Art Of Noise - Moments in Love 12"

It's hard to keep track of the early ZTT releases as they were routinely released in several different mixes and versions. However, I think that this version of the mighty "Moments In Love" is the second edition, dating from 1985.



This version contains "Moments In Love (Beaten)" on the A side and the even more lush "Love Beat" on the second side, in addition to what seems to be an original mix of "Moments In Love".



Always one of my favourite AON tracks, this still seems to be as out of time as it ever was. I've got the first version somewhere, so will try to dig it out at some point. I might post a few other choice AON twelves if this one goes down well.



Also look out for the imminent re-release of the debut album which has been remastered and expanded.



Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.



Download.

Split Album

A pretty limited (edn of 600) split between Bitchin Bajas (CAVE's Cooper Crain) and Faceplant (Peaking Lights' Aaron Coyes). The sleeve has a big picture of a massive bud of skunk on each side.

We've got two long tracks from each artist here. The Bitchin Bajas side is a totally soothing affair, with layers of synth drones and arpeggios creating a shimmering voyage into the cosmic ether. The pacing of his work is beautifully gauged and his side is therapeutic stuff.

Flip it and things get a little darker, much more on the glacial trance/techno side of things. In the first track, 'Ride the Ether', there's a repetitive bass hook and a really minimal drum line over which some squelchy, echoey synths carve out swathes of tone alongside a crisper top end synth melody. The second track, 'Dickie Domecon', has a total monged out electro vibe like Herbie Hancock on downers, with dubby swooshes and a repetitive melody. Rhythmically this is the more interesting of the two Faceplant offerings but its thermostat is still set firmly in 'chill' territory.

Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.

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The Beloved - Your Love Takes Me Higher 12" & Hello 12"

The second and third 12" EPs from the Beloved are a pair of total classics, featuring an array of excellent remixes covering all of the pop and early house bases. I think these stand up really well and still sound very fresh. "Hello" in particular is one of my favourites, with its cheeky but cool lyric.



Go here for a bio and as indicated on the previous post, a whole load of rare downloads.



Vinyl rips at 320 Kbps.



Your Love Takes Me Higher



Hello

Cola Boy - 7 Ways To Love 12"

I've posted the 7" of this before, but here's the 12" in all it's glory.



7 Ways To Love was written by Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs of St Etienne, who hoped the track would be their first step in building a Stock, Aitken & Waterman / Brill Building / Hit Factory style songwriting empire.



Cola Boy was a duo, consisting of Janey Lee Grace and Andrew Midgley. Andrew had worked with Bob and Pete on studio material in their pre-St Etienne days in the late 1980s. Janey had been a backing singer for numerous pop acts, including Wham and Pasty Kensit’s Eighth Wonder, and was a radio broadcaster on LBC.



Sarah Cracknell sang the vocals on the original white label version of 7 Ways. After that initial batch sold out, it was re-recorded with vocals by Sarah’s friend Janey Lee Grace, as Sarah was under contract to another label and was not permitted to sing on non-St Etienne releases.



Janey’s version of 7 Ways is the one that was subsequently picked up and released by Arista Records, but in the meantime the original Sarah version was heavily bootlegged, costing Arista many thousands of sales. A further Cola Boy connection with Sarah was that the duo were managed by Sarah’s mother, who had previously worked with and managed a number of acts, including Wee Papa Girl Rappers.



There was a second Cola Boy single, He Is Cola, which was spectacularly unsuccessful. That fulfilled the two-single deal with Arista, and the contract was not renewed.



With other labels interested in picking them up, Janey was keen to continue working on new Cola Boy material, but Andrew had by then started work on a new project, Blinder, and was writing darker, non-pop dance material.



Cola Boy fell apart in late 1991/early 1992, and Andrew moved North. Blinder enjoyed some limited cult success on the northern England and Scottish rave circuit, before dissolving towards the end of 1993. Andrew subsequently moved into journalism and composing music for television.



Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.



Download.

Tomas - Mind Song 12"

More early Warp goodness hewn from the vinyl mountain.



This is WAP 10 and hails from Leeds, I do believe. Tomas was one Thomas Sylvanus Stewart, who never released anything else, other than a track on a compilation which precedes this release.



All of those early trademarks of the UK house scene are here in spades on this record; it's classic Warpery. My favourite track is the AA side tune, "Architecture". Six minutes of thudding kick drum and squelch bass with a weird, distorted vocal sample. Brilliant.



Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.



Download.

Clint Mansell - Moon

Clint Mansell's partnership with Darren Aronofsky has produced some of the finest film music of recent years. He pulls it out of the bag again here for Duncan Jones's wonderful, elegiac sci-fi film, "Moon".

This is a work of quiet power which reminds me (in places) of the quiter moments of the 2001 soundtrack. The recurring theme is lovely and gets thrown into different shapes as the soundtrack progresses.

In common with the film, the beauty of the artwork is something to behold, and although due to the fairly low-key nature of the music vinyl might not be the best medium for the music, the package more than makes up for it. Try and grab one if you can.

Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.

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Saroos - Yukoma (Populous Remix) 7"

A piano moves us towards weirdly thick, slowed down house grooves. A chunky kick drum pushes its way through stuttering clouds of unusual instrumentation and synthesized drones, giving a weird after-hours neon resonance. Flip over to ‘Outrigger’ though and we’re reframing twisted folk into something dusty and yet crunchy.



A terrific single.



Download.

Live '72

This appears to have sold out, so I'll hang it up here for a few days as a mark of respect for the recently departed Conrad Schnitzler.



This double album (pressed on white vinyl) is a slightly noisy pressing, with a warpy disposition and off-centre labels, but the music contained within those caucasian grooves is the stuff of joy. Recorded in '72, but out of time - this could have been cooked up yesterday.



Lovely Con obituary here.



And go to the Further Records site for more goodies. The Ekoplekz album is a fucking killer.



Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.



Download

Remix 12"

Just out of the traps. Won't be here for long.



Vinyl rip at 320Kbps



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The Beloved - The Sun Rising 12"

A true Balearic classic which strangely turned up on as many ambient compilations as it it did banging trance compilations.

It's a beautiful song, which uses the same sample that Orbital used in their equally brilliant track, "Belfast" ("O Euchari" sung by Emily Van Evera).

Presented here is the original UK 12" release which features a brace of excellent remixes.

Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.

Download

EDIT: Also have a look here. Many thanks to Dan for the heads up.