LFO - Limited Edition What Is House EP

From 1991, this 4-track 12" EP, catalogue number WAP 17LTD was pressed in a limited edition of 2000 clear vinyl copies.

Mine is No 1346. And it's amazing.

Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.

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Kid Unknown - Nightmare 12"

For no reason at all, I pulled out a stack of early Warp 12" singles this afternoon. I've been away with the boys for a few days in Tallinn, so it wasn't like I needed any further excitement, but sometimes it's good to pull out something old to spark up the old nostalgia glands. Anyway, while I would never describe this as sounding fresh, it pretty much still did it for me and was a total memory bomb in terms of making me recall the nights out, the fun, the mess, the sheer exhilarating joy of it all.

From Discogs:
"Paul Fitzpatrick was a regular DJ at the legendary Hacienda nightclub in Manchester. He had two singles released on Warp in 1992 before going on to record under the name Nipper and to co-found the LCD Records label. [He was] one of the originators of the Manchester house music scene in the early 90's [...].

I'll be doing a bit more of this stuff over the next few days, I think. Does anyone remember the NORTH album, which dips back even a few years further and was my first real exposure to this stuff? Incoming.

Vinyl rip from Wap 20 at 320 Kbps.

Nightmare.

Freeez - I.O.U. 7" Pack.

This brilliant single was one of my first proper exposures to Arthur Baker and John Robie. After being a dedicated post punker, the likes of Cabaret Voltaire and New Order picking up on this stuff was massively exciting and pointed a whole new direction for the way that music was going to evolve.

I always felt that this brilliant little record never got the recognition it deserved from the cognoscenti, but it still stands up remarkably well. I can see them now on TOTP - British funkers having gotten ruffed up by the NY elite. Brilliant.

I also include the 1987 remix, which, while not being an abomination, doesn't add much to the glorious original.

Whatever happened to Freeez?

Vinyl rips at 320 Kbps.

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Radio Heart 12"

Do you want to hear a huge-big-massive eighties tune with superfat syth riffing and girl backing vocals underpinning a guest turn from the Numanoid? Do you want an instrumental version? Do you want an extra track called "Mistasax Version Two" which has one of those extended sax solos over a bed of brooding synths and sounds like the incidental music from a dour British detective show?

I think I can help.

Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps

I lose myself in the night.

Pastoral Symphony

This is one of two special Record Store Day 2011 releases that I was desperate to get my hands on. (Don't worry, viewers, I got the other one as well.)

Limited edition 12“, edition of 500, no repress. With remixes by Studio, Etienne Jaumet and Mauve Deep
SIDE A.
1. Pastoral Symphony I. Dominoes II. Infinity Room (Original Version by ARP)
2. The Past (Version by STUDIO)

SIDE B.
3. PS (Version by MAUVE DEEP)
4. La Symphonie Pastorale (Version by ETIENNE JAUMET)

On the heels of his critically–acclaimed album The Soft Wave, ARP (born Alexis Georgopoulos) releases the single Pastoral Symphony.

Remixers include Sweden’s finest Balearic STUDIO, the visual artist Keegan McHargue’s first release as MAUVE DEEP and Carl Craig–chum ETIENNE JAUMET.

Side A features the original. As the title implies – the full title is Pastoral Symphony I. Dominoes II. Infinity Room – this 8+ minute epic comes in two parts. Part I. Dominoes unfolds in a hazy blown out sheen, a rippling bass cycle underpinning a gloriously distorted synth melody. The mood is romantic and yearning. Things peak in a tumble of trembled Minimoog tunnel before a soft come down that fades into the second section. Part II. Infinity Room is name in homage to those minimalist rooms built by Yayoi Kusama and Lucas Samaras in which everything in said room is multiplied infinitely in a boxed cascade of mirrors. As such it builds and builds towards some infinite reach.

STUDIO’s remix is a taut electro–funk workout. Like their original material, there are nods to The Cure, Balaeric and even soundtrack music.

MAUVE DEEP reclaims the original’s cosmic intentions. On a cloud of minutely repeated patterns, nearly unaugmented tracks move sideways, like so many shifting tectonics.
Somewhere between Terry Riley, Oval and the stratosphere, this mix finds is celestial harmony. And it’s fully blissed.

ETIENNE JAUMET, whose recent Night Music (Domino) was mixed by Carl Craig, returns the favor with a mix that finds that perfect middle point between Craig’s moody minimal techno and Psychic TV’s early nods toward Detroit.

Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.

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The Sundays - Static And Silence

I love the way that certain records drift in and out of your life. I hadn't heard this album in years and I'm not even sure I played it that much when I bought it back in 1997. My tastes were probably somewhere else when this was released. And there was always the gigantic shadow cast by their exquisite début.

This is their third and final album. After this one, David Gavurin and Harrriet Wheeler essentially retired from music to raise their children. What a fine and noble thing to do. Our loss, however. Although, they built a home studio, so I bet there's shitloads in the can which we will never get to hear.

This album is as lovely, un-showy and solid as everything else in their small, perfectly formed back catalogue. I never get tired of her wonderful voice and his guitar work is just fucking lovely. Full of brilliant songs which reveal themselves over time and featuring the most tasteful and understated backing that any band ever managed to get down on tape. This is basically perfect. I've been playing it to death over the last few weeks; in the car, at home, on the iPhone - everywhere.

Like friends, partners, colleagues and comrades, music drifts in and out of your life. Bands come and go. Albums fade and become unloved; irrelevant.

This one is a keeper.

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Paul McCartney - Balearic Rarities 12"

A weird and wonderful collection of eccentric electronic gems and unreleased rarities from Macca in celebration of his recent engagement announcement.

Created in the late 70s while McCartney was messing about with his new electronic instruments, these early experiments have more than stood the test of time and despite being little known amongst McCartney’s mainstream fans, many have gained a cult following on the cosmic and Balearic scenes.

This recent (presumably unofficial) 12" includes the quirky and totally brilliant "Check My Machine", a superbly repetitive electronic ditty which legend has it is literally just that - McCartney switching on his machine for the first time and checking it by making this track!

Another big track is the crazy frantic proto-techno of "Temporary Secretary", Paul’s only single release never to chart when released. Also included is the fantastic cosmic roller "Blue Sway" plus great unreleased extended versions of amazing tracks such as the sparse and evocative oriental soundscape of "Frozen Jap", "Front Parlour" with its raw tech-pop, and the beautifully delicate and melancholic Balearic gem "Sunshine Sometime".

Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.

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