In Strict Tempo, vol. 47: Spread Your Wings
Aphex Twin, Spiritualized, Fabric plus a load of good new tunes this week.
A fairly short and sweet In Strict Tempo this week as everyone in my part of the music industry at least seems to have their heads down gearing up for ADE next week. I’ll be there too, wandering around and hosting a production & sampling workshop on the Friday as part of ADE Lab. What I’d be able to teach anyone about production I don’t know, but I’ll be assisted by a couple of colleagues and Steve Mac from Rhythm Masters. Say hi if you’re about.
Warp are hosting a listening party for the reissue of Selected Ambient Works 2 at the Tate Modern. I’ve always liked the Tate Modern, it’s a really cool space, especially the Tanks area off to the side of the main turbine hall, so hopefully it will be a great experience. Alas I have tickets already to see Geordie Greep in Cambridge that night so won’t be there.
London nightclub Fabric turns 25 this week, which is a pretty impressive achievement. Though I haven’t been for years, I always had some decent nights out there in the past. It was never my favourite London club, but you can’t fault the depth and diversity of their booking policy, and the soundsystem is second-to-none. On a personal level I’ll be forever grateful to founder Cameron Leslie for taking the time to answer some questions for my university dissertation back in 2010. Their monthly mix series was always brilliant too, even if you didn’t particularly enjoy the DJ in question. Here’s a list in no particular order of my favourite Fabric Mix CDs.
Fabric 19 Andrew Weatherall: It’s the ending of this one for me, that 1-2 from the TLS mix of Dexter bang into an Atmosphere cover. The end of a great night out, soundtracked by the GOAT.
FabricLive 06 Grooverider: One of the few DnB mixes I’ll regularly listen to. Pure energy from start to finish.
Fabric 69 Sandwell District: Typically eclectic, this was the sound of London in the early 2010’s. Exciting, dark, hard, with a vein of nostalgia running through it.
Fabric 36 Ricardo Villalobos: All his own stuff, all unreleased. It takes some balls for a DJ to turn that in as a mix CD. Levon Vincent did the same thing later, also decent.
FabricLive 01 James Lavelle: Again, another CD that was a real snapshot in time. This kind of stuff was pretty unfashionable for a while, but the mix still holds up.
FabricLive 59 Four Tet: One of the catalysts behind the UKG revival, this mix had a bit of everything, but when Big Bird’s Flav kicked in the mix moved in to top gear.
FabricLive 16 Adam Freeland: Another one that’s pretty unfashionable these days, but just a killer mix that never left my CD changer for a long time
FabricLive 24 Diplo: Yes he’s an arsehole, but this mix still slaps. That bit where he goes from Jammer’s Destruction VIP into Lovesong, into Outkast into Deceptacon is about as good as mix CD’s gets. Then he ends up with Turbulences Notorious.
FabricLive 31 The Glimmers: Just a fun mix of electro/disco. Solid and representative of the series as a whole
Fabric 53 Surgeon: This Is For You Shits is the better Surgeon mix CD, but his Fabric mix was top drawer and relentless all the way through.
New Music
On to this weeks new tunes then, something for everyone this week.
CS + Kreme - The Butterfly Drinks the Tears of the Tortoise [The Trilogy Tapes]
A third full-length on The Trilogy Tapes from CS + Kreme following Orange & Snoopy. Hypnotic, lysergic and tranquilising all at once, this new one is a meditative bath in sound, an antidote to the outside world. Put on, drift off.
Prince Jazzbo & Mad Cobra - Goldmine (Dubbed Out) [333]
‘93 dubwise dancehall from Jazzbo & Mad Cobra released on 333. First time on wax for this, and all the better for it. Digi-dancehall-dub at it’s finest. Thought I’d throw in Mad Cobra’s seminal sexxx anthem Flex too, ‘cause it’s a banger.
Memotone - Fever of the World [Soda Gong]
Memotone is an In Strict Tempo favourite and if you don’t know him already I urge you to check out his back catalogue. There’s an Eastern tip to Following going on, and it defies categorisation. More than ambient, more than jazz, more than whatever else you’ve been listening to lately.
Dregs - Dregs [self-released]
More haze from Melbourne as that rich vein of music coming out of Australia’s second city continues. Dub/post-punk/trip-hop all going on here, and a nice complement to the CS + Kreme album above.
Milan W - Leave Another Day [Stroom]
I slept on this one last week but it’s firmly making a case for itself as an Album of the Year contender. Simon & Garfunkel meets Biosphere or something like that. If you like Memotone you’ll enjoy this, and you’ll probably enjoy it no matter what you like. This could equally have come out in ‘86, ‘93 or ‘24 and you’d be none the wiser.
Spiritualized - Pure Phase [Fat Possum]
Alright it’s not new, but Spiritualized announced last week they’d be playing Pure Phase in full at the Barbican next March. Of course I got tickets. Ladies & Gentlemen is my favourite Spirtualized album, but Pure Phase runs it a close second. I saw them do L&G in full at the Barbican back in 2016 (I’d rushed back from Berlin especially for it) and it was one of the best shows I’d ever seen, by anyone. I’m looking forward to this one just as much.
That’s it for this week. Next week will probably be another short one as I’ll be sampling the delights of Amsterdam (and by that I mean the record shops). Thanks for reading and sharing as always.