In Strict Tempo, vol. 31: Tunes & News Round-Up
A quick look at this weeks hot topics and hot tunes
Welcome to this weeks newsletter. Last week’s British Murder Boys retrospective got a lot of love, so thanks if you read or shared it with anyone.
The hottest topic this week was The Guardian article about the remix and how they’re declining in popularity. I’ll go a bit deeper on this in a week or two, I just haven’t finished thinking it through properly. My quick take? The remix still has some value, although DSP’s rarely support them in playlists any more. There’s none in this weeks New Music Friday, and only three in All New Dance (formerly New Music Friday Dance), one from David Guetta, one from Fisher and one from Radio 1’s Arielle Free remixing Lulu’s Shout.
Aphex Twin announced a long, long awaited ‘expanded’ edition of Selected Ambient Works 2 on Warp. The 4xLP version is just under £50, which you know what, isn’t actually that bad in this day and age. The less said about the forty quid cassette version the better though, but they’ve sold them all out so what do I know? There’s also a £300 special wooden boxset of the album which looks quite nice, but yeah… £300. If anyone from Warp is reading this and wants a fair and even-handed review of it you know where to send one ;)
Sad to hear of the death of Dario G this week. I can’t believe how many people didn’t know he was British. But then again, how many people have the knowledge of mid-90’s Crewe Alexandra football managers? To be honest, I didn’t realise for a while, and the music definitely sounds European so I can see how people are mistaken. Anyway, Sunchyme especially is a banger and Carnaval de Paris will hold good memories of France 98 for those that remember. RIP.
Life In A Northern Town
On to this weeks music then, some nice bits out this week.
Nug - Bong Boat [West Mineral]
This actually came out a couple of months ago but didn’t appear on streaming services straight away, but now it is. Drifting dubbed-out ambient, I’m reminded of the likes of GAS & Pole, stuff like that. Big recommend from me.
Burial & Kode 9 - Phoneglow / Eyes Go Blank [Hyperdub]
The last time these two collaborated on Fabric last year its felt a bit phoned-in to me. Like it wasn’t the best work from either of them. Thankfully they seem to be working separately again now, albeit on a split 12” coming soon. The Burial tune sounds like classic skippy garage Burial which gets a big thumbs up from me. The Kode 9 track is better than I was expecting too. The artwork reminds me of the TikTok logo though, which I don’t like.
Pearson Sound - Hornet [Hessle Audio]
Sorry this one’s not for me. It sounds like it’s taking inspiration from Plastikman’s Spastik, but with a really annoying buzzing sound (that’s the hornet I guess). Each to their own and all that, but there’s a lot better Pearson Sound tracks out there in my opinion.
CHBB - CHBB [Soulsherrif]
The full album is out now. Been a while, hasn’t it?
Sticky Dub - Never Give Weapons To A Man Who Can’t Dance [Eglo]
Feels like it’s been ages since we had a release from Eglo. That might not be the case, but this one has grabbed my ear. Steppers dub in the style of Equiknoxx, with that typical Eglo UK grounding to it.
G.S Schray - Whispered Something Good [Last Resort]
I loved the first G.S Schray album on Last Resort, it remains one of my favourite records to date (good luck finding a vinyl copy though, there’s none on Discogs for less than £70 but it’s worth every penny in my eyes). He’s done a few since, so I’m always excited when I see a new one even if it remains criminally slept-on. Grab this whilst you can.
That’s all from me for this week - thanks as always for supporting, sharing, arguing with me about whether or not that new Pearson Sound is good or not. Back next week.