“So here’s my mix. I’m glad you let me do it and I hope you enjoy it, I had fun making it, the first few mixes are slightly awkward, but hey, I wanted to get some weird stuff in there and if you don’t try, you don’t get anywhere do you? Hopefully there will be some things on here you haven’t heard before so you can find some great new sounds and maybe go to some shows, have a good time, meet some people, put some money in the system and keep the whole thing going a bit longer.

I’ve gone and made two mixes here – one of them is a out and about ravey affair with noises you might hear in nightclubs and the other one is something you might want to put on when you get home, perhaps in an advanced state of refreshment, wanting to “relax” or “chill out”, perhaps?

That’s about it from me. If anyone wants to book me in Sao Paulo please get in touch, I’ve never been there and apparently they’ve banned all advertising in the city and it’s totally wild with loads of art everywhere. I’d like to thank the lovely Morgan for providing the voice for the second CD, her funny stories made me laugh and I hope they make you smile too! I hope anyone who downloads this enjoys it anyway – be excellent to one another and party on dudes!”

CD 1 – An insult to Reality

Intro sample.

This was originally for the Outlaws vs Bang Gang mix CD we planned one cosmic evening on the fateful eve we first met, many, many moons ago. Since then I’ve done my best to fuck my life up and they’ve released two albums and are now PLAYAZ on the SCENE. Whoops.

Andrew Bird – Fake Palindromes

This guy’s totally awesome. Just awesome. Live, he’s got a shade of the early Jaime Lidell’s about him with all that wicked vocal

sampling, looping stuff going on. The guy’s a genius and this song’s great.

Bombay The Hard Way – Ganges A Go Go

I was doing some work for an ad agency and I gave a nice guy there some songs and this was one of them. Every time it came on the stereo I would ask him what it was and then be really embarrassed when he told me that I’d actually given it to him. This happened a lot. Strangely they didn’t invite me back to do more work.

Chris Joss – Magic Tubes

Cool name eh? Pretty fun song to start getting to the mix proper I reckon. Not much else to say really. It’s not BANGING but it does have a GROOVE.

Aphex Twin – Donkey Rubarb

Another cool name. Aphex is pretty awesome really isn’t he? He makes great music, fucks about with the press and doesn’t take it all very seriously. He’s also very talented, probably a good person to have around on a heavy acid trip and he’s from the West Country -

definitely a candidate for a top position in the Techno Parliament.

Ceasefire vs. Deadly Avenger – Evel Kinevil

A bit of an Old Bristol tune this one. Reminds me of Djing with Mulder from Urban Takeover and him saying “Your tunes are great but your mixing’s all over the shop!” (I was drinking a lot of Red Stripe back then). He a nice guy anyway, he’s making some good new Old School inspired tunes too, which can only be a good thing.

M.A.N.I.C. – I’m Coming Hardcore

Possibly the coolest name? How could anyone not like a tune with a name like that? The song could be the sound of a massive shit pressed onto vinyl, but then you’d see the name and be like “It’s called ‘I’m Coming Hardcore’ and the band’s called M.A.N.I.C. so it’s OK and I want to give them some money for being awesome”. And when girls look through my record bag they’ll know what kind of guy I am. One that “comes hardcore”, whatever that means.

Smart E’s – A Most Excellent Choon

OH MY GOD – another awesome name for a song. This song is also pretty awesome. Smart E’s get a pretty bad rep (probably because they’re called Smart E’s and they made Sesame’s Treat which OFFICIALLY SIGNALLED THE DEATH OF RAVE), their album is actually pretty good if you like old rave stuff. I really like old rave stuff.

Sureshot – Ichigeki

Pretty bonkers and very good. Sample heavy, lost classic in my book.

AKA The Junkies – Konijntje

Pretty bonkers and very good, oh I’ve said that already haven’t I? A bit of a killer from Holland here. They like darts in Holland, I like

darts too. Really underrated sport, Seriously, check it out. Darts is wicked and very exciting. I watched Ted Hanky win at the BDO

championship this year. Good times…

Indo Tribe – Owl

FSOL, what can you say. Awesome maybe? Lots of amazing records, still cranking them out. They do incredible interviews too and they got 11 out of 10 for one of their albums in Muzik magazine once, which is quite a claim. And then there’s that amazing story about them pissing on a chair and making A&R guys sit on it when everyone wanted to sign them back in the Nineties when everything was fun and people liked having a good time. Just wow. They have a great webshop where you can buy all their old stuff too. It’s all pretty amazing and a must for anyone who likes this electronic music thing we’re all supposed to be into.

Cappella – Helyom Halib (Acid Mix)

Very daft (not Daft Punk, just daft). There’s a lot of good old acid records in the world. I think this is one of them. So I put it in this

mix. That is all.

Funkatarium – Jump

I love this tune. It’s come back a bit recently in Australia, because it’s great and you can always play great tunes. My copy of this was

stolen when I lost my decks, half a 15k sound system and two bags of records when some not particularly nice people stole my van in Leeds nearly 10 years ago. I hope they got some joy out of it, but I doubt it. I would imagine they sold it for peanuts and wasted all the love it took to build and create and squandered all the good times it could have brought to people in future. Cheers guys. I’m not bitter though.

Syntheme – Red

Disco acid? Great stuff. Ace record from a very talented lady. More disco acid will come in future I reckon, because well, it’s the

future.

Zeigeist – Tar Heart

A touch of the old Kate Bushes on this one. I really wanted to remix this and do a kind of Rex The Dog Heartbeats vibe on it, but obviously not as good (how cool is that song?). They never got back to me though. I played it on the radio in Australia and someone asked what it was so I emailed it them. Maybe that was revenge for not letting me remix the track. Does that make me a bastard? I cost them a sale. Maybe that was a pair of socks for their children? Maybe the person I sent the track to bought the album? Hey – you owe me guys – let me have the stems for this tune…

The Cookie Crew – Got To Keep On

Another banger, samples Kraftwerk (but then everybody did then didn’t they?). UK rap / dance hip-house is great stuff – people like to dance to it (probably because it’s fun to dance to) and there’s always a nice verse or a fun sample to keep you amused. Why don’t people make records like this again?

Mujava – Township Funk

Ha ha. Had to put it on there really didn’t I? It’s such a monster tune. Apparently the main melody is the preset demo thing on some

brand of keyboard – all you have to do to make it is hold one of the keys down. We could have all become famous and have loads of gigs if we’d known that. But that’s the thing isn’t it? You kind of have to find these things first to make the most of them. But then again there’s the popular phrase “The pioneers get the arrows, the settlers get the land”, but I digress…

Shut Up And Dance – I’m Raving I’m Raving

Seriously, what a tune. Walking in Memphis goes rave. Only a proper genius could think of that. I had my own go at something stupid in this vein (not that I’m calling myself a genius or anything – I hope I’m not that much of a tool) when I tried to get my friend MC Gaff-e to record a song called Raver Lovin’ with Edu K. I had this vision of it being a daft parody of Summer Loving from the Grease soundtrack with more rave. They kind of made it a fidgit banger though and easy

on the jokes. Oh well, if you want something done properly…

Kolusion – Baby (Dubwize remix)

Might seem a bit boring but it’s pretty funky, it’s got a good groove and the productions dope. We can’t all be the shining gems in the

disco treasure chest can we? There have to be some sleeping giants to keep the vibe alive between the bangers…

Dubchild – Take Me (Reso mix)

My good pal Clark Kunt got me into this one. He’s so devoted to his music he works about 10 hours a day on it. This also makes him very skint, he has to survive off a few gigs at Blowpop and a couple of shifts at The Old Blue last (who probably pay him in mullets or

something). But it’s all about devotion to the rave isn’t it? Mr. Kunt has this devotion and one day it’s going to pay off…

Jess & Crabbe – In Your Eer

Jess and Crabbe were awesome. They made tunes like Sinden and Herve and that lot ages earlier but they never really got the cred they deserve. Their tunes are great though – it’s always good to have a couple of French bangers in your box (as the art mistress said to the gardener).

Stenchman – Fat Bloated Idiot

Samples Ren and Stimpy so it kind of must be wicked. Dubstep but still with ye olde rave vibes. Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooom etc.

6bloc – Never Scared

Amazing. Just wow. Lush vocal. Great, great production. I’m very, very jealous of those drums and that bass. Full respect to this guy, he really, really knows what he’s doing. Just imagine this record on The Iration Steppa’s sound system. It would BLOW YOUR MIND!

Second Protocol – Basslick

Very, very weird tune. It doesn’t have a proper beat, but it’s very well produced and quite mental. It also sounds spectacular on a big

rig with lots of bass. But then most things do don’t they?

Machines Don’t Care – Spycatcher

I think this is the best track from the Machines Don’t Care Thing. You might not, but I do. I bet they had a laugh making that album. Or maybe not, maybe they’re all boring boys with no sense of humour who just like listening to basslines loudly. Good to see they got together and defined their sound though.

Tambour Battant – Kp3

Cool weird foreign music stuff, faintly psychedelic which can only be a good thing. Weird beat though, it’s a bit of a bugger to mix.

MC Serginho – The Book Is On The Table

Thank to Mr. Jaime Doom for this one. A bit of an Oz anthem from a few years ago. Still a definite winner. Funny but not stupid I reckon.

George Harrison: Art of Dying

My amazing dad played me this one (What a cliche that phrase is eh? But like most cliches, IT’S TRUE). Great song from the man like

George. Totally groovy, spaced out vibes. And you can dance to it. Please can people start making modern music like this more often? I reckon Dan Stricker’s a modern day George Harrison, I hope he doesn’t mind that I’ve said that.

Golden Girls – Kinetic

Golden Girls – Kinetic (Heavenly mix)

Cor blimey. A bit of a winner here. This is just sheer joy. It must be pretty amazing to sit in the studio and create something like this,

something that must have given so many people so much happiness. Putting both these mixes together just kind of happened, I hope it’s not too much, It just feels really nice.

Kris Menace and Spooky – Stereophonic

What a great tune – all the best bits of old prog before it became such a dirty word encapsulated in a blast of total rave bliss. It’s

those French dudes again isn’t it? Please can you stop making so many awesome records? Actually don’t, please, please don’t stop, keep going, keep making amazing songs. Especially Julien Delfaud – he’s made some monsters and he must make more, Please, please make some more songs that sound amazingly awesome…

My Digital Enemy – Time To Freak.

I think these guys make HARD HOUSE, I’m not completely sure what HARD HOUSE is anymore. It’s probably something like ELECTRO? Maybe it’s related to music that’s a bit too fast and hectic and has had a lot of the love removed, leaving only a slightly skeletal husk of E junkie raver chrysalis that gyrates to the pleasure button pushing rushyness of the music. Or something. It’s got a good beatboxy sample thing going on anyway.

Moby – Stars (AC Slater Mix)

Bit of a future lost classic this, most of the fidget sound is pretty hectic, but this is a wonderful piece of music. Crammed full of

positivity and good times. Moby’s given us some good times over the years hasn’t he? Go? Next Is The E? I have very fond memories of him playing Every Time You Touch Me live and it being pretty outrageously incredible.

Kilo – What I hear

Love this tune, slightly wonky mix into it though, but that’s life. Heavy bass on a big rig. Party vibes, kind of reminds me of Australia’s awesome Spruce Lee, although he’d never play it. Spruce once punched out Steve Aoki – he’s a legend. Not for the violence – it’s just pretty funny that when a famous guy from a far off land comes and tries to jump on the decks when you’re playing and you just give him a big old slap. Hilarious. SPRUCE LEE THUNDERCLAP! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM.

Circle Children – Zulu [Change Mix]

Hianta Fluokids / Fool House (the queen of Blog house who doesn’t blog anymore) loves this tune. She’s pretty awesome and she has a vision and she’s making it real, this is a very cool thing, One day she’s going to make a music obsessed boy very happy, but until then we can all dream, can’t we?

Ink and Needle – Tattoo One

Great track from a great label with good vibes. Crazy Nordics. I haven’t got any tattoos. Gus the Hoodrat has loads though. He keeps

getting new ones. There all really funny and personal too. I think my fave has to be his DEATH BY TECHNO one, I hope he doesn’t tattoo me in my sleep one day, that would be a bit of a pain. I’d have to explain it to my mum.

Fred Falke – Sanctuary

Hmmmm. Sounds that rhyme with ECSTACY maybe? Those French dudes really know how to make monster drug bangers don’t they? Most of them don’t seem to like partying that much though. Maybe they just sit in the studio taking E and making awesome tunes for the rest of us. If that’s the case, please don’t stop, keep doing loads of drugs and channeling all that bananas rave energy joy into dancefloor masterpieces like this that make people literally LOSE THEIR SHIT at the weekend. I heard a good story about a girl shitting herself in a club the other week, but it’s probably not much funnier than the fact that the story exists. You’ve got to be pretty fucking wasted to shit yourself in a club haven’t you? But then again maybe it’s not that embarrassing – if you shit yourself in a club, you must be taking gear to a professional level, which is worthy of at least some kind of respect. It’s not an isolated incident either – as this Youtube clip shows:

TVMR – Bowie In The Bronx (Shinichi Osawa Remix)

Shinichi Osawa is pretty awesome isn’t he? I still haven’t been to Japan. That Jeff Mills: Live at the Liquid Room CD is pretty awesome

though isn’t it? Like being at The Orbit, but with Japanese people, and in your living room or something.

Samantha Fu – Theme From Discotheque

This could possibly be the best tune ever. I’ve wanted it for about a decade. I first heard it in Bristol when Bentley Rhythm Ace Played it at The Blue Mountain at a party I was doing (Bentley’s used to be a bit of secret weapon in Bristol – if you needed to do a good party

quickly, you could book them and they’d rock it and everybody would have a great time). When I first heard this little number I thought it was mind bendingly awesome and packed full of joy – just like Bristol was then (and probably is now – Oh those crystals…).

Not many people know this one – it’s a bit of a hidden gem (NOT ANYMORE), I played this in a club once and someone came up to me and asked me what it was and I said it was a secret and the guy was like “OK, can you give me the CD then?”, I think that’s pretty weird.

Zombie Nation – Kernkraft 400

There’s not a lot you can say about this is there? Apart from the fact it’s AN AWESOME BANGER. This would as they say, “go off at a funeral”.

Felix – Don’t You Want Me (Original, Red Jerry and Hooj mixes all

together at the same time and stuff)

What a tune this is. Here’s a few mixes of it put together I’m not sure how putting this together happened, but it did. I wish I’d it in

a club in an advanced state of refreshment because I think it would have blown my mind!

Transvision Vamp – I Want Your Love

A great stormer from my youth here (and a slightly dodgy mix into it!). I was lucky enough to meet Wendy James when she came to

Australia recently, she’s pretty cool for someone who’s been very famous. She’s got this mad internet stalker though who tries to

continually make her life a misery. Seriously, this guy must put in HOURS every day just harassing her and saying horrible things about her. He put some pictures of a mate of mine and his young son on the internet too and wrote some dodgy stuff about them. Strange world eh?

Cassetteboy – What? You’re Gonna Kill Me? Down The Phone?

Shit – that all got a bit dark didn’t it? We end on a happy note though with a bit of Cassetteboy. These guys are just so amazingly

great, everyone should buy all of their albums. Really, really talented and really funny. They deserve to be Number One for ever.

————————–

CD2 – Lush

His Name is Alive – Blue Moon

His Name is Alive made some lovely records and they’re still making lovely records. This is just pure bliss. A 4AD classic. I was lucky

enough to meet Ivo Watts-Russell who started 4AD once. He was a great guy. That’s not a very interesting story is it? I’ll make it better – I told him Song To The Siren was one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever recorded and then we both commiserated that someone had just made a bad trance cover of it.

Baby Fox – Girl

Baby Fox were in that whole Trip Hop thing, but don’t hold it against them, they made some interesting music. This is a cover of a Marc Bolan song. It’s interesting, cool and gorgeous – kind of like a perfect girl really…

Saint Etienne – Hobart Paving

Saint Etienne, what a band. Totally awesome, made some great albums and they obviously really love music. They’re also part of the whole Heavenly thing that’s given a lot of people a lot of joy. And they helped get the Manics out there which is pretty good work.

One Dove – Why Don’t You Take Me?

One Dove, Dot Allison, more beautiful music. The One Dove album is very special. Weatherall produced it after Screamadelica and it’s a wonderful collection of songs, haunting and full of emotion. I’d love to have made a record that good. There’s definitely a place in the world for slightly psychedelic country music.

Joy Zipper – 1

Joy Zipper were / are cool. They got a bit screwed by record labels though, which is a shame. I was lucky enough to hang out with them once when they did a show in Bristol and they were very nice. I hope they make another album that’s got lots of amazing songs on it.

Roy Harper – Another Day

Roy Harper, just a lovely song. Very tender with a beautiful atmosphere. Words don’t really work to describe things like this do

they? It just floats so gently and calmly and invites you on a little journey that’s full of yearning. Good stuff, it’s great being alive

isn’t it?

Shakespears Sister – Waiting

Shakespears Sister made some good records, this is one of them. Hidden away on the sound track to COOL BRIT FLICK Shopping, this is one of the most mind blastingly incredible things I’ve ever heard. I found this when I used to work in the record library at Leeds University, good times – this was before THE INTERNET and music being so freely available, yeah, there once was a time when you couldn’t just read about a song and find it – you actually had to hunt it out and discover it in a physical form. The library had been lovingly put together by some great music heads over many years and there was so much incredible stuff in there, some really wonderful records and lots of people enjoyed them. Which is nice.

This Mortal Coil – You And Your Sister

Another beautiful This Mortal Coil Song. This is a cover of Big Star, who are pretty awesome too. It’s amazing that this music exists isn’t it? It’s just so wonderful and full of real feelings and heartache and desire, wow.

The Pixies – Where Is My Mind

MY GOD NOT MORE 4AD! The Pixies. Bit annoyed I missed them when they toured because I was too hammered. Silly boy. The records are great though. This song is kind of culturally cemented to the end of Fight Club now isn’t it? With the building exploding and stuff. Hype and fame kind of devalues the artistic credibility of things doesn’t it? I reckon this song (and Fight Club) are OK though.

Dead Can Dance – American Dreaming

No really, more 4AD? There must be a reason for this? Maybe it’s because 4AD was so absolutely amazing we should all bow down every day and thank whatever power we believe in that such amazing music was unleashed into the world? Dead Can Dance can be quite obtuse, but this is quite intense.

Leonard Cohen – Hey That’s No Way To Say Goodbye

My mate Duncan (who used to be in The Outlaws when it was a sound system crew “back in the day” as they say) got me into Leonard Cohen. He’s pretty great. I really wanted to see him at Glastonbury, but the whole thing turned into a bit of an apocalyptic psychedelic voyage ending with me getting so sunburnt I had to go home. Annoying. Great song though. Thanks Leonard.

Talking Heads – Nothing But Flowers

There’s something really amazing about this song. I’m not quite sure what it is. Maybe it’s just that it’s completely amazing? Those

lyrics: “Years ago I was an angry young man I’d pretend That I was a billboard Standing tall By the side of the road I fell in love With a beautiful highway”…are kind of awesome. Listening to the words, maybe Talking Heads predicted the whole Future Primative, MGMT / Midnight Juggernauts vibe thing years ago? “As things fell apart, nobody paid much attention…”

The Kinks – Village Green Preservation Society

From The Kinks’ concept album. There’s a lot of wishing for an England that doesn’t exist and maybe never has isn’t there? England’s a great country but it’s been so fucked now by our greedy, clueless, idiot government that is almost beyond depressing. Sorry, that’s a bit political isn’t it? I’ll try and keep to the music.

The Velvet underground – Venus In Furs

Amazing. I fell in love with this song when I heard it on a Dunlop advert directed by the great Tony Kaye. Great bit of film, great song.

I would imagine it’s about Heroin isn’t it? Heroin’s not very trendy anymore is it? All the Britpop people were bang into it weren’t they?

Everyone’s on the donkey dust now though aren’t they?

The Posies – Burn And Shine

The drums on the whole Posies “Frosting On The Beater” album are incredible. The Posies were pretty incredible too. Good songs, good vibes, all about being a teenager and doing awesome teenager stuff like falling in love and hanging out. Deeply cool.

Skylab – Mother’s Milk

Skylab kind of disappeared, but this is a wonderful tune. From theNineties, when people knew how to make albums and properly

experimented with things. I reckon we’re heading back to a time like that now. Everything’s so fucked now we’ve got to have a good time and get lost in some beautiful music, haven’t we?

Finley Quayle – Overcome

When I used to work for The Face (apparently I trot that little phrase out far too much, like some kind of Nathan Barley dickhead. Sorry about that – it was a good time with some good people though) I tried my best to champion the album this was on. It was a great record, and this is a great song. It reminds me of happy summers having a lovely time. I hope it can be part of some good memories for you too…