By Candygirls/ Bucketheads / 007 DJ Duke/ Mr Spring the acid King/ Timewarp/ Morcheeba / Zion Train / NSO Force
By Philadelphia Bluntz/ Moloko
Dance Singles
Candygirls - Wham the doors hit the doors
The follow up to the chart fave "fe-fi-fo-fum". More of the house diva chatting and rapping over some old old house riffs, I like the "low down dirty" bit and it's going to be big but it's just dull.
6/10
The Bucketheads - Got myself together
Lends heavily from the hook lines of one of my fave 70's choons "Got myself together" but it samples all the wrong bits and it samples them so many times it sounds dull.
4/10
007 - DJ Duke - atmosphere
My favourite tune of the month, phasers on stun track, repetitive trancey house. Minimal as hell but builds to a stonkin' tune, not for use in the home.
9/10
Mr spring the acid king - White label
Old school house record with a killer break which should have everyone on the dancefloor, looking around with a "how the fuck do i dance to that" look on their face. I really liked it.
7/10
Timewarp - Mind regulator
Dull repetitive DJ Pierre production, with an irritating scream. I think we should expect more from the man who gave you Phuture.
2/10
Morcheeba -Trigger Hippy -China WOKT2056
Tune in, drop out, starts off trigger hippy which is always a good way to start a record in my book. Laid back horizontal trip hop with some really blissed out vocals and cute Hawaiian guitars, and the odd non intrusive sitar. The dub mixes Killer Hippy and Hipstrumental are mogadontastic, and best ignored.
9/10
Zion Train - Dance of Life -China Wokt 2058
Stop me if I'm wrong but I think "Dance of life" is perhaps the most overrated of Zion Trains set. So a 12" remix is naturally not going to please me, but wait what's this I hear The Criminal Justice Act, a brilliant little acidic track that belts along like there's no tomorrow, and almost makes the track bearable..
5/10
NSO Force -The Capital -WOKT 2072
When I was a kid we used to have a car called an NSU and it was dodgy, this track reminds me of that car. Any track that has a line in it that starts "when Bobby Brown was in new edition" is dodgy., Dull to the core laid back rap, however the second AA track "who is it" shows loads of promise, ignore "The Capital" and head for "Who is it"
7/10 Rage Albums
Philadelphia Bluntz - Blunted at Birth - IndoChina Zen0005CD
A bloody weird LP, very laid back trip-hop with a healthy dose of Jazz chucked in for good measure. I guess you could almost call it a concept LP as it follows from a birth from ante to post natal. The opening track Hostility featuring a very slowed down JC001, is cool laid back but with a threatening edge, it's quite like the Moloko LP in style, perhaps a bit more laid back. Mosquito (Flesh on Metal) is as scarier than Portishead ever get and I like that is just pure Exorcist. Everywhere on this LP I can hear influences of other people and what very strange bedfellows most of them are, Jugs the second to last track sounds like some weird clash between Eno and The Durutti Column. But for me the best tracks are the post natal "Studio One" remixes that kick in at the end of the CD. Although I don't rate it as much as Moloko I still like it, but be prepared to play it at least 5-6 times before you get into it. Oh and I hate the cutesy sampled child on Shakey Shakey (L'il Bodies).
8 out of 10 - MA
Moloko - Do you like my tight sweater - Echo CD7
I hated this to death when I first heard it, in fact I still do hate certain tracks to death, in a couple of places it's good and in places it's even innovative, but it'll never make it to the status of Portishead or Tricky despite what other people have said. There is a certain Bristol sound there but it's mixed in with the most appalling lyrics ever. Why they bothered printing them I don't know, take 1/3 rds nursery rhyme 2/3 rds acid casualty and there's the lyrics. However there are a few outstanding tracks Day for Night, is almost like old school Brit funk in places, and Butterfly 747 which sounds like a cross between a James Bond theme and some weird laid back jungle track, It's only really at the end of the LP that they start to get going, in fact the last two tracks are all excellent, it's just the rest of the LP that really brings the whole thing down. The LP sounds like a very bad (and late) reply to De La Soul's Three feet high and rising, crossed with their crap follow up LP, it's also the perfect piece of evidence in the case for never letting a band produce themselves.
2 out of 10 - MA
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