Philippe Doray / Asociaux Associés: Dans Le Dedale and Contrechant Magnetique
From: Nouveaux Modes Industriels [Scopa Invisible, 1980]
Those eagle eyed visitors among you may have noticed a security warning on the site yesterday. I can happily assure you that it wasn’t us guv and we were tarnished merely by association so feel free to browse safe in the knowledge that we have no current plans to infect your pc.
You may also notice that all the comments have suddenly vanished from the site, this is due to a long overdue update of our haloscan feed. Basically since taking over the site I’ve never had access to edit or delete the inevitable spam that appears and have been reluctant to update it due to some of the incredible comments we’ve received over the years. With the recent Runescape comment battering though now seemed an appropriate time but rest assured the old comments are still stored away for archive purposes. Thanks to Maru I have the password so all old comments are now back in action.
Anyway, this is a music site so probably best to put up some music eh? Something incredibly weird, sometimes wonderful and sometimes downright frightening for you today in the shape of Philippe Doray / Asociaux Associés 1980 experimental electronic album.
The “ahead of it’s time” description is one that is bandied about way too freely in my opinion but this album, like Bernard Estardy and Silver Apples, is the genuine article, some of its production and instrumentation sounding as out there today as it no doubt sounded 29 years ago.
It’s an album that will no doubt split listeners between loathing and loving and I’ll be the first to admit that some of the tracks leave me cold and with a slight headache however, when it works, it’s incredible stuff indeed.
Whether by design or not all the upbeat tracks on Nouveaux Modes Industriels seem to take their basic vocal rhythm from The Stones Not Fade Away which is not necessarily a bad thing but was a bit of a curveball on first listen. Dans Le Dedale starts off in the above fashion with Philippe delivering his lyrics over a pulsating drum line before some fantastically emotive chords reminiscent of 80’s house music cut through the dirty percussion. The layers of electronic production build up and up until you’re left with a pulsating wall of sound. A truly outstanding and jaw dropping piece of work.
Contrechant Magnetique is arguably the most pop standard track on the album but considering the company it’s keeping let’s keep that in perspective. More easy going than most of the album the track features Philippe in laid back mood, half singing half saying his lyrics over a minimalist throbbing bassline, the loosest of guitar riffs and what sounds like slightly spasticated electronic instrumentation. Hypnotic stuff.
I’ve never actually picked up any of Philippe Doray’s other work for fear that it might either a) break the spell I have from this album or b) Send me over the edge. Any heads up or tips would be much appreciated.
Shut Up & Dance: £20 To Get In [Shut Up & Dance Records, 1989]
Shut Up & Dance: Derek Went Mad (Remix) [Shut Up & Dance Records, 1991]
Nicolette: Single Minded People [Shut Up & Dance Records, 1990]
Ragga Twinz: Hooligan 69 [Shut Up & Dance Records, 1990]
Rum & Black: Slaves [Shut Up & Dance Records, 1991]
Another one of my occasional journeys back into the long dormant music of my youth today with a visit to a label that helped set the benchmark for electronic music in the UK, Shut Up & Dance.
Formed in 1989 by PJ and Smiley, the duo started off as a hip hop group but, whether by design or by chance, ended up turning the label into a true pioneer of the breakbeat sound, releasing a mixture of hip hop, ragga and hardcore tracks which were hugely influential on the bedroom producers who were crafting the sound of a British rave generation.
In one of those all too common twists of fate, the group, who had always used well known samples, finally hit the big time with one of their worst releases: Raving I’m Raving. With it’s blatant interpolation of the Rod Stewart song it brought massive legal action and all but shut the pair down for a number of years. Thankfully they got over this hump and are still producing new music to this day. You can follow their progress on their MySpace page.
While many of the tracks featured will no doubt sound primitive to new ears, I think it’s fair to say that the grimey, raw feel of the production still hits home today.
£20 To Get In was my first introduction to Shut Up & Dance, hearing it back on London’s Kiss FM way way back in the day. Less Vega heavy than the original £10 To Get In, it’s little more than a drum break, a few synths and some chipmonk vocals but trust me when I tell you that this ripped things up when it came out in a massive massive way.
Derek Went Mad (Remix) is one of those early nineties hardcore tracks that I used to love back in the day (think Mr Kirk’s Nightmare), with full amen break, eerie synths and a grimey techno bassline. I’d probably still dance my tits off if this came on in a club today.
It’s worth mentioning that PJ & Smiley produced all releases on the label so it’s no surprise that the label developed a trademark sound . Nicolette, probably most famous these days for her work with Massive Attack, had her first releases on the label. Single Minded People combines Nicolette’s ethereal tones with, you guessed it, a breakbeat to great relentless effect.
I featured The Ragga Twinz in my UK hip hop retrospective but couldn’t really do a piece on Shut Up & Dance without mentioning them again. Posted here is the original version of Hooligan 69 which I prefer over the album version. Safe to say the Prince sample is still very much in place but the whole thing feels a bit more manic and unhinged which is half the appeal of the label for me. Killer bassline as well.
You know how I mentioned about well known samples? Well Rum & Black’s appropriation of Kate Bush’s Wow for Slaves is one of the less subtle efforts but works great. I’ve been trying to pinpoint who the rambling, slightly incoherent, speech at the beginning is by, it sounds like KRS to me but any other info welcome. It has to be mentioned that the other side of this 12″ manages to utilise samples from both Duran Duran and Tight Fit – you don’t see that kind of shit these days.
One other thing, the tracks featured today are pulled from my 12″ collection, if anyone has a copy of their 1992 compilation album, the beautifully titled Fuck Off & Die, please drop me a line as there’s a couple of tracks on there I would love to get my hands on again…….
Goldie: A Sense Of Rage (Sensual VIP Mix)
From: Timeless
Dillinja: The Angels Fell
Alex Reece: Pulp Fiction
From: Metalheadz Presents Platinum Breakz
Ed Rush: The Raven
Adam F: Metropolis
From: Platinum Breakz II
Despite my by now pretty apparent love of all things soul, funk and rap related it wasn’t always this way. Through most of the nineties I was immersed in total love for the music that began as hardcore, then became jungle, and then became Drum n Bass. I believe I’ve only touched on this love once before with a post about Photek but now seems as good a time as any to revisit the music from my teenage years. Apologies for the length of the post; despite my best efforts I’m unable to get Blogger to hide content, my html=fail.
I don’t know what it was like around your area growing up but at our school at least you were defined by your music and split into two camps, the grunge heads and the rave heads. Being very much a part of the latter (it wasn’t till about 2001 that I actually heard a full Nirvana album) my world was filled with trying to get my hands on the latest otherworldy music being produced by bedroom DJs.
In many ways this love of electronic music got me started down the digging path. Being out in the sticks meant that, apart from the occasional trip to London, you had to work extremely hard to find out about the latest releases. This comprised of spending my days listening to the latest bootleg of a bootleg live rave recordings in circulation and then Wednesday evenings tuning into Kiss 100 for the weekly Drum n Bass show and hoping they would ID some of the white labels I’d heard.
Armed with the knowledge I’d accumulated during the week, myself and my fellow hunters would hit the local record shops searching for artists and, more often, labels we recognised. One label which I would purchase the release of before even hearing would be Goldie’s Metalheadz.
With slicker packaging than most other Drum n Bass 12 inchers and a trademark unique sound you were pretty much assured of the quality of any purchased items through most of the mid nineties peaking in 1997 when the brutal and cold tech-step took over from the earlier, warmer, jazzy sounds.
Of course the label was launched after Goldie released what is to my mind anyway the greatest Drum n Bass album ever, Timeless. Even if you think you hate the music, this album demands listening through at least once if only to display how coherent the music could be when put together properly, I’ve included A Sense Of Rage as a sample of the techno influenced beauty that Goldie created with this release to try and make my point in this matter but it is undeniably an album that has most power as a whole – something you can’t say for that many dance albums unfortunately.
Within a year of Timeless and the subsequent launch of Metalheadz the label was already in a strong enough position to launch their first best of collection. Platinum Breakz is an excellent snapshot of Drum n Bass in 1996. Standout tracks include Dillinja’s The Angels Fell which is rightly regarded as a true classic of the genre with its mournful synths and staggered drum patterns and Alex Reece’s Pulp Fiction, a deceptively simple tune which launched a thousand basslines.
As mentioned earlier, for me the label, and Drum n Bass in general, peaked in 1997 and Ed Rush’s Raven is a perfect example of how far the music progressed in a short space of time. Starting with synths and a regular breakbeat Rush builds up layer upon layer of instrumentation as you wait for the bassline to kick in. When it does it’s still only a teaser until the track hits full speed and ferocious velocity round the 3 minute mark. From there on it just gets harder and harder and harder. Intense.
Adam F was a curious case, the son of Alvin Stardust, he released two of the biggest Drum n Bass singles ever, Circles and the one featured here, Metropolis. However I never really got into his subsequent album and last I saw he was producing hip hop records which I’ve been somewhat reluctant to check out. In any case, this track is absolutely monstrous, devouring pretty much anything that gets in its path. It’s one of the crowning achievements of tech-step and Drum n Bass in general with it’s insane warped bassline, clattering drums and unnerving synths. A warning though, this track should only be listened to at bass shattering bowel moving volume.
Within a year of these records being released I had ended my six year love of the breakbeat era and moved onto older and more soulful sounds reflecting the loss of the teenage anger that this music helped vocalise so well. However, revisiting them now they still have the power to move and give me chills and will always remain a part of what made me the music man I am today.
Silver Apples: Oscillations, Seagreen Serenades and Lovefingers
From: Silver Apples/Contact
Late to the party once again, it slipped my mind that Portishead’s extraordinary new album, Third, was released while I was on a break. I was one of the many who had assumed the band’s time had come and gone and was not exactly over ecstatic about the revival of a trip hop group but, if you haven’t heard this yet, I can only give my strongest endorsement to check it out – blows all preconceptions out of the water.
Anyway, if you have seen any of the press around the album then the band name Silver Apples will no doubt have cropped up a couple of hundred times. An obvious influence on some of Portishead’s new material, the constant hip name checking will hopefully lead to a wider interest in this ground breaking duo’s work.
Using a 1940’s oscillator the two band members, the impressively named Simeon Coxe III and the less impressively named Danny Taylor, crafted an orchestra of pedals and keys to create music that was less ahead of it’s time, more beamed from another universe. Forty years after the release of their debut album the group still sound pretty much unlike anything else out there and thankfully these days you can pick up their first two albums pretty cheap on reissue.
Oscillations, a track that lives up to it’s title is the one most recognisably referenced on Third with it’s relentless bass drums and electronic squeaks offset by Simeon’s slightly ethereal voice.
Seagreen Serenades highlights the beauty that the band crafted from these ancient instruments as the melodic electronica interacts with what sounds like a recorder, the bass relentlessly throbbing underneath.
I also just had to include Lovefingers for that epic break that kicks off the track, the whole percussion on the track making it hard to believe it’s a good forty years old.
Understandably widely ignored on their release the band experienced a revival of sorts after bootleg releases of their two albums in the mid nineties leading to new albums plus the release of their original third album The Garden. Danny Taylor has now sadly passed away but Simeon is still going strong touring the country and you can find more about what he’s up to on his official website.
Who Knows – Marion Black
from 7″ on Capsoul (1970). Also available on The Numero Group’s Eccentric Soul No. 1.
Smoke & Mirrors – RJD2
from 12″ on Definitive Jux (2003). Also on the Dead Ringer album.
Who Knows – Quantic Soul Orchestra f/ Kabir
from the album Tropidelico on Tru Thoughts (2007).
Hello readers. I apologize for being so long between posts, my excuses are a tough bought of cold gettin’ ill that knocked me out for a week and subsequent intense endeavors in nanophotonics and casimir force studies. But Junior really held it down solo style and Kevin brought another anatomy of a sample super-post, so you’ve been in good hands.
Briefly, I am putting up a wonderfully bluesy soul song (or a beautifully soulful blues song) by Marion Black called “Who Knows.” From the small and short-lived Columbus, Ohio, Capsoul label, this track is so wonderful with great vocals, a killer bass guitar riff, tight drums, and the real sprinkles on my cupcake is the piano vamps. Just about a perfect song…I even dig how the recording just runs out on the 45 while the song feels like it will go on like our hero.
Columbus’s own RJD2 utilized this track heavily in “Smoke & Mirrors” off his debut album Dead Ringer. The drums and bass guitar are still there and the vocals of course just a little slowed down. This track is so great, just listen to all the tricks and pans and subtle textures (the second vocal track and piano heavy 3rd minute being the toppest notch). I could go on and on about my love of this track and Dead Ringer in general, but I’ll stop in a poor effort to keep this post at a reasonable length. I do want to put in my 2 cents about the hate that flowed around RJD2’s emo/rock album and DJ Shadow’s half hyphy/third rock/one sixth electronic album this year. I recognize the desire to hear the next Endtroducing or Dead Ringer but regardless of how much i like the results, I’m excited to see these cats try something off track from their other work and explore. I saw an interview with George Lucas where he was asked about getting pilloried for the original Star Wars re-edits and the maudlin tone of the pre-quels and he said, “These are the movies I wanted to see so I made them. If people are so convinced it is wrong, they should make the movie they want to see.”
One guy who has been filling the need and craving for beat driven album is Will Holland (aka Quantic) who puts out a wide range of funky material either electronic (as Quantic) or recorded with a band (as Quantic Soul Orchestra). The latest QSO album is one of my favorite albums of the year (look for the definitive list coming soon) and low and behold it has a superb cover of “Who Knows” with Kabir Malik Green of Panama’s Los Fabulosos Festivals on vocals. Most of the Tropidelico album is far more Latin in flavor as it was inspired by Holland’s extensive traveling and performing throughout Central and South America, but it is all amazing.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.
And Out – Kutiman
No Groove Where I Come From – Kutiman f/ Elran Dekel
both from the Kutiman’s self-titled debut album on Melting Pot Music (2007).
Music Is Ruling My Life (DJ Day Remix) – Kutiman
from the 12″ on Melting Pot Music (2007).
Working a website like Ear Fuzz has many blessings, and the most tangible if not necessarily the best is all the kind folks at record labels who are willing to feed the compulsion hunger to hear new music by sharing their releases. I hate to say it, but sometimes I can get complacent about how great a system this is when I have gone through a stack (both real and virtual) of tunes that didn’t do much for me. However, my thin veneer of jaded music commentator quickly fell away when the lovely folks of Melting Pot Music sent me their latest CD, the self-titled album by Israeli musician Kutiman (ne Ophir Kutiel).
Melting Pot has been putting outstanding music into beathead’s waiting hands since 2002; all of it with an over-riding sense of funkiness. The label’s artists are a world wide diaspora (New Zealand, Israel, Germany, USA, etc) and come in with excellent hard funk (Lefties Soul Connection), instrumental hip hop (A-Ko), and even an classic sing/rap Mos Def sound-a-like (note: a good thing) (Miles Bonny). Kutiman actually brings a large number of styles to the table in his album. A mix of electronic production and Kutiman’s own multi-instrumental skills, “And Out” captures the old mid-70s jazz-funk sound very well layering noodley organ riffs and synthesizer scales over punchy, cymbal-laden drum fills. This is probably my favorite track on the album.
“No Groove Where I Come From” is leans more to the funky soul side with a minute long instrumental lead in that gets kind of spacey before vocalist Elran Dekel and various horns start their interplay. Great flute and drums throughout. Finally, to make up for our 2 week absence, I’ve added a third track today which is the great DJ Day’s (another MPM artist) remix of “Music Is Ruling My Life,” which can be found on the single release. Day keeps many of the elements of Kutiman’s original intact, including the ridiculously bouncy+slinky bassline. This remix in particular has been constant aural companion lately to keep me warm as the weather sours. Lots of good stuff from a young artist and an exciting young label.
The Lyricist – Richy Pitch f/ J-Live
from the Live At Home EP on Sevenheads (2002)
Removed at the request of the artist. I definitely recommend purchasing, and you can find the vinyl here among other places, the cd here, or download here.
The Many and The Few – The Matthew Herbert Big Band
The Three W’s – The Matthew Herbert Big Band
both from the album Goodbye Swingtime on Accidental (2003).
Recently I have been on a real kick for music from the indy rap boom years of the late 90s/early 00s. This Richy Pitch produced track came a little late in that run, but it features indy standard bearer J-Live on the mic, so some slack can be cut. RP lays down a nice, soulful bit of boom bap with snare and an organ lick that provides a great bed-rock for in turn J-Live’s dexterous lyrics, DJ Go’s scratches, and live flute by Lorna Reah. Even a full fledged sample by Sean “You’re the man now, dog” Connery brings home the other sample element here, old fashioned typewriter clicks and dings. I’m old enough to actually remember using a typewriter to fill out my high school application, but I cannot say have any nostalgia for that old beast.
One of the great things about music is the connections that are possible and in hearing RP’s typewriter beats I was reminded of Herbert’s big band jazz album Goodbye Swingtime. In that album, Herbert’s taste for conceptual projects meant using sample sources related to political writing add to his heavily chopped and edited versions of big band arrangements he made (with Pete Wraight). In “The Many and The Few,” Jamie Lidell’s stacatto jazz singing is augmented by a typewriter sample again (although it is actually audio from phone books from around the world being dropped at various heights – yep that’s right).
The Goodbye Swingtime album is so good start to finish I had to put another track up. “The Three W’s” features Herbert’s dot matrix printer churning out pages from the website www.soaw.org. (NOTE: for the politically motivated soaw.org can be a very informative read.) Herbert wrote a personal contract on how we will make music – sort of the Dogme 95 of sample-based music – called PCCOM. But despite all the subtext and constraints on his music his arranging skill creates fantastic opportunities for his musicians and especially vocalists. Mara Carlyle shines with her haunting vocals on “The Three W’s,” but really Herbert finds a voice and use for each of member of his band (bass, drums, piano, a full set of brass and woodwinds including some of the UK’s more famous swing musicians). Herbert and Wraight remind me of Stan Kenton in terms of the arrangements that appear to be the backbone of these compositions. Wonderful! Another connection to dive into.
Spooky: Can’t Remember and Do Not Adjust Your Set
From: Stereo EP (Generic, 1995)
One of the most gruelling decisions when compiling a tape for someone is when you have two great tracks from the same piece of vinyl and only space for one of them.
An album that always threw up this problem for me was Spooky’s Stereo EP. Not to be confused with That Subliminal Kid, DJ Spooky, this group comprised of two English guys who released a number of quality productions covering breakbeat to techno in the mid nineties.
Originally purchased for the title track, a heavy breakbeat number aimed for the dancefloor, I quickly found out that the true gems were the two slower numbers on the EP. While undeniably influenced by Aphex Twin the two tracks were still pretty different from anything else around at the time and also from anything else in Spooky’s catalogue, consisting of subtle layers and more organic sounds.
I was always torn between which one of the tracks was stronger, sometimes I’d lean towards Can’t Remember’s epic melodies and grandiose nature, other days Do Not Adjust Your Set would win me over with it’s soft steel drums and more upbeat tone.
Anyway, with the wonder of cyberspace I can give you both tracks for your listening pleasure and let you make up your own mind. Enjoy.
Sixtoo: The Honesty of Constant Human Error (Meaty Ogre remix)
From Remixing Glass 3″ CD (2005, self-released)
Sixtoo’s recent LP, Chewing on Glass and Other Miracle Cures, was largely devoid of the human voice, favoring dark, dense instrumentals over verses and choruses. On the short remix EP that followed, Chicago beatmaker Meaty Ogre did something interesting with one of Sixtoo’s songs. In addition to the usual remix stylistics (re-sequencing, tweaking samples, etc.), Meaty recorded his own singing over what was originally an instrumental track, writing lyrics based on the song’s title and adding a new dimension to the song in the process. Given that remix EPs and LPs are almost obligatory for any major hip-hop/electronic album these days, it’s nice to see someone taking a somewhat different approach in flipping in the script.
Aphex Twin: Flim
From Come to Daddy [Sire, 1997]
Back in undergrad I took this film class and for one of the assignments this kid made a short animated film that featured “Flim.” When I first heard it I thought it was amazing and immediately downloaded it when I got home, but after many years and a retired computer the track was lost and I could never for the life of me remember the title. I eventually stumbled across it on some random blog a few months ago and couldn’t be happier to be reunited with this superb track (one of the many reasons why mp3 blogs are tight).
I’m not a huge Aphex Twin fan, but the mind behind what’s regarded as one of the most accomplished electronic artists is Richard D. James. His range of work is vast, experimenting with techno, ambient, glitch, and electronica and mashing them all together in this homemade stew he calls home. I’ve taken a listen to some of his other work, but none of it quite attracted me as much as “Flim” which I think is wonderfully mysterious and explosively rich. I’ve been known to play this track on repeat for extended periods of time, but I don’t expect everyone to develop the same type of infatuation as myself.
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