Four From Food Fridays – a weekly look at four things that have been doing it for me. They can be new or old, any style so long as it’s been getting some rotation in the studio. From top left:
Trevor Jackson meets Trevor Horn (NTS) Interview
Clocolan – Nothing Left To Abandon (Enpeg) LP
Manuel Gottsching – E2:E4 (MG.ART) LP
DJ Food – Live at Spiritland 11.12.16 (Mixcloud) DJ set
Radio
Trevor Jackson‘s 3hr interview with Trevor Horn from his NTS show is unmissable. Aside from being full of track after track of Horn-produced classic pop and experimental remixes it also manages to yield details and anecdotes that even on old devotee like me who’s listened and read everything going hasn’t heard before.
Great to hear something about ‘Legba’, ‘Relax’ just never ages and ‘Don’t Cry… It’s Only The Rhythm’ is broken down for you. Great work Trevor.
Four From Food Fridays (except it’s been a very busy weekend so it’s Sunday) – a weekly look at four things that have been doing it for me. They can be new or old, any style so long as it’s been getting some rotation in the studio. From top left:
Agnes Burnelle & Desmond Leslie – The Lost Noises Office – (HMV) 7″
Howlround – A Creak In Time (psyche-tropes) LP
Rendezvous – Suoni Della Paura II (Origin Peoples) Mixtape
The Soulful Strings – Little Drummer Boy (Cadet) LP
The latest Solid Steel show features DJ Mighty Atom‘s deconstruction of DJ Shadow‘s ‘Endtroducing’ album, now 20 years old, in hour 1 and my taster mix for the new De:tuned Records ‘Brainbox’ compilation in hour 2. I’m biased but that’s a great way to spend 2 hours this weekend IMO.
Mighty Atom’s mix follows Solid Steel’s tried and tested blueprint of finding the original sources used in heavily sampled classics (see Beastie Boys, De La Soul, Public Enemy, Beck and Nas of past shows) and adding spoken word snippets relating to the making of said album. He rises to the challenge admirably and this has to be one of my favourite mixes of the year.
My own mix takes a sample of tracks from the huge new 6xLP ‘Brainbox’ compilation, adds some past releases from the same label and hides some exclusives not due until next year in too. For fans of 90s era electronica from labels like Warp, R&S, Red Planet or Axis then this is for you – lots of familiar names, all brand new tracks.
Four From Food Fridays – a weekly look at four things that have been doing it for me. They can be new or old, any style so long as it’s been getting some rotation in the studio. From top left:
JG Thirlwell vs Tim Ritchie on Triple J interview – (DJ Food Mixcloud)
The OST Show – The Pattern Forms library music special (Resonance FM)
DJ Bobafatt – Beastie Boys Licensed to Ill 30th anniversary mix (first aired on The Huey Morgan Show, BBC 6 Music)
Queen – Flash Gordon Original Soundtrack LP (EMI)
This 30 year old, one hour radio interview with JG Thirlwell (aka Foetus / Steroid Maximus / Wiseblood / Clint Ruin and more) was recently was found on cassette & re-mastered by my good friend DJHDD in Sydney.
A fan-based tribute to all three Aussie artists, it serves as the beginning of an archive of lost Antipodean radio-phonic works. JG, himself a native Australian who had just settled in NYC after a period living in London, is interviewed by Tim Ritchie whose rep and standing in DJ lore at radio station Triple J cannot be understated.
DJ HDD gives some context: “Tim Ritchie’ (Australia’s version of John Peel) has been on air for over 30 years, after blagging his way onto Sydney’s Double J airwaves, as a cheeky schoolboy, in the late 70’s. He went on to be the leading force of new music for the national upgrade to Triple J. Introducing an Aussie audience to the weird, wonderful & strange style of the avant garde mash of rock, reggae, dub & industrial dance via his successful ABC National Radio Show, Sound Quality. More than a radio announcer, Tim has been a major DJ in Sydney, including Mardi Gras, Sleaze & numerous clubs, for a good 30 years. Triple J posted him to New York in the 80’s to discover Hip Hop & this interview with Jim Thirlwell is from that time in 1986.”
JGT had just released his album, ‘Nail’, widely thought to be the high water mark of his 80s set of recordings, was visited in NYC by Ritchie and, aside from the three decade-old historical curiosity unearthing such an interview provides, what’s so special about this is the format that it takes. From start to finish the whole piece is a radiophonic collage in itself, sliced and diced to within an inch of its life by Triple J’s wizard of studio engineering John Jacobs (aka Garry Litter), himself a Foetus fan.
To say he goes to town on it is an understatement, vocals are stretched, distorted, stuttered and effected, music is cut, looped, reversed and interjected with spoken word to form a new kind of interview format. Clearly influenced by what acts like Foetus, Sigue Sigue Sputnik and Art of Noise where doing with samplers but only access to basic equipment, the nearest thing I can think of to compare it would be Negativland‘s ‘A Perfect’ Cut’ or some of The Future Sound of London‘s early Test Transmission radio shows – neither of which would be realised for some years at this point.
DJHDD: Tim was never satisfied with the standard 15 questions style, indeed this interview shows the irreverent spontaneity of both Tim’s & Jim’s larrikinism & disdain for the natural order of radio-phonics. Produced by Triple J’s wizard of studio engineering John Jacobs (aka Garry Litter) who used a William Burroughs style, cut & paste stream of consciousness, sampling Jim over his own works. We asked John about how he put it together –
John Jacobs: “It was one of my first radio features as a producer after graduating as an ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Sound engineer”, remembers John. “I think my work has always benefited from not having been actually trained as a producer. In retrospect I can hear the youthful obsession and earnest overstatement as well as the free wheeling experimental-ism”.
SK: How did you do all the edits? Not with tape surely? Did you have a sampler?
JJ: “The main voice and music edits were made cutting analog tape. We had access to an Akai S700 sampler (operated by Athol Spraggs) oh the joys of Maxell Quickdisks 
We also used a Lexicon Super Prime Time for looping and stutter edits. Other gear; Reverb: Lexicon 224, Phaser: MXR rack, Compressor: UREI 7110, Synth: EMS Synthi AKS, Mixer: Studer A779. There was no fixed multi tracking, the mixes were assembled in short sections with multiple reel to reels mixed down and cut together.”
SK: Did you get voice-over artists to record the lyric inserts?
JJ: “The lyrics were voiced by co-workers. This was all pretty standard radio-phonic feature method and tech. of the time.”
SK: It’s done with such love and attention to detail and the work that’s gone into it is incredible for the time it was made, it’s like a new kind of interview format. Did you do this kind of thing for other interviews?
JJ: “I have made other mixed genre radio experiments. We went on to do a late night series for JJJ called The Works and I also produced The Night Air for Radio National 2002-12″
SK: When I sent this to Jim Thirlwell he wasn’t keen to listen to a 30 year younger version of himself but gave his blessing for us to air it as fans, how do you view it in hindsight?
JJ: “Listening to a thirty years younger version of yourself can make you wince and smile in surprise at the same time. I guess that’s what Jim felt too. I do know that right after it was made he told Tim that he loved it… I would be right chuffed to have my real name associated with it, Garry Litter was just a fun spur of the moment pseudonym.”
RIP Jean Jacques Perrey – a true pioneer and a man not afraid to keep the comedic in electronic music – here’s an archive interview Coldcut did with JJP back in 1997 for Solid Steel.
“Coldcut meet Jean Jacques Perry. This occurred in early 1997, at their Spacelab studio in the old Ninja HQ in Clink St. (now luxury flats with a Starbucks underneath). E.V.A. was enjoying a huge revival as the soundtrack to a Lucozade commercial and Moog, Easy Listening and Music Concréte were all back in vogue. Jean Jacques was
promoting the reissue of the track and playing his first gigs for years. Matt Black had recently acquired three huge Korg PS3300’s, was deep into his analogue kit and instantly struck up a rapport (Richard James would later buy one of the Korgs from him when studio space grew tight).”
Four From Food Fridays – a weekly look at four music releases podcasts / radio shows / mixes that have been doing it for me. They can be new or old, any style so long as it’s been getting some rotation in the studio. From top left:
Markey Funk – Where My Head Is At This Time Pt 1: Hauntology (Mixcloud)
Near Mint – Ben Soundhog Pt 1 (11th Oct) + Pt 2 (18th Oct) (Resonance FM/Mixcloud)
Bigmouth – Episode 25 / 26 (audioboom)
Akiha Den Den – Episode 4 (Soundcloud)
This is rather good – very jazz-heavy, as you would expect. GOAT grace Solid Steel with a mix in the first hour this week. Their new album, ‘Requiem’, just dropped on October 7th and their tour arrives in the UK next week.
A brand new mix – all 7″, all acid, this took a long time to get together, being that Pete Isaac and I have rinsed a lot of the classic acid cut to 45s over the years in our previous mixes. The search continues though and I’ve still to acquire my acid 45 holy grail of Bam Bam‘s ‘Where’s Your Child’... Thanks to Greg Belson as ever for running such a tight ship out of LA with the show, his selection is up first with mine at about the 30 min mark.
For my second featured mix on the 45 Live radio show, hosted by Greg Belson on Dublab, I’ve put together a second hour’s worth of Acid House 45s. My first was for Posthuman‘s radio show and Pete Isaac put together one for his last mix on the show too. It goes out this Friday at 8pm US PST or 4am UK GMT but I’ll post a link once it’s on Mixcloud.
Here’s my latest mix for Solid Steel – the third installment of my Future Shock series, largely culled from the performance I created for last month’s Videocrash night in London, it’s a mixture of old and new with an emphasis on the trippy analogue side. There’s a video version coming too…
on Solid Steel…
A little off-the-cuff mix I did on Monday evening at the Market Place pub in Brixton for the Loose Lips Radio Show, was going to play a load of acid and then decided to go into outer space instead. Their Meat Transmission venue in Old Street was shut down just the week before so they quickly relocated to the back of the pub and we squeezed into a tiny DJ booth to do a Q&A before I took over to play to the rapidly-filling room of drinkers and diners. There’s a little teaser about a night I’m doing next year plus a couple of tracks that I picked that signpost my musical influences. The Loose Lips guys, Fred and Dan, are up first and then my bit starts around the 52 min mark onwards.
Simon James (The Simonsound) and Neil Cargill have created a 6-part audio drama which begins this Thursday. It centers on a radio ham (Ian McDiarmid) who picks up a mysterious voice which belongs to a girl (Joy McAvoy) trapped in an abandoned amusement park called Akiha Den Den. A whole community resides there, whose words and music become woven into a plea for help and when one of the trapped inhabitants finds a way into our
world his impact on us could be as devastating as an unknown virus. I’m lucky enough to have heard the first episode and it is extremely weird.
After a preview on Glasgow’s Radioprenia this weekend just gone and a very limited, 50 copy 7″ on Castles In Space selling out in hours (see below), the full radio play launches online on Thursday 15th September at 7.45pm at www.akihadenden.com. There is also a special launch event open to everyone – at Underdog, 1 Union Street,
Aberdeen on Thursday 15th September, doors open 7pm, starts 7.30pm. It features exclusive
excerpts from the series’ soundtrack performed by Simon and insights behind the scenes by Neil. Free, but you need a ticket – available from www.aberdeenperformingarts.com or The Lemon Tree, Aberdeen, or His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen or phone 01224 641122, and also on the door on the night.
Artwork featured here is by the excellent Nick Taylor
Above are some of the records I’ve pulled out for this Sunday’s live session of Out Of The Wood radio hosted by WNBC London from the Book & Record Bar in West Norwood. I’ll be on with Pete W. before Alex and George take over for their monthly afternoon Cakelab session. Pete and I will be playing selections from his recent digging finds in the French countryside along with some new pieces of recently acquired vinyl. You can listen live here and it will be uploaded to Mixcloud later. As usual, it’s FEAST weekend which means loads of food stall dotted around West Norwood, food, craft and vintage markets too, all for free and loads of music to soundtrack it all.
*UPDATE* – and here’s the mix (with very low mic. levels) and a photo by Pete of me playing, check his mix after mine, so many great tracks.
I play an El Paraiso Records special for the first hour on the Out Of The Wood show, followed by Pete W, with records featuring frogs, drugs, a blue lady and sunshine. Broadcast live from The Book & Record Bar in West Norwood, listen live every Sunday between 12-2pm on http://wnbc.london
The monthly FEAST in West Norwood is upon us this Sunday with myself and Pete Williams back for the Out of the Wood show on WNBC radio (West Norwood Broadcasting Company). Broadcast live from the Book & Record Bar from 12 midday until 2am when Dr Alex Paterson and George Holt wheel out the 2nd edition of Cakelab for the afternoon. Not sure what I’m going to be playing as yet but I have half a mind to do an El Paraiso Records special as I’ve played little else at home recently. You can listen in live here…
Elsewhere it’s well worth coming down in person as there’s all kinds of luscious food, craft and vintage stalls, live music and more – all for free.
A radio drama written and directed by Neil Cargill with music and sound production by Simon James (The Simonsound). This mysterious voice is picked up by a radio ham (Ian McDiarmid) – it’s the voice of a girl (Joy McAvoy) trapped in an abandoned amusement park called Akiha Den Den. Launching September 2016.
As Simon posted on his Facebook page; “I’ve been working on this project for a while – a radio drama that brings together all the things I like in sound and story telling. Anyone that knows me will have heard me moan about the stale state of BBC radio drama and how hard it is to get original ideas commissioned (I’ve tried). Well this is radio outside of the rigid scared to do anything different confines of that traditional broadcaster. It’s going to be weird, and a bit challenging but it’s going to be an interesting listen.”
Follow them @akihadenden or find out more at www.akihadenden.com
Today, 2 hrs before The Orb‘s Alex Paterson starts his new Cake Lab residency at the Book and Record Bar in W. Norwood, I’ll be on the Out of the Wood Show hosted by WNBC.LONDON https://m.facebook.com/outofthewoodradioshow/ after which….
“From 2pm a new Sunday ambient club called Cake Lab launches. Dr. Alex Paterson and George Holt take you back to the good old days of the Ambient Club Room, circa 1987 with a free Sunday afternoon club… Expect an eclectic mix of Electronica, Dub, World, Jazz, Dance and every genre in between… and there will be cake.. and coffee and tea, and beer and cider and wine and spirits….”
The Cake Lab set up Alex & George brought along was amazing; delicious cakes, crazy decor, T-shirts and most of all, great music. Pete W, Hannah Brown and I were playing on the Out Of The Wood show beforehand. Photos by Pete and Hannah from across the afternoon. In fact the whole of FEAST in West Norwood is really worth checking out, food, drink, retro goods, craft stalls, sound systems and live bands, first weekend of every month.
