Records

DJ Food presents Locked Loop Group – Acid Endless

AC2 on deck
Out today on the Acid Lathe label from Portland, Oregon – my Locked Loop Group alias over two sides of an 8″ zoetrope picture disc in a fold-over die-cut sleeve. ‘Acid Endless’ is a two part improvised turntable jam on my Quadraphon turntable using locked grooves to generate churning acid beats which were then edited down for this release. Chris from Acid Lathe approached me about doing something a couple of years back, when the idea of the label was just in his head and over time we worked out this release and I helped formulate the label look for him along the way. The cut on the disc is mono but the digital files are stereo so I’d advise you to download them for the full experience.

AC2 side A
AC2 side B
I’m really pleased with this release and can’t wait to see a physical copy as I only have these photos to go by at the moment. It’s limited, it’s expensive but it cost a fair bit to make and I’m not sure how many other double-sided zoetrope picture disc lathe cuts are out there? Also, postage is a mother these days so if anyone from the UK wants one and wants to save on postage then contact me and we can work something out when Chris sends my artist copies over, adding extras into the package which I can then send on to you for a more affordable price. Sadly it seems EU postage costs aren’t much different to US these days so this is just an offer for UK residents. Pre-order here, it’ll be released officially on the 12th of May I think but of course it’s Bandcamp Friday today so 100% of the revenue goes to the label/artist for 24 hours.

AC 2 front
AC2 inside front
AC2 inside back
AC2 back

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DJ Food – Oonops Drops mix for Brooklyn Radio

I did a little mix for the Oonops Drops show for Brooklyn Radio, and it airs today. All 45s, all vinyl, just some beat-heavy bits and pieces I’m digging at the moment and wanted to piece together. I’m finding myself drawn more and more back to the instrumental hip hop/trip hop sound, not in a retro way, many of these tracks are brand new and there’s a lot of it out there. I’ve never stopped loving this sound and it seems to be bubbling back into fashion of late. My mix starts at 40:35 min – 1:10:36 min after DJ Oonops, to be followed by mixes from Sola Rosa and DJ Friction.

Track list:
Shawn Lee – You Seem To have Forgotten What Music Was… (Idlesound)
Ticklish – Lost (Beat Machine Records)
Keina – True Love (Cheeba Cheeba Records)
Buggseed – Crystal Morning Pt.2 (Cheeba Cheeba Records)
Unknown – Glass (Drum Breaks Edits) (Solo 500)
The Psyclops Trees – Beak Street (Flying Saucer Records)
Herma Puma – Rockem Man (Cheeba Cheeba Records)
Herma Puma – Illery Summer (Cheeba Cheeba Records)
Time Signature – Brklyn (Slow) (dub plate)
Lord 69 – Fertilise The Corn (Howlin’)
Mike Bandoni – Kool Trippin’ (Village Live 45)
DJ Koco aka Shimokita – World’s Famous feat. 45trio
MagicTouch – Kyousoku 3 (Delic Records dub plate)

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Buy Music Club April 2025

BMC Apr 2025
An extended Buy Music Club Recommends this month as there’s so much great music out there.
From top to bottom, left to right – DJ Sofa – the next entry in the Swinging Flavors series from the Italian Beat Machine label on 7″, the new Clipping. album, ‘Dead Channel Sky’ – constantly evolving their unique template of rap music and Mike Paradinas‘ latest under his Kid Spatula alias, quality electronica from this UK legend. Yage remixes the ‘Translations’ album, itself a radical reworking of their classic ‘Papa New Guinea’, this is more in line with the Amorphous Androgynous and ladles on the sitars. Snapped Ankles – ‘Hard Time Furious Dancing’ – already contender for album of the year on the Leaf Label and then on the right, Sully with a two track club banger of a release on a beautifully etched 12″.
Tortoise have a new track out, preceding their next album, KiF pay homage to guess who with ‘Still Out’, up for pre-order on the Stroud’s Sound Records and Dylan Dylan delivers an EP of 90’s flavoured dance tracks on Pont Neuf. An oldie but new to me is Sir Psyche‘s ‘Bodies of Work 2011-2013’, a free download of properly psychedelic trip hop I recently discovered on a Bandcamp trawl and a recent cover design of mine adorns the first new Dan Curtin album in over a decade, ‘The 4 Lights’ on De:tuned. Last but not least, the long overdue re-issue of chill out classic ‘Dreamfish’ (by Dreamfish aka Pete Namlook and Mixmaster Morris) is here from Silent State Recordings.

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Snapped Ankles – Hard Times Furious Dancing


I’m really loving the new Snapped Ankles album, their fourth for The Leaf Label, ‘Hard Times Furious Dancing’, it’s refreshing and genuinely exciting whilst chiming with the times we live in. People ask where all the protest songs have gone, well here’s an album of them without ramming the point home and set to furiously fizzing beats and basslines. The video above is an imaginary conversation between seventies era Conny Plank and Brian Eno talking about AI.

Snapped Ankles LP
Available on LP, CD, download with different coloured vinyl variants for Dinked indie shops and Bandcamp. Grab it from Bandcamp to put more money in the band’s pockets. They are on tour but will make a loss so had to start a GoFundTrees Crowdfunder, this is the reslity for bands today in the UK.

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Electrik Collage show #13 Mar 2025

Show #13, a Baker’s Dozen is how I’m finishing this first run on ROVR Radio. There’s a lot of instrumental downtempo beats in this episode courtesy of the Legacy Echo label run by Chilla Ninja in Manchester, thanks for the records guys. More Monastry, a couple of old Linkwood tracks from the now defunt Firecracker label and a vintage megamix in the form of a 1987 Trax selection from a promo tape I found last summer. For some modern reconstructions of old classics check out Disco Police‘s stunning recreation of Tom Browne‘s ‘Funkin’ For Jamaica’, Magic Source‘s cover of ‘Voodoo Ray’ and my own deconstruction of Roy Ayers‘ ‘We Live In Brooklyn Baby’ – RIP Roy.

Listen back via the archive here

It’s been a year since I started this and this is my last show for ROVR for the moment. I will be carrying on under my own steam each month but the show will take on a slightly different form, I doubt it’ll be two hours each month for one thing. I loved being asked by ROVR to do a monthly show but when I signed up it was on the provision that it would be a test for a year. My main worry was the way the shows were constructed for the station which involves uploading the individual tracks directly to a back end area where you order your show selection, adding metadata etc. so that tracks can be indentified online once playing. Once the two hour limit has been filled you then choose an option that auto-blends the start and end points of the songs for a seamless transition, not beat matching, just fading. This was hit and miss for me and not the way I make mixes, being more of a mix DJ who layers tracks and samples up. I was assured that they were working on a DAW for this that would give DJs more control over how they blended tracks together, unfortunatley this hasn’t materialised after a year and I don’t feel I’m doing good work here as a result. I also had no way of knowing listening figures for either my shows or the station in general so I have no idea what sort of audience I was getting. But no bridges have been burnt, if the DAW materialises and works well then I may be back.

But, the year is up and I’m keen to construct things in my studio as I always have and hopefully provide listeners with a better show as a result, getting back to mixing, away from the digital playlist format whilst hopefully being more creative. I’ll upload to Mixcloud and that will allow listening figures and comments as well as a trackmarked playlist. It won’t be behind a paywall like the archive uploads I’ve been doing so everyone can listen and it will be easier to share and embed into websites after it’s published. The Electrik Collage shows have all been about getting back to doing radio with an empahsis on current music like Solid Steel used to be (I estimate at least 75% of each EC show is contemporary releases from the last year or so) but I also want to experiment with the format too. What that will entail I’m not sure but we’ll see next month, until then, enjoy the new show.

DJ Food – Electrik Collage #1
Linkwood Family – Piece of Mind
Monastry – Respite
Linkwood – Hear The Sun
Disco Police – Jamaica (Sir Dancealot Deconstructed Regroove)
Chop – Monolith
Magic Source – Voodoo Ray (Radio Edit)
Various Artists – Trax Megamix 1987
DJ Food – Electrik Collage #15
Deadchannel9000 – Concrete Science
2S.Beatz Productions – L.Y.W.B.
Kristian Gjerstad – Drops, Slops & Chops
Chop – Psycho Bubble
Chilla Ninja – Good Time All The Time
Atoribeats – Whoz Da Mann!?
Funkychild – Iguazu
Jon Fu – Revival
Champagne Dub – Thuggin
DJ Food – Electrik Collage #10
The In-Sect – Brooklyn (DJ Food Restructure)
Hot Chocolate – Sugar Daddy
Mandrake Handshake – Emonzaemon
The Psyclops Trees – Oscars Groove Part 2 (Alt. take)
Space Drum Meditation – Water Sirens
Djrum – Frekm pt. 2
Monastry – Destination
Kosmologic Research Society – Rift
D.K. – Untitled Pt.6

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Mick Jones’ Rock’n’Roll Public Library

kiosk
I visited Mick Jones‘ RRPL exhibition at the Farsight Gallery on Friday courtesy of Stephen Coates (seen above at the magazine kiosk inside the venue). For anyone who doesn’t know, Mick is a collector, an understatement when you realise that the amount of ephemera, memorabilia and esoteria on display is possibly only 5% of his archive. Although I can’t claim to be a huge Clash or B.A.D. fan there’s no denying that the collection on display is impressive and wide-ranging. From toys, games, comics, magazines, records, tapes, clothes to art, posters, projection equipment, videos, music gear and pop culture artifacts, it seems there is very little that Mick doesn’t collect.

Ft2 cover
Ft2 label
Primarily of interest to me were his pieces of hip hop ephemera including several by Futura from the early 80s when he and Mick wrote ‘The Escapes of Futura 2000’ with The Clash as backing band. Inside one of the glass cabinets I noticed Futura’s handwritten lyrics to the song, beautifully enscribed in his recognisable style. In another was a customised boombox with drawings by Dondi and Zephyr, a Rammellzee flyer and Beastie Boys tour pass – what a time to be in New York!

Futura lyrics
Futura boombox
Dondi
zephyr
Clash canvas
Of course there is loads of Clash-related memorabilia too, from equipment to tapes, toys to merchandise, press coverage to what appears to be a Futura-sprayed canvas.

T shirt 2
T shirt 1
mickey model
Clash toys
Clash case
Punk fanzine
Fanzines were a huge part of the punk movement and there are plenty here although most have been photocopied and pasted up as wallpaper at various points to aid ease of display.

fanzines
Ted vs Punks
flintstones
Forbidden planet
There are also a number of huge colour-themed collages of all manner of ephemera, an ingenious way to display many of the items that were found without an obvious home.

black
yellow
white
red
And it goes on and on… there’s even the first in a projected series of magazines devoted to highlights from the collection on sale inside. I highly recommend you try and visit if you’re in the centre of London with an hour or two to spare. It’s free, open daily from midday – 7pm and the gallery is at the end of Denmark St. tucked round the corner by St. Giles church, nearest tube, Tottenham Court Road. Be quick though as it’s only on until March 16th – more info here www.rocknrollpl.com and on Instagram @rocknrollpl

Toys
projectors
electric guitar
dread
Ampro
badges

Posted in Art, Books, Comics, Event, Exhibition, Magazines, Music, Oddities, Poster / flyer, Records, Toys. | 2 Comments | Tags: , ,

Buy Music Club March

Buy Music Club Mar 2025
More fabulous music to wrap your ears around – the Legacy Echo label conduct a tribute to ATCQ‘s Midnight Marauders album and Magic Source magic up a disco version of ‘Voodoo Ray’ as Disco Police twist Tom Browne‘s ‘Funkin’ For Jamaica’ inside out for eight and a half minutes on their Crate Diggers album. Visioneers conjure up new version of tracks from the recent album and there’s a version of UFOrb sitting on Bandcamp from a source you wouldn’t expect. New music in the form of Space Drum Meditation, Syon Ward and Mandrake Handshake who come over like a kind of King Gizzard meets Stereolab in places. Jungle Boogie (JB) is my old friend Bunky K Brown improvising long bass meditations with percussionist bandmate Britt Walford.

My next ROVR radio show featuring some of these will air on Friday March 14th and the shows are available to listen back to now via the ROVR live app AND the desktop player (at last!) APPLE or ANDROID

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Electrik Collage show #12 Feb 2025


My latest radio show is streaming from 2pm today wherever you are in the world on ROVR radio. I’m constantly amazed at the amount of great new music that’s out there and this month features new tracks from Awkward, LF58, Create-A-Mess, Apta, the Cheeba Cheeba label and some great reworks by Disco Police. There’s a classic megamix in the form of Cuco‘s Disco Breaks re-edit of Martin Circus ‘Disco Circus’ and a little trio of versions of Malcolm McLaren‘s ‘World Famous’ classic, it’s quite beat-heavy this month and, dare I say it?, a little trip-hoppy in places (not a bad thing in my book).

Listen back here https://www.rovr.live/show/4699

Show #12 Feb 2025
DJ Food – Electrik Collage #7
Monastry – Origin
Type Raw, Alcynoos & Parental – Poetry
Create-A-Mess – Denmark Hill (DJ Food slight re-edit)
Dr.Doppler – Gardens in Spain
David Beast – Racial Riots
Awkward – The Shift
Monastry – In the Machine
Disco Police – Masterpiece (Bop Gun Slow Blow Mix)
E20 Trio – S950 Is a Verb
131 – I Cant Find My Way Home
DJ Food – Electrik Collage #44
Martin Circus – The Circus (Disco Breaks mix) (The Cuco re-edit remastered)
Disco Police – Caramel (Bop Gun Primordial DISKO Tech Mix)
Akufen – Play (Never Work Till Monday)
DJ Food – Electrik Collage #39
Chop – Oscillo
LF58 – Radials Part Two (excerpt 3)
Anne Dudley – Close (To The Edit) diverted with World’s Famous
DJ Koco – World’s Famous feat. 45trio
Malcolm McLaren – World’s Famous
Run DMC – Peter Piper (Brat mash-up DJ Food Re-edit)
Redman – Dont Wanna C Me Rich
Create-A-Mess – Fly Humans
Disco Police – God Make Me Funky (Bop Gun Cosmic Regroove)
DJ Food – Electrik Collage #18
Djrum – Frekm pt. 1
Chop – Rioflection
Lone Bison – Origin Story
Awkward – Last Fiend
ill-sugi – rah
Apta – Sink
Apta – Meniscus
LF58 – Radials Part Two (excerpt 4)

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Buy Music Club Feb 2025

Buy Music Club Feb 2025
After the longest month of the year we finally hit February, Bandcamp Friday is on the 7th so fill your baskets in readiness for that day when 100% of the profits go to the artists and labels. Hieroglypic Being has released three albums so far this past month, not a bad start for him and two from Inhmost feature in this list as they were a new discovery for me. Talking of older records I’d missed, the ‘Collage’ album by Monastry is a sample-filled trip hop winner from an Australian duo that dates from last summer, as does the (Mr) Chop album on Madlib Invasionz.

Anticipating the return of Little Barrie and Malcolm Catto‘s new album this April I was checking out the album Barrie had made with Shawn Lee under the name Ultrasonic Grand Prix last year – an intriguing mix of vintage guitars and drum machines. DJ Koco‘s take on the Malcolm McLaren classic, ‘World’s Famous’ was out late last year on a 45 and will endure all year whilst Jonny Cuba‘s first solo outing under the name Create-A-Mess is finally released after literally years in production limbo.

My next ROVR radio show featuring some of these will air on Friday Feb 14th and the shows are available to listen back to now via the ROVR live app AND the desktop player (at last!) APPLE or ANDROID

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5 hour set at Brvtvs in Marlow this Saturday

___Saturdays_DJFood
This Saturday I will be playing at Brvtvs in Marlow, a hi-fi listening bar/restaurant. Not only that, support will be from my old partner in crime, DK!
We’ve not played together on the same bill for over a decade but I’m really looking forward to hearing what he pulls out for a mini Solid Steel reunion. I think you have to book a table if you want to come before 10pm so maybe contact them to check availability if you’re planning to travel far.

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Buy Music Club Recommends Jan 2025

BMC Jan 2025
And we don’t stop – Happy New Year! Here’s a bunch of music from the last month to get your teeth into for 2025. There’s a new Hieroglyphic Being album – one of his best for a while, an old Akufen I discovered recently through Bandcamp – absolutely stunning. The new Arcadia library compilation on Buried Treasure is full of treats as is the Kosmologic Research Society – the return of an old project featuring Markey Funk. Space is the place for that one, both inner and outer as is the latet LF58 album on Astral Industries who I’d slept on in recent years but hoovered up several titles from during their Xmas sale. For the beat heads look no further than a new album by Awkward which collects various beats and pieces together and the MagicTouch ‘Lessons’-style 45 on Delic Records, out this month. The new Special Request album wasn’t totally my bag if I’m honest except for the track ‘Don’t Hold Back’ which is dancefloor destruction and will get you from 140-160 bpm with ease during a set.

My next ROVR radio show featuring some of these will air on Friday Jan 17th and this year’s ten shows should be available to listen back to now via the ROVR live app APPLE or ANDROID

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Let’s have some psychedelia

Various Forbidden Love RCA 18S-11
It’s been a while and things have been piling up on the desktop so… above is a Japanese jazz album called, I believe, ‘Forbidden Love’, released on RCA in I’d guess the late 60s. It includes covers of The Beatles and The Mindbenders and the cover looks like either Victor Moscoso or Peter Max but maybe it’s a take off of that style that was so prevalent back then.
Below is a Muppets Electric Mayhem LP sleeve I discovered by Matt Taylor after seeing his poster for McCartney’s Got Back tour featured below.
EM 2
McCartney poster matt taylor
Below are three Portable Flower Factory 45 sleeves, a project from Bob Dorough with cover versions of popular songs for kids on the Scholastic label made between 1970-1972. The artist is uncredited but what fabulous sleeves.

PFF 1
PFF 2
PFF 3
Below is an advert for a psychedelic light from a girl’s comic from 1970, love the “Invite BOYS to assemble Love Lites.. and stay for a come together Jam session” line. Below that a light show of the laser kind for a Beatles-themed run at the Laserium, probably around 1983.

light show comic ad 1970-topaz-text-shapes-4x
Laserium - Beatles poster-topaz-text-shapes-2x

SF Pop Fest poster by Carson-Morris
Carson Morris illustrated San Francisco International Pop Festival poster from October 1968.

Love BB&HC 1966
Love and Big Brother & The Holding Company poster with an early design by Stanley Mouse and Alton Kelley from 1966 (+ lights by Bill Ham!)

Yardbirds Doors poster
The Yardbirds / Doors gig at the Fillmore, 1967 by Bonnie MacLean with the original below

Yardbirds Doors original Bonnie MacLean

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Buy Music Club Recommends December 2024

BMC Dec 2024
Nearly the end of the year but no ‘best of’ round ups when we still have four weeks to go, that always appears at some point on Dec 31st on this site. Still a virtual avalanche of great music turning up out there, the Visioneers album being a good example of old tunes made new coupled with some new ones harking back to a golden age. The Virtual Dreams II compilation of 90s ambient music from Japan is quite otherworldly as is As One‘s new album on De:tuned (cover by yours truly, *cough*). Top left is abstract electronica by graffiti artist Soda, exclusively on cassette – think LP5-era Autechre and you’re in the ballpark. Middle image is the new Bakesale comp from Cheeba Cheeba Records, haven’t heard it all yet but they’re a great label and the release comes with a Dan Lish comic so it’s an instant buy. Bottom middle is the MagicTouch single I posted about before, up for pre-order and bottom right is Bsidewinsagain‘s tribute to Depth Charge and The Octagon Man – RIP J Saul Kane.

My latest ROVR radio show featuring some of these (including an exclusive edit I made of a DJ Prime Cuts track) was aired on Friday Nov 22nd and should be available to listen back to now via the ROVR live app APPLE or ANDROID

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Dust & Grooves Vol.2 is here!

D&G box
D&G spines
I’ve been waiting for this day for several years – Dust & Grooves delivery day! Having worked with Eilon Paz over the last few years on parts of this I know the blood, sweat and tears that have gone into just a small portion of it but nothing prepared me for seeing the final product last week at the launch night in London.

D&G Books 1+2
D&G 1+2 spines
The new book is HUGE, it weighs a ton and looks incredible. The attention to detail throughout is beautiful, with spot varnish and embossing on the slipcase of the deluxe edition plus printed insides and a free poster.

D&G box inside
D&G emboss
D&G poster
D&G slipcase inside
D&G varnish
The first volume has been re-covered and fits snugly with the second, make no mistake, this is a huge piece of work and will test the strength of any bookcase. I’m extremely proud to have contributed three extensive features to the back half of the book as well as several for the Dust & Grooves website (the Alex Paterson one is already up there with several yet to come that didn’t fit in the book). Interviews with Kid Koala, Andy Votel and Tom Ravenscroft fill pages alongside Eilon’s incredible photography and make this a must for all serious diggers out there.

D&G Koala
D&G Peel
D&G Peel 2
D&G Votel
D&G Zoe
We’ll never own all these records but we can share in the knowledge and stories behind them via this tome. As you could see from the photos of the launch party in London the other week, it bought together collectors from around the UK with nothing but goodwill and shared enthusiasm. Well done to Eilon and all the editors, designers and proofreaders who helped make this happen. Grab your own copy here

Portables cover
Let’s not the forget the Portables book that Eilon shot alongside the Dust & Grooves volume 2 one! The man’s a machine and this book lovingly catalogues 222 portable turntables – available now, here

Port 1
Port 2
Port 3
Port 4
Port 5
Portables back

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The Electrik Collage show #9 Nov 2024


My latest radio show is streaming from 2pm today wherever you are in the world on @rovr_live New music from Visioneers, LL Cool J, Nidia & Valentina, Robert Leiner, Forsaj, Gaslamp Killer, DJ Prime Cuts, Beautify Junkyards, Paul Cousins, Benedict Drew and more…

Listen back at https://www.rovr.live/show/3800
Download the app to get archive access. APPLE or ANDROID

Show #9 Nov 2024
DJ Food – Electrik Collage #13
Visioneers – Today
LL Cool J – The Force
Midnight Heist – Deep Thrust
LL Cool J – Runnit Back
Nídia & Valentina
Nídia & Valentina – Rapido
Visioneers – Heather
DJ Food – Electrik Collage #32
Forsaj – Pierogi Funk
Robert Leiner – My Dream
Lextron – Jaunt
Bush Doctors – Turn It Out
DJ Food – Electrik Collage #36
Alex Kassian – A reference to E2-E4 (Mad Professor’s Quantas Crazy Remix)
Robert Leiner – Analog Days
Gaslamp Killer & Jason Wool – Chaos (Club Edit)
DJ Prime Cuts – Out Time Is Now (DJ Food re-edit)
Dave Lombardo – Vicissitude
Beautify Junkyards – Turn the Tide
DJ Food – Electrik Collage #24
Beautify Junkyards – Here Everything Is Still Floating
Paul Cousins – Tessellation Pact
Dub Squad – Blown Fruit
Lo Five – The Observer Trap
Palomatic – Flutter
Benedict Drew – Optical Frame Work (excerpt)
DJ Food – Electrik Collage #13
Paul Cousins – Thought Loops

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Magictouch – Kyousoku 2 / Kyousoku 3 (Delic Records)

Magic Touch 1
I’m lucky enough to have a dub plate copy of this as I’m doing to some work with the Japanese label Delic Records at the moment. They kindly sent me a copy for my set this Tuesday at the BBE store for the Dust & Grooves launch party (with a line up like that you need something special in the bag).
‘Kyousoku’ translates as ‘teaching’ or ‘instruction’ = ‘Lesson’ (as inspired by Double D & Steinski’s Lesson megamixes). The contents are exclusively sampled from 70’s-80’s Japanese artists and instructional records and a limited release is planned for next spring – keep an eye on their Bandcamp for more info
Magictouch (@dupeginger)
Delic Records (@delic_ishiyama)

Magic Touch 2

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Record Shop Stories – The Book & Record Bar

PL 1
It’s been a vinyl kind of weekend, starting on Friday with a visit to Deptford where the hardcore diggers descended on new shop Perfect Lives for their opening. Run by Danny and Bruno, it’s a countercultural wonderland of books, magazines, fanzines and records, the likes of you which rarely see or have never seen before. It’s a small spot at 6a Florence Road, London, SE14 6TW and they’re open Wednesday to Sunday, not cheap but you don’t see some of this stuff every day unless it’s in a museum or a book.

PL 2
PL 3
PL 4
PL 5
PL 6 Deptford’s really becoming a spot now with Upside Down Records on the high street and new vinyl listening bar, Jazu down the other end. In the arches on Resolution Way across from the train station you have The Shop which sells music gear and records and further up, the Villages bar where we went to hear Huw from Mr Bongos play a Halloween-themed set.

Groovy Fayre 1
Saturday was the Groovy Record Fayre at the Mildmay Club on Newington Green for as much of a social catch up with a million friends as a dig for the black crack. Despite finding a few bits and pieces I actually managed to leave a clutch of 45s behind at the end because I was nattering.

Groovy Fayre 3
Groovy Fayre 2
Groovy Fayre 4
Groovy Fayre 5

BARB 1
Sunday was a day of rest but Rich Headland‘s Record Shop Stories has just published the jaunt to the Book & Record Bar in West Norwood that we took a few weeks back. Read it here, give Rich’s substack a follow and pay the shop a visit if this piece piques your interest.

BARB 2
BARB 3
BARB 4
BARB 5
It’s not all records around here though, next week is all about light shows and painting one of my son’s bedroom, then the print fair in Leicester at the Print Workshop next weekend.

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Revolution Tapes 2: Various Artists – Megamixers No.1 / No.2

Megamixers 1It’s been a while coming but I’ve finally had some time to dive into the pile of cassettes I got at Revolution Records in Penge this summer. Just to refresh your memory; I found a stash of tapes that obviously came from someone who worked in the dance music industry in the 80s and 90s and the next round of posts will be my attempts at deciphering what’s on them. Most have little or no info on them but now we have Discogs and Shazam so finding out about their contents is a little easier than back in the day.

This first tape is simply entitled ‘Megamixers No.1 / No.2’, recorded on a TDK tape and most likely dates from 1986. It’s essentially two DJ mixes but there’s more to it than that. I’m putting these up on my Mixcloud Select subscription page so if you’d like to hear then sign up for £3 p/m for access including over 200 archive mixes from the Solid Steel days.

Side 1

Up until the Art of Noise track this mix is the 1983 Disconet Top Tune Medley from Vo.6 Program 9 – mixed by John Matarazzo and Mike Arato. Disconet was an American DJ pool series of albums with hot promo tracks and exclusive remixes or megamixes similar to the UK’s Disco Mix Club.

I’m guessing whoever made this tape had that record and added their own extras onto the end.
After Thomas Dolby you’ll notice that the pace of blends slows somewhat and the tracks are cut into each other rather than beat mixed, there was also a jump in volume when AON was introduced which I’ve levelled out here. Both Trouble Funk tracks are intercut back and forth before introducing the Beastie Boys’ ‘Hold It Now, Hit It’ (which samples a piece of ‘Drop The Bomb’ for its chorus – there’s the connection) and a big drop in tempo. There’s an extended section at the end where it sounds like the DJ is playing with two copies of the instrumental for a bit after the main song finishes and then we get an album cut by Lovebug Starski. This plays in full and, after a pause, the mix reconvenes in the middle of a couple of hip hop tracks, probably a previous set that was taped over.

Tracklist:
Shannon – Let The Music Play intro
Men Without Hats – The Safety Dance
S.O.S. Band – Just Be Good To Me
Yazoo – State Farm (Extended Version)
Herbie Hancock – Rockit
Madonna – Holiday
Michael Jackson – Billie Jean
Freez – AEIOU
Shannon – Let The Music Play (12” version)
Lime – Angel Eyes (remix)
Irene Cara – Flashdance… What A Feeling (Extended remix)
Eurythmics – Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)
Thomas Dolby – She Blinded Me With Science (Extended Version)
Art of Noise – Legs (Inside Leg Mix)
Trouble Funk – Drop The Bomb
Trouble Funk – Pump Me Up
Beastie Boys – Hold It Now, Hit It
Beastie Boys – Hold It Now, Hit It (Instrumental)
Lovebug Starski – Say What You Wanna Say
Salt ’n Pepa – The Showstopper
Roxanne Shante – The Def Fresh Crew (cuts off near the end)

Megamixers 2
Side 2

This side sounds like it was a mix by the DJ rather than a pre-recorded megamix – sadly (or thankfully) it cuts off in the middle to make way for three Beastie Boys and Run DMC demos

Tracklist:
Rochelle – My Magic Man (Magic Mix)
(an unknown house track is mixing in near the end but then abruptly cuts off early)

Beastie Boys – Time To Get Ill (demo version)
Run DMC – Slow & Low (demo version)
Beastie Boys – I’m Down (demo version)

At this point the tape cuts into two Beastie Boys demos from Licensed to Ill – the acoustic version of ‘I’m Down’ (a cut that never made it onto the album) and a version of ‘Time To Get Ill’ – that are different to any of the other demos on the web that I could find, certainly better quality. Also inbetween the two is a hissy recording of Run DMC’s original demo of ‘Slow & Low’ which they originally wrote and the Beasties would later record. I ran these by my friend Noah Uman in the US who has an amazing archive of hip hop and a ton of knowledge and he came back with, “The song I’m Down was meant for Licensed To Ill but the Beatles blocked it, I’m pretty sure it showed up semi commercially on a CMJ release (College Music Journal) in 1986.”

This might be the more rock guitar-orientated version that’s out there on the web. The Run DMC recording would later surface in much better quality on an expanded version of King of Rock but I’ve tried to clean it up here as best I can, the tape sounds like it’s recorded through a sock.
About the Run DMC demo Noah said, “The Slow And Low demo of Run DMC doing it, I actually uncovered that from a DNU tape (do not use), whenever I saw that written on tapes I knew we had to check it haha…After I had it released on the reissue it started popping up on bootlegs, one of my few proud record industry moments!”
I’m guessing that whoever had access to these tracks had to quickly find a tape to record them onto from another industry source, hence the random inclusion in the middle of a side.

(The mix reconvenes in the middle of an unknown house track before…)
Kenny ‘Jammin’ Jason – Jam Tracks
Farley ‘Jackmaster’ Funk – Jack The Bass
Unknown – (more Jam Tracks?)
Mantronix – Hardcore Hip Hop

And that’s it, a snapshot in time from the early to mid 80s. Disco mix classics on side 1 with golden era hip hop cuts and a snatch of early house music on side 2 with some rap history interjected randomly in the middle. More soon, I’ll try to get them out on a weekly basis on a Friday morning as before and if anyone is interested in the actual tapes, they’re for sale if you want to make an offer (although this one is already sold).

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