The artist Black Swan has (re)posted a tribute album he made based on The KLF‘s ‘Chill Out’ album back in 2001 when we went under the moniker, Apparition. It’s downloadable for free from his site and is a dark, ambient nod to the KLF meisterwerk rather than a straight cover. Here’s the suitably sedate cover art to go with it.
I did a mix for Big Fish Little Fish – the party for parents and kids with a more discerning taste in music.
It’s straight up club classics with no messing about pretending to be cutting edge, classic Hip Hop, Rave and Disco all features plus there’s also a healthy dose of humour in there too.
Bestival have hosted it on their Bestimix site as well as part of their online advent calendar. I can’t embed it unfortunately but you can listen HERE.
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
A page from a new book, ‘Brian Eno – Visual Music’, by Christopher Scoates.
Check out the not too subtle Spiderman riff by Henry Flint for net year’s Free Comic Book Day edition of the comic.
Also check this kids version of Joey Dredd by artist redbaz.
I’m very pleased to announce that I am now represented by Ben Coghill at Elastic Artists who is also responsible for booking the ‘3-Way’ mix shows I’m doing with DJ Cheeba and DJ Moneyshot next year.There’s a shiny new DJ Food page up on the Elastic Artists website with a handy ‘BOOK NOW’ button, should you be that way inclined.
If you want to book either myself solo or the Paul’s Boutique reconstruction show then Ben is the man to go to. I’ve known him for years under his other pseudonym, Boom Monk Ben, and he provided many a great Solid Steel mix back in the day before moving into promoting and agency work full time. Very excited to see what 2014 brings…
Hellboy goes to Mexico to get married (!?) Should be a good one, especially as it’s been illustrated by British comic legend Mike McMahon. Check his excellent blog – tugging your coat – for more. Also out today the 5th issue of Hellboy in Hell by Mignola and, errrr … Mignola.
DK and I have created a set on Soundcloud where you can directly access all my Solid Steel mixes with one click. With the archive on Soundcloud now several years deep and also being that it is part of the overall Ninja Tune account, it’s increasingly hard to find things easily. Now you can with one click. If I’ve had a mix on the show it should be here, whether a solo mix, part of a collaboration or sharing an hour with another DJ.
So, if you wanted to check the Beastie Boys ‘Paul’s Boutique’ reconstruction I did with Cheeba and Moneyshot, it’s here. Likewise the ‘Free Comic Book Day’ mix, ‘O Is For Orange’ or ‘In:Motion’ mixes and many more. I give most of my mixes titles, one day I should go through and make an inventory of the lot…
Such a beautiful graphic, found on skipratmedia‘s site, tickets still on sale.
I joined two recent Solid Steel mixes together to form this downtempo, dark synth-laden hour of sparse electronica and such. I think they work together nicely as one piece rather than separate sets. Enjoy in headphones late at night.
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.
What to say about last Friday’s Solid Steel 25th anniversary at Fire in London? It was amazing, exhausting, exhilarating and unique at different times. I personally had a great night and haven’t danced so much in years (mainly to Robin Hexstatic‘s amazing Acid set in the Light Box).
I heard fantastic music in all three rooms, it’s just a pity I couldn’t actually be in all of them all night. DK, PC and I surprised people by doing an unannounced version of the ‘Now, Listen’ mix CD from 2001 – unrehearsed and mainly mapped out at sound check. Cheeba, Moneyshot and I managed to just about pull off the Paul’s Boutique 3-Way mix and PC stepped up afterwards with a rousing Nelson Mandela speech (RIP) and straight into Ritchie Havens’‘s ‘Going Back To My Roots’.
Here are some photos of the night by Beth aka Daddy’s Got Sweets and there are more over on Resident Advisor. (Coldcut meets The Orb flight deck, Matt Black and Alex Paterson and 3-Way Mix kit photos by Cheeba and I)
There’s a fantastic review of the night here by Raya Raycheva and Joe Muggs did a huge 5 page history of the show with myself, Coldcut, DK and Ninja label boss Peter Quicke for FACT.
I did an interview about the show with The Ransom Note last week, you can read it here and I also wrote a piece about the show and my favourite mix – Coldcut meets The Orb – for The Quietus.
Earlier in the evening, at the pre-gig dinner, DK and I were presented, completely by surprise, with a tongue-in-cheek framed disc by Coldcut, recognising our ‘broadest beats, masterful mixing and unerring dedication’ to the show over the years 
Plenty of goodness lined up for 2014 from 2000ad and related publications, but first, out Wednesday is their end of year 100 page issue (or Prog should I say) which is fantastic. They’ve also just released their publishing schedule for the next year including this tasty tomb which is worth buying just for the Henry Flint Deadlock 13-parter alone. It features some of his best artwork IMO, some of which I’m lucky enough to own originals of, can you spot all the visual references to the other Warriors in the artwork?
An interesting, if brief, film about the making of the original helmets, gloves and accessories for Daft Punk‘s robot look. I’d imagine this image by Syd Mead provided some inspiration for Guy-Manuel’s helmet as well.
A selection of these, with a mystery mix selection, will literally be floating around the club tomorrow for the first 100 people in the door…
Tickets available from Resident Advisor or on the door.
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.
Australian Pop and Psychedelic artist Martin Sharp has died, aged 71. He was probably best known for his posters and sleeve art for bands like Cream, Donovan and Bob Dylan as well as Oz magazine.
His images speak for themselves and most of his sixties work was done as stream of conscious drawings with little planning. An indepth obituary is on the Australian Guardian.
