A few of Justin Robertson's early 90s remixes today, chunky beats and tempos, samples and trumpets- lots of trumpets- and indie bands transformed into dancefloor monsters. Ideal for the spring sunshine that has finally arrived this weekend in this part of the world.
The Sugarcubes: Birthday (Justin Robertson 12" Mix)
The Stone Roses: Waterfall (Justin Robertson's Mix)
Bjork: Big Time Sensuality (Justin Robertson Lionrock Wigout)
Lionrock: Packet Of Peace (No More Fucking Trumpets)
Yargo: The Love Revolution (Justin Robertson's Scream Team Remix)
Inspiral Carpets: Caravan (No Windscreen Mix)
Justin's remix of Birthday by The Sugarcubes turns singular Icelandic post- punk oddness into seven minutes of dub loveliness. Released on vinyl in 1992 along with remixes from Jim and William Reid and Tommy D.
I was of the opinion once that remixes of songs by The Stone Roses were totally unnecessary. I've come round to some of them, not least this remix of Waterfall, Reni's drums replaced by a skippy drumbeat, some echo- laden cymbal splashes and Ian's voice sitting above the music with John's guitar drizzled on top.
Big Time Sensuality was inescapable in 1993, not least in Manchester's clubs and bars, and enjoyed every time. I met my wife on the dancefloor at Paradise Factory dancing to it. Justin's remix, in his Lionrock guise, was a big hitter too, a slo- mo groove, with those massive trumpets and Bjork's barely contained sense of gleeful abandon.
Justin, Mark Stagg and rapper MC Buzz B were Lionrock. Packet Of Peace was their 1993 12". The remix here is Justin's own Lionrock remix of Lionrock and clearly by the title, he'd had enough of his signature trumpet sound by this point. I can keep enjoying those trumpets ad infinitum.
Yargo were Manchester's best kept secret, an urban funk/ soul/ blues group graced by the honeyed voice of Basil Clarke who are probably best known for their song of the same name being the title music to Tony Wilson's Other Side Of Midnight, a semi- legendary music programme from the late 80s (which The Stone Roses appeared on, playing Waterfall- see above). The Love Revolution came out as a 12" in 1990 with co- vocals by guest singer Zoe Griffin and samples the drums from Fool's Gold. Yargo's 1987 album Bodybeat is something of a lost classic. The follow up, 1989's Communicate, didn't manage to crossover outside Manchester but is (again,) one of the period's lost gems. As is this remix
I posted this Justin Robertson remix of Inspiral Carpets a couple of weeks ago, a 1991 acid house banger complete with the 'you play consciousness expanding material' vocal sample and general '91 madness. A numbered 12" vinyl release in a run of 10, 000. 10, 000!
A week ago at The Golden Lion in Todmorden a very special event took place, the stars aligning and everything coming together just so, creating two days that will live long in the memory (or at least, the bits that I can remember- my recall of some of late on Saturday night is sketchy in places). AW60 has been pulled together by Lizzie, Andrew's partner, and Ian, his brother, over four venues that had big connections to Andrew. The fourth and final leg of the month was also due in no small part to the ever generous hosts of The Golden Lion, Richard and Gig, who run what can only be described as The Best Pub In The World. There are lots of other pubs, you may know them, that are brilliant, great places to go to drink, to eat, to socialise, to sit on your own or with friends, to chill out and have fun and that feel like homes from home. But The Golden Lion is something else,- a pub in a town in the West Yorkshire hills, that combines a proper pub vibe with a gig venue, nightclub, and Thai restaurant (plus a record label)- and also much more. AW60 pulled together a crowd of fans, friends and family of Andrew and threw a birthday party for him. I was lucky enough to be part of the DJ line up for the Saturday, the five man Flightpath Estate DJ team playing from 1pm through until Justin Robertson taking over at 10pm. We took an hour each in the afternoon and then took it turns to play three tracks each, rotating back to back after 7pm, a nine hour DJ set that flew by in the blink of an eye.
Upstairs a raffle, merch stall and exhibition were in full swing. Later on upstairs Timothy J. Fairplay played, an hour of synths and thundering drum machines that finished with Tim performing some of the songs he wrote with Andrew as The Asphodells, songs never played live before- Late Flowering Dub, We Are The Axis and One Minute's Silence. Over the road there were DJ sets by Dave Beer and Bernie Connor, both long standing friends of Lord Sabre.
Sunday saw Andrew's old friends Sherman and Curley take the reins at the DJ booth, playing some tremendous, earth shaking dub. In the evening Chris Rotter, the guitarist on Andrew's solo album A Pox On The Pioneers, played a set of songs from that album with Ride/ Glok's Andy Bell accompanying him on guitar. These songs have never been played live before either, Chris reworking them, singing and playing them pared down and full of emotion. It was quite a moment. Sunday night began to raise the tempo and temperature again as Heidi and Lovefingers DJed.
The atmosphere on the Saturday afternoon and evening were something else, with people arriving from all over- Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, London- and filling the pub. Our sets weren't recorded but we have spent part of this week recreating them. They may not be 100% accurate but they are there or thereabouts, versions of our hours, inspired by Andrew's own music, the music he played on the radio and at gigs and shows, and music in the spirit of his never ending quest to unearth more.
Me and Baz arrived at the Lion first, welcomed by Richard and then given the run of the DJ booth. Once we'd located the On button and got set up, Baz opened, an hour of songs beginning with Selective Walking, the instrumental that Andrew used to open some of his radio shows with. From there there's Two Lone Swordsmen, OMD, The Jesus And Mary Chain, New Order's Your Silent Face, a song that came and went throughout the two days in various forms, almost the weekend's theme tune, and plenty more.
Martin took over from Baz. His set is at Mixcloud. It kicks off with some ambient Weatherall/ Tenniswood and includes Coyote, Chris and Cosey, Ananda Shankar, Gene Vincent, The Pistoleers cover of The Clash's Bankrobber, The Summerisle Trio, Sabres Of Paradise and Section 25.
I took over from Martin and played a set that went something like this...
Andy Bell: The Sky Without You (David Holmes Radical Mycology Remix)
Sabres Of Paradise: Jacob Street 7AM
The Liminanas: Garden Of Love (Lundi Mouille Andrew Weatherall Remix)
Alex Kassian: Spirit Of Eden
The Vendetta Suite: Purple Haze, Yellow Sunrise (David Holmes Remix)
Durutti Column: For Belgian Friends
Andrew Weatherall: The Confidence Man
A Certain Ratio: House In Motion (Demo Version 1)
The Clash: The Street Parade
Madness: Death Of A Rude Boy (Andrew Weatherall Remix)
Meatraffle: Meatraffle On The Moon
This may not be completely correct because I'm sure I also played this in my afternoon set (unless I overran a bit which is entirely possible or maybe I played it later, memory fails me slightly here). Habbanera is a gorgeous slice of Italian prog remixed by Balearic stalwarts Leo Mas and Fabrice.
I know I played it because I took a photo of it as it span for some reason.
The excitement at playing, the nerves dissipating, the songs coming out of the sound system- I don't want to get too carried away and too breathless but it was incredible, the sort of thing that made you pinch yourself occasionally to check it all was actually happening.
Dan went next. His hour is also at Mixcloud. Dan's set flows beautifully, taking in a lovely Bob Marley/ Bill Laswell remix, Dominik von Seger and Montezumas Rache, Peter Gordon and Daniel Avery's tribute to Andrew Lone Swordsman, Dan's mixing absolutely spot on.
Mark picked up the headphones next and played for ninety minutes (being stuck on the decks while the rest of us got fed). The first half of his set is recreated at Soundcloud and features a forthcoming remix by his own Rude Audio (a little self promotion never goes amiss), Boy George and Spatial Awareness, David Harrow, Neil Young, Sabo, Acid Arab and James Rod (again remixed by Rude Audio). By this point we were heading into the evening, the pub was filling, excitement and anticipation growing, Mark's dubby dance keeping it building.
As the energy levels rose and the atmosphere with it, we went back to back, three songs each, and it all turned into a blur- at some point I played Mark Lanegan's Ode To Sad Disco, Roisin's All My Dreams, Bjork's Violently Happy (remixed by Fluke), the Soulwax remix of A Hero's Death by Fontaines D.C., the Tribal mix of Pete Wylie's Sinful and Sub- culture by New Order (the Lowlife version). What everyone else was playing in their three song sets is lost to me right now- Martin played Wilmot at one point in an attempt to pull the tempos back a bit. Photographer Scott took this shot of me as I scanned the display, about to cue something up...
And these pictures show four of the five of us at work/ play... (smiling obviously something that was beyond most of us when the shutter was clicked). Baz was elsewhere.
Edit: here's Baz at the decks.
At around 9.45 we had fifteen minutes until Justin Robertson took over from us. I had two of Justin's remixes in my bag which I decided we should play in advance of him playing. I'm not sure this was the coolest idea anyone's ever had but once I'd committed myself to it there was no going back. First up was his 1991 remix of Caravan by Inspiral Carpets, a chunky, dancefloor filler with a vocal sample intoning, 'you play consciousness expanding material', and some cracking pianos....
I followed it with Justin's Most Excellent remix of Saturday's Angels by If?, uptempo, progressive indie- dance/ house from 1992. By this point Justin was in the booth next to me, pulling the pitch control down slightly to cue this up with his first track (which turned out to be Andrew's remix of Soon by My Bloody Valentine which caused something close to mayhem).
Justin then played three hours of perfectly pitched dance music to a room of friendly, smiling faces, pausing briefly while sixty candles were distributed and happy birthday sung to an absent friend. The music kicked back in with Don't Fight It, Feel It. After that, well, after that my memories are mainly of dancing and being lost in it all. The tracklist Justin posted up midweek shows a mixture of music, old and new, by Andrew and others climaxing with Smokebelch, St. Anthony and Come Together.
It was quite the day and night. I was pretty nervous in the week leading up to it and needn't have been, everyone was friendly and there to enjoy themselves. I don't think anyone really noticed (or cared) if a mix or cue was slightly off. Someone said a day or two afterwards, we had the best time with the best people in the best pub with the best hosts, and that does sum it up. This picture, taken in the early hours and for some of us, in a state of some dishevelment, captures it too. The whole thing, from start to finish and top to bottom was, to borrow a phrase from the lovely Mr. Robertson, most excellent.
Left to right- Dave Beer, Justin Robertson, Tim Fairplay, Baz, Gig, me, Bernie Connor, Martin, Dan, Richard (Mark missing, somewhere in the Golden Lion).
You may have heard the sad news that Inspiral Carpets drummer Craig Gill died last week aged just 44. Friends and fans have launched a campaign to get their 1994 single Saturn 5 to the number one slot for Christmas as a tribute, so you know what to do. Back in 1990 this was the song that broke them through from a local concern to a national following.
Back before Manchester City got a load of cash United fans used to be able to sing along to this with different words- 'this is how it feels to be City, this is how it feels to be small, this is how it feels when your team wins nothing at all'. Alas, we can sing it no more.
The Chart Show was more or less the only place to watch videos in the late 80s and early 90s, MTV being the preserve of the well off. Every week it had a specialist chart, indie, dance or metal and was required viewing, often with a hangover and a day with no responsibilities in front of you. So, make yourself a cup of tea, sit back and slip back in time...
...to October 1989's dance chart with Electribe 101 and De La Soul...
... and to the indie chart in April 1991, with New Fast Automatic Daffodils and The Shamen, showing dance's influence on indie...
...and from a few years later, February 1994, this top ten run down has the mighty Inspiral Carpets and Mark E Smith collaboration and Suede...
No metal charts here I'm afraid but there's plenty more where these clips came from if you look at the Youtube sidebar.
Continuing my new, semi-regular feature of bands and songs names related to , um, flooring and it's Oldham's Inspiral Carpets. I used to like them and for a while shared a house with a bloke who was obsessed with them. They had a long, slow decline but some decent pop hits in 89 and 90, despite Shaun Ryder's comment that they were 'clueless knobheads'. Bit rude really. There's the MES collaboration which is good. This Is How It Feels. Commercial Rain. Directing Traffic. But they never really sounded better than on this tinny, organ and guitar garage romp, a tribute to Joe, a tramp who lived on Sackville Street in town. Although I don't think this is the earlier version off the legendary Dung 4 cassette (which I flogged on ebay recently for a fiver).
