In Strict Tempo, vol. 96: Mani Tribute, News Round-Up
First up, welcome to this week’s In Strict Tempo, and a big hello to all new subscribers. Thanks for signing up and I hope you enjoy reading. I’m always open to feedback and music suggestions at owen@instricttempo.com
We start off on a sad note with news in yesterday that Mani from the Stone Roses & Primal Scream has died at the age of 63. I was never a massive Roses fan, but enjoy revisiting their first album from time to time. After leaving the Roses he joined Primal Scream - that really is some legacy isn’t it? Being part of two of the most influential bands this country has ever produced. It’s probably fair to say that after Screamadelica the Scream got into a bit of a rut. Give Out But Don’t Give Up was a return to bluesy rock, and wasn’t really that well received, and it was hard to see where they went next. Mani joined in 1996 and played on Vanishing Point & XTRMNTR which are both 10/10 albums in my book, as well as on Evil Heat & Riot City Blues, which were still pretty decent. It’s fair to say the Scream were probably at the height of their powers during this time proving Mani’s versatility as a bass player. He also tried to keep things together during a chaotic (to put it lightly) set at Glastonbury in 2005, with Bobby completely and utterly fucked. I last saw the Scream in Glasgow in 2022 where Mani appeared as a special guest. RIP.
Ever paid a fortune for a gig ticket on the secondary market? Yeah, me too. Apparently that’s gonna become a thing of the past though, as the government are banning people from reselling tickets for anything higher than face value. In theory, a great idea. Some of the markups on tickets for this summers Oasis tour were insane, and I’m sure other artists suffer the same. In practice though? Well, it’ll probably make it slightly easier to get gig tickets, but if anything I imagine companies like Ticketmaster (who resell tickets above face value via their platforms) will just bump their fees and ticket costs higher anyway. A gig has become part of the experience economy now, and people will pay big money to capture the moment for their socials. A ticket for a decent-sized act at Brixton or Wembley Arena is already getting on for £100 with fees, I can’t imagine this legislation making them any cheaper.
Granted, it’s not as much of an issue in the world of underground & DIY music, but these platforms won’t discriminate when it comes to adding fees on, so it’s likely the knock-on effect will be bad news for everyone.
Apple Music have added a load of DJ sets from the Hacienda to it’s online offering. DJ sets are one of the things that really sets Apple Music apart from it’s competitors, being able to handle sets with unreleased tracks, edits and stuff that isn’t on the platform means that DJ’s have pretty much unlimited freedom to play almost whatever they want. These 11 mixes were recorded between 1987 and 1996 from artists such as Mike Pickering, David Morales, Jon DaSilva and Frankie Knuckles, all mastered in top quality. A proper snapshot in time from the much-mythologised club.
I’m already starting to see Best of 2025 lists begin to crop up. Bleep have gone early with theres, as have Rough Trade, and I’ve seen a few others too. It’s always one of my favourite things about the festive season, seeing all these end-of-year lists, often with a bit of additional context around the records with the benefit of hindsight and famillarity. I’ll do my end-of-year list a bit later in December.
Elijah can always be called upon for a hot take, and in a recent article with Beatport he suggested “there aren’t enough DJ’s”. I can assure him there are. In other news Pioneer/Alpha Theta have launched a new DJ controller in conjunction with none other than Elijah. Fourteen hundred of your English pounds to you, guv.
If you follow me on social media you’ll have seen already that I was a guest of LDLDN on his NTS show last Saturday. I’m not a DJ, I’m not all that good at mixing, but I do enjoy playing good tunes for people, so it meant a lot when I got some lovely feedback from listeners. It’s online here for you to listen back to, if you so want. I start around 31 minutes, but the whole show’s a good’un.
Spotify have bought out WhoSampled, I guess they’re going to integrate this into their app somehow, perhaps showing the ‘history’ of certain songs. If I’m honest, I’m surprised it was Spotify who bought this and not Apple Music, given the latter’s track record of adding genuinely innovative and value-adding stuff to their offering. Will WhoSampled justify the extra pound a month Spotify want to charge? For some people, perhaps. I’m still not sure and am considering my future on the app in light of it. For that reason too - consider it my own little protest at enshittification - I won’t be sharing my Spotify wrapped stats this year. You all know what I like, and you all know Born Slippy will be in there somewhere, as it is every year…
One issue I can foresee with Spotify featuring WhoSampled data in it’s app is will it bring to light unauthorised sample uses in tracks? I’m sure there’s a load of stuff on the platform that hasn’t been cleared properly and I can see it opening a huge can of worms as old rights holders realise they’re losing out on income and go after the producers who sampled them. One thing’s for sure, it’s going to be a good time to be a music lawyer.
New Music
Absolutely loads of it to get through this week, and all of it absolutely amazing. Let’s go…
Jon E Cash - Sublow [Sneaker Social Club]
Sneaker come correct with this compilation of tracks by grime pioneer Jon E Cash. Consider this an education, an introduction to one of the most overlooked UK producers, and an artist who joined the dots between UKG, Grime & Dubstep.
Sandwell District - Forbidden [Point of Departure]
Feels like we’ve been super blessed on the Sandwell front this year, with a new album, EP of demos and now another new track from Regis & Function. End Beginnings has just been named an album of the year by Bleep, with a special gold vinyl edition, and limited live EP being made available.
Low End Activist - Hope III (Demdike Stare Stressed Version) / Airdrop II/III [Sneaker Social Club/Peak Oil]
A busy one for Low End Activist, perhaps the hardest working producer in the biz. First up enlisting Demdike Stare for a foggy remix of Hope III adding some much-needed Manc murk to the proceedings, and next up a double drop of albums on Peak Oil, on a cold grimewave tip.
Public Money - Amulets EP [Crane Operator]
An incredible debut on Crane Operator from London’s Public Money, channelling forest-era GAS, Actress and all the good bits of hazy, lysergic electronics with none of the fluff. Looking forward to hearing more from her.
Jamie Liddell & Luke Schneider - A Companion for the Spaces Between Dreams [Northern Spy]
I’ve long been a fan of Jamie Liddell, from the super_collider days into the Warp Neo-Soul era, and now he veers off into another new direction, teaming up with Luke Schneider for this collection of looping, evolving electronic pieces inspired in part by Liddell’s Ketamine therapy.
Oneohtrix Point Never - Tranquilizer [Warp]
I’ll admit I sometimes struggle to get my head around 0PN, for every Returnal & R+7 there’s also a lot of stuff that I just can’t gel with, stuff that seems a bit too clever for it’s own good. First listens suggest this new one seems like it’ll be in the former, which bodes well.
The Bug vs Ghost Dubs - Implosion [PRESSURE]
I mean, this collaboration was always on the cards wasn’t it? As soon as Ghost Dubs dropped his critically acclaimed debut album last year it was always clear that fellow disciple of the subwoofer Kevin Martin was going to want to join forces with him. Each artist takes a track in turn here, with The Bug’s track titles each referring to a temple of dub, Plastic People, Mass, Leeds West Indian Centre and so on.
