DJ Food featured in the PHONO+GRAPHIC exhibition, Kendal

Food_Flintx4My last album cover (The Search Engine, 4-panel vinyl edition) that I collaborated on with Henry Flint is the first cover you see in an exhibition of record sleeves by comic artists entitled PHONO+GRAPHIC, curated by artist Sean Phillips.

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This is a bit of a dream come true for me, to be one of 60 sleeves displayed alongside artists like Brian Bolland, Dave Gibbons, Brett Ewins, Hunt Emerson and Moebius!

IMG_2004 It opens next week at the Kendal Museum and will be on until the 20th October, including the weekend of the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. Many thanks to Sean for selecting the cover completely unbeknownst to me until he’d announced the exhibit and framing it so nicely.

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Photos taken from Sean’s blog and here’s more info

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Divine Styler ‘Def Mask remixed’ and more…

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As if I’ve not been banging on about Divine Styler and Gamma Proforma enough this year, here’s another reason but this time I’m involved in the release. I was asked to remix a track from his last album, Def Mask and chose ‘Pandorum’ which will sit alongside other guests like EVAC (Touchin Bass), Mophono (Liquid Amber), GFQ, Audiosyncracy, Monkphat, Co-Pilot, Auxilary Phoenix, Third Shock & Methodblack. It’s due out Jan 2016 but you can pre-order it here and comes with a Will Barras cover and print. Here’s a preview


Another upcoming Gamma event sounds very promising, this was tweeted today…
“10th Dec 2015, London. Rammellzee – Cosmic Flush Exhibition Ft. Futura, Doze Green, Delta, Ian Kuali’i and more.” Make a note in the diary.
Also don’t forget the 4th part of the 7-release Rammellzee Cosmic Flush album is available to order here featuring a Doze Green cover and a remix from Edan.
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The Dark Outside – September 26th – 27th, 2015

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What is The Dark Outside?

24 Hours of Music nobody has heard before in a place where nobody might be listening.

Who is taking part?
There are quite a lot of contributors, you’d best scroll down the list here.
I’ve contributed an unreleased remix but it’s hidden in the line up.

When?
Sept 26th-27th, 2015

Where?
Murrays Monument, Talnotry, The Galloway Forest Dark Skies Park, Scotland. More explicit directions are here

What’s the catch?
You need travel to one of the darkest places in the UK and bring a radio.

Can anyone contribute?
Yes! Send material to [email protected]

Where can I find more info?
http://www.darkoutside.co.uk/

What’s this?
TheDark Outsidelocation
The location that The Dark Outside will be broadcasting from (in the day of course)

PS. What is the Stolen Library?
Ah, that is something possibly even more wonderful

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DJ Food meets Ambigraph – Dune AV mix

Last Saturday (Sept 12th) I played an hour long set after a showing of ‘Jodorowsky’s Dune’ documentary at one of the FEAST film nights in West Norwood’s Portico Gallery. During the mix the audience were greeted with a film of the slowly evolving, geometric designs of Ambigraph aka Ameet Hindocha.
Night co-ordinator Pete Williams recorded the mix and Ameet has reworked his visuals to accompany it in an hour long, meditative soundscape where all tracks are sourced from releases connected with Frank Herbert‘s most famous novel. *I recommend viewing in HD, probably late at night with the lights off.

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Over the decades many artists have been inspired by this work and there are many concept albums built around themes from his books. As well as Toto‘s score for David Lynch‘s big screen adaptation there’s also music from the forthcoming soundtrack to the documentary I mentioned and tunes from Bernard Szajner‘s ‘Visions of Dune’ release among others.

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Ghost Box ‘In A Moment’ compilation

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I was very pleased when one of these popped through the letterbox the other day – a present from one of my consistently favourite labels. Ghost Box records are 10 and what does any self-respecting label do when they reach that anniversary? They compile some of the best bits and that’s exactly what ‘In A Moment’ showcases.

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Nestling in the credits as well… that’s very serious company to be keeping. The comp is out on 9th October on double vinyl, CD and DL with sleeve notes by Simon ‘Hauntology’ Reynolds.

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Jodorowsky’s ‘Dune’ soundtrack artwork by Signalstarr

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Beautiful artwork by Nick Stewart Hoyle aka Signalstarr for the soundtrack release of ‘Jodorowsky’s Dune’. Pre-order is up now via One Way Static for European customers, who have an exclusive variant. For US customers, order via Light In The Attic. It comes as a double LP with coloured swirl vinyl, silver foil embossing, gatefold sleeve and a poster version of this cover.

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“Building upon director Frank Pavich’s idea for a score with a “Tangerine Dream-type feel,” Stenzel lays out a cosmic arsenal of analog synthesizers that would make any collector green at the gills: among other gems are a rare Moog Source, CZ-101s, and a Roland Juno 6, as well as unorthodox instruments like a toy Concertmate organ and a Nintendo DS. “I also played guitar and did vocals,” says Stenzel, “some chanting… and some screaming, which comes naturally to me.” The score also features narration by Jodorowsky himself. As Stenzel notes, “Jodo’s voice is actually the soundtrack’s main musical instrument–listening to him was almost like hypnosis, like going to the guru every night.”

My DJ set from Saturday, performed after the showing of the doc. at the FEAST night in West Norwood, is almost ready to post and contains several cuts from this album alongside all manner of other Dune-centric material.

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The Delaware Road

This is slowly creeping up on us, a new release and launch party from Buried Treasure whose recent compilation of John Baker cuts, The Vendetta Tapes, I loved.

“London. 1968. Two pioneering musicians compose electronic themes for television & radio. They discover a recording that leads to a startling revelation about their employer. Fascinated by the occult nature of the tape they conduct a studio ritual that will alter their lives forever.”

Delaware Rd

The Delaware Road is a psychological thriller & an audio-visual treat for fans of archived electronica, far out jazz & haunted folk grooves. Conceived & written by Alan Gubby. Additional material by David Yates. Compere: Dolly Dolly

Debut performance on Sat 14th Nov 2015 @ South Street Arts Centre, Reading, Berks.
Tickets here:

Live performances by: Howlround, The Dandelion Set, Ian Helliwell, The Rowan Amber Mill, Robin Lee, Loose Capacitor, Tim Hill, The Twelve Hour Foundation & Revbjelde.

DJs: Jonny Trunk & The Séance (feat. Pete Wiggs from Saint Etienne)

Tickets: £15 advance, £13 concession; £16 on the door.
Price includes free poster & advance download code for ‘The Delaware Road’ compilation album on Buried Treasure Records. All tickets are inclusive of booking fee

Sunday digs: 7″s and obsolete formats

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Obsolete formats: I have no way to play these first few items and already own them in several other forms but I couldn’t resist picking these up today.
The ‘…Pelham 123’ release is a Video disc in a huge plastic ‘cartridge’, bigger than an LP, I originally thought this was the same as the Laser disc system but it seems it’s an earlier, failed format that was read with a physical needle rather than a laser! – more info here.
I was amazed that the Derek & Clive release was even on 8-Track – this one almost as dirty as the audio it contains. The Curtis Mayfield cart is just a beautiful object.

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This is Toolshed‘s first ever release from 15 years ago, a 2 track 7″ in a ziplock bag with screen-printed, folded card cover. Toolshed is Graham Massey‘s occasional all-star experimental supergroup featuring the likes of Paddy Steer, Seaming To and many more.
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‘Punk Funk’ was my favourite track from The Brotherhood‘s Elementalz album back in the mid 90s and I never even knew this existed on 7″. With a great heavy remix by 12 Rounds (who included Atticus Ross among their members) exclusive to this format it’s probably my favourite find of the day. This particular version is not on YouTube so you’ll have to take my word for it.
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Finally found this Psychedelic Furs 7″ with a flexi stuck to the cover, play the sleeve as well as the 45 inside!
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This Jona Lewie single is actually only 6″s in size and includes a funny little disclaimer about the realities of automatic turntables trying to play it. Stiff Records up to their old tricks again, strange that they should do a 6″ and a 7″? This one was bought purely for its odd format and joins the tiny ranks of my irregular-sized vinyl collection.

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The Future Sound of London ‘Archived 8’

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From the seemingly bottomless archives of the Future Sound of London‘s tape cupboard comes vol. 8 in their From The Archives series, 12 tracks from unspecified times that never made the cut. As well as this new release there are now vinyl versions of earlier volumes of their more ambient Environments series, complete with Buggy G. Riphead sleeves. You can preview one track from Archived 8 below and get CDs, downloads and vinyl from their FSOLdigital online store where they also have posters and T-shirts. Also you get an extra exclusive 3-track digital EP if you order from there too.

RIP Colin Faver

Techno DJ Colin Faver has died, best known for his Abstract Dance radio show and club night, Knowledge. His and Colin Dale‘s shows on a Monday and Tuesday night on KISS FM in the early 90s were essential listening. It was there that I first heard the Aphex Twin and the emerging UK electronica scene amongst all the other great Hardcore and rave tunes. A pioneer.

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New 45 Live member images by Sub2

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Here’s my new 45 Live image by Paul Trewin aka Sub2 – he’s certainly captured the likeness even if I do look a bit serious. Check his work out here and see the whole 45 Live roster below (including new member Jon More from Coldcut). There the start of a new night in Plymouth on the 26th of this month too with myself, Boca 45, Pete Issac and Francois Parker if you’re in the area. There’s be a new mix from me next week to go with it…

45 Live Roster

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‘In A Moment’ Ghost Box 10th anniversary compilation

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A new record from Ghost Box is always a cause for celebration on this blog but this next one is actually celebrating their 10th anniversary so congratulations are in order. It’s a double album of highlights from the back catalogue on CD and LP with thirty one re-mastered tracks, heavy with The Advisory Circle, The Focus Group and Belbury Poly as you would expect. Graphic design as ever is by Julian House and extensive sleeve notes are by music writer, Simon Reynolds (who coined the term ‘Hauntology’).

Only one track is new – from the forthcoming Hintermass album – and you can hear clips from the compilation here. They promise a double CD with booklet or gatefold LP with DL code. Available on 9th October 2015, (pre-orders in the Ghost Box shop from 19th September). I’m really looking forward to listening to this in one sitting,  from one of the most consistent labels out there and a constant inspiration.

The Dragons in Shindig! magazine #49

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My article on The Dragons is in issue #49 of Shindig! Magazine – out now, 6 pages too. New interviews with Doug & Dennis Dragon plus Donn Landee who produced their BFI album. After their recent publisher troubles the mag is back and as good as ever, you should be able to find it in most WH Smiths and decent record shops. If the article piques your interest and you want to hear the music they made then Ninja Tune still has digital and CDs in stock although the vinyl is long gone.
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