Pass A Wish And Take Me To The House

Out today on Brighton's always reliable Higher Love label is one of my favourite EPs of the summer, Pandit Pam Pam's Pass A Wish with a pair of Jezebell remixes. Pandit Pam Pam is an electronic musician from Sao Paulo whose album Camburi came out in July (and featured some guest spots from Henry Olsen, formerly the bass player for Primal Scream in their late 80s/ early 90s pomp and before that part of Nico's touring band in the 80s). I wrote about Camburi here. Eduardo, one of the two men behind Pandit Pam Pam also puts music out on his Boston Medical Group label and has sent me music from time to time, including releases by Feriasdasferias. On Pass A Wish Eduardo in Sao Paulo gets remixed by my favourite remix/ edit pair Jezebell, Jesse (in Stockholm) and Darren (in London). 

Pass A Wish is a dreamy, floaty four minutes of music, built around a fluttering rhythm and with horns hinting at its Brazilian origins and surroundings. The synths bubble away and a female voice drifts on top, somewhere between singing and talking. It nods in the direction of A Man Called Adam's 1990/ 1991 sound- yep, that good. 

The pair of Jezebell remixes both transport Pass A Wish elsewhere. Jezebell's 50 Ways Remix presumably tips its hat at Paul Simon's 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover (whose drum break has been sampled widely, not least by one Andrew Weatherall on his head spinning remix of Love Corporation's Give Me Some Love). The drums give it a funky, constant motion while the synths and voice swirl around the rhythm and the chopped up horn drops in and out. Very cool indeed. 

Jezebell's Leave Your Lover Mix is sleek and chuggy, a different rhythm and feel, more night time with handclaps and percussion leading the charge, the horn chopped up and FXed even more, everything pushed a little further into the cosmos. The Pass A Wish EP is available at Bandcamp from today. You know what to do. 

Also out today is the latest release from teenage wonderkid OBOST. Take Me To The House was one of the standouts on OBOST's debut album (released at the start of this year), a shimmering, multi- coloured slice of electronic euphoria, rising and falling synths and four four drums. On the new EP the original is reworked into Take Me To The Basement, a slowed down version with a juddering rhythm and fizzing synths. 

There's a remix too by Tronik Youth, a much beatier, more percussive version, with a no nonsense kick drum, pulsing synthlines and heading straight to the heart of the dancefloor. The EP is out today and again, available at Bandcamp. 

Shelter Me

Out today on Paisley Dark is this eighteen track compilation Shelter Me- In Crisis, an album released to raise funds for the charity of the same name that aims to tackle the problem of homelessness. Paisley Dark is based in Leeds- if Leeds is anything like Manchester homelessness is an issue that seems to have reached crisis proportions. We live four miles south of the city centre in a residential, fairly leafy suburb- there are people living in tents in the corner of a site that has been cleared for renovation, for a while someone was living on a roundabout and there have been living out of tents in the woodlands down by the Mersey. In the city centre there is a community of scores of men living in the arcade by the town hall. This seems to be an issue that people just accept, yet another aspect of modern life where we seem to have reversed and where our politicians shrug and make excuses. The current government don't seem to care at all and have pursued policies that have made the situation worse and worse. 

There are eighteen different artists on the album, many of whom have been featured here in recent years- John Paynter has pulled in an all star cast and an A grade track selection for Shelter Me- In Crisis. Tronik Youth, Duncan Gray, Al Mackenzie, Cosmikuro, Hogt I Tak, Hunterbrau, James Rod, Ian Vale, Jezebell, Mr BC, Tecwaa, Warriors Of The Dystotheque and Joe Duggan (an Ed Mahon remix of their wonderful 2023 single Fitzroy Avenue), Shunt Voltage, Stylic and Keith Forrester and Mindbender have all graced these pages before and will do so again. All proceeds from the sales of the album will go directly to Shelter Me. You can buy it here. Not just good music but a purchase that will do some social good. 

Tronik Youth's Dance With Me is five and a half minutes of urgent, propulsive, cowbell laden acid house with a massively distorted vocal shouting, 'dance with me!' 

Al Mackenzie's A Morning On The Chase and Tecwaa's Whippy are at Soundcloud. Al Mackenzie's is a slinky slow burning chug. Tecwaa's Whippy is faster and darker, with rattling rim shots and a distant female vocal in the breakdown before everything goes strobe lit at three minutes. 

Duncan Gray's The Remote Control Thief is yet another top class Duncan Gray track, a buzzing synth bassline, dark house groove and acidic topline coming together beautifully. 

Things In The Shadows

More dark, acid tinged, electro goodness today in the form of synths and drum machines from Warriors Of The Dystotheque, music and voices bent out of shape by remixers Tronik Youth. You could stick it on a compilation CD/playlist with Sean Johnston's recent A.M.O.R. release, some Future Beat Alliance, Mythologen, Stiletto Ana, a couple of the long Duncan Gray tracks from recent times and the Shunt Voltage tracks I posted on Saturday for a intense and beat driven commute.

Pain Relief

This is one of those lovely dance tracks that abound at the moment- chugging rhythm, some nice phased effects and noises, throbby bass, a distant robotic voice to unsettle you ever so slightly...

Tronik Youth remixed by Sean Johnston (as Hardway Bros)