Orbital - Chime: The Remixes 12"

Decent remix 12" of the first Orbital single. Rarely heard these days. At least in Bedfordshire.

Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.

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PWEI - Touched By The Hand Of Cicciolina 12"

I Can't believe I haven't posted this one before, as It's one of my favourite ever records. A masterful example of those early, heady days of the "indie/dance crossover", Pop Will Eat Itself should get a hell of a lot more respect for the role they played in breaking down the barriers between the opposing poles of pale indie and shaking your honky arse.

This is a SUCH a great record. The back story being that the band were trying to start a campaign to get Italian porn princess (and future wife of Jeff Koons, as immortalised in some of his unbelievably arch works), to get a role in the opening ceremony of the Italia '90 World Cup finals. The record came with a postcard which you had to fill in and send to FIFA, which I dutifully did. These days, there would be a faceboook page, no doubt.

PWEI's Clint Mansell is now a successful Hollywood composer, most notably working with Darren Aronofsky. Some of those soundtracks are available in beautiful limited vinyl editions, which I recommend that you buy if you can find them - not only are they terrific musically, they are such lovely artefacts into the bargain.

Anyway, this is a brilliant record. Enjoy.

Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.

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Annette - Dream 17 12"

There are a couple of remixes here, which as far as I know, have only ever been available on this brilliant, rare 12"

The lead "Dream 17" track is taken from the "North" album I posted yesterday, but the flipside tracks "Nightmare On Dream Street" and "Dream Slumber" are where things really start to take off. These sound incredibly accomplished given the fact that we were back at the dawn of the UK acid sound.

Let me know what you think, trainspotters.

Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.

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The Grid - A Beat Called Love 12"

The follow up to the Floatation 12" I posted a few days ago, this is another great single from The Grid (which immediately followed the Floatation 12").

The 12" is just OK, but the 7" mix on the flip is great. What seals the deal, however, is the "Progressive" mix of Floatation which comes as the second track on the B side.

Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.

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Acid Angels - Speed Speed Ecstasy 12"

I might be mis-remembering this, but I'm pretty sure that it was Douglas Hart, ex of the Jesus And Mary Chain who was the prime mover behind Acid Angels. It certainly has some of those dirty rock influences that Primal Scream ran with later in their Magpie-like career.

Whatever, this is another very early UK acid contender, which still sounds great 23 years after the fact. 23 years! Jesus!

Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.

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Pac Man - Power Pill 12"

And already, I'm going off piste with this one, as strictly speaking, it's more of a breakbeat thing than an acid thing. It's still great, though and is the acceptable face of all those stoopid acid novelty records which were unleashed at the turn of the nineties as sampling technology developed further.

Anyway, for those who don't know, this is Richard D. James AKA The Aphex Twin in one of his many guises. It's early stuff for sure and definitely a bit gimmicky, but as you would expect from RDJ, it's executed very well. The lead track in particular is sounding pretty good to me this evening.

EDIT: New Link Added.

Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.

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Adonis - Acid Poke 12"

Excellent early acid track from the Chicago pioneer, Adonis. The instrumental on the flipside probably just cuts it over the vocal version on the A side.

Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.

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The Stateley Homes Of England

A quick plug for my my friend, Billy Milk and his band, The Stately Homes Of England.

They have recently released a lovely new EP which features a star turn from the legendary underground cartoonist, Hunt Emerson. The EP is available in every format that you could wish for, including some very special limited editions featuring unique artwork from Hunt.

It's a lovely, folk tinged thing which should go down a treat for a bit of communal singing around the campfire at the festival of your choice over the coming season.

Sorry, Billy. I should have done this weeks ago.

Go here for full details and ordering information.

North: The Sound Of The Dance Underground

From the sleevenotes:

"It was summer 1986 and clubs in London are rocking to the sounds of East Coast hip hop and Washington Go Go. Meanwhile, dancefloors ´North of Watford´ (especially in Nottingham, Sheffield and Manchester) are crammed with people jacking to a new sound from Chicago called "house", and for two years a north/south divide of a different kind was established.

Summer 1988 reads very differently with whole nation rapidly becoming one jacking zone. Clubs are now overflowing with people trance dancing to a form of music that they once ignored. DJ's who once dismissed house music as hi-energy are now exclusively playing house and a whole new culture is born.

But what of the North? The jacking continues more fervently than ever, the smileys and ecstasy are evident but its not just acid that's being played but all forms of house. And at the centre of it all is Manchester's Haçienda. For almost three years Friday's Nude night has been packed, and this album is a direct result of this Friday madness.

Nude night DJ Mike Pickering is one of three musicians who make T-Coy who have produced some of the tracks on this album as well as contributing two (including their classic and demand début "Carino"). The tracks on this album are honest. The people who made these records are not bandwagon jumping. Sheer enthusiasm for house and weekly visits to the clubs of the north have inspired them to make these records.

From the awesome and hypnotic ´Voodoo Ray´ by "A Guy Called Gerald" to the manic glory of Frequency 9's ´Get On One´, many styles of house are covered here. Witness the sheer delight of ´Dream 17´ by Annette and the tongue in cheek ´Mega Trip´ by "Masters Of Acid". Every track is as diverse as the people who made them. These people have helped establish the northern clubs as the home of house. The northern house continues to grow and be influenced by a number of diverse styles. Like hip hop, the genre is here to stay and will develop. Trends come and go and soon fashion will be dictating a new soundtrack for some clubgoers, but in the North the house scene now resembles the Northern Soul scene in terms of it's dedication and fanaticism. Almost three years ago the North adopted house and "North" sees it coming of age. As long as house music packs the dancefloors with sweaty bodies then the story of "North" will continue....this one will run and run....

Graeme Park (Nottingham)"

Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.

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Ecstasy Club - Jesus Loves The Acid 12'

Fairly full-on acid from the early days of the second summer of love. This is a great record and although it features a few of the things which fairly quickly became the trademark (clichéd) sounds of the acid house movement, this one was one of the innovators.

The flipside "Acid Chant" is an insane psychedelic head-fuck monster. It's almost as if these people were taking drugs.

Both sides of this have a lock groove spin out, which I've left running for a wee while, just to give you a flavour. I remember one night listening to the looped lock groove for far, far too long. I was, in the immortal words of Moggieboy, "in the zone".

Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.

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Acid House Saturday

I've been listening to a shitload of early acid house this week. I'm gonna try and throw as much drug-fuelled nonsense as I can up her over the next few hours.

Strap yourselves in and take all of your drugs now.

Acid House Saturday is GO!