Tagged “records”
Caught up in this big rhythm
I got home from Friday morning’s dog walk to find some records in the post. I’d recently deleted my Discogs wants-list having realised twenty years too late that it is far too addictive, and as a last hurrah had earmarked a last few key wants. One of those was The Blue Nile’s Tinseltown in the rain – a slice of Scottish pop perfection on Linn records – and I enjoyed a brief listen before heading back out.
First stop of the afternoon was a visit to Greater Govanhill’s office to collect their latest edition (more on this later).
On Fridays, Gomo Kimchi is open so I popped in for lunch and out of the rain. I resisted my usual urge to order everything on the menu, going for a kimchi toastie which was delicious.
During my work’s “summer Fridays off“ period I try to fit in one short trip and overnight stay outside the city, and this weekend was my chance. So I made the one hour drive to Kippen, stopping in at the lovely Woodhouse farm shop and café en route for coffee and a slice of apple pie.
Kippen is a gorgeous little village situated between Fintry and Callendar, near the Gargunnock and Fintry hills. Although not far to drive, it’s far enough outside the city that you might find yourself standing beside a pony outside the local coffee shop, as I did! With an hour to kill before check-in at my hotel, I enjoyed a stoat around the main street, some residential parts, the parish church and the local tennis club. I also stopped in at The Inn at Kippen for a half-pint.
I was staying at The Cross Keys, a cosy country pub/restaurant with a handful of rooms. Clair and I stayed there some years ago and enjoyed it, and happily their prices are still reasonable. Before dinner I enjoyed a pint in the pub then took the tiny trip up three stairs to the restaurant floor where I had the hake special. Since I was on my tod I had time to read my copy of Greater Govanhill while eating. This one, the Heritage edition, is full of insights into the history, landmarks, architecture, bars, shops and people of my local area and I loved it!
Saturday was a pretty chilled day. I made the trip home then hung around the house. Sunday started with a nice long dog walk in Pollok Park. Back home, I put on Tinseltown in the Rain again, this time with Clair beside me and Rudy on her lap. Rudy enjoys music (which is handy) and he looked happily tired and blissed out as Clair applied a premium-grade head scratch and the music played. That was my favourite moment of the weekend.
Later that day I played table-tennis with Phillip and Steve, with Pete coaching. Playing was great but hearing about Steve’s improved health was better.
Autumn 2020 Records Round-up
As the leaves fell and the nights drew in, I chose to fall forward by blowing all my hard-earned on a lovely mixed bag of dub, ambient, soul, house and electro records. Now, if I could just find some puppy-free time to actually listen to them…
One wee thought before we dig in: I’m finding that I’m buying from Bandcamp more and more now that many (most?) of the records I want seem to appear there first. That’s great for the artists (they get most of the profit minus Bandcamp’s cut) so it’s a positive thing, but what about physical record shops? This got me thinking: now that we have Bookshop supporting independent, bricks and mortar book shops by spreading profits among them, could a similar online enterprise maybe exist for record shops?
OK, enough pontificating – here’s the music.
Nat Birchall meets Al Breadwinner - Upright Living
Real nice roots reggae and dub instrumentals from sunny Manchester. Mr Birchall is, by all accounts, an amazing musician, and in Al Breadwinner on drums and Vin Gordon on trumpet he’s assembled a stellar band. When I first heard this I thought it was some vintage Augustus Pablo so it was funny to find out that it was in fact made in 2020 in Stockport.
Favourite track(s): African Village Dance / Village Dub.
Om Unit meets Seekers International – Secret Location
As a big fan of Om Unit’s ouput around 2011 and Seekers’ 2017 RunComeTest EP I was pretty excited to hear about this collab… and it doesn’t disappoint. 7 dollops of deep, digi-dub bass, grainy atmospheres and dancehall samples, on a lovely pressing which sounds amazing.
Favourite Track: Nu Killa
Linkwood & Other Lands – Face the Facts
Lovely gatefold double-vinyl LP that sees two of Auld Reekie’s finest join forces on the excellent Athens of the North label. Breezy laid-back jams with smooth keys lead into rougher, Theo Parrish -esque joints then spacey textures, making for a really well-rounded listen.
Favourite Track: Shapes
Satoshi & Makoto - CZ-5000 Sounds & Sequences Vol. II
Beautiful ambient textures and downtempo electronics with that typically quirky Japanese flavour. If you like Ryuichi Sakamoto or Apogee & Perigee, you’ll love this.
Favourite track: Correndor.
Various - Buena Onda Balearic Beats
Lovely four-tracker of slow and atmospheric late-night grooves from Italy and elsewhere, first heard on Denise’s radio show.
Favourite track: Lucas Croon – Japon.
STR4TA - Aspects
A nice surprise from Gilles Peterson’s label, this is a brand new, authentic jazz-funk / disco hybrid with immaculate live playing and production, and drum fills that tip a hat to Atmosfear’s 1979 staple Dancing in Outer Space.
Favourite track: Aspects
Midnight Tenderness - Digi Modes
Another beauty from Melbourne-based Ryan Hunter whose previous releases – whether under this alias for the Refresco EP, or as Turner Street Sound for 2018’s amazing Bunsens – have been much appreciated ‘round these parts. This one, on lovely transparent golden 7″, offers a speedy, skanking and soulful update to the traditional dub techno blueprint.
Sansibar - Targeted Individuals
No-messin’, pacey, but cinematic electro which sounds like it’s from Detroit but is actually from the hand of one Sunny Seppa of Helsinki. Nothing ground-breaking on display here but what it does, it does really well. If you dig ERP or classic Dopplereffekt you’ll love this.
Favourite track: Technology
Art Crime - Distanced
Limited edition moody drone/ambient 7″ from Russia, with accompanying drone movie.
Favourite track: Blocks
Jon Hassell - Seeing Through Sound (Pentimento Volume Two)
Fairly amazing leftfield ambient sounds, and even moreso given that the producer is 83 (yes, 83) years old. This is a real trip and deserves the kind of attention which I’ve not generally been able to give it just yet, but the first track alone is worth the admission. The vinyl also sounds amazing. Stunning!
Favourite track: Fearless
Rance Allen Group - Reason To Survive
Shout out to Gav who played this wonderful 1977 Mizell Brothers production (amongst other great music) on his Other Lands radio show, as an ode to Mr Allen who recently passed away. Perhaps embarassingly I didn’t know of his music until hearing this, but after grabbing this lovely 2018 reissue on Expansions with its soaring strings and stirring vocals, I’m definitely a convert.
Favourite track: Name
Deenamic - Out Of My Mind
Another cracker heard on Gav’s show, this is new from Italian label Neroli who’ve always ploughed a nice furrow in soulful electronic sounds. This one features a tasty combination of house, broken beat and downtempo flavours.
Favourite track: Sambu
Tasha Larae & Jihad Muhammad - Till You Get There
Proper New Jersey style garage from Baltimore’s DJ Spen (ably assisted on remix duties by Bristol’s Sean McCabe) that I could imagine raising the roof at Shelter in NYC or even closer to home at Glasgow’s Melting Pot. It just has that magic formula of slamming beats, gospel chords and a soaring, life-affirming vocal which will never fail to push my buttons. One that if you hear at the right time will make your night, and which makes me long for clubs to reopen.
Favourite track: Till You Get There (DJ Spen and Sean McCabe remix)
Buy (digital-only) from Bandcamp
Das Ding - Your Content Will Arrive Shortly
My first encounter with Das Ding was his track H.S.T.A. on the excellent 2012 Stones Throw comp The Minimal Wave Tapes Volume Two. That comp was focused on tracks from the eighties so it’s cool to see that Mr Ding is still releasing music today. These four tracks are electro-based and retain that eighties character with New Beat and EBM influences, but updated with 2020 sounds and production.
Favourite track: Category Collapse (Heap Remix)
Sad City - images-nov-20
Two long, atmospheric ambient tracks, self-released (digital-only) by Gary Caruth who I believe resides in Edinburgh (or Glasow; I’m not quite sure). I remember really enjoying his release You Will Soon Find That Life Is Wonderful in 2013. Anyway – these are very nice, so much so that I listened to them as I feel asleep the other night and I can report that it was quite pleasant!
Favourite track: image1
Ando Laj - Dog Insight
A quirky long-player from a Toronto-based artist who is new to me but seems to have been around since at least 2014. This veers from the grungy ‘n’ glitchy to the ethereal and beautiful and if I’m honest, quality-wise it’s a bit of a mixed bag. However in its best moments, it calls to mind classic IDM from FUSE, The Aphex Twin and The Black Dog… which is never a bad thing.
Favourite track: Yukon
Linton Kwesi Johnson - Bass Culture / LKJ In Dub
Killer reggae reissue: beaut packaging, lovely red and green vinyl, and sounds tremendous.
Favourite track: Inglan is a Bitch
Sedgwick - Rhythm And Isolation
Big up Jamie who brought this one to my attention via a great episode of his Saturday Manatee show. There’s a lot of electro around at the moment, and perhaps also a few opportunistic producers and labels jumping on the bandwagon, but this is a good one.
Favourite track: Exit
Isolated Moments: March 2020 Records
What would you do without your music?
So sang D-Train on Music and never has the sentiment resonated more than during the current Coronavirus situation.
Cooped up at home and deprived of face-to-face contact with friends and family, I’ve found that music can really lift the spirits.
Fortunately, the supply of great records hasn’t stopped and there are a number of trusty online stores to keep us connected.
Let’s dive into the stack of wax that has been keeping me (mostly) sane during lockdown.
The Stance Brothers - Minor Minor
Here’s a pair of jazzy hip hop instrumentals from Finland, both riffing on the bassline from Bob James’ classic Nautilus. This 7″ was introduced to me by Tom a couple of years back and has just had a welcome repress. Fans of Marc Mac’s Visioneers project, Kenny Dope and BadBadNotGood won’t go wrong here.
Favourite Track: Minor Minor
Golden Ivy - Kläppen (LP)
Beautiful sounds from Malmo that straddle the organic and the electronic, settling on something vaguely oriental. I was relieved to snap up a copy before it disappeared, given that their previous LP – Monika - is as rare as hen’s teeth and still eludes me. Alas the parcel is currently languishing, unloved, on my desk at work, having arrived there from Gothenburg just a day after the office shut for the lockdown. Damn it! Good things come to those who wait…
Favourite Track: Klappen 11
D.K. - Live at the Edge (LP)
My favourite release to date from Parisian producer D.K. was his stellar collaboration with Suzanne Kraft on Melody as Truth in 2017. This LP ploughs a similar sensous, ambient furrough and would have been a pretty tasty live gig (if you happened to be in Seoul at the time). Yet another great release from Glaswegian label 12th Isle, with beautiful artwork to boot.
Favourite Track: Untitled 11 (not yet on YouTube)
Datassette – Existenzmaximum
I’ve loved Datassette since his first outing on Ai records back in 2005. He’s got such a great sound – simultanesouly futuristic, funky, musical and heartfelt in a way that few electronic producers can match. This EP (from November last year but just repressed) is typically brilliant.
Favourite Track: Shooz Who
Various - Gazillions
These days I try not to buy records for just one track, but this is something special. Top cut Lotus Turbo by Russian duo Formally Unknown is a hard-hitting blend of electro and bass that sounds pretty fresh to these ears. This one is screaming to be played loud.
Favourite Track: Formally Unknown – Lotus Turbo
Various - Bubble Chamber (LP)
I’d urge any fans of serious electro to get on this tout suite – you won’t be disappointed. It boasts a formidable line-up, featuring tracks by Gerald Donald, The Exaltics and Plant43 to name but three. The music comes from a variety of locations and eras; we get Montreal-based Iko’s 1983 track Approach on Tokyo nestling alongside new music from Detroit. Kuldaboli from Reykjavík is a new name on me but offers up the pick of the bunch. Oh, and the vinyl also comes with a 56-page booklet containing previously unseen Drexciyan art by Abdul Haqq… which is nice.
Favourite Track: Kuldaboli – Draumur inní heilann þinn
Grab a copy at Vinyl Underground
Max D - Many Any (LP)
Solid LP from one half of Beautiful Swimmers, taking in house/techno cuts that evoke vintage Morgan Geist and Ferox, interspersed with hip hop influences. Big up my man Gav aka Other Lands at Underground Solu’shn for the hot tip!
Favourite Track: Shoutout Seefeel
Storm Music: February 2020 Records
February ‘20 proved to be a challenging month on a number of fronts. As if storms Ciara and Dennis weren’t enough to contend with, life chucked in some additional turbulence just for good measure.
So with nothing else for it than to batten down the hatches, I reached for some immersive ambience, restorative reggae and mood-enhancing electronics to help weather the storm.
As it turns out, records really are good for the soul and the forecast now looks much brighter.
So without further ado, let’s dig into last month’s haul.
Shida Shahabi – Shifts (LP)
Amidst the rocky parts, February also provided a couple of nice moments. On a visit to Edinburgh’s Timberyard (Clair’s birthday present – thanks pals!) we were treated not only to amazing food but also this memorable musical accompaniment; the perfect antidote to the arctic conditions outside. Swedish-Iranian pianist Shida’s melodies are hauntingly beautiful in their own right but interestingly she also overlays sounds from the inner mechanics of the piano. Modern classical isn’t normally my bag, but I love this (and the cover art, too).
Current Favourite Track: Futo
Bibio – Ribbons (LP)
Okay, I’m late with this one – it was released in April ‘19 – but who cares. Ribbons has been a Spotify staple of my morning commute for some time; its pastoral vibes setting the perfect laid-back mood before a day writing code. Eventually I had to own a physical copy. The vibe is pretty folky and in places you can imagine being at a live jam session in your favourite traditional pub. Stephen Wilkinson is a fantastic musician with a lovely voice but if all this is sounding too nice then rest assured that, being on Warp Records, it’s served with a generous side-helping of analogue synths and quirky electronics to steer things left of centre.
Current Favourite Track: Curls
Al Charles – Outstanding
Who knew there was a reggae version of The Gap Band’s early eighties classic, Outstanding? Not me, anyway. This has been lovingly reissued by Edinburgh’s Athens of the North and features a great squelchy bassline, shimmering synths, dub FX and that killer, hooky vocal. And now I’ll hand over to Discogs legend midnightrunner whose review puts it much better than I ever could:
Quite simply, "outstanding" reggae funk fusion! My mam's toyboy, Gavin, likes to play this one after I have gone to bed, when he smokes his special pipe full of jazzy cabbage.
Current Favourite Track: Outstanding
Logic1000 – Logic1000
Sydney–born, Melbourne–based producer Samantha Poulter aka Logic1000 is a new name on me. Her sound is a spacey, percussive blend of hip-hop, Bass, Dancehall and House, with all sorts of other interesting samples and influences thrown into the pot. Lots of great stuff on here.
Current Favourite Track: Na feat. DJ Plead
Perko – The City Rings
I loved Glaswegian Perko’s first release, NV Auto; its blend of dubbed out synth chords, deep sub-bass and tough broken-electro beats really hitting the spot. His latest release, also on Numbers, ploughs a similar furrow. It spans 8 tracks including moments when he ratchets up the BPMs into Drum ‘n’ Bass territory and others offering respite in the form of delicate ambient interludes.
Current Favourite Track: Stutter
Khruangbin – Hasta El Cielo (LP)
This is the dub remix version of the Texas band’s second LP, Con Todo El Mondo. Released in 2019, I don’t know why I didn’t pick it up sooner given that I love Khruangbin and I love dub, except perhaps that records ain’t cheap and I wasn’t sure a remix LP constituted an essential purchase. However, after a few months of blissful headphone listening I realised the error of my ways. The band’s sound lends itself perfectly to this treatment and the addition of two mixes by legendary engineer Scientist seals the deal. Also – check this band live if you ever get the chance. I did a couple of years back and they were amazing.
Current Favourite Track: Four of Five
Lo Kindre – Chlorophytum
This has been on my wants list for an age but every time I tried to get a copy last year, I couldn’t find one. I’m not sure if the original release was maybe delayed? Fortunately on a recent visit to Rubadub (all too infrequent these days which I mean to rectify) the guys hooked me up. This is on the slow, low and out-there electronic tip with little Kraftwerkian influences in amongst the haze of dub. Apparently it’s also from the south side of Glasgow so if I ever see this dude in the Allison Arms I should jolly well like to buy him a pint. Lovely sleeve art too.
Current Favourite Track: I Don’t Really
Record Shopping, January 2020
Last month’s vinyl haul included brand new music, a couple of great releases I’d missed in 2019, and some killer reissues.
Let’s dive in.
Sleep D – Rebel Force
I’ve noticed that a lot of my recent favourites are from Australia: artists like Ewan Jansen, Rings Around Saturn and Turner Street Sound; labels like Ken Oath Records. This LP from Sleep D – who contributed Connexion Dub on the excellent Sweet Echoes Vol 1 – was produced in Melbourne but released on Anthony Naples’ NY-based Incensio label toward the end of 2019. It’s on the deep, heady techno and electro tip (but also features a lush house remix from Kuniyuki) and has been getting some plays from Hessle Audio luminaries Ben UFO and Joe.
Current Favourite Track: Twin Turbo
Bella Vista – Mister Wong
Originally released in 1982, this electronic pop oddity has been reissued by Adelaide-based label Isle of Jura. The original with its quirky vocals, synths and guitars is a bit like a French Genius of Love, while there’s also a lovely stripped-back and effects-laden dub version.
Current Favourite Track: Disco Dub (Jura Soundsystem Extended Edit)
Roy Ayers – Searching / One Sweet Love To Remember
Vibes legend Roy Ayers’ 1976 rare groove classic Searching gets a welcome 7″ reissue from UK label Dynamite Cuts. One Sweet Love on the flip – also from the Vibrations LP – sees Roy in more upbeat mode with great swinging, syncopated drums.
Current Favourite Track: Searching
Oscar Weathers – We're Running Out Of Time / Countdown
A stellar slice of reissued eighties electrofunk which I heard while tuned in to 6Music. The original is a much-sought after rarity but fortunately it’s now available once again thanks to Fantasy Love Records. It features a cool vocal accompanied by Funkadelic-style synths, live bass and horns, resulting in something pretty unique.
Current Favourite Track: We're Running Out Of Time
Skinshape – I Didn't Know
A lovely 7″ slab of dubbed out, psychedelic soul from Will Dorey aka Skinshape, whose work I first encountered on the Riddim Box Dub / Soul Groove release on Horus back in 2013. The version of I Didn’t Know I heard first (on Gilles Peterson’s radio show) is the dub, however I’m warming to the vocal too. I’ve also noticed that he’s released a few albums which I plan to check out.
Current Favourite Track: IDK Dub
Benoit B – Caution 9′6″ High
Another excellent release from Edinburgh’s Unthank (sister label of Firecracker) featuring four tracks ranging in style from oddball electronics to more dancefloor-oriented electro.
Current Favourite Track: Coconut Groove
Various – DB12 002
Obscure and limited various artists release from Rimini-based label Duca Bianco, featuring a variety of electronic sounds; some poppier than others. The track Sequence Fiction I bought it for is a 100 BPM chugging John Carpenter-esque instrumental that came to my attention via Joe’s excellent mix for Crack Magazine (appearing at 7:05).
Current Favourite Track: Guillaume De Bois – Sequence Fiction
Joy O – Slipping
I’m really enjoying Joy Orbison’s journey as a producer and loved the 2018 7″ Diamonds under his Sin Falta pseudonym. This occupies a similar glitchy and heady space and showcases some really interesting sounds and ideas while still having enough oomph for DJs and dancefloors of taste.
When in Chicago, buy #house
DJ Gig at Max’s Bar, Glasgow with Jamie Porter (21-07-18)
Jamie (aka Bud Burroughs of Stirling’s Jelly Roll Soul crew) kindly invited me to DJ with him at Max’s Bar last Saturday night (21st July ‘18).
We played from 9pm–3am. Max’s was rammed to the rafters as usual and it was fun to have six hours to play with, going through the gears and playing different styles and tempos. We also had some friendly faces for company – not only was it Jason Brunton’s birthday but we also had Chris Reid over from Italia and on the birras!
Music-wise, it was cool to mix on the DJR-400 and I particularly enjoyed playing EXU, the new one from Patrick Pulsinger & Irl:
Jamie played lots of tracks I liked, including an upbeat version of Space Jungle Luv by Oneness-Of-Juju that I would post but can’t find anywhere!
Thanks to Jamie for the invite, and if you don’t already know his productions, check out:
- The Mail Art EP by Bud Burroughs on Seventh Sign Recordings
- Jelly Roll Soul record label
- Too Many Voices by Dam-Ru on Temporize Recordings
Rubadub App
Rubadub have a new mobile app that delivers the RaD crew’s top vinyl recommendations (the best around) direct to your phone.
At a time when lots of vinyl releases are highly limited, this gets you early access to the latest heat before it disappears. It should also generally save untold hours browsing/searching since in their recommendations Rubadub have already done the job of separating the wheat from the chaff.
The app was developed by me and the team at Greenhill.
It was quite tricky, because aside from developing the mobile app itself there was a lot of API work needed to integrate it with Rubadub’s stock and e-commerce systems. We also built middleware specifically for machine-learning customer tastes.
The current v1 app handles the core feature of letting people listen to, save and buy records but there’s a lot of cool stuff vis-a-vis personalised messaging and taste-based recommendations on the roadmap. I’ve written about this in more detail over on Greenhill’s site.
The long-term idea is that it becomes the app equivalent of the actual record shop experience...i.e. going into Rubadub on Howard St and one of the guys/gals handing you a pile of tunes with a side of witty repartee.
If you’re a vinyl junkie like me or into electronic music in general, I recommend checking it out.
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