Should Have Been Higher

No, Elmo, today’s post is brought to you by the letter S and the number 3! Hello, Spacemen 3!

In July, the wonderful No Badger Required blog ran a series counting down Rock's Greatest Number, that is, bands or artists with a number in their name.

I had the privilege of making nominations and casting votes as a member of the Musical Jury. That said, the role doesn't presume any expertise, knowledge or skill or that I have the faintest idea what I'm talking about. Even a casual visitor to this blog will pick up that I've spent a lifetime being out of step with musical trends and popular opinion.

Rock's Greatest Number may be considered a prime example of this, as I placed Spacemen 3 at number 15 in my Top 20 of the shortlisted candidates, which contributed to their final placement at #6 in the official countdown.

"Sixth?  Sixth?  What were the musical jury thinking" NBR mastermind SWC wondered at the time. "Spacemen 3 should be, oooh, five places higher, at least.  They are clearly rocks greatest band to have a number in their names.  Whose stupid idea was it to involve the thoughts of other people anyway….?"

It's reasonable to say that SWC's love of Spacemen 3 is well documented.  

My relationship with the music of Spacemen 3 has been different and, well, complicated.

To be honest, I got annoyed with Spacemen 3 before I even heard a single note, thanks to hipster music journos in the late 1980s and early 1990s who banged on that you needed to be on drugs to really ‘get’ their music. 

Although to be fair, Spacemen 3’s album titles - The Perfect Prescription (1987) and especially Taking Drugs To Make Music To Take Drugs To  (1990) - didn’t exactly help provide an opposing view. 

I didn’t like being told what music I should listen to and what drugs I should take to listen to it. So, I did my usual teen thing of going the opposite way.

Therefore, I skirted Spacemen 3 during their lifetime and I only found my way back to them in the mid-1990s after first falling in love with Spiritualized, the band that Jason Pierce formed immediately following. 

Ironic really as, if anything, Spiritualized took the drug references to their logical and ludicrous conclusion, but I appeared to have no problem with that whatsoever. 

It also took a few more years before I explored and appreciated Pete Kember's aural excursions as Sonic Boom. Which just goes to show what a hypocrite I am.

Anyway, taking to long way round to Jason and Pete's band of course revealed that Spacemen 3 made beautiful music all along. I've shared some examples below.

Today's post is also dedicated with thanks - and apologies - to SWC. Spacemen 3 should have been higher. 

{Sonic) Boom, boom.

 

 

 

Totally Together

I'd originally planned to post on Friday about Jesse Fahnestock's new single as 10:40, the rather wonderful Thickener, available in "full fat original" and "thinner" mixes and sporting a striking photo by Swiss Adam. 

 

No surprise then to find that I'd been pipped to the, er, post by Adam, who posted a Bagging Area review on Thursday. The slight pause for thought was actually for the best, as it inspired me to go back and create a playlist, bringing in Jesse’s wider music as 10:40, his collaboration with Darren Bell as Jezebell as well as remixes and re-edits from both projects. From there, I started sequencing a selection of tunes for an expanded post.

I developed a stinking cold yesterday - it always feels weird/worse when it's a gloriously warm, sunny day outside - and didn't get to finish the selection as my head was full of cotton wool. Woken by a sore throat (and a hungry, wailing cat) early this morning, and armed with a mug of steaming hot lemon, ginger and honey, I returned to the half-finished selection. I went back to Bandcamp and purchased a few 10:40 tracks and mixes that I didn't already have (I originally jumped on board in 2021 with 10:40's second album, All Of Us) and completed the selection you find here.

 

Apologies in advance for the sloppy cues, inept crossfades and bumbling beat matching. I'd like to blame it on my compromised physical health, but if you've listened to even one previous Dubhed selection, I think you know the score.

For your patience, you get 16 tracks over 89 minutes, spanning early mixes, tracks and re-edits and bang up to date with Jezebell's last two singles as well as their contribution to the excellent Shelter Me compilation. The latter is raising money for the housing and homelessness charity Shelter, a cause very dear to my heart. 

 

Appropriately, the selection closes with the song that started off the idea for this post, 10:40's Thickener, freshly released to the world on Wednesday 25th May. All in all, just what the doctor ordered for a Sunday... or any day, for that matter. Sod the cold, I'm dancing!

You can buy all of this music - and I strongly recommend that you do - respectively from 10:40, Jezebell and Paisley Dark Records via Bandcamp. The only exception is Uptick, where the original version and 10:40 remix of Universe is available as a free download on Soundcloud.

 

1) Green Shoots: 10:40 (2021)

2) Sleepwalker: 10:40 ft. David Rosenheim (2021)

3) Universe (10:40's Dark Matter Mix): Uptick (2021)

4) Hawaii (Album Version): 10:40 (2020)

5) Dancing (Not Fighting) (The Rhythm Stix Mix): Jezebell (2022)

6) Monster In The Middle (Interesting Lives Dub): 10:40 (2020)

7) On Marche (New Sheux Mix): 10:40 (2020)

8) Let Me Down Gently (10:40's Torn Parachute Dub): Spacemen 3 (2021)

9) "Bed Heads": Jezebell (2022)

10) Dizzy Dean: 10:40 (2021)

11) Allow The Beat (Dark Money Dub): 10:40 (2020)

12) Last Night But Three: 10:40 (2020)

13) Jezebelle Et Moi (Le Funk Et Moi): Jezebell (2022)

14) Stop Bajon (Primavera) (Jezebell Edit): Tullio De Piscopo (2021)

15) Left Behind Blues (Album Version): 10:40 (2021) 

16) Thickener (Thinner Mix): 10:40 (2022)

 

2020: Closer EP: 11

2020: Found Time: 4, 12

2020: Hawaii EP: 6

2020: On Marche EP: 7

2021: All Of Us: 1, 10, 15

2021: Paisley Dark Edits Box 6 EP: 14

2021: Sleepwalker EP: 2, 8

2021: Universe EP: 3 

2022: Dancing (Not Fighting) EP: 5

2022: Jezebelle Et Moi EP: 13

2022: Shelter Me: 9

2022: Thickener EP: 16

 

Totally Together (1:28:29) (KF) (Mega)

Don't Get Stuck In The Past

Today's 2021 retrospective highlights some great remixes from various singles and albums. The post title is the opening line of track 1, but also slightly tongue-in-cheek: a quick glance at the track listing and it's like an old school reunion, with Soulwax, Darren Emerson, Mark Ronson, UNKLE, Groove Armada and - bloody hell! - Kris Needs. My other challenge was avoiding making this a Hardway Bros. 'best of 2021'. Sean Johnston has delivered so many fantastic remixes, several of which have featured in previous posts; for this selection, I managed to whittle it down to two. Also making two appearances is Jesse Fahnestock: remixing Spacemen 3 as 10:40 in April, which led me to many more subsequent Bandcamp purchases, and November's single Thrill Me, as Jezebell (Fahnestock & Darren Bell), which includes a suitably whacko retro sample. This is barely scratching the surface, and I've a long list of this year's music that I still want to get, as 2022 and even more new sounds approach.

 

1) A Hero's Death (Soulwax Remix): Fontaines D.C.

2) That Time Of Night (Darren Emerson Remix): GLOK ft. Shiarra

3) Sail We Must (Hardway Bros Remix): Wet Signals

4) Thrill Me (Darren Darko Mix): Jezebell

5) Flying Tiger (The Mole's Slower Remix By Colin De La Plante): Dreems

6) New Love Cassette (Mark Ronson Remix): Angel Olsen

7) Hegel Dialect (UNKLE Reconstruction): Krust

8) They're In Our Head (Kampong Glam Mix): Rude Audio

9) First Class Bitch (Groove Armada's Confidence Trick Remix): Confidence Man

10) Point And Kill / Fear No Man (mindtrix music Remix): Little Simz ft. Obongjayar

11) Walking In The Sun (James Bright Remix): Andres Y Xavi ft. Rolo McGinty

12) Obey (Hardway Bros Stereo Odyssey Mix): Rheinzand

13) Love Comes In Waves (Pye Corner Audio Remix): Andy Bell

14) Weekend (The Judas Triangle) (Dom Beken & Kris Needs Remix): The Orb

15) How Does it Feel? (10:40's Terrace Moonshine Dub) (Remix By Jesse Fahnestock): Spacemen 3

Don't Get Stuck In The Past (1:39:08)

 

A note on yesterday's post: track-by-track comments still to come. Early visitors may have noticed that I dropped Show Your Face by The Anchoress into the mix for a second consecutive day. Oops! That was a mistake: much as I love the song, it was supposed to be Let It Hurt instead, but in my half-awake state I pulled the wrong track. After a shower and a strong coffee, I've corrected and replaced the selection and link. Slipshod DJ licence currently under review and may be revoked.

And You Know I've Nothin' To Gain

Bandcamp Friday proved to be another treasure trove, although I was (a little) more restrained than the last couple of months. Aside from catching up with the Why Not and Heartbreak EPs from Unloved, featuring a plethora of remixes from Andy Votel & Jane Weaver, Gwenno, Hardway Bros, Limiñanas, Richard Sen, The Vendetta Suite and Andrew Weatherall, I bought a clutch of more recent releases from artists I've been switched onto this year.

 

I've included a trio of selections here, but please take it as read that I'm suggesting you buy the complete album/EP as they're all good!

Let Me Down Gently (10:40's Torn Parachute Dub): Spacemen 3 (from the Sleepwalker EP) 

 

The Universal Energy Within (Mytron Remix By Jacek Janiszewski): Dan Wainwright (from The Universal Energy Within EP)

What Do You See In Me (Dubapella): Andres Y Xavi ft. Rolo McGinty (from Higher Love Vol. 1 by various artists)

 

Jellyfish Jam

10:40 aka Jesse Fahnestock is based in Stockholm, Sweden and came to my attention a couple of months ago via Bagging Area, with a blissfully wonderful dub of How Does it Feel? by Spacemen 3. This was enough to get me over to 10:40's Bandcamp page and buy the debut album, All Of Us, released in April. It's been a regular listen since then and one of the tracks, The Forever Yes, featured in my slipshod, sticky tape & scissors Pan-Ambient Summer Washout Mix the following month.

On Wednesday, Swiss Adam highlighted another 10:40 remix, this time the equally wonderful "Outer Hebrides Dub" of Inner Meet Me by The Beta Band. Jesse commented that he had a new release coming out on 11th June, which I purchased and listened to this morning.

10:40 vs. Eagle Harbor is a split single with 10:40 remixing Eagle Harbor (aka Peter Hanks) on the A-side and vice versa on the flip. I'm completely new to Eagle Harbor and can't compare with the original version of "Badwater Lake" but, suffice to say, 10:40's Jellyfish Jam delivers the goods, a pulsing, mid-tempo jaunt with vocals washing in and out like waves. Eagle Harbor remixes Bone Cutter from All Of Us, upping the BPMs over 5 and a half minutes, without ever losing the identity of the original version.

All tracks are well worth a listen and currently available on Bandcamp (All Of Us album included) as a "name your price" purchase.

"Badwater Lake" (10:40's Jellyfish Jam)
Bone Cutter (Eagle Harbor Werewolf Edit)

10:40 on Bandcamp

Paisley Dark Records on Bandcamp