There’s a whole host of new Finders Keepers material hitting their shop at the moment including this limited edition cassette mix from Andy Votel.
Records
UGeorge has a video for his track, ‘Blowing Up’ from the new Soundsci ‘Expo 2014’ sampler 10″ up now.
The EP is released and available now HERE and features other forthcoming joints from the crew as well as an Ollie Teeba solo cut and an exclusive group track unavailable elsewhere.
Check the sampler video I edited for them last month.
This is the best slice of acid-techno I’ve heard in a long while with beats bordering on the industrial. It’s by New Yorker-in-Berlin, Doug Lee under the alias An-i and is out now on Cititrax on luminous yellow vinyl, some with large newsprint poster. In a lot of ways it reminds me of things like Stakker ‘Humanoid’ but is way more relentless and noisy.
La Boca have designed this lovely box set for the new Bombay Bicycle Club LP, ‘So Long’, which comes with a CD, a gatefold LP, an exclusive 7″, story & song book and a working Phenakistoscope (similar to a zoetrope). Find one at their site or see the beautiful fly posters of the artwork around town.
Now available – a new release by Sculpture on a 7″ picture disc with zoetropic tendancies – BUY HERE NOW – View with strobe 25 flashes per second or video camera 25fps, very high shutter speed, progressive.
Includes immediate download of 2-track album in the high-quality format of your choice (MP3, FLAC, and more), plus unlimited mobile access using the free Bandcamp listening app. It’s their best yet and the video below shows just how detailed and beautiful the disc can be when filmed spinning.
Out on Feb 14th, 2014 – 30 years after the record was banned by the BBC and still sitting at No.1 in the charts – yet another version of Frankie Goes To Hollywood‘s notorious ‘Relax’.
This time it’s ‘The Sex Mix’ (Edition 3) – formerly known as ‘Sex Mix Edit’, a hitherto undiscovered mix that first surfaced on a Japanese compilation called ‘Return To The Pleasuredome’ a few years ago. The original ‘Sex Mix Edit’ (or Edition 2) is a little known 8 minute odd edit of the original 16 minute ‘Sex Mix’ that came and went (pun intended) in late ’83 before being replaced by a 7.20 minute ‘US Remix / New York Night mix’ which many consider as the definitive 12″ of ‘Relax’.
This new mix (Edition 3) had been created by Trevor Horn session man and renown percussionist Luis Jardim in December ’84 – who knows what for? It was then filed away, forgotten, later mislabeled and then extracted over 25 years later to end up on a compilation on the other side of the world. Hardcore fans from The Alternate ZTT Board soon spotted the difference and this sent the reissue curator, Ian Peel, back into the ZTT archives to search for more info and tapes that would lead to this previously unheard remix being given a proper vinyl release nearly 30 years after it was created.
Confused? This isn’t even half the ‘Relax’ mix story but I’ll save that for another time. Here, the original XLZTT artwork and Anne Yvonne Gilbert illustration have been tweaked by Element Series designer Philip Marshall to mirror the colour scheme for the 2012 Frankie rarities compilation, ‘Sex Mix’. The tracklist is: A. Relax ‘Sex Mix’ (Edition 3) B1. Ferry Cross the Mersey B2. Relax ‘The Instrumental’. You can pre-order it from Amazon here
My other site – Art of ZTT – is finally getting some updates after I’d let it languish all summer. It’s a design blog showcasing the design work of XL and the work they and assorted photographers did for the Zang Tuum Tumb label which was a huge influence on me in my teens. The label is 30 years old this year and putting out several compilations in early 2014 with rarities and wonders from their archive.
Yesterday I went to see photographer John Stoddart who shot Frankie Goes To Hollywood before and after they were famous and an interview with him will be online soon. Recently put up is an interview with Yvonne Gilbert, the artist responsible for the iconic two bodies image on the sleeve of ‘Relax’. I’m working my way through their releases, semi-chronologically so next year will be a big one.
I was one of the people asked to pick some of my favourite record sleeves of the year for the 405 website – regular readers of this site might recognise a few images along the way too. Shouts for The Simonsound, Luke Insect, Trevor Jackson Julian House, Boards Of Canada and MachineDrum. Check out the article here.
If you didn’t know better you’d swear this was on original old sci-fi B Movie soundtrack that had been long forgotten, a Logan’s Run or Space 1999 cash-in from the late 70’s or early 80’s. But it’s not, although I’m sure that was the intent, and the design by Luke Insect for his new Dark Seed collaborative project with Richard Norris, is spot on in nailing the tone.
I’ve already featured this cover a few months back but the whole package is great from the reverse side to the Ohmega logo to the nice detail of the centre hole for the head on the label. Dark Seed was the name of an old sci-fi / horror computer game which used elements by HR Giger in its design by the way and this sleeve reflects that perfectly with a touch of Beyond The Black Rainbow thrown in for good measure.
To top it all off it comes with an A2 foldout poster (complete with crease lines already printed on) and the minimal electronic ‘score’ ain’t bad either. One of my sleeves of the year for sure. You can get a copy here as well as all good digital distributors (NOT to be confused with Metal band Darkseed)
The whole design and packaging of Machine Drum‘s ‘Vapor City’ LP and satellite singles is really building into a nice collection. Designed by Dominic Flannigan & Eclair Fifi for LuckyMe Arts it’s nice to see such meticulous detail in a time of thumbnail images that need to be easily identifiable. I hope this makes end of year lists on the artwork alone as the combination of minimal colours, copper and splatter vinyl really give it a unique feel.
Those lovely people at Serato just sent me several sets of these luscious clear orange 10″ controller records. Packaged in a mini gatefold sleeve with a deconstructed Technics turntable spread across the center, they are a beautiful object to behold indeed. Thanks guys!
OK, I’m unequivocally biased because they are friends of mine but – damn – if these Factory Road 45 adaptor designs aren’t the best Xmas cards you’ll see all year then I don’t know what are. They’ve upped the ante in 2013 with new recruit Graham Robson‘s ‘Wizard’ design with a crown of dinks.
For those of you who don’t know what these little plastic wonders are, they’re adaptors for 7″ records with large cut out centers that would have gone into jukeboxes and are a part of vinyl history. Order them HERE – QUICK!
Check out these DJ Format & Phill Most Chill ‘The Foremost’ Test Pressing versions by Mr Krum. Sold blind in an edition of just 25 to members of the DWG board a few months ago – no one knew what they were going to look like and those who took a chance are reaping the reward now.
25 hand-crafted sleeves were made with recycled, organically-aged jackets, paste-on info sheets and unique hand written comments/markings. All copies were individually number stamped and placed inside vintage ‘rope-seamed’ PVC sleeves.
Sadly these are all sold out now but the good news is that the regular LP isn’t and has an even doper sleeve, again by Mr Krum whose Facebook page these photos come from (check his other work too!). The LP is a classic in every sense, the sound, the look and the very spirit of it stake their claim as soon as the needle hits the groove. Buy it here.
Beautiful new sleeves for a slew of releases on Finders Keepers and associated sub-labels like Cacophonic and Cache Cache. Explore for more here.
The final Ghost Box Study Series 7″ arrived this week and it’s a great one to close the 10 part set with, one of my favourites in fact. The sound definitely harks back to earlier GB releases with the nostalgic sound of summer, spoken female vocals and found sounds. Belbury Poly is joined by Spacedog (new to me) for two tracks wrapped in the usual, minimalist sleeve from Julian House. Nice to have the whole series at last.
As one ends, another begins, over at Finder’s Keepers they’ve launched a 10 disc Finder’s Kreepers subscription series – which I’ve just seen is sold out already! They’ve also reactivated their Disposable Music series for a second run of 5 LPs which is still available as well as a whole raft of new releases and an overhauled website.
Bonobo ‘Cirrus‘ – 12″ zoetrope picture disc and viewer.
A side: Video sequences by Cyriak, laid out to form a zoetrope by Openmind.
B side: Graphic by Leif Podhajsky
Available exclusively in the Bonobo online shop now…
Out now via Ninja Tune‘s Beat Delete repress label – the mix PC and I did in 1997 for a face-off between Coldcut and DJ Krush. It’s a triple disc with the mixes on opposite sides of each disc, if you have two decks you can even mix the beginning and end parts together to form the full thing.
I remember recording this in a professional studio somewhere in London’s West end, I think it took us less than a week after some initial ideas had been gone over in our own studios and a selection made.
The brief was for only Ninja and Ntone releases as this would be easy and quick to license. We did add a lot of spoken word from other sources though. We also made a conscious decision to include some of the more esoteric sides of the label as we second-guessed the kind of material Krush would go for. We were thrilled to have him as a part of it as MoWax was (and still is) one of our favourite labels.
This is the mix with the infamous ‘Bug’s Eye View’ spoken piece that I detailed the source of earlier in the year. We had an engineer recording and editing what we did the whole time, tracks would be mixed live and then sections edited together and overlaid if need be.
It was nice to give the artwork a good brush up and sort out the myriad of spelling mistakes that were on the original. I never liked what I did first time round and, whilst this isn’t a million miles from it, it’s a hell of a lot tidier and easier to read. The idea was that the cover could be placed either way up and that East met West from either direction, being that Krush hails from Japan.
‘Nightrous’ by Peezee was an exclusive track that only features here, PC pulled it out of the bag when we needed something to fit into a troublesome section. Listening back to the mix recently for the first time in 15 years I really enjoyed it as a time capsule of the label at a point where the Trip Hop thing was coming to an end and the label was set to branch out with the ‘Funkungfusion’ compilation the next year.
You can buy it now direct from Ninja Tune.
Two creatives I love on one project: Jonny Trunk‘s faultless curation for his Trunk label and Julian House on cover art duties. ‘Classroom Projects’ is out later this month, more info here.
Coming in October from Lo Recordings – the third installment of Luke Vibert‘s ‘Nuggets’ compilations. Digging deep from the Bruton vaults he’s unearthed another 26 tracks.
“Packed full of Sci-fi funk jams, truly cosmic disco and robot rock this was music designed to soundtrack the future, or at least a bright and optimistic early eighties vision of what the future might be”, says the press release.
Mmmmmmmmm… double vinyl too.
Genuinely saddened to hear of the demise of Berlin’s Equinox records, the label run by DJ Scientist who we featured with his ‘Soviet Solid Steel’ mix earlier in the year on the radio show. Not only has it produced some great music from the likes of Deckard, David Vangel, DJ Scientist himself and of course 2econd Class Citizen, whom I collaborated with on my last record. But it has consistently gone way above and beyond with the artwork, formats and packaging, creating an instantly recognisable look with heavy use of its signature brown card amongst the mainly black and white design work. I’m a sucker for circular designs and Equinox was the king of the design mandala with always inventive typography treading a perfect line between brand new and vintage.
Always pushing for new formats, they did everything from clear 7″s to etched 12″s, 5″ records and cassette box sets in sometimes miniscule runs. I remember Gunter – the label boss, aka DJ Scientist – being one of the first people to contact me when he learnt that I had found a place to press flexi discs after years of searching. He was also the first person I saw do a postcard record set and I was very proud to have my mix of 2econd Class Citizen’s second album appear as a limited release on the label last year.
I’ve featured several of the releases before on this blog but if you want a refresher of what’s been and gone then go here, here and here. The remaining stock is still for sale on the Equinox website and they recently posted the entire catalogue for free. Scientist has written a long piece about the label and both 2econd Class Citizen and David Vangel have shared reminisces and photos on their sites (Aaron’s photo is one that I nicked above). David’s album ‘Breadth Control’ is up for free download for another day and all the prices in the Equinox shop have been lowered so grab those last pieces quick.
The final release – ‘Counter Future’, a 3 LP and flexi disc compilation of the label’s roster – is a beauty to behold and listen to with many of the artists presenting original tracks unavailable elsewhere.
