Weatherall Remix Seven

This Friday series of Andrew Weatherall remixes has focussed so far on lesser known ones from either the 2010s or early 90s. Today I'm heading into 1996, a world where Andrew had moved on sonic miles from his much loved early remixes and after the Sabres Of Paradise years had moved into dustier and murkier waters. At this point, Andrew's sound was about finesse and purism, drilling further and deeper. The Two Lone Swordsmen sound had begun to coalesce, a marriage of techno, electro and downtempo. Before the full on six sides of electro/ bass vinyl of 2000's Tiny Reminders, the years 1996- '98 saw him and Keith Tenniswood brew up a stoned, underwater sound, some hip hop influences in the drums, the space of dub and their own approach to loops, samples and static. Their remixes from this period are low key, sombre and full of detail and very rewarding 

Alter Ego were Roman Flugel and Jorn Elling Wuttke, from Darmstadt, Germany. Andrew and Keith provided two remixes of Mescal, a seven minute remix and a shorter dub. The dub has springs, bubbles, sonar, tapping hi hats and then the deep thump of timpani. A mournful synth line starts to weave a path on top and then a female vocal part, a hum more than singing, drifts by. The breakbeat kicks in eventually. 

Mescal (TLS Dub)

There are a couple of Two Lone Swordsmen remixes from this period that fit very well with this one- Starsailor's Good Souls and Calexico's Virus Style both have a similar feel and the submerged, underwater, ambient/ techno TLS sound would be taken to a beautiful peak (or depth maybe) on 1998's Stay Down album. 

Monday's Long Song

One of my favourite albums of 2020 came out right at the end of the year, released by the Dutch label Music From Memory, a triple vinyl compilation called Virtual Dreams (Ambient Explorations In The House And Techno Age, 1993- 1997). It is a beautifully packaged release and the music within the six sides is beautiful too, slow motion, transporting, ever so slightly trippy, trancey, machine music infused with human emotions. Many of the artists on the album made club music, high tempo, high octane dance records but would also slow the tempo for a B-side, cuts for home listening and the inevitable comedown. The track selection and running order are superb and it sounds like one cohesive album, almost as if these tracks from twenty- five to thirty years ago were designed to end up next to each other in in the next century. 

I bought the album based on a review by Robert Harris (Dr Rob) at his Ban Ban Ton Ton blog in November. It's here. Be warned- I read Rob's piece and went straight to purchase. Some of the artists may be known- Richard H. Kirk of Cabaret Voltaire appears as do fellow Sheffield bleep pioneers LFO and The Primitive Painter was a 90s vehicle for Roman Flugel but many of the names are only dimly familiar. MLO, Pulusha, Spacetime Continuum, LA Synthesis, Bedouin Ascent. The full tracklist is here. This one, Rainful Memories by by MDA Analog, is only on the digital release. The combination of the sound of rain falling, the children's voices and the washes of synth is like having a warm bath in analogue sound. 

Virtual Dreams is completely in tune with what I've been listening to for the last year. I realised it also has some crossover with the 1993 mix by Andrew Weatherall, the so- called Massive Mellow Mix (real name Sabresonic Slow Electric Vol. 1) which I wrote about here. The name that crosses both is The Primitive Painter and handily their 1994 album has also had a recent re- issue (by Dutch label Apollo/ R&S). Roman Flugel and Jorn Elling Wuttke grew up in Frankfurt and hearing the sounds coming out of the UK on labels like Warp and out of Detroit on ones like Transmat they made an album of 'gauzy, melodious electronic'. The Primitive Painter took their name from Felt and declared themselves to be children of C86, inspired by the DIY attitudes of Felt, The Jesus And Mary Chain and the C86 bands. This track, Cathedral, sounds nothing like The Pastels or Primal Scream but having had a burst of C86 at this blog and others recently everything seems to be coming together nicely. This is ten minutes of gorgeous, hypnotising sound. You can buy the album here. 

Cathedral

People And Places

I found this track at the weekend (while looking for the Intastella one) and it's struck a deep chord with me over the last few days. In 2017 Geoffroy Mugwump released a compilation album called Moving House with tracks from himself and like minded friends including Roman Flügel who contributed this one- some chilly and emotive electronics, pulsing bass, a rattling snare and sweeping synthesised strings. Plenty of Kraftwerkian vibes going on. Moving house indeed.

People And Places

All The Right Noises

Frankfurt's Roman Flugel has been a resident on the German electronic and club scene since the early 90s. His head was turned by a Chicago house compilation his older brother gave him and he hasn't looked back since. In 2016 he released an album, All the Right Noises, a record that went some distance from acid techno and trance, exploring a more ambient and contemplative sound- synths, ambient noise and analogue drum sounds. The title track is a perfect example.

All The Right Noises

In 2014 he remixed one of the tracks off Daniel Avery's debut album, turning an already pretty tripped out modern techno track into an even more tripped out modern techno track. A masterclass of machine groove.

Find Love

Do you like Andrew Weatherall remixes? Good, so do I. Here's a new one...



That's a floaty, repetitive and spacey version, not an unpleasant experience at all. There's a pretty cosmic Roman Flugel remix too if you want to double your fun...

Twist Your Arm

Ten Fé are a London duo who I'd never heard of until recently. They sound a bit like 80s Cure mixed with 80s Bruce Springsteen. Their new album was recorded in Berlin- often a promising sentence- and is preceded by a remix e.p. This is the one for me, Roman Flugel's remix, a vibrant, hopeful version with juddering bass and synths like daybreak.

Year's End

Here's a round up of a few things from 2014 as the year dribbles to its conclusion. I missed this from earlier this year; a Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve re-imagining of New Energy, in three phases- some 60s backwards psychedelia followed by the more familiar beat driven techno and then the wonderful drone section. There's loads more Avery stuff, remixes, radio sessions and so on, at his Soundcloud page.



There's also the trippy Roman Flugel remix of All I Need which has all the right things in all the right places.



Underworld's dubnobasswithmyheadman was 20 years old and the re-issued box set was 2014's possibly best bet if you were buying just one big box of music you already own. It cemented in my mind the view that dubnobass... was the best album of the 90s. This video was chosen by the band as the winner in a competition.



The stand out music book of 2014 was Viv Albertine's autobiography Clothes, Clothes, Clothes, Music, Music, Music, Boys, Boys, Boys. Totally honest, warm and funny, uncomfortable in parts but fascinating and written entirely in the present tense which gave it real immediacy. If you haven't read it, you should read it.



And I'm just beginning to listen to FKA Twigs. There's something going on here...