I am dribbling tobacco-stained drool down by tank top, creaking back and forth in my rocking chair. My pipe long since fell to the floor as a I regress further into my old, wrinkly mind, back to a time called...
..."1993".
This was a time when I discovered good dance music in the same way a careless sparrow discovers a Virgin Pendelino. I had my first listen of Orbital's brown album after being tempted by an NME review that promised extended farts and hypnotic beats. I bought into techno big time.
I have been regressing back to those times a lot recently. I am turning into one of those Vietnam vets, hopefully like John Goodman in The Big Lebowski, rambling on about the old days while my friend's ashes are blown into Jeff Bridges' face.
To help me with my reminiscing, Warp Records seem to be selling a lot of their chips for cheap. Among their newly-reduced merch are the following gems...
(This is like an electronica version of Uncle Albert and his war stories, but stay with me...)
>AFX : Hangable Auto Bulb
This is the Aphex Twin and sometimes I prefer his AFX guise even though there is probably little difference. It contains tracks called Hangable Auto Bulb and Wabby Legs; its frantic breaks should be five years before their time but AFX makes them ten years ahead.
> Autechre : Untitled
Seriously stunning and astonishly original, every sound tweaked until it bleeds perfection.
>Nightmares On Wax : Smokers Delight
The grown-up side of a lot of the stuff I was into in the 90s. I think they suffered from the whole "trip hop" thang and, hey, it was a lot cooler to be into the darker Ninja Tune joints out at the same time. Still, this album looks great in the cold light of today.
>Plaid : Trainer
A compilation of old Plaid tunes. Not as immediate as some of their densely catchy melodics of recent years, still, I can't believe they were producing music of this maturity so early in the 90s.
>Polygon Window : Surfing On Sine Waves
Aphex Twin again, but now we're back to 1992 which is a very long time age because it's before Oasis and Aqua but not before Jesus Jones. There was something really expansive about this album, and I know I can make grown electronica heads cry by playing If It Really Is Me.
> Sabres Of Paradise : Haunted Dancehall
No not Sean Paul dancehall, but a strange haunted house dancehall full of dubbed out electronic breaks. I recall buying the single Theme because it had a beautiful graf art cover.
There is more Aphex and plenty of Squarepusher, but this particular lot sent me into a land of sepia-tinted electro droolery not seen since Boards Of Canada took techno by the keyboards and sent it to analogue heaven with Music Has The Right To Children.
Now, is it best to clean up drool with a sponge, or will a my sock be absorbant enough?
