Virus And Tantra

David Harrow, resident of Los Angeles and purveyor of fine dub since the days of On U Sound in the late 80s, has been unleashing weekly releases into the ether, digital dub with acres of wide open space and pressure. The latest one, PurpleCircle (Virus Dub 5), is a delight and is on Bandcamp here. The previous week was Maskup (Virus Dub 4), all smoke, echo, bass and melodica. Nod your head here. They're a dollar each, roughly 98 pence for those of us in the UK. 

Less laid back but just as transportative is David's work in the mid- 90s as Technova (recording for Andrew Weatherall's Sabres Of Paradise and Emissions Audio Output labels. Andrew and David began to work together after bumping into each other London's clubs. When David said he had some music recorded Andrew said he'd put it out on Sabres without even hearing it). Tantra, a 1994 12" single and album, is especially good. This is the full twenty one minutes of Tantra, a late night, post club dub techno excursion.

On the B-side Innersphere remix Tantra as Tantrum, ten minutes of trancey- techno workout. Nothing wrong with some techno for Tuesday is there? Certainly puts your head in a different place and shifts things up a gear.

Tantrum (Innersphere Mix)

Necronomicon

Sometimes the internet is a wonderful thing. Someone posted this on Facebook and I've been mildly obsessed with it for a few days now. In 1994 Nina Walsh launched Sabrettes, a record label that was an offshoot of the Sabres Of Paradise record label (she also registered the Sabrettes tartan seen above with The Scottish Register Of Tartans but that's a side issue here).

Innersphere made techno. In 1994 they released an album called Outer Works and three 12" singles. One of them, Necronomicon, was remixed by Sabres Of Paradise on one side and David Holmes on the other. This is the David Holmes remix but played at 33 rpm rather than 45 but then pitched up to +8, stretched out for over eleven minutes. It is head nodding heaven and totally absorbing- a looped bassline, some long keening sounds, a wiggly acid squiggle, all very hypnotic. You can lose yourself inside it very easily.



Just for comparison here's the Holmes remix played at the intended speed, 45 rpm- still good but considerably more banging in tempo and 1994 attitude.

Tantrum

I found this Sabres Of Paradise advert for forthcoming releases on Weatherall's record label back in 1994 so it seemed to make sense to post a track they were promoting. I did Jack 'O' Swords cover of The Gift fairly recently so instead we'll have some very 1994 techno with a remix of Technova (David Harrow) from Innersphere (David Hedger). This track has withstood time pretty well I think - some early 90s techno can be a bit much now, a bit too bangin'- but this is still listenable and enjoyable.

Bastard Bunny began life in his own Dave Anderson drawn and written comic before becoming co-opted by Weatherall's label and Sabresonic night (underneath some railway arches near London Bridge station. I never went alas). Later on Bastard Bunny turned up in Deadline and then NME.

Tantrum (Innersphere Mix)

Out Of Body

Innersphere's Out Of Body is a 1995 ambient classic- over nine minutes long, a shuffling drumbeat, rippling pianos, squelchy bass, spine tingling stuff all told. It came out on Sabrettes with an Andrew Weatherall remix on the B-side. Weatherall's version is a less optimistic, more paranoid take. There's a high pitched noise that is there more or less all the way through, like a radio not tuned in right, the pianos have been spooked and three quarters of the way through the whole thing turns when a voice asks 'Can I come in please?'

Out Of Body (Andrew Weatherall Remix)