LATEST BLEEP DOWNLOADS...

MR. 76ix - Hits Of 76ix
This is actually released by Autechre's Skam label (who, lest we forget, were the first to discover Boards Of Canada) who's catalogue is now available for download via Warp's Bleep site. Other labels are gradually being added, with the promise of Ninja Tune pitching in shortly, but I digress.

This year I've sort of got used to having my mind blown on a weekly basis. The sheer quality and quantity coming out of the electronic leftfield at the moment is staggering. More stuff than I actually have the time to write about, unfortunately. But this album by Mr.76ix needs to be honoured, worshipped and generally bigged-up forthwith. I have absolutely no idea who this guy is, but clearly he's gonna be big news before long. Imagine a creative entity that is a composite of prime early-'90s Aphex Twin, Authechre at their most seductive, Squarepusher mash-up (with occasional Amen break death-rattle destruction) and latter-day LFO synthetic purism. Yeah, he's that good. I lack the fucking intellect to do a decent review of this one. Just get hold of it immediately.

TEAM SHADETEK - Burnerism

This is some strange shit. Team Shadetek are a duo from NYC, but definitely NOT disco-punk bandwagon hoppers. They might possibly be in the Tech-Hop camp, but only in a peripheral satellite sort of way. The thing that strikes me most is the clunky, unsyncopated beats which mess with my nervous system and make me feel all rigid. Then there's the bass sound, like some ancient Casio keyboard preset and the general feeling that these guys dare to programme where other sequencers fear to tread. A glorious, sticky, viscous mess of useless funk. Original. Admirable. More, please.

!!! - LOUDEN UP NOW
The more high-profile recent NYC group release, but I'm a little underwhelmed. The single and b-side from last year were shit-hot, suggesting that !!! were the ones to save discopunk from a premature creative cul-de-sac by raising the game to a more expansive, freeform plateau. I'm not saying it's bad album, just that only about 50% (including aforementioned single) is great whilst the rest is simply adequate. The Darkness's crown has not been toppled yet, but, christ, the potential...

GUTTERBREAKZ TOP 100 BRITISH ALBUMS

Following on from K-Punk's list, I humbly submit my own selection, presented in the same format as Mark, in no particular order, but catagorised by decade. It's dominated by white artists too, but that's because I can't include Americans or Jamaicans. Not much female action either - a constant concern of mine. Difficult to pin-down what to include from the '00s - not enough time has elapsed for me to truly gauge their significance.

'00s
Squarepusher - Go Plastic
LFO - Sheath
Simeon - Chemistry Is What We Are
Radiohead - Kid A
Broadcast - The Noise Made By People
Luke Vibert - YosepH
Chris Clark - Empty The Bones Of You
Audio Bullys - Ego War

'90s
Renegade Soundwave - Soundclash
Renegade Soundwave - In Dub
LFO - Frequencies
Mark Stewart - Metatron
Depeche Mode - Violator
Boards Of Canada - Music Has The Right To Children
Wagon Christ - Throbbing Pouch
Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 85-92
Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works II
Aphex Twin - Richard D. James Album
Authechre - Incunabula
Autechre - Tri Repetae
Beaumont Hannant - Texturology
u-ziq - Tango N' Vectif
Squarepusher - Feed Me Weird Things
Black Dog Productions - Bytes
B12 - Electro Soma
Metalheadz - Platinum Breakz
Spectrum - Soul Kiss (Glide Devine)
Richard H. Kirk - Virtual State
Electronic Eye - Closed Circuit
Sandoz - Intensely Radioactive
Cabaret Voltaire - Plasticity
Sweet Exorcist - C.C.C.D.
Orbital - Orbital II
Tek 9 - It's Not What You Think It Is !?!!
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Stereolab - Cobra & Phases Groop Play Voltage In The Milky Night
Seefeel - Quique
Ultramarine - United Kingdoms

'80s
Spacemen 3 - Playing With Fire
A.R. Kane - 69
Fad Gadget - Fireside Favourites
The Fall - Bend Sinister
Joy Division - Closer
New Order - Low Life
New Order - Technique
Jesus & Mary Chain - Psychocandy
O.M.D. - First
O.M.D. - Architecture & Morality
The Specials - More Specials
B.A.D. - No. 10 Upping Street
Mark Stewart - As The Veneer Of Democracy Starts To Fade
Robert Wyatt - Old Rottenhat
Soft Cell - Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret
Pet Shop Boys - Please
23 Skidoo - Seven Songs
XTC - Skylarking
Yazoo - Upstairs At Eric's
The Art Of Noise - (Who's Afraid of)The Art Of Noise
John Foxx - Metamatic
Japan - Tin Drum
Cocteau Twins - Treasure
Cabaret Voltaire - The Voice Of America
Cabaret Voltaire - The Crackdown
Cabaret Voltaire - The Covenant, the Sword & the Arm Of The Lord
Cabaret Voltaire - Code
The Associates - Sulk
The Human League - Travelogue
The Human League - Dare
Richard H. Kirk - Black Jesus Voice
The Stone Roses - Same (sorry mark!)


'70s
Syd Barrett - The Madcap Laughs
Robert Wyatt - Rock Bottom
Eno - Here Come The Warm Jets
Eno - Another Green World
Eno - Music For Airports
John Lennon - Plastic Ono Band
Nick Drake - Pink Moon
This Heat - First
David Bowie - Low
David Bowie - Hunky Dory
Tubeway Army - Replicas
Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure
Thomas Leer & Robert Rental - The Bridge
Cabaret Voltaire - Mix Up
Throbbing Gristle - Heathen Earth
Throbbing Gristle - 20 Jazz Funk Greats
PIL - Metal Box
Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells

'60s
Pink Floyd - Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
Kevin Ayres - Joy Of A Toy
Pretty Things - S.F. Sorrow
The White Noise - An Electric Storm
BBC Radiophonic Workshop - BBC Radiophonic Music
The Kinks - Village Green Preservation Society
The Beatles - Rubber Soul
The Beatles - Revolver
The Beatles - Abbey Road
Soft Machine - First
The Zombies - Odessey & Oracle
The Shadows - 20 Golden Greats

LAST NIGHT A DOWNLOAD SAVED MY LIFE

So anyway I'm totally hooked on this Jimmy Edgar character. No news on when exactly this album is gonna come out on Warp, but it turns out he released an album called "My Mines I" back in '02 under the double-alter ego Kristuit Salu Vs. Morris Nightingale on Merck records. Thirsty to hear more of Jimmy's magic, I scoured the P2P network in search of this release. Once located, a download was initiated and I went to bed, leaving the PC running. Came down this morning and there's the album nestling in my hardrive ready for action. How's that for progress?* Okay, so Jimmy didn't see a penny from the transaction but I'll buy him a pint next time I see him. And tell anyone who'll listen to seek out this album by any means necessary. How come I never heard about this album before? Did it just slip out unnoticed, or was I just not paying attention? Whatever, it's kinda weird that the most mind-blowingly futuristic album I've heard so far this year is actually 2 years old (and I've heard some fucking ace new records this year!).

I'd assumed that this album was maybe a tentative blueprint for the material Jimmy released on this year's "Access Rhythm" EP. But no, this is a fully-formed, technically superb, conceptually pure collection of beat-bending Tech-Hop (has anyone coined that phrase yet?**)that belies Mr. Edgar's tender years. Broadly speaking, the tracks as Morris Nightingale are the more phat, funky rhythm workouts, whilst the Kristuit Salu tunes are more meditive and cerebral. Interestingly I read somewhere that, like me, Jimmy only really likes old skool '80s Hip Hop and you can hear that influence in the sparse arrangements - what he leaves out is as crucial as what he puts in. There's some really gorgeous synth textures - quite similar to some of those used on Kraftwerk's "Tour De France Soundtracks" (though Jimmy's album predates theirs by a year)and the glitchy rhythm programming is so in-the-pocket that I'm virtually swooning with pleasure.

Every few years, a record comes along that really speaks to you, sends the imagination into overdrive with fresh possibilities. Mantronix's "Music Madness", Aphex Twin's "Selected Ambient Works 85-92" and Boards Of Canada's "Music has The Right To Children" are the sort of albums that have reached that level for me. I believe that "My Mines I" may be another. God knows how great the new one is gonna be...

* I've just finished reading a book called "Sonic Boom - Napster, P2P and the Battle For The Future Of Music" by John Alderman. It was written in 2001, so is already hopelessly out-of-date, but is nevertheless a fascinating account of the unstoppable development of online MP3 file sharing and the various attempts to crush it by the music industry. Lot's of interesting info on copyright law and 'intellectual property' too. There's already been a bit of heated debate on this subject in blogdom and I've no wish to get that particular thread back on the agenda BUT..the more I read into it, the more convinced I am that I have absolutely no sympathy for the major label corporations whatsoever. They're a fucking disease that has been strangling creativity, ripping-off artists, and fascistically controlling the consumer's access to music for too damn long. Whilst I will continue to financially support labels that care and treat their customers and artists with some respect, I'll never buy a major label release again.

** Hmmmm, "Tech-Hop". I like the sound of that. I googled the phrase, but only found one example of it's use a genre description in an article on some Canadian artist called The Jirku Boy. Apart from that, only a couple of references to tracks called "Tech-Hop", here and here. Whatever, I'm resolved to use the phrase more often....

THE FUTURE SOUND OF DETROIT (1)

I must admit I was horrified when I first heard of "GhettoTech". Whilst I have no problem with filthy, horny, sexist lyrics as a rule, the thought that my beloved Detroit Techno, with it's utopian, symphonic, highly conceptualised aesthetic had finally been subverted by the 'jocks' was an awful thought. Which is probably why I've resisted hearing anything by The Detroit Grand Pubahs for so long. Big mistake. The new one, "Galactic Ass Creatures From Uranus" is a beauty. True, there's a fair amount of 'rumpy-pumpy' talk but there's also a surprising amount of scope here. Whilst the most pervasive approach is minimalist techno with lyrics like "Where my weed at? Where my hoe's at?" delivered by electronically pitched-up helium vocals, there's also the irresistibly phat R'n'B + social commentary of "God Imposters", the string-laden emotion of "Landing In Detroit" (like a downtempo take on Derrick May's "R-Theme") and the spooked-out sci-fi jazz funk of "Bite The Pillow Talk". The album's hilarious title and cover illustration gives a cheeky nod to the space travel obsessions of Detroit's odd-ball funk grandad George Clinton, but I get the impression that the first thing the Pubahs would do if they ever made it into space would be to find out what fucking in zero-G feels like. The whole album hangs together really well and delivered in such good humour that you can easily turn a blind eye to the more misogynist elements. Hardly tasteful, but certainly very tasty.

THE FUTURE SOUND OF DETROIT (2)

I downloaded Jimmy Edgar's "Access Rhythm" EP from Bleep.Com over the weekend. Fuck me! This kid is BRILLIANT! Kinda like Prefuse 73, but more minimal and spacious. Whilst Scott Heron blows me away with his constantly shifting complex arrangements, Jimmy's talent is to take the most basic elements (super-phat Hip-Hop beats with one or two samples) and make them sound endlessly absorbing as he juggles with the audio in such a masterly fashion. I can't stop playing it. A quick peek at his website reveals that, not only is Mr. Edgar an extremely talented individual, he's also a 19 year old with pin-up looks. Christ, I am so fucking jealous of this little bastard. This kid could potentially be the first genuine left-field electronic Megastar, if enough people get behind him. There's a full-length album due this summer. Not to be missed, methinks. Make a note on your Things To Do list: "Check out Jimmy Edgar, 'cos Gutterbreakz sez he's a muthafuckin' genius". Unless, of course, you already have....

THE FUTURE SOUND OF CORNWALL

Luke Vibert returns this month with yet another release, this time under his more familiar alias, Wagon Christ. The album is called "Sorry I Make You Lush", and it's superb, assuming you like your wide-screen trippy Avant Garde sampledelia coated in a honey-sweet melodic E-Z Listening layer of gorgeousness, that is. The trademark Wagon Christ sound has been augmented by big dollops of turn-of-the-'70s cheesy Moog synth exotica (think Dick Hyman, Walter Seer, JJ Perrey and countless 'Moogsploitation' albums), fully updated for the 21st Century of course, and (after his recent flirtations with Amen Junglism and Avant Disco revivalism) a strong quota of 'classic' oldskool Hip Hop breakbeats including, on the title track, the 'Apache' break. Oh, the audacity! If ever there was a museum dedicated to the evolution, sounds and grooves of Dance Culture, then surely Vibert would be in line for the curator's job. His hard drive must be choked full of classic samples, which he diligently exhumes, polishes and recycles with such unselfconscious glee that you can't help but smile as yet another dimly-remembered sonic artifact emerges from the constantly shifting flux. Of course, all this could be dismissed as train-spotting nostalgia if not for Vibert's highly imaginative arrangements. His ability to blend seemingly disparate genre's and era's into totally unified and unique new shapes is the key to his success, along with that indefinable 'feel-good' factor that, for me, makes this album my nomination for the Official Gutterbreakz Soundtrack To Summer 2004. But what's this? As the album draws to a close, the enraged/anguished voice of Charlton Heston rises out of the mix to cry: "Damn You! God damn you all to Hell!" (and I'm sure you don't need me to tell you where he got that sample from). It's rather out-of-character for Luke to end a record on such a sour note and, come to think of it, the curious album title could be perceived as a bit peevish too. So who's been pissing Vibert off? My guess is that he's had some problems with sample-clearance. Imagine some long-forgotten songwriter complaining about Luke's uncleared use of a sample from some obscure, crappy library record. Luke's response might be "sorry I make you (sound) lush, you ungrateful old git" . This is, of course, pure supposition and conjecture. I really don't have anything more worthwhile to think about.

K-Punk's Rephlex Grime review now at Stylus.

I've heard it too now and....I love it! Mark makes a connection between Slaughter Mob's sounds of paranoia with early Cabaret Voltaire. Good point. In fact, I hear echoes of the Cabs' methodology all over the place. The rhythm track for Plasticman's "Industrial Graft" is a deadringer for that employed on the Cabs' "Trust In The Lord", and the tribal samples on Mark One's "Raindance" follow on from Richard Kirk's ongoing obsession with Africana. Excellent work, and respect to all three artists, though if I was to single-out anyone for special praise, it would have to be Slaughter Mob. I was really gripped by the razor-sharp grooves and slightly darker, dubbier soundworld. "Creeky Door" is a fascinatingly abstract piece that put me in mind of Musique Concrete pioneer Pierre Henry. And those basslines -Jesus!! definitely one to watch...

On a completely different note, I wonder if Mark has heard the latest album by Fennesz yet? I wasn't really switched-on to him until I heard his remix of Junior Boy's "Last Exit", which really blew my head off with it's saturated textures. This new album is called "Venice" and it's fucking gorgeous. Somewhere between Aphex Twin's "SAW II" and MBV's "Loveless", it's a beatless, weightless, indistinct, overloaded, isolationist, melodic slice of pure spellbinding magic. At some point in my life I'm sure I must've said that guitars were a spent force. Well, Mr. Fennesz has proved me totally wrong. If you only buy one 'chill-out' record this year, make it this.

"We're now training a generation of young people that there's no connection between music and plastic."

So says Josh Bernhoff of research analysts Forrester in today's Daily Mirror. This is in relation to the fact that Apple's i-Tunes Music Store is going online in the UK on June 15th, and will be offering music downloads at about 86p per track. Apparently it's already taken America by storm - 70 million tracks were sold last year -and experts are predicting that this will finally trigger the end of the CD. Even prior to the i-Tunes launch, there have been 500,000 downloads in the UK this year already, compared to virtually none last year, according to the British Phonographic Industry.

Now, even though I've been crusading for the MP3 revolution recently, even I was struck by a sense of impending doom on seeing this report. Even though I've bought hardly any CD's since I got my i-Pod in March, I still have a certain attachment to the old bits of plastic in their crappy jewel-cases and still enjoy the act of physically nosing around the CD racks in the music shops. The thought that those shops might not actually be there for much longer is scary. Maybe I'm still smarting from the news that my favourite shop, Imperial Music, is to close soon. Apparently this is due to extortionate increases in Business Rates, rather than falling sales, but I can't help feeling pangs of guilt about my lack of patronage in recent months. And even though I'm resolved to stick with the i-Pod/download route (because, after all's said and done, it's fucking great) it was comforting to think that the old method would always be there when I needed it. Yet, as a BPI insider remarked: "With i-Pods and now mobile phones working as MP3 players, CD's are no longer necessary"..

The CD is dead, and I helped to kill it. May God have mercy on my eternal soul....

Darn, seems like I never get the time to blog recently. I had this big post-electroclash essay planned, incorporating the new Miss Kittin and Felix Da Housecat albums but, even though I made a good start on it, I feel like I missed the boat...the zeitgeist has passed me by. But hey, at least I actually got around to reading a book (Philip K. Dick's "The World Jones Made", fact fans) and, thanks to i-Pod, I've been absorbing plenty of new sounds on my travels. More of which soon, hopefully.

In the meantime, there's an interesting little interview with Richard H. Kirk at The Milk Factory for all interested parties to digest.

RECOGNISE & RESPOND

An excellent time was had by all at "Recognise" on Thursday. I had the pleasure of meeting several new faces, including Tim Edwards, one of the other 'first time' DJs, who's drunken enthusiasm and wild mix of Aphex/Vibert/Kylie/Prince/Faust/Tears For Fears and er...Nik Kershaw set new parameters for eclectism. Apparently Tim is a member of a group called Bronze Age Fox, which also includes his brother who is better known as laptop experimentalist Minotaur Shock. Tim was proudly displaying his group's new triangular-shaped vinyl release, which was apparently financed by Sony. Nice one, son.

My mate Dave B. put in a good performance too. Despite his initial plan to subvert the event with all kindsa weird shit, Dave's commercial instincts proved too strong and he was soon filling the floor with crowd-pleasers like Beyonce and, of course Kylie Vs. New Order mix of "Can't Get You Out Of My Head". Dave had a picture of his idol Paul McCartney pinned-up in the DJ booth, in the hope that it would bring lot's of luck and good vibes. Must've worked, 'cause the vibe was well moist. And yes, Dave just couldn't help playing "Jet" by Wings. He also made good on his promise (threat?) to play "Conquering Lion" which is a garage rock-style cover of the old Yabby U reggae classic by Whiteworst. Who the fuck are Whiteworst? It's this recording 'project' (I wouldn't use the term 'group') who's members include myself, my mate Aaron and occasional live drums from Dave. Apparently the track went down quite well, although I wasn't able to gauge audience reaction myself as I was deep in conversation in the entrance hallway at the time. Darn...

The third member of the Recognise 'virgin-DJ' triad was also called Dave. His tastes seemed to be very much towards exotica/tropicalia-type stuff. Perhaps his most striking attribute was the outrageously retro moustache he was sporting. Not sure what statement he was trying to make, but I liked it.

BLOG BROWSING...

Marcello:
"I look at Reynolds’ “feeling/really feeling” lists on Blissblog and they just give me a headache – Christ, MORE stuff to take into account; can musicians be forcibly banned from making or recording music for five years to give the rest of us a chance to get our breath back? "

Yeah, ain't it a bitch? To free up more head-space, I'm actually trying to reduce the amount of 'old' music I listen to, so I can spend the time more profitably listening to the LATEST, Bang!-up-the-minute shit I can lay my hands on. Avoiding buying re-issues and anthologies where possible (apart from Cabs/RH Kirk, of course!). I went through a phase where I was buying and trading LOADS of old shit, but NO MORE! One new Golden Rule is to not bother checking out anything else Pre-Punk. I reckon I've got about as much '60s and early-mid '70s stuff as I'm ever gonna need. To hell with the rest; it's all OLD NEWS, baby. True, there are a few gaps to fill in my post-punk knowledge and I am looking forward to the Metal Urbain and Factrix CD-Rs that are coming my way shortly. A few ravey/jungley things from the early '90s that I wanna track down too. But generally speaking, it's about focusing on the present and future. It's the only way to keep on top of things, or at least keep one's head above water...

Re: Marcello and Matt's general feeling that blogging sucks. C'mon, guys - lighten up! Maybe I just got into this blog thing with less expectations (zero expectations, actually) but I just think this is a fun thing to do. I believe the technical definition of a blog is 'online diary' and I'm just documenting all the random stuff that excites, annoys and fascinates me. The fact that other people read, appreciate and sometimes empathise still amazes me. It's great! Maybe I just don't get enough people slagging me off?

Thanks to Diego in Spain for alerting me to this.

Happy 1st Birthday to K-Punk. I shall dust-off my old cassette copy of Whitehouse's "Dedicated To Peter Kurten - Mass Sadist And Slayer" and play it at intolerable volume in honour of that first post....

Random bitz...

Apparently, Hydrogen Dukebox artist Technova is actually David Harrow, who used to be On-U Sound's chief techno-boffin back in the day. The man responsible for the brilliant digi-dub backing track on "These Things Happen", one of my favourite Mark Stewart choons. His new album "Electrosexual" out anytime now.

Miss Kittin's first solo album proper, "I Com" is apparently very good, but early reports suggest that Felix Da Housecat's new album is a bit dodgy. More soon...

Although I haven't followed their work since "Snivilisation", Gutterbreakz would like to pay respect to the mighty Orbital, who have officially split-up. Seventh and final album the "Blue Album" out on 21st June. I met Paul Hartnoll once. Very nice man...

Another act who I haven't followed for years are The Orb. But I heard a track from their new album "Bicycles & Tricycles" on Peel's show this week which really impressed me. Maybe it's time to give Dr. Alex and his chums another chance...?

Another cool track heard on the radio was this funky lil' number with samples of Charlton Heston in "Planet Of The Apes" (still one of my favourite films). Turns out it was from the new Wagon Christ album. I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about Luke's recent 'disco-kitch' Kerrier District project, but I've got a really good feeling about this new one...

Also heard a cool Scisser Sisters dance mix that even K-Punk might like! Don't remember what it was called though. Sorry.

Ecstacy users (past and present) beware. Apparently there are long-term problems with 'disturbed sleep'. Source: DJ Mag.

As a footnote to my previous post, apparently Italo-Disco pioneer Alexander Robotnick has a mix CD released called "The Disco-Tech Of Alexander Robotnick". Although I haven't actually heard it yet, judging by what I've read I'm probably familiar with at least 50% anyway. Intrigingly, Robotnick has included early '80s tracks such as Visage's "Fade To Grey", John Foxx's "Underpass", OMD's "Enola Gay", mid-80's stuff like Yello's "I Love You" and New Order's "Bizarre Love Triangle", mixing them seamlessly with more recent electro tracks by the likes of Miss Kittin & The Hacker. By joining the dots in this way, Robotnick presents a distinctly Euro-centric perspective on Dance Culture evolution, which should serve to remind us of New Romantisism's crucial role in it's development. Watch out for it...

Anyone out there who still reads The Printed Word might find the latest issue of Record Collector worth a peek. If you can get past the cover photo of Bob Geldof, this "80's Special" has some quality entertainment value, on account of the heavy emphasis on the New Romantic era.

I sometimes wonder what it is that still attracts me to this essentially ludicrous genre. In his opening essay, Joel McIver suggests that the demograph for appreciation of New romanticism is "people aged between thirty and forty and with a vague interest in fashion and electronics". Well that's me bang-to-rights. My conscience is clear. Lots of stuff on Human League, Flock of Seagulls, Culture Club and even my old faves Blancmange (who I wouldn't consider to be New Romantic in the slightest - their earthy sound and straight image completely at odds with the genre in my view.)

Former Sounds writer Betty Page recounts her early encounters with Spandeau Ballet and Duran Duran. Betty (now known by her real name Beverley Glick) highlights the surprisingly visionary stance of the early Spandeau, who's manager Steve Dagger said at the time: "It's not your Marquees, not your polytechnic gigs, nothing is created there. It happens in the clubs. Left to it's own devices, rock music becomes very boring". extraordinary prescience there...still a valid standpoint even now, in my book. Present day, John Foxx chips in with talk of the era's "total technological takeover" and of "the scene unknowingly headed toward acid and house music". Even Kajagoogoo's Limahl gets in on the act, with his outlandish and slightly improbable claim that his group were "very avant-garde with influences like Robert Fripp and Devo". And then, when discussing their big hit "Too Shy", Limahl's tech-talk of "the warm synth pad with the oscillator envelope thing opening slowly was the whole foundation/basis of the song" had me rummaging through my wife's 'Hit's of The 80s" compilations in order to reassess this seemingly misunderstood masterpiece. The 8-bar intro was quite sexy actually, but I remain dubious about the rest. If there's anyone out there who could convince me of Kajagoogoo's greatness, I'll be very grateful.

However much emphasis you place on New romanticism's role in the history of Dance Culture, one thing is certain. They looked great. One of the few drawbacks of post-acid, post B-boy Culture is the crap, loose-fitting sporty fashion that it spawned. I know it makes sense to wear tracksuit bottoms and trainers when you're dancing all night at a sweaty rave, but the knock-on effect has been over ten years of the most boring-looking people ever. Fashion has only started recovering in the last couple of years, with a gradual return to some good ol' 80s trash-glam action. And I know I'm a total hypocrite, 'cause I'm Mr. Casual and am too fucking cowardly to express myself through my appearance. Perhaps that's why I admire those early-80's fops like Steve Strange so much. They had more balls than I ever will, dressing up like that.

SANDOZ - DIGITAL LIFEFORMS REDUX (objective views of a fanatic)

"I went to Haiti in 1991, which was a stupid thing to do. It was quite a scary experience because it was just before they had a revolution. Maybe I got possessed there or something but ever since then I started using a lot of African voices and rhythms. It was so uplifting, I wanted to graft some of that onto what I was doing."
Richard H. Kirk, The Wire, March 2000

Kirk had probably been harbouring fantasies of an African/European alliance through electronics for some time prior to that. Witness the spooked-out exotica of "Haiti", a brief instrumental on 1983's "The Crackdown" LP. Whatever, by 1992 (with the Cabs embarking on their final phase in the rarified orbit of Electronic Listening Muzik), Kirk's next bid for dancefloor acceptance appeared in the form of three 12 inch singles under a new guise, Sandoz (named after the Swiss acid lab.) Subsequently collected on CD by Touch as "Digital Lifeforms" and now re-issued by The Grey Area Of Mute with an additional CD of rare/unreleased cuts from the same period, these early Sandoz excursions remain some of the most accessible, funky, melodic and downright enjoyable tracks in the vast Kirk back-catalogue without resorting to the overtly Popist stance of the Cabs' EMI period. But it's difficult for me to put into words just why this collection is worthy of your time over ten years later. It's hard to find an angle on it. There's a politeness about this album that makes it, as Eno might say, "as ignorable as it is interesting". "Digital Lifeforms" occupies a zone of equal light and shade that neither repels nor excites. It simply exists...and makes a nice groovy noise.

Opening track "Armed Response" sets the tone perfectly, fusing tuff Techno drum programming (dig those snare rolls!), breakbeat shuffle, latin percussion, dub bass, breathy woodwind swoons and catchy keyboard hooks. "Human Spirit" overlays African voodoo chants against a serene Deep House backdrop. After a portentous intro of ambient synth sweeps, "Limbo" develops into an irresistible marriage of cold electro beats and mesmerising tribal percussion. "Zombie Astral" ups the tribal pressure levels further, giving a taste of mantra-induced frenzy without actually taking you to the point where your eyes start rolling back in your head; it's tasteful hints of African spirituality firmly grounded by European coffee-table chic.

Disc 2 provides the more interesting option for Kirk die-hards like myself, as it features much never-before-heard Sandoz offcuts, of surprisingly high quality. "Tribal Warfare", with it clunky electro beats and bulbous sinewave bassline isn't a million miles from Wiley's finest Eskidubs. One of only two tracks to have been previously released (on a New Electronica compilation), "Ocean Reflection" is a gorgeous, pulsating web of bleepy riffs and shimmering sustained timbres that predicts the oceanic vistas of "Closed Circuit" (Kirk's superb 1994 album as Electronic Eye). Overall, what we have here are the first blossoming foundations of Kirk's most seductive, user-friendly period that lasted roughly from 1992-95. The sort of material that you can play when you have guests in the house without upsetting anyone. No adrenalin-rush or dread paranoia here....more like a sustained plateaux of good vibes, infectious grooves and dreams of faraway places.

EARLIER/LATER

...gradually returning to reality after immersing myself in the musical garden of unearthly delights that is Richard H.Kirk's bumper crop of Mute releases. I knew I was in for a thrilling ride in the first few seconds of track 1, disc 1 of "Earlier/Later", which sounds uncannily similar to the intro to Model 500's "No UFO's", which wouldn't be so remarkable if not for the fact that this track, "Never Lose Your Shadow", was recorded a good two years prior to Juan Atkin's landmark Techno template. Created sometime around '82/'83, "Shadow" is a far more austere offering than the complex clatter of sensation usually associated with the Cab's output from this period. Held together by a simple metronomic kick/snare pattern, occasionally dubbed-up with that distinctive reverse-reverb effect used so effectively by 'Magic' Juan on "UFO's", augmented by crystalline sequencer and portentous clarinet calls. There's so much space in this groove - a perfect example of why some of the stiffest rhythms are the most funky. Perhaps most surprising is Kirk's vocal - though inflected by that typical European-industrial 'deadness' of the era - it sounds as sensual in it's blankness as Atkin's intonation, which was itself perhaps inspired by the European electronic new wave. It's hard to reconcile "Shadow"s obvious pioneering vision of future-funk with the fact that it has until recently only been heard by Kirk himself (and possibly a few close associates). Clearly, it's way ahead of the game, yet has had no direct influence on the course of electronic music. This feeling could be applied to much of disc 2's material. "Earlier" charts Kirk's solo experiments from '74/'75; splinters of sound-matter running adjacent to his Cabs work documented on last year's "Attic Tapes" box set. Literally 'home recordings', these pieces were not created at Chris Watson's loft, but at Kirk's parent's house in the Pittsmoor area of Sheffield. I find material like this utterly fascinating...like John Cale's New York demos from the '60's or Suicide's First Rehearsal Tapes from '75, these recordings exist in a creative bubble - private research that appears to have no direct ancestors nor any influence on future generations due to it's complete non-existence in the outside world. Out of time. Beyond time. Time-less. How the hell Kirk even thought to conceive tracks like "Hell In Here" at such a young age is beyond me. Whether or not he was already well-versed in Stockhausen, Reich, Cage, Riley et al is a moot point. As far as I know he was still listening to Roxy Music at that time and even Eno had barely begun to explore the boundaries of creative recording processes then. In just under six minutes "Hell In Here" single-handedly invents the distressed sound of Throbbing Gristle's "Second Annual Report" and, by association, the 'industrial' genre as a whole. Through a heat haze of tape hiss and mains hum, spectral waves of white noise interlock with fragments of half-heard dialogue and baleful clarinet squall, punctuated by savage pause-button edits, finishing with a fragment of what sounds like Ron Mael's opening keyboard arpeggio from Spark's "This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us". I shudder with awe at the primal attack of this piece which hits you in the guts far more effectively than the more academic tape music that was in existence at this time. Kirk was literally swimming through oceans of sound, limitless possibilities; conquering new frontiers without a map, in a way that would be impossible for any youngster today. The spiritual link with Cale's earlier demos is reinforced by "Concerto For Damaged Piano" on which Kirk hammers out a brief, spirited tune on a rotting piano in the family's shed, echoing Cale's "(Untitled) For Piano" on which the Welsh wizard also found sonic possibilities in the workings of an abandoned/damaged piano. Kirk returns to the piano for "Solar Defiance", using a single low sustained note (looped and augmented only by some muffled audio artifacts - like a hand brushing against the microphone) to create six minutes of zen-like spiritual contemplation. Even better, the final cut "Cosmic Overide 2" takes a loop of what sounds like run-out groove static, adds the merest hint of echo and let's it run for five minutes. The effect is bewitching. It's ominous-yet-gentle repetition is a balm for the soul, and is an unusual move for Kirk: to set up a process and let it run with minimum interference from the creator, similar in concept to that employed by Eno on "Discreet Music" a year later.

Of course, some of these early examples are somewhat meandering, directionless jams, but when Kirk hits the spot (sometimes midway through a track) you can almost feel the the sensation of revelation, as the ideas coalesce into sharp-focus. After several plodding drum machine warm-ups, "Lost rhythm Of Life" suddenly seduces with it's fragile surf-guitar melody (a sonic template for the intro to the Cabs' '81 single "Jazz The Glass") and haunted delay effects.

There are several tracks from the '81 period, which have strong similarities with the style employed on Kirk "Time High Fiction" collection. Indeed, part of the fun of this CD for serious Cab-heads like myself is spotting the sonic thumb-prints that carbon date each track. For instance, "On Fire" can immediately be identified as a '84/'85 track, as it sounds like an outtake from "Drinking Gasoline", all pile-driving machine beats, Loud As Fuck snare drum, and distinctive keyboard sounds that are so evocative of the era.

It's great to see the 12 inch mix of "Martyrs Of Palestine" included (the only track to have been previously released, in '86). Originally taken from "Black Jesus Voice", an album I love so much that one of it's track titles is now the subtitle of this blog. At the time, "BJV" was like an addendum to the Cabs' "The Covenant, the Sword And The Arm Of The Lord", full of similarly intense 'hit-you-over-the head' beats, dynamics so violent that they literally drained you, the most Exciting Sound On Earth as far as I was concerned around 1985/86. I can see why this track was considered worthy of re-appraisal. It's theme is totally bang-up-to-the minute in 2004 and the production is inspired, re-tooling the original album version's clumpy electro-punk-thrash with a wicked dancefloor undercurrent that should have set dancefloors alight at the time. Maybe it's time is now? The additional 12 inch-only "Detonate/reworks" EP sees Kirk remixing "Martyrs" in a 2004-stylee, but don't expect any kind of concessions to current club trends. That would be too easy. Instead, Kirk injects it with a new 909 drum pattern that only a masochist could groove to. "Detonate" is the buzz-word here. This beat doesn't inspire jacking, moshing or even frugging. The only possible physical response is a whip-lash inducing spasmodic jolt every time the kick drum hits on the first beat of the bar. Each of the three mixes becomes increasingly more 'difficult', as Kirk takes some wild chances (at one point in the third mix the rhythms seem to be going out of sync with each other, only adding to the deranged, Fatwa-like assassination of the original track). Obviously not interested in making any new friends, eh Richard? Of course, I LOVE it!

Okay, so Kirk & Co.'s legacy, pre-House, is pretty much beyond dispute. Yet although they switched-on to the fresh sounds emanating from Chicago and Detroit very early on, the initial results inspired by these new influences were curiously inconclusive. During Dance Culture's "Year Zero" (1988), the Cabs were taking a gap-year to work on solo projects. Mal had his short-lived Lovestreet collective (with Robert Gordon and Dave Ball) and Kirk almost released his most pop-orientated material ever, the aborted "Let's Get Down", as Wicky Wacky. Then in 1989, Cabaret Voltaire returned with their second and final EMI album "Groovy, Laidback and Nasty", a record that still polarises opinion among Cabs fans to this day. Part of the problem was perhaps the fact that they bought into the whole luvved-up, E-friendly vibe a little too thoroughly, adding a light, pop-flavoured positivity at the expense of those elements that had defined their approach for so long. Although tracks like "Hypnotised", with it's "Are You Afraid" samples, bore some of the trademark paranoia, most of "Groovy" simply sounded ordinary. As Simon Reynolds remarked at the time (when reviewing Mute's first batch of Rough Trade-era re-issues), without their "stilted strangeness", the Cabs had become "just another House combo".

It's from this troubled period that several solo Kirk tracks on "Earlier/Later" originate. One of the first of these, "Numero Uno Baby/Information", takes "Code"-era textures and harnesses them into a solid House groove, adding "found" voices, B-movie dialogue etc. A pleasant enough romp, yet strangely sterile. Although the dialogue samples are typical (patented?) Cabs-fare, the effect is more 'novelty dance tune' than synapse-stimulating cut-up theory. "Do As I Do" works on almost the same principles; film dialogue superimposed against workman-like House tempos with the addition of smooth keyboard textures that hint at "Groovy.."'s poptone-palette the following year. Perhaps part of the problem here is that much 'first-wave' House music sounds, in terms of texture and production, a little 'bland' by today's standards. The best stuff (like "Can You Feel It")is inspired and timeless, but many tracks simply sound dull in 2004. Perhaps the most successful of these late-80's Kirk tracks is "Digital Globe", where ethnic vocal samples are chopped-up to create a shimmering flutter of rhythmic crosstalk that most accurately predicts his future solo direction. "One Three Fourgasm" and "Latin/MYBM" are further respectable blueprints for the '90s, yet I find it curious that Kirk's earliest home recordings should resonate more powerfully in my psyche.

Post-"Groovy", post-EMI, Cabaret Voltaire slammed on the brakes, regrouped, went back underground, emerging with "Body And Soul", the most stark, un-produced Cabs album ever. Then heavy-duty Techno side-projects/collaborations Sweet Exorcist and Xon showed that Kirk was starting to find his feet again. But it was the Intelligent Techno/Artificial Intelligence explosion around '92/'93 that really created the right environment for Kirk to flourish once more. The turning point was the 1992 Cabs album "Plasticity". Mal's decision to abandon vocal duties was a sad though inevitable development: the wide-screen, multi-textured mood muzik that AI introduced rendered his voice unhip and redundant and provided the perfect environment for the Cabs to focus on the more abstract (dare I say 'ambient') elements of their muse. Free of all pop and dancefloor constraints, the album-orientated electronica of AI sustained the Cabs through their final phase that saw two further albums, "International Language" and "The Conversation", after which Mal headed into the sunset for a new life in Australia. But the precedents set by Cabaret Voltaire's final "Ambient Trilogy" provided the springboard for Kirk to develop his solo career...

Received a nice big package from Mute Records this morning, a full three weeks ahead of the release dates. Sometimes it pays to pre-order. Let the Richard H. Kirk feeding frenzy commence!!

Fave track on "Treddin' On Thin Ice" so far is "Special Girl". Love the FM-sheen, old skool 808 beats and those pitched-up diva sample loops that reveal a surprising (unintentional?) mind-meld with Kanye West's album. Lovin' the whole damn thing, actually. My only critisism at the moment being the fact that the 'defining' instrumental tracks like 'Eskimo' and 'Icerink' have been reduced to brief interludes. Shame, 'cause these tracks deserve a wider hearing in their full-length glory. A follow- up 'Instrumentalist' collection is sorely needed, in my view. Somethin' fer the chin-strokazzz...

Looks like there will be two Limited Edition remix 12 inchers to coincide with Mute's Richard H. Kirk albums:

Limited Edition 12"
'DETONATE/REWORKS EP' (12KIRK6)
4 exclusive 2004 remixes of Martyrs Of Palestine & Street Gang by
Richard H. Kirk, only available on this 12" and only for a limited
period.

Limited Edition 12"
'RETURN TO THE HEART OF DARKNESS/REWORKS EP' (12KIRK7)
4 exclusive 2004 remixes of Sandoz tracks by Richard H. Kirk, only
available on this 12" and only for a limited period.

This info from Mutebank, with details of special 'Multi-buy' offers:

Both double CD albums £12.99 each / Both EP 12" singles £3.99 each

Available to order from The Grey Area via Mute Bank 3 weeks ahead of
the UK release date (17th May)

-

Special MULTI-BUY Offer

KIRK-MULTI1 - Both CD's for £20.00 (saving £5.98)

KIRK-MULTI2 - Both 12"'s for £6.00 (saving £1.98)

KIRK-MULTI3 - Both CD's and 12"'s £25.00 (saving £8.96)

To order please click here:

"Gutterlectuals unite, down with middlebrow!"

Yeah! Great rallying cry from Blissblog, there. On the subject of Grime, I've never written anything about it and I don't think I've any right to write about it, as I've always been a fairweather Garage listener, merely dipping my toes in occasionally but never committing any allegiance. A lot of it leaves me cold, especially when it gets a bit too 'urban', but prior to the imminent release of Wiley's long-player I'd just like to say a few words on the subject of Eskibeat. I bought the new single "Wot Do U Call It", but other than that all I'd heard previously were various MP3's. I like the instrumentals best. Tracks like "Freeze","Blizzard" and especially "Icepole" are definitely on my wavelength. To me, Wiley should be viewed outside the confines of UKG/Grime, as the latest visionary in a long line of electronic innovators within dance music. I hear echoes of Richard H. Kirk's early-nineties electro experiments like "C.C.E.P." (as Sweet Exorcist, with Parrot) and "The Mood Set" (as Xon, with Robert Gordon). I would also put forward the idea that Wiley is Britain's answer to Juan Atkins. I always felt that Atkin's sound was colder than that of other Detroit artists; soulful but with a dagger of ice through it's heart. He developed a new sound, 'Techno', from the ruins of a previous genre, 'Electro', just as Wiley has created his Eski mutant from the ashes of Garage. And it took one of Juan's disciples, Derrick May, to 'break' his sound to a wider audience, much the same way that Wiley's protege Dizzie Rascal broke into the mainstream first. "Wot Do U Call It" is as potent a statement of intent as Model 500 classics like "Off To Battle" or "Techno Music". Whether or not you think that's just bollocks, I'm really looking forward to hearing "Treadin' On Thin Ice" next week. ....

Excellent piece on Rephlex Grime by K-Punk. I've really gotta hear this shit too!