Mixcloud Select 161: Solid Steel Boat Party Session 25/10/2004

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Back in 2004 when DK and I had our monthly Solid Steel night residency downstair at Ruby Lo in the west end we decided to put on a boat party for the end of summer. I think it was DK’s idea and he wanted to have a door price that included a free BBQ on entry which was to be served from the deck while people came on board. I won’t post the terrible flyer I made at the time but it did contain the line ‘All hands on decks’ which made me laugh. We co-opted our wives to help serve alongside James Mountain (Solid Steel DJ and Ninja employee at the time) and provided a load of burgers, hot dogs and salad for people our of our own pockets. DJs on the night were Dean Smith (on the top deck whilst food was served), James, Matt Black, PC, Harley Harl, DJ Yoda, Diplo (then still relatively unknown but fast rising as a star in his own right), DK and myself.

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Harley Harl and James Mountain (Solid Steel)
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Matt Black (Coldcut)
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DK (Solid Steel)
The boat we booked was on the dock on the North side of the Thames and the owners were a tad shady, so much so that when we started admitting people it was obvious that other people were coming on board without tickets and going to another part of the boat we didn’t know about. When confronted we were told that there was another private party on board and that it would be Ok, no one would cross over but we knew this was BS. Too late, the party had started and the deck was filling up and the weather was great for a late summer evening. The place was packed and there were three rooms, a main one and a more chilled one plus a couple of bars, at one point we gave everyone free lollies too. The set here is mine from the main room, complete with crowd noise and scrappy mixing but if you imagine a cramped top deck cabin with 100 or so sweaty people crammed in then you get the picture.

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PC (DJ Food)
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DJ Yoda
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Yours truly (DJ Food)
I think I was on either before or after Yoda but sadly missed most of his set as I had to sort stuff out with the food side of things. We had a problem with Diplo as he was flying into the UK that afternoon and coming straight to the boat to play and with no contact we were winging it as to whether he’d turn up in time or not. Luckily he did, literally minutes before he was due to play and proceeded to turn out a storming set – phew! DK went to see the boat owners afterwards to sort out the money and we ended up not having to pay for the boat hire as a result of all the nonsense with the other party – they certainly must have made a fortune on the bar that night anyway.

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Me and Diplo on the boat, it was sweaty!
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Photos by Elisa Parish, Graham (Fraser?) and another unknown photographer.

I’m not going to go through every track as there are many classics here most will know – keep an ear out for the switch up out of ‘Tour de France’ into Roni Size though – that was a moment. I loved this era of DnB, loads of fun, heavy rolling beats, synth bass lines and pop vocal hooks – check the Britney bootleg. I know Pendulum fell off but ‘Another Planet’ will always be a monster tune for me – never failed back in the day. The Carmel of ’Nujazzkiller’ isn’t the British jazz artist but a one-off on the Fluid Ounce label for 2002.

Track list:
Stas – Solid Steel Intro
Double Trouble – Live At The Amphitheatre
Sugarhill Gang – Rapper’s Delight
Beastie Boys – Triple Trouble
Beastie Boys – Triple Trouble (Graham Coxon mix)
The Chemical Brothers – Leave Home
Boom Bip – Cords Will Be the Death Of Me
Quantic feat. Spanky Wilson – Don’t Joke With A Hungry Man
Awkward – Plug Me In
Gang Starr – Play That Beat ’99
Double D & Steinski – Lesson 1
Steinski – Ain’t No Thing
West Bam – Monkey Say Monkey Do
Think Tank – Hack One
Carmel – Nujazzkiller
Ty – Wait A Minute (acappella)
Brass Incorporated – At the Sign of the Swinging Cymbal
The Beatles – Taxman
Beck – New Pollution
Kraftwerk – Tour De France
Roni Size feat. Rahzel – Out Of Breathe
Kayne West – Jesus Walks
DJ Shadow – Walkie Talkie
Rodney P vs Roni Size – Trouble (Roni Size remix)
Britney Spears – Toxic (D n B mix)
Pendulum – Another Planet
Tribe of Issachar – Junglist (DJ Zinc remix)
Mark 1 – Hoovers & Spraycans
Supergrass – Kiss of Life (Tom Tom Club remix)

Mixcloud Select 151: Solid Steel Sound Museum Part 2 15/11/2008

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We return for part 2 of my 15 year Solid Steel anniversary show – the Solid Steel Sound Museum. Another romp through my favourite moment from the archive from ’92 through to the mid 00’s. The mix of MBM’s ‘Electro The Robot’ into Kraftwerk’s ‘The Robots’ – did someone want the show with that mix on it? Still not found it, sorry. Love that Wookie/808 State mix, hard to pull off but just about works. Frederic Galliano into the Bundy K. Brown remix of ‘Timber’ – so good, Ken is channelling electric Miles in that second half of the mix to my ears. Thankfully I chilled things out a bit for the second half of this compilation and it’s a bit less frenetic after ‘Mr. Blue Sky’.

Not too much more to say, it’s certainly odd for me to hear things that were recorded at very different times next to each other, sometimes over a decade apart. Normal service will be resumed next week, I estimate we have enough to take us up to #200 before the well is dry, probably including some exclusives along the way. Thanks for listening…

Tracklist:
DJ Shadow & the Grooverobbers – Hardcore Instrumental Hip Hop
Samson & Deliilah – There’s A DJ In Your Town
DJ Shadow & the Grooverobbers – Hardcore Instrumental Hip Hop
Dirtstyle DJs – Bionic Booger Breaks
Meat Beat Manifesto – Electro The Robot
Kraftwerk – The Robots
West Bam – Monkey Say, Monkey Do
Think Tank – Hackattack
Wookie – Scrappy
808 State – Cubik
Strictly Underground – Strictly Hardcore advert 
Circuit Breaker – Overkill
Unknown – The Space Race dialogue
Circuit Breaker – Frenz-e
Public Works – Blue Beautiful Place
ELO – Mr Blue Sky
Ken Nordine – Blue
David Sylvian & Robert Fripp – Bringing Down The Light
David Sylvian & Holger Czukay – Plight & Premonition
Leonard Nimoy – Quequeg and I
Barbarella – Barbarella (Irresistible Force remix)
David Sylvian – Gone To Earth
This Mortail Coil – Firebrothers
B12 – Theme From Space
Sequential – Mission
Ken Nordine – The Sound Museum Pt 3
Frederic Galliano – Espaces Barouques Part 1
Coldcut – Timber (Bundy K Brown remix)
Skylab – Knickers Of A Girl
Nightmares on Wax – Night Interlude
George Carlin – God
The Orb – Star 6,7,8,9
Boards of Canada – Happy Cycling
Boards of Canada – Sometime In The Future (Geoghaddi minimix)
Boards of Canada – Aquarius (Peel Session)
Ken Nordine – Orange
DJ Shadow – Press Cuttings (The Private Press minimix)
Ken Nordine – The Sound Museum Pt 4
War – Four Cornered Room
Phlabby – So Much About Music  

Mixcloud Select 147: Coldcut Solid Sphinx (Openmind) 15/04/1995

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According to the tape box, this was a Coldcut Solid Sphinx, that being a 2 hr set with no ad breaks or chat from us. Given that I have most of it on tape that bears out the description but of course there are no track lists on the mic and no indication as to who is playing when. I could spot my section though and, from the sound of the rest of the tapes, Matt, Jon and PC were also present. Not enough mention is given to the insertion of jingles, spoken word and fx over the top of the DJ mixes and this was something that really made the radio shows special. Matt, Jon and Patrick were expert at this and would frequently have something ready for a break or pause in the music, all flown in live as we DJed.

All the shows were done in one take back then, although mostly pre-records on the Friday evening before they were aired Saturday night/Sunday morning. We didn’t have the facilities to do hard disc edits back then – well, KISS did but we didn’t like we do now – and also there wasn’t time. So if things are a little rough round the edges occasionally that’s because it’s all live. A quick run through of the tracks; Sam Sever from his Raiders of the Lost Art 12” licensed to MoWax kicks things off, I had to transplant the start of it from another source as the tape cut in after it had started. I see the ‘record company is the pimp, the artist is the ho…’ analogy attributed to Ice Cube a lot on the web but he was evidently cribbing from whatever source Sam sampled this from. DJ Shadow’s debut release, ‘Entropy’ had either had a repress after his first releases on MoWax due to high demand or someone had booted it, either way, copies started floating around again in 1995 and Discogs suggests it was the latter.

Another semi-official /semi-boot release was Think Tank, sporting a Tommy Boy label but on Hakattak Records. Both tracks appeared on the Information Society’s LP ‘Hack’ the same year so was this a promo idea from Tommy Boy because of the huge James Brown and Kraftwerk samples? The Jungle Brothers’ Ultimatum megamix came with the free 12” available with copies of the UK release of their debut LP, ‘Straight Out The Jungle’ and Ultimatum were actually the Stereo MCs when DJ Cesare was part of the crew. More trip hop, DJ Krush with ‘Ruff-Neck Jam’ from his debut LP and then into DJ Crystl’s classic ‘Let It Roll’ on the wrong speed for a quick switch up in tempo.

This stuff, along with early Photek and Droppin’ Science 12”s, were some of the first D’n’B I bought when I was working at Ambient Soho, jungle had largely passed me by but this newer, sleeker, more intricate form was working its way into the record box. The next track with ‘Gunshots… Firing’ initially drew a blank but Anon in the comments identified it as something from Luke Vibert’s Plug series, ‘3:41’ from Plug 1 – Visible Crater Funk. Link’s ‘Amazon Amenity’ Chameleon remix stands out a mile, such a tune, utter classic, and Danny Breaks’ ‘Step Off’ fits right in, funny that they collaborated later on too. Funki Porcini’s ‘Wicked, Cruel, Nasty & Bad’ rounds things off, from his Hed Phone Sex debut LP, I’d forgotten this, must dig that album out again. Speaking of Funki (as I was just the other day), he’s making high quality prints of my Fast Asleep album cover again very soon so if you fancy hanging that on your wall then check his website in about a month.

Track list:
Sam Sever & The Raiders of the Lost Art – Words of Wisdom (They Don’t Know)
DJ Shadow feat Gift of Gab – Count & Estimate
Think Tank – A Knife & A Fork (The Massively Parallel Mix)
Jungle Brothers – Ultimatum Ultramix
DJ Krush – Ruff-Neck Jam
DJ Crystl – Let It Roll
Plug – 3:41
Link – Amazon Amenity (Chameleon remix)
Danny Breaks – Step Off
Funki Porcini – Wicked, Cruel, Nasty & Bad

Mixcloud Select Xclusive 05 Candlemas Pt.1 29/01/2023

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Rather than an archive mix this week I’ve decided to do a new one – of sorts – for subscribers as I’ve had this on the laptop for several months, waiting for a chance to edit and post it. There will be two parts and it’s culled from a DJ set I did earlier this year. There are no edits in this first section, just a fade in at the beginning from a longer piece. Part 2 follows next week with more info on the mix and I’m readying another Mixcloud Select Exclusive mix for May too…

Back at the start of the year, at the end of January to be precise, I took part in an outdoor sound and light celebration as part of the Candlemas festival at the Royal Foundation of St. Katherine in Limehouse, East London. I was mainly responsible for the music selection but also bought along some projectors and FX wheels to add to the many others happening around the site. Alongside me were Julian Hand and Paul Naudin, boiling oil and ink inside slides which they then projected around the canopy we were stationed under. Elsewhere Heena Song and Joe and Janie from Whyte Light Visuals were doing similar things either inside one of the cafe tents or in the main chapel area.

The musical brief was ambient / psychedelic / krautrock / cosmic and I was using a small digital controller to layer tracks and add FX, seated outside in the freezing cold, wrapped up in layers of clothing, thermals, hat and scarf. As part of my set I added a truncated version of the Solid Steel mix for the show’s 30 anniversary a few years back, so that I could have some time to socialise and see the rest of the site. This 30 minute mix could be seen as a continuation of the Influences set I put together for Dust & Grooves nearly 10 years ago, full of key tracks from the last 50 years that have stuck with me and informed my tastes. If you missed it back then then it’s a very densely layered set that took many hours to get right in the studio, not live by any stretch of the imagination, but something I laboured over to create a gently shifting flow of songs and textures. That it also included some religious references was a bonus considering the event and location we were playing at. It begins and ends with the Linda Perhacs track ‘Parallelograms’ and is preceded with some very deep ambient, largely from the German school.

More photos and details of the evening here:

Part 1 Tracklist:
Cyclicia (Extended) – Jon Brooks
Electric Garden – Conrad Schnitzler
Phaedra (shhhhhh) – Tangerine Dream
Aqua – Edgar Froese
Slow Action – Pictogram
– Solid Steel 30 A Dream Within A Dream mix (short version 30.29) – DJ Food
Parallelograms / Linda Perhacs
The Carrier / Brian Eno & David Byrne
On The Run / Pink Floyd
Autobahn / Kraftwerk
Ascent (An Ending) / Brian Eno & Daniel Lanois
Our Prayer / The Beach Boys
Gravitational Arch of 10 / Vapour Space
Love Is Lost (Hello Steve Reich Mix) / David Bowie
Rain Dance / Herbie Hancock
Messer, Scissors, Fork & Light / Can
Rainbow Dome Musick / Steve Hillage
Tardis Cymbals / Cavern of Anti-Matter
Electric Counterpoint fast / Pat Metheny
Music for 18 Musicians / Steve Reich
Wet Rubber Soup / 10cc
Rainbow Dome Musick / Steve Hillage
Answered Prayers / David Sylvian
E2:E4 / Manuel Gottsching
Deep Shit (The Cult of Mu 7″ mix) / The KLF
A Mechanical Eye / Jon Brooks
In C (Version 4.2) / Terry Riley vs Meat Beat Manifesto
Telepath / Boards of Canada
Obsidian (Organically Decomposed) / Psychic Warriors of Gaia
Waves Become Wings / This Mortal Coil
Rainbow Dome Musick / Steve Hillage
A New Day / Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith & Suzanne Ciani
Gravitational Arch of 10 / Vapour Space
Parallelograms / Linda Perhacs
Butterfly – The Fox

MS135 Milk! 17/06/2002

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An odd assortment from mid 2002 here with a bit of party-style mash up, a bit of funk, some Four Tet and some cut ups thrown in, sounds a bit like I was tidying up some loose ends. The inclusion of ‘Milk’ by The Basic dates it instantly to around the time of DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist’s ‘Product Placement’ mix, of which this was a staple, both musically and visually. It’s also the first time Luke Vibert’s ‘Homewerk’ gets an airing, a track that would be in the record box from most of the decade and still comes out for the Kraftwerk Klassics, Kovers and Kurios set.

‘Yoda’s One Man Band’ sounds more like Kid Koala than he did back then and I’m not entirely sure it was serious. I never knew who the Freelance Hairdresser was, obviously a play on the Freelance Hellraiser and in early on with the mash up craze. Here he/she mixes the BBC Pot Black theme (Winifred Atwell – Black & White Rag) with Eminem to ‘hilarious’ effect, hasn’t dated a bit – but seriously, this is half of what I enjoyed about the bastard pop craze, it was ridiculous and unpretentious fun, mostly made by people who had nothing to lose.

‘Funk’ is, of course, the less famous B side to Meco’s huge disco-fied hit, ’Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band’ although something tells me they needed a filler track quickly for the flip and didn’t stop to think too hard about the title. Here comes Luke with his obvious steal homage to the Dusseldorf Quartet and I have to say, that tempo switch down mix out of it into Paul Kass is inspired. There’s also a link between the two as ‘Underground Agent’ is featured on the Further Nuggets compilation of library music that Luke made for Lo Recordings around this time.

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And here’s The Basic with their advertisement for the dairy industry, not 100% sure where the spoken word about cows comes from that I’ve slung over it but it’s probably a Sesame Street sketch. I remember seeing the Product Placement show at, I think, the Scala of all places, in London. Shadow and Cut confounded a few people after the party-tastic ‘Brainfreeze’ set by digging pretty deep to the point where the tracks were cool but more of a head-nod than a get down. Z-Trip ripped it up on that show, pure showmanship with Nirvana cut ups and plenty of mic action.

A couple of Four Tet pieces follow, first, a remix for James Yorkson, and second, something he did for the Domino label which takes a big slabs of John Abercrombie’s ‘Timeless’ and weaves it into something beautiful. It comes as a 7”, split over two sides and features a photo of a young Kieran with his sister on the cover. We play out and turn off the light with Al Dente and Ill Chemist – friends of Steinski’s – and a little track from a CDr I was given I think as I can’t find it anywhere on the web. Nighty Night!

Track list:
DJ Yoda – Yoda’s One Man Band
Freelance Hairdresser – Marshall’s Been Snookered
Meco – Funk
Luke Vibert – Homewerk
Paul Kass – Underground Agent
The Basic – Milk
James Yorkson & the Athletes – The Lang Toun (Four Tet remix)
Four Tet – I’m On Fire (Part 2)
Al Dente and Ill Chemist – Nighty Night

Mixcloud Select 133: Openmind vs Coldcut live at 102 Central Pt.1 19/08/1994

MS133 Openmind vs Coldcut live at 102 Central Pt.1 19:08:1994

Happy New Year for 2023! I hope it was fun for you all, sorry this is late today, I’ve been deep in design and gig mode, opening for The Art of Noise two nights in a row at the Jazz Cafe. On with the show I promised in the last entry.
Matt Black rang up one day in the summer of 1994, there was a problem. KISS FM had been booked out, both studios, for the Friday pre-record so he needed somewhere else to record the show that week. I’m not sure if Jon More was around, maybe away DJing with PC? I’m also not sure the exact turn of events aside from KISS wasn’t available but could he come over and do the show at mine? Wow, this was a turn up for the books, I’d only been a guest on the show for just over a year, had a handful or more under my belt and was becoming part of the crew due to now providing artwork for the label as well as the odd gig away with Coldcut. OK, come over to East Dulwich and set up in my bedroom and record Solid Steel, why don’t you? Holy shit!

Kev decks 1994 web

At the time I shared a house with Chantal Passamonte (Mira Calix further down the line), David Vallade and Mario Aguera and we had hosted the original Telepathic Fish party in the three story house above a chemists on Goose Green which we’d dubbed 102 Central. Mario had by now started working with Hex as a computer programmer and David and Chantal were working in Ambient Soho, the record shop in Berwick St, Soho, while I was up the road at Books Etc. on Oxford Street. At the time I had three decks set up in my room, a couple of Technics and something else I forget, not sure what the mixer was but it was the same one on the cover of the Funkjazztical Tricknology compilation. I also had a keyboard, a drum machine, CD player and an odd flanger guitar pedal hooked up – see the blurry photo for reference. Matt came down and we took turns playing into a portable DAT player he’d bought along I think. Can’t remember what we used for a mic but it was probably a pair of headphones plugged into the mic. input hence the terrible sound quality. I think the Coldcut jingles were flown in off cassette and this recording was probably taken from the radio broadcast as it has the KISS news jingle added onto the end, probably live by the sound engineer.

Starting off with a then holy trinity of electronica pioneers Autechre, MuZiq and Caustic Windown (Aphex Twin) tells you we’re in the golden age of Artificial Intelligence era electronica. AI only took another 30 years to become part of everyday life. None of the tracks here have aged badly either, I still play the Aphex track out sometimes too. Following ‘On The Romance Tip’ (where did that title originate? It’s not on the record anywhere) there’s an elongated trance-ish acid thing that makes me think it might be European. Shazam gives me nothing and the ears don’t recognise it at all – anyone? Starts about 11 mins in and bubbles away for another four minutes until Global Communication’s ‘Sublime Creation’ races in on 45 instead of 33, sounding not far off Acen’s ‘Trip To The Moon’ in places.

Cut for an ad break and more Glob Comm with the opening track to their classic 76’14 album, ‘4’02’ with the opening of The Orb’s remix of Material’s ‘Praying Mantra’ slurped over, a common DJ tool of mine. Another was the phasing, filtered and panning intro to Mergener / Weisser’s ‘Sunbeam’ from a New Age Music comp on Klaus Schulze’s Innovative Communication label that Mixmaster Morris had hipped me to, I think I found this in Beanos or somewhere along Berwick St. on my lunch break one day in Soho. This can be heard bridging ‘4’02’ and Kraftwerk’s ‘The Man Machine’ classic, which needs no introduction. Out of the other Fab Four into Coldcut’s own ‘Eine Kleine Hed Musik’ – fresh on vinyl from the extra disc that accompanied the Ninja Tune vinyl version of the album and first heard opening the original Coldcut meets The Orb radio show on New Year’s Eve 1991/92. Which brings us full circle, 31 years later… exit Matt Black stating, ‘Openmind in the house, or rather I’m in Openmind’s house!’

Track list:
Autechre – Lost
MuZiq – Nettles & Pralines
Caustic Window – On The Romance Tip
Unknown – unknown
Global Communication – Sublime Creation (on 45)
Global Communication – 4’02
Kraftwerk – The Man Machine
Coldcut – Eine Kleine Hed Musik

Mixcloud Select 131 – Strictly Session Live From Bush House (Camberwell) 10/07/2000

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A quick half hour from mid 2000 when we first started doing BBC London Live with Solid Steel, hence the title (despite pre-recording it in my studio in SE5). Kicking off with Taskforce from the amazing Voice of the Great Outdoors EP – still one of the defining releases of UK hip hop. Lots of space-themed samples overlaid including bits of Ren & Stimpy’s ‘Space Madness’ episode and then into Icarus’ UL-6 from their single on Output, each cover of which was ripped and torn or defaced in some way. I’d gone a bit overboard with the spoken word as it was an early show on the Beeb and I wanted to make a good impression. Funkstorung’s ‘Grammy Winners’ still sounds fresh 22 years later, featuring an MC called Triple H who appears to have done very little else.

Bowery Electric were a really interesting band who had excellent remixes and their ‘Freedom Fighter’ one is my favourite, made by the band themselves and featuring snatches of Kraftwerk, the combination of vocals, strings and beats just works for me. Cherrystones’ ‘Pressure Cooker’ appeared on the short-lived AP.E. Records, what a fertile time this was, all sorts kicking off. Off to LA for a few tracks with P.U.T.S., Jurassic 5’s incredible ‘Swing Set’ and a swing-based oldie from Fishbone. Nice little nod to the BBC’s Bush house in a sample over Jurassic too, I think the ‘horn master’ answer phone message before Fishbone is actually DJ Vadim playing silly buggers. Morgan put out an album and a number of singles on Source around 2000 but never quite hit. Divine Styler’s ‘Concept Design Deflon’ was from Mo Wax’s again short-lived Vecta label – so futuristic. My friend Tamsin leaves a message that she was going to see the new Star Wars at the very end – this was unfortunately to be The Phantom Menace and we know how that ended.

Tracklist:
Taskforce – Cosmic Gypsies
Icarus – UL-6
Funkstorung – Grammy Winners
Bowery Electric – Freedom Fighter (remix)
Cherrystones – Pressure Cooker (Blues In M.A.)
People Under The Stairs – Live at the Fishbucket
Jurassic 5 – Swing Set
Fishbone – In The Name of Swing
Morgan – Let Me Hear Your music
Divine Styler – Concept Design Deflon

Brian Eno – The Lighthouse, what’s on it?

The-Lighthouse-Station-ArtworkI’ve been compiling this, off and on, all year, while listening to the 340+ unreleased tracks on Brian Eno‘s Sonos HD radio station, The Lighthouse. If I had the phone nearby I’d check what’s playing, make a note of the track number and year and write a short description. I was intrigued to see how often tracks repeated (not very often), how long it would take me to hear all of them (over 6 months) and what the ratio of good to average to bad was. It became quite addictive as I’d fill in more each day, a bit like collecting cards in a numbered sequence, filling in the blanks each day. Of course as time went on I’d hear more repetitions and less new tracks so filling in a new entry was like finding another piece of the puzzle. After a while I began to give them star ratings from 1 to 5; 5 being amazing, as good or better than anything he’d ever released, 4 great, 3 good, 2 so-so, 1 skippable.

For those interested, the highest number I’ve heard has been #349 (all the tracks are titled by number and year), the oldest was from 1989, newest from 2021. There were occasional different versions of previously released tracks from Nerve Net and Drawn From Life and many that had similar undertones to albums like Apollo or Ambient 4. The shortest was around a minute and 30 seconds, the longest approximately 24 minutes at a guess (there are no times on any of the tracks). If a title has been given to a piece in one of the two Lighthouse interviews it’s included in brackets. Where there’s no entry, I’ve not yet heard that track on the stream.
If albums on average have 10-15 tracks then that’s over 30 albums worth, or maybe The Lighthouse IS an album? It’s like being let into a secret vault every time you tune in, catching glimpses of precious (and sometimes not so precious) gems as the algorithm cycles through the selection. Similar to Aphex Twin‘s Soundcloud dump a few years back, this is the archive mother lode from one of my favourite artists.
UPDATE: at least another 75 tracks added since Sept 2023 – have heard #424 and counting and some tracks are from 2023, the longest one is over 24 minutes(!)… I noticed that at least two tracks from the Top Boy soundtrack that Eno released in September feature on The Lighthouse, I will mark them when I find them.

Track list: (UPDATED 23/12/23)
001 (2018) Algorithmic rhythm system groove w. male vocal ** (5.01)
002 (2018) Almost an ‘I Zimbra’ remix, Give it up and turn it loose bassline & female vocal – (title: Funk Groove Reduced) ***** (3.23)
003 (2018) Wooah yay, slow vocal sway ** (4.23)
004 (2019) Night drive passing cars, sudden end *** (3.28)
005 (2010) Slow beats glissando echo *** (4.54)
006 (2021) Dark low rumble bass pad, winding in and out *** (3.36)
007 (2019) Short solo keyboard lament ** (2.29)
008 (2019) Gated choir crawl abruptly stopping ** (2.41)
009 (2019) Stunning beauty but so short ***** (1.45)
010 (2019) Hovering guitar noodle *** (2.29)
011 (2018) Dark laidback plod with lead electric guitar *** (3.35)
012 (2011) Low sub bass ambience, v. short **** (2.15) 
013 (2018) Computer controlled upbeat rhythm w. languid melody/‘lonely time’ vocal **** (4.31)
014 (2018) Uptempo sequencer tightness ** (4.37)
015 (2018) Gated voice over insistent machine rhythm ** (4.55)
016 (2018) Eno brings the machine funk w. female vocals ** (4.02)
017 (2018) Excellent fast paced rhythm w. drums and skronk piano **** (3.43)
018 (2021) Dark piano tension **** (9.59)
019 (2020) Super calm deep drift **** (3.27)
020 (2020) Hovering quiet piano *** (6.28)
021
022 (2018) Dinky keyboard workout ** (2.20)
023 (2018) Mid tempo funky wah wah w. distorted vocal sample, deep bass kicks ** (4.42)
024 (2021) Rapid Edits on machine funk *** (3.28)
025 (2018) Spiky funk excellence – love this one ***** (3.36)
026 (2021) Cheeky little number, almost reggae ** (3.44)
027 (2021) Beautiful space drift w. violin and electronics ****
028 (2015) Jaunty vocal funk w ping ponging electronics *** (4.14)
029 (2015) Twangy offbeat vocal country song ** (3.36)
030 (2017) Climbing sinister piano ** (2.59)
031 (2017) Airy piano drift / Slow hovering w. minor key piano ** (3.24)
032 (2017) Short wistful ambient *** (1.56)
033 (2015) Fast double time picking pattern *** (7.41)
034 (2017) Marimba with splashy snare ** (4.48)
035 (2009) Sweet high synth modulations descending *** (4.04)
036 (2009) Solo cautious piano / Wandering solo piano w. birds ** (4.31)
037 (2009) Aphex-ish Wandering piano and occasional wordless vocal delay interjections **** (4.13)
038 (2009) Moody Warszaw-ish Solo piano patterns (title: Eagleman 22)** (4.04)
039 (2009) Hesitant solo keys ** (2.48)
040 (2021) Slow, sustained, quiet decaying strings *** (5.05)
041 (2019) Slowly unfurling tones *** (5.02)
042 (2015) Any man… Dead Can Dance-ish medieval vocal *** (5.08)
043 (2015) Suspended vocal tones w. odd jungle interlude *** (6.20)
044
045 (2018) Solo soaring/searing string section *** (7.57)
046 (2011) v short Sinister gongs **** (2.18)
047 (2018) Jaunty bass synth riff * (4.03)
048 (2019) Bass plod and positive chords *** (6.04)
049 (2019) Short ringing, decaying loops **** (3.29)
050 (2020) Bright twang guitar and mysterious mood *** (3.48)
051 (2020) Plod bass dreamy underwater w. descending piano **** (2.15)
052
053 (2019) Floaty synths, buoyant melody, bit new age-y * (4.08)
054 (2020) Yawning expanse Fripp-like guitar w. shimmering bottom end rumble **** (5.55)
055 (2017) Chirrups and thunks, fading ** (2.39)
056 (2019) Thumping climber with whistling * (4.19)
057 (2019) Epic throbbing string soundtrack *** (5.53)
058 (2019) Sweet solo synth Shimmering *** (3.25)
059 (2019) Rushing and rising washes of bright synth *** (3.11)
060 (2020) Squalling funky guitar over bouncy rhythm ** (3.29)
061 (2011) Slow acoustic lament ** (5.01)
062 (2018) Synth strings, earnest, church- like ** (3.30)
063 (2020) Sawing cello and pitch bent strings * (3.05)
064 (2020) Underwater electronics **
065 (2020) Lightly gated church organ w. bubbling bright top end ** (2.46)
066 (2020) Dark shifts / Alien beasts viewed from afar *** (2.52)
067 (2020) Gently bubbling sorrowful surges **** (4.42)
068 (2020) Swamp ambient w. industrial overtones and buzzing malfunctioning electronics ** (4.22)
069 (2920) Industrial alarm warning with flourishes ** (3.45)
070 (2002) Twanging country vocal tune (3.50)
070 (2021) High pitched solo synth ** (3.50)
071 (2015) Bright, plucked machine guitar and drums, almost hi-life *** (3.29)
072 (2001) Creepy keys electric mood *** (8.42)
073 (2002) Expansive Bass exploration / winding drone ** (5.06)
074 (2002) Abstract audio synthesis / mysterious world *** (12.15)
075 (2002) Squalling fast funk w. synth brass *** (3.04)
076 (2002) Female spoken word (spots) over languid keys and deep bass **** (3.18)
077 (2002) He doesn’t want to be found, fast vocal song *** (3.13)
078 (2002) Jaunty sky saw Fripp guitar ** (3.17)
079 (2009) Rolling vistas ambient *** (6.34)
080 (2002) Frankly awful vocal country * (4.59)
081 (2002) Meandering country twang w. mournful bass *** (3.41)
082 (2002) Gentle vocoder vocal and electric guitar ** (5.09)
083 (2002) Bright keyboard ditty * (2.13)
084 (2002) Twangy guitar and bass idea ** (2.13)
085 (2002) Bouncy pop instrumental ** (4.43)
086 (2021) Low Humming w. signal bleeps ** (4.35)
087 (2021) Ambient lullaby humming w soaring strings *** (7.07)
088 (2021) Electro thrumming with yawning sawtooth surges *** (4.43)
089 (2021) Quiet keyboard figures ** (2.57)
090 (2021) Deep sea dive **** (5.22)
091 (2021) Springy bleeps and whirring w. heavy beat ** (2.28)
092 (2021) Low night time creeper ** (3.29)
093 (2021) Complex bass bounce, machine beat with skittering high synth **
094 (2021) Heavy Fairlight beat, Indian scales and time stretch *** (3.27)
095 (2021) Gravelly spring beat w. odd bass figure ** (2.43)
096 (2018) Fast funky drum, guitar & horn flourishes w. keyboard escapades **** (4.01)
097
098 (2021) Air snares skittering w. bells and industrial kettle drum ** (4.26)
099
100 (2001) Questing solo keys *** (3.46)

101 (2002) Gorgeous soaring sad keys **** (4.05)
102 (2002) Tentative keys in reverb soup, short ** (2.52)
103 (2003) Juddering gated bass beat with glissando guitar ** (3.41)
104 (2004) Gnarly distorting bass w bouncing pings **** (3.33)
105 (2004) Vocal guitar dirge * (4.04)
106 (2004) Swinging Eno vocal song with yearning guitar ** (4.03) (title: All The Bloody Fighters)
107 (1997) Lilting loop *** (4.24)
108 (1997) Short mysterious piece ** (2.32)
109 (1998) Upbeat xylophone ditty, great chorus *** (1998)
110 (1998) Building chord sketch for pop song ** (4.57)
111
112 (1998) Wobbling experiments – quite Aphex-ish ** (5.52)
113 (2021) Twinkling synths short ** (2.22)
114 (2015) Bubbling bright synth motifs occasionally coalescing into brief rhythms *** (2.31)
115 (2021) Beautiful soft focus morning ***** (6.11)
116 (2021) Classic Eno ambient drift voices **** (5.39)
117 (2021) Synthetic melodic runs almost identical to Funki Porcini’s ‘6 Minutes To Manchester’ *** (2.05)
118 (2021) Minimal suspense, fading *** (5.15)
119 (2011) Excellent Fast breakbeat cut up ***** (2.37)
120 (2020) Understated deep piano pads *** (2.54)
121 (2020) Gorgeous ambient drift ***** (6.08)
122 (2000) Vocal choir jolly ditty Slow That Bell ** (4.30) 
123 (2000) Vocal song Run Out of Time ** (5.33)
124 (2000) Short strummy vocal song * (2.05)
125 (1998) Euphoric synth melodies ** (6.44)
126 (1998) Short eerie Eastern synth figure ** (1.33)
127 (1998) Ticking filtered sinister apprehension w. disturbances breaking through **** (5.56)
128 (1998) High pitched atonal crystalline rhythm pattern ** (2.28)
129 (1998) Church organ plays sea shanty * (2.08)
130 (1998) Odd little bass mood *** (3.04)
131 (2015) Japanese percussion & horns *** (2.46)
132 (2015) Mysterious mechanical groove **** (2.42)
133 (2015) Industrial trip hop beats + phased, gated noise – excellent **** (3.15)
134 (2015) Bright airy synth , fast beats *** (3.00)
135
136 (1998) Stumbling solo piano ** (3.26)
137 (1997) Jolly but slightly annoying descending melody * (4.23)
138 (1997) Cheeky electronic rhythm w DAT glitch fx ** (2.31)
139 (1997) Apollo-esque ambience ***** (11.08)
140 (2020) Soft reverb piano, contemplative *** (4.30)
141 (2011) Super lush ***** (6.51)
142 (1998) Distant tinkly reverb piano *** (10.40)
143 (1998) Apollo-ish drift, beautiful as only Eno can do ***** (11.34)
144 (2000) Dreary vocal pop with Bontempi organ * (3.48)
145 (2002) Minimal Darkness tubular echoes *** (10.29)
146 (2002) Lush strings pulling in and out of focus **** (7.12)
147 (1997) Slowly see-sawing drone *** (4.01)
148 (1998) Downbeat moody chugger ** (5.32)
149 (1998) Version of ‘Blissed’ from The Drop, Piano, bongos and insistent chink **** (4.23)
150 (1998) Climbing starlight filtered melody, glistening, twinkling *** (3.53)
151 (1998) Electronic bird screeches ** (3.47)
152 (1998) Aimless keyboard doodle * (2.30)
153 (1998) Stilted electric piano solo ** (2.48)
154 (1998) Icy high keys ** (3.44)
155 (1998) Hesitant flute-esque keyboard exploration * (2.25)
156 (1994) Scary Deep space choir *** (6.27) 
157 (1994) African drums and metallic solo ** (4.15)
158
159 (2009) Solemn/sweet notes suspended *** (5.22)
160 (1991) Unreleased version of Fractal Zoom with distortion ***** (2.02)
161 (1991) Indian Violin and tablas ????
161 (2011) Slow, soft drifting pads **** (5.39)
162 (1991) Sneaky Bar jazz ** (4.02)
163 (1991) Sneaky Bar jazz II ** (3.57)
164 (1991) Eno vocal w. acoustic guitar, slap bass and keys – funky breakdown * (4.55)
165 (1991) Hey nonny nonny, Indian strings, London Bridge is falling down. * (3.49)
166 (1990) Ambient 4-ish – one of the best here ***** (12.02)
167 (2010) Slight sustained solo synth figure, hovering * (9.01)
168 (2019) Long decay piano & strings, slow sparse *** (9.26)
169 (1998) Purring undulating loop surges building to harsher noise *** 12.05)
170 (1989) Gentle Amazon forest ambience with birds, insects, building dread drone and bells **** (11.50)
171 (1995) Unbelievably beautiful dark ambience, celestial drift ***** (9.48)
172
173 (2017) Uplifting full band cut ***** (3.02)
174 (1994) Generative Xylophone noodle jazz * (3.39)
175 (1994) Insistent chugging machine rhythm w. whipping – long! *** (17.47)
176 (1994) Industrial hum / Stomping trip hip beat w. shimmering synths – long! **** (11.47)
177 (1994) Squeezebox & woodblock ** (4.22)
178 (1994) Percussive eastern rhythms ** (4.52)
179 (1994) Vocal harmonies and solemn keyboard * (1.50)
180 (1994) Eighties ambience with slithering background menace *** (2.18)
181 (1994) Menacing loop w. sudden random jazz piano *** (9.11)
182 (1991) Late night wander **** (3.14)
183 (1991) Nerve Net era snaking bass funk *** (4.47)
184 (1991) Off kilter bass mood *** (4.53)
185 (1991) Another Green World-like guitar and piano journey *** (2.46)
186 (1991) Atonal melody meander – Aphex before Aphex *** (3.39)
187 (1991) Sprightly, frantic urgent twiddling eastern melodies *** (2.51)
188 (1991) Godlike genius ambient ***** (5.34)
189 (1991) Slap bass and organ groove, Fractal Zoom-like drums ** (3.14)
190 (1991) Deep broody ambience / ‘The Electrician’-like dread **** (4.27)
191 (1991) Deeper broody ambience / Distant suspense, deep bass tones **** (5.56)
192 (1994) Short, sparse, hesitant bongs * (2.07)
193 (1994) Light, bobbling, slightly creepy ambience **** (6.05)
194 (1994) Low strings, acoustic, background female choir harmonies *** (4.29)
195 (1994) Low hovering cello *** (6.07)
196 (1994) Low whirring menacing drones and strings *** (3.56)
197 (1994) Low synth bass w high weirdo keys * (2.43)
198 (1994) Military tattoo drums w. metal banging and airy keys * (3.52)
199 (1994) Waves of voices, rushing, percolating noise, chiming bell, industrial thud *** (9.35)
200 (1989) Marsh-like Ambient 4 whistling birds ***** (14.55)

201 (1991) Organ-led vocal song *** (3.23)
202 (2005) Sombre string synths soaring and diving *** (3.29)
203 (1995) Hysterical piano and modulating sub bass machine jazz *** (3.36)
204 (1995) Watery submerged piano cascade reverb *** (8.06) an alternative version of ‘A Long Way Down’ from ‘Another Day on Earth’
205 (2001) Short filtered rising falling drum ** (2.55)
206 (2018) Live drums w. menace *** (4.09)
207 (2020) Cautious keys, building, dropping *** (5.25)
208 (2021) Fast bleep-y keyboard algorithm composition, sounds like early LFO or Autechre *** (3.54)
209 (2021) Gorgeous ambient drift / Distant reverb flutes, this one is lush – long too ***** (7.47)
210 (2020) Soft focus waves ebbing and flowing **** (4.57)
211 (2021) Solo piano algorithms & building strings *** (2.49)
212 (2021) Violin top note ambience, soft low and slow **** (12.53)
213 (2018) Euphoric ambient pads *** (3.21)
214 (1991) Eastern keyboard figures * (5.04)
215 (1991) Wailing vocal ballad with piano ** (5.33)
216 (1991) Off-kilter creep jazz bass riff w. soaring synth guitar solo and random piano * (4.46)
217 (1991) Fractal Zoom-ish upbeat funk w. squalling synths, metallic drums **** (5.35)
218 (1991) Vocal version of another song with different backing ** possibly 215 (5.18)
219 (1991) Dark ocean seabed *** (8.26)
220 (1991) Duplicate of another track here (163 Sneaky Bar Jazz II) eastern keyboard melody on fast tapping rhythm ** (3.57)
221 (1991) Arabic jam *** (2.52)
222 (2019) Ambient version of faster break number, excellent slow swoop **** (3.56)
223 (2021) Guitar and piano meander * (3.31)
224 (1994) Scary swirling **** (11.18)
225 (1991) High pitched ambience – beautiful and long ***** (12.25)
226 (2001) Singing bowls *** (3.25)
227 (2001) Choir singing bowls ***** (6.13)
228 (1995) Creeping ambience *** (3.26)
229 (1991) Deep ambient, winding drone w. distant movements **** (5.54)
230 (1994) Urgent snappy machine rhythm w. bubbling xylophone menace **** (4.23)
231 (1991) Stately synth bombast – same track as 232 despite year difference * (4.28)
232 (1994) Solemn synths – same track as 231 despite year difference * (4.28)
233 (2020) Spatial drift w. skittish surging signals *** (8.14)
234 (2020) Low droning cello ** (7.28)
235 (2020) Fading mournfulness / Low slow strings sweeps *** (4.44)
236 (2000) Offbeat machine funk and twisting bass **** (3.49)
237 (2000) Ominous drone ** (5.40)
238 (2000) Trampolines no beat with fast violin, short * (1.56)
239 (1996) Sombre strings ** (4.35)
240 (2000) Late night radio hiss, bobbing tempo and interference building to gorgeousness **** (5.11)
241 (2020) Insistent percussion over mysterious drone *** (2.28)
242 (1995) Digital horns over tepid rhythm – more sneaky bar jazz? * (4.16)
243 (1996) Whirring ambience *** (5.09)
244 (1996) Plinky Piano / Duelling solo pianos * (3.00)
245 (2021) Twangy guitar and backwards tape loops ** (4.05)
246 (2000) Early version of ‘Bloom’ from Drawn From Life **** (4.28)
247 (2021) Solo piano repeat figures *** (4.40)
248 (2020) Buzzing gated rhythm surging, ping pong highlights *** (2.13)
249 (2000) Dark fuzzy menace – Electrician-like ** (5.39)
250 (1994) Fast throbbing industrial engine rhythm w. floating electronics – long jam *** (12.12)
251 (2020) Desolate windy tundra **** (5.03)
252 (2020) Short slight tension, bright, Vangelis-like *** (4.11)
253 (2000) Ghostly vocoder ambience / Synthetic vocal poem with eerie accompaniment *** (5.01)
254 (2000) Acoustic light *** (2.51)
255 (2021) Distant girl reverb ambient *** (3.36)
256 (2021) Warm bass, high shimmering tones, hovering **** (7.29)
257 (1996) Fast percussion + bass, pursuit *** (7.40)
258 (1996) Lilting late night keys **** (3.14)
259 (2021) Double-timed bass with half time percussion and keyboard flourishes *** (5.10)
260 (1994) Insistent bobbing rhythm with synth washes and exploratory keys ** (3.32)
261 (1991) Gorgeous ambient, one of the best on here ***** (18.06)
262 (1998) Short bass groove with sinister keys *** (3.39)
263 (2009) Beautiful rising/falling synth chords w. muted kick drum **** (5.23)
264 (1994) Ominous background riff w. new bulletins and football match *** (2.26)
265 (2000) Two dogs in the night – excellent female spoken voice dark bass groove ***** (4.13)
266 (2019) Undulating pulsing techno *** (3.55)
267
268 (1996) Banging techno w. very bad scratching down to downtempo trip hop w. Miles David trumpet – very un-Eno **** (2.50)
269 (2000) Odd meandering wordless vocal w. sprightly melodic keys **** (7.41)
270
271 (2021) Downtempo doom-y band groove w. synth horns and percussion *** (3.14)
272 (2021) Ringing chime triplets ** (1.57)
273 (2018) Speedy skittering techno jazz w. organ solo and distorted vocal ***** (3.39)
274 (2018) Hiiiieeee!!!! *** (3.53)
275 (2018) Solo tremolo guitar ** (4.35)
276 (2020) Minimal plucked bleeps * (2.11)
277 (2010) Beautiful sparse chime keys – gorgeous **** (5.43)
278 (2021) More machine funk, algorithmic edits and high pitched top notes *** (2.44)
279 (2010) Lilting piano and odd strings – (title: Ross & Cromarty) ** (3.32)
280 (2021) Soft xylophone type melodies ** (2.05)
281 (2020) Grinding bass groove **** (4.03)
282 (2020) Murky reverb keys** (3.35)
283 (2020) Creepy pings, oriental tones *** (2.10)
284 (2018) Fast throbbing helicopter drumming *** (3.15)
285 (2006) Banging trip hop beats and breaks **** (3.04)
286 (2021) Off kilter machine funk *** (3.40)
287 (2019) Fractured transmissions breaking through, rumbling, becoming clearer ** (6.34)
288
289 (2018) Drum machine edits & wah wah funk **** (2.14)
290 (2103) Dark ambient kick short *** (3.30)
291 (2017) Bell-like tones **** (8.47)
292 (2017) Mournful woodwind ambience *** (15.17)
293 (2013) Live band jam, wandering guitar plucks, squealing solos, Drawn From Life-ish ** (8.34)
294 (2021) Bass synth noodle & stabs * (3.35)
295 (2011) Filtered fast breakbeat, throbbing bass and mysterious keys, DnB tempo *** (2.38)
296 (2016) Mid tempo bobbing gated pad / Gently bobbing keyboard instrumental ** (296)
297 (2019) Excellent moody downtempo beats and electronics ***** (4.50)
298 (2020) Arabian Eno vocal, uptempo live drums **** (4.05)
299 (1997) Epic choir and State of Independence vibe / pitched vocals **** (4.20)
300 (2019) Sweet descending reverb motif, building *** (4.57)

301
302 (2018) Meandering lightness & bass drops – long and beautiful! ***** (21.34)
303 (2004) Chugging rhythm w. wordless auto tuned vocal song idea, euphoric keys, short then fade*** (3.15)
304 (2009) Double time kick drum progression under triumphant organ melody ** (2.43)
305 (2005) Vocal song about eyes w. electric guitar and organ accompaniment ** (3.27)
306 (2004) Piano decays + ticking, short spoken word ‘almost like now’ *** (3.12)
307 (2004) Solo Eno vocal and piano *** (1.48)
308 (2006) Brian sounds miserable vocal song * (4.26)
309 (1996) Choir in space- short *** (2.15)
310 (2000) Beautiful undulating ambience, sunny warmth **** (9.58)
311 (2000) Slightly atonal glimmering crystal synths and washes ** (6.12)
312 (2000) Terry Riley-esque organ figures *** (4.05)
313 (2000) Drums w. echo & keys jam * (10.27)
314 (2000) Version of ‘Persis’ from Drawn From Life. Plodding beat and strings ***** (5.17)
315 (1999) Stark drum break reverb w. distorted electric bass *** (4.04)
316 (1999) Offbeat dark jazz rhythm w. surging monster sounds **** (5.23)
317 (1999) Shimmering crystal ambience **** (5.43)
318 (1999) So so-lo synth melody ** (6.59)
319 (2000) Frippertronic-like interweaving ambience **** (4.12)
320 (1999) Soaring & dive bombing ambience ***** (7.23)
321 (1999) Downtempo beats and drill bass ** (8.01)
322 (1999) Downtempo gated bass, drum machine and 80s-ish synth song arrangement ** (4.30)
323 (1999) Vocoder version of ‘Two Voices’ from Drawn From Life ***** (4.35)
324
325 (2019) Sweet ethereal melodies, Xmas-y ** (3.09)
326 (2021) Short Beautiful solo piano **** (2.08)
327 (2014) Female vocal experiments bird-like calls **** (6.52)
328 (2020) Squelchy fast machine funk ** (4.11)
329 (2000) Building Kinetic machine rhythms *** (8.06)
330 (2012) Neon Lights-ish pleasant synth and drum machine song ** (4.48)
331 (1999) Solo Arabian synth melody noodle * (2.41)
332 (2021) Abrasive chime reverb drone w. undulating high notes **** (8.57)
333 (1999) Short church organ figure ** (1.20)
334 (2021) Very fast drum machine percussion and wailing eastern synth w. micro edits *** (3.21)
335 (2019) Uplifting synth in 6/8 time *** (4.03)
336 (1999) Insistent throbbing foreboding click rhythm, snaking melody **** (9.10)
337 (2020) Odd, weird, slow, disjointed ** (3.11)
338 (1999) Oh this is really good! Beautiful soaring ambience ***** (6.29)
339 (2004) Eno vocal harmonies meets odd pop w. edited screech guitar and wayward piano ** (3.44)
340 (2021) Insistent strumming w. airy pads – short! *** (3.29)
341 (1999) Uptempo tribal drums, wah guitar, percussion and stereo electronics FX – funk jam **** (2.41)
342 (2021) Euphoric synth stomp ** (3.16)
343 (1999) Shimmering high pitched crystals **** (14.29)
344 (2013) Winding acoustic and piano shimmer ** (7.48)
345 (1999) Funeral procession solo keys** (2.17)
346 (2020) Galloping almost acid techno fading into ambience *** (2.09)
347 (1999) Crystals dropping – stunning ***** (2.58)
348 (2005) Upbeat vocal pop ditty, down down ** (5.21)
349 (1999) Excellent moody throbbing 6/8 beat & bass, War of the Worlds-ish synth motif ***** (5.33)
350 (2004) Rhodes-y solo ambience ** (4.58)
351 (1996) Mid tempo funk bass/guitar w. meandering keyboard + female instructional vocal ** (4.48)
352 (2000) Woozy high keyboard figures *** (3.33)
353 (1996) Sustained voice and keyboard drift meld *** (6.42)
354 (1996) Short stark piano piece ** (1.58)
355 (2021) Electronic autechre-ish mood ** (3.58)
356 (2004) Jangly acoustic vocal song, “I saw you there” ** (3.34)
357 (2019) Synth bass and glitched, loping beats ** (2.00)
358 (1996) Fast guitar funk w. keyboard solos and robotic drums *** (3.32)
359 (1994) Organ workout, short * (2.09)
360 (2000) Gorgeous ambient lushness ***** (7.28)
361 (2000) Bass synth exploratory w. delays ** (3.29)
362 (1996) Pitch-bent high synth solo, George Duke-esque * (3.52)
363 (1999) Bright, positive vocal pop tune * (6.42)
364 (2000) Undulating high pitched keyboard solo figures ** (2.06)
365 (2019) Slowly surging keyboard collage *** (3.10)
366 (2000) Gentle suspense, singing bowls tapping, builds to dark mood *** (7.57)
367 (2020) Plodding slow loop w sax/cow moo ** (3.42)
368 (2020) Mournful suspense *** (6.13)
369 (2020) Slow, sombre, languid guitar and keys ** (4.28)
370 (2020) Edited tabla workout with bass zooms and insistent piano *** (4.12)
371 (2021) Slow, meandering, open plains drift w. Skittish high pitched vocal **** (4.36)
372 (2020) Subdued mood movement ** (4.20)
373 (2020) Slow, mournful organ piece w. sparse beats ** (3.19)
374 (2021) Piano and Oboe-ish tension ** (3.22)
375 (2005) Country Eno song * (4.01)
376 (2005) Reverb-y downtempo song, swing hi-hats, ‘it’s no’ vocal *** (2.44)
377 (2006) Space radio signals, sparse w. huge swells *** (3.47)
378 (1994) TFF Shout-esque beat with wobbly top line ** (5.54)
379 (2000) Spooky climbing keys w reverb *** (5.16)
380 (2000) Sleep, sleep, vocal song idea ** (2.57)
381 (1999) Muted guitar squall and distant vocal repeats ** (2.10)
382 (2021) Gated epic chords ** (4.49)
383 (1999) Swirling atmospherics, ominous tension ** (3.00)
384 (1999) Muted Jazz drums w filtered atoms loop delays ** (5.06)
385 (1994) Gorgeous synth ambience **** (3.25)
386 (1996) Nerve Net-ish dark insistent groove with tapping and huge shifts *** (8.22)
387 (2021) High pitched dark ambience, Eno cyber vocal ‘In the last world’ **** (3.52)
388 (2021) Intrepid gongs **** (3.40)
389 (2020) Minimal shifting bass ambience w. panning high notes *** (4.08)
390 (2020) Urgent passing data surges in the night ** (2.49)
391 (2020) Soft beats and underlying static with minimal melodic flourishes ** (2.48)
392 (2013) Winding feedback screech pad and sombre ambience ** (2.24)
393 (2019) Solo keyboard melody idea *** (1.56)
394 (2017) Ticking beats and Kraftwerk-ish vocoder voice *** (2.29)
395 (2018) Inside a huge metallic tunnel ** (4.03)
396 (2020) Soft spooky-voiced wailing lament * (7.11)
397 (2019) Gated, almost Silent Night melody ** (3.28)
398 (1994) Fast machine rhythm, industrial w. fluctuating blobs and high synth lines, Long jam! *** (14.42)
399 (2011) Gorgeous drifting ambience with gaps, stereo panning – lush and very long ***** (24.20)

400 (2023) Long decay generative piano figures *** (13.33)
401 (2021) Fast sci-fi beats and urgent synths with micro edits **** (3.22)
402 (2022) Very odd, almost tribal electronica with decays *** (2.54)
403 (2023) Creeping suspense *** (4.44)
404 (2019) More amorphous gorgeous ambience ***** (5.04)
405 (2023) Stunning, how does he do it? ***** (5.09)
406 (2017) High female vocals ambience + reverb *** (3.03)
407 (2019) Cocteau’s-like guitar shoe gaze *** (3.38)
408 (2018) Pitched down Laraaji-like acoustic plucking with strings *** (7.30)
409 (2023) Wordless male and female voices swirling about the ether with crows. Soft far away tocking ** (4.51)
410 (2023) Quivering wordless ghostly voice + piano * (2.35)
411 (2019) Jaunty bright synth piece ** (3.09)
412 (2023) Percussion and electronics joined by male voices *** (2.44)
413 (2023) Lantern organ wurlitzer with faraway explosions ** (3.12)
414 (2023) Throbbing hum with choir-like synth voices ** (4.24)
415 (2023) Deep moody ambience with ticking ** (3.47)
416 (2023) Beautiful ambience, rising and falling, wordless high vocals, end of your life credits stuff, possibly related to 415 in places *** (6.39)
417 (2023) Otherworldly, mysterious deep space – gorgeous **** (3.27)
418 (2023) Fast jazz jungle jam with recorded documentary voice background and ominous sax *** (4.39)
419 (2023) Slow, deep bass synth and percussive rocking ** (4.11)
420 (2019) Epic Ship-like ambience with Eno singing *** *clicks (7.32)
421 (2023) Meandering medieval drone * (5.52)
422 (2023) Theme to a deep sea dive, inside the diving suit *** (7.56)
423 (2020) Solo organ piece, dips between funeral and euphoria *clicks ** (4.11)
424 (2023) Slow techno beat with bright overtones and female choir *** (3.43)

UPDATE 2024: There are at least 25 new tracks from 2023 and 2022 added as of Feb 2024 bringing the total up to 449. #429 will also be available on the forthcoming Eno documentary soundtrack album.

425 (2023) (3.27)
426 (2022) (3.21)
427 (2023) (5.34)
428 (2023) (4.46)
429 (202?) (5.43)
430 (2023) (2.13)
431 (2023) (1.20)
432 (2023) (2.24)
433 (2023) (4.51)
434 (2023) (3.29)
435 (2023) Thin synth with moody bass and washed-out female vocals. (6.26)
436 (2023) (5.35)
437 (2023) (4.39)
438 (2023) (9.22)
439 (2023) (1.16)
440 (2023) (3.43)
441 (2023) Muffled vocal sounds with minimal, hesitant beat (3.48)
442 (2022) (4.15)
443 (2022) (4.54)
444 (2023) Electronic birds with drifty ambient strings and light (8.59)
445 (2023) (5.00)
446 (2023) (2.31)
447 (2023) Solemn but beautiful piano ambience with long decay *** (6.54)
448 (2023) (4.16)
449 (2023) Airy, low atmospherics, building and fading with sinister shimmer (3.56)

Mixcloud Select 88 – Robots/Every Record Ever Recorded – 30/10/00 Pt.1/2

MS88 CD cover A two-in-one offering today as we kick off the year proper with a blend of robot-themed tracks from late 2000. This sowed the seed for my Remember The Future mix seven years later, constructed from records about robots. Jon More fave and Solid Steel spoken classic ‘Music For Robots’ kicks things off then into the Electro The Robot version of MBM’s ‘Original Control’ with samples from an actual robot built by the Westinghouse Electric Corp in the late 30’s.
Kraftwerk should need no introduction and then we have an oddity from a soundtrack by Milton & Anne DeLugg called Gulliver’s Travels Beyond The Moon. ‘Rise, Robots, Rise’ is a stomping brass affair that gives way to an always funky Rufus Thomas dance number, ‘The Funky Robot’.

After that mix of mechanics it’s back to business as usual with the reissued-on-7”-at-the-time ‘Brutus Drums’ by Eddie Warner and a precursor to the first Now, Listen mix in the form of Sabu Martinez’s ‘Hotel Alyssa’. I think this had been bootlegged at the time and the early 00’s were a ripe era for all sorts of ‘unofficial reissues’ popping up in shops no doubt making a few people a bit of cash in return. Much like the web at that point it was still the Wild West and huge shops like HMV regularly carried bootlegs with no questions asked. Freeform Arkestra was always a great tune to play out with that plucked bass sample and building tension. Some chancer called DJ Food follows and then into an evergreen classic from the box, Camping Gaz & Digi Random’s ‘Circus World’. Around this time I found five mint copies of this in the bargain box in Soul Jazz Records (now Sounds of the Universe) for a pound and proceeded to give them away to anyone who would take them. The combination of Circus clowns, ska, screaming children and theremin solo has never been bettered or even attempted by anyone else.

The covers above and below were from a (very short) period where I was going to make a custom cover for each mix, around the year 2000 when I think I got a decent inkjet printer for the first time and could print glossy colour images. This lasted for approximately three Solid Steel mixes but I did make others for one-off themed sets like the Kraftwerk Kovers and the interview shows.

MS88 CD Inlay

Into part 2 of the original show with Robert Klein’s hilarious ‘Record Offer’ of every record ever recorded, “we drive a truck to your house!”. Klein has several 70’s comedy records that are worth tracking down as he covers the usual topics of sex and drugs in a manic style. A Ninja classic from Up, Bustle & Out into Coke Escvedo’s ‘Runaway’ leads into ‘Funkyacidstuff’ from Luke Vibert via a 12” of archive material on Planet Mu, the same one where the track ‘Analord’ gave the Aphex series its name.
Photek’s name has been coming back up a lot recently it seems and ‘Terminus’ was possibly the last track he made that caught my attention before he fell off the radar. A B side on one of the Virgin releases, this huge downtempo monster just tramples over everything else in size and scope, proper widescreen break beats with bouncing bass, distorted drums and synth stabs. The Prodigy were occasionally mining this vein too and another B side, ‘Molotov Bitch’ follows with its ‘Ants Invasion’ sampling melody line. Klute plays us out with ‘Kahno’ from a 12” release on the Certificate 18 label. More spoken word crops up that would later be used on Now, Listen too, this was from an airline travel record about the Far East I think although the name escapes me.

There’s a part 3 saved for next week…

Part 1
Forrest J. Ackerman – Music For Robots
Meat Beat Manifesto – Original Control (Electro The Robot)
Kraftwerk – The Robots
Milton & Anne DeLugg – RIse, Robots, Rise
Rufus Thomas – The Funky Robot
Eddie Warner – Brutus Drums
Sabu Martinez – Hotel Alyssa
Freeform Arkestra – Freeform Theme (Raw Deal mix)
DJ Food – Rubber Samba
Camping Gaz & Digi Random – Circus World

Part 2
Robert Klein – Record Offer
Up, Bustle & Out – Aqui No Mas
Coke Escvedo – Runaway
Luke Vibert – Funkyacidstuff
Photek – Terminus
The Prodigy – Motolov Bitch
Klute – Kahno

Mixcloud Select 85: DJ Food at Stealth – The Blue Note, Dec 7th 1995 – Part 1

Stealth tape 1 Dec 7th 1 As some may have seen, I recently did a collaboration with 1 of 100 shirts on a Stealth t-shirt as the date of the first Ninja Tune night called Stealth was on December 7th, coincidentally the same day as 1 of 100 formed four years ago. The anniversary for the Ninja night was 26 years ago and I managed to find tapes from that same night to encode for you all to hear. Unfortunately it all came at a time when I’ve been busier than any other part of the year so things got held up.

DJFood_bluenote_Web

The set presented here is DJ FoodPC and myself – on 4 decks at The Blue Note, Dec 7th, 1995 and the photo above was taken that same night by Martin LeSanto-Smith. The set is about two and a half hours in total, recorded from a DAT across two TDK tapes. I’ve no idea where the original DAT is, I don’t think I have it and PC doesn’t, maybe Coldcut do but where it would be is a mystery at the moment. It’s possible that we played twice on the night but I can’t be certain, there’s a point where Coldcut mix into us when Jive Samba is played at the end of part 1, this was a Jon More special at this point in time so I know it’s him, but there’s more music from us later. There are also sudden stops or breaks in the recordings where tapes must have run out and by the time they’re changed the music has moved on so I’ve crossfaded a couple of bits so there are no sudden stops or jump edits. The levels on a lot of it were up and down so I’ve done my best to make volumes a bit more consistent across the mix.

Stealth tape 1 Dec 7th 2

At a couple of points there’s what seems to be a theremin being played over the top of the set, I’d completely forgotten about this but it lit a dim recollection of someone doing something like this, not Patrick or I though I hasten to add. The mix is rough and ready, straight from the central mixer we were both plugged into with no crowd noise sadly so it’s a little dry. Every rough mix, distorted level and jumping record can be heard but you get the sense that this is very live, improvised on the spot with vinyl and the occasional spoken word overlaid from CD. For some context, this is very early days of this kind of music being played in a main room of a club, not the back room/chill out, on a four deck set up with DJs facing each other on a club stage in London.

PC and I were keen to have lots of tools to play with so there were also a delay and flanger pedal incorporated into the set up at different points as well as a sampler on the mixer used to capture little snatches of beats and trigger them over the mix too. Occasionally I would use a little tool I made from a film canister with a pencil stuck in the top, placing it over the centre spindle and balancing a record or top, using the pencil as a spindle. The tonearm would then be heavily weighted on the back end and the cartridge unscrewed and inserted upside down, placed under the elevated record which would then cause the sound to come out reversed as if the turntable was playing backwards. You can hear it around the 31 minute mark in part 1 and see me doing it in this photo, taken at the Sonar festival the next year. PC would use his delay pedal to loop up sections occasionally and then drop back into the records. Sometimes one of us would pick a snare sound and the person who was playing would find a kick on the one and we’d scratch improvised beat patterns for a few bars before dropping back into a track, hoping the records wouldn’t jump which they sometimes did if we got carried away.

DJ Food Sonar 1996.2 crop

Anyway, here’s part 1, a more downtempo, trip hop, hip hop set, with part 2, more drum n bass led, to follow. Subscribers to my Mixcloud Select can access it for £3 a month, for that you get an archive mix each Friday and notes, tracklists and photos.
If you want a commemorative Stealth T shirt then I think there are some left, follow this link, choose you colour, size and T shirt number from the ones left and place an order, once the 100 are sold there won’t be any more.
https://weare1of100.co.uk/limited-edition/dj-food-openmind/Stealth black white2 sqStealth ecru 242 sq

Track list:
Unknown
DJ Food – The Food Song
Unknown
Whistle – We’re Called Whistle
Unknown
LL Cool J – Rock The Bells
The Herbaliser – Up 4 The Get Downs
Unknown
III Most Wanted – Calm Down (a cappella)
DJ Food – Spiral Dub
Kid N Play – Gittin’ Funky
Coldcut – More Beats
Big Apple Productions vol.3 – Genius At Work
Depth Charge – Queen of the Scorpion
Trouble Funk – Live Percussion Solos
Unknown
Eric B & Rakim – Let The Rhythm Hit ‘Em (acapella)
Autechre – Rotar
Unknown
Unknown
Caveman – Victory
Def Jef – Droppin’ Rhymes on Drums
Hardhouse – 11:55 (Bee Boys Club)
4E – Temple Traxx
Dirty Beatniks – Getting Stupid (Live At The Blue Note)
Oh-Zone Layer – Dark Side Of The Shroom
The Last Minister – Tribute To J.B. Family
DJ Chuck Chillout & Kool Chip – Rhythm Is The Master
Unknown
Kraftwerk – The Model
Jack Constanzo & Gerry Woo – Jive Samba

Mixcloud Select 66: Darkside! 18/08/2003

MS66 CDRWatch your bass bins because we’re about to go Darkside! I was definitely channelling the heavier side of my music tastes on this one, sometimes you need some good old fashioned nastiness to get the accounts done. Amen Andrews – a rave/jungle hybrid from Luke Vibert – kicks things off and Killing Joke’s excellent Seeing Red awkwardly tries to mix out of it. Jagz Kooner did an amazing remix of this track which is even more brutal. The P Brothers are well known for some of the heaviest production in hip hop and here they put Dick Hyman’s cover of Give It Up & Turn It Loose through a barrage of gunshots. Then things crank up a gear with Amon Tobin and Jeff Waye’s retooling of Slayer’s Angel of Death, complete with Satanic messages overdubbed, I think I might have been putting this through my old CDJ FX unit too – like I said, brutal.

Love Marilyn Manson, although this was from probably his last great record – Broadcast need no introduction, neither does The Bug, remixed by Aphex Twin no less. Evil Twin was one of those mash up artists who came and went in the blink of an eye, I checked Discogs and the only mentions of him are in mixes of mine. Here heard replaying Justin Timberlake to the tune of Kraftwerk’s Trans Europe Express. Poj Masta stuck around a bit longer, a young guy on the mash up scene who had some serious production chops, I wonder what he’s doing now? He cuts Girls Aloud’s debut Sound of the Underground to bits although it’s strictly mp3 quality. The Evolution Control Committee are arguably one of the groups responsible for kicking off the mash up movement with their 1996 Whipped Cream Mixes 7” which got a repress in 1999. Here they cut together the title lyric from dozens of songs, which I’m sure was as much a statement from me about the contents of this mix as it was from them.

The date on the CD isn’t one that corresponds with a Solid Steel show, there was one I featured on on the 18th that seems most likely so I could have mislabeled the disc. The PRS sheet says 25/08/2003 for this mix but I don’t feature on that week on the solidsteel.net site.
*UPDATE – Anton tells me it was the 18th – the Solid Steel oracle has spoken!

Amen Andrews – Fear
Killing Joke – Seeing Red
The P Brothers feat Mr 45 – Showstopper Pt2
Player – Angel of Theft
Marilyn Manson – Doll Dagga Buzz Buzz Ziggety Zag
Broadcast – Violent Playground
The Bug feat Daddy Freddy – Run The Place Red (AFX mix)
Evil Twin – The Lady & The Lake
Girls Aloud – S.O.T.U (Poj Masta mix)
Evolution Control Committee – I Don’t Care

Mixcloud Select 65: The Openmind Collective debut on Coldcut Solid Steel 11/07/1993

MS65 tape

28 years ago last week I was heading back into London from my Dad’s 50th birthday party to the Holloway Road to meet Matt Black at KISS FM. This was the first time I ever appeared on Solid Steel, alongside old DJ partner Mario Aguera as part of the Openmind collective. Mixed totally live on air on 3 decks and a CD player (the old rack mounted ones) with a few Coldcut jingles being thrown in off of 8 track-style carts by Matt (Jon wasn’t in the studio for this session).

I’ll never forget it, the nervous countdown to 1am in the quiet studio, both of us shitting ourselves as we were going to be live on the radio for the first time and it was on Solid Steel! The news ending and Matt triggered the intro jingle, and we were off with the luxury of 3 turntables layer up the mix with. It was a seminal moment in my DJ career and I’m eternally grateful to Matt for inviting us on and giving us a chance as it was like getting a foot in the door or the first rung of the ladder. If I’d never done another Solid Steel again I’d have been happy but of course he asked us back again and again.

Looking at the track list I’m pleased that it all still stands up and a few long-term staples were in there; Kraftwerk, Aphex, ZTT, Jungle Brothers and The Irresistible Force. The mix is mostly tight, the odd stumble here and there but no disasters – not bad for a first go live on 3 decks although there was way too much George Carlin in the mix.

Mario took over after  the Barbarella track, we shared a house at the time and pooled our records when playing out as I was only just out of college and he had a full-time job so could afford to buy more new records than me. Along with Chantal Passamonte (now Mira Calix) and David Vallade, a fellow graphic designer who has done covers for Clear, Reflective, Worm Interface, Ninja Tune and many more, we did the Telepathic Fish chill out parties. One day I’ll get a little site together with all the mixes, photos, magazines and flyers I have stored up from those years…

Thanks to Steve Norgate many years ago for the superior audio and track listing as the quality is superior to my own D90 cassette and I doubt a DAT recording of this exists.

Track list:
Sequential – The Mission (Live From the Outer Zone
Frankie Goes To Hollywood – Welcome to The Pleasure Dome 12″ intro (on 33rpm)
Sexy Selector – Original Rockers
St Etienne – Your Head My Voice (Voix Revirement by Aphex Twin)
Jungle Brothers – Ultimatum Jungle Beats + unknown African chanting
LS Diesel & Launch DAT – Rougher Than A Lion
Psychic Warriors of Gaia – Maenad (The Valley) + Hear This! spoken word
Kraftwerk – Home Computer
Seefeel – Minky Starshine
Nightmares On Wax – Nights Interlude + George Carlin – God
No-Man – Heaven Taste
21st Century Aura – Disorientation
DJ Spike – Outer Land (part one)
Grace Jones – The Crossing (Ohh The Action…)
Kraftwerk – Morgenspaziergang
Dreamfish – School Of Fish
Barbarella – Barbarella (Irresistible Force Mix) + George Carlin – Nursery Rhymes

Mixcloud Select 63: Openmind vs Scanner 27/01/1995

MS63 Scanner vs Openmind set 27:01:1995 tape
Robin Rimbaud aka Scanner joined us on Solid Steel at the beginning of 1995, Robin and I taking it in turns to do two sets each with Matt Black on the mic and jingles. This is all I have of my two sets combined.

The opening spoken word piece is from the 25th anniversary of LSD album on Source Records, Autechre’s ‘Vletrmx’ is hidden as the last track on their Garbage EP, an ambient classic from the mid 90s. The Human League track is the long version, on the B side of the ‘Girls & Boys’ single (I think) not the version on Reproduction, one where they got close to Kraftwerk. Going from ambience to trip hop with Plaid’s mix of UNKLE and very early Wall of Sound from Mekon’s Phatty’s Lunch Box debut. A snatch of Spiritualized’s Phase Tones album before an unknown breaks tune – anyone recognise it? Wagon Christ from his Throbbing Pouch album, bit more Mekon and then another ambient staple, Sheila Chandra’s ‘Mecca’ before an ad break and a return to something faster.

The DnB track that opens this section I cannot recall for the life of me, anyone know? Spotify has nothing despite a pretty upfront vocal. I like the fact that I was mixing super fast acid into drum n bass 25 years ago and the Air Liquide tune here is almost gabba in style. The track that comes next is a mystery though, possibly from one of the Caustic Visions 12” of the mid 90s though except I can’t find my copies to check and Discogs has no previews. Playing us out in ‘Pillar’ by Locust, a Mark Van Hoen alias on R&S who made some excellent records but seems to have disappeared from electronic music history since.

Track list:
R.H. – Lysergic Acid Diethylamide
Autechre – VLetrmx
Unknown – Bleeps
The Human League – Toyota City (long version)
Scorn – Slumber
UNKLE – Sassafrass (Plaid remix)
Mekon – Last Breath
Spiritualized – Phase Tones
Unknown – unknown
Wagon Christ – Free Bass
Mekon – Phatty’s Lunch Box
Shelia Chandra – Mecca
Unknown jungle track
Air Liquide – Unser Elektronischer Mikrokosmos
Unknown – unknown
Locust – Pillar

Mixcloud Select Exclusive Mixes

DJFood MSX-01I’ve decided to start doing occasional exclusive mixes this year for subscribers to my Mixcloud Select channel, ticking off that to-do list of themed mixes I’ve been meaning to do forever but never got round to. We’re currently at 99 subscribers and once we hit 100 I’ll post the first of these – a follow up to the 2011 Lynch Party Mix that featured various remixes and productions by Brendan Lynch & Max Heyes aka the Lynchmob.
That means a lot of tripped out 90’s era Paul Weller, Primal Scream, Asian Dub Foundation, Ocean Colour Scene.. no, wait! come back! – these guys made them sound so good and it includes a couple of unreleased Weller remixes too.
For £3 a month you get a weekly archive Solid Steel mix or similar from my archives dating back to the early 90s, full track list, detailed notes and stories from the era. Future exclusives will include an Eno remix collection, the infamous unreleased Sesame Street ‘D Is For Dig’ compilation remastered and at least 2 more Kraftwerk Kover Kollections.
All brand new mixes will be exclusive for at least a year before being made public. Hit the purple button to subscribe, Friday 10.30am GMT is usually the drop time so, if one more person subscribes by then, the first exclusive goes up.

Kaiser George Marionettes

Kaiser George Joe Meek

I saw this on Facebook the other day, reposted by Andrew Divine, and had to investigate further. ‘Kaiser’ George Miller sculpts these marionettes of rock n roll legends, Ursula Cleary makes their clothes, Chris Taylor illustrates the cards and box art and ‘Kaiser’ Johnny Maben prints it all. So far they’ve made Xmas cards, prints and bubble gum cards which you buy here. Here’s hoping one day they get round to doing Kraftwerk
Follow K.G.M. on Instagram

SS card backs SS detail B&W SS detail colour

Mixcloud Select 36 – Strictly’s Home Economix Part 2 31/05/1998

MS36 Kev:Riz 18:01:98 PRSIt seems apt to kick off with UNKLE’s Silver Apples-sampling ‘Rock On’ seeing as Simeon Cox passed away a few months back. DJs were catching onto krautrock, moog, library and psychedelia by the end of the 90s as new avenues from the by this time well-depleted soul, funk and jazz sample staples of much hip and trip hop. London was awash with bootlegs from the US and Italy of all sorts throughout that decade with many spurious compilations appearing laden with choice treats plucked from closely guarded digger’s secrets, sometimes with fake names. I think I chanced upon a boot of the first Silver Apples album around this time, the originals were out of my prices range but no matter, the music was there and this was still before sites offering copious such treasures for free download. In a way, the piracy of the physical form was killed by mp3s and the like in the Wild West Web of the 00s although there were still some doing the respectable thing and licensing library compilations like Jonny Trunk, Martin Green and Mark B.

Of the tracks here, only UNKLE, David Holmes and Red Snapper still seem to be active, The Sons of Silence were an interesting group on the Leaf label who put out a great cut up promo 12” with a B side called ‘The Golden Age of Men’s Music’, you can find it very cheap and it samples some very big names as well as another mysterious 12” called Black Helicopters which cuts up Led Zeppelin and Kenneth Williams. Cartel Productions I’d completely forgotten about, this was from a Clear Records side label called REEL Discs and sounds very like Kirk Degiorgio to me but is actually Dave Kempston aka Clatterbox. The Trolley Dollies was something to do with DJ Harvey and samples Mort Garson’s ‘Hair Pieces’ extensively I think. At the time he was doing his Black Cock re-edit boots with Kraftwerk and Dick Hymen cut ups that were big in clubs. Not sure what Buddy Rich and Tom Jones were doing in here, probably big club records at the time, Rich having been sampled by All Seeing I and Jones having a nice breakdown. David Holmes remixes Red Snapper to finish, pre-empting his later alias, The Free Association, with all manner of psychedelia, he must have done his Essential Mix around this time where he surprised everyone by pulling out a crate of funk, rock and psych instead of the techno he was known for.

NB: – the DAT and box pictured above isn’t the same one that this session came from, I did two separate shows with Riz from Neotropic and, although this was one of them, the other is on the DAT pictured. I’m 99% certain the date on this show is correct.

Track list:
U.N.K.L.E. – Rock On (Nutcracker mix)
Depth Charge – Romario (Rio Percussion Unit mix)
Sons of Silence – Vibra Slap (Ronnie & Clyde mix)
Cartel Productions – Park Central
The Trolly Dollies – Spacecake
Buddy Rich – The Beat Goes On
Tom Jones – Looking Out My Window
Red Snapper  – Bogeyman (David Holmes remix)

Dan Lish EgoStrip book Kickstarter finally here

EgoStrip cover
Regular readers of this blog will know I’m a big fan of Dan Lish‘s work, having featured him several times over the years. Ever since he started posting his work on the web people have been saying, ‘do a book, when are you doing a book?’. Last week he finally launched his EgoStrip book Kickstarter after years of drawing some of the greatest portraits of hip hop, funk and jazz musicians out there. Looking forward to this immensely and, at the time of writing he was less than £6k off his target with 25 days to go. Take a look here

EgoStrip bookEgoStrip spreadDanLish_Kraftwerk

DanLish_JazzyJ DanLish_Rammellzee DanLish_QBert

Mid year summary

In-Sect collage 3 I’m very aware that this blog seems to mostly be mixes at the moment so I thought I’d update people with what else has been happening these past few months. Since lockdown and the loss of all gigs I’ve been super busy, firstly trying to adjust as we all have to this new weird order, and working on lots of projects.

I started a Mixcloud Select channel 13 weeks ago (as you can’t fail to have noticed if you read this blog) – weekly uploads from my tape archive for the price of a cuppa a month.

I also started a digital-only label on Bandcamp, Infinite Illectrik, for my turntable experiments and other non-DJ Food projects. I’ve been working on several collage pieces (examples seen here) which will eventually result in a comic to be included with another project I’ll be recording for the label, The In-Sect, no release date for that yet, probably next year.

In-Sect collage 4

An old collaboration with Howlround has been resurrected and completed under the name The New Obsolescents, I’m listening to the masters of the album as I type and preparing the handmade covers over the next few weeks, it will be different and the sleeve will be very special indeed. More info very soon…

PC and I compiled three Kaleidoscope companion mixes to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the album we made in 2000. We’re currently assembling a proposed release for it, i’ll let you know what becomes of that.

I’m currently in the middle of composing a soundtrack to a book that’s being published this summer, again collaborating with a few different people, that should be getting a CD and digital release this year too.

In-Sect collage 1

Graphic work largely ground to a halt during lockdown including a trilogy of albums for The Real Tuesday Weld and a zoetrope project for another artist. That work is slowly picking back up it seems and I hope to finish these as well as starting another zoetrope job for a huge act next week.

In-Sect collage 2

I then have a mix for 45 Live to do, a live stream audio visual mix of my Kraftwerk Kover Kollection airs on July 18th and there’s another very special mix which I’ve yet to record that will be getting a physical release at some point too but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Mixcloud Select 10: Openmind – Daydreaming at Night (Float 1 side B) 1993

10 Openmind - Daydreaming At Night tape

Track notes:
Side B of a mixtape created for a Floatation Centre in Brixton called Aquatonics who wanted a mix of continuous ambient music and sounds to play to their customers that would aid their floatation trips. Recorded live on two turntables and a basic CD player with no pitch control direct to this cassette in the house I shared with fellow Openmind associates David Vallade, Mario Aguera and Chantal Passamonte (later Mira Calix). The title was coined by David and was also used as a track title on Chantal’s debut album for Warp.

This week I’ve dug out one of the original flyers used to advertise this in the Ambient Soho record shop, this was an incredibly early computer design by yours truly, probably one of the first. I think this was done on Mario’s computer at his work as we didn’t yet have one at the flat. He was a computer game programmer at that point (working on a game for Queen (the band) I seem to remember) and later worked with Hex creating visuals and animation for a game they were working on. Float A5 flyer frontThe music selection is a pretty good representation of what we were playing at the Telepathic Fish parties at the time: The Orb (of course), Future Sound of London, Dreamfish (Mixmaster Morris & Pete Namlook), Sven Vath and a few side steps like ambient sections from ZTT and 4AD releases. We used to play bits of This Mortal Coil, Cocteau Twins, Grace Jones and there’s even a bit of U2 in there (!) There’s also a fair bit of stuff that I just cannot work out in amongst the layers so if anyone spots anything I’ve missed then please comment.

There is one particular moment that makes me cringe on this side – at the end of an Orb mix of whale noises I’m playing over the ‘Return’ mix of Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s ‘Warriors of the Wasteland’, suddenly a fairground Wurlitzer strikes up the opening notes of ‘I do like to be beside the seaside’. I wasn’t paying attention whilst mixing with three decks and this caught me off guard, quickly being faded out before it could launch into full flow. It may have ruined a few floats… I used to have two copies of the Frankie tune and the intro to this mix is a lovely ambient piece before going into the full song, I would crossfade them together three of four times to extend the intro, sometimes at different speeds or pitches.

Track list:
The Orb – Back Side of the Moon
Frankie Goes To Hollywood – Well…
Frankie Goes To Hollywood – Warriors of the Wasteland (Return)
Grace Jones – The Crossing (Ohh The Action…)
Sven Vath – Caravan of Emotions
U2 – Mysterious Ways (Apollo 440 Magic Hour Remix)
Brian Eno – Lantern Marsh
System 7 – ?
The Orb – O.O.B.E.
This Mortal Coil – Filigree & Shadow
Kraftwerk – Europe Endless
Dreamfish – School of Fish
This Mortal Coil – Firebrothers
Future Sound of London – Papa New Guinea
Sven Vath – Caravan of EmotionsFloat A5 flyer back

What goes on? Well…

Screen Shot 2020-01-19 at 23.11.37

It’s been a bit quiet on here as I’ve hit the ground running after a very refreshing New Year break and am ploughing into several graphics jobs that include albums, cassettes, zoetropes, x-rays, laser-etched boxes, stickers and probably more, it’s hard to keep track and there are many unknowns to work out. Music: I want to make some pretty badly but have to pay the bills so the graphics come first and the accounts also need doing. There’s a short video to edit too, left over from last year, a track to make for a compilation and another two audio projects to find time for.

I played a set of fave tracks from 2019 on Jan 5th on the Out of the Wood show which you can hear here (excuse the shoddy mixing early on) and appeared on the Big Mouth podcast a week later talking about the film 1917, the BBC’s new take on Dracula and The Rise of Skywalker among other things. You can hear that here.
I also just dug out some mixes from 2000 from Solid Steel and tweaked them for Edzy from Unique 3’s 99.9 Emergency FM station, they’ll be scheduled in soon and I also found something quite special while I was at it. That’ll get an upload in March on its 20th anniversary if I remember.

This Saturday I’ll be in Lisbon at the Kalimodjo 18th birthday party, playing a drum and bass set with AV accompaniment, should be fun. Then next month I’m down in Hastings presenting my Kraftwerk AV mix at the Sonic 2020 festival alongside Mr Thing, Tim Exile and more on the Sunday session. After that I only have one more gig in the diary, which is slightly worrying so, if you or anyone you know needs a versatile DJ for their gig, party, festival or opening then please get in touch. I’ve still not managed to secure a London date for the Kraftwerk AV show and a fan in Belgium wants to see the Boards of Canada one pretty badly too so any leads in that area are appreciated.

sonics 2020