Boo Williams - Midnight Express EP

No, not anything to do with Giorgio Moroder's classic 'Chase' soundtrack, but the title track of a classic Relief EP form 2005. A bit of a shit pressing, it always seemed a bit too distorted to me, but they're all like that apparently. At least it wasn't on Trax records - they were the worst pressings ever.

Track A2 & B2 have both got lockgrooves on them - I was out of the room there for A2 and thought it had got a bit repetitive (9 mins later!) - I've done a wee fade for you on them both. My pick o'the bunch is track B1 - it got the most plays back in the day. A perfect representation of what Relief Records was all about, I reckon...



Boo Williams - Midnight Express EP
A1 - Midnight Express
A2 - Planet Earth
B1 - Cloud Burst
B2 - Blast Off

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Eddie "Flashin" Fowlkes - Stella 2

What a fuckin riff this tune has - an insane synth, very 'enthusiastic' drums and percussive noises that sound like bubbling water. Magnificent! This dates from 1995, when Peacefrog was churning out consistently high quality tunes on what seemed like a weekly basis.

The B-side's a surprising departure - breakbeats from a Detroit dude?!? Hmmm. Can't say I've listened to it much, but fire it up and see what you think. It does have a great spacey flanged bit that comes in though, so that's good enough for me...



A - Stella 2
B - Bust The Jam

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Saint Etienne - Kiss And Make Up (Remix)

A bit mainstream today, isn't it..?

Saw this lot last night doing the Foxbase Alpha album in full, which was FAB. Here's the remixes of their debut 12" in all its glory.

Sarah Cracknell is still looking hot (photos here, and no I'm not one of those cunts who spends a whole gig taking pics, these were were quick, in rapid succession), last night she was wearing a tartan trouser suit with occasional feather boa. We were right down the front (close enough to make out her gammy eye), and I managed to catch a mini-Mars that Sarah chucked in the crowd during Wilson ("would you like some sweets, Willy?"). At one point in the encore their equipment fucked up and a few fannies down the front (not me) started shouting out for willfully obscure tracks. Poor Sarah looked a bit spooked by this and didn't quite know how to respond. A great show - go check it out if you get the chance.



A - Kiss And Make Up (Midsummer Madness Mix)
B - Kiss And Make Up (Midsummer Dubness Mix)

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The Future Sound Of London - Papua New Guinea

Took a wee notion to fire this up after seeing my good lady dancing around the kitchen to it the other morning. Dunno how much of a waste of time it is, as I reckon most of you will have this anyway. So fuck - here's all 7 mixes ripped for your delectation.

Much as I love this Weatherall mix, for once it's not as good as the classic original. I always thought it was a bit weird that the 'original 12" mix' was under 5 mins long, but there you go. B1 mix has a jump on it, but this 12" got played to death back in the pre-decks days on a shitty turntable...



The Future Sound Of London - Papua New Guinea
A1 - 12" Original
A2 - Andrew Weatherall Mix
A3 - Dub Mix
B1 - Journey To Pyramid
B2 - Monsoon Mix
B3 - Graham Massey Mix
B4 - Dumb Child Of Q Mix

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Steve Poindexter - The Remixes

"Work that, work that mutha fucker..."

I bought this for the Edge Of Motion mix of the classic track mentioned above, and was delighted with the other three remixes on the 12". DJAX went through a phase of getting old Chicago tracks mixed by European folks, and this is quite a line-up. Like A Tim cuts the sample down to "work...fuck...work" for a while - a nice sentiment indeed.

The two tracks on the B-side do away with any vocal and are both great wee old-skool tracks. Check out the backwards drum bits and great acid hook on B2...



Steve Poindexter - The Remixes
A1 - Work That Mutha Fucker (Edge Of Motion Mixx)
A2 - Work That Mutha Fucker (Like A Tim Mixx)
B1 - Chillin' With The "P" (Mad Maxx Mixx)
B2 - Born To Freak

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China White - China White EP

Another DJAX EP here, from 1993. Bit of an unusual one, in that the three guys responsible don't look (to me anyway) as if they've done much else. Ever. Two of them had an EP out called Dark Llama and that's it!

It's a great EP as well, dunno what happened after. Mind you, given the not-so-subtle name of their act maybe they chose not to choose life, and we know what happens then, right kids?

After a fairly average low-key A1 track, it all gets going with A2, as so many of those DJAX efforts do. Loads of great acid noises going on, with a nice subtle synth riff sneaking in behind it. B1 tones down the acid a wee bit and ups the strings. B2 is the one I always remember though, a great bass hook that I've heard out and about a few times back in the day...



China White - China White EP
A1 - Theme From The Underground
A2 - Batteries Not Included
B1 - C-Plex
B2 - No Sell Out

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The Secret Order - Tri Tone EP

... aka Conemelt. Another one from New Ground Dance Division, more are available here. 1994 must have been quite a year for this lot, as there were albums, double-pack 12"s and all sorts of 'aka/alias' nonsense flying around on various labels. Think I managed to get them all but doubtless will have missed something.

This is quite an upbeat selection, still retaining the trademark lo-fi feel. The live version of the A-side is fairly unrecognisable on the B-side. Saw Conemelt live a couple of times and they always managed to put on a mind-blowing show...



The Secret Order - Tri Tone EP
A - Transgression One
B1 - Transgression One (Live In Taffeta Mix)
B2 - Plus Three Quarters To The Flaw

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Killing Joke - The Pandemonium Single

After I read Tommy's comment for this post, I realised that I no longer had a copy of the magnificent Requiem (A Floating Leaf Always Reaches The Sea Mix), as spun by Mr Weatherall many a time in the early 90s. Due to my being a fanny and ditching a perfectly good CD single with i t on it, I bought the fucker on vinyl off Discogs so that I could stick it up here. It's a bit crackle-tastic but that's fine once it gets going.

The three mixes of Pandemonium? A1 = a great 1994-period-trancey mix, courtesy of Man With No Name. A2 = one for the Ministry fans, industrial as hell. B2 = well, they were on Sabres weren't they? Go figure...



Killing Joke - The Pandemonium Single
A1 - Pandemonium (The Dragonfly Mix)
A2 - Pandemonium (Cybersank Extended Mix)
B1 - Requiem (A Floating Leaf Always Reaches The Sea Mix)
B2 - Pandemonium (Waxworth Industries Mix)

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Propaganda - Wishful Thinking

A remix album from the mid 80s, but don't let that put you off. This sees Bob Kraushaar & Paul Morley(!) remixing the band's debut album, A Secret Wish. I've always been a sucker for albums like this, and was inspired to put it up by Castles In Space's recent League Unlimited Orchestra post.

This album was released in Europe as a souvenir of Propaganda's Autumn 1985 outside world tour (against the band's wishes, but ZTT were on a mission at this point). I didn't manage to catch them live (partly because their live drummer was Steve Jansen from Japan) but was too young for that sort of behaviour.

The tracks are all mixed together, so there's two files - one for each side.



Propaganda - Wishful Thinking
A1 - Abuse
A2 - Machined
A3 - Laughed
A4 - Loving
B1 - Jewelled
B2 - Loved
B3 - Abuse
B4 - Thought

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Round One - I'm Your Brother

... where Maurizio goes vocal house!

The third (fourth?) offshoot from Basic Channel was Main Street records, home of Moritz & Mark's house adventures. This features the title sung inna 'Caravan-Of-Love' stylee over a great uplifting house groove.

Check out Chez & Ron's darker, twisted take on things on the flip - they do away with the main vocal in favour of a few wee snippets.

A bit different from yer average Basic Channel release, no???

Well worth checking out...



A1 - I'm Your Brother (Club Version)
A2 - I'm Your Brother (Edit)
B - I'm Your Brother (Chicago's Twisted Mix)

Buy it here