Test Pressing Podcast

Dorrell and Macintosh Hip-Housing Roxanne Shante. AR Kane attempting to capture the rush. Frankye Knuckles, Tony Humphries, Larry Heard, Civilles & Cole, and Danny Rampling`s best (?) remix. The Grid sucking on Lime. I hear “Live On Stage” and I`m reliving the dubious pleasure of watching my younger sister dance on a podium at The Trip in a sports bra. “Seduction” and I`m listening to Pete Tong on the radio. Electribe 101 and Bas Noir`s “I`m Glad You Came To Me”, Patti Day, getting ready for a Saturday night, whilst briefly back living with my Dad. “A Love From Outer Space” is a tiny room in a shared house, once I`d been kicked out again. A Christmas spent alone, bar chemical company, decks and records. Forever dancing, all night and all day. (http://testpressing.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/BOY-S-OWN-AUTUMN-1989-AUTUMN-1989-PART-2.jpg) Download (http://testpressing.org/audio/252_Boys_Own_Autumn_1989_PT2.mp3) “Boy`s Own. The Complete Fanzines 1986-92” is published by DJhistory.com and can be purchased directly here (http://www.djhistory.com/books).

I first met Jamie Tiller at a Liquid Liquid gig in Tokyo, four or five years ago, by pure chance. There weren`t so many foreigners in there and we (me, Matt from RightRightRight, Max Essa and Jonny Nash) literally bumped into him in the crowd in front of the stage. Liquid Liquid were amazing, they blew away all of my expectations, and it was a funny night, not least for the “women situation” that Jamie seemed to have quite innocently got himself into. Jamie was over on a photography assignment, but was using his free time to dig for Japanese vinyl. He obviously wanted to know my “spots”. I don`t know if I was much help. When he returned to Europe he put together a mix of the records that he had found on the trip for David Mcfarline`s Noncollective (http://noncollective.com) site, and once again I was blown away. Jamie`s mix made me realise how lazy I had been, and how much great music there is out here, if you just make a bit of an effort when looking. To be honest, I was a little embarrassed by the fact that I`d been out here for three years and didn`t know any of the tracks he`d used. I`d be digging in Tokyo every week, but I`d be buying well known “Cosmic classics” and Crue-l 12s to sell back to the West for a bit of extra pocket money. If I “speculated” on anything then it would have to have either a Major Force or YMO credit on it (to be fair on myself, if you are digging for Japanese music made in the 80s then you would be hard pushed to find something that doesn`t have the name of at least one YMO member on it). After meeting Jamie, I began to go out armed with my Kanji text book, and drew up an alternative list of artists, producers, session musicians and studios. I asked Jamie for a short biography to accompany this mix and this is what he sent: “There`s not really a music biography to be honest. I don`t currently make music and I have no DJing ambitions. In fact being a pro DJ is my worst nightmare, though sometimes playing with friends to an opened minded dancefloor can be fun. And beach bar / listening session styled gigs, of course. I think some people see mixes as a way to get gigs / become famous but for me it`s just an extension of the mixtapes I made from the radio when I was 13, only now it`s records and travelling around looking for them with my friends here in Amsterdam. Discovering and sharing music, and pushing our musical boundaries. It would be great though if you could mention the label that we, Tako, Abel and myself, have started. We wanted to do something a bit different from the bootleg replica reissues you see around so much these days which seem to have more to do with cashing in on what`s hip / hyped rather than a love, respect or even interest in those involved in making that music. We want to keep the label focused on music we have more of a personal connection to and really care about. Stuff we`ve championed, stuff we came to ourselves or through good friends. All of the artists that we`ve approached so far have really great unreleased material which makes compiling their work even more exciting. The label might just be a big excuse for us to get some of those tracks on vinyl.” The name of the label is “Music From Memory”, and their byline is “Giving overlooked and unreleased music that we love a second chance.” With impossible to find and as Jamie says in some cases unreleased music from the wonderful Gigi Masin and Leon Lowman on its way, you can find more details here (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Music-From-Memory/355086967934326). (http://testpressing.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/251-JAMIE-TILLER.png) Download (http://testpressing.org/audio/251_Jamie_Tiller_Its_You.mp3)

This was the first issue of "Boy`s Own" that I actually saw. A workmate (Christian, where are you now?) borrowed it from his older brother, who I would later bump into pretty regularly at The Yellow Book (Hi Adam). Once photocopied and pawed over its impact on me was huge. Dave Little`s iconic “Boy & Dog With Shiners” cover, Farley and Weatherall as mushroom squatting pixies, and everything written as if out of breath. Inspired, I put together my own fanzine, with a circulation of about 10, which over the years has evolved from a clubland / misadventure diary, to stapled sheets of poems, prose and stolen art, into what I do now. And as for the charts, absolutely everything had to be found. To be honest, the majority of the tracks included in part 1 of this compilation I only ever heard in warm-ups. Most of music I associate with Echoes in Bow. We`d get there at 9, when the doors opened, and lurk in the corners of the empty club. Eventually skipping around to “An Englishman In New York” or making spectacles of ourselves, solitary dancers on a still brightly lit floor, to the Sherwood mix of The Woodentops “Why”. A lot of the releases listed were new and on British labels, and so could be picked up fairly easily IF you knew what you were looking for. I could usually find promos in Croydon`s 101. Piano Fantasia and Red Box were not new, but both got reissues (though not before Brother Johnston had made some extra pocket money trading in “Heart Of The Sun” 12s). The imports, dodgy Italian covers of what, even by 1989, were Balearic classics (I have to confess I do own a copy of “Sexy Lullaby”, despite several attempts at giving it away - time constraints have prevented if from being included here), and limited runs, like Fluke`s "Thumper" I would buy from Oscar in Trax. The Edie Brickel bootleg I bought from under the counter, downstairs in Blackmarket, to much joy on my part, after hearing Weatherall play it at Steve Bicknell`s “Kazoo”, a party advertised in the fanzine and held in a basement under Praed Street. The DJ at one end and a crate of Red Stripe at the other. The night I went it was populated by some of the smarter / more dangerous chaps that I`d met in Catford and Downham. There was also a small group of people dressed in crushed velvet. Electra`s “Autumn Love” has me back at a Land Of Oz all-dayer, most of which I spent unable to move and listening to Dr Paterson, though I did bump into a few former breakdance and graffiti contemporaries before I rendered myself immobile. Ruth Joy is Johnny “The Fox” Warren. The Inner City is for Miss Scott, Croydon`s Kylie, even though I know she`d be dreaming of Loz. Tim, the Kirk Brandon look-a-like DJ at Croydon`s Underground and ON-U expert at H. R. Cloaks, had already sold me the “End Of The Century Party” LP, but Gary Clail`s “Beef”, its remix and the remix of the remix (canny chap that Oakenfold) belongs to the aforementioned Yellow Book, in Covent Garden. Nights spent dressed up in Michiko-Koshino, Paul Smith, Christopher New (Tarten trews), and John Richmond, sharing a dancefloor and urinals with Primal Scream, Jack Barron and nosed-up boys from Bexleyheath. I know it`s not OK to like Sting any more, but his lines taken from a conversation with naked civil servant Quentin Crisp still resonate, despite the apparent contradiction in a piece written about slavishly following the words and tastes of others. “Be yourself no matter what they say”. (http://testpressing.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/BOY-S-OWN-AUTUMN-1989-AUTUMN-1989-PART-1.jpg) Download (http://testpressing.org/audio/250_Boys_Own_Autumn_89_Part_1.mp3) “Boy`s Own. The Complete Fanzines 1986-92” is published by DJhistory.com and can be purchased directly here (http://www.djhistory.com/books).

I had a go at Pop just after Christmas. This one`s Soul, Balearic Soul. Not necessarily the music of the peak time dancefloors, but the music of the lobbies and the bars, the arrivals, the catching up, and the synchronizing of watches. The music of the breathers from the delirium, and later, the music of the lights coming up, and not wanting to go home. To be honest I set out to make the playlist obscure, to try to show off, but the session quickly descended into well-worn favourites, and after some feedback (thank you Ingrid, Tina, Yuki and Eri) I decided to leave it that way. Maybe I`ll go for more obscure next time. A good friend of mine with the initials T.H. would ask “Soul is Soul, by what definition do you make it “Balearic”?” Well I`ll tell you… Archie Bell & The Drells: I`m in the back room at Dingwalls, a Gosh party, lights up, probably dancing with Clive; Eugene Record and Tyrone Davis: Lifted from the excellent conversation between Andrew Weatherall and Terry Farley on 6Music, when they were dedicated to Plug; Bobby Story: Taken from a Danny Rampling top ten list published around the time Shoom was changing from smiley faces to hearts and moving to The Park; Main Ingredient and Jeffery Perry: Two Darrens, Rock and House, reminiscing about Special Branch dos at the Zoo and the Natural History Museum; Razzy: Dr Bob Jones and Shoom again; Pockets: Well, I bought my copy from Dave Jarvis; The Temptations: Dean Thatcher at Flying. An unexpected blast of Motown that took everybody`s head off when he played it; Jackie Wilson: Mr Farley at Busby`s, and stories of folks insisting that the song was written about E; Terry Callier: Simon Dunmore, Ibiza `90, and Rocky & Diesel at The Yellow Book. “All the things that you`ve done for me, will never fade from my memory.” For Jo. (http://testpressing.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/249-DR-ROB.png) Download (http://testpressing.org/audio/249_Dr_Rob_Balearic_Soul.mp3)

I wanted to find someone to do a slow and hard mix somewhere around 110bpm-115bpm and after having a think asked Semtek as I thought he'd be perfect for the job. Semtek is producer / DJ Benjamin Roth who makes house and techno with experimental edges. He started the Don’t Be Afraid label in 2009 to release his own productions, but then expanded it to encompass the work of other artists like Mr.Beatnick and Photonz in 2011. Recently he has found a more esoteric sound with releases like 'West Acyd Shelter' and 'Pizza'. As Don’t Be Afraid MD he continues to explore the label’s capacity to bring talented producers out of the shadows, whilst releasing his own productions from time to time. He has also released on World Unknown, Awkward Movements and In Plain Sight. So on with the program. Like I said slow, hard techno that chugs. Bring the noise. (http://testpressing.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/248-SEMTEK.png) Download (http://testpressing.org/audio/248_Mix_2.mp3)

To say we love this series is an understatement. Leo`s mixtures of Post-Punk, left-leaning Pop, Soundtracks and Ambience define a big part of where Test Pressing is coming from. Being able to help Leo tell his part in the origination of the “Balearic Beat” to an English-speaking audience was an honour and dialogue with Leo continues to be a musical revelation, as do these mixes. I don`t consider myself to be an expert, but even those that I do have admitted that they always find some hither to unknown gems in Leo`s selections. I will concede that I am an obsessive. If a record was played at Amnesia or Pacha before 1990 then I have to have it. Even if it might never again move from its alphabetically ordered position on the museum shelf. But, ignoring this affliction, personally these sets are also teaching me a lot about how energy should move during the early part of an evening. Ebb and flow, gradually upwards, holding the interest, but not necessarily in a straight-line. Leo asked, “Would you like me to do some Part Two`s?” and I said, “Leo mate, as far as I`m concerned you can go to Part Ten`s or until you run out of records.” (http://testpressing.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/247-LEO-MAS.png) Download (http://testpressing.org/audio/247_Leo_Mas_Amnesia_85_Pt2.mp3) (http://testpressing.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/217-LEO-MAS-290x290.png)(http://testpressing.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/227-LEO-MAS-290x290.png)(http://testpressing.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/233-LEO-MAS-290x290.png)(http://testpressing.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/239-LEO-MAS-290x290.png)

Disco, House, and a crazy New Beat cut-up of Tyrone Brunson`s “The Smurf” (making it sound more like the Human League`s “Being Boiled”). Junior Vasquez getting “spiritual”, Blaze getting intense, funky Folk, and The Clash & Mark E. Smith in the dance. Pop stars High On Hope. Canada`s Bassic, Mory Kante cash-ins and Tee Scott & Began Cekic relighting old fires relit. It`s not black, it`s not white, it`s not red, it`s not yellow. I got my Italian bootleg from Oscar in Trax on Greek Street. One love. (http://testpressing.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/BOY-S-OWN-AUTUMN-1989-SPRING-PART2-RIGHT.jpg) Download (http://testpressing.org/audio/245_Boys_Own_Spring_89_Part_2.mp3) “Boy`s Own. The Complete Fanzines 1986-92” is published by DJhistory.com and can be purchased directly here (http://www.djhistory.com/books).

Glad to welcome Kenny Wisdom to Test Pressing today. Kenny was the man behind the great Keyboard Masher site as well as running the KM Editions (https://soundcloud.com/km-editions/eastern-promise) label. He clearly has great taste so we got in touch and he's delivered. To keep up to date with what he's up to follow Keyboard Masher on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/KeyboardMasher). (http://testpressing.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/244-KENNY-WISDOM.png) Download (http://testpressing.org/audio/244_Kenny_Wisdom_Mix.mp3)

This is kinda where I came in. I still hadn`t opened a copy of “Boy`s Own”, but I was going to places like the Downham Tavern, Bonnies in Catford, Echoes in Bow, Steve Proctor`s “Promised Land” parties at the Fitness Centre, and the records included in the Boy`s Own charts of the spring of 1989, in retrospect, formed a good part of the music I was hearing. These were the records that I trawled Croydon`s second-hand shops for. In those days I was looking for music that I might have heard on a night out, that other people might of played, rather than what we are supposed to do these days, which is to look for things that nobody else has played or heard. In the days pre-internet, I would go to listen to a particular DJ because only they had a particular record. At the Downham Tavern we would all know Tony Wilson`s sets off by heart. We all knew what was coming next. This didn`t detract from the evening at all. It would, at this point, when only now would you hear a certain tune, actually heighten the excitement. Mass excitement. It would also allow you to time your gear taking to maximum effect. I used to say that by collecting the records I was trying to patch together those half-forgotten evenings of excess, fill in the blackouts, but I think that was only partly true. The obsession is honestly largely driven by a need to know more than the next man, to prove that you have been into this thing since the start (which in nearly all cases is impossible), Balearic to the bone. We all would like to have been there at the start. But we can`t all be Argentinian political refugees about to enjoy our sixtieth summer. The fallout from this bluff / delusion was that sad obsessives like myself pretty quickly ended up with a lot of the more obvious classics, some of which are included here, and as a consequence began to fight / compete / argue with one another for up warm up slots. I can vividly recall catching a Cry Sisco PA as I arrived at a Sunrise rave, just at the point I was about to lose my mind, the break sounding like bombs going off, but when I play it I always see a line of South London girls, top knot Tracey`s, looking cute, smiling and dancing in unison at The Tavern. “Zobi La Mouche” has got to be the quintessential “Balearic” record from `89. I must have heard it everywhere I went and it just about summed up South London`s embrace of European hedonism, along with the slightly dark malevolence at the edges and corners of the dance floor / club that it brought with it. Ryder`s “idiot savant” argot on “Wrote For Luck” pretty much “nailed” how an army of disaffected dodgy geezers were feeling, without having to spell it out. Copies of Dizzi Heights` Style Council-assisted “Would I Find Love” were like gold dust. I survived on a 7” from Beanos for years. Credited as a Weatherall discovery, although Leo definitely played the b-side, “A Gospel”, at Amnesia, the story of Andrew`s copy being rushed from one dancefloor to another at Shoom, is one of the legend`s this obsession is built on. The song reminds me of my sister, a “Promised Land” die-hard, and later, of dancing with Bobby Gillespie and a girl in white silk pajamas. I`m sorry Ruth. I still love this record, but like “City Lights”, it`s not one I care to play anymore. Again, it carries too much. I did try to “exorcise” it by playing it in Tokyo last month, but it didn`t work. I`d had Harvey`s brother Guy help me banish the ghosts from “City Lights” earlier this year, joining me in singing along, loudly and out of tune, but he couldn`t make it this time. When I saw the chart in the spring 1989 edition of the fanzine, collected in the DJHistory annual, I was both surprised and pleased by how many of the records I already owned. I was also a little disappointed that there wasn`t a page of fresh Pop tat to go looking for. (http://testpressing.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/BOY-S-OWN-AUTUMN-1989-SPRING-PART1.jpg) Download

Coincidence. I was editing together Leo Mas` “20 Questions” (http://testpressing.org/2013/02/20-questions-025-leo-mas-amnesia-movida-go-bang-fluid/) when Max Essa (http://testpressing.org/2012/07/20-questions-009-max-essa-bear-funk-is-it-balearic-jansen-jardin/) sent me a mix, an amazing selection of Italian Pop. Assuming it was Max who had put it together, I was thinking “How and where did he get this stuff?” and “Here we go again.” Until Max arrived in Tokyo I was coasting the bars and clubs as the vaguely cool English guy, with the vaguely cool beard and the vaguely cool record collection. Then Max made the city his home and there was another vaguely cool English guy, with another vaguely cool beard, another vaguely cool record collection, and actually a really good DJ and producer into the bargain. To be honest, I kinda quit. For a while at least. I called him. “Max is this you?” “No mate. It`s great though isn`t it.” The mix turned out to be a gift from an Italian journalist who had done a five page article on Max a year or so before, the very same Italian journalist, Christian Zingales, who was helping to translate Leo`s interview. After a big sigh of relief, I immediately asked Christian if we could host it, not just by way of saying thank you for helping to tell Leo`s story to a non-Italian speaking audience, but also because it is bloody great. Anybody with even a passing interest in Italian Pop knows how hard to find it is and how expensive the records can be, particularly if you are dependent on the internet. I only recognized one track, the Lucio Battisti, on here. A Tour In Italy. (http://testpressing.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/242-CHRISTIAN-ZINGALES.png) Download (http://testpressing.org/audio/242_Christian_Zingales_A_Tour_In_Italy.mp3)

Always nice to get a knock on your in box from Rune and this one arrived with a lovely mix of very laid back semi-classic film music. As ever Rune has been a busy chap and if you hang out at the Aficionado Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/groups/2388619740/10151769107739741/?notif_t=group_activity) you may have seen his new video for his new track 'Wonder' featuring Kurt Maloo which is out now on Drum Island records. The embed code is off on Vimeo so click here (http://vimeo.com/7minus/review/59830828/6c178af55f) to go and check it. It's pretty great. The new Rune Lindbæk LP is called 'Krasava' and will be out in April on Rune's Drum Island Records. Drum Island literally translates as Tromsø which was Rune's home town (pre-Oslo) in English. Nice. In other news Mr Lindbæk has made a cinematique album (and Bryan Ferry remix) with Øyvind Blikstad under the name Metamorfózy called 'Decasia'. Here's a video for the track Ivalo. Lovely. Other than that as ever Rune is non-stop in the studio remixing Eddie C and Beppe Loda and DJing in Berlin, Belgrade, Thessaloniki, Kazakhstan, Poland with a Russian tour coming up. We hear there is a lot going on in the underground in the east and that's where you often find the best parties. He loves it there. Someone fly us over. So on with the mix... (http://testpressing.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/241-Rune-Lindbæk.png) Download (http://testpressing.org/audio/241_Cinematique_Mix_1.mp3)

I don`t know what the weather is like where you are, but it`s cold here. -20 at night and a soaring -2 during the day. If this compilation is unashamedly full on Judith Chalmers / “Wish You Were Here” horizontal, then Judith has, some might say thankfully, forgone the bikini and instead donned salopettes, goose down and mittens, and strapped the skis to the roof of the car. Somewhere en route to the resort on an ill-advised, software recommended, untested, unsalted short cut, she has spun the car into a drift. No signal, Sat. Nav. now on the blink and not a soul in sight. A tree stump moves, its neighbours move. Wild boar, four of them, go running off. One for walking in the snow, through a deserted ghost town of vacated Summer homes, watching the afternoon sun fall, the only footprints to follow my own, frozen from the previous day. (http://testpressing.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/240-DR-ROB.png) Download (http://testpressing.org/audio/240_Dr_Rob.mp3)

Seeing as we just ran our 20 Questions with Leo it seemed the perfect time to run his 1988 mix of Amnesia warm up music. We have spoken to Leo and obviously they were playing more than the twelve records held on each mix so Leo is going to do part two's for each of the years which is good. On with the program. It's 1988, the crowd has got more fashionable and the arms are going in the air... (http://testpressing.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/239-LEO-MAS.png) Download (http://testpressing.org/audio/238_Amnesia_1988_Summer_Of_Love_Early_Night_Warm_Up_Music.mp3)

For now at least, House has all but taken over. New York, Chicago, Modena, Barcelona, Manchester. This must have been the moment when Balearic Beat / Acid House popped its head overground, because I`m sure I can remember most of the artists responsible for the music here appearing on Top Of The Pops. In the Autumn of 1988 I was working in the warehouse of Croydon`s Habitat on The Purley Way, where the shop floor seemed to be staffed solely by hot art students on end of term break. I was pretty clueless to be honest, my knowledge of House confined to anonymous tapes stolen from my sister and DJ International compilations. My colleagues in the warehouse had given me the nickname “Happening Boy”, but at this point even the relatively uninitiated could still rub shoulders with Oakenfold on a weekday night at Scamps / Easy Street, dancing to The Woodentops` “Love Affair With Everyday Living”. Kariya is Echoes in Bow. James Taylor`s “Shaft In Acton” on the car stereo and balaclava`d chaps taking collections in the pubs. These were the days / nights of following Tony Wilson rather than Weatherall. Koxo Club is Rampling on Kiss, Happy, happy, happy, and something about the Gipsy Kings always elicits totally fictitious memories of the best holiday I never had. I played “Djobi Djoba” on Saturday in Tokyo, mid-January, and immediately I was ordering cocktails in Catalan. Entenguerengue. (http://testpressing.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/BOY-S-OWN-AUTUMN-1988.jpg) Download (http://testpressing.org/audio/235_Boys_Own_Autumn_1988.mp3) “Boy`s Own. The Complete Fanzines 1986-92” is published by DJhistory.com and can be purchased directly here (http://www.djhistory.com/books).

I haven't done a mix for ages so thought its about time I pulled my finger out. This one comes with a big warning sticker though - its all classical music. I love a dance record, like going out (occasionally) still, and like things that make my brain melt but recently I have also been getting lost in classical music. Ages ago when I interviewed Wally Badarou (http://testpressing.org/2009/04/an-interview-with-wally-badarou-part-two/) it piqued my interest that he was clearly inspired by the likes of Ravel, obvious but not something I'd ever thought about, but its taken me quite a while to spend some proper time getting lost in things. I asked Badarou what records he would suggest starting with if you wanted to find your way into classical music and he said 'I would start listening to Holst ‘The Planets’, Debussy ‘Images’, Stravinsky ‘Petrushka’, then I’d go on listening to Ravel ‘Daphnis & Chloe’ / ‘Tombeau de Couperin’, Fauré ‘Dolly suite’ / ‘Pavane’, Stravinsky ‘Firebird’ and ‘Rite of Spring’.' It was good advice. At Christmas a friend bought me the Max Richter Recomposed take on 'The Four Seasons' by Vivaldi and from there I was kind of off really into a world of Debussy, Satie and Shostokovich. Since then its been a case of going to a few concerts with mates and being pretty amazed at the immense, and sometimes highly restrained power of an orchestra. Hearing a quartet from the LSO play the work of John Adams (he often sounds like Steve Reich but more orchestral) - a piece that was nuts crazy - hold an audience of mainly 50 - 80 year old people massively enthralled made me think 'I want to be here when I am that age'. So anyway, this is some classical music that would have inspired the guys that made all those trippy new age records you are listening to. Its a mix of old and new (and obvious) names - Satie and Debussy (check the chords in the Debussy piece at 31:30 - truly beautiful) - through to the modern sounds of Max Richter and Simon Jeffes (PCO - RIP). Its a mellow run through a world that is starting to become massively enjoyable for me (current favourite album Keith Jarrett playing Shostokovich) and I hope you will enjoy it as well. Ta. (http://testpressing.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/237-APIENTO.png) Download (http://testpressing.org/audio/237_Strings_And_Things.mp3) This one goes out to Anne-Marie and Lou.