At the time of writing this I've no idea whether yesterday's DJ escapades at the Golden Lion in Todmorden were a triumph or a disaster or somewhere in between. I took a bag full of songs and tracks to play including a lot of Andrew Weatherall flavoured dub- remixes, his own productions, songs and poems that he sampled, songs he played out when DJing or on the radio which I thought might go down well on a Saturday afternoon in early October, a pre- David Holmes pint accompaniment. All the tracks below were in my digital record box.
Lark: Can I Colour In Your Hair (Andrew Weatherall Mix)
Count Ossie and Mystic Revelation Of Rastafari: Poem
The Sexual Objects: Sometimes (Weatherall Dub)
Yabby You: Conquering Dub
The Scientist: Lovers
Misty In Roots: Introduction To Live At The Counter Eurovision
Meatraffle: Meatraffle On the Moon (Andrew Weatherall Remix)
Steve Mason: Boys Outside (Andrew Weatherall Dub 2)
Andrew Weatherall: Kiyadub 45
Jean Binta Breeze's Dubwise poem came out on her 1991 album Tracks and was sampled by Weatherall on his legendary remix of Saint Etienne's Only Love Can Break Your Heart (he also sampled Jean from the same album for his earth shaking remixes Galliano's Skunk Funk, worthy of a separate post at some point soon I think).
Dub Syndicate, a mainstay of Adrian Sherwood's On U Sound label, released Tunes From The Missing Channel in 1985. Opening track Ravi Shankar Part 1 was a Weatherall favourite and is often mentioned in connection with the famous Boy's Own party held on a farm in East Grinstead in summer 1989, Andrew coming on to the decks to play at dawn as revellers welcomed the sun and Ravi Shankar's unmistakeable intro bounced around the West Sussex countryside.
Lark were a London band led and fronted by Karl Bielek. Weatherall's dub remix of Can I Colour In Your Hair was finally released on 7" vinyl in 2018, years after being played on Weatherall's radio shows and in his mixes.
Count Ossie and Mystic Revelation Of Rastafari's album Grounation album came out in 1974, a masterpiece of spiritual dub. The line 'Ever since I was a youth/ I've always been searching for the truth' was sampled by Sabres Of Paradise for their mighty Ysaebud track, which came out on one sided 7" in 1997, after Sabres had split and Weatherall had gone on to Two Lone Swordsmen. The track was discovered by Andrew Curley on cassette while clearing out the drawers at HQ and was felt to be too good to lie unreleased so came out as S.O.P. rather as Sabres (licensing issues or some such detail). I'd like to thank Dr Rob of Ban Ban Ton Ton for enabling me to track down the source of the sample. Another piece of the jigsaw slotted into place.
The Sexual Objects are/ were a band formed by David Henderson (formerly of Scottish indie/ post- punkers Fire Engine and Nectarine No. 9). Weatherall's remix came out on a wonderful piece of 10" vinyl along with remixes by Boards Of Canada and WAVNE, only 1000 copies pressed.
Yabby You was another Weatherall favourite, from Kingston Jamaica, a singer and producer from the golden age of roots reggae and dub frequently played by Andrew and mentioned in interviews. The same came be said of The Scientist, a protege of King Tubby, whose dub albums in the 1980s were a big Weatherall touchstone.
Misty in Roots are British dub reggae pioneers, from Southall, London. Their 1979 album Live St The Counter Eurovision is a key British reggae album. The Introduction to the album was sampled to massive effect by Andrew on his Ultrabass 2 remix of The Orb's Perpetual Dawn, 1991.
Meatraffle's Meatraffle On The Moon album came out in 2019, a still superb sounding dissection of life in Brexit Britain (and much more). The Weatherall remix is bass heavy meandering dub, a remix of the band's song about un- unionised moon workers and the evils of late stage capitalism.
Steve Mason's Boys Outside album came out in 2010. Weatherall remixed the title track twice, the second is a dub of a dub.
Kiyadub 45 was a one off two track 12" only dub release on the Byrd Out label (with Kiyadub 47 on the flipside), 500 copies only, recorded with Nina Walsh. Heavy electronic dub business.
This is one of the highlights the last few years, a song by Meatraffle from summer 2019, a superb, off balance song called Meatraffle On The Moon. There's a dub bassline, a sci fi synth line, a padding drumbeat, a wandering ska trumpet line and over the top of this 21st century dub/ post- punk/ art rock hybrid the voice of Zsa Zsa Sapien (possibly not his real name), singing a tale of the exploitation of industrial workers on the moon by the capitalist bosses. The soaring chorus, Zsa Zsa joined by a female voice, never fails to raise my spirits- 'there's gonna be a meatraffle on the moon tonight'. This draw for uncooked sausages is the weekly highlight of the poor un- unionised astral wage slaves when they get to the lunar bar on a Saturday evening. 'They are so sick of this, they just want to be by the sea/ but they signed a new contract by the Sea of Tranquility' Zsa Zsa sings and it sounds like the most real and most keenly felt employment struggle you've ever heard, and it sums them up, political but with a surrealist sideways look.
There was also a lovely, loping Andrew Weatherall remix, one of his finest from the last decade, dub vibes to the fore and lots of percussion, stretched out into space.
More recently Meatraffle released a four track EP in May last year called Black Metal Music which included a very lockdown 1 take on things called Oh Corona. Next month they have a remix EP, Abstinence Blues, coming out.
I started compiling this one in my head when the sun was shining and it was hot enough to sit in the garden at night until it went dark without the need for a coat or sweatshirt. Since I started actually putting it together the sun has vanished and the temperature has halved but I've ploughed on anyway. It's a ten song mix with sunshine and balmy nights in mind from the political/ absurdist post- punk/ dub of Meatraffle, the finger picked acoustic guitar and Mellotron magic of Steve Cobby, some chuggy Scandi- disco/house, 80s heroes The Woodentops, a blissed out re- edit of Brian Eno, Andrew Weatherall spinning Toy into a chilled krautrock groove, some Belgian New Beat from 1989 and Grace Jones backed by Sly and Robbie.
Meatraffle: Meatraffle On The Moon
Steve Cobby: As Good As Gold
The Woodentops: Give It Time (Adrian Sherwood Mix)
Brian Eno: Another Green World (The Blue Realm) Mojo Filter
Edit
It's difficult to know where we are with isolation any more. Many people seem to be acting like it's all over, parks are full of groups of people and social distancing is a thing of last month. The daily death toll doesn't seem to be diminishing that much and in the north west we currently have the highest regional infection and death rate in the country. As the government brings about the end of lockdown in favour of the economy and to distract from the horrors of their mismanagement of the entire period, some people I'm sure will stay in and stay distanced. In our household we are shielding so our lives will carry on as before for the moment. God only knows where we go from here.
Isolation Mix 9 came partly from a comment I made at The Flightpath Estate, an Andrew Weatherall Facebook group where I promised a Weatherdub mix, and partly from Isolation Mix 6 three weeks ago, an hour of dub that had several of Lord Sabre's fingerprints on it. There's some crossover between that mix and this one but I chose the other Steve Mason remix and dropped the Sabres Of Paradise dub of Regret by New Order just for variety's sake. This mix, an hour and a quarter of dub business from Andrew Weatherall as a solo artist, aided and abetted by Nina Walsh, as a remixer, as a Sabre Of Paradise and as an Asphodell, spans thirty years taking in songs from 1990 and 2020. There's loads more that could have gone in but I thought I'd keep it compact.
Sabres Of Paradise: Ysaebud (From The Vaults)
Sabres Of Paradise: Return of Carter
Steve Mason: Boys Outside (Andrew Weatherall Dub 1)
Andrew Weatherall: Unknown Plunderer
Saint Etienne: Only Love Can Break Your Heart (Andrew
Weatherall Mix)
Sabres Of Paradise: Edge 6
Andrew Weatherall: End Times Sound
Meatraffle: Meatraffle On The Moon (Andrew Weatherall Dub)
Richard Sen: Songs Of Pressure (The Asphodells Remix)
Andrew Weatherall: Kiyadub 45
Lark: Can I Colour In Your Hair? (Andrew Weatherall Version)
I read an article recently that claimed that making end of year lists was merely an attempt to forestall death, that ranking and ordering things is for people who have an unnatural fear of death and who must be constantly trying to leave things in order before they go. A bit dark perhaps. A similar argument says that making lists is an attempt to place order on a chaotic and uncontrollable world- and one glimpse at the news will confirm that the world is both those things and getting more so- and people (men mainly) feel that if they can rank their albums/books/films then they have at least controlled a part of that world. So, with all those things being as they are, here's my end of year list. It doesn't seem to have much in common with the end of year lists I've read in the 'proper' music press or websites- so I must be out of step with what's really the best of the 2019. All I can offer you is what I've loved the most this year and some examples to sample.
Singles/songs/remixes/e.p.
There's a lot of chuggy, cosmic, Balearic, ALFOS style releases in this list, a top 30 for 2019, a golden year for music that evokes outer space, Mediterranean beaches and/or basement clubs thick with dry ice.
1. Silver Apples Edge Of Wonder (Andrew Weatherall Remix)
Released for Record Shop Day in April this remix is nine minutes of total joy, a dream turned into sound- the pitter patter drum machine giving gentle propulsion, the bouncy keyboard riff and metallic sounds echoing round and round and the softly sung vocal- 'waves, waves, Neptune's metronomes... relentless heartbeat of the sea'.
2. A close second was this three track release from Pines In The Sun, Albanian Balearica via Brighton. I know next to nothing about them but the wordless, sunshine shimmer of Sun and the gorgeous sprawl of Zig Zag Sea (plus Duncan Gray's remix of the latter) soundtracked much of my summer.
3. Apiento's single Things We Do For Love came out back at the start of the year, a slow motion dance floor shaped ode with synth bass and whispered vocals. My main regret is not being quick enough to get a copy of the limited run of 7"s.
4 and 5. A Certain Ratio have spent the year celebrating their fortieth anniversary and released this pair of superb songs, one a previously unreleased cover version from 1980 that was intended to be voiced by Grace Jones, the dark funk of House In Motion and the other a very Mancunian remix of their Dirty Boy single (featuring Barry Adamson and the voice of Tony Wilson), remixed by Chris Massey. The Dirty Boy remix in particular has floated my boat.
From this point onward there are a slew of singles, remixes and e.p.s that I've enjoyed this year, loads of brilliant music showing that 2019 has been a really good year. The next dozen or so especially have all been on heavy rotation.
6. Moon Duo Lost Heads 7. Meatraffle Meatraffle On The Moon (Andrew Weatherall Remix) 8. Four Tet Teenage Birdsong 9. A Mountain Of Rimowa A.M.O.R. e.p. 10. Plaid Maru (Orbital Remix) 11. Hardway Bros Chateau Comtal 12. Scott Fraser and Louise Quinn Together More 13. Four Tet Anna Painting 14. GLOK Dissident 15.Roisin Murphy Incapable (plus the pair of incredible Crooked Man remixes/dubs) 16. Craig Bratley Message To The Outpost e.p. 17. Field Of Dreams No 303 18. Fjordfunk Exile (including the Hardway Bros remix) 19. The Comet Is Coming Summon The Fire 20. Ride Future Love 21. A Man Called Adam Paul Valery St The Disco (Prins Thomas Remix) 22. KH Only Human 23. Shape Of Space Manifesto 24. Warriors Of The Dystotheque Things In The Shadows (Tronik Youth Remix) 25. ⣎⡇ꉺლ༽இ•̛)ྀ◞ ༎ຶ ༽ৣৢ؞ৢ؞ؖ ꉺლ e.p. 26. Shunt Voltage Link Up/ See It In Your Eyes 27. Boy Division Hot Pants 28. Dan Wainwright Keep Me Hangin' On (with Hardway Bros dub remix) 29. Duncan Gray Much Much Worse/ Where Clock Goes 30. Terr Tales Of Devotion (including the Prins Thomas Diskomiks)
Four Tet/Kieran Hebden has had a particularly good 2019, always innovative and entrancing and producing some of the best moments in a variety of guises and across a series of releases, including a live album recorded at Ally Pally in the summer that I've only just started listening to.
Edit: just realised I forgot San Pedro whose e.p. in June was a blast and should be in the list above somewhere.
Albums
I've bought and listened to what seems like an enormous amount of albums this year. The internet and streaming has made individual songs the focus again, a return to the halcyon days of the 7" and 12" single and their B-sides, and occasionally people write about the death of the album and the forty/seventy minute format (depending on whether its a vinyl album or CD). Looking through my pile of records and CDs and lists of downloads the album looks in really good health to me. There's more breadth to my album list, a wider variety of sounds and styles. I've fallen into an ambient/drone wormhole many times this year, a wonderful place to stay for extended periods. Psychedelia and cosmic psych rock has been at the front of the pile a lot. These are in no particular order, the first eight I genuinely couldn't pick between in terms of a favourite or a ranking, they're all the albums of the year.
Glok Dissident
Andy Bell (the guitarist from Ride) released the surprise of the year, a rich, gorgeous flotation through cosmic psychedelia, motorik drums and West German sounds, awash with floaty, dreamy synths and guitars. From the Tron-esque sleeve to the luminous green vinyl to the grooves contained within everything about this album was spot on.
Richard Norris Abstractions Vol. 1
Richard Norris has been exploring ambient music throughout 2019 (and before). This year he has released a pair of albums, Abstractions Vol. 1 and 2, filled with extended repetitive sounds, loops of melody, chimes and washes, drones, ambient noise, waves of reassuring sounds- deep listening. This year has been a car crash in many ways. The whole Brexit debacle, the constant noise and feelings of loss of control over our politics and culture, the sense of loss and the feeling that we're being driven over the edge by fanatics. This album has helped me switch off from it. I can put this on and it works in a calming way that nothing else does. If there's an N.H.S. left in five years time, this pair of albums should be available on prescription.
Meatraffle Bastard Music
Bastard Music is a strange record, surreal, bold and in places very funny. A vision of dystopia set to a ramshackle beat and some memorable melodies. Lyrically it deals with everything- nationalism, the exploitation of workers, Brexit, living in London versus living in the country, immigration, the price of renting, sexism, science fiction, activism, everything... but it's never overbearing or humourless and the lyrics and vocals force you to listen to it rather than just have it on. Musically it's lo fi synthy disco, horns and Pulp Fiction guitars, home made rhythms, reggae and post punk. In some ways Bastard Music makes no sense and in others it makes more sense than any other album released in 2019. It's an amazing record in lots of ways not least in the the song Meatraffle On The Moon, one of the very best things I've heard this year- a song that really should be up at the top of the singles list with Silver Apples and Pines In The Sun- a dub pop exploration of human workers enslaved and working on the moon, their comradeship and valiant attempts to survive with only the meatraffle to look forward to. Semi- stoned drums, a snaking horn, dub bass and the ace vocals.
Moon Duo Stars Are The Light
My favourite guitar/synth/drums psych- rock explorers put out their latest album in September, Stars Are The Light, and have found a new love of disco and dance music and ecstatic grooves. It's still clearly the work of the band who made the darker, heavier Occult Architecture albums but now with their faces turned to the sun. The synths and drums dance around, the rhythms are aimed at the feet and lighter than before and the twin vocals are airy and optimistic. Their live show in October was an immersive psychedelic experience. I don't think there's an album I've bought this year that I've listened to more than this one.
Steve Cobby Sweet Jesus
One man cottage industry from Hull, Steve Cobby dropped Sweet Jesus onto the internet live back in the summer, twelve songs recorded in his shed, taking in cool Balearic vibes, lush instrumentals, downtempo funk and synths and lots of acoustic guitars. The opening song, As Good As Gold, inspired by Led Zep's third album acoustic guitar picking folkiness in mid- Wales with added mellotron, has been one of my favourite tunes of 2019 and one that I keep going back to. There's something about it that really hits the spot in a way I can't quite put my finger on.
Rich Ruth Calming Signals
This album from Nashville resident Rich Ruth is often described as ambient but it's not ambient in the rain- falling- while- lying- in- bed- with- the- volume- slightly- too- low Brian Eno sense. It's an instrumental album, nine songs that take in minimalism, repetition and drones, a beautiful soaring, squawking saxophone, built around synths and guitars. On first listen you're never quite sure where it's going to go next and in places it is utterly gorgeous.
Richard Fearless Deep Rave Memory
This only came out recently so I'm still getting to know it but it is a perfectly paced and sequenced, intricately constructed techno journey. Completely absorbing and in places edge- of- your- seat tense, taut techno but with some beautiful melodic passages and some pulsing, calming tracks too.
Underworld Drift Series 1 Sampler
I've mentioned this project and album twice recently so don't intend to say much else. The best Underworld album for ages. Try this one...
These eighteen too, roughly in the order that they're listed in below. A bumper year for the long player round here.
L'epee Diabolique Steve Mason About The Light A Man Called Adam Farmarama Bob Mould Sunshine Rock Private Mountain Blue Mountain Mark Peters Ambient Innerland Stiletti Ana Ab Ovo WH Lung Incidental Music Rude Audio Street Light Interference Kungens Män Chef Acid Arab Jdid Solange When I Get Home Plaid Polymers Rose City Band Rose City Band Jane Weaver Loops In The Secret Society Joe Morris Exotic Language Lana del Rey Norman Fucking Rockwell Mythologen Antisocial Background Music 2017- 2019
Back from a couple of days in London late last night, from baking sunshine and temperatures well over 30 degrees. This Weatherall remix of Meatraffle is red hot too.
1. They are called Meatraffle- on the name alone they are half way there.
2. The song below, Meatraffle On The Moon, is a slice of brilliance- a slow beat, some sci fi synths and distinctive vocals. Post-punk and electronic but totally 2019.
3. Meatraffle have an album out at the end of August called Bastard Music.
4. Bastard Music deals with 'good old fashioned socialist propaganda'. Usually I try to find the words myself and don't just copy and paste from a band's press release but this is perfect- 'we wanted to sound like The Residents composing an anthem for International Workers Day, an international day of action where the proles down tools and piss off to the seaside simultaneously all around the world, and thus the global Capitalist fiscal system crashes. Meatraffle on the Moon is an imaginary tale of exploitation of non-unionised space workers in intolerable mental and physical conditions working in our little solar system with the only antidote to their heartache and a complete buckle of legs…a moonbase karaoke bar!' 5. There's an Andrew Weatherall remix of Meatraffle On The Moon forthcoming.
