Freddie B’s July playlist
July 1st, 2003 by freddie96
T H I N K
State River Widening: Early Music (Rocket Girl CD)
Recommended to me by Alucidnation Esq., this is exactly the kind of thing for blissing out to in the early hours. Early music it truly is – so beautifully simple it evokes easier, simpler times as well as those first hours of daylight in which the world seems wiped clean. Listening to these purely instrumental tunes you can believe once again in some of the folk tales we humans like to tell about ourselves. Musically SRW are a bit like Tortoise, only with a lot more heart and a lot less self-conscious artistry. Definitely A Good Thing.
Ulrich Schnauss: A Strangely Isolated Place (City Centre Offices CD)
In which the ultra-gifted Ulrich makes a tribute album to the Cocteau Twins, New Order and 80s Eno pop production. Well, almost – certainly much of this music resonates at a curiously high pitch, which comes as something of a surprise after the deeper velvet tones of his debut. While I admire it, I’m not quite sure how much I adore it. Time will tell: I am sure to keep returning to this out of sheer curiosity.
Chris Watson: Weather Report (Touch CD)
Killer ambient album from the third of Cabaret Voltaire who became a specialist in field recordings. That’s lions, rivers and Icelandic glaciers to you and me, recorded with immaculate clarity for hours and hours on end and then edited into 18-minute minute sonic odysseys. Slowly, steadily, they reveal the beatless music of the natural world, wrapping the listener in the a profound sense of austere beauty. Light years away from ‘sounds of the rainforest’ bollocks, this is truly amazing stuff for those who have the late night listening habits necessary to absorb it.
DJ Pathaan: World Peace (Stoned Asia CD)
Great title, great sentiment, and coming from Pathaan, you know it’s for real. This is indeed a global collection with a spiritual, heartfelt bent that starts ultra chilled and then goes into much more energetic territory. Personally I am happier with the genuinely peaceful first half than the up-for-it second half, but there’s no questioning its integrity.
S M I L E
Shapes One (Tru Thoughts CD x 2)
The latest instalment from Tru Thoughts, once a tributary but now more like a mighty river breaking its banks and flooding the land. What’s most impressive about Tru Thoughts is not its growth, however, but its rock-solid commitment to promoting new music. Collecting together a few established stars – Mr Scruff, Hint, Quantic – several up-and-comings – Mawglee, Flevans, Nostalgia 77 – and heaps of boxfresh newbies, this is a good taster of pleasures yet to come. It’s also a lovely way to spend a couple of hours, whether you’re relaxing, dancing, thinking or just smiling. Following the format of their recent Mono collection, CD one is Horizontal, CD two is Vertical. You get the picture: one side of lovely chilled beats to warm you up and another to get you behaving badly. Names to watch on the evidence of this: Mangatout, Flevans, Silver Man, Galaxian.
D’Nell: This Thing / E2 (Abstract Blue 12)
Mellow London soul with a welcome edge you just don’t get on slick US records. Simple beats, a strong bassline and a fine voice. One to watch.
Easy Star All-Stars: Dub Side of the Moon (Easy Star CD)
Quite something, this. A post-millenial stoner’s update of the Floyd’s finest hour (well, arguably), Dub Side of the Moon falls somewhere between reverential tribute album and hilarious piss-take. Some would say that makes it cheesy, but not I. Rapidly shifting between mellow chill out, dubby drum & bass, uptempo reggae and some great toasting, this version strips Dark Side of the protective pretension that has accumulated around it over the years and reminds us what a tremendously enjoyable, commercial record it always was.
D A N C E
Ralph Myerz & the Jack Herren Band: A Special Album (Emperor Norton LP)
So here it is: this year’s Nordic crossover album. I’ll wager good money that by the end of the year, most of the tracks off this album will have been licensed to compilations, ads, idents and in-flight entertainment programmes. In the meantime, let’s enjoy it for what it is: ten supremely enjoyable tunes, not one a dud, every one of them brimming with energy, crisp beats and a loose-limbed, louche swagger. Beautifully put together and produced, this is a special album indeed. If they can reproduce it onstage at Eastnor, I predict mass outbreaks of hip wiggling.
Amon Tobin: Verbal Remixes & Collaborations (Ninja Tune CD)
Verbal is the stand-out track from AT’s distinctly challenging last LP, Out From Out Where. Featuring MC Decimal R, it has a futuristic funkiness that is at once unsettling and uplifting. Four wildly inventive remixes of the track – from Prefuse 73 & Boom Bip amongst others – are here prefaced by five collaborations – with Kid Koala, Bonobo, P-Love, Steinski & Doubleclick. Confirms Tobin’s status as Ninja maverick and creative powerhouse.
Amalgamation of Soundz: Coastal (Tru Thoughts 12)
A welcome return from the mysterious beat merchants. Sharm, a slow builder built solely around percussion; Nickels and Dimes, jazzy, smoking drum and bass; and 4:31, an atmospheric chiller with a very heavy undertow. Intense, uncompromising and very self-assured.
R E L A X
Mawglee: Salt Water EP (Tru Thoughts 12)
Six lovely moody instrumental tracks from one of Brighton’s new names, with the kind of versatile musical vibe lovers of Bonobo and Ralph Myerz will dig. Encompassing both hardcore chill-out for real chillers – Side A reminds me of The Big Chill circa 2000 – and more lively stuff (Side B is more Big Chill 2003), this is a very promising debut.
Haul and Pull Up Selecta: Heavyweight Dancehall 1979-82 (Trojan)
The reggae revival continues at full speed. So many old gems being dusted down, so little time to take them all in. But if lazy dubby grooves are your thing – where dancehall started out before it got whallopped by ragga and R&B – this is a very choice selection indeed. It captures that moment when 70s roots reggae and DJ culture started to transform itself into something much deeper, tougher and more musically challenging than Jamaica or London had ever witnessed. Brooding and intense, this is unashamedly music for minimal exertion: a likkle smoke, some overproof and a few mellow moves. With the likes of Barrington Levy, Scientist and Prince Jammy in the mix, this is a guaranteed good time for connoisseurs of the slow groove.
Burnt Friedman & The Nu Dub Players: Can’t Cool (Nonplace CD)
An impressively ambitious LP of broken, dubby jazz and jazzy, broken dub with a faintly lunatic bent. Which is to say it’s best enjoyed on lazy late nights with a quiet smoke.
Nightmares on Wax: Late Night Tales (Azuli / Whoa CD)
So Another Late Night is rebranded as Late Night Tales and Mr George Evelyn is the man in the hot seat. I was expecting a more varied and funky set than this, but over time it really grows on you. It’s not so much a cool mix for Clerkenwell cafés as a genuine late night, immaculately sequenced head-nodding journey that only gradually reveals its intention to get you hitting the Tequila and, who knows?, maybe even the dancefloor.
Lali Puna: Left Handed (Morr Music 12)
More warm-hearted electronica from Morr. Left Handed shows Lali Puna edging convincingly into edgy electro-pop, with an interesting dub mix and an impeccably minimal version of Together in Electric Dreams from 1999 thrown in for good measure. Music for weird dreams.
Meteorites: Dub The Mighty Dragon (No future CD)
Electro-pop-dub with a big smile on its face. A paean to milkmen, jaunty love songs with twisted lyrics, mighty bass lines. The kind of thing you can imagine the Basement Jaxx boys slipping into their sets. Lots of fun.
Ocean of Sound
DJs: Lol Hammond & Freddie B
Sunday July 13 & 27
The White Horse
94 Brixton Hill SW2
Free, 5.30 – 11.30 pm
