BEATS OF LOVE 

74. 12 Tribes (Chicago Funk Dub Mix) by Boo Williams

IN ALL earnestness I believed the scene was going to transcend into other musical dimensions at the turn of the millennium, but was slowly waking up to the fact that nothing would sound as futuristic as Basic Channel, UR, Carl Craig, 430 West, or, Red Planet records, ever again.  

Despite what forums discuss or fanzine writers tell us, we're basically dancing on the embers of what was a late 20th century phenomenon. Nightclubs are not and never have been utopia. Despite a combination of the right drugs and the right people in certain spaces, giving us that impression.

Another late 20th century phenomenon, the rise of the hippie entrepreneur, brought about a seismic shift in the music industry that has seen the artist become little more than a commodity. Draped in logos and other visual signifiers, the music is easily lost. It's why we like the U.S. underground dance scene so much despite the duplicity and greed. It has anti-corporate stamped into its DNA and is in the main light years ahead in terms of its fluidity, rhythm, and funky, soulful experimentation. The prevalent features of its musical expression. 

Fortunately for us, transient bliss, the byproduct of truly feeling these amazingly vibrant sounding records, is a condensed, momentary utopia. Whilst nothing sounds as futuristic, our greatest pleasure is often still that transient bliss that can only ever be attained by truly feeling the music.  

This track personifies the distinctive sound of second generation Chicago house master Boo Williams. His Frankie sample is also reminiscent of another great Guidance cut Freaky (Chaos) by the genius that is Larry Heard, but this track drives harder and has more musical interplay within its changing tempo. I thought his work on Relief was top banana, but this is driving me even crazier. It's great. 

It’s a stark reminder that while the future promised may have stalled in the year 2000, the present moment belongs entirely to tracks like this. We don't need a utopian future when the embers of the past still burn this hot. In fact, dancing on embers has never felt so good. Transient bliss, indeed. 

  

 

BEATS OF LOVE 

73. The Banger Dictionary compiled by Finn McCorry

I FIRST met Annabel back in 2018, when she and Adam looked after me so brilliantly. Sadly, my arrival home came with a sharp ultimatum from the missus: either stay out indefinitely, or stay married. I haven’t had a "lost weekend" since.

Beyond being an ace DJ, Annabel co-owns 20k and a Dead Sheep, my absolute go-to online zine store. They regularly ship me copies of Dance Policy and Faith, even throwing in old E-Bloc pamphlets and acid smiley inserts I’d long since lost. These zines have become my main portals back into a culture that shaped my life. The writing is always sharp and illuminating, particularly a powerful, passionate piece by Kareina Daswani in the latest Dance Policy.

Reading it prompted me to dig out some immersive, sultry, dark techno and lose myself in the music as dusk fell. It strikes me how the digital age has rewound us. While we aren't fighting a physical war, we are a far cry from the post-war era that focused on building a better Britain with collective well-being at its heart. Today, our culture is about cutting costs, dehumanizing people, and dumbing everything down. The political class sounds uncannily like Arthur Daley, using seedy sales pitches to fight vacuous conflicts, defending insane greed, and selling us absolute rubbish.

Thank God, then, for zine sellers who inject truth and heart back into the marketplace. And thank God for Finn McCorry’s massive contribution to the literary canon: a tactile, A5 dictionary of synonyms for "banger" to elevate our dance music banter. It’s the kind of booklet you never knew you needed until it’s cradled in your hand. Unsurprisingly, the word sultry didn't make the cut.

https://20kandadeadsheep.com/products/the-banger-dictionary

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BEATS OF LOVE

72. San Francisco Night (Instrumental) by Chris

WAS WALKING to work the other day and unfathomably the synth line to Chris de Burgh’s Lady in Red came into my head and then I pictured my mother and father dancing together in sync to it. 

I say unfathomably coz if my mother was still alive, and I asked her about whether she ever danced to it she'd scrunch her face up and reply 'don't be absurd.' I can only imagine that I was bunking off school a lot at the time of its release and it got lots of telly play so unwittingly found a way deep into my subconscious. 

I grew up on a steady diet of chart music, eventually hitting a rebellious phase where I rejected pop entirely, until Luvdup started weaving transcendent moments into their sets. Digging for these unexpected crowd-pleasers soon became the norm, with the likes of Moonboots and Balearic Mike the most renowned exponents. Sean Rowley famously branded it as Guilty Pleasures, but the pinnacle of this trend belonged to Jim, who created the ultimate moment the night he dropped Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer.

Inspired, I set out to engineer my own iconic pop moment using Lady in Red. My logic was simple: a song couldn't occupy that much real estate in my subconscious if it was entirely devoid of merit. The standard seven-inch version was out of the question; after all, Steve Coogan’s Alan Partridge wasn't entirely wrong when he famously dubbed it the anthem of "stupid people dancing at weddings."

Since there were no official dubs, instrumentals, or extended remixes to salvage it, I turned to the world of cover versions. The Shadows showed promise but were ultimately too guitar-heavy, as were the flamenco interpretations. Lovers Rock and reggae versions offered a slight shift in vibe but still drowned in the original's saccharine sweetness. James Last offered the best of a bad bunch of up-tempo orchestral covers, but it still fell flat. By the time I waded through dreary panpipe renditions, I finally threw in the towel and accepted the brutal truth: the song is just irredeemably bad.

I’m sure the moment I publish this, someone will magically unearth some elusive Mediterranean dub mix to prove me wrong. Until then, this Chris will more than do.

Pure heat and a longtime want finally reissued by the ever dependable Edition Hawara label. Austria's finest tastefully lose the confederate flag from the original sleeve whilst pressing it loud and clear. I prefer this instrumental with its gloriously spangled synth lines that appear looser and really shine through on what is the finest winter warmer at hand. 

Hopefully next week when I walk to work these loose synth lines will come into my head. Giving me some much needed spring in my step.