The ilwtt.org Archive Series: The Liberty Ship

The Liberty Ship. Spring into Summer, 2002.

“Holding on's not easy / But that's another story" 

we may have mentioned bulldozer crash on these pages before - stephen maughan (creator of this almighty pop!) and marc elston's early 90s pop combo who shimmered brightly for sunday records of illinois with singles from "sarah said" to the mini-lp "imperfection": the latter, as its title suggests, though not without flaws, was a very human, quietly rewarding and dramatically undervalued creation. now, it's 2 for the price of 1: while stephen and new co-conspirator geoff suggett have resurfaced as kosmonaut with a hook-filled, spacey single on firestation tower and apparently one to come on matinée, marc has set sail in the liberty ship, a bold and beautiful aggregation of indie sensibilities with elements of alt country, west coast americana, lush sixties velvet(s), even (whisper it softly) folk stylings. songs like "i guess you didn't see her" (first previewed on the firestation tower compilation "i tried a thousand times a thousand times to change your mind") and "don't react", as we may have noted, are pretty instant: musically there's nothing hidden, just in-yer-face harmonies. right about now, things are starting to happen for the liberty ship: "i guess" being the new 7" on matinée, while in a few weeks their old friend albert at sunday will be putting out a six-tracker called, according to the label site, "small lives". as is our wont, we made a nuisance of ourselves and marc duly obliged to answer our garbled, but well-meaning, enquiries. starting with the most dully prosaic of all.

* * * * *

why the name ?

Real liberty ships were famous for splitting up mid-voyage. On a more earnest level a few years ago I gave myself permission to write melodic, simple and guitar based songs again (twee ? fuck off!) The Liberty Ship is a vehicle for creative honesty... so there!

when you started writing songs for the 'ship, was it always your intention to get a full band together, or were you thinking purely in terms of a solo / studio project ?

I always wanted to get a full band together but I thought I was doomed to bedroom noodlings. The band fell together with uncanny ease.

so you're now a fully fledged 3 - or even 4 - piece ?

We are a four piece now. Tim [bass] is an old friend, Rachel [guitar] we got through an ad in a music shop (a risky strategy that paid off!) Steve [drums] works with Rachel. Steve is that rare thing, a drummer into songs rather than drumming!

i think it's fair to say that the new songs have a very different character to bulldozer crash - there are many more influences than just the traditional "indie" sound, and some of your recent demos are very rustic - a world away from the feedback of "changing"... is this just the way your songwriting has developed, or did you consciously want to move away from those recordings ?

I wasn’t consciously trying to get away from the Bulldozer sound (if you glue the Ship and Stephen’s new band Kosmonaut together [maximum soundclash!! excited editor] I guess you would get the v. 2002 Bulldozer Crash). My influences in B. Crash were typical of anyone who spent the late 80’s and early 90’s in various Indie Discos. My tastes are wider now (curiosity, more money and re-issue CDs). Some things I listen to now would get me shot by the Indie Taste Police…but endear me to my Dad!

how did the slot on the firestation tower comp come about ?

It is fair to say I was a bit…erm …out of the loop when it came to small labels. My brother Graeme [Love Parade, Eva Luna, Slipslide] gave me a list of labels to send demos to. Firestation made positive noises. I’d love to play one of their club nights if they’d have us. [memo to FST: you know what to do].

are you a big admirer of gene clark then ? [the b-side of the new single is a fine rendition of clark's "she don't care about time"]:

Gene Clark is great, under-rated, especially by the other Byrds.

and other favourite songwriters of now and yesteryear ?

There are loads of writers I admire. Lennon and McCartney - obviously, Andy Partridge - witty and original, Edwyn Collins - wordplay and Michael Head - simplicity and melody.

tell us about the songs on the forthcoming mini-lp, which reunites you with sunday records.

Sunday took an interest early on. Cabin Fever is on the mini LP as it is too long to cut as a 45, it is just about my favourite song as it achieves the kind of sound I have been chasing since I started. The other songs were recorded before Steve joined so there are some which we probably will never play live. I thought it would be cool to give Sunday a new version of What Happens Now… a coming full circle type thang. On an Indie trivia tip, Albert, the Sunday supremo sends THE shortest e-mails!

what other bands should we be looking out for in the east midlands at the moment ?

Difficult this. Things have reversed since the 80’s, it is easier to record and get music out than it is to get a gig in Nottingham (witness our pitiful gig tally). Johnny Domino keep coming up trumps, I’m an unashamed fan. Derby’s Frankie Machine sound great as long as you’re not looking for a good laugh. Apart from that it’s the usual grim procession of Nu-metal and tribute bands.

what if you're looking for a romantic meal ?

Bees Make Honey on Alfreton Road.

... a big night out with the, um, "crew" ?

I went for a so-called lads' night out last Friday, my advice to anyone visiting Nottingham is to take the civilising influence of female companions as without them you don't stand a cat in hell's chance of gaining entry into Nottingham's premier night spots.

... a sunny sunday stroll ?

I don't usually get much further than Spar for the newspaper. The Embankment by the lazy River Trent.

and to finish the ilwttisott questionnaire, we're focusing on alcoholic afternoons, celluloid and a leading champion of both... what are your favourite tipples, all-time movies and (naturally) smiths songs ?

Marc: Marston's pedigree bitter, Brighton Rock [a particularly brilliant choice, if we may say so], and "Unloveable" - today!

Tim: Jamesons, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, "There is a light..."

Rachel: Gin, Rita Sue and Bob too, "What she said".

Steve: Rolling Rock, Mad Max, "This Charming Man".

before you go, any world cup predictions ?

No predictions, potentially painful, all I have to say is... Danny Mills - why ? 

* * * * *

Why indeed. We should point out that Marc's comment on Danny Mills was made prior to the England v Sweden game, which makes him (Marc, not Mr Mills) one of the more prescient pop stars on the block... Anyway, rather than dwell on it, we suggest you check out these guys - the band whose tastes range from everything from Brighton Rock to Rolling Rock... ILWTTISOTT

The ilwtt.org Archive Series: Harper Lee

Harper Lee. Spring 2002.

“I just sit around listening to Joy Division. I’d forgotten they really are the only band that’s ever mattered.”

BRIGHTON'S OWN HARPER LEE take their name from the authoress of the classic tale of deep south alienation (and GCSE Eng-Lit staple) "To Kill A Mockingbird". Their component parts are multi-instrumentalist Laura Bridge, who also steps out for Kicker, and former Brighter and Hal vocalist Keris Howard, whose guitar lines lit up student bedsits across the land, back in the days when the passing of time was just a journey from SARAHs 1 to 100. We need to stress though that Harper Lee should be judged in their own right as what they are, i.e. the classic wolf in sheep's clothing. For beneath the orderly, melodic melancholy is a lyrical cutting edge that creeps up unannounced and just GETS you. Every time.

"when you need her, but she loves him, so hard it burns, there's no answer that can't hurt" (No Happy Ending)

They popped up for the first time with 2000's "Dry Land" single on the er, superfine Matinée imprint, a brilliant evocation of a windswept and desolate shore, which panicked us into quite justified paroxysms of eulogy after we'd sped back on the tube from Selectadisc (q.v) after picking it up. Pausing only to issue a second forty-five, "Bug", which knocked us so heavily sideways that our respective ribcages still shudder from the bruising, they then gave the world "Go Back To Bed", a début album that shimmered its way through 10 outwardly pristine tracks, though with the feeling beneath the surface never far away: as well as the hidden razor's edge of those first two A sides, it harboured criminally touching songs like "Only connect" (imagine emerging into the outside to be buffeted by invigorating breeze), "Deep dark ocean" (back out on the plains, a measure of sadness, an acre of regret) and the to-be anthemic "Seems to be"...

"tired and yet tongue-tied; excuses and white lies; a waste of fucking energy" (Brooklyn Bridge)

Last autumn, their most recent work, the 3-track CD "Train Not Stopping" cemented their reputation, in our eyes at least. In the same way that Brighter's "Killjoy" suddenly saw them step up an echelon from what we thought was already a pretty lofty vantage point, "Train", with its effortlessly regret-filled lyrics and smooth indie pop swirl, just seemed to switch Harper Lee up another gear, into the UEFA places of all-time alt-pop (don't worry, we are licenced to mix metaphors). It's often the last song I listen to before I get into work in the morning, its honeyed keyboard / guitar mélange soundtracking the walk from the Moorgate escalator and through the raised towers of the Barbican estate. As a tonic for the day it can seem perfect - that last breath of air before plunging your head back down into the yes, deep, dark waters of the world of work.

Anyway. Determined to make sure that our first ever interview was with our very first choice artist, we bothered Keris sufficiently for him to agree to give us an insight into their current landscape. (We guess his fight had just gone.)

* * * * *

so how are you feeling today ?

Fine for a change – still warm from the rosy glow of Brighton being crowned Nationwide League Division 2 Champions at the weekend. Amazing stuff, especially as we also remained the reigning Champions of Division 3 until Plymouth claimed the title on Monday and, as I’m sure you remember, we’ve continued to be the Champions of the 3rd Division South since 1958, having won it in its last year.

Now this may sound a little bit sad and indulgent but trust me, you could not believe what the last 10 years of supporting the Albion have been like.

and what's the weather like ?

The weather is … well, it’s night time and it just looks dark from my window. But it’s not raining. I can say that much.

Only a British fanzine interview would open with a question about the weather.

i read somewhere that you adopted "Harper Lee" as a name because of the way she never wrote another novel … is that true - or is there anything you identify with in "to kill a mockingbird" itself ?

Well I do love the book. I guess I’ve always liked its uncomplicated morality and faith in “good people” - Atticus Finch and Boo Radley are surely two of the greatest heroes of 20th century literature.

That said, the name was chosen simply because I thought it was a great name. We were a little anxious that it might not be a particularly bright idea to name one’s band after a famously litigious writer but it’d be pretty cool to get sued by Harper Lee would it not.

Anyway, Brighter managed to get away with releasing an EP called “Disney” that was fronted by a picture of Winona Ryder. We have a history of these things. 

It is true that I do love the idea of creating one definitive work of absolute genius then just throwing the towel in. And, yes I did think “Dry land” should have put us in that category – first single and last single, goodnight. Nobody else thought it, unfortunately. 

how did the hook-up with matinée come about... was the initiative yours or theirs ?

Erm … it was via Keith Blueboy and Dick Lovejoy … I was looking to put some new stuff out after taking a break for a good many years and I bumped into Keith and Dick at a Sleater Kinney gig (if I remember right) - they suggested Matinée.

I’m not that familiar with the rest of the label’s output – I don’t really know where we fit in amongst the other bands – the ones I’ve heard seem kind of quirky and Harper Lee, in my head at least, aren’t.

I guess it’s kind of odd when your only experience of a label has been a set-up like Sarah where, in the early days at least, there was a real gang mentality, a real shared ethos and sound. I could never see Harper Lee being defined by their label in the same way as Brighter. And I guess that is a good thing.

you're part of a wave of english bands now that are releasing records on united states-based labels. do you ever resent the fact that UK promoters and labels alike still seem to have a huge blind spot for (unhyped) homegrown talent - especially melodic pop talent ?

I’m not necessarily convinced they have a blind spot – Kicker, for example, don’t seem to have any trouble finding UK based labels to release their stuff (or gigs for that matter).

I think the UK may be a little more style/credibility conscious and that may count against some of the more “mature” talents that continue to hawk their wares over in the States. I fear there may be an element of deference that eclipses any worries about the thinning hair, paunches and flaccid old C86 ramblings.

And yes, before you say it, I know my last line could to some extent be turned on me but hey, I’ve agonised many times as to whether I’m too old for doing this stuff now and as to whether my stuff is actually any good … I didn’t release anything for 5 years because I realised I was writing crap and I’m still terrified that if we were to play live people would just look on me as a sad ugly old wanker who’s deluded in the belief that any one actually gives a fuck.

Bands should look like Ash. If Harper Lee ever take the stage it’ll be Laura up front and me under a blanket in the shadows.

on that note, there any plans to play live ? are the reasons that you haven't down to logistics or just not really wanting to ? 

Playing live is hard work isn’t it – undoubtedly it means tiresome journeys up to (inevitably) London in rush hour traffic, means sound-checks, and engineers, and waiting around, and not having a proper meal, the smell of stale beer, other bands, loud music all night, not being able to think or talk, nerves, a late night, no audience, or an audience who just chats all the way through your set, and somebody inevitably will say play a Brighter song (no doubt one of the really awful ones) and you’ll just think why do I bloody bother. Oh, and then there’s the bit about looking a “sad ugly old wanker”.

Saying that, I’m not counting out a Harper Lee live performance in 2002. 

brighter were one of about 3 bands ever that have made me cry - it was "tinsel heart" that did it. we think harper lee tread a similar um, furrow… are you conscious when you record that people might derive so much from your songs, or have you learned to be quite emotionally detached from them by now ?

I’m always genuinely touched when lyrics connect in that way. Some of my songs admittedly mean more to me than others, a few are very personal, others a bit more tenuous, but it’s always special when someone else finds something there that strikes a chord. I’ve always sought solace in other’s music so I’m extremely flattered if one or two people find some kind of consolation in my own.

I guess I’m a pretty reflective individual and my own stuff has always been cathartic. However, I could never ever pretend to be in anyway a decent lyricist so I have to keep the sentiments simple. That’s all I can do – I’m too dumb for poetry or clever symbolism. Maybe that’s why people connect easier – there are few hidden meanings, you don’t have to work anything out. If my songs were a jigsaw puzzle they’d just have 4 very chunky pieces.

I do find it very hard to write lyrics and have to say I’m not always that proud of the end result. I do think I’ve written some dreadful stuff in my time and have to admit, where Brighter are concerned, if I ever had the time and the means for doing so, I’d track down every copy of “Laurel” and scratch out “Maybe”. I don’t know what I was thinking of when I wrote that song. Awful.

[The “Maybe” fan club, which we seem to remember included Melody Maker, will be having screaming fits here. And we're not letting him anywhere near our copy of "Laurel"...]

what about politics ? after the subtexts in your former bands' songs ("hope springs eternal", "election day"), do you still derive lyrical inspiration for writing from the big bad world outside ?

I’ve never been able to do political stuff in the way that say, McCarthy used to. I’d love to be that articulate but I’m not. Both myself and Laura are political - an evening with the two of us and a few beers would soon change any preconceptions of us being a couple of fey flower arranging bed-wetters. However, I’m just not very good at squeezing overt politics into songs – that’s not what I do.

I do think the personal stuff can be more than just introspection – I’d like to think “Dry land” is a political song as it's about personal honesty, about disappointment, about being able to say you’re lost and you just don’t get it (or don’t want to get it) – I think that’s quite a brave thing to say in these times. But I wouldn’t want to overstate it. I’d like to say Harper Lee are quietly subversive – but I think I may be pushing it.

where did that brilliant graffiti on the "go back to bed" sleeve come from ? 

It’s a photo taken by the lovely Cassie (who’s also done a lot of the Kicker sleeve artwork). No idea if the graffitti’s still there - if you want to check you’ll need to visit Wentworth Street in London.

are you really "bored with being ignored" ?

A little, yes, but I guess, as a band, we only have ourselves to blame. I do blow hot and cold on the enthusiasm front - sometimes I listen to our stuff and think “shit, we are SO good, what is wrong with everybody, why aren’t we huge”, and other days its just crippling self-doubt.

Whatever, we’ve never really been into “self-promotion” - I’ve always thought that a mite vulgar. We must be a little frustrating from a record company point of view.

is Harper Lee something you concentrate on more when kicker are "quiet" (or in your case, something that got sidelined to an extent when you were touring with trembling blue stars) or are you writing songs all the time ?

Um … there’s no real plan. My own writing comes in fits and starts, which can be a little alarming sometimes as I have dried up for years, not just months, in the past.

Kicker is very much Laura’s main band I guess but I wouldn’t want Harper Lee to be seen as any sort of side project. As we are essentially “studio-based”, it’s not too much of a drain on either of our time. Saying that, TBS [Keris guested manfully for Bobby Wratten’s elegant independent pop quintet by playing bass, and (we thought) bringing a welcome soupçon of “does love last forever ?” stylings to songs like "st pauls cathedral at night"] did start to become more of a distraction than was originally intended and I had to make some sort of choice as I also have a day job and some semblance of a life to weave in each week.

what's next on the release schedule… is there a second album in the pipeline ? (if there is can we suggest "bobby zamora" for a title ?)

We’re going into the studio at the end of this week to start recording a new LP of undecided length - it’ll hopefully be ready by the mid/late summer. “Bobby Zamora” would be a great title if we could guarantee he’d still be on the Albion’s books by the time the LP’s released. If he wasn’t it’d be a bit of a sore point.

The current working title for the new record is “Everything’s going to be OK”. No question mark you see – wanted to be a bit optimistic, show that we could be a bit upbeat.

what artistes do you find yourselves listening to, this spring 2002 ?

Ever since seeing 24 Hour Party People I just sit around listening to Joy Division. I’d forgotten they really are the only band that’s ever mattered.

Laura’s probably been listening to something very cool and happening. She tends to have her ear close to the ground, not only due to alcoholic collapse or because she can hear “the approach of horses” but also because she gets out more than me (which I guess is why she’s never around to answer fanzine questions).

what are your recommended venues in Brighton (btw for "venues" we mean bars, parks, caffs - just anywhere you like to hang out) ?

Once again, a question that would be better put to Laura but as she’s “unavailable for comment” I’d say, best venue (since the sad demise of The Lift) has got to be the Free Butt … best pub has got to be my local The Engineer in Argyle Road, best park, Preston Park (with its own best café, The Rotunda).

Actually, I really don’t get out that much - you know what Brighton’s like – you live in fear that you’ll walk into the wrong bar wearing the wrong trainers and everybody will laugh and point. And I’m always going to be doing things like that because I’ll never be able to get away from the fact that although I may live in one of Europe’s coolest cities, actually I come from Worthing.

...oh, and lastly, are you doing anything special for the <> ?

In an ideal world I’d like to say we’d be dancing through the streets of London gaily playing catch with the freshly severed heads of the Royal family and all their verminous hangers on. This probably remains a possibility for Laura but it’s more likely that I’ll be subversively in denial about any right royal celebrations and will be carrying out my own form of protest by having a couple of days off, having a few beers and putting my feet up in front of the World Cup. And when England play I won’t be standing for the National Anthem. Up the revolution!

Amen to that. And many, many thanks to Keris. So I was wearing Winona Ryder on my Brighter t-shirt all that time...

* * * * *

Anyway, let’s tidy up now. As you’ll see, Keris seems strangely self-deprecating, particularly about his skill at writing lyrics – but the simplicity, as I think he hints, is part of the value… we very genuinely rate him as a top quality lyricist. The point he makes about "Dry land" is interesting - yes, it is a superb song - but at least Harper Lee having, for want of a better word, persevered, means more people will be hearing about their work and in doing so getting to listen to the song and its exploration of well, the disenfranchisement that a lot of us are feeling as we age and suddenly panic about quite what our place is after all. As for the "wham bam thank you ma'am" of releasing one landmark single and splitting up, well effectively that's what Hal (Keris, ably supported by Alex Sharkey's synth stylings) did with the sublime "Election day", which slipped out unannounced on Vinyl Japan in 1994.

Awwww, we wish they'd reconsider on the Bobby Zamora thing... When the Wedding Present released “George Best” he’d, after all, played for an arsenal of clubs apart from Gedge's beloved m********* u***** (though, fortuitously enough, not Arsenal) and spent much of the intervening time propping up bars. Given that Brighton nicked Zamora off the once-great BRFC (1883), and we wouldn't think any less of Harper Lee if they appropriated him too, we think that’s still probably a pretty cool title for an LP, wherever he might go next (ilwttisott is bombarding the Lazio and Inter Milan bulletin boards to take him for a big-euro sum – given that Rovers get 40% of any sell-on). Just think - surely if Harper Lee get in now, he'll have to sue them for image rights once he's playing for England.

Anyway, we're off to find Wentworth Street before it becomes a proper shrine. If it's full of pop tourists clicking camera shutters by the time we get there, we'll know we were too late. ILWTTISOTT

A Penny Change From Two Pound Coins: Emily and Pacific

Ah, I well remember buying Creation’s “Doing It For The Kids” compilation LP: and the fact that as a schoolboy, the £1.99 price tag (as the sticker says, "for the price of a 7” single”) was absolutely crucial, as I could only sate my appetite for new records by sticking strictly to discounts.

For me and a few of my mates the record opened a door into the label roster (this was Creation phase two, post-Pastels though with a few other fanzine favourites, like the Jasmine Minks and Primal Scream, still hanging on for dear life). But while my friends clustered around the heavy hitters of the House of Love or My Bloody Valentine, I couldn't help but be intrigued by some of the other artists then on board Alan McGee’s good ship. These included the ‘house band’, Biff Bang Pow! - whose “She Paints” here began a slow burning journey of discovering their (somewhat patchy, but at their best incredibly under-rated) discography - and of course the Razorcuts, a band we've always loved, and who scenesters oft forget managed two-long players for the self-styled “President” after being poached from the Subway Organization. The irascible Ron Rom, when reviewing this comp for Sounds, spent much of his word count rubbishing the Razors’ contribution (the admittedly uber-effete “Brighter Now”), which could perhaps have been better deployed bigging up other bands who needed attention.

I seemed to be the only boy in town who liked Emily’s contribution, “Reflect On Rye”. The vocal was moody and lugubrious, almost comically so, although joining the dots I realised this was the same band whose “The Old Stone Bridge” flexi I’d once borrowed from a classmate and committed to C90. But this time, I felt I detected first glimmerings of magic; this two minutes & ten seconds of sheer yearning, underpinned by a breezy, organic guitar strum, fitted perfectly with my teenage sense of outsiderness.

In the months that followed, when we should probably have been revising or something, we discovered a little more about Emily (remember, these were pre-internet days). The LP only gave the songwriting credit to one Oliver Jackson. We found out they were Welsh, and had once been called See Emily Play. It also transpired that the song was taken from a 12” EP on Creation called “Irony”, which also included a re-recorded version of “Old Stone Bridge”. But once we tracked down “Irony” the standout song for me was “Mad Dogs” which, unlike those, was uptempo and bright, a song that I think indie kids would have gone ga-ga for had Guy Chadwick penned it; and that deep, sonorous voice worked wonders for me again. I read now that “Mad Dogs” is seen as badly produced, and not optimally played (the drummer gets particular stick in this regard), but to this day I can’t find any fault with it.

By the time we’d completed these researches, it seemed that Emily had apparently been dropped by Creation. But, happily, there would be more to discover. We stumbled across their next outing, “Stumble”, a 7” on the fairly legendary Esurient label. On any level, it was a step up: beginning as low, almost eavesdropped rumblings of vocal and folksy strum, it gradually flowered into a darkly jangling pop song, gaining momentum and instrumentation: drums, piano, flute, then a sudden and dizzying saxophone, the effect of which on us was not so far from the way that Sarah Curtis’ violin used to take King Of The Slums to the next level. Yet somehow Emily remained subtle and enigmatic, as well as urgent and primal. On the B-side were two more accomplished numbers, the knowing post-Smiths dreamabout “Rachel” and “Boxing Day Blues”, a gorgeous, laidback, classically-tinged ballad that now brings to mind two of the truly great bands that would follow them, Blueboy and Hood. This time the songs are credited simply to Emily, although the ‘guest’ musicians (Gian, Anna and Steve) get shout-outs too.

At this point the opposite happened of what should have happened. Instead of being hailed and feted, Emily simply fell off the radar. And that seemed to be all, as was the wont for so many bands who had skirted with the plugholes of indie obscurity. But then, a year or so later again, we found ourselves reading a ravishing fanzine review (I think in Far Out and Fishy ‘zine) of what was apparently a whole, utterly-out-of-the-blue new Emily release. It was a terrifically written piece, as always, describing an avant-garde and sprawling sounding LP called “Rub Al Khali” issued by a fledgling and super-obscure imprint called Everlasting and it made the record sound strange, exotic, deeply flawed and yet unmissable. Trouble was, it may as well only have been released on the Moon. No record shop had it, no friends owned it, and as years and then decades passed, nobody ever re-issued it. I remained grimly determined, but realistically was prepared to accept that *hearing* the damn blighter just might never happen.

25 years on, and not for the first time, Firestation Records of Berlin came to my rescue. Not only does their double-CD “A Retrospective” deliver a first digital outing for this lost gem of an album but it packages it up with a host of unreleased Emily demos and outtakes (plus, by way of no small bonus, the tracks from the Esurient EP).

And ‘tis a sign of Chris Fish’s talents that “Rub Al Khali” is everything we expected it to be from his write-up a cool quarter of a century ago. Seven tracks ranged louchely over an hour of unhurriedly unfolding indie / folk / rock / jazz / soul, “Rub” is the proverbial lighthouse in the desert, an expansive, ambitious and at times impossibly fabulous suite of semi-improvised torch songs. On highlights “Foxy” (which we could easily imagine as part of the late, great Guru’s “Jazzmatazz” series) and the soulful, white hot “48 Today” an out-of-this-world female vocal adds yet another layer of atmosphere; on “Americana” the amplifiers throb to ‘60s-nodding paroxysms of electrified riffs and guitar bliss; on the closing, 13½-minute “Allah”, all senses converge to be tingled as Emily’s new age stylings positively encircle, *captivate* the listener. Those that decry this as ‘prog’ miss every point in the book: long songs alone do not a prog record make, and artists from Misty In Roots to Amayenge over the years have amply proved how a ten-minute song can feel as light as a feather if the attitude and quality are right. As many of their contemporaries limped on, adopting shufflebeats and insisting there'd always been a dance element to their music, Emily were free and clear, in a field of their own. And with the benefit of hindsight, it feels right that they couldn’t, didn’t try to follow what is probably their masterpiece.

In contrast, the rest of “A Retrospective” is inconsistent, to say the least: copyright matters having presumably done for the inclusion of “Irony” (although the four tracks from that do appear on Creation Soup volume five) the other high points (and, to be fair, they are very high) are provided by the jazzy showmanship of the delectable “Waiting For A Letter” and the single that should have been, “Merri-Go-Round” (which, incidentally, features some amazing drumming – our love for “Mad Dogs” notwithstanding, they had long dispensed with the original drummer by now). What remain are largely lo-fi acoustic demos, and though a few (“New One”) scream with unrealised potential, most are inchoate offcuts, perhaps left to fester in the attic for good reason.

There is, however, no excuse for any of us missing out on “Stumble” or “Rub Al Khali” for a second time, so please don’t sleep on this one.

* * * * *

Also appearing on side two of “Doing It For The Kids” were an unheralded outfit from Brighton called Pacific, who doled up a ditty called “Jetstream”. This was a rather genteel affair, all ocean spray and xylophone, yet the use of a sample from a House of Commons debate on the sinking of the Belgrano hinted at darker textures. “Jetstream” felt harder to love than “Reflect On Rye”, but yet the plaintive vocal and crystalline beauty of the thing compelled us to investigate further (again, the lone credit to “Pacific” on the centre label didn’t get us off to a flyer with our research).

Eventually we learned that the track was culled from a 12” EP called “Sea Of Sand”, which kicked off with a brace of great, if grown-up songs called “Barnoon Hill” and “I Wonder” that, like Emily in their later incarnations, were unafraid to co-opt strings and brass; although Pacific sounded much more controlled and clinical than Emily, especially when they added spoken word and sequencer into the mix. And there was a sense of almost permanent wistfulness: it sounded like the vocal was ever on the point of breaking into tears, whilst many of the lyrical themes didn’t feel far off “Reflect On Rye”. Again, all this was manna to me then (er, and now). And you can relive my teenage years (sort of) by downloading “Barnoon Hill” for free, here.

“Sea Of Sand” was followed by another 12” single called “Shrift”, which came in a gorgeous sleeve and saw Pacific up the gears with a sequencer-led, almost New Orderish number and for our money, minor classic which - over eight minutes - mingled bubbling synth lines with touches of brass, strings and woodwind and a desperate, naked, Orchids-style vocal; yet on the flip Pacific went for two ambient, lowkey, neoclassical instrumental pieces. The sleeve credited a name this time – “DENNISS” – which also appeared on the sleeve when Creation bundled the two EPs onto a single CD (also adding the shorter 7” version of “Shrift”) and called it “Inference”. This time the spoken-word artist and guest violin player got namechecked too, but there the trail ran cold.

Again, we were left in the dark for more than 20 years, until the indefatigable Roque decided to do an interview online with the singer from a mega-unknown south coast 80s indiepop combo called the Doris Days. That man, one Dennis Wheatley, confirmed that the Doris Days’ disappearance coincided with the birth of Pacific, the band’s reincarnation when they signed to Creation. And that far from disappearing from view after “Inference”, Pacific’s singer/songwriter remained very active in the music industry (albeit that we would not really hear his rather touching vocals again). This was not before Pacific had been paid to do some recordings for EMI which, it seems, came to naught.

As part of a duo called Atlas with Tony Newland, Dennis released a couple of 12”s on Pandephonium in the early ‘90s, “Noontide” and “Compass Error”. The former even featured a ‘Pacific’ remix. The latter, later remixed by Menace and Fluke amongst others, is a quite brilliant slab of acid house-influenced techno that, ironically, Alan McGee would probably love to have courted around the time Creation released its blissed-out “Keeping The Faith - A Creation Dance Compilation". (Plus, the sampled intro to "Compass Error (East)" reminds us of the Michael Heseltine 'vocal' used all the way back on "Jetstream"...) A later single, “Beauty”, would emerge on the Jackpot label, a version of which would later appear on a John Digweed album.

In the 2000s, working with Nina Miranda, Dennis released a clutch of records as – appropriately – Shrift, with an album, “Lost In A Moment” and a remix EP. This duo were marginally closer to the coffee table – downtempo/electronica with ghostly vocals, but the songs still shuffle around pristinely, and there are some insanely pretty strings that flutter around the mix.

And in 2004, Dennis contributed a remix in his own name to Paul Haig and Billy Mackenzie’s “Give Me Time”, which came out on One Little Indian and even features guest MCing from Buzz B. The original “Give Me Time” is beautiful , soulful and harrowing: the remix is sparse, atmospheric and spacey, with the late Mackenzie’s voice taking on a new plaintiveness. We’re rather pleased, given that it’s a collaboration between at least four different artists that we’d admired over the years, even if we would probably never discovered its existence had Roque not decided to chase down the remaining Doris Days.

* * * * *

All of which goes to show that there was quite a lot to discover under the surface, however unassuming our first encounter with these bands. Surely David Cavanagh’s (unfairly maligned) magnum opus on Creation Records might have mentioned either band, at least in passing, in its 584 pages? No, not even a footnote. 

in love with these times, in spite of these times top 10 Emily tunes: Stumble. Mad Dogs. Foxy. Merri-Go-Round. Reflect On Rye. 48 Today. Boxing Day Blues. Allah. Waiting For A Letter. Americana.

in love with these times, in spite of these times top 10 Pacific / Dennis Wheatley tunes: Shrift. Barnoon Hill. Give Me Time.  I Wonder. Another Day (the Doris Days). Jetstream. Plus any 3 of the several hundred million mixes of "Compass Error"!

We also contemplate the legacy of Creation Records (and a few of its other unsung heroes) here.

ILWTT.76-84 "Positive, Political and Too Good To Be True": UK Roots, Reggae & Related

Every so often we get a bit taken over by UK reggae, and spend many weeks knee-deep in the archives, trying to piece together as much homegrown roots output as we can find from that fertile period when it seemed impossible for any band playing this stuff to put a foot wrong.

This double-CD set we burned as a treat for ourselves therefore sees us break from fantasy label compilations in order to put together a playlist which we really think showcases the sheer beauty and strength of many British releases of what, in retrospect, feels a golden era. The usual rules applied though – no more than one track per combo!

If we'd stuck to a single disc, by the way, it might not have comprised that many numbers, given the propensity of producers from that era to max out on somewhat dubtastic 12” extended mixes: between them, the longest four songs on this add up to about three-quarters of an hour. The disc titles aside (they seemed fitting) we’ve steered clear of the reggae-style tunes and dubs which the Clash or the Ruts or the Slits or SLF or even Killing Joke turned their hands to: not because we don’t dig them, but because this exercise was about leaving our old comfort zones behind and embarking upon a proper voyage of discovery. It’s that voyage that we wanted to share.

It is not always easy to source this material, especially if you are a total amateur like me, picking up a lone dusty slice of vinyl in a secondhand shop every few months. So we’ve tried to indicate below where we’ve sourced stuff from. However, for the ‘bigger’ artists there are still reasonably widely available back catalogues. And, relatively recently, some absolutely *essential* work has been done by Bristol Archive Records and Reggae Archive Records, curating the Bristol and Midlands scenes of the time and bringing them vividly back to life. We’re far from the only ones, I suspect, who are profoundly grateful to them, and as you’ll see our list owes a fair bit to their labours. 

* * * * *

Disc one: Kick It Over

X-O-Dus "English Black Boys"

Now we’ve raved about this before, the sublime extended-mix of this tune from Mancunians X-O-Dus, released on Factory Records (as we remarked then, it’s kind of Dennis Bovell channels Martin Hannett). When they sing, plaintively yet disbelievingly, about those who are seeking their repatriation, it still sounds incredibly raw and harrowing. You can pick this up on 12” in Soho for about £30, or – if you’re not an oligarch of some kind - try and pick up LTM’s fairly comprehensive X-O-Dus compilation album for a more competitive price.

Aswad "Pressure"

If you only know them for their sundrenched 1980s number one single, “Don’t Turn Around”, don’t panic: west London’s Aswad have a highly impressive back catalogue which is 1000% less cheesy, and which between ’76 and ’82 is well-nigh unimpeachable. Unlike a couple of the other tunes they recorded for their landmark first John Peel Session in 1976, this song would not end up on their superb, horn-flecked 1981 breakthrough album, "New Chapter". However, it’s worth trying to find the Aswad BBC Sessions CD in order to hear it. Don’t forget – as we nearly did - that there was also a brilliant self-titled LP in between those first Peel Sessions and “New Chapter”: songs like the magnificent “I A Rebel Soul” and “It’s Not Our Wish” never get old, as they sound the beating heart of Ladbroke Grove.

Black Symbol “Trouble Trouble”

Led by the legendary Fatman, Birmingham’s incredibly soulful Black Symbol collective released a few singles in day, but may be chiefly recognised now for having been at the heart of the second city’s roots scene, in Handsworth. Indeed, in what turns out to have been a far-sighted move for posterity as well as a severely magnanimous gesture at the time, it was they who organised and paid for a host of other local musicians to record songs for two “Handsworth Explosion” compilation LPs in the early 1980s, which were released originally on Black Symbol’s own label and have now been combined on a single Reggae Archive compilation. Much more on those later.

Linton Kwesi Johnson "Bass Culture"

The finest performance poet we can remember on record, thanks in no small part to Dennis Bovell's bright, brass-fuelled arrangements and the way that LKJ's stentorian monotone drops in over the bass, in the vein of Prince Far-I's deliciously deadpan lilt. Much as we admire Benjamin Zephaniah (q.v.) there is no doubt that Johnson was not only a truth-teller supreme, but also the master of dub poetry: he should also, by rights, be a ‘national treasure’ now. Pleasingly, there are a host of LKJ albums still widely available on CD.

Eclipse “Blood Fi Dem”

More fire. Unearthed by Reggae Archive, this fabulous song was once a 7” A-side on Birmingham indie 021 Records, and now appears on Reggae Archive’s wider Midlands compilation, “The Midlands Roots Explosion” (a sister record of sorts to the three “Bristol Reggae Explosions” which is accurately if lengthily subtitled “Rastafari, Revolution and Repatriation: Roots Reggae from the Jamaican Diaspora in the English Midlands 1976 – 1984”). A strangely minimalist sleeve design too, like Factory on a tight budget. This was Eclipse’s third single, and also appeared on their lone album (now re-issued on Reggae Archive’s Eclipse CD, “Corrupted Society”).

Black Slate "Amigo"

A UK top ten hit, which is quite an achievement for a record that was neither a novelty tune nor a catchy chorus stapled to a reggae hook, but actually a fairly sincere paean to Jah (albeit a danceable one – even the European discotheques succumbed). The album of the same name is eminently trackdownable.

Black Beard "Cut After Cut"

Matumbi's Dennis Bovell would soon became the go-to man for pretty much everything, including mixing the Slits, LKJ and X-O-Dus, but this is from his incarnation as instrumental king on the very British dub outing "Strictly Dub Wize", which suggested he might be a match for the Jamaican masters. You can find the reissued Virgin CD if you look hard enough.

UB40 "Madam Medusa"

There are all sorts of reasons to be sceptical about what UB40 became, and their near-neighbours Steel Pulse clearly weren't very impressed, judging by BBC4's seriously ace "Reggae Britannia" documentary, but UB40’s "Signing Off" LP in 1980, with its big hit singles, is actually not bad at all. The music feels a little anaemic (especially the voice, the annoying tinny keyboards and the most crucial component of all, the bassline), but the songs are actually quite refined. None more so than their anti-Maggie rant, "Madam Medusa", which does the wider UK roots trick of marrying head-noddingly mellow music with vitriolic sentiment, and stretches the band's better traits over thirteen (gulp!) minutes.

Truths & Rights “New Language”

One feels that we ought to have heard rather more than a brace of tunes on the Handsworth Explosions from the now rather below-radar T&R syndicate, but both of their tracks are neatly clanging, echo-laden soliloquies which should be devoured by roots rockers and steppers alike.

The Cimarons "Willin'"

From UK veterans the Cimarons came this bass-heavy tie-in with the Rock Against Racism movement, which became a staple of their gigs in the later 1970s when the popular fight against the National Front – fought hand in hand with many of punk rock’s leading lights - was in the ascendancy. It fades in a bit bizarrely and extremely slowly, so much so that you are very likely to think that your speakers or headphones have given up the ghost, but once you can hear it, “Willin’” morphs into a rewarding listen. We often find ourselves seguing it into Steel Pulse’s “Jah Pickney – R.A.R”, for hopefully obvious reasons.

Musical Youth “Political”

Yes, them! This was on their first 7”, released on 021 records back in the days when they were labelmates with the Au Pairs and about to be picked up by John Peel (older readers will recall that within a year or so they were Number One in the ‘real’ charts). This line-up, when Frederick Waite snr was still on lead vocals as ‘token grown-up’, is the same one that recorded their first Radio One session for John Peel. “Political” is a captivating plea for employment - “We don’t want to be treated like pawns on a chess board / We want work” – that has very little in common with “Pass The Dutchie”, the song that would catapult them to fame, but I can guarantee you will not regret investigating it for a second.

Smiley Culture “Police Officer” (this is the 7” version, with the Reprobates’ “Participation Two” on the other side)

His sad (and, yes, “police related”) death inspired a great musical tribute from Joseph Cotton, and a truly atrocious one from Emily Capell, but his handful of cheeky chappy hit singles on Fashion Records in the 1980s – especially “Police Officer”, a true story about how Smiley evaded arrest after being flagged down under the infamous ‘sus’ law - filled us with happiness even then, and certainly do the same now. Annoyingly, however, it seems impossible to get hold of any of Smiley’s ‘product’ without scouring those secondhand racks – thankfully we’ve now sourced the 12s of this, his biggest hit, plus the great “Schooltime Chronicle” and “Cockney Translation”. A much-missed, and much underrated performer, Smiley came through the Saxon Sound System with Tippa Irie (another of our faves, and a later Fashion labelmate) back in the day.

Iganda “Slow Down”

This skilful, soothing yet modernist platter – it’s propelled along by a single booming bassline and punctuated by shards of ambient noise and vocal manipulation - comes from the flip of the very first 021 Records 7”, cased in a sleeve that looks more like a Ron Johnson record than anything this relaxingly powerful. So we’re rather hoping that Reggae Archive will be able to deliver the A-side, “Mark Of Slavery” (and the A-side of that Musical Youth single!) on a future Midlands Explosion volume… We’re also beginning to surmise that 021, named after the Birmingham dialling code at the time, is one of the best ‘lost’ labels ever.

Steel Pulse "Prodigal Son"

There is an amazing Top Of The Pops episode from 1978, frequently shown on BBC4, which starts with Buzzcocks doing "Love You More". You think it surely can't top that, but hey presto then you see Steel Pulse, performing their sole UK top 40 hit "Prodigal Son", from their seminal “Handsworth Revolution” album. “Prodigal Son”, which was also the first song on their first John Peel session earlier in the year, was the epitome of how roots could sound punchy and immediate, as well as being delectably laid-back. Mind you, as their albums go I think we may even prefer “Tribute To The Martyrs”, the follow-up to “Handsworth Revolution”, if that’s allowed. Steel Pulse were, over the course of those two long-players at least, the business.

A good overview, covering those LPs and more, is the new-ish Island compilation CD “Prodigal Sons”. Mind you, note that “The Midlands Roots Explosion”, if you somehow hadn’t already decided to buy it, features the rather gorgeous vocal and instrumental tracks from Steel Pulse’s very rare 1976 debut 7” on Concrete Jungle, “Kibudu-Mansatta-Abuku”: you won’t find *that* on many of their ‘greatest hits’.

Disc two: Justice Tonight

Mystic Foundation “Handsworth”

Secreted near the end of Handsworth Explosion volume two is this humdinger of a track from another glittering discovery, Mystic Foundation, decrying the ‘sus’ laws but celebrating “life in the ghetto”: it feels almost like a hymn of civil pride. In the aftermath of the Handsworth riots, the song is also very matter-of-fact about violent retaliation against racism. The Foundation were evidently a versatile bunch, as the three songs they have across the recent Reggae Archive re-releases are all rather different, yet equally accomplished.

Matumbi "Bluebeat & Ska"

The general view seems to be that Matumbi, formed in London, were the second largely UK-based reggae act, after the Cimarons but before Black Slate. They even had a dalliance with the UK top 40, with “Point Of View”. This infectious and melodic single, “Bluebeat & Ska”, while less heavy on the low frequencies than some of their ouevre, is incredibly pretty and affecting. Listening to it now, I'm always wanting to substitute its lyrics with, "whatever happened to / UK roots reggae..." An easy way in to Matumbi is probably their “Empire Road” ‘best of’.

Benjamin Zephaniah “Stop The War”

Inspirational as he’s undoubtedly been as a poet and statesman for his home city, we hadn’t found ourselves really tumbling for our Ben’s forays into music, even his first (and therefore presumably best) album “Rasta”, which we tracked down over the internet for a few quid. However, the sterling work of Reggae Archive means we now have his contributions to the two Black Symbol-curated Handsworth compilation LPs, “Unite Handsworth” and “Stop The War”, which are both *much* more like it. The war in question, in case you wondered, is the cold war, but as well as castigating Russia and the USA this is a much wider plea against nuclear proliferation.

Reggae Regular “Where Is Jah?”

A soulful, solid, seven from ’77 from Reggae Regular aka the Regulars aka the Reggae Regulars, now findable on i-Tunes via one of the Greensleeves compilations. In particular, this boasts some incredibly pretty ‘plinky plonk’ piano. The band apparently formed in south London, although for some reason I had always assumed they were from the Midlands…

Lion Youth "Three Million On The Dole"

It is not easy to find out too much about Lion Youth, whose "Love Comes And Goes" LP suggested him to be a tender crooner of lovers' rock, loosely in the style of Gregory Isaacs' "In Person". However, his "Rat A Cut Bottle" and "Three Million" singles and dubs, on the preposterously but fabulously named Virgo Stomach, are a little different, not to say very special. There is no mystery, however, as to what Lion Youth is railing against with this single: again though, there is a little mournful magic amidst the "doleful", sober tones. Should you want a vinyl copy of this and don’t want to get your fingers burned like we did, it’s worth noting that Juno Records (whom we'd highly recommend for techno and bass stuff too) have a re-issue of the 12” available for far less than you’d be charged on Berwick Street for a scratched-to-smithereens original.

Talisman "Dole Age (12” mix)"

Ten minutes of top-notch West Country roots. Bristol's marvellous Talisman released only two singles, all four tracks on which are exceptional. "Dole Age", released as a double A-side with the should-have-been-a-big-hit "Free Speech”, is a fully-realised, easy-paced rumination about poverty and boredom that then flits into a slinky dub section which also suggests they were not too fond of Mrs T ("Mrs Thatcher is a criminal... just get the woman out"). Little wonder it was an NME single of the week. There’s a Talisman compilation on Bristol Archive Records, also called “Dole Age”, which collects their singles and more, as well as making them labelmates with the Cortinas and er, Nautical William.

Zephaniah “The Music Business”

Firstly, this lot are nothing to do with Benjamin Zephaniah, as far as I can tell: they were “a band from Birmingham”, in the words of Mighty Mighty. This track, from vol. 1 of the Handsworth Explosion, is a lyrical precursor of Napalm’s “Enemy Of The Music Business” and Thrilled Skinny’s “Musik Biz Slime”: sentiment-wise, anyway. What it has that *they* don’t have is a beautiful, easy feel and a closing coda of blissed-out dub (also featuring a woodblock, a creaking door, and those things they always had in school music rooms where you scrape a wooden stick over some grooves). We prefer this even to the seemingly more feted “Free Man”, the group’s contribution to the Midlands Explosion comp.

Black Roots "Juvenile Delinquent"

Many of the bands on here got radio sessions, play and praise from John Peel, including their Bristolian contemporaries Talisman, but Black Roots were certainly amongst his favourites, and right at the centre of their city’s reggae scene. The “Juvenile Delinquent” single preys on those regular themes of disaffection, alienation and unemployment: again, the dubbier last minute or so is particularly thrilling. Black Roots hailed from the St.Paul’s area of Bristol, and it’s no coincidence that many of the groups mentioned in this post came from neighbourhoods that witnessed riots in the early 1980s: the lyrics amply demonstrate the poverty, tension and sheer frustration that was rampant in these ghettoised parts of inner cities at the time. NB Bristol Archive Records have a *truckload* of Black Roots re-issues on tap.

Capital Letters “Unemployed”

Flying the flag for unglamorous (even by West Midlands standards) Wolverhampton, Capital Letters threatened to get somewhere around the time of their “Headline News” album, and had a crossover-ish hit with “Smoking My Ganja”, which feels a bit like a novelty single in the face of some of their deeper outings. This song from the album shows them in more reflective mood: it’s mellow, if tinged with a melancholy that borders on desperation. Like “Juvenile Delinquent”, it’s also about the dangers and sadnesses of sheer boredom.

Sceptre “Living On Strong”

You may have worked out by now that the chances are, if you haven’t heard of a band on this list before, they were (a) from Handsworth – a neighbourhood which has somewhat bulldozed its way into our recent affections - and (b) bloody brilliant. Although the female-vocal led “Ancestors Calling”, the first song on the first Black Symbol Presents comp, has rightly accumulated plaudits, we love to give this one a spin too as it picks up on those quintessential themes of Armagideon and stopping the ‘fussing and fighting’. There's now a Sceptre CD on Reggae Archive, memorably called "Essence Of Redemption Ina Dif'rent Styley", which we're frankly going to have to purchase as soon as we've finished typing.

Poet & The Roots “Man Free (For Darcus Howe)”

An early pseudonym for Linton Kwesi Johnson (yes, and with Dennis Bovell at the studio controls), Poet & the Roots released a tremendous if claustrophobic one-off album on Virgin, “Dread Beat an’ Blood”, from which this is taken, a record which directly and uncompromisingly addressed the injustices being inflicted on the black community in our capital city at that time. It’s also renowned as the album (well, one of them) that predicted the Brixton riots.

Black Knight “Feeling”

Black Knight (yep – of Handsworth) came across as a little too gooey and lovelorn on their first Handsworth Explosion contribution, “Let’s Make Up”, but this one more than makes amends as it contemplates what might make the youth turn to crime. It’s also the final tune on the second and last Explosion. We’re going to get in trouble for saying this, but these Handsworth Explosion sets remind us a little of the Subway or even Airspace vinyl LP comps that helped define a (Bristol-centred) indie-pop scene later in the 1980s. But’s not going too far, we think, to see them as a loose equivalent…

Misty In Roots "Poor And Needy"

We’re determined this fantasy compilation finishes as strongly as humanly possible. So… 

Oh, Misty. If like us you only “properly” realized their worth in the 21st century, it seems ridiculously hard to find their stuff, unless you’re willing to pay sky-high prices… but over the last few years we have at least tracked down a clutch of the 12”s issued on their own People Unite label (People Unite Musicians’ Collective, to give it its full name), which we adore despite the fact that they hop, skip and jump, and the bass sounds like a foghorn through our stereo… 

Less "agit" than some of their contemporaries, Misty remain perhaps the greatest of the UK roots bands, and certainly, along with Steel Pulse, those most closely identified with the punk / roots crossover of the time. Indeed, between them Steel Pulse and Misty recorded 14 Peel Sessions, which made them the darlings of plenty a late night radio listener, casting their spell way beyond a narrow ‘roots’ audience. If you don’t fancy shelling out hundreds of pounds for various long-deleted CDs your best bet is to see if you can still find their “Roots Controller” set from 2001-ish, which includes a limited and fairly random bonus selection of their 1978-1983 outings (our favourite may be the sublime “Ireation”) but doesn’t have any of their wondrous singles (this eleven minute 12” A side marathon of “Poor And Needy”, the magical “Peace & Love”, the sparkling double-header of “Wandering Wanderer”/”Cry Out For Peace” or the remarkably jaunty Peel Session favourite “Own Them, Control Them”).

* * * * * 

That’s it. We *know* that we’re just scratching the surface, and we *know* that we’ve a hell of a lot to learn. We’re total ingénues in this genre. But that’s perhaps the most exciting thing, being aware that we’ve 40 years of catching up to do, and that even this deluge of stunning songsmithery, political anger and of spiritual artistry is just… the tip of the iceberg.

ILWTT.08 "Hurt You And Kill You Inside": A Slumberland Records Compilation

Based in Oakland, Slumberland Records has been pumping out high quality releases by high quality bands for 25 years now, and we’re no more immune to their myriad charms than any other sensible human being on the planet. This is only the second of our label compilations to have any preponderance of songs released in the 21st century, which means we were able to pick over a few of our reviews of these records when they came out: we hope you’ll forgive us repeating ourselves.

Perhaps more than any other of the lists so far, this is one that reveals our personal favourites, and comes with a disclaimer that many of the label’s most hotly-touted bands and records are absent: it’s not that we don’t like them, just that we’ve built up stronger attachments to the songs below, often over many years…

And now, your starter for twenty-eight.

* * * * *

1. Hood “The Field Is Cut”

Yes, we’ve documented our love affair with Hood many times. Although Slumberland also gave a general release to Hood’s “Cabled Linear Traction” debut, we’ve reluctantly persuaded ourselves that as it originally came out on Fluff Records here in the UK, we won’t claim gems like “Norfolk” or “British Radars” for this compilation. Instead, we’ll dive straight into its follow-up, “Silent ‘88”, which we’re pretty sure was a Slumberland exclusive.

“The Field Is Cut” is a song I’ll always associate with first moving to London for work, back in ’96. I took a bedsit – well, a room – in a block halfway between Barons Court and West Kensington, and the wonders of the Piccadilly Line meant that for the first time in my life I could get from my front door to the CD racks in HMV Oxford Street in a mere half an hour, and at the time that really did feel like the main perk of City living. “Silent ‘88” was a purchase from there, and this was the first track on it. Immediately, it opened out like a butterfly into their most pristine song to date, and soon became the first track on the compilation tape I used to listen to on the way to work every morning, its opening chords for weeks on end soundtracking my first steps down Glazbury Road. Sounding with both anger and disappointment, it’s another plaintive song about Hood’s favourite topic, the cycle of days and seasons, and how rural and agricultural lives are ignored, marginalised, dismembered. There is no way in hell that it wasn’t going to be the first track on this compilation.

2. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart “Come Saturday”

A “buzzing, sherbety ripsnorter”, apparently, “sheer sheer joy”. No word of a lie, pop-pickers, because upon these grooves TPOBPAH did the “Ecstasy and Wine” thing pretty much perfectly…

“However unoriginal an observation this is, it would be dishonest not to say that the Pains of Being are still ringers for early MBV (post-terrible goth stomp, pre-"You Made Me Realise"). So if you're expecting any kind of departure from the songs that lit up last year's overlapping EPs, or their split single on Atomic Beat with the Parallelograms, you'll be firmly knocked back. But, as ever, the band manage to combine this sublime one-track fizzy guitar grogginess with lyrics that are more uplifting, deliberate and inspirational than they're often given credit for: "Come Saturday" positively rattles with the same conviction that saw them shake the foundations at the Betsey Trotwood and the Buffalo Bars…”

3. Manatee “Indecision”

We’re going for the jugular early here; classics and nothing but. As we said when we realised this was the 4th best single of a fecund 2010:

“By rights, a band monikered after the beautiful, elusive, lugubrious and sadly endangered manatee should probably sound really slow-paced, mysterious and kind of bulbously mournful, but no danger of that here: this Manatee are delightfully feral, rooted in what sounds to us a very UK-inspired indie sound, let's say the old-school tunefulness of the better C86 bands allied with the spikiness of the Weddoes' guitar stylings back then, all topped off by high in the mix wide-eyed vocals (with some rather splendid lyrics) that work *perfectly* as the song pounds away, refusing to flag, and we dance around the kitchen air-guitaring to it.”

And just to be clear: it is not often that you’ll find me air-guitaring around the kitchen. But then it’s not often that you’ll come across a song, a power-pop jewel, as bountifully barnstorming as “Indecision”.

4. Tender Trap “Do You Want A Boyfriend?”

When we did our ‘Trap recap, we held out this “heavy-hitting” “welcome return” as:

"the great leap forward, probably their best ever single, clad in a great sleeve too and housed on fresh Dulux-white vinyl. Even more than on last year's diamond-bright mmm-muscular pop gem "Fireworks", "Boyfriend" has the guitar sound *just right*: the harmonies *just so*. Indeed, when Amelia sings "heaven, perfect heaven" in the chorus, it's as if she's giving you a glimpse of that very place."

Like a fair few tracks here, this was a split release with the UK’s very own Fortuna Pop!, so we’ve had to think a little about which tracks to use for which comp (you knew there was going to have to be an FP! one too, right?)

5. Black Tambourine “Pack You Up”

The one, the only. Our twopenneths’ on this tremendous band can most lucidly be found here, but this track from their first Slumberland release (mere decades before “OneTwoThreeFour”) sees them in a kind of shoegazey mode, summoning up a sort of muscular dreampop not unlike the later Charlottes stuff. Like any other subgenre which Black Tambourine turned their mind to, they kind of nailed this one first time.

6. Honey Bunch “Mine Your Own Business”

*Massively* under-rated band alert. We came across Honey Bunch first when their Fuck Yeah! 'zine flexi with “Crooked Mile” on it made it into school one day, but didn’t actually pick up on their two Slumberland 7”s until we bought Elefant’s fairly essential retrospective of the band, “Time Trials”. “Mine Your Own Business” is still our favourite of the two, lightly tiptoeing through fields of classic guitar pop and neatly enough showing Jeffrey Underhill’s lovely voice and the band’s signature sound, with space in the music and bass high-ish in the mix. Should you fancy another Honeybunch cracker for dessert, try “Arm In Arm”, from the flip of their other Slumberland 7”.

7. The Saturday People “Slipping Through My Fingertips”

We gave the LP from which this came a kind of mixed review on the basis that although we appreciated the skill involved, it wasn’t quite our cup of tea (a few tracks aside). We then got a ridiculously nice e-mail from a member of the band, saying not to worry and how he appreciated the thought that had gone into the review. That kindness meant a huge amount (we often got less than lukewarm reactions even from bands that we thought we’d been nice to) and as it happened it helped us keep on looking out for the band too. Having said all that, this single, which preceded the album, was always one of those S. People tunes that we absolutely loved, and it powers along here with horsepower and charm.

8. Gold-Bears “In This City I’m Invincible”

Gold-Bears put their much-awaited first album, “Are You Falling In Love?” out on Slumberland, and we treasure the vinyl still. While Magic Marker single “Tally” may yet remain their zenith, and a version of it appeared on the LP, the record as a whole is a pretty solid exposition of Gold-Bears’ qualities: urgency, optimism, clever storytelling, noisy jangle. “In This City…” is short and sweet, but with its anthemic title it’s a standard-bearer of sorts for the band’s many qualities.

9. The Aislers’ Set “The Red Door”

The Aislers’ Set were a very good band, and they were around at a time when – just for a couple of years - there were very *few* very good bands, and when I for one was largely seeking a ‘way out’ of an increasingly weak “indie” scene, finding only a handful of records - like this - with the magnetism to pull me back into it. We don’t own the single mix of this song, but the version on “The Last Match” is more than enough: powerful, effervescent, charming and exciting.

10. Pants Yell! “Got To Stop”

Quite a few Slumberland acts have been (justly) celebrated by the cognoscenti: others, rather overlooked. And whether Pants Yell! would fare better with a “cooler” name might be a valid question, for their “Received Pronunciation” album is a consistent tableau of good songwriting and great storytelling. It’s winsome guitar-pop loosely in the vein of Tree Fort Angst / Saturday People, with lyrics sometimes impassioned (“Marble Staircase”), sometimes desperately sad. At times PY! tend to the quirkier (“Someone Loves You” is a cleaner take on 14 Iced Bears / Cause Co-Motion! – who both also had their own releases on Slumberland): whilst the slower and more thoughtful tracks tend toward what we now might call the Short Stories / Forest Giants songbook.

11. Gregory Webster “Promised Land”

A change of speed, a change of style. We have Mr Webster’s back big time. As we remarked when this was fired into the world:

“"Promised Land", clad in the sweetest sleeve courtesy of Daniel Novakovic's artwork, doesn't so much roll back the years as unfurl a jewel-encrusted magic carpet to transport you back to the happy memories of GW’s "My Wicked Wicked Ways" album: it's a gentle, folksome ballad, an escapist fantasy leagues away from the artful post-modern dischord that Sportique perfected. Instead, it sits comfily alongside Greg's beauteous reinterpretation of "Something's Missing" on WIAWYA's "Play Some Pool, Skip Some School, Act Real Cool" Springsteen tribute.”

We also pointed out that we would pay good money just to hear him singing the telephone directory, and we still can’t believe there isn’t at least a double-album in that.

12. Beatnik Filmstars “National Pool Drama”

“Misplaced… misplaced… misplaced!”

You might well think so, given that the mid-90s BFs’ shake-up of Fall-ish shoutiness is not only poles apart from where the band themselves both started and ended, but also an acre or ten north of Slumberland’s usual devotion to a more harmony-addled noise-pop. While it’s true that the Filmstars’ 5-track “Pink Noize” 7” outing for Slumberland did not catch the band at their most coherent, it does catch the label at its most mischievous (“Flake” is a slow burn peppered with the melody from a notoriously phallic UK TV advert for chocolate, as also celebrated by Half Man Half Biscuit’s “Dickie Davies’ Eyes”; “50/50”, which we had the great privilege to see performed by the temporarily-reformed Filmstars last December, is chaotic crashing pop hijacked by a chorus full of numbers).

13. Sarandon “Kill Twee Pop!”

Title track from their first proper LP, a gleeful gatecrasher, post-punk vs. Ron Johnson styles and a message that we know, coming from Crayola, was pretty heartfelt. As to the album as a whole, we ventured:

“simply one of the best British bands out there at the moment, both live and on record, and this their debut album proper merely proves it, both including and building on the finery of last year's "Joe's Record" 45 as they move towards (marginally) longer, but still infinitely spiky and sprightly, numbers. It's hard to describe their sound without (a) confirming that it ain't twee pop, and (b) reeling off a list of names of our favourite 80s awkward squad bands plus perhaps 90s' outsiders like the Yummy Fur and second-phase Beatnik Filmstars, so we'll restrict ourselves to saying that if you liked any one or more of the bands on the superb "Commercially Unfriendly" compilation, this will probably be one of the most exciting records you trip across this year”

14. Faintest Ideas “Procrastination Of Every Day Tasks”

Tucked away on one of Slumberland’s “Searching For The Now” 7” series were two unbelievably good tracks from Gothenburg’s much-missed Faintest Ideas,

“two corking songs, of a quality that only the Bright Lights and Boyracer have really managed at the same velocity, and that remind you that there is no level on which the Faintest Ideas did not make brilliant *POP* music. The consensus seems to be that they are now no more, in which case we can only say that they will be very sorely missed."

which helped elevate volume 5 (shared with the wondrous Liechtenstein) to a dizzying #11 in the 2009 year-ends:

“But for us, it's this last song on the platter that deserves elevation, perfectly summing up the trajectory of this sadly-gone band with two minutes of noisy, gnawing pop that seems to cram in every emotion we've ever felt and leave us feeling somehow both churned-up and ecstatic.”

We still really, really, have a thing for this track, the perfect example of how a song can be noisy, fuzzy and chaotic yet still be absolutely, genuinely, deathlessly, beautiful, and can still, on occasion, make buds of proud tears gather in our eyes.

15. Boyracer “I Am Looking For Somewhere Else”

After that, time for a ballad: but we bet you wouldn’t guess it would be “prefects of the punk-pop perfect” (as we christened them) Boyracer supplying it. This was on the “AUL 36X” 7” and is a reminder that Boyracer’s slower, mournful songs, in this case a break-up song, could be scintillatingly moving at times. Boyracer also, of course, recorded a couple of albums for Slumberland, the best of which was the stunningly capable “We Are Made Of The Same Wood”.

16. The June Brides “A January Moon”

A split between Slumberland and the UK’s jewel-finders Occultation, we gave this love:

“picking up from some of Phil Wilson's solo work, it brings out a semi-acoustic and alt-folk tinge that resonates surprisingly well with current musical fashions. "A January Moon" gamefully employs its bounteous melodies and upbeat arrangement to create four flowing minutes which, despite its title, are redolent far more of (mid)summer (sun)shine than bleak midwinter night. The trademark June Brides strings and brass are still there, but instead of dominating for short bursts of song they're weaved in more skilfully, while Wilson's delivery provides a Webster-esque undertow of vulnerability.”

It’s really a gorgeous song, so much so that it somehow managed to push Phil Wilson’s aforesaid ever-listenable solo offerings for Slumberland from this list.

17. Amy Linton and Stewart Anderson “The Lights Are Out”

Titans of the alt-pop scene Amy and Stewart were responsible for a transatlantic four-track EP on Slumberland that twinned two new numbers with two more (including the possibly seminal “Hipsters, Scenesters and Fakers”) culled from a single on Stewart’s own 555 label. Opener “Lights”, one of the Slumberland exclusives, catches the superstar duo at their most Aislers-ish, a strawberry crush of reverb and snugly knitted melodies.

18. Linda Smith “In This”

We only knew the Baltimore songwriter and artist from her “Gorgeous Weather” 7” on the esteemed Harriet Records, but this is a blindingly fine track from her sole outing for Slumberland, one which people would have been falling over themselves for had the Softies released it.

19. The Ropers “Waiting”

Devotees of earlier Pains of Being Pure At Heart would find much to like in many of Slumberland’s nineties releases, they really would. Not just Henry’s Dress or Black Tambourine, either: the Ropers also knew how to set the vinyl alight with both indie-pop brittleness and shoegazey atmospherics, the former epitomised by first single “Waiting” and the latter by second single “I Don’t Mind”, which is unavoidably Ride-ish, but for our money has aged much better than many of the Oxford quartet’s wares. We would be the first to admit that at the time it annoyed the hell out of us when our friends eschewed Slumberland bands but adored Creation ones: yet in all honesty, if it turned out that the Ropers had been from Thames Valley instead and consequently flavour of the month in the UK inkies, I can quite imagine the young me having decided they were rubbish after all.

20. Henry’s Dress “Hey Allison”

Talking of whom... Their first single “1620” is a curio, a thick haze of sludgegaze with fragile male vocals gradually sucked into the bog, but by the time of “Hey Allison” Henry’s Dress had conquered the world with super-melodic, super-trebly super-b, sometimes Boyracer-echoing, noise-pop.

21. Whorl “Maybe It’s Better”

We are rather fond of Slumberland black sheep Whorl, and rather hope that you might fall for them too. Like quite a few other bands, we first encountered them on the Beat Happening! tribute “Fortune Cookie Prize” (their definitive version of “This Many Boyfriends Club” consisting of vocals, feedback and er, nothing else really) but their two Slumberland singles are rather special too, if somewhat aloof from the otherwise well-drilled roster. “Mind Revolution” is almost ‘Death To Trad Rock’ scene, with shouted vocals over growling riff, but “Maybe It’s Better” is slightly softer, if still wrapped up entirely in its own world.

22. Go Sailor “Long Distance”

Before Amy did the Aislers Set and Rose did Tiger Trap, there was Go Sailor. Although their Lookout compilation got its vinyl re-release on Slumberland not too long ago, there was just the one GS EP released on the label at the time: and this is the lead track from it, an example of ‘the Slumberland sound’ when it’s shorn of noise or artful playfulness, and stripped back to its pure pop heart.

23. Evans The Death “Catch A Cold”

A few found the name offputting, though they’re not the first teenage indie band from Essex with “Death” in their name – I was once in a band called Casual Death, which we thought was a great name (it worked on more than one level, and was quite bold given that casuals were a big thing in mid-Ess fashion at the time) and we were genuinely surprised when we kept getting the reaction that it made us sound like a ‘metal’ band or something, instead of the indie-pop lightweights we undoubtedly were.

Erm, it would be a shame if any pop fans really had neglected to investigate EtD on the basis of their name, especially as the mere fact that they put two 7”s out on Slumberland shows that they were favoured by those with impeccable taste. Like a fair few of the tracks here, this sounds rather better to me now than it did when it actually came out, and proves that sometimes we can error quite majorly in searching *too much* for the now.

24. Summer Cats “Your Timetable”

Only #80 in 2010 (what were we thinking, really).

“"Your Timetable" does everything right - celerity, being *doused* in fresh and welcoming feedback (cf. the way that the Legends album showed how Club 8 + feedback = better than Club 8) and sub-two minute duration - and shows not for the first time how Slumberland can really pick an 'A' side. A neat package, too, with a geometric, gently neoplasticist sleeve as minimalist as the song, bearing only the name of the band and the name of the tunes. Bravo for that, too.”

But it’s the feedback that tipped this song into complete joy, no question.

25. Brilliant Colors “Never Mine”

Terrific stuff, a little like Slumber Party channelling Cause Co-Motion!

“It took a second dip of our toes in the water before we gave Brilliant Colors their due, but the trio here deliver a dizzying sub-two minutes of straight-from '78 Girls At Our Best-ish shedazzle, a worthy sister to Summer Cats' similarly no-nonsense fuzzpop from earlier in the year on the same label. As with many ace bands of the recent moment (Cause Co-Motion, Sugarplums) we're convinced there's some early-14IBs in there too, at least in those sections where the guitars briefly attempt to collapse in on themselves. And the groovy bass run that intrudes towards the end makes you feel like grabbing the nearest trampolene and just *bouncing*.”

Again, the fact that the records suggest this was only our 76th best single of 2010 suggests to me that: (a) it was a very, very good year for singles (b) something happened in the maths that would not have surprised our secondary school maths teachers (c) we were out of our less than brilliant, tiny minds.

26. Sexy Kids “Sisters Are Forever”

Hmmm... it does rather feel like we’ve under-rated plenty of Slumberland singles in the past, simply by telling you that they were pretty good. This was our #21 in 2009:

“Slumberland going a bit crazy with the good records this year. If you remember Fertile Virgin's "Lucky Day", well this is similarly great - a from-nowhere mix of Raincoats and Girls At Our Best indie-guitaring that cavorts along very merrily indeed.” 

“Sisters” is a little Girls At Our Best (more so, perhaps, than the Brilliant Colors single, whatever we said above), a little post-punk, a little 90s-alt rock and ends up a rather convincing collage of indie-pop and new wave. Not sure whatever happened to the band, but their name (not suitable for googling while at work) might have had a hand in it…

27. Velocity Girl “My Forgotten Favorite”

It’s only obvious. It appeared on the soundtrack of Clueless, which is something of a step up, exposure-wise, from what most of our favo(u)rite songs achieve. But it still rules just as hard as anything else on the label.

28. Lognhalsmottagningen “Va e Poängen?”

A few of Slumberland’s ‘curios’ are actually amongst their greats. Lognhalsmottagningen were a Faintest Ideas / Boyracer collaboration of Swedish-language punkcore, and their ace “Oron Nasa” EP consisted of 300 7”s, released on four labels (Slumberland’s partners in crime here being 555 (inevitably), Promenade and Yellow Mica). The Slumberland version has five different sleeve colours: orange, red, yellow, lime green and purple: we got one of the lime green.

* * * * *

There were any number of other records that didn’t quite make the cut, but the test of a pudding is in the eating, and we’re confident that if you play these songs, your head will be spinning in happiness and heady memories for days on end. Much respect to Slumberland Records, and for the genuine excitement that plundering their ‘back cat’ for pearls like these has given us.

ILWTT.07 “Blastic Smile”: A Sick Weird Rough Compilation

The only time we’ve been to Frankfurt, home to super-able uber-label SWR, we ended up in a subterranean bierkeller, soundtracked by an oompah band in full lederhosen. It’s fair to say we didn’t have any great musical epiphanies that night (though we did discover that there is, perhaps surprisingly, much to be said for veggie schnitzels).

There’s little doubt that Sick Weird Rough (for its first three releases, the more prosaically named Sven Wittekind Records) has been one of *the* most rewarding labels of recent years, and although it may be pure fluke that we were there at the start – not quite sure what prompted us to first give Sven’s “Never Forget” a virtual spin – it quickly became one of those rare imprints on which every release merited forensic investigation. We don’t greatly adore the revised label moniker: on any application of the Ronseal test the original label name couldn’t be faulted, whereas to our minds the music on SWR is not really sick, weird, *or* rough: it’s starlit, well-honed, and absurdly sleek.

As we said in 2013 in relation to one of the label’s (non-imaginary) collections, "Before We Restart" (a 28-tracker lasting three and three quarter hours!):

“a crammed-to-the-gills bargain compilation… of dark and cutting-edge European techno. Remember, outwith the likes of Sarah, Ron Johnson and Matinée there can surely never have been a roster more killingly consistent than SWR’s…”

Now. Our record collection, such as it is, shuffles meekly from available space to available space, as lifetime-gathered trinkets and the needs of little people buffet it from room to room, from room to loft. But it’s there, and no magic spell or click of the finger can ‘unmake’ it, and so long as we still live to breathe the stubborn fumes of these city streets, nobody will wrest these records from our living space, and no effluxion of time could persuade us to free up the boxes and shelves for anything else, and so *all* the labels we’ve compiled to date – 555, Factory, Earache, Sarah, Subway, Creation - are easily-reeled down memories, as vivid as the touch of a dusty sleeve or the sniff of decades-old vinyl.

Yet SWR is different: for all the tunes in this list are mere computer files, clickable icons that yield clinical folds of techno, but that can’t be touched, moved, cradled or kissed. Uniquely, they are songs we’ve experienced only and completely through the shyly spartan i-pod, usually in the neon-pricked black of the journey home from work, those precious three quarter-hours when the revolving doors spin behind you and the walk northwards is a world of plenty within a private, portable listening booth.

At first this lack of context seemed disarming, if not debilitating. When we listen to songs on those other labels, we recall the shop we bought the record in, the surly glare of the shop assistant, the first listen when we got home, the scrabbling around for a free C90 so that we could tape it and stick it on the next day’s Walkman, the days spent showing the record off at school. With these tracks, the first listen is invariably wrapped up in pre-work dawn or post-work dusk, in city streets and lights, amidst pavement hubbub and the glare of shop windows. That’s not a bad thing… it’s just… different.

Oh, and of course this one was a pain to compile, a real jigsaw puzzle: we knew that we would only ever be able to fit between 8-10 tracks on, but we wanted to provide as strong and representative a selection as we reasonably could. Unconstrained by the requirements of vinyl, SWR tunes don’t just touch the old edges of the 12” played at 45, but often surge well beyond, with the singles tending to range between 8 or 9 minutes: a few a little shorter, a few some minutes longer. Anyway, let the feast begin.

* * * * *

1. Ryuji Takeuchi “Vital”

There may be some merit in starting with one of the best singles of the past several years, in any genre. Doggedly insistent and mechanistically urgent, the vitally vital fount of vitality that is “Vital”:

“builds organically, rolling drums subsumed in turn by layered strands of percussive noise, but within minutes it has completed a grim mutation into a seamless warp and weft of futurist techno, rattling synths criss-crossing darkly industrial soundscapes to create a bleak yet brisk dystopian void echoing with what sounds like a CS canister being let off at regular intervals (a sound that was de rigeur in minimal techno this yr)… "Vital" is austere, constructivist, monochromatic and brilliant, and you'll rarely find 7'43 whoosh by you so quickly.”

2. Tex-Rec “Kill The Dream”

Ahmet Meric, or Tex-Rec, flew the Bosnia-Herzegovina flag on SWR (alongside Dragan Lakic, aka Forest People) and he did so most mightily with this stunning title track from his 4-track EP, a defiantly unleashed

“smiling assassin of an EP which seduces you with rhythmic patterns as sleek and glinting as the bonnet of a newly polished Countach while at the same time moving in for the kill with dancefloor-massacring intensity… The title track proceeds to rather majestically patrol the boundary fence between moody and minimalist, sharing with "Detonator" a whizzing two-note motif and careful build… Immense.”

Alongside his crowd-wowing Darknet single “Encoding”, this is probably still our favourite Tex-Rec tune. This is probably also the time to point out that we were a little saddened by Bosnia-Herzegovina’s early exit from the last World Cup: the way they played against Argentina we were convinced that they would qualify, but after wrongly having a goal disallowed against Nigeria they didn’t react well enough, and in the end it all petered out rather. Still, they lasted longer than England.

3. Mintech “Black Mamba”

Mario Mangiapia is part of SWR’s sturdy Italian contingent down the years, alongside Frenkie V, Pe’ja, Irregular Synth and Frankyeffe, and this 2013 A-side is a real floor-filler, one of the label’s more “accessible” tunes, however unlikely it is that they’ll be rocking to it at Slim Jim’s Liquor Store next Saturday night.

“This is thrilling, heady stuff, actually quite... well, not commercial exactly, but should it "cross over" from the techno room to the main dancefloor, we wouldn't be totally surprised. We could certainly well imagine barging over a few bemused punters in our eagerness to join it there.”

4. Frenkie V “Exclude”

A few on Team SWR may be scene veterans (Andre Walter, for example, was producing in the early 1980s), but others came up on the ropes: Francesco Varchetta birthed this exhilarating single when just about still a teenager. We still like to imagine Sven listening to the final cut at label HQ for the first time and thinking, “um, where are the beats, kiddo?” as Frenkie spends the best part of a minute just messing around with the soundboard. But after that, the Neapolitan just goes for it, and “Exclude” is as provocative and refreshing now as it was on first listen:

“a hugely enjoyable instrumental frolic through the (far) left-field which after a *completely* insane beginning (more unhinged than "Riot" and "Bury" put together!) gradually recasts itself into an equally captivating hunk of somewhat gleefully obscurist techno, defying the genre's usual "layer, build and dismantle" tradition with a frankly liberating "er, what's he going to next ?" approach to song structure. The prospect of more like this from him in future is not unwelcome.”

That was all the way back in 2010, mind. So we’re a bit concerned about where our Frenkie has got to: there was a second SWR single “Rimshot”, which was good, but not as mischievous or downright enjoyable as this one (a bit like the Golden Dawn having followed “My Secret World” with “George Hamilton’s Dead”) and then, it seems, there was just a big black hole of silence (a bit like the Golden Dawn having followed “George Hamilton’s Dead” with, er, nothing). Shame.

5. Gayle San “Blastic Wifester”

I sense romance, wedding bells, the burned-out husks of single lives: for SWRs 14 and 16 respectively were Sven’s “Hubster” and Gayle’s “Blastic Wifester”, a romantic gesture up there with Stew and Jen’s “Wedding Album” picture-disc (yes, in the words of Phil Wilson, “I own it”). The “Wifester” EP also came with a widescreen remix of “Hubster”, just to make the link clear.

Possibly one of the best-titled singles in history, “Blastic Wifester” is an engaging bustle of tinselly, loose-packed techno, a ringing swarm of defiant beats from Gayle San, who grew up in Singapore but spent some time DJ-ing in London before decamping to Germany.

6. Sven Wittekind “Measure of Justice”

Sven is the house band, SWR’s Biff Bang Pow! / Flatmates, and verily

“there is nothing straightforward or workaday about the seamless way which he continues to create techno charged with just the right blend of urgency and (albeit suppressed) emotion”.

"Measure Of Justice” was a late 2013 single, as well as a highlight from the long-play joys of “Voodoo”, that showed the house band on top, top form:

“eight minutes of weighty, righteous jurisprudence… starting brazenly and cockily with a full minute of just a single repeating beat - soon unfurls itself into a gliding masterpiece of clanking and techno pointillism”

and our abiding memory of it, given our digression above, was half an hour at a bus stop in Grays’ Inn Road, post-Water Rats, listening to it again and again, letting it seep with urgency and excitement to warm our cold, chastened ears. Wonderful.

7. Pe’ja “Gilgamesh (Part 1)”

Tuff enuff stuff from Amedeo Mazzotti, who deserved better than a pizza metaphor, but unaccountably got one anyway:

“The song pivots around a repeated, scuffed and fuzzy motif… but what distinguishes it from much of the rest of Europe's minimal techno crop is Pe'ja's use of breakbeats to provide a crunching, pizza-crust edge to proceedings. Nice.”

And we’ve gone for Part 1 because… well, because Part 2 wasn’t as good. The opposite of "Shook Ones", then.

8. Michael Schwarz "Function" (Ryuji Takeuchi Remix)

We fell hard for this confection, a supplement to the Schwarzster’s “Function” / “Disfunction” double-‘A’, and ended up in a very excitable digression which checked Rothko, Twombly and – but of course - Bubblegum Splash!

9. Sven Wittekind & Andy White “Bass Junkies”

There was no little competition to be the last track. Indeed we could probably have squeezed a couple more on had we not gone for this 12-minute ‘early hit’ from the boys (Sven plus compatriot Andy White, the man behind the Audiosignal label). But despite strong claims from Forest People, Virgil Enzinger (who also helped out on the “Bass Junkies” remix front) and Andre Walter (“oscillates rolling, ricocheting rhythms with jacking spring-heeled hydraulics”), we’ve gone for this, and all because:

“This is buried treasure, a 12" that takes us straight back to those days of staying up late on a schoolnight, listening to teasing techno tremors on John Peel to offset next-day lesson dread. Slowly bubbling bass from the German pair sets the scene for a couple of minutes before the tune starts to build, but it's only really around the six-minute mark that "Bass Junkies" properly springs into life, pivoting on a single, sampled operatic held note before the percussion busies itself in more traditional Wittekind style, but the track still keeps things close, more minimal than hard tech, just gently nibbling away at your ears, resolutely refusing to swing and instead keeping it metronomic, hypnotic, *close* for its blissful, subtly ever-undulating second section.”

* * * * *

On re-listening to all these songs we’re immediately struck by the clear tone and timbre of SWR’s artists: instrumental frequencies, clean-lined caresses. The track listing that *flows* in a way none of the compilations to date can quite manage. So “Black Mamba” seems like a sequel to “Kill The Dream”, irrespective of the years between their release and the many miles between their respective composers. Even Frenkie V’s mischievous, unpredictable “Exclude” (exclude what? Pupils? Draughts?) manages to sit comfortably with the longer, more carefully built-up and then gradually dismantled songs around it.

Here’s to SWR, and to many more years of their positive, empowering, art.