110-120
111. LAGOON WEST
Artist: Richard H Kirk
From: Virtual State
Label: WARP
Released: 1994
Richard Kirk’s impeccable electronic pedigree was unknown to me when I first heard his work in the mid 90’s, via Virtual State, but on reflection all these years later, his first LP for WARP feels like a marker, a kind of amalgamation of the electronic sounds he explored as Sandoz and as part of Cabaret Voltaire. Lagoon West is the only ambient track on the album and it’s a banger, a simple piano loop surrounded by little shimmers of glass synth, creating a joyful yet pensive mood. RIP Richard.
112. NUANE
Artist: Autechre
From: Chiastic Slide
Label: WARP
Released: 1997
JG Ballard’s 1960 short story The Sound Sweep, centres around the idea of the persistence of sound, agglomerations of environmental audio which the titular character is tasked with removing via the use of specialised machinery, vacuuming the unwanted noise “…methodically, moving the sonovac’s nozzle in long strokes, drawing out the dead residues of sound that had accumulated during the day”. This aural detritus is expelled into the ‘sound stockades’ – a dumping ground for sonic waste.
Autechre’s fourth LP Chiastic Slide, feels like it could have been derived from such a scrapheap; from the errant fragments and discarded echoes of both their own past work and that of their corpus of influences, sieved and sifted and mingled with static and dirt and noise before being reconstituted into strange new forms. A process detectable in the album’s closing track Nuane, with its ominous swells of subsea bass, its squeaks and pops and whines, its crumpled, faltering chug and its final stuttering denouement.
113. TIME TO FIND ME (AFX FAST MIX)
Artist: Seefeel/Aphex Twin
From: Time To Find Me
Label: Too Pure
Released: 1993
Richard James’ Seefeel remixes were a big deal. A heralding of the group’s impending debut on WARP, they probably did more for Seefeel’s profile in the electronic scene than any promotional campaign or tour, and (unlike almost every other Aphex remix) were also extremely respectful of the source material – almost reverent, as James said at the time: “I think it’s gonna be a weird kind of a mix because I really, really like their stuff as it is and what I’m going to do is just add a groove to it”.
When you listen to the original you can hear just how light James’ touch was, the sound is tuffer the drums ground to sharpness and the groove is tightened up, but all of the essential elements remain intact. In other words – a classic dance remix – and one that retains the sound of the original but adds just enough heft and sheen to make it work in the club.
In return for these mixes, Clifford promised James’ an album for his label – the aforementioned Ch-Vox LP, released on Rephlex in ‘96, which I think we can all agree was a good deal all round.
114. A NEW DAY
Artist: FUSE
From: Dimension Intrusion
Label: Plus 8
Released: 1993
Considered by many to be the finest of his 90’s albums, Richie Hawtin’s Dimension Intrusion was originally released on his own Plus 8 imprint and then licensed by WARP where its deep Detroit stylings nestled snugly alongside similar work from B12 and Kenny Larkin. All bubbling synth bass and celestial pads, A New Day is one of a handful of more melodic ambient techno numbers on the record, including the chilled acid vibes of the excellent Theychx.
115. POT NODDLE
Artist: The Black Dog
From: Spanners
Label: WARP
Released: 1994
The influence of The Black Dog on UK electronica cannot be overstated, and the trio are beloved by fans as much for their trailblazing innovation as their psychedelic electronic eclecticism. The distinctive CGI sleeve of Spanners was ubiquitous at every after-party in the mid 90’s and the album is still a wild listen today. Pot Noddle is one of the unambiguously chilled numbers from the record, featuring an enchanting constellation of sweet little melodies and a break so pitched down it’s almost static. We shall meet Ed and Andy again later in their guise as Plaid.
116. I LEFT MY HEART IN SYNTAX ERROR
Artist: Cylob
From: Cylobian Sunset
Label: Rephlex
Released: 1996
Our final visit to Cylob’s Elysian analogue fields …Syntax Error eschews the mechanical textures and wind up rhythms that characterise the rest of Cylobian Sunset for a simple three piece drum kit and organ ensemble. Unadorned, unpretentious and deeply affecting, there’s a solemnity, a profoundly devotional feel to this one. It’s almost liturgical in its reflective wholesomeness, like the theme to some time-lapse footage of an Amish barn raising, or the program music from the livestream of a remote Nordic church.
If you haven’t got a copy of this sublime album yet, sort yourself out. You can buy it at the link below.
117. SCOTT CRONCE IS THE CEO
Artist: Global Goon
From: Vatican Nitez
Label: Rephlex
Released: 2002
We now know that Global Goon is a real person, one Jonathan Taylor, but at the time of the release of his eponymous 1996 debut on Rephlex it was rumoured that Goon was another Aphex alias, or perhaps a collaboration between James’ and one of the coterie of heads from his house share at Clissold Crescent in Stoke Newington. An understandable mistake, as that first album is full of the same warped whimsy present in many of James’ records. By 2002 Taylor had shed most of that Aphexian baggage and his third album for Rephlex, Vatican Nitez has a uniquely woozy electronic downtempo vibe, evident in the breathless Gary Numanesque poignancy of Scott Cronce…
118. SOUTHERLY
Artist: MG
From: MG
Label: Mute
Released: 2015
A founding member of Depeche Mode, Martin Gore was not someone I had anticipated featuring in this mix, but after a recommendation from a friend I listened to his 2015 instrumental album MG and was blown away. It wasn’t just the sound palette or instrumentation that caught me, but rather its lucid expression of emotion, a return to the roots of romantic electronica which seems to tap into some elemental essence of the sound.
You can hear this romanticism at work in Southerly’s grand sweeps of strings, its washes of hazy synths, its booming bass drum and elegant patina of hi-hats. A timeless epic which sounds simultaneously like an artefact of a visionary past and a transmission from a lost future.
119. MAGNASUSHI
Artist: Bola
From: Fyuti
Label: SKAM
Released: 2002
Bola, (aka Darrell Fitton), was an early friend and benefactor of a certain Rochdale duo, a prominent member of the SKAM crew, and a devotee of the exclusive cult of Gescom. His electronic music career began with an appearance on WARP’s Artificial Intelligence II but he remained mostly dormant until the release of the excellent SOUP album four years later. Filton was (and I assume, still is) a big jazz and classical music fan, which may account for the preponderance of unusual time signatures and striking melodic structures in his music, including the rich symphonic electro romance of Magnasushi.
120. ISENE
Artist: Geiom
From: SMAK 05/SMAK 06
Label: SKAM
Released: 2001
Geiom (aka Kamal Joory), wasn’t the only IDM producer who went on to have a second life in dubstep, and the spacious, bass heavy production on Isene hinted towards his future productions in that scene. With its soft chords, sinuous bassline and marvellously feathery stereo panned beats, this one is unapologetically romantic, verging on the sentimental. Sad, soppy and sensual – like an illicit farewell fling in Paris.
121-130
121. PANCAKE LIZARD
Artist: Aphex Twin
From: Donkey Rhubarb
Label: WARP
Released: 1995
Part of the orchestral phase in James’ music along with The Waxen Pith, IccT Hedral, Girl/Boy Song and his remix of Heroes, culminating in 2011’s Remote Orchestra project, Pancake Lizard starts as a dirge, a string quartet moving in regimented staccato with a soft plucked counterpoint melody. It’s a uniquely lovely vibe, with its warm bass notes and off-kilter knocking rhythm, but then, at about ⅔ in, something magical happens. The notes extend to smooth bowed legato, the drums drop underwater and we float into the breathtaking Atlantean lament of the Lizard’s lambent outro. One of the tenderest moments in a discography replete with instances of gentle ambient grace. Top 10 Aphex – and I’ll fight anyone who says otherwise.
122. OVERAND
Artist: Autechre
From: Tri Repetae
Label: WARP
Released: 1995
Tri Repetae’s quietest tune, Overand has an air of contemplative mystery about it… nocturnal rustles in a quiet forest, weird lights on a distant ridgeline. A mood that’s embellished by its beautiful harmonics, the way all of its frequencies blend together in a drifting cloud of ambience. Those wonderfully resonant bell sounds, the wisps of digital atmospherics, the faintest of high end whines, like the buzzing of benevolent mosquitos, even its ridiculously low-key CR8000 drum machine groove – every element enhances the subtle vibe of the track. It’s all so seductive, so silky smooth, less techno and more tech-noir.
123. OVERAND
Artist: Sunken Foal / Autechre
From: Cover Versions From Autechre’s ‘Tri Repetae’
Label: Countersunk
Released: 1995/2015
As previously mentioned, I have a soft spot for covers of classic electronica, and I’ve listened to countless examples, so I feel at least partially qualified to say that Sunken Foal’s Tri Repetae covers are some of the best. His version of Overand retains the mystery of the original whilst emphasising the atmospherics of the tune and adding a kind of naturalistic shimmer. As Murphy says:
“ I kept the composition similar to the originals and focussed on a rougher, more human gestural sound playing some of the parts by hand on guitars, pianet, xylophone and ribbon synth”.
124. SUTJEDA
Artist: Slag Boom Van Loon
From: Slag Boom Van Loon
Label: Planet Mu
Released: 1998
A Mike Paradinas and Jochem Papp (aka Speedy J) project, Slag Boom Van Loon is one of those rare collaborations where the styles of the contributors seem complement rather than cancel each other out. It’s a record with an unsettling organic vibe that veers between ambience, chaotic sound collage and discordant epic psychedelia, like rogue musical signals hidden deep within the pulsing traffic of a mycelium network. Sutjeda is a case in point, with its soothing ossuary funk, full of rattling bones and big belly bass. Harryhausen skeletons jamming a weary song of welcome as you cross the Styx into their bony embrace.
125. KOILINEN
Artist: Pan Sonic
From: Clicks_+_Cuts
Label: Mille Plateaux
Released: 2000
Another brief excursion to the avant-Euro hinterlands here with a group that trod their own path from techno and industrial to electronic experimentation. The deep, razor sharp beats and resonant drone of Koilinen provide just the right level of minimalism to bridge the gap between its more melodic neighbours.
126. MILH
Artist: Plaid
From: Not For Threes
Label: WARP
Released: 1997
Plaid’s third LP and their first for WARP, Not for Threes flits between styles with the same eclectic elan of the duo’s work as The Black Dog, but it feels sleeker, smoother and more assured in its explorations of sampladelic texture and melody. You can hear that confidence at work in Milh, an electronic sonata for piano in three movements characterised by a wonderful sense of emotional narrative. That looping piano refrain in the final section is one of their finest melodies, and it’s one that’s been stuck in my head since I first heard it over 25 years ago.
127. FALLING (AUTECHRE “FR 13” MIX)
Artist: Scorn / Autechre
From: Falling / The End (Remixes)
Label: Scorn Recordings
Released: 1995
There’s more than a touch of the locomotive in this encounter between Mick Harris and Autechre, the rhythmic chugging of the wheels, the venting of steam, the forlorn tremolo of the whistle as you enter the tunnel. A dark linear ride which makes for a huge improvement on the dubby ethno-fusion of the original track.
128. PUCH
Artist: Autechre
From: Elements
Label: MDS
Released: 1997
Puch is a minor AE obscurity. Released in 1997 on an Australian compilation the track is a throwback to an earlier sound with its dense organic beats and slightly unrefined sound design – explained by its improvised origins during a tour of Australia in 1994. From the Elements liner notes:
“On a Friday in December ’94 Rob Brown and Sean Booth (AKA Autechre) played to a small but wondrous crowd in a large Collingwood warehouse. The amorphous live rendition of Flutter glistened. That weekend, exposed to the Victorian coast’s crisp skies, breaking waves and stark rock forms, Autechre wrote Yarra. The phonetically challenged pair have since renamed it Puch.“
129. RED CALX
Artist: Aphex Twin
From: user48736353001 Soundcloud Dump
Label: None
Released: 2015
Calx is defined as “a powdery metallic oxide formed when an ore or mineral has been heated”, but I confess, for years I confused it with Calyx “the sepals of a flower, typically forming a whorl that encloses the petals and forms a protective layer around a flower in bud” which is almost a diametric opposite – and I just can’t shake that association, because all of the Calxes sound so pastoral to my ears; the alpine valley moonrise of Blue Calx, the joyous spring festival vibes of Yellow Calx, even the harsh electro-combine noises of Green Calx – and then there’s the anthemic winter sorrow of Red Calx. An orphaned masterwork that really deserved a place in his pantheon of great ambient Aphex works despite the lack of a proper release, though Lanner Chronicle suggests that the slo version may once have been intended for inclusion on SAW II.
130. KEY NELL 4
Artist: Gescom
From: Key Nell
Label: SKAM
Released: 1996
Key Nell was a Gescom project consisting of 6 tracks over two 12” releases (and the aforementioned ‘98 remix) on SKAM and WARP – an Autechre mini-album in all but name, and if it ever gets exhumed and properly reissued, then that’s exactly how it should be marketed, as it contains some of the duo’s finest and least known work of the 90’s. It’s hard to figure out what Key Nell is exactly, some technique, mood or melody, some process that binds these tracks together in corrugated commonality, a kind of meta-song in multiple movements – but we can say with certainty that it’s one of the weirdest and most compelling Autechrian adventures.
Despite the weird digital crackle of the final track from the first EP Key Nell 4 still feels overtly analogue, almost prehistoric – all pickaxes, shovels and hammers, sliding stone, rolling logs, and the cracking of whips. There is something about that joyful, off-kilter melody and its awkward 9 bar loop, an ungainly, listing charm that burrows into your brain. A dwarven host stepping in regiment on an eager march to battle and treasure and glorious death.
