum break). 

Moments In Soul fits perfectly with many other dance records from the period not least this one, another chart smash. Tom's Diner was a 1990 hit for DNA and Suzanne Vega, with a Soul II Soul drum break, this time from Back To Life, with an a capella vocal from 1981 laid over the top. It was done originally without Suzanne's knowledge or permission, Tom and Neal from DNA chopping the vocal up into little bits, sampling it and then re- assembling it with drums, bass, some string stabs and piano. 

Tom's Diner

In 1991 Electronic, Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr's band that was something of a bid to break out of the shadows of their two bigger bands, released Feel Every Beat, a single from their debut, self- titled album. DNA remixed it for the CD single- there are lots of guitars courtesy of Mr Marr, some big piano house chords, another shuffling DNA drum beat and Bernard's rather sweetly sung vocals, 'we don't need to argue/ we just need each other'. Bernard also raps (and gets away with I think), a vaguely coded response to the criminalisation of rave culture and free parties.   

Feel Every Beat (DNA Mix)

Monday's Long Song

A swift return to these pages for Jezebell with the release last Friday of their three track Jezebellearica EP. Two of the three have been released previously, the slinky groove of Le Funk Et Moi and the White Ilse stomper Stop Bajon (Primavera), summer songs built around the works of Max Berlins and Tullio Piscopo. The lead song, Jezebellearic, is seven minutes and forty three seconds of laid back, easy going charm, a groove and song that according to Jesse 'just seemed to write itself', pushed along by a lazy vaguely familiar bassline. It is sprinkled with the voice of legendary DJ Alfredo, the father of the Balearic Beat and resident of Ibiza since 1976, who picked up the residency at Amnesia and proceeded to play the contents of his record collection, a unique and eclectic blend of rock, pop, dance, soul, jazz, soundtracks, instrumentals and eventually house to a crowd of pleasure seekers from all over the world who 'all knew each other by their first name'. Jezebellearic is magic bottled, a feeling compressed into bytes. And much more. Get it here and name your own price. 

In the track Alfredo lists some of the records he played, including this one from Art Of Noise in 1984. How's that for cooling you down on the hottest Monday of the year/ decade/ century?

Moments In Love

Monday Mix

I did another mix for Scotland's Tak Tent Radio and it went out yesterday from their nerve centre. I put it together back in March when the days were shorter and I seemed to spend a lot of time walking round in the dark after work- seems a bit gloomy now that it's May and the evenings are lighter much later. At first I intended it to be a fully ambient/ drone mix, partly because I was listening to a lot of ambient music in my headphones while walking and partly because I'd just begun reading Harry Sword's book, Monolithic Undertow, a history and appreciation of the drone from Neolithic times to the present day (highly recommended if you haven't read it) but I got twenty five minutes into the mix and thought we needed some drums (and a voice or two too). Tak Tent Radio is here, loads of great stuff to listen to. Bagging Area Tak Tent Three is at Mixcloud. Tracklist below. 

Tak Tent Three

• Luke Schneider: Anteludium
• Daniel Avery: Tremor
• A Winged Victory For The Sullen: The Dead Outnumber The Living
• Richard Norris: Hilma
• Craven Faults: Cupola Smelt Mill
• Pye Corner Audio: Quarry Rave
• Herrmann Kristoferson: Gone Gold
• Ruf Dug: Dominica (Kenneth Bager’s Sunset Ambient Mix)
• Andrew Weatherall and Michael Smith: Estuary Embers
• Art Of Noise: Moments In Love
• Cheval Sombre: It’s Not Time
• Vangelis/ Blade Runner: Pris Meets JF Sebastian 
• Vangelis/ Blade Runner: Spinner Ascent

Apricity

I learnt a new word recently- Apricity (feeling the warmth of the sun in winter). Nice isn't it? The definition and the word itself, a nice word to say.

Moments In Love by Art Of Noise, from 1983, is a musical equivalent of apricity. It has become a standard on those chill out compilations, usually found now cluttering up bargain bins and charity shops, played to death on smooth radio stations, and has been used in countless adverts and films but don't hold that against it.

Moments In Love (Extended Version)