A Solid Steel set from nearly 26 years ago – wow, haven’t heard this one in ages. I think this was recorded in Coldcut’s Ahead Of Our Time studio at Clink St with PC on the desk at points adding FX and samples. Kicking off with the Ninth World jingle (read by Matt Black’s dad no less) and straight into jazz abstraction via Barre Philips on ECM. We were touring Europe a lot around the late 90s and finding cheap jazz record on labels like ECM was easy, they were everywhere and you could buy them virtually blind and guarantee that a record within a certain timeframe made by certain players would contain something good to sample or play out. Barre Philips, Eberhard Weber and John Abercrombie were names I would always look for. Stanley Clarke’s ‘Concerto for Jazz/Rock Orchestra’ came on my radar from the sample Shadow used at the end of the Headz version of ‘In/Flux’ – took a while to figure out who it was and what album (only just getting the internet) but found a copy in Montreal finally. Directions’ ‘Echoes’ gets another airing, that’s three so far I think, I was truly enamoured with Bundy K Brown’s approach to music (still am) and we would soon collaborate on what became the opening track of the Kaleidoscope album.

Part 2 aka Keith Hopewell’s first solo release was on DJ Vadim’s Jazz Fudge label and I put the sleeve together from drawings he sent me. This short track bridges into KRS 1’s mega anthem ‘Step Into A World’ which references Blondie’s ‘Rapture’ and The Mowhawks’ ‘The Champ’ so it would be rude not to slip that in after, right? Part 2’s back again with New Flesh 4 Old bandmate Toastie Taylor on vocals and then into another old favourite, the Human League’s ‘Being Boiled’ although I think I took my eye off the mix there. Water Melon end the first side with their take on Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Albatross’ from the Pussyfoot Fish Smells Like Cat compilation – I really loved Water Melon but so many of their records are only available in Japan and now cost loads to ship over. Weirdly there’s a Radio One jingle at the end of this set and then John Peel comes in, sounding like he’s starting his show – I’ve no idea of we did a mix for Radio 1 around this time but it’s possible and this was a short half hour-ish set so maybe. Anyone in the UK remember such a thing?

On to side 2 of the tape and Neotropic’s Taking of Pelham 123 and Dirty Harry-sampling ‘Apple Sauce’ blasts in, from her Mr Brubaker’s Strawberry Alarm Clock album – you wouldn’t get away with samples like that these days! Then it’s a couple of unknown DnB tracks (anyone?) and the brutal drums of Tom Jenkinson’s ‘Vogon & I’ from the Alt. Frequencies single on Worm Interface. This had a colour in cover and was designed by my good friend David Vallade who worked at Ambient Soho (which housed the Worm Interface label), some copies also came with colouring crayons glued to the sleeve. The madcap Sukia are here with a mix of ‘The Dream Machine’ from the original Nicklebag records release before it got licensed to MoWax. Keeping on the (ch)easy listening tip the ‘Independent Introduction’ to Fink’s first album sounds nothing like the acoustic singer/songwriter we know today, his first album being a full on trip hop mixed bag for Ntone before he changed tack and became the superstar he is today.

A quick blast of DJ Vadim’s vocal looping ‘The 5 Conquistadors’ and I can hear Kid Koala and A-Cyde in there for sure amongst the voices and I may even be in there myself as Vadim would record us constantly on tour and then pitch stuff up and down. A track I most definitely am on though is Squarepusher’s ‘Fat Controller’; listen to the bass solo breakdown in the middle with a blast from ‘Feelin’ James’ before it gets scratched into Trouble Funk’s ‘Pump Me Up’, that whole middle section is sampled from the jam Tom and I did on Solid Steel when he came in for his guest session. After a rocky attempt to mix in DJ Vadim’s ‘The Pimp Theme 126’ with Tom’s clattering beats I wisely pull it back and wait before finishing with this uncharacteristically uptempo breaks cut up which used to get plenty of play back in the day. And with that, we’re out in a swirl of vinyl dirt and delay.

Tracklist:
Coldcut – The Ninth World jingle
Barre Philips – Mountainscape 6
Stanley Clarke – Part II (Concerto for Jazz/Rock Orchestra)
Directions – Echoes (Continental Drift Version)
Part 2 – Rectangular Depression
KRS One – Step Into A World (Rapture’s Delight)
The Mohawks – The Champ
Part 2 – Automatic (feat. Toast Taylor)
Human League – Being Boiled
Water Melon – Albatross
Neotropic – Apple Sauce
Unknown – unknown
Unknown – unknown
Tom Jenkinson – Vogon & I
Sukia – The Dream Machine (Westside Freeride)
Fink – Independent Introduction
DJ Vadim – The 5 Conquistadors
Squarepusher – Fat Controller
DJ Vadim – The Pimp Theme 126