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Showing posts with label hawke. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hawke. Show all posts

Tuesday 21 June 2022

Acid Solstice

I found an old mp3 player recently- not even an iPod but one produced by Creative- and wondered if it still worked. Charged it up, had a poke around inside the folders to see what was on it and then put it in the car to accompany my commute. It's a bit clunky but works fine, stays charged for a good while and will even let me delete files and add new songs. Driving on Saturday afternoon with Eliza in the car with me, this song came on and as the kick drum banged away, the juddering bassline came in and then the layers of acid/ techno wonkiness piled up increasingly filling the car with the sparse fullness of the song and then that stentorian vocal faded in, 'acid funk/ acid funk/ acid funk...' and the snare rattled like a rock on a metal roof, Eliza said, 'well, this is intense'. And I could only reply, 'Yes. It is'. 

Acid Funk (Scott Hardkiss Mix)

It's also ridiculously funky, absorbing, next level stuff from the Hardkiss family back in 1996. Hawke and God Within with Scott Hardkiss on remix duties. I imagine it could still cause mayhem at a club if dropped at the right time and for the right crowd. It came on again driving home last night, the sun beating down on the M60, and it sounded just as good, building and building, ever increasingly, yes, intense. If you want something to add a little edge to your morning routine, to get you moving as you make your tea/ coffee or get your packed lunch together, stick Acid Funk on for a few minutes. 

It's the summer solstice too, something to celebrate or at least to note. The longest day is always a little double edged- summer's only just arrived and in calendar terms we've already peaked. But happy solstice, if that's your thing. 

Friday 5 June 2020

Delusions Of Grandeur


Yesterday- early 80s punk from Los Angeles. Today- trance house from San Francisco in 1993. The Delusions of Grandeur album, a double vinyl compilation, came out in '93. It pulled together releases from Rabbit In The Moon, Hawke, The Drum Club and God Within, all out on the Hardkiss label. Hardkiss were pioneers of US dance music, the brainchild of Scott, Robbie and Gavin Hardkiss. This track by Hawke (Gavin's pseudonym) is a peak on an album that has plenty of peaks, a thumping, rolling, full on sound that comes in waves and doesn't let go. Big, tribal drums. Percussion at the top end. Throbbing bassline. Trippy, trancey acid sounds. Big breakdowns and re- entries. A saxophone all bent out of shape. Perfect for Friday nights and losing yourself in.

3 Nudes Having Sax On Acid (Scott Hardkiss remix)

Monday 28 August 2017

Delusions Of Grandeur


Hardkiss were a San Franciscan trio who played a key role in the early 90s in establishing rave/dance music in the USA. At first they put on parties, promoting and djing, then moved into producing records and running a label. All three- Scott (God Within), Gavin (Hawke) and Robbie (Little Wing)- started making their own work which then got mixed together on their 1994 album Delusions Of Grandeur. This is a twenty minute segued sampler mixing ten of the tracks which make up Delusions... (which was remastered and  re-released in 2015).

1. God Within - ''Raincry (Spiritual Thirst)''
2. Hawke - ''3 Nudes Having Sax On Acid''
3. Drum Club - ''Drums Are Dangerous (Drugs Are Dangerous)''
4. God Within - ''The Phoenix (Rabbit In The Moon's Riverandrain Mix)''
5. Little Wing - ''Mercy Mercy''
6. God Within - ''Daylight (Dreamerdreamsalone)''
7. Hawke - ''Pacific Coastal Highway #1''
8. Rabbit In The Moon - ''Out Of Body Experience (Burning Spear)''
9. Unknown - ''Top Secret Song''
10. Little Wing - ''Thing (One)''




This being San Francisco things are pretty cosmic and hippy in places and by all accounts SF rave had a New Age 'spiritual vibe' (plus drugs) that marked it out as different. The trio saw Future Sound Of London's Papua New Guinea as the starting point for what they wanted to do and the album's tracks go from acid house to trance to breakbeat and techno. In places they veered close to the kind of mood music cds you can find in garden centres with samples of bird calls and monkeys but on the whole this is forward thinking, open minded stuff.

As a bonus here's their inspiration, FSOL's Papua New Guinea, a true moment of greatness. Counter intuitively, for something that works best as an extended track, this is a 7" version. Still epic and massive.

Papua New Guinea (7" Mix)