Vitamin D side A
All right, I couldn’t resist a sneaky look at the track
listing before slotting the tape in. Only recognised one name out of the corner
of my eye and after a second or two decided to go at the tape completely blind.
Makes things more interesting that way. Ideally with this tape swap I want to
come across scenes I’m not familiar with, so this blend of (presumably current)
slowish house/ techno/ tech house definitely fits the criteria. Not exactly a
Theo Parrish level of sluggishness or his type of production style- something
slightly different thanthat. I’ll state from the start that I didn’t find a lot of this
dark natured music particularly summertime focussed- it belies tapes' name but that's not a criticism overall. So track by track:
A1. Weird beatless intro that surely samples a movie from
the early days of colour cinematography; imagine the twisted court music of a
1950’s Macbeth feature film or the soundtrack to Ken Russell’s ‘The Devils’.
A2. Elgato is someone I remember from the Dubstep forum
days. I’m probably committing a cardinal sin in Hardwax circles when I say ‘if
I heard this record in a record shop’s headphones I wouldn’t buy it because the
tune doesn’t reallygo anywhere’. Super-repetitive for sure, but in the context of
this tape it scrubs up well enough and I can understand why some people are
happy to fork over 6.99 for it. Not a bad inclusion for Paolo’s set but a piece
of plastic unlikely to find a place in my record box.
A3. I really like this one, properly atmospheric deep house
tune that sounds great mixed out of the previous one. More of this kind of
stuff please.
A4. Skilful blend into this appealing harmonic breakdown-
doesn’t quite live up to it’s initial promise though, especially when it goes
all techy in the second half.
A5. Big track that upwardly slides us out of the trough
created by the rinsed out previous record. Proper late 80’s/ early ‘90’s US
house but no doubt a recently produced bit of mimicry. Good.
A6. It appears that this is the illusive Dub Techno genre
that everyone talks about but I’ve somehow managed to avoid up till now. Bit of a
short filler track (presumably) designed as a bridge between this and the much more upbeat upcoming tune. Okay but too much of this stuff would be irritating.
A7. I could swear by that saxophone that this is a Marc
Kinchen track (edit: it is). This is more my sphere of influence I suppose though
it’s a good one I haven’t heard before- no doubt because it’s a Summer 2011
release rather than from nineteen ninety-whenever. Judging by the Defected records adverts that plague
Youtube at the moment for their new DJ mixes the recent MK one seems
uninspired- though that could just be the A&R people only showing clips of
the radio friendly singles on the short adverts even though there’s plenty of
other gems on the actual CD/ MP3 whatever. Apologies for my ramblings- it’s
hard to get the bad taste out of my mouth looking at what Strictly Rhythm are
playing at by gently pushing former production kings Mood II Swing towards
making lowest common denominator Ibiza house, ie. the antithesis of what
classic NYC house is all about. Whereas FXHE/ Omar S clearly don't give a fuck.
A8. The closest house gets to a Gatecrasher style
euphoria hands in the air moment. Sensibly calms down before the high pitched keys causes the track to rise upwards out of the earth's atmosphere.
A9. A slightly soulless Todd Edwards sound a like fresh from
the cutting house floor. Can’t hold a candle to vintage Todd of course, but a
track in this vein is a welcome release for Summer 2013.
Vitamin D- side B
B1. Nice beatless intro track. I forgot to mention that all
the tracks on side A are beatmatched. The tunes on this side are not. It’s not
entirely clear whether this record is left over from the earlier set as a bridging track to the decidedly eclectic & more laid back second half. Perhaps the tape ran out too soon. But if we assume otherwise and pick up on that word eclectic…
B2… this one sums up the aesthetic very well. It’s some weird live band with a
half-strangled woman singing a disturbing lullaby, alongside one of those
repetitive guitar twangs that I’m guessing reggae musicians invented and refused to give up on. I must
confess to being one of those few people who don’t know who Hype Williams is
(isn’t he a millionaire hip hop producer? Edit: no he’s a video director) but I
know Shangan as being one half of the notorious North Dublin Ballymun estate.
Perhaps this studio hook up was a misguided experiment by some well meaning new
age drugs councillor to get her class of poor junkies to describe their anxieties
through the medium of experimental music. What was it the liberal teacher said
in the film heathers- “Whether to kill yourself or not is one of the most
important decisions a teenager can make”. Incidentally this record has a short
period of silence in the middle that had me twice rushing to my cheap ghetto
blaster to make sure it wasn’t chewing up the tape.
B3. How I imagine a Kraftwerk LP sounds, really. I’m a bit
ignorant on that count. Turns out that this is the Human League in art college
mode, before they discovered catchy choruses. Had they waited ten years before
making it they could’ve shrink-wrapped the twelve and punted it round Berwick
Street stores pretending it was a hot US import from some precocious black producer from Chicago or Detroit.
B4. Teutonic sounding female vocals on a live sounding band.
Not my favourite track from the tape. Has what seems like an exciting key change at the end
that actually turns out to be…
B5. A perfectly clean segue into this track here. Not sure how to
describe it really. Say no more
B6 Now this Faust record is a nice and cheerful indie ish
thing that could arguably have been made anytime in the last forty years.
Proper sunshine stuff at last. Though it seems like it was cued up at the fag
end of the track, I would’ve appreciated hearing it in its entirety before it
goes into the jingly jangly guitar feedback outro.
B7. Borderline fiddly dee music with hippyish overtones,
perhaps found by Paolo digging through maw & da’s dusty twelves that have
languished in the loft for years. The lyric comes correct with a chorus of
“this morning I woke up”. It is safe to say that Sunshine has arrived.
B8. Picking up the pace with an uptempo ‘70’s guitar
instrumental a la Fleetwood Mac. I mean that in a good way, not in an ironic
hairstyle way. Clearly the peak hour track of this side of the tape as we’re
coming up to the final furlong. This is the second time my wikipedia searches have
turned up the work Krautrock. Not sure what to make of that given my ignorance
of the style. Owen's’ opinion- “nice enough”. The Red Army Factions verdict-
“Vapid imperialist music purveyed by the Fascist Pig State to anaesthetise the
German youth to the existentialist Capatalist corruption that stunters their growth, swinehundt"”. I'll let you decide whose view is more accurate.
B9. A clean break and then a well-chosen punk tune to round
things of. “Do we miss you, do yes we do. You’re father sends his regards to
you. Will I write, well once in a while. I’ll send my love and a molotov
cocktail too!” Late 70's cockney Punk at it's more accomplished.
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All in all I think this cassette has parallels with my own
in that one side is definitely stronger than the other one. I’ve listened to
side A half a dozen times (and will put it in again) but despite a few okay
records the b-side can be a bit more of a chore- saying that I will make effort to get into it. Top marks for effort. Was this the kind of thing I expected from the Dissensus Tape swap? Fuck knows, because I didn't know what to expect really.
