nice & easy

I've got a difficult relationship with obscurity when it comes to music: songs I think no-one's ever heard of turn out to be massive anthems, and songs I assume are household staples rarely are. Some of the songs here will be familiar, and some not. probably the other way round than I expected... but they all sound great in the sunshine. yup.

Starts in a psychedelic soul kind of flavour, moves on to (I guess) psychedelic rock/folk, reggae and then some Grace.

tracks are:

1. Jan Hammer - Don't You Know
2. 24 Carat Black - Theme
3. James Last - Inner City Blues
4. Odetta - Hit or Miss
5. Psychic TV - cold steel
6. Menehan Street Band - Make The Road by Walking
7. Scott Walker - The Old Man's Back Again
8. D.R Hooker - Forge Your Own Chains
9. Cinematic Orchestra - All Things
10. Electrelane - The Valleys
11. The Tamlins - Smiling Faces Sometimes
12. Sir Collins - Exodus
13. Susan Cadogan - Nice and Easy
14. Camille Yardborough - Take Yo' Praise
15. Grace Jones - La Vie En Rose

you can find it here

System 7 - Alpha Wave (Plastikman Acid House Mix)

System 7 are generally shit, but Hillage has chosen good people to remix him on occasion... the high watermark for both S7 and Richie Hawtin is contained within this nigh-on 20 minute acid techno freakout - Hawtin's remix (in his Plastikman alter-ego) of the rather lame trance plodder Alpha Wave. Everyone should have it in their lives. and now you do.

Beloved by techno djs everywhere who need a shit/beer/blowjob.

here

The People of House - Chicago House Mix

A 16 minute megamix of early chicago house music... starts with Mr Fingers' peerless Can U Feel It, then off into uncharted territories (at least as far as I go - I've got quite a few 87 chi-town classics, but I only know the first track).

minimal, percussive and dark, just like chicago should be. Strangely, it seems to be available fairly cheap - discogs marketplace has it for only a quid, so snap one up...

I'd be delighted if anyone can identify any of the tracks...

download

Various Artists - North by North-west

I spotted this on the carboot, in a box of fairly unremarkable LPs: a white label compilation with the words 'rave1' and 'rave2' scrawled in biro on the two sides. Having never heard of any of the artists represented, I guessed it was worth a 50p punt on the off-chance of it being ok (or brilliant, although that's far rarer).

Normally on these occasions, the internet is my friend for finding out about the artists - but there's nothing - no mention of the album anywhere, and only two of the artists had any presence online at all: Manc rap crew Stylus Control released the song included here as a 12", and Cola Nile's voice is familiar to millions who've enjoyed Voodoo Ray (I think - even this is pretty vague). But that's it - there's no info on any of the other artists on the compilation anywhere... I think I've dated it to 1990, but can't be completely sure...

Info on any of these artists would be awesome, so please comment if you know 'em - the tracklisting is:

rave1
Nikki Jackson: Awesome
Antonio: Paradiso
Random Numbers: No Ego
The Menace Orchestra: Saxophrenia
Stylus Control: Bring the Horns Back

rave2
Cola Nile: Call Me
Tough Company: Nowhere to Run
Billy Boy Junior: Infatuation
Asay: Sunburst
0898: Hotline
DKBS: Sequence

For me, standout tracks are Random Numbers - No Ego (an expansive end-of-night instrumental), Stylus Control - Bring the Horns Back (big & beaty hip-hop dancefloor fodder - finishes with a fine manc accented lad saying 'nice one, that's sweet that is') Asay - Sunburst (rave stacks vs squidgy acid) and DKBS - Sequence (burbling Detroit synth, unexpected electro break + piano stabs = win). It's all worth a listen though, and strikes me as a fascinating document of underground electronic music in the north west after the acid house boom... but don't take my word for it.

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