Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Review of Paolo's Sunshine Mix Tape, by Owen Griffiths

Paolo's Sunshine Mix from Glasgow- Vitamin D


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.



Saturday, July 06, 2013

Sweet/sour tape review by paolo

I got my tape a few weeks ago. I have no idea who it's from but it's nicely packaged in gold chocolate-type packaging, like you'd find around a Galaxy bar or a Ferrero Rocher. One side is coloured pink with the word SWEET, the other side is coloured green with the word SOUR.

I've never reviewed anything before so I'm just going to go through it track by track and sum up at the end.

Sweet side

1. Lady singing a sad, wistful song over a 4:4 beat. This sort of sounds like something that you might hear in Starbucks or possibly on a moody advert for Apple, which I would normally hate this stuff but it actually works well. It's quite emotionally affecting. Off to a good start

2. Nice head-nodding house tune. Not exactly bedroom music but not a big dancefloor tune either. Would be good for doing housework to on a sunny day

3. Slightly more downbeat house tune, with bittersweet, yearning vocals and strings. Nice bassline

4. I think this is what would be called 'boogie'. I saw Krystal Klear DJ recently and this is like something he would play. It certainly is a sweet summer tune.

5. Going a bit deeper here but still house. Features a glockenspiel and a voice saying 'you're searching' a lot. It's been pissing it down with rain all day but the sun comes out when this track is on (I don't think the two things are connected but it fits with the summertime vibes of this tape)

6. More boogie, this time with cut-up vocals about looking into my eyes. Still rolling along at about 110 bpm. Goes a bit piano house about halfway through

7. Tempo goes up slightly (I think). This one has a sort of dark yet funky bassline, a bit like 'I Feel Love' by Donna Summer. There's a woman saying the same thing over and over but I can't make out what it is

8. This is bouncy as hell. There's a big fat bassline and a really low voice talking with a high-pitched voice about something or other, and a bunch of people singing about how much they like techno funk. This would be great to dance to when drunk

9. More chilled but still funky. Somebody sings about electronic funk and how it can't be stopped, and there are also robot voices

10. Lipps Inc - Funky Town. This is the only track on the tape that I recognise and it's a belter. Amazing disco-pop, if you've never heard it

11. Eighties-sounding synthpop/house/electro tune, with big room vibes and a catchy synth line. Also someone saying 'move up, get down'

12. The start of something a bit more downbeat with sad-sounding piano that is cut off by the end of side one

Sour side

1. Sleazy electro funk, nice and slow. Carrying on where the first side left off, with  a lyric about hugging your brother from another town. Very eighties in a good way

2. Disco pop about having a high school crush with a catchy hook. Could be described as sultry

3. Boogie disco with a sample from 'The Hall of Mirrors' by Kraftwerk and French vocals. Still got the bouncy summertime vibes of the first side

4. More boogie but more house than disco, complete with vocals about the beat not stopping until the break of dawn

5. Upbeat house tune which just seems a bit nondescript/bland to be honest

6. This is better. Vocal classic-sounding acid tune with loads of energy, must be an excellent club track

7. Bouncy house tune with a big fat bassline and a deep vocal asking if I'm afraid of the boogie monster (I'm not)

8. Cool, almost garagey house track. Quite deep but maintains the bounciness

9. Big room tech-house stomper, which I'm not really feeling so much. Maybe just not in the right mood

10. Wicked hardcore tune to finish the tape. Has a guy singing about not speaking the language or understanding the words and awesome synth stabs. I feel I should recognise this for some reason but I don't. This perks me up a bit and gives me a wee adrenaline buzz


Overall, this is ninety minutes or so of choice summertime house/disco/boogie music which I imagine would be ace to dance to. Whoever mixed it is solid technically and allows each track to play out for a decent amount of time, which I like. Also exposed me to a bunch of music I'd never heard before because I don't listen to a lot of this sort of thing