There is a wave of great electronic music coming from certain parts of the world right now that is mixing idiophone instruments with futuristic synth sounds and we can’t simply get enough of it. It’s obviously not the first time cowbells, wood block instruments and Middle-Eastern sounds have crept onto the dancefloor but there is something ridiculously fresh about the live instruments meets wires & cables output that is coming from the likes of Red Axes, Fango, Moscoman and more that is properly standing out in modern music.
Here are five that always seem to set the floor alight!
Dissident was DJ and producer Andy Blake’s short lived label. I always had a soft spot for these releases. Quality over quantity, made by and for those who eat, sleep and breathe this music. They reminded me a little of what was coming out of Holland at the time from labels such as Viewlexx. These records just don’t date and can unbelievably still be picked up for a decent price.
Andy also runs a club night in London called World Unknown, which is meant to be life changing and he has just resurrected the World Unknown label. Everything he does is done for the love.
I can’t think of two producers who handle their synths as well and have had a bigger impact on this industry as these two gentlemen. Through their various partnerships and solo endeavours and right back to their early contributions to UK rave culture. They have remained a consistent driving force.
Here are five reasons why we love them…
Despite the fact that chicken’s don’t really have lips, these chickens seem to know their way around dubby drums, p-funk guitar and synths with ease.
This remix never leaves our record bags because it’s a guaranteed party starter and is such a fine piece of work.
In Emperor Machine mode Andrew Meecham shows once again how to bring it to the remix table, coming over like Liquid Liquid after a night in the Paradise Garage. That string break…
Dean Meredith dons his TRO cloak for a team up with Eric Duncan on the ace Golf Channel. First class lesson in how to turn out raw acid funk here!
Let’s not forget this early beauty, if only all UK Rave records had dated this well!
Dirty Sound System are french diggers, editors and compilers of the good stuff. These guys know what works – from expert edits of dance floor disco to compiling the more obscure finds from flea markets and forgotten b-sides.
Bon Appetite!
The most perfect theme that encapsulates a flawless film. It gets into your head and lives with you.
Plank and Moebius at the controls on this production. Genius.
Taking the scissors to Can is a brave move but Pilooski nails it.
Pure dance floor filth.
Quite a strange Swedish tune. Certainly don’t make them like this anymore…unfortunately.
Finally made my first trip to ADE and i’m now kicking myself as to why it hadn’t happened much sooner. Such a great city with an abundance of line ups every single night! As a lot of my favourite electronics and repress action seems to be coming from the Dutch these days, one thing I was keen to make happen was hunting for records. Top of the list was Rush Hour and I couldn’t believe my luck when a daytime thing i’d been invited along to had a pop up store fromClonein Rotterdam nestled in the corner.
Here are a few of things I scooped…
Two of my all time favs, sleazed out electro and acid in one.
Had been meaning to pick this up for a while (Larry Heard in Kraftwerk mode), but was building up to the £30 price tag. So jumped at the decently priced red vinyl repress, cheers Clone.
Delroy Edwards with a proper cut and paste choppy sampled club bomb, the kind of thing I love to pick up on vinyl because like Soundstream et al these records remain timeless.
Great deeper house thing on a weird little imprint out of Greece I wasn’t aware of, called the “Ethos Series”.
Again something i’d been meaning to pick up for a while was the great Muscle Up compilation by Patrick Cowley. Compiled from the era when Cowley was creating porn soundtracks (hence the name), packaged up & remastered etc by Dark Entries. A proper trip from start to finish!