Isolation Mix Eleven

This week's mix is made up entirely of songs released during lockdown, since mid- March 2020. Some of them have been written and recorded during this period. I could easily have doubled the length of this so maybe I'll come back to this and do a part two. This one has the trippy psyche of Sonic Boom, dusty funk desert blues from Ess O Ess, some dubby jazz (or jazzy dub) courtesy of Jah Wobble, Number's post- punk dance stance, yet more excellence from Weatherall and Walsh's Woodleigh Research Facility, Justin Robertson and Sofia Hedblom's blend of Nigerian rhythms and electronic dub, Dan Wainwright's pagan chug and some Balearic bliss from Joe Morris, Rich Lane, The Long Champs and a cover by Rheinzand. There's one segue which is a bit of a mess but it'll have to do. Life has surface noise and all that.



Sonic Boom: Just Imagine
Ess O Ess and Saul Richards: Totem (Swamp Crawl)

Jah Wobble: Lockdown 5 (Forbearance)

Number: Red Flag

Woodleigh Research Facility: Karra Mesh

Formerlover: Correction Dub

Dan Wainwright: A Blessing

Joe Morris: The New Dawn Will Come

Rich Lane: Barry Island (The Long Champs Dub)

Rheinzand: All By Myself

Totem

This is Manchester viewed from Werneth Low near Stockport. A low is a hill, confusingly, for those of you who don't live in northern England. From the top of the Werneth Low you can see right across the bowl Manchester sits in, the Pennines to the south and east and Winter Hill and Rivington Pike near Bolton to the north. We drove up there the other day. Isaac, our eldest is in twelve weeks isolation- shielding the vulnerable from Covid 19- and the things he likes to do such as going out to cafes and shops or meeting people are now strictly prohibited. We didn't get out of the car. We parked up, ate our sandwiches and drank our flask of tea and then drove home again.

This is some swampy, rock meets dance grooves courtesy of Ess O Ess and Saul Richards and remixed by Hardway Bros. Crashing piano chords play off against throbbing bass and guitars. The original and Swamp Crawl versions are tasty too, Swamp Crawl especially, a dusty trek across the mid- west. Heavy tunes for heavy times.