Isolation Mix Seven

An hour and a minute of stitched together songs for Saturday. This one caused me a bit of a headache at times. It was an attempt I think at first to try to join some dots together in terms of feel or sounds, with a nod to Kraftwerk following Florian Schneider’s death last week. There was an earlier version that went quite techno/dance for the last twenty minutes but I then went back and did the end section again. I’m still not sure I got it quite right, and think I may have tried to cover too many bases stylistically, but my self imposed deadline was approaching so ‘publish and be damned’, as the Duke of Wellington said. Although he wasn’t dealing with the business of trying to get spaghetti westerns, indie dance, shoegaze and leftfield electronic music to sit together in one mix was he?

Ennio Morricone: Watch Chimes (From ‘For A Few Dollars More’)

David Sylvian and Robert Fripp: Endgame

Talk Talk: Life’s What You Make It

Saint Etienne: Kiss And Make Up (Midsummer Madness Mix)

Spacemen 3: Big City (Everyone I Know Can Be Found Here)

Beyond The Wizards Sleeve: Diagram Girl (Beyond The Wizards Sleeve Re- Animation)

My Bloody Valentine: Don’t Ask Why

Jon Hopkins and Kelly Lee Owens: Luminous Spaces

Kraftwerk: Numbers

Death In Vegas: Consequences Of Love (Chris and Cosey Remix)

Chris Carter: Moonlight

Simple Minds: Theme For Great Cities

Durutti Column: It’s Wonderful

I have a significant birthday fast approaching. A few months ago we had planned that today would be a day of celebrating with anyone who wanted to join us, starting with lunch and few beers in town and then a tram pub crawl southbound out of the city centre towards Sale, stopping off in Old Trafford (maybe) and Stretford (definitely) before some drinks locally in the evening. That obviously isn’t happening. I’ll have to re-schedule for my 51st.

Re-Animations

In 2009 Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve released a compilation album rounding up their remixes and re-animations of a bunch of artists- The Chemical Brothers, Franz Ferdinand, Late Of The Pier, Peter, Bjorn and John, Tracey Thorn, Badly Drawn Boy, Goldfrapp, Midlake, Dust Galaxy, Real Ones, Simian Mobile Disco and Findlay Brown. At the same time that album was released Erol Alkan and Richard Norris were asked to mix all their versions together into a single, hour long set for a special download edition. They went back to their versions, took some of them apart again, re-assembled them and then stitched the whole thing together. A decade later it has re-appeared online for your enjoyment, an hour of psychedelic, electronic, time shifting, retro- futuristic exploration. There should be something in this for everyone to enjoy.

 

June

It’s June, June already. How on earth did that happen? Summer has arrived in the north west of the UK recently and long may it continue. I spent most of yesterday pulling up the wooden decking from our back garden, ten years old and rotten and collapsing in places (but really well secured in others, hence every single part of me aches today. I ache in places I didn’t know you could ache). We’re replacing it with gravel. Gravel doesn’t rot and doesn’t need maintaining.

In 2008 Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve put out this track, Winter In June, a 60s psychedelic inspired adventure, a re-edit of The Mystic Astrologic Crystal Band’s 1967 song Flowers Never Cry.

And yes, that is the voice of Percy Thrower.

Winter In June

Bounce

Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve’s album The Soft Bounce has been getting regular listens round here, loads of good stuff on it. The title track has been remixed by Daniel Avery and it sounds like this…

Insistent techno drums and percussion with some droney keys and pulses. Uplifting and gently euphoric.

Creation Magik

Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve are shaping up for what is promising to be one of the summer’s best releases (album The Soft Bounce due soon). I’ve already posted the beauteous single and remix of Diagram Girl. The follow up, Creation, has vocals from Jane Weaver and Hannah Peel and has been remixed and stretched out here by Psychemagik in a lovely, percussive and spaced out manner.

Beyond

Drew and I agreed on Twitter the other night that Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve’s own re-animation of their recent single Diagram Girl is a thing of beauty, one of those records that sounds like summer should. Six and a half minutes of wobbly bass, washes of synth, blissed out vox and hazy modern dance-oriented psychedelia. Just wonderful stuff from Richard Norris and Erol Alkan with an album to follow.

If you like that you should go find Richard Norris’ other current project, Circle Sky (a duo with Martin Dubka), and a 12″ called Reveal/Interstellar, two massive sounding cuts recorded live using the Moog System 55 modular- analogue acid house achieving lift off for 2016. Annoyingly there don’t seem to be any full length listens anywhere but these two preview clips give you enough to be going on with.

Diagram Girl

This is shaping up to be a good few weeks for new music- here’s a dreamy new song from Beyond The Wizards’s Sleeve (Misters Richard Norris and Erol Alkan) with an album to follow. A slow and stoned vocal over washes of synths and skittering drums. Woozy, like Spacemen 3 but without the paranoia. Very nice indeed.

New Energy

I’m caught in an electronics groove right now and this is blindingly good. Recent postee Daniel Avery remixed by Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve team of Norris and Alkan. After a slow, hazy intro everything suddenly snaps into sharp focus- like a beam of white light trained right between the eyes… and then it all becomes very t-r-i-p-p-y indeed. There’s some old school electro in here to, to keep you moving.

Year’s End

Here’s a round up of a few things from 2014 as the year dribbles to its conclusion. I missed this from earlier this year; a Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve re-imagining of New Energy, in three phases- some 60s backwards psychedelia followed by the more familiar beat driven techno and then the wonderful drone section. There’s loads more Avery stuff, remixes, radio sessions and so on, at his Soundcloud page.

There’s also the trippy Roman Flugel remix of All I Need which has all the right things in all the right places.

Underworld’s dubnobasswithmyheadman was 20 years old and the re-issued box set was 2014’s possibly best bet if you were buying just one big box of music you already own. It cemented in my mind the view that dubnobass… was the best album of the 90s.

The stand out music book of 2014 was Viv Albertine’s autobiography Clothes, Clothes, Clothes, Music, Music, Music, Boys, Boys, Boys. Totally honest, warm and funny, uncomfortable in parts but fascinating and written entirely in the present tense which gave it real immediacy. If you haven’t read it, you should read it.

And I’m just beginning to listen to FKA Twigs. There’s something going on here…