I’ve just finished reading Richard King’s ‘How Soon Is Now’ which as you can see is sub-titled ‘The Madmen And Mavericks Who Made Independent Music 1975-2005′ which pretty much sums it up in a nutshell. If you look at the back cover below you can see all the labels King has covered in the book starting with Andrew Lauder and United Artists, home to the likes of Hawkwind and Dr Feelgood, and moves on from there through the industrial, punk and post-punk scenes, Factory, the Liverpool lot with Bill Drummond and The Bunnymen and on and on. It’s an imminently readable book that happily pulls together interviews and quotes from all the key players, and a lovely descriptive way to bring these characters to life, to construct a flowing narrative documenting how we ended up here. I was lucky enough to work at labels for quite a long time and the book captures that thrill of one of your records hitting the big time (we were kept off number one by the Fugees with our big hit) and the rush and excitement that runs along with success on your own terms. One of my favourite chapters was on the KLF [...]

Seconds is the alter ego of Markus Enochson and Luciano Leiva. Together with singer Linus Lutthi they release their first single for the Above Machine label, “Another Day” today (Monday), a folk-based balearic number. Remixes come from the lovely Lexx and Seahawks (who deliver an epic ambient number). We like them all. You can find out more about the release at Piccadilly Records here. So the time is right to run a mix from the chaps and here it is. Download

Where are you based and is this your home town? Nottingham, but my home town is Leicester. What is your first musical memory? I can’t remember apart from sitting in the back of the car, with the whiff of Number 6 tips, nodding my head to something or other my Mum & Dad were playing. What was the first record you bought? From my local video shop, in the days when you could by 7” everywhere, I think I bought Bad Manners` “Lip Up Fatty”, The Clash`s “Bank Robber” and Tenpole Tudor`s “Swords Of A Thousand Men”. What was the last record you bought? “One For Kenny” by the Idjut Boys. What inspired you to start DJing / making music / start the label? DJing, I would have to say watching Laurent Garnier in the rave days and a bit later Graeme Park And Alistair Whitehead at the Kool Kat in Nottingham. I first heard Garnier at Raindance in 1991, and then at various warehouses up and down the land. He always stood out. As far as making music is concerned, DJing started to dry up, as it does at some point, so making music and concentrating on production was [...]

My day job involves being part of a design studio called Village Green. We basically work image making, branding and designing for companies such as Nike, Granta and Penguin Books. The work is pretty varied and we like to do the odd piece of music design as its where the roots lie (the studio in a previous incarnation designed sleeves for Pulp, Leftfield and quite a few others) so recently we have been creating the artwork for the Emotional Rescue guys and their reissues label that is going from strength to strength. Some amazing things coming up on the label that we’ve been hearing and the sister label, Emotional Response, releasing new music, is coming soon. If you want to find out more about the studio you can email me here.

Le Kilt was small and on a Tuesday night, but inspired by its success, Ollie O`Donnell, an old friend of Sullivan`s, and Steve Mahoney, start a Friday night party at the larger Le Beat Route. In theory, the fun was now open to everyone, not just those who didn`t have to get out of bed on a Wednesday. In theory, because there was Ollie`s legendary door policy. You might have to queue every Friday for a month before getting the nod. And even then it wasn`t guaranteed. The DJ was Steve Lewis, a Crackers regular and big fan of the influential Mark Roman. What struck me straight away, looking at Lewis` playlist for Le Beat Route, was how many (then) new records were included. All the gimmicky stuff has gone. No Aristocats. No Marilyn Monroe. Even James Brown has taken five. When you look at the playlist for Le Kilt, apart from the Post-Punk, all of it was old, even then. At Le Beat Route, 50% of the music played had come straight out of the import racks at Soho`s Groove Records. Was (Not) Was and Ze are still huge, but other labels like Ed Bahlman`s 99, Sleeping Bag and [...]

Andy McColgan runs the Racket Racket Racket Racket website and is based in Glasgow. He recently produced the So & So Fanzine focusing on Glasgow musicians and creatives which we got a copy of and I have to say its really well put together and contains interview with the likes of Organs Of Love and other Glaswegian folk. Here’s a few images from the fanzines and you can get in touch via the Racket Racket website above for more information. We look forward to the next one. P.S While you are at Racket Racket take a minute to read the great interview with JD Twitch and Adrian Sherwood.

We were lucky enough to get down to LN-CC in Dalston the other week for a bit of a sit down session with Phil Mison in control of the music all night. Starting slow and building up it was a lovely night with the music as you’d expect being top notch. LN-CC postewd the first half of the mix that was recorded yesterday which you can go and hear here as well as some of other great mixes from our very own Dr Rob, Zsou (check their new release on LN-CC (review soon), DJ Nature and lots of other good folk from the underground. Phil is quietly getting on with recording the new Cantoma album as well as releasing music under the Reverso 68 moniker with Pete Herbert (check their lovely ‘Baa Boo’ which came out recently on Is It Balearic?). Here’s the second half of Phil’s mix which may well be the perfect soundtrack to the weekend. Lovely. Download

If St Moritz was a short-lived knee-jerk reaction to the Futurism of The Blitz and Hell somewhere in between then Le Kilt seems to be an attempt to re-dress the balance. Claw back some sanity. At least on a musical front. Hosted again by Chris Sullivan, this time with Graham Ball, and with the “St Moritz boys”, Robert Elms and Graham Smith DJing (Strange & Egan had gone on to Club For Heroes). Again only running for five months late 1980, early `81. The music, a hip mixture of classic Jazz-Funk, Soul, and Boogaloo with the new represented by more Ze (other than James Brown, only James White and Lizzy Mercier Descloux seem to have made the transition from Hell) and angular white Post-Punk. The Lacy Lady Soul-boys largely returning to their pre-Punk roots (I`m wondering if St Moritz was just them raiding their parents record collections). Despite their successful efforts to do something different I can still hear echoes of The Blitz in something like A Certain Ratio`s “Flight”. Download

Blink and you missed it Record Store Day exclusive 10” picture disc. The Dub Club Version recalls “Return Of The Super Ape” Era Upsetters. Something that was dismissed as too Jazzy by purists at the time. Eddie Ruscha`s Secret Circuit Shockblast Echodelic Dub introduces more space, and more noise, if that makes sense. Random drum machine boom baps and clicks, toy keyboard runs, held, spinning in a zero gravity sphere. Colliding and ricocheting until you are bombarded on all sides by pixelated asrteroid debris. Most definitely not playable on Japanese radio. In any form. Big thank you to Stu at Emotional Rescuse / Response.

VARIOUS / PERSONAL SPACE / CHOCOLATE INDUSTRIES Larry Heard`s Alien seaside synths, the strange garage-studio Blues of Doug Hream Blunt. Vocals shredded by cheap mics and concrete reflections. A Bill Wither`s Georgia back-yard groove. Sun Ra`s spaceways. A `luded out Prince Charles and The City Beat Band. The YMO done moved to Harlem. The lo-fi experiments of Mark McGuire and Ducktails. Pipecock Jackson bounced `retha`s “Rocksteady” way down. Lonely piano students get their rocks off. Those jilted at the Prom get their revenge. The homeless search for a home. Four track D-Train`s driven by a slightly scary compulsion to create. Voyeurs. Clinton`s Kid Nose peaks at the window. Stalkers. Odes to obsessions placed in mail-boxes after midnight, used Kleenex and all. A box of semen-filled chocolates (rather than Patrick Bateman`s chocolate-coated block of lavatory cleaner). All underpinned by the fluttering of a drum machine pre-set. Got Mandre`s freak on. Laidback`s “White Horse”, broken. A faulty metronome for a racing heart. ‘Personal Space’ On Soundcloud 21ST CENTURY FOX / SERIOUS LOVE / ROGUE CAT One for Tim H who asked the question, after the last set of reviews, “Do we really need another slow acid chugger?” I have to admit that [...]

St Moritz closes, possibly due to the influence of Soho`s nefarious underworld, possibly because it had served its purpose, in providing a musical alternative to The Blitz. Steve Strange and Rusty Egan acknowledge the competition, and everyone joins forces, briefly, in a themed (and mural-ed) club called Hell. Hosted for six months in 1980, by Steve Strange and Chris Sullivan, with Sullivan and Rusty Egan DJing. The music a barmy mix of St Moritz`s show tunes, 50s Rock and Roll, 70s Funk & Disco, and a touch of the mutant emerging on Ze. Accompanied by fireworks in the basement and dancing around the graveyard out back. Hot Gossip on Black Star Liners cavorting amidst the tombstones to Cerrone`s “Supernature” in a Dionysian Bacchanal. Marilyn Monroe`s “Heatwave” gets a rewind (not included here? I didn`t think you needed to hear it twice). Elvis does the Bossa Nova. For me, a track that brings back fond memories of drinking strong lager til I could hardly stand while Rocky & Diesel spun at the early days of The Heavenly Social on Great Portland Street. T-Connection`s “Do What You Wanna Do” must have been a staple on every scene since its release in 1977. [...]

A Test Pressing advertorial… And an industry standard…

One of the good things about having been buying records for a long time is that you amass what can only be described as a library (one of the bad things is of course that records end up everywhere, your greed conspicuous). Tons of stuff that has been filed away and not listened to in years. Decades. When my copy Graham Smith`s book “We Can Be Heroes” arrived earlier this year, the London club playlists included sent me back to the library. While reading the book, I wanted to hear the soundtrack to the nights that Graham photographed and that Chris Sullivan describes. I also wanted to hear how that soundtrack changed over time, if any tracks remained constants, and if its evolution were “logical”. To see if a musical course from The Blitz to Acid House could be traced. The scientist, the dry academic, in me still performing experiments. Of sorts. If you want to see how the fashions changed, buy the book. We`ll use Graham and Chris` book as a starting point, and I hope they don`t mind, but if the experiment proves interesting it would be great to take it further. The Electric Ballroom, The Africa Centre, [...]

Back once again comes Honey K from Finger Magazine with a mix for us. We wrote about them before but if you missed it they have a magazine full of lists of music to check and a great website so if you haven’t seen what it’s all about go here. Watch out for the first track on this one if you’re playing it through the office stereo. Download

Dr Rob goes in heavy on Lee “Scratch” Perry and can’t fail… When I was a youth, reggae was the thing. I was 15 in 1981 and the Brixton riots were just around the corner, instead of thirty years ago. While at school, we went from Two Tone to toasting pretty fast. UB40 quickly ditched in favour of Rodigan On The Radio, Greensleeves 12s and Scientist LPs. Tony McDermott on the ink. Our introduction to Lee Perry probably came through tracks like “Bucky Skank” and “Return Of Django” on cheap Trojan compilations. I mentioned those Scientist LPs, but I think Lee Perry was the easiest way into Dub. You don`t need to be an expert in rhythm culture and versioning to appreciate the genius of dropping everything out of a track, destroying a lyric and introducing disgruntled cows and crying babies. Perry’s remix of Terrence Trent D’Arby is still something of an anthem for anybody and everybody that has ever spent some time on the floor of my room. You don’t need to know that Perry would clean tape heads with his sweater, helping to create the unique aquatic sound of bounced down bass and percussion tracks, to appreciate how [...]

Happy to have Joe’s Bakery on board at Test Pressing with a mix to finish off Sunday and ease you into the week. Joe’s Bakery is a Leeds based party that have been quietly getting on with doing a good thing and is run by Craig Christon & Joe Gill. The idea behind the night was to create a laid back atmosphere for friends to relax and listen to an anything goes music policy.  Originally setting up the turntables in a bakery, they now throw monthly parties in unique spaces in and around Leeds. The night combines live art, projected visuals and a laid back sound track provided by residents Craig and Joe and regular guest Moonboots. Joe’s Bakery also welcomes some of the finest selectors around to join in on the decks with a free reign to play whatever they fancy. Past guests include Phoreski, Phil Mison, Jolyon Green, Soft Rocks, Coyote, Kenny Wisdom, Kelvin Andrews, Sally Rogers and Jason Boardman. All the sets have been recorded and can be found at the Joe’s Bakery website Website. Download

FRANCIS BEBEY / NEW TRACK / BORN BAD A great compilation, on French label Born Bad, of the work of African musician Francis Bebey. It took me a while to track down a copy as everywhere seems to have sold out, so a big thank you Lighthouse Records in Tokyo. A kora, kalimba, a kick-drum like a House record, early synths and Rolands, found sounds, samples, and home-made instruments all combine in playful polyrhythm. Lyrics like Fela smiling. The Don Cherry of ÅgI WalkÅh and ÅgBrown RiceÅh. Mice Parade`s ‘Mokoondi’. Fellow pioneer Francois De Roubaix. Alex Le Tan included ‘Fleur Tropicale’ on his recent, excellent ‘When Sound Becomes Colour’ mix. Born Bad Records Website VELVET SEASON & THE HEARTS OF GOLD / CAMEL TOE CENTRAL / LUCKY HOLE Two labels, Lucky Hole and Golden Hole from Gerry “Black Cock” Rooney and Joel “Quiet Village” Martin. New music and edits, respectively. Both exploit their auteurs` love of cheap 70s Razzle-like porn and amazing musical knowledge. “Special Place” has Sir Eddie Real & The Realistics crashing Demdike Stare`s seance. Skittering drum machines and sub-bass accompany a choir of the dearly departed. Honk if you`ve seen the king. “Camel Toe Central”`s ambient anti-fanfare [...]

Any regular readers of Test Pressing will know I am a big fan of The Face. For me they covered youth culture in an intelligent way at a time when the culture itself was vibrant, colourful and exciting. The man behind The Face was Nick Logan, named the most innovative magazine man of his generation by The Guardian (listen to their interview with him here) and an afternoon talking with him over a few glasses of wine was pretty much the perfect way to spend a few hours. Logan has quite a history. He sat as Editor during the halcyon days of the NME, where he ran an infamous ‘Young Gunslingers’ ad which brought Julie Burchill and Tony Parsons to the paper. He created and set up Smash Hits, the magazine where Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys was Assistant Editor for a period of time, and that also launched the careers of Mark Frith, Mark Ellen and (our favourite) Miranda Sawyer. He then moved on to set up The Face, and in turn Arena (amongst others), at his Wagadon publishing house. He has ticked all the boxes in the world of magazine publishing. The Face was the reason [...]

ORGANS OF LOVE / BONE / OPTIMO Dark Electro Cabaret from Jim McKinven, previously with One Dove. Laurie Anderson`s “X=X” and “White Lily” meet Add N To X. Goldfrapp`s choo-choo ch-boogie with torn stockings and a flick-knife instead of silk Agent Provocateur camiknickers and platforms. “Facefuck” is something German. Joe Meek getting blown by The Beatles in black leather out the back of a Hamburg dive. “Bone” is a steam-driven Trans-Europe Express on too much coal. Pistons pumping never more suggestive. Little Annie Anxiety leading a broken Bossa. Smoke City sunk. Organs Of Love On Soundcloud SECONDS / ANOTHER DAY / ABOVE MACHINE Junip`s folk with Mum on music box. Worn and weary, getting clean or emerging from a messy divorce, trying to remain positive. Optimistic. Lexx takes the whole thing from a deserted seaside town to green hills. Vistas. The Yorkshire Dales, or checking Everest from Katmandu. I remember eagles soaring on swells. The Seahawks do a fine job channeling Ullrich Schnauss` glacial Shoe-Gaze Space-Rock, Kevin Shield`s work on the “Lost In Translation” soundtrack and Eno`s “Apollo”, transporting the track into a cave. Stalactites and stalagmites. Crystal pools. Little left but the music box, but there is light here. [...]

It’s always nice to get a mix from Rune Lindbæk and this one is as good as ever taking in the brand new, and pretty special, mix of Joakim by Todd Terje, an unreleased Idjut Boys mix of Keren Ann’s ‘My Name Is Trouble’, the Toby Tobias mix of Hardway Brothers and some Arthur Russell and Steve Reich. Not to mention his own mix with Øyvind Blikstad turning Madonna into a beach siren. He has a few releases coming soon with Rune Lindbæk feat Kurt Maloo 12″ coming out late May with ace mixes from Cos/Mes, Seahawks and Ray Mang and a solo LP to follow named ‘Krasava’ in July. All to be released on his own Drum Island Records.Back to the mix – 30 minutes as tight as you like. Download