In Strict Tempo, vol. 118: Weatherall Deep Cuts
I mentioned last week that there was a new Andrew Weatherall book on the shelves, and given my love for all things Guv, it sent me flicking through the racks pulling out all my Weatherall records yet again (some of them were never put away after my last missive). Of course the big hitters still stand out, but I thought I’d do a deep dive into some of the lesser-known Weatherall productions.
I’m not gonna cover everything, just a few of the bits that are in my record collection, and I’m not gonna touch on the better known Sabres of Paradise or Two Lone Swordsmen stuff, as I’ve written about that before. You won’t find much (or any) of this stuff on streaming services, and some of it is £££’s on Discogs now so I’ve tried to provide YouTube links.
Aramchek - Benicassim EP [Rotters Golf Club, 2001]
What’s going on with this then? The Swordsmen go Balearic? A bit of an outlier at the time, there’s not really a huge amount of info out there about this. Far tamer than the usual machine funk electro they were playing at the time, there’s still a bit of intensity to this, but in a Latin style - I could easily hear it in the main room of an Ibiza super club, and probably did back in the day. You know what, I could even see some of the more adventurous tech house boys playing this out these days…
Basic Units - Fire Wire EP [Firewire, 2002]
2002 was pretty much the height of Weatherall’s electro era as he joined forces with Radioactive Man and the other Lone Swordsman Keith Tenniswood. This was around the time I really started to get into Weatherall as a DJ, as I moved to London a year or so later. Those Haywire parties around South & East London (actually more on the City borders than deep into East, something unimaginable these days) were my introduction to London clubbing, and this fare was standard tackle for the time. These two tracks were part of a split 12” with Mat Carter and came on the short-lived Firewire imprint.
C-Pij 04 - Nostik/Tall Lights [C-Pij, 2000]
An early 00’s 7” label series releasing records mainly by Weatherall and Tenniswood but also Obscura (another AW side project featuring Nina Walsh) Alec Empire, Spring Heel Jack and Nina Walsh. This one is a beats-y piece of “IDM” or whatever you want to call that more out-there electronica that was knocking around the turn of the millennium. It deffo takes inspiration from what Aphex Twin and the likes of Prefuse 73 were doing at the time, and is a bit weirder than what your Underworlds and that were putting out. It would have fit in nicely on Planet Mu or Warp, but Weatherall often liked to do his own thing with his releases.
Deanne Day - The Long First Friday / Hardly Breathe [Emissions Audio Output, 1996]
It’s worth remembering that before all the electro, before the rockabilly, before the techno Weatherall was a DJ with a strong appreciation for fine house music. His two early essential mixes from 1993 & 1996, whilst widely known show a true master of his craft, and his Sabres of Paradise and Emissions Audio Output labels served up a variety of releases across the range of house, from deep to progressive and further leftfield too. This 12” - as Deanne Day, a collaboration with David Harrow - is a nice pair of deep house numbers with sultry hypnotic vocals, my personal favourite being Hardly Breathe which still sounds utterly timeless. It felt like ’96 was a real high point for Weatherall, what with that incredible essential mix, the Swimming Not Skimming and Return to the Flightpath Estate LPs, and this, among other things. Worth noting: this EP got a repress by Mint Conditions a few years ago, making it a bit more affordable to find.
Klunk - Klunk 1 [Subvert, 1999]
Klunk’s one and only outing on the Subvert label (although a second 12” came out on the affiliated Antiphon later that same year) these six tracks showed Weatherall and Tenniswood exploring a move further into techno, whilst keeping faith with the electro sound that was their bread and butter at the time. Probably the toughest of this lot to write about, it’s a DJ’s EP really and on the surface of it not really all that much going on, which reflects in the low price you can pick this up for today. This was deep in the Haywire era, and I guess he wanted some tunes to mix things up a bit, that weren’t just out and out electro. That’s not to say these tracks are bad, they still stand up nicely today, although they’re perhaps a little dated, it would be unfair to judge them as anything other than club tools.
Klart - For Shavers Only [RGC, 2001]
Play the first track on this 12” in 2026 and you’ll either find yourself lauded as the greatest DJ of all time, or be cancelled so quickly your feet won’t hit the ground. I’m still undecided really as to whether or not this is an absolute nails-on SLAMMER or the cheesiest dance track that has ever existed. Title track aside, the rest of it is a pretty strong electro EP from the Haywire heyday, when Weatherall and Tenniswood could do no wrong. Whatever you think of the title track, really it’s a pretty fun EP, and will put a smile on the face of half the dance floor and send the other half reaching for their Instagram stories to grass you up to Resident Advisor. That’s what it all comes down to though isn’t it? Great tunes are meant to be divisive, and as the great man once said Music’s Not For Everyone.
Lords of Afford - Do Laugh (Whitey Part 4) [Sabrettes, 1995]
Found only on a Sabrette’s (Sabres of Paradise sister label run by Nina Walsh) compilation, Weatherall teamed up with engineer David Hedger for this big kickin’ industrial techno number. I don’t know anyone’s who’s managed to make drums sound so hard to this day. The rest of the tune is fairly unremarkable if I’m honest, although it moves towards an acid-y ending, I’m not sure really what I’d do with it, but as a document of the ‘panel beaters from Prague’ era this is probably as good as you’ll get.
Meek - Glowing Trees [New Ground, 1994]
One of those records that’s about as 1994 as it could be, but still holding the power to elevate a crowd to this day. Ultimately a tribute to producer Joe Meek, it broadly fits into that ambient techno style that was doing the rounds back then. A ten minute trip, with lifting melodies over the top, I can only imagine hearing this one out and the effect it would have, as it ramps into gear a few minutes in. The B side takes things up a notch, more of the same, but slightly tougher Sabres-esque kicks propelling the whole thing along.
Rude Solo - DC Fumes EP [Emissions Audio Output, 1997]
An EP of pretty functional electro numbers, but with a bit of an experimental twist - you can hear the direction TLS are moving in here, as well as early shoots for the RGC/Haywire stuff. It’s not an EP that’s gonna blow anyones mind, but it does the job and makes for an interesting roadmap into how Weatherall & Tenniswood would develop their sound over the next few years. Rico’s Box is probably the track that holds it all together, giving some continuation into what came before, and where it was going.
The Woodleigh Research Facility - Gardens Dub [Moine Dubh, 2015]
Cheating a bit here, as this never technically came out physically, but back in 2015 Weatherall and Nina Walsh launched a new 7” label called Moine Dubh. It was a subscription series, where you’d be sent a new record every month or so, but for whatever reason shipping was delayed, so to placate those who’d ordered a download of this unreleased Woodleigh Research Facility track was sent to those waiting. A lot more electronic than the rest of the Moine Dubh oeuvre, which really was a folk label it’s here to shine a light on an under-appreciated part of Weatherall’s musical tastes.
VA - Rotters Golf Club Presents Machine Funk Specialists Vol. 1 [RGC, 2001]
This EP on Rotter’s Golf Club featured five tracks from a variety of Weatherall & Tenniswood aliases, with Klart, Rude Solo, Aramchek all making an appearance along with the only outing from Frisch und Munter. The absolute highlight on this one is Rude Solo’s MFS - not only a call to arms for all electro soldiers, but also a statement that these two here are at the top of their game - the Machine Funk Specialists. Over a looped vocal and broken drums the bassline morphs into something taken from the boot of an orange XR3i, straight outta the UKG songbook. A second highlight (cause there wouldn’t be just one) is Aramcheks Driver, a song that previewed the nascent grime sound bubbling on the fringes at the time. It wasn’t really anything Weatherall got all that deeply into, but you can tell his ears were attuned to what was going on elsewhere in music.