2024 – The Story So Far – #3 (Bands that are Back, Back Back)

Its my brothers 50^th birthday today.  He won’t be reading – but if on the chance he is reading, this one is for him. 

Brother – Real Estate (2020, Domino Records)

I mean he’ll hate it because he likes Death Metal, goes to festivals called things like Bloodstock and has grown a beard that you could probably lose a small child in – he should probably know better.  However, it does allows me to seamlessly talk about the band Real Estate who dropped a new single a few weeks ago and will be releasing a new album in February called ‘Daniel’.  Here is that track in fact,

Water Underground – Real Estate (2024, Domino Records)

Real Estate are great, one of those bands, along with perhaps Yo La Tengo, who have been consistently excellent throughout their career (even when in 2016 they had to replace their lead guitarist due to a series of allegations surrounding him made by various women – which I won’t go into – they replaced him and continued making wonderfully elegant jangly indie pop from the East Coast of the US).  Their latest release is no different, sun kissed, jaunty indie rock that sounds marvellous wherever you play it.

Talking of American indie bands who are returning with a song that has the word ‘Water’ in the title, here’s Grandaddy

Watercooler  – Grandaddy (2024, Dangerbird Records)

‘Watercooler’ is taken from the new Grandaddy album, which is apparently their first in seven years and its all sorts of excellent.  How excellent? I hear you holler, well, you know that great bluegrass and new wave crossover record that you’ve been looking for all your life – well Grandaddy might have just made that.  That’s how excellent. 

Talking of excellent returns, here’s Kurt Vile.

Touched Something (caught a virus) – Kurt Vile (2023, Verve Records)

‘Touched Something’ is taken from an album length EP (‘Back to Moon Beach’) which surfaced at the end of 2023 and sees Kurt Vile in a pensive sort of mood. Yes, the EP and this track is what you expect sunny guitar jams, that span that bridge between indie and Americana splendidly, but there is something slightly off with Kurt.  He doesn’t seem happy and what should be more serene songs about self awareness and reflections on life are in fact serene songs that point at dissatisfaction.  Regardlesss of that, this new EP from Vile is still brilliant.

Finally today and for this month, here’s another American alt rock band that are back, back, back.

The American Dream Is Killing Me – Green Day (2023, Reprise Records)

There used to always be one back in the nineties.  An old punk rocker.  You know the type, he always wore a leather jacket (an old one) no matter where he went.  Alongside the jacket would be skintight black jeans, some form of boot and a black band Tshirt.  He might have tattoos on his hands and he’ll tell you, if you let him, how the punk rock from the seventies was miles better than the MTV sponsored rubbish that was around at the time.  He also tell you, after a hearty glug of Newcastle Brown Ale (and it was always Newcastle Brown Ale) that the worst of the lot of these bands were Green Day.  They were fake, plastic punks, who still lived with their mums and drove BMWS or something. 

Well you know that guy, he’s going to hate the new Green Day record, and that makes it all the more amazing.

Tomorrow a new series begins and here is a clue to what that’s going to be about.  Place your guesses in the comments section, winner gets a night out with Kev the old punk rocker from the Brass Monkey pub in Teignmouth.

Lola Stars and Stripes – The Stills (2003, Atlantic Records)

2024 – The Story So Far – #2 (Via a short piece about some other bands with rock star inspired names)

A few years ago there was a short lived trend where bands took the name of a singer from the sixties and seventies, changed a single letter and used that for their name.  The most famous of these was Joy Orbison, who are still making (excellent) music to this day.  Like this as it happens

Blind Date – Joy Orbison & Overmono (2022, XL Records)

Joy Orbison are not to be confused with the wonderfully named Roy Division, who were literally three chaps called Roy from Huddersfield who did Joy Division covers.  I wish I had the intelligence to have made that up. Anyway, alongside Joy Orbison were some with excellent names, like Radstewart, who were a short lived act who sounded like a bit like The Maccabees.

Fix the Roads – Radstewart (2014, Alcopop! Records)

Hot on their heels came Day Ravies, a band who lasted sightly longer, who blended New Order basslines, with synths and post punk guitars and vocals that sound positively Ladytronish and were really rather good. 

Steamed – Day Ravies (2015, Self Released)

There is a point to all this, that being that the act that open up the second in quick jaunt around the best new tracks and acts of the start of the year, have adopted a similar naming tactic.  They, however, are taking a well known song and changing two letters, ladies and gents welcome to the brilliance of Jumping Back Slash.

Solstice – Jumping Back Slash & Bujin (2023, Future Bounce Records)

‘Solstice’ is taken from the album ‘A Seat in Heaven’ which came out a few weeks ago and is a proper smorgasbord of genres all colliding together.  You get this wonderful vocal from Bujin, a Kenyan/South African singer, which sounds a lot like FKA Twigs’ early work, that vocal is wrapped around some twitchy warped electronic which at times twinkles and at other times crashes away angrily. Marvellous stuff.

Next up a band who haven’t used an old song or name for inspiration but have gone down the ‘School, Club Gang, Party route’ because as we all know, there are very few bad bands with those words in their name.  Here are Edinburgh three piece Swim School.

Bored – Swim School (2023, LAB Records)

‘Bored’ is a tremendous slice of indie pop.  It has this very nice quiet/loud dynamic going on – which probably puts some of you off because its not that original but on ‘Bored’ the verses are sung quietly and they built to a furious chorus where they are all punchy and the drums crash away majestically.  The guitars are soaked in reverb and there is very little not to love about all this.  File next to Wolf Alice and play alongside that new Sprints album.

Next Up the latest furious young things from New York City, here’s Lip Critic

It’s The Magic – Lip Critic (2023, Partisan Records)

In the last three months, Lip Critic have been billed as a rap act, a hardcore band and a drum n bass act.  The truth is that they are none of those things, but they are also all three as once. They make to repeat a phrase I trot out on here every now and again, a proper bleeding racket.  A furious blend of raw post punk and dance music with added shouting.  Folks, they are extraordinarily good.

Finally today, a track that has been doing the round since August but has only just been released

Birth4000 – Floating Points (2023, Pluto Records)

Some or most of you will have heard of Floating Points before, normally you’d see them mentioned in the same breath as bands like Caribou and Four Tet, but last summer they started playing a new track ‘Birth4000’ at various festivals which took them back to their club roots, because it is put simply a dancefloor banger full of no nonsense drums clanging away majestically and a frantic beat riding it like it stole it.

2024 – The Story So Far – December and January – #1

You know how about two months ago I was telling you all about what I thought were the best albums and singles of last year?  You remember, I made a long list and them gushed about some of them like a lovesick school boy – yeah those records.  Stunners all of them.  The ones that soundtracked your Christmas holidays.  Probably.

Well forget them.  You heard.

Make a new playlist on your various streaming devices, or open up the online sales section of your favourite record shop and dig out your credit card, because here comes the first in a monthly review of the best new tracks (and the occasional album) that I have heard this year.  I say this year, I mean since December 1^st because that is when the official qualification period for the NBR single or album of the year starts, and folks that was nearly two months ago. So much has happened since then. 

Like the release of this little beauty for a start.

Tides – Catching Flies (2023, Indigo Soul Records)

A record that was released right at the end of 2023 and was so sleepy and laidback that it almost slipped completely by without anyone noticing it.  It starts with a gentle hum, a scratchy beat and murmur of a acoustic guitar and just kinds of weaves away beautifully like that for all of its three and half minutes.  It has this delightful little vocal, which I think sounds like Dot Allison from One Dove (although it isn’t her, and I suspect its been looped back upon itself) and some wonderfully arranged strings.  I know next to nothing about Catching Flies, but I do know that they are work of a chap called George and that ‘Tides’ is right now one of my favourite musical things in all the world.  The kind of track that sounds perfect even if you are driving in the rain at four in the morning. 

Next up – The Belgian Jonah Lewie.  Sort of.

Completely Half – Bolis Pupul (2024, Deewee Records)

Well not quite but if Jonah Lewie was born to Belgian father and a Chinese Hong Kong mother and made sophisticated lounge pop full of catchy synths and an ear worm of chorus then his records about being left in the kitchen at parties, would sound an awful lot like Bolis Pupul.  I might have that the wrong way round, regardless, ‘Completely In Half’ is deliriously good and is the first track to be released off of Bolis Pupul’s debut album ‘Letter to Yu’.

Next up seething feminist hip hop from Herchester

Rude Girl – Flex – Oneda (2023, Heavenly Records)

OneDa is a phenomenon, a fizzing ball of energy whose music makes me grin from ear to ear.  He latest single ‘Rude Girl – Flex’ is infectious mix of hip hop and drum n bass and that frankly should be enough to warrant your attention but OneDa is way more than that, in the last few months she has utilised her training in social work, and by combining that with her passion for music she has carved a niche as a hip hp therapist and works with young people, particularly females and non binary individuals through the HERchester foundation.  The music coming out of that foundation is incredible and will feature again on these pages in the coming weeks.

Finally for today, we pick up where we nearly left off at the end of December

Trees – Big Special (2023, SO Records)

Big Special are about to go out on tour with Sleaford Mods, which I suspect might be a tour that gets very messy very quickly.  At the end of 2023, they released a double A Side ‘Trees/Desperate Breakfast’ and its just as extraordinary as the tracks that preceded.  ‘Trees’ is the pick of the two (although there is something rather brilliant about launching a single with the word ‘Breakfast’ in with a gig in a London greasy spoon café.), a seething track about routines and coping with different journeys.  It’s great obviously, because as I kept telling you, Big Special are incredible.

50 Twelve Inches #29

A Design for Life (Stealthsonic Remix) – Manic Street Preachers (1995, Epic Records)

“Do libraries give us power?” this is my daughter talking after hearing me play ‘A Design For Life’ by the Manic Street Preachers.  Before I can answer though she is off again, answering her own question in her own unique kind of way.

“Because, the library at Teignmouth isn’t really very good.  It has a lot of books but none of them make feel powerful.  There are too many books on poetry and Minecraft and not enough on things like World Domination”.

I nod at this sagely statement and tell her she is right.   The library at Teignmouth, does have a stupid amount of books on Minecraft and very few on how to achieve World Domination.  It is however, our local library and therefore should be supported because otherwise the thieving Tory government will take it away from us and replace it with luxury houses.

I sometimes forget that my daughter is eleven and probably doesn’t really care about the thieving Tory government.

She changes tack a few seconds later.  “When they talk about getting drunk, when they’ve finished doing that, will they lie on the sofa complaining about having a headache like you did last weekend and not take their children to the cinema like they promised?”

Ouch.

Last weekend (although it’s a few weekends ago now), I met up with some of the other long-suffering dads in my village.  A couple of quick pints turned into a rather lengthy session in which the world, its wife and everything in between was put right by seven middle aged men who don’t get anywhere near the sleep that they should.  By the end of the evening, the table we were sat on resembled a scene from Angela’s Ashes without the fug of cigarette smoke hanging over us.  After that most of us ended up back at the house of one of the dads, where, as his wife and four children slept soundly upstairs, we polished off a bottle of banana infused rum that he’d had in the cupboard since 2018 and then stumbled home.  I may have fallen into a hedge at least once.

Saturday morning was difficult.  It felt like someone had picked my house up and stuck it on a carousel and then switched that to hyperspace mode.  Every noise felt like I was stood next to the speakers at a warehouse rave, something which my wife and daughter picked up very quickly.  My daughter decided to practice her cello right next to me, so I could see how she was progressing (which for the record is excellently) and my wife decided shortly after the cello practice had finished that the rug that I had my feet on, really could do with several hoovers.  Even my cat, decided that today was the day to meow as loudly as possible in my general direction, every few seconds.  

The record chosen this morning was ‘A Design for Life’ by the Manic Street Preachers, but it’s the promo twelve inch version, which is slightly different from the standard twelve inch in that you didn’t get the two other B Sides, here they are if you need to hear them – the second one is excellent

Dead Trees and Traffic Islands – Manic Street Preachers (1996, Epic Records)

Mr Carbohydrate – Manic Street Preachers (1996, Epic Records)

The CD singles came with two other tracks as well, here they are

Dead Passive -Manic Street Preachers (1996, Epic Records) – which was only available on CD one.

Faster (Vocal Mix) – Manic Street Preachers (1996, Epic Records) – which was only available on CD Two.

The cassingle (yikes!) also featured another track that being this

Bright Eyes (Live) – Manic Street Preachers (1996, Epic Records).

Here, finally is the original, you’ll know that, a song about working class struggles, and about rising up, solidarity and one steeped in socialist conviction.  Which is why I suppose the Manics went with four different formats with different tracks spread across all four. 

A Design For Life – Manic Street Preachers (1996, Epic Records)

Here is the no more than five word review.

“Libraries give us books”

And here is this weeks eleven year old recommendation, which is taken from the soundtrack of Wonka. A film that I eventually took my daughter to see the day after my hangover had gone away, she also got a slap-up meal at Five Guys as well for her troubles.  

Scrub Scrub – Cast of Wonka (2023, Watertower Music)

Nearly Perfect Albums – #95

Copper Blue – Sugar (1992, Creation Records)

I once lent a copy of ‘Copper Blue’ to a friend of mine, called Dave, I lent it to him one morning at college, the day after we got wrecked in a pub in town called The Hogshead.  We went to town in the lunch break, browsed a few shops and then instead of heading back for a lecture we went to the pub instead.   We went to the Hogshead because a girl we knew had just started working there and she used to give us four pints of cider for two pounds fifty.

He gave me it back a week later and I asked him what he thought of it.  “It moved me tears” was his unexpected answer.  “it’s a masterpiece” he said.  I never asked Dave, which bits moved him to tears, but about two, maybe three years later on the tour to support the second album, when they played ‘Helpless’ he had tears in his eyes.

Helpless – Sugar (1992, Creation Records)

Now, the term ‘masterpiece’ is thrown about liberally these days, every other album is considered to be one and if truth be told, very few actually deserve the tag.  ‘Copper Blue, however, does. 

It may not have ever moved me to tears but I’ll say this, Side One of ‘Copper Blue’ is pretty much perfect – in fact if the album ended after track 7 (‘If I Can’t Change Your Mind’) then I would have been content to award ‘Copper Blue’ a rare ‘Perfect Album’ accolade – as it happens it doesn’t, which is lucky for us as it qualifies for this series (and as I’ve sort of gone there, the only thing that stops ‘Copper Blue’ being a ten out of ten record is track nine ‘Slick’, which is just trying that little bit too hard if you ask me, feel free to disagree).

Let’s talk about that some of the tracks on that perfect first side shall we – because trust me – there are more ideas and sounds in these five songs than most bands manage in five albums, you get classic hardcore, punk rock, Beatle-esque melodies (and I’ll come back to the melodies), psychedelia and a bloody harpsichord, all in about twenty minutes.

Copper Blue’ opens with ‘The Act We Act’, which starts with this rumbling bass and a driving guitar riff (that sounds like early Nirvana as it happens) that sort of gives away, possibly reluctantly (almost as if Mould remembered that this wasn’t a Husker Du record), to a more melodic song, although that riff remains menacingly in the background.  It sets the scene for the rest of the record because whilst ‘Copper Blue’ is a rock album, it is full of pop songs, catch as hell choruses that stick around long after you have finished listening to album.  It is positively frothing with melodies.

The Act We Act – Sugar (1992, Creation Records)

Next up you get ‘A Good Idea’ which you could argue is a Pixies rip off, certainly that bassline sounds very familiar – but that aside, ‘A Good Idea’ is a colossal track, easily the best track about drowning a lover ever written. 

A Good Idea – Sugar (1992, Creation Records) 

The next two tracks are ‘Changes’ – which sounds like The Beatles with heavier guitars (both cubically and sonically), but again it has a chorus that bands would drown a lover in a pool of water for – and ‘Helpless’, which is  huge power pop anthem that is so good that it doesn’t even need a chorus.

Side one ends almost as brilliantly as it started, with ‘Hoover Dam’, which wants to be all 60s tinged with that harpsichord solo and the swirling organ effect and its rewinded vocals at the end, but ‘Hoover Dam’ is all about the break about 3 minutes in, when this amazing riff cuts through all that pseudo 60s stuff.  It’s marvellous.

Hoover Dam – Sugar (1992, Creation Records)

And then we come to ‘If I Can’t Change Your Mind’, (well after ‘the Slim’ – which is also brilliant).   I say this a lot, especially in this series, but folks, if you only listen to one song today, make it ‘If I Can’t Change Your Mind’.  It has everything (and its still not Sugar’s best song – that isn’t even on this album!) it has jangly guitars, it has a chorus so rich that it might as well be embossed in gold, it has tambourines that weirdly sound like they have every reason to be there and not in the bin with all the other tambourines.  Stunning.

If I Can’t Change Your Mind – Sugar (1992, Creation Records)

The back catalogue of Sugar is quite thin, just the two albums (the second of which ‘File Under Easy Listening’ I’ve always thought sounded like R.E.M, make of that what you will) and one gargantuan EP (‘Beaster’ – which is every bit as essential as ‘Copper Blue’) but its worth diving into all of it. 

Timeless, brilliant music.

The Best 40 Crossover Tracks – #1 One of the Lucky Buggers

1. The Rockafeller Skank – Fatboy Slim (1998, Skint Records)

Despite, the lengthy argument I had with myself, in the end the top spot had to go to Fatboy Slim.  Mr L disagrees, he would have gone with ‘Chime’ by Orbital, my wife will disagree with me – she would have gone with ‘Dreamer’ by Livin Joy, and I reckon my old DJing buddy Jonny will disagree with me as well – he would have had The Prodigy in the top spot but for me, one person sums up the crossover era more than anyone else and that is Norman Cook, in whatever musical disguise he happens to be wearing at the time.

You see the signs were always there, back in 1990, when indie dance was first rising and the Happy Mondays were caning it with Paul Oakehnfold and Andy Weatherall was about to change Bobby G’s life for the better, Norman Cook, a former Housemartin for goodness sake, was taking his love of old soul records and adding some oomph to them as well chucking a Clash sample in the middle of it all just for good measure.

Dub Be Good To Me – Beats International (1990, Go! Beat Records)

But all that wasn’t enough.  Before Norman Cook became Fatboy Slim and Big Beat god that he now is, he went on something of a musical voyage via 70s influenced Acid Jazz (Freakpower), early nineties cheesy rave (Pizzaman – who were dreadful) to acid house with a Cuban feel with the Mighty Dub Katz.   There were other acts as well but we’ll skirt over them if no one minds.

Turn On, Tune In, Cop Out – Freakpower (1993, Island Records)

Magic Carpet Ride – Mighty Dub Katz (1995, Airplay Records)

Both of which filled the dancefloors whenever they were played.

Yesterday I mentioned the Heavenly Sunday Social and the influence that had upon me and the music I listened to in my late teens and early twenties, well you can add a little soiree called The Big Beat Boutique to that alongside Skint Records (which I touched on before).  Big Beat Boutique was formed around the time Norman Cook was making records with Mighty Dub Katz, he was an integral part of it and the nights I had at the Boutique were just as sweaty and just as amazing as those night at the Heaveny Social.

‘The Rockafeller Skank’ is number one on this countdown because no other track of this genre filled the dancefloor in the same way that ‘The Rockafeller Skank’ did when it first landed on my doormat in the Spring of 1998.  I don’t want or like to even blow smoke out of my on hole but for a long period of time I was the only DJ at my university with a copy of ‘The Rockafeller Skank’ my promo twelve inch came with a sticker on it (which ruined the bloody sleeve, Ned!) that proclaimed me to be “One of the lucky buggers”.  The note tucked inside said that this was an “Advance – A Thank you” and that only 50 people in the world had it.  I’ve done some work on that since then and a quick check on Ebay and Discogs shows considerably more than 50 copies of this being available. But anyway, at the time I felt special. 

‘The Rockafeller Skank’ had a special glow about it every time it got played.  A little golden hue shimmering around it – that might have just been the light on the decks – but three months before it was in the charts, two months before most radio stations were playing it, my little indie horse and pony show had one of the hottest records in the world and we were pretty much playing it non stop.  We played it in our house, we played it on the radio, we played in the basement, we taped it for people to play in their cars or at their own parties, I reckon about 100 people in Guildford in 1998 had a copy of this track a good month before it finally came out in June 1998.    

It didn’t stop there, a few weeks before ‘The Rockafeller Skank’ came out officially, another Fatboy Slim record came along hot on its heels and again DJs were getting it along time before it was officially released.  I know this because I have a promo 12” of this but the actual release didn’t come out until about three months after I graduated and I stopped getting free records in July 1998.

See Also Gangster Trippin’ – Fatboy Slim  (1998, Skint Records)

I could also mention some of the records that Fatboy Slim was releasing before ‘The Rockafeller Skank’ all of which were getting more and more attention because of his fame, these two were also regularly played in the basement bar.

See Also – Going Out of My Head – Fatboy Slim (1996, Skint Records)

Santa Cruz – Fatboy Slim (1996, Skint Records)

So there we have it, a quick jaunt through the best Crossover records according to me.  Again, massive thanks to Mr L for fact checking, helping out and generally reminding of where I’d clearly gone wrong.

The Best 40 Crossover Tracks – #2 Queuing twenty minutes at the bar

2. Rock Blockin’ Beats – The Chemical Brothers (1997, Freestyle Dust Records)

I’m going to go straight into the see also’s if no one minds because its utterly relevant.  I’ll come back to ‘Block Rockin’ Beats’ in a bit.

See Also – Leave Home – The Chemical Brothers (1995, Virgin Records)

Its relevant because it was the first Chemical Brothers record that I ever owned.  It arrived into the office of the student newspaper and I took it home to review and it blew my mind.  I may have mentioned it before but ‘Leave Home’ won the coveted Single of the Week award and finished with me telling the long suffering readers to,

“Put down you Suede Records, and dance like bastards to this instead”

Which is kind of what I did, because back in early 1995, the Chemical Brothers felt more relevant, more exciting and more energy than nearly all the guitar bands that were doing the rounds at the time. 

A short while later I made my first trip to something called the Heavenly Sunday Social.  That was an evening in the basement of a pub in Islington, where a couple of upturn table tennis tables made a makeshift stage and where the organisers had set up some decks and a few other magical boxes of musical treats and from about 8pm until closing time, two chaps would amble on stage and DJ their hears outs.  Those two chaps were the Chemical Brothers and the queues to get into the Heavenly Social Sunday were so long that unless you were there at 6pm, queuing or were Tim Burgess, Sarah Cracknell or Nicky Wire (all regulars) you weren’t getting anywhere near the place.

And as I’ve mentioned him,

See also Life Is Sweet – The Chemical Brothers (featuring Tim Burgess) (1995, Virgin Records)

It was crowded, it was sweaty and you could queue for twenty minutes for the loo and even longer for a beer but as a novice little DJ who idea of DJing was to pick up a record, wait for it to nearly finish and then stick another one on, or more preferably do the same thing with CDs, because they had a countdown clock which you could use, it changed my entire ethos towards Djing.  It should be a event, a social if you like, and people should want to queue up at the bar to be part of it and people should want to dance in any area roughly the size of a postage stamp and be happy to be able to do so.   I never quite achieved that, I say ‘quite’ in reality it was nowhere near.  Not even close, but it was a true inspiration. 

Around eighteen months later, when Big Beat had properly landed the Chemical Brothers started to have actual hit records, ‘Block Rockin’ Beats’ went to number one.  The follow up with Noel Gallagher on added vocals (seen by many as the ceremonial handover of music’s crown from Britpop to Big Beat) ‘Setting Sun’ followed it and by the time the album (‘Dig Your Own Hole’) arrived the Brothers were one of the biggest acts around.  In 2000, they headlined the pyramid stage at Glastonbury, the first dance act to do so. 

See Also Setting Sun – The Chemical Brothers (1997, Virgin Records)

‘Dig Your Own Hole’ however, wasn’t just about dancefloor bangers, it also contained moments of sheer unbridled bliss, dance music but not quite as we know it, as those big beats combined with a whole host of other noises, instruments and sounds, especially on the track ‘The Private Psychedelic Reel’ which has fast become my favourite Chemical Brothers moment but remains a track that I have never once played whilst Djing.

See Also The Private Psychedelic Reel – The Chemical Brothers (1997, Virgin Records)

The Best 40 Crossover Tracks – #3 Tripping over badly positioned chairs

3. Voodoo People (Dust Brothers Mix) – Prodigy (1994, XL Records)

Before I went to University, I spent most Friday nights and the early part of Saturday mornings at a club called Subsonic, which was held in a cavernous nightclub on the outskirts of Gilingham at the ambitiously named King of Clubs complex (which was actually part of a massive hotel chain if I remember it rightly).   It wasn’t always held there, it used to be upstairs at a small club just off of Gillingham High Street which was next to door to a pub that had the reputation of being the most violent one in the area. 

Anyway, if you went to Subsonic, and remember this is probably between 1992 and 1994 you would get a healthy dose of guitars, some baggy some jangly, some thrashy, some punky and some post punky.  What you wouldn’t get would be dance music, by and large this would be because the crowd were mainly goths, indie kids and grunge kids all mingling together in their distinctive (and strangely stereotypical) sets.  For instance, the Goths always sat in the same corner cradling their pints of snakebite and black looking miserable until the DJ played Sisters of Mercy – oh go on then but only because it features Ofra Haza and she rocks.

Temple of Love (1992) – Sisters of Mercy (1992, Merciful Release Records)

Until the very early parts of 1994 that is, when suddenly the DJ stuck on ‘No Good’ by the Prodigy and whilst at first there was some trépidation (tiptoes from the Stone Roses fans amongst the crowd one suspects) by the end of the song the whole dancefloor was packed and it seemed to me at the very least, that the subcultures were mingling together.  I maybe remembering this with nostalgia tinted spectacles but back then it smelt like change.

See Also No Good (Start the Dance) – The Prodigy (1994, XL Records)

‘Voodoo People’ came out the week I went to university.  I certainly remember it being played all over the radio – or rather the non remix version was – during my first few days on campus.   Including one occasion when in my first week I was fashionably late for one of my first lectures and forgotten to change the alarm on my clock radio from 0900am to an earlier time and ‘Voodoo People’ woke me angrily from a blissful slumber.  It was followed by a lot of cursing as I sprinted across campus in order to get my lecture – I burst in late, tripped over a nearby badly positioned chair and caused much hilarity to about 60 people – yeah I know, I always did know how to make an entrance.

Voodoo People (Original Mix) – Prodigy (1994, XL Records)

The Dust Brothers remix of ‘Voodoo People’ had of course been around for ages, it surfaced at least nine months earlier when it featured on the ‘NME XMAS Dust Up’ cassette, which as you know featured a couple of weeks ago when I featured a remix of a Manics track.

Of course it was the next eighteen months or so before The Prodigy really took off, on the back of two number one singles (‘Firestarter’ and ‘Breathe’) and the huge gigs at Brighton’s much missed Essential Festival and supporting Oasis at Knebworth.  By the tie that happened, The Prodigy and pretty much any of their songs from 1992 to 1996 could be guaranteed to blow up a dancefloor. Yes, you have ‘Firestarter’ and ‘Breathe’ which pleased the rock crowd sat by the bar that were undoubtedly the most popular tracks of their but for me, it was the only rave-y tracks that did it for me.

See Also – Firestarter – The Prodigy (1996, XL Records)

One Love – The Prodigy (1993, XL Records)

Fire – The Prodigy (1993, XL Records)

Oh and today marks the 800^th No Badger Required post, so let’s have a bonus song.  It is the track that Alexa chose when I asked her to ‘Play Music’ – which when you consider what she could have chosen, isn’t that bad.

Take It to the Max – Dan Deacon (2015, Domino Records, Taken from ‘Gliss Riffer’)

The Best 40 Crossover Tracks – #4 An early version of Dragon’s Den

4. Insomnia (Monster Mix) – Faithless (1995, Cheeky Records)

In my final year at University (and as such my final year being involved in the basement bar), Ned the promotions guy phoned me up and asked me if we wanted to book Faithless to play at our club.  The band were apparently looking for smaller, more intimate venues to try out some new material and promote a remix album that they were involved in.  Our capacity in the basement bar was about 250 and we had become sort of well known for hosting secret and warm up gigs (in my second year we hosted a secret Kula Shaker gig when they had just entered the Top Ten in the chart, a gig that was so secret that they advertised it on the Radio 1 Breakfast show and saw about 4000 people turn up on the night to try and get in – there were 200 tickets and we’d sold them all weeks ago).  And you can say what you like about Kula Shaker – this is an incredible track.

Tattva (Lucky 13 Mix) – Kula Shaker (1995, Sony Records)

Anyway, I jumped at the chance, and then I remembered that the indie music society had a very limited budget, the most we could pay for bands was about £200 and we had to make a profit (which we normally did).  We’d made a bit of money and after checking with the finance team at the union – we’d could stretch to about five hundred pounds.

“They’ll do it for about a grand” said Ned.  I did the only thing I could, I said yes and went to see Alan, the new Ents Manager.   The Ents Manager at the Union used to be a student on a paid secondment, until about 1995, when it became a proper paid job.  Alan was a dour Scottish guy who legally changed his middle name to ‘Disco’ in order to make himself more interesting. I’d done the maths, if we booked the band for a £1000, sold 250 tickets at eight quid each, we’d make £1000 profit and asked him for £500 from the slush fund to seal the deal.  It was like an early version of Dragons Den as I sat in his office and pleaded my case. 

Alan we reluctant to give us the extra £500 we needed to make it happen.  He claimed that Faithless were a “bit too niche” and we’d struggle to make a profit.  I scoffed at this view, because every gig we’d ever put on had sold out.  I reminded Alan that his last event in the students union saw 50 people failed to be entertained by a man who farted loudly into a microphone – which I admit is harsh on the talent that is Mr Methane – and he was really in no position to talk about selling out venues.   That didn’t really help matters and he refused.  I left in a huff,  but not before I pocketed some biscuits from Alan’s office.

We tried to make that gig take place.  Jonny offered to borrow the money off his dad but it was fantasy really, even if we scraped the money together, we didn’t have a stage (our stage was tiny you could just about get a four piece on it) capable of hosting them, and so we moved on.   A week or so after we’d said no, Ned phoned me and told me that Alan had just phoned him and Alan had tried to book Faithless for the same money to play the Unions end of year Christmas Party.  Ned had told him sod off.  That Christmas Party saw a covers band take to the stage instead.

Faithless were huge and I’m fairly sure that if that gig had taken place it would have gone down in university legend, ‘Insomnia’ was without doubt one of those records that never failed to fil the floor, in fact it was, like all the records in this top five, one of those records that could make a packed dancefloor even more packed.

See Also – God is A DJ – Faithless (1997, Cheeky Records) and whilst we are there you can see these two as well

Salva Mea – Faithless (1995, Cheeky Records)

Take the Long Way Home – Faithless (1997, Cheeky Records)

The Best 40 Crossover Tracks – #5 – One Colossal Sweaty Mass

5. Born Slippy (Nuxx) – Underworld (1996, Junior Boys Own Records)

“It’s only a couple of hours of tunes”, said Richard, a guy who lived on the same landing as I did in my first year.  “You can have free beer, and there is going to be pizza”.

I mean what could possibly go wrong with an offer like that.  Well….

In the summer term of 1996, I was asked by the University Rugby society if I would DJ at their end of year party.  This is as you can expect, usually a quite tame affair, where very little happens.  Beer is rarely taken, and definitely isn’t drunk through an old unwashed sock or an abandoned old size 12 boot.  A nice 90 minute blend of trip hop, acoustic versions of country classics and some chill out music followed by twenty minutes of beard stroking ought to do the trick.  

It is an odd occasion, about 100 rugby players from across the University’s six teams, plus the female teams and the various friends, girlfriends, boyfriends and general hangers on.  I’m due to start playing tunes after the yearly award ceremony for which somehow they have managed to rope in a fairly famous rugby player to present – I won’t name him, in case the security services are reading this – awards are given for the usual ‘Best Player’, ‘Best Try’ etc.  but then awards like ‘Most Disgusting Pint’ are offered up, which sees lads drinking their own piss amongst other things.   It’s not really my thing to be honest.

At around nine thirty I start playing some tunes, I decide upon greatest hits set if you like, all the biggest tracks from the all biggest bands, nearly everyone is drunk and that appears to help make the dancefloor quite a busy place. Its quite good fun really, in a stay out of the way play some records and don’t be sarky to anyone kind of way.

At around ten fifteen I play ‘Born Slippy’ by Underworld and carnage followed.

I had played ‘Born Slippy’ for first time in the basement indie club, a week or so before and it was euphoric.  The dance floor was heaving and it sounded incredible and looked even better as about 200 people bopped their hearts out to it.  Those chunky beats colliding so perfectly as Karl Hyde’s garbled lyrics flew around the room. 

‘Trainspotting’ had of course just been released and that was largely the reason for the popularity of the song – although saying that it stayed popular for months after Trainspotting had been and gone – and cheers would fill the air when those opening synthy blasts filled the room.  That opening bit still makes my arms all goosebumpy knowing that that in about a minute those chunky beats would overtake everything.  It was thrillingly expectant. 

I mean it’s wonderful isn’t it.  The beat, the vibe, the vocal, that synth at the beginning.  

This time it wasn’t quite as euphoric, suddenly the floor was filled with rugby players who were bouncing up and down like demons possessed and when that now famous lyric about lager comes in, they almost merged into one colossal, sweaty mass stood in the middle of the dancefloor, arms pumping in time with the music, they were literally shouting “Lager, Lager, Lager” which they then proceeded to throw around the dancefloor.  I just about got out alive.

Of course, ‘Born Slippy’ had been around for about a year before that night and Underworld tracks were always popular in the basement bar.  ‘Rez’, in particular always went down well, even if my only copy of it was on a badly bootleg CD copy of it, hastily done by a friend on his computer.  Its also about three hours long.

See Also – Rez – Underworld (1993, Junior Boys Own Records) and if we are having ‘Rez’ in all its glory (and frankly that twinkly electroclashish opening is still incredible thirty years later) we better have the flip side of that legendary twelve inch as well (which if anyone has and wants to sell – I’ll be interested)

Cowgirl – Underworld (1994, Junior Boys Own Records)