Dutch producer Frits Wentik has stood out from modern house producers to me over the last 7-8 years.  Someone doing his own thing and doing it well. He makes the kind of rough trippy electronics that I used to love to play in those dark rooms late at night/early in the morning situations. His music sounds equally as good at home too.

Five favs from Frits below…

AR Kane were a group with a lot of ideas – perhaps too many. However, they had a punk can do attitude, really good taste and an energy that many of the bands at that time lacked. When they got it right – they hit that sweet spot of melding the disparate sounds a good record collection has into lovely pop perfection. Easy to talk about down the pub but difficult to do in practice. Definitely sonically an inspiration for me and many others.

Very sad to hear of the recent passing of Peter “Woosh” Birch from Nottingham’s DIY collective. Gutted I never got to hear him and his partner Digs play out, although I got to see one other from the collective Simon DK play the Crescent in the mid nineties and it was proper hypnotic deepness all night long. I’m very aware of how important all these guys are in terms of breaking new ground, shaping of things in the North of England and upholding a certain set of values with everything they did, most importantly in their attitudes towards what makes a good party, DJ, label, vibe and person, a far cry from the antics of most DJs today. It does feel a lot like the old gaurd are slipping away atm and the attitudes of alot of the new stink to be perfectly honest!

Five DIY essentials below…

Growing up I thought the KLF were a bunch of arty chancers. It wasn’t until I bought a copy of Chill Out that it dawned on me that they were quite the opposite. I still think it’s one of the best albums ever made. Anyway, some of their music is undeniably awful, there to antagonise and take the piss but amongst that are some timeless pieces of electronic music with an incredible ear for sounds and samples. Hard to believe the same group fired machine gun blanks into a Brit Awards audience then dumped a dead sheep at the afterparty, deleted their back cat and burned a million quid – were also the biggest selling singles act of ’91. Certainly don’t make them like that anymore!