The Greatest House Tracks of all time. The final.

Lil Louis on birthdays.

 

I must say that this has been the hardest thing I've done. If I were to do this again it would be near enough the same but possibly not the same order. Here goes then, from 10 down to 1. 

10 Joe Smooth Feat Anthony Thomas DJ International 1987

Can't believe its taken this long to get a DJ International track represented. Rocky Jones was no Larry Sherman, he didn't rip off his artists or cheap out on his pressing either. It also helps that this is the quintessential Joe Smooth track as well. Gospel for those who aren't church people, and just edged out Inside My Mind which was down for the longest time on my list. Oh and for some reason, I never knew this got a video to it either. 

9 Roy Davis Jnr Feat Peven Everett Gabriel Large Music 1996

For those wondering what edged out Inside My Mind, its this. I know we could have  had some of his acid stuff as part of Phuture or independent releases on Sex Trax. But its this quality slice of garage house and one of those tracks that split UK / Speed Garage / Two Step from the old US Garage that had been bubbling along since the late 80's. Gabriel with its horns and funk groove so deserves its spot on here, and I'm happy to give this a go every time.

8 The Night Writers Let the Music Take Control Danica 1987

One of those epic cowbell work outs, and epic synth work tracks that will take you there. Frankie Knuckles and I think Ricky Dillard (now a preacher) on vocals. It got updated in the 90's thanks to the rave boom, with a hardcore version on FFRR. My own copy came from a water damaged collection tossed out at a local boot sale last year, we also got Promised Land from the same batch. One of the greatest finds ever and a star track. 

7 Sweater On Polo The Creation L.I.E.S. 2026

This is the most modern track on here. Terrence Woodward A.K.A. Sweater on Polo, is know for harking back to the classic era of house and with the Creation channels Larry Heards Mr Fingers project for this old skool heater. Cost me £35 from Phonica, and I have to say worth every penny. Half the joys is working out the influences, a bit of Faces Drums here or Fingers Inc there, and when you're done just sitting back to enjoy it as a whole. 

6 Mr Fingers Feat Mr White Sun Can't Compare Alleviated 2006

I know I've had to lay off putting acid tracks on here, I promise this won't be the last on here or even the last Larry Heard track. You should all know what that is. Anyway acid with vocals in are not common and one's done in the mid 2000s even rarer. To hit the jackpot and make it sound as if it came out in 1988, that is the real genius of this track. I'm currently listening to a remake of this by some guy and it holds up so well. For a modern take also by Larry Heard, there's a remix of a Hercules and Love Affair track that sounds remarkably similar I've seen floating around instaspam, that seems to hit all the right buttons. 

5 Fast Eddie My Melody DJ International 1988

For piano acid what do you go with? Acid Over by Tyree which got a release or this from the DJ Fast Eddie which is just an album track. You still get epic pianos and a tetchy acid bass roll in this, but damn, if it doesn't just kick so much ass. I know I could have gone with Acid Thunder but with acid house I have to show restraint, its my first love, but this track is so mental and well produced, its got to be in.

4 Jamie Principle Bad Boys Original Demo by Ron Hardy Trax rerelease 1986, this version 1983

I know people want to call everything queer in relation to the gay community, but this, this is the antithesis of the pretentious, sexless appropriators of modern wokery, that turn the rainbow into grey sludge. A song about picking up a rent boy for sex shouldn't be a banger, but the original demo version is far away one of those goosebump tracks. Full of raw sex appeal and with nods to Prince and now I see it Patrick Cowley in his Fox porno score days. One for all those folks lost to AIDS from the original scene.

3 Adonis Lost In The Sound Jack Trax 1988

A track I always feel is way before its time. And yes I know there are more famous tracks by the acid buddha. The Poke, Lack of Love, Te Adoro Acido on Mathematics. But its this machine track I come back to. I wonder if there are any more edits / mixes of this as Adonis kept all his own recordings and like Gene Living In a Land Hunt is a regular pack rat for preserving.

2 Mr Fingers Can You Feel It Desire 1989 Originally Trax 1986

In the beginning there was Jack and Jack had a groove, while one day viciously throwing down in his box declared let there be house. The words of Chuck D were not originally on this but hearing them out loud you know that bassline would creep in. Jack indeed is the key to the wiggly worm and the one who Whops your body, both dances and for the life of me would love to see someone dance the *Whop. I know its etymology is from Italo which is a backbone of house, maybe some old heads could dance it for us on Youtube for old times sake.

1 David Guetta Feat Bebe Rexha Blue  Yeah, no. 

1 Jamie Principle Your Love Persona 1984 Original, 1986 Frankie Knuckles version.

Sorry, couldn't resist. But you all knew this is coming. Whether its the original version, You got the love bootleg with Candi Staton and John Truelove that gets played a lot. A credible remake by the Horrors and whatever the fuck possessed Florence and the Machine to cover this. This is near enough the perfect crystallization of what house is. The original with its raw loops and vocal, and Frankies version with the synth line everyone knows. 

And You got the love the mash up to end all mash ups, still gets played on heart and proved what a good ear Eren's / John Truelove had. 

*Edit the Whop / wop can be found here in this video of hip hop dances.

Top 50 greatest house tracks of all time pt4

Finally we're down to the top 20. Every track here has earned its place here.

20 Robert Owens I'll Be Your Friend 1991 Perfecto

Of course we start off with one of the best house vocalists of all time. Needs no introduction of course, but suffice to say every track he's sung on is a certified banger.

19 Thee Madkatt Courtship Pray For a Star 1999 FFRR

Felix Stallings JR, better known as Felix Da Housecat. I had some hesitancy whether to put this or In Thee Dark We Live from Aphrohead on here but this edges it out. Its a wistful house sung by an uncredited Harrison Crump and all the tracks on this single are worthy of your time. Felix himself also sung on Pierre's Pfantasy Club Dreamgirl when he was just fifteen. 

18 Florian Kupfer Feelin' L.I.E.S. 2012

Either this or DJ Seinfeld Winona for an example of how new artists can make, old school house. The drums and bass complete with hi-hat ride are its back bone, but when the vocal drops in then its magic.

17 Frankie Knuckles Presents Satoshi Tomie Tears FFRR 1989

I'm not a real good actor, I've had so many tears over this track over the years. It's another Robert Owens vocal masterpiece, with the bass coming through strong along with the vocals. It proves such a foundation house can be for a good singer.

16 Velma Wright You're Not Right Supertronics 1989

Telstar's Deep Heat compilation series has given me a few bangers over the years. The Today's People track from part one and this. A house on fire vocal performance of a woman catching her partner in the act with his lover. The drum programming alone along with piano is just another reason this has to be included.  

15 Pleasure Pump Fantasize Me State Street Records 1987

One I remember from back in the day and again another vocal performance tour de force. But this time there is some argument who sung on this. Most of State Street releases were done by Carl Bias Edward Get Down Crosby and Liz Torres, but apparently this isn't Liz on vocals here and no one knows who is. 

14 Humanoid Tonight Radical Records / Westside 1989 

The highest placed UK house release here and its one that I'll remember from time to time. Humanoid is of course Brian Dougans who would release as Humanoid Stakker and Cry Baby which is always included on acid compilations. But its this track that draws me back, Sharon Benson on vocals and a more acid house feel to this overall than the more acid work outs of Slam (with Phats from Phats and Small) Stakker and Cry Baby. 

13 NGLY Speechless Tape L.I.E.S 2018

Not the last L.I.E.S. label release on here and not the most recent either. This is an absolute chiller and is probably a borderline edge case of it being techno / deep house. Whatever the case, this is one deep dark track.

12 Victor Romeo Love Will Find A Way Dancemania 1988

This is from before the time Dancemania became a Ghetto House label but still released tracks that could kick ass. Its another acid style banger but with a heavy rimshot / hi-hat based rhythm track. The vocals by Letreece Brown are just the icing on the cake. One to track down.

11 Moodymann I Can't Quit This Feeling When It Hits 1996 After Midnight Records

House is done well when its just a simple beat and a vocal or cleverly used sample. In this case its a loop from Chic and a few understated keys and drums but Moodymann AKA Kenny Dixon JR has crafted an epic around this. Theo Parrish for his Ugly Edits are another recommendation .What am I gonna do?

Top 50 greatest house tracks of all time pt3

 So we reach halfway in our list and its getting harder and harder to separate the good from the greats, but let it be known that these are not middling tracks, but would be classics (and indeed are) if the top twenty weren't absolute bangers.

29 Daft Punk Da Funk Soma Quality Recordings 1995

First saw this on MTV with the iconic vid to this, think of a man with a dogs head walking around the streets with a boombox. Knew I'd have to get it straight away when that monster acid line came in full force. I know folks would go with around the world or bigger harder faster stronger. But the above makes it my choice. Proves once and for all that the French could do house. 

28 A Guy Called Gerald Spend Some Time Demo 1988 ish

Part of a bunch of rarities that were released in 2006 as Attick Attack and file only at that. You get the much better known Voodoo Ray as a demo here but this is the one. 9 minutes of minimal voice and 808 drums distilled down into something raw and dubbed out. Exactly what house should be.

27  Virgo / ME School Hall  Trax 1989

There used to be a place in Bromley in the 90's that used to sell over stock tapes down by Bromley South station, where I picked this up and the Fingers Inc album. A classic of deep house by Merwyn Sanders, all deep basslines and sparky hats. Rush Hour put out a full album of this and the unreleased stuff he did if you want more.

26 Bipo Why Jump Street 1988

One of those records you hear and can't work out what is going on. Sure its a woman lamenting her man cheating on her. But listen on its with a guy, he's given up the love of his life for a fling with a fella. Also I'm never quite sure if he calls her queer or green in this, which only feeds into its ambiguity. Needless to say this is a personal fave. 

25 Fingers Inc Mystery Of Love Alleviated 1985

A monster of a bassline and either Harry Dennis or Robert Owens on vocals. I can feel it chills down my spine taking me there. No drugs, just that bass and piano taking me up. And this is only halfway.

24 The Beloved The Sun Rising WEA 1989

Another Ibiza track and one based on a sample of O Euchari by Hildegard of Bingen. There are later mixes that are drum and bass or make it more chilled out. But the originals on WEA from 89 are where it's at for me. 

23 808 State Pacific State Creed Records 1988

I know I should have gone with their acid tracks from Newbuild or the Rephlex comp Prebuild of demos from the mid 2000's. But its this from Quadrastate, I'm on about. Purely because I heard it in Ibiza from a bar in Es Cana that had a guy playing Marley on ukulele (he was terrible) and this came on one night as I went past. Everything clicked and for a brief second my life didn't suck.

22  James Jackrabbit Martin Only Wanted to be YOTON 1988

This guy died stupidly young in 1990, leaving a body of work that should be studied further. Only wanted to be is on here but his stuff as Jacquarius felt like tracks that could have come out in the mid 2000's his acid skills were that advanced. There is a retrospective in 5mag I'll link about him. 

21 Frankie Knuckles Whistle Song Virgin 1991

The first entry from the one and only Frankie Knuckles. Known as one of the house pioneers where he had residency at a club called the Warehouse. House can be mellow and chilled as well as for getting on the floor and this track emphasises this. The "flute" used to good effect, worked to an inch of its life as the beat plays under it. One of the best bent pioneers of all. 

top 50 house tracks of all time 2

So here is part 2 of  my top 50 house tracks. Its been hard to narrow it down, but am confident that this is my final line up.

40 Plus One Feat Sirron It's Happening 1990 MCA

One of these forgotten old school tracks. Not really going to branch into Hip House on here though we do have entries for Tyree Cooper and Fast Eddie, but this UK entry with its rap is a fave of mine and can easily hold its own against what the US had to offer. 

39 Jaydee Plastic Dreams 1993 R&S Records

We band the word classic about many tracks, but this actually deserves it. I know its been released and remixed over the years but I'm talking about the original here and at a pinch the original Cha Cha slide that used this before it was released as it was. I guess it was the bass line in this, those notes you just know what it's going to be, and that makes it a classic.

38 Fet  et Moi Paris is For Lovers 2009 White Label

A lot of things happened in the mid 2000's that make it a dark time in dance music. America finally woke up to the fact that it made dance music and that clubland existed outside of its dreary rock / hip hop hegemony. Therefore it rebranded it as EDM an slur almost as bad as queer is for the gay community.

What you want to know is that this slaps, has a bootleg vocal by Justin Timberlake and a killer bassline again. Its a team up of two DJ's Fetisch and &me, and you may have seen the a version of this where a super car races through Paris.

37 River Ocean Feat India Love and Happiness (Yemaya y Ochun) Strictly Rhythm 1994

Love and Happiness by Al Green is one of those stand out tracks of soul, that somehow ended up as a house rework with an iconic bassline to rival that of Jaydees Plastic Dreams up above. While this Love and Happiness is not that love and Happiness its still one hell of a track, and shows what an absolute force Strictly Rhythm was back then. 

36 Marshall Jefferson Move Your Body The House Music Anthem Trax 1986

Mailman (former) Marshall Jefferson is the first person credited with introducing piano into the house music pantheon with this release on Trax. What I didn't know till recently is that the vocals on this was Curtis McClain. So this link above is a credit and a thanks to right that wrong.

35 A Man Called Adam Barefoot In The Head Big Life 1989

One of those leftfield house tracks that were definitely part of the Balearic sound, a mix of euro / disco and leftfield bits and pieces inspired by the white island Ibiza. I know I'm linking to the Head mix of this but, really any version will do. 

34  Arnold Jarvis Take Some Time Out Fourth Floor Records 1987

Another garage house heater, and along with Someday Ce Ce Rogers one of the foundations of that sound. Produced by Tommy Musto, who is better known for his collaborations with Frankie Bones, makes his long overdue mark on the list.

33 T.O.T. What U R DFM 1989

I'll rip myself off on this one as I wrote all those years ago is that it sounded like an E trip, beside the point, that at that time I had never tried ecstasy and TBH never really wanted to either. I guess acid should be on this list as we've already had one entry from Nathaniel Jones Phuture project. This track, along with 808 state proved the UK could produce great acid tracks. Vocals are by Carol Morley sister to journo Paul Morley according to Discogs reviews. 

32 Ron Hardy Shooting Stars 1984 ish, Reel To Reel?

An edit of Steve Silk Hurley I Don't Know done by the one and only Ron Hardy. One of those three big icons of house, an absolute fucking master of the decks. He was DJ at the Muzic Box club in Chicago and it has to be said a personal hero of mine. His attitude, how he'd make the crowd Jack, and work the floor and that he would play records from young producers just to see if it would work. Acid tracks, was the one along with others. Let's go Ronnie.

 31 DHS The House of God 1990 Hangman Records

A track that along with Radio Babylon by Meat Beat Manifesto that is way ahead of its time and rather like Plastic Dreams above, has never been bettered. I know that Green Velvet Preacherman did the whole evangelical preacher thing better, this came first. In hindsight he sounds a lot like Donald J Trump begging for cash on here. 

top 50 house tracks of all time pt1

So it begins. This is a response to a poor, poor article from billboard about their 50 best, and it took me a while to come up with something that doesn't suck balls. The original list in notepad had no order, so here is me imposing some chaos onto this long list. 

You all know the drill on how house got started. Young, Gay Black dudes needed a safe space to listen to disco without hassle and when the original tracks died out found Europe made their own style and when Italo faded, decided to copy and make their own Italo / disco inspired tracks for club use. 

50 Robin S Show me Love Stonebridge Club Mix  Champion Records 1993

One of those tracks that, though aren't super good, everyone knows. The original, released in 1990 is nothing like this and you can find it under her full name of Robin Stone. But it's Stonebridges rework of this that everyone knows. There's an ad out for pain relief on TV that has a choir rework of it.

49  L.I.A.M & Marcus Mixx You Got no Right Missing dog 1987

One of those tracks that go for stupid money on Discogs. Marcus Mixx is one of those guys that despite sticking to the raw, jacking sounds of house, never became a big name. There was this interview I remember where he was basically sleeping in his car as he was so broke.  TBH it could have been T.A.P or Jack that Dick but Got no Right edges it for me. 

48 4th Measure Men 4 You Area 10 1993

There has to be a Marc Kinchen track on this list and originally was going to be that Nightcrawlers track which was also used in an ad (Webuyanycar). But seeing as his sound never really varied over the last 30 years, this is probably the pinnacle of what he did. Along with Terrance Dixon one of the vanguards of house from Detroit.  

47 Hard Drive Deep Inside Strictly Rhythm 1993

Incredible that this should rank so low on the list. An utter anthem and just goes to show what the rest must be like. Also didn't really click that this is a Little Louie Vega production and ANY top 50 house has to have a M.A.W. track on it. 

46 Nexy Lanton You Too Live Music 1991

One of those absolute summer tracks and can remember this from the Steve Jackson show on Kiss FM back in 1993 or so where they took a break from disco classics to play this. Also the first non US track on the list being a excellent Italian production instead. 

45 Soho Hot Music Jazz Mix United Sound Of America 1990

A Pal Joey track I keep coming back to. Maybe its because there is a bit of Jazz in house along with the disco or maybe its the beats aren't your standard 4/4, it proves that house is a broad church. Oh and if you want more Pal Joey, then Earth People Reach up to Mars is also another track well worth your time. 

44 Tyree Cooper Nuthing Wrong Dancemania 1995

Another of those tracks that have a sample that bugged me for absolutely ages. Heard it years back and took me a good 30 or so years to find out its a Tyree Cooper track. Not only is it by the Supa Dupa Producer but its a Dancemania track too, possibly the heir to all the tracky, raw, ghetto style house and while Deeon or any of the other jit style DJs figure on the list, they are well worth your time to check out. 

43 Today's People Set Your Body Free KMS 1989

 A track that I come to from time to time and the link above is how I first heard it. On Telstar's old Deep Heat comps back in the day. A UK track that made it to Kevin Saunderson's techno label KMS which would normally put out Inner City tracks and the like. 

42 Lil Louis French Kiss FFRR 1988

I know this should be higher on the list, and I know that there are at least a couple more versions of this that should rank more as well that  Mathematics put out in the 2010's. Along with Josh Wink's version its one of those seminal staples of house. Fun fact his mum used to come to nearly every show he played. Will have to link to his Facebook as he posted a video on this.  

41 Phuture Rise From Your Grave Strictly Rhythm 1992

And if this was 13 year old me writing this Acid Tracks would get the shoe in at number one. But as I've gotten older, I've come to enjoy the other tracks Nathan Jones did more. Oh, you'll still get your dose of acid house on here, its been part of my DNA for so long that it can't not appear. But for now I'll sign off with this and rise from my "grabe" next Sunday with part 2. 

House and cabin.

 We have a few up coming announcements, someone did one of those best house tracks of all time and of course they are ignorant Americans so. I'm going to be doing my own, 50 of the best with a (Carl) bias towards the classics and such. Probably starting next week 10 per entry with a round up for each. 

Also Twatter has given us a daily dose of Hardy boys this time its the Sting of the Scorpion which I learned that it was (unverified) meant to be called the Stomp of the Elephant. Don't know how true this is but someone also posted that Brazil got a translation and gave us a link to his blog post. 

If you can read Portuguese you can read it here, or just let your browser auto translate. 

Origami Productions 2

 So you'll be wondering what that big wall of text means at the base of last weeks post is. Well all I can say is that after a long time wrestling with Jim Breens online Kanji Guide I can say that this is sort of what it means. I'm nowhere near fluent (base Kana and a few stray Kanji learnt) so take this with a severe pinch of salt. I'll happily supply a better scan of the back sleeve, but be warned tiny black Kanji printed on what can only be described as the envelope paper you get bills sent to you on are not conducive to good identification.  

2006. The Shibuya Scene. Yoshi Tsushima drawn to the genreless Jam session community, leaves his job at Victor Entertainment and in 2007 joined the session scene group Jamnuts (comprising one of the 30 or so members). They released a smash album,  from which many of them would go on to be solo artists in their own right. From these roots it seems that he had quite a following. 

From such a wide musicianship, drawing on a variety of black music* through to live improv, inevitably generates such strong performances, following this up with a best selling artbook / CD**. These unconventional artists with their rebellious styles, gain support from those artists affiliated to the Fuji rock festival, and were regulars of both these media. 

Indie artists both from inside Japan and those underground artists further afield provided mixes to this making it the smash hit it  is. 

* You can listen to them cover Outkast's Hey Ya here. 

** A cursory search comes up nothing, unless I've mistranslated (and that's a distinct possibility) then its not on line. But here is a small something that you browser will auto translate, here. 

Origami productions comp

 This is what I was hinting at yesterday. A real mystery of dance, and such. 

Origami productions is a Japanese lablel that is for downtempo / lo-fi hip hop beats to study.  From listening to this obscure comp, I feel as half of these would fit a good teen slice of life anime. Most of these sound like the opening titles theme especially the last few tracks, which are hip-hop. 

So what is it.

This is a 13 track compilation of songs from the Origami Productions back catalogue, its housed in an Origami paper sleeve and has some info in Japanese on the back. There is a QR code linking to a Spotify playlist if you really want to listen on the go. The music is mostly downtempo with some classical and lo-fi hip hop thrown in. It really has no title and is split between three different entities, Origami productions, Fragment inc. and Big Turtle (Recording) studios.

Looking on discogs, the latest song released is 2018 (Ovall Winter Lights) but apart from that has no date, title or indeed information of any kind in English. I'll see if I can do a translate from dictionary (not AI) though its been a while. I'll also throw up some scans here if anyone wants a playlist, I'll not share any songs here (let's face it there's a track list and most if not alll will be on Youtube if you want to dl) but I may have to be brave and ask on the forums there how to add this, as its not straight forward. 

 Also found something else while doing an image search for this. Not sure what this is and is also obscure AF. Origami Amarades.

A tale of two kitties.

 This is the place where we'd usually expand on what music I'd thought was cool / sucked this year but seeing as we switched from Kiss FM to Heart at work then it basically boils down to the new Andre 3000 flute jazz album as the absolute best and Commercial  Cee Sprinter as the total nadir of the year. 

No I'd rather spend my time writing about cats or rather a tale of two kitties. Tabby McTat for the BBC and Mog on Channel 4. Both are set in London and whereas Mog is a full on nostalgia fest set in what looks like the 70's. Tabby McTat is a full on modern day, Multi-cultural London. As a result it feels weirdly off. Modern day things for a modern day audience.

Tabby, stars a busker and his singing cat, who thanks to a crook nicking his hat full of takings ends up in A&E while his cat wanders off to live with the weird lesbians and their cat Sock, a Black cat with a white paw. I thought one of them was trans at first until I clicked its supposed to be Islington and they're leftie weirdo types. One of the best things I can fully cheer them for is Weedle representation as one of Sock's kittens is a Weedle type. 

Weedle and Xmas 80x or so.

Anyway the two are reunited and busker bloke gets a place and takes on Tabby's son Spratt.

Mog on the other hand is a real gem. Based on the books by Judith Kerr, this is a real nostalgia bait for those of a certain age. It just screams family and cosyness. It has mum, dad, a daughter and son and Mog, trying to deal with change at Xmas. Dad gets a spanking great tree for his kids, and Mog is booted out. If you are an Autistic weirdo like me you'll see parallels to the autism experience of change and stuff. Mog decamps to the roof while this is going on. 

Meanwhile they have family over, a cheerful uncle and two aunties one dozy and one quite sane. You can imagine them living together as two spinsters or you can imply they're not. Anyway it just hangs together as a family unit. Mog does decide to come down via the chimney and runs amok,  before being captured and bathed. 

I will say its beautiful, and of a period of London long lost. The only non white is a Jamaica lady who's evil chimp child of a son likes Mog. Tabby McTat is the full on modern London with modern values, but this is for the old heads who grew up here and see it decline full time. 

You can see it here. Tabby McTat is on iPlayer which is not free and therefore doesn't get a link.

Tracker recollections.

 Last week I put up a blog post about info about an old Clavia Nord software disc and coming across a site with possibly the most inaccurate info on trackers possible. I put up some links at the end, but ran out of time to explain how and what it is.

At the heart of it all, a tracker is a piano roll style Digital Audio Workstation DAW. It differs from the whole FL studio style, in that you can only play one note per column. FL style puts much focus on small blocks of notes per track. Trackers still have blocks but these contain all sounds used per column (and it can be multiple sounds per column). you build up your track from multiple of these blocks rather than having a timeline running playing the blocks as it passes.

How it started.

Traditionally it started off on the Amiga computer back in the 80's with the soundtracker / protracker running samples with hex comments at the side to perform rudimentary effects. By the Amigas demise sometime in the mid 90's we had Octamed Soundstudio as the pinnacle of Amiga DAWs. Which I  got from Amiga Format as a cover disk. 

How it ended.

Fast forward nearly 30 odd years later, and we seem to be overlooked, passing out of memory for the whole sideways DAW style. We still have Renoise and quite a lot of trackers to create sound for old consoles/ computers, and that's it. We don't have to rely on samples now, most modern trackers can run Steinberg's VST instrument standard. But apart from that I would hate for us to go the way of the Dodo.

Anyway you just want to see some tracking in action right? I'll leave you with a version of PPK Resurrection running in Octamed 4 by Guru Meditator.

Varying degrees of uselessness.

 Today has been basically this title in various forms. But, of course you're owed an explanation, first.

We picked up a double DVD of Nord Lead Piano files for a £1. The full name is the Nord Piano Library volume 5, and was hoping for a bunch of wav. files or at least a vst. of their piano selection.

What it actually is, is a bunch of custom files to load into their flagship hardware pianos and synths such as Nord Piano or Nord Electro. On no part of the package does it say what it actually does or give a clue, to what it contains. All programs are either npno. or ne4db. sound banks. 

Its not entirely useless to non Nord hardware users there are a few mp3. demos so you can hear what the hardware sounds like (pretty good.) and a PDF catalogue and user guide for all banks / products. A shame there wasn't a sound font or non custom sample set. Or a disassembly of the format to see how its done.

That's a trackball

The fact it's not the most useless thing I've seen today regarding this, goes to show you can always go deeper.

Reading up on how to use Nord lead hardware and software in a DAW (digital audio workstation) I came across a page for using trackers on the Homerecordingpro.com website. A case of knowing fuck all about a subject and just letting a bot write it, and yes that trackball image is the level of writing we have here.. Go on have a look and cringe. If you really want to know about trackers I'll make a post about it, if I remember. 

In the meantime here is a few links for the interested. 

Renoise Can't get on with it but has VST3 support. Pay software.

OpenMPT  

Psycle (I use this) plus its Sourceforge page where its sort of updated.

There's a whole github listing on trying to run some old open source chiptune trackers based on consoles and computers of yore in linux here.

Break my soul a review of sorts.

 So it's out, a new Beyonce album and a decent single from said album. No its not the one that is a retread of Anti Vax knob jockeys, Right Said Fred's I'm too sexy. (Seriously America what the fuck is wrong with you, most Brits in the 90's though they were cringe) But it's the one that is part shitty rap (Bounce) and part Robin S Show Me Love retread (Stonebridge remix.)

If people had any balls this is the Image they'd use.

It helps that Beyonce has a golden voice, and that only a ill guided rap part in the middle lets it down, otherwise the Acapella and original mix are the ones to go for, where Bounce and not Robin S are the glue that holds together that wonderful voice. Cull it and you get the mess that is the Instrumental. The bounce bits do not work on their own and the interpretation of Stonebridges Show Me Love rework are few and far between.

There is a bunch of mixes to go with it as well. Including what I thought was a mash up or a joke but is 100% official. The Queens Mix with Akhenaton faced whore, Madonna.  I got 1 min in before switching it off. 

There is a Will.I.Am mix which is adequate to a point but there is one sound that puts me off.

The Honey Dijon remix isn't half bad, quite a big drum build up and still haven't heard it all the way through to see if they'll do anything with it.

Nita Aviance does a good job with a stripped down house version that still has the rap sadly.

Full props must go to Terry Hunter for creating something that sounds like it should've been released on Strictly Rhythm back in 1994. It really feels like that area of Garage house, like Morels Groove. 

Still has the rap line in it.

Me I've been playing an edited acapella over DHS House of God Jack Dangers mix.

EDIT.

As a postscript to this, a few things stood out for me. First of all no one does anything like this any more. And by this I mean totally fuck with the vocal track. Check out Ron Hardy's Ghost, or Car Crash both chew up Let No Man Put Asunder and spits it out in strange ways.  No one rips up tracks any more.

Second, I've seen a number of shill writers wibble on about Black and Queer  Gay culture, when what you really mean to write is that era from the mid 80's when House was being threshed out of Italo and Disco in Gay clubs in NYC and Chicago. It still doesn't matter, that Korg piano house era was ten years later, in 92 -95, and Stonebridge's mix, on which this is based off of, is a Swede.

If you had any balls you'd base your track on this.

Justified and Ancient.

 I have spent a good time updating the sinister signpost blog post, so this week I'll just link to a cool think that popped up on my timeline. I've seen it before here and didn't realize it was from these two.

If you ever watched MTV back in the 90's and loved dance music, then the name Simone Angel will be no stranger to you. This is a Youtube channel and indeed podcast, where Simone and her old producer from Partyzone, talk about old guests and indeed with old guests. There's Ray from 2 Unlimited and Marc Archer from Altern8 along with some other clips from her place out in Aruba.

Official channel, here.

Acid Anniversary The top ten acid.

 This is according to Computer Music magazine, who coincidentally are celebrating their 303rd issue with all things TB303. They've ceased to be relevant as they've long since deprecated their tracker and demoscene column but as its acid, I've decided to bite the bullet and get a copy.

It's a bit of a strange one this, with it very much on the you will rent and be happy Roland cloud subs model rather than the various devilfish, TT303 clone hardware. 

Props for putting up with Phocyon and Yooz for the acid software, but nothing on Propellerheads Rebirth or Signaldust's Dolphin for freeware.

Now we come to the main track list and its a bit strange to say the least. The official line up is this:

A Guy Called Gerald Voodoo Ray

Josh Wink / Winx Higher State Of Consciousness

Phuture Acid Tracks

Fat Boy Slim Everybody Needs a 303

Hardfloor Acperience1

Aphex Twin . . . 

Orbital Chime

Imagination . . .

808 State Pacific State

Orange Juice Rip It Up

First of all both the 808 State and Guy Called Gerald Tracks can be dealt with together as they are from the same heritage and Gerald Simpson himself was a member of 808 State at one time.

Pacific State has a great making of on Instagram of all places, thanks to 808 state trying to get it re released along with their old back catalogue from ZTT. FYI it's Graham Massey on sax on this, but really has no acid and for me I'd sub out Pacific State for Dr Lowfruit Newbuild, as that is proper acid.

Second Orange Juice Rip It Up and the unspecified tracks from Imagination can also be dealt with in one paragraph, they are both early users of the Roland 3o3, for bass sounds. Orange Juice doesn't do it for me whereas Imagination are the sort of disco sound a mate of mine listens to, and is very well done.

I would put the one UB40 track that treats the 303 with reverence here but I'll go with Ice T Squeeze the Trigger simply because what rap track these days would use both the 303 and TR909 drums for backing.

The third lumping of Hardfloor, aka Oliver Bondzio and Ramon Zenker and the first ever acid track by Phuture (culled down from an hour long tape session IIRC) Even if I would go for stuff like Hardfloor Insert Coin or Phuture Will Survive, They're classics and can't be touched.

The final accumulation is Winx Higher State and Fatboy Slim, whereas they're both good tracks I would definitely go for more of a modern house style like, Posthuman or Lauren Flax in place of Fatboy slim.

Higher state is an anthem though and has to stay.

Orbital I really can't think of anything with a 303 they did that can replace Chime for it being an out and out choon. 

Which leaves us with the unspecified Aphex Twin track. The text says the acid version of Windowlicker, which is all well and good but they overlook Cock Ver10. or Steppingfilter 101 from Analord 1 which make a much stronger case for inclusion. The former being typical Aphex chopped breaks and style, the latter being a real melodic acid track.

Honourable mentions go to, Recondite Tie In just for being lovely and Aaliyah Try Again which I've always corrupted to crash the plane.

Ilford Junk tour

Decided to take a trip out to Ilford in east London.  A place that holds no particular memories for me but has always done good. There are two ways in for me either a stop off at Stratford station and a bus (25) out at the bus depot outside or much better changing on the Central line and getting off at Gants Hill and walking through Valentines park.

We got to see a few horrible geese as well as some squirrels and a friendly dog too which before exiting out on the main road into Ilford itself. Don't bother with the bus unless you can't walk a short way, in that case you can get the 128 outside the station which will take you there.

Travelogue over with, St Francis Hospice had 10 CD's for a £1 and it was a struggle to get even 10 to do this. We picked up a few Mixology Multimedia CD magazines with a look at Propellerheads ReBirth before Roland BTFO'd it from the net, and I hope an interview with Lil Louis.

Some of the choices were just weird including a ragga CD misprinted with Acker Bilk on it instead (something of a win this as I can't stand ragga). A few singles and a pronunciation CD for opera which is weird, like someone incanting a spell, as they chant basically the words to Carmen or The Magic Flute.

Finally we have a few that were missing including an old Music magazine demo cd and for good measure the PS2 demo disk with basic on it so you can pull off that hack  to run CFW and back ups. I have free mcboot on the old beast but this is a viable version as well.

Finally we have a mural dedicated to Ilfords famous son, Jon Hare, programmer for Sensible Soccer amongst other well regarded games back in the day.

The usual flipped and skipped edition.

This is my all of the other stuff and apart from Sunday, will be my last blog of the year.

Books.

First up have gotten into the whole Alphabet detective novel series, by the late Sue Grafton.  Kinsey Millhone is the Santa Teresa private eye, and main character of the series.

I, for some reason, always pictured her being played by Kate Quilton of food unwrapped fame, they have the same short hair and style in clothes. If they ever did a series based on the books it would be her I choose to play her.

Non TV media.

You want to know what I've been watching the past few months why transcribing books and shit. A shed load of the "alt right" pipeline. I.E. centrists like Tim Pool, and Vee and the Britisher.  I've gone off of Sargon and such, as he's become a hearth and home Trad Con. Metokur another favourite has gone to Bitchute to die a death in ignonimity. 

Any way non controversial stuff is the journey to the microcosmos channel. When life under a microscope is put under a microscope, with relaxing radiophonic music.  Relaxing.

Still enjoying ASMR as, even though I don't get tingles, I do enjoy ambient music and helps me concentrate and zone out.  Visual Sounds 1 pisstake on the whole genre, as well as being ASMR is also really funny, and well worth watching.

Finally as Cassetteboy are a bunch of lefties who won't criticize Corbyn, you'll want something that sounds like the old CDs they put out on Barry's bootlegs but on Youtube. Wavy News  by Noisepuppet is your saviour in this respect. Cut ups from the voice of America news cast and Tommy McMommy presenting wavy news.

Finally a few missed and flipped stuff from the past two posts.

We have NHKWorld back thanks to SKY Q upgrade and while a few favourites have gone, turning it on, on Xmas eve, we were treated to a Hayao Miyazaki documentary.

Thanks to a big breakcore mix we have a palatable Clean Bandit remix its the quack quack quack, woof woof woof one from last year but now it says fuck along with clown noises.

Missed off Arabia with Levinson Wood, from the TV round up which is a shame as its fucking ace. A tour through the Arabian peninsula with a foray into Somalia due to Yemen being bombed out of existence by the Saudis. Absolute mad lad.

Finally, don't normally do ads, but there is a Martin Bell charity ad that has him talking about disadvantaged kids in the Congo and then talking about the DLC. I guess paying two quid ain't enough, maybe they'll bung in some horse armour.

555 Junk Tour

Went to Peckham Saturday, and instantly regretted it. Croydon is rightly thought of as the arsehole of south London but Peckham is this minus the trams. 

Can remember going there with my Nan for a good few years as an uncle lived up in the flats there. Can remember taking a dislike to the town hall clock as I remember it being remarkably ugly. Also I was possibly eating cold chips then as we had stopped off for fish and chips at another Aunts in Kennington.

As its been, what 30 odd years and there is a direct bus there, thought, well, lets see if  it's not absolutely awful.  Guess what, it's awful. 

I judge a place on whether it has:

A W H Smiths.

Or failing that any Charity shops. 

Peckham does not have a Smiths but does have a few charity shops. We picked up a few Reggae CD's which is kind of apt seeing its up there with Brixton for having a large and diverse community. Which is probably why it looks so run down, plenty of barbers, butcher shops,graffiti and fly posters everywhere. 

One redeeming feature is that after accepting a leaflet that I thought was from the Mormons but later found it to be Baptist shit and worse co opting anti SJW views to reel in the suckers. We found a poster hidden alluding to a record fair off Blenheim Road. Wondering where the hell it could be we found that by aimless wandering down the High street we had come to the exact street we needed.

Indeed the fair itself was under the arches and I nearly chickened out, but glad I stuck with it.  There is a few good things there including some disco Black Ark reissues for a tenner and a bunch of Dance records for around £8. We grabbed a bootleg of an old Reese track and a Jared Wilson stuff on Dixon Avenue Basement Jams. 

To top it off we were stuck with some fidgeting little black kids and their mum, visiting dad in jail at Belmarsh, so stuck with them for the remainder of the ride back home. 

Club History Part 2.

This is the final part of this BBC4, 3 part series looking into the birth of dance and its continued degeneracy at the hands of American club culture.  I signed off last time with the words fuck my life, or something similar.  Yeah that was pretty prophetic to say the least.

It starts off OK with a look at DJing with DJ Greg Credit to the Edit Wilson explaining the basics of beatmatching and a classic clip of him doing the same on the tube.  Works up through hip hop exploring the whole two turntables mixer style and lands firmly in Ibiza some time in the mid 80's.

Alfredo playing various tracks from the broadest beats around to a mega diverse crowd, something to get the crowd moving no matter who they are.  Its a leftfield choice but also quite a good pick,  I would have gone with Ron Hardy at the Muzic box here, but its how house and acid was seen outside the states.  Later on its Danny Rampling transporting these sounds back to Shoom and dear old Oakie at Spectrum and later mixing the Happy Mondays album Pills, Thrills and Bellyaches, bringing in the rock kids to the clubs, See also Stone Roses Fools Gold.

Its still bearable at this point, it talks to Normal Cook aka Pizzaman  Fatboy Slim, about DJing and such and the crowds, and Tiesto's "single handed" creation of trance as a gay form of techno. But mainly its about crowd adulation, playing the same style for 8 hours, making cash before burning out and coming back with a more varied sound.   TBH this is still the best thing he ever did.

From then on its down hill all the way with the rise of the mega club and the mega DJ and the whole EDM Degeneracy.  You get a bit of David Guetta, with some Kelly Rowland crossover that finally got the Yanks to play dance on the radio opening the doors for Black eyed Peas and all the other stuff that makes me weep.

Worse we have Steve Aoki a dude that's taken to DJing while prancing about like a little twat. No actual mixing here just poncing about and lobbing cake at the audience when he plays specific tones in his pre mixed sets.  The audience lap it up like Pavlov's Dicks that they are, and I couldn't shift the whole Brasseye  Drugs episode they must have something wrong with their Shatners Bassoons.

It then calmed the fuck down with a few bits and pieces from underground DJs the Black Madonna and Midland (me neither). I have just googled Mike Read's Stalker and her and have been pissing myself laughing as its an uncanny resemblance.

In retrospect if you can ignore the last 30 minutes of this its all you  need to know about DJing plus all the real heroes here are limited to a few sound bites such as Jeff Mills and Nina Kraviz which is a shame as her and Helena Hauff are probably the vanguard of what I call real DJing and welcome female perspective to boot.

BBC Club history.

BBC 4's Can You Feel it is a sort of gun to the head of dance music, you know kinda like a cucked version of what Sky Arts did a back last year but on the BBC instead. I can definitely say this though, it  benefits from the BBC's cash input, as rather than a UK centric outlook, you have full access to all the American DJs this time.

I'm currently two thirds of the way through, with the final bit on DJs recorded to watch this coming Friday, but I feel qualified to put in my two pennorth in, just like the old official games mags did from 10 minutes of playing so here goes.

The first part is actually pretty good giving a lowdown of the origins of the 4/4 beat with a healthy focus on pioneers of house.  Never knew Ron Hardy was bi though his whopping smack addiction was skated over but its always good to see them credit a true master (there's a bit of archive stuff of Frankie Knuckles too).  We get the Belleville 3 on racism and forging Techno from the whole cloth of European synth pop and funk via the Electrifying Mofo / Mojo.  Finally we have its all gone Pete Tong  and his single handed introduction of House to the British public via his house sound of comps.

There's a token poke at the North with 808 State (well A Guy Called Gerald and a weirdly uncredited Graham Massey and some other guy who could be Martin Price). Mostly though its the BBC dollar reigning large here as you have talking head shots from Vince Lawrence, Screaming Rachael, Craig Loftis, Steve Silk Hurley, and Joe Smooth talking about house in the old days and such.

First part here.

The second part is where it all goes wrong for me, it big's up the the whole mega club era and EDM bollocks whilst overlooking the whole warehouse rave aspect.

Its still good mind you. From the Loft to Studio 54 and the Paradise Garage complete with Larry Levan at the controls, to the early days of rave in the UK via the second summer of love. 

Its good to know that:

In the old days that you could run stuff from lamp post electricity to power your illegal rave.

Amnesia was just an after hours club in Streatham.

Danny Rampling's Shoom was located in a basement warehouse out of Southwark

That the Factory in Manchester closed due to massive gangster infiltration (sadly also there from the start).

It goes off the rails at the end speaking to Moby about EDM trash in Vegas and that its more of a fairground experience with showpiece bollocks and actors. Also weirdly glosses over the whole criminal justice bill era of raving, though its nice to see Creamfields get a look in.

Second part here.

Like I say, I've not seen part 3 yet though this does not bode well and I quote.

"With in-depth interviews with David Guetta, Steve Aoki, Tiesto, Paul Van Dyk, Black Madonna, Moby and Midland"
and as an afterthought at the bottom.

" Other contributors include Pete Tong, Jeff Mills, Terry Farley, Fabio, Nina Kraviz"
Fuck. My Life.

An AFX Advert.

Or rather c'mon you cunts lets 'ave an AFX advert.

I first heard about this, from my Twitter timeline, a photo of the Aphex Twin logo on a wall and someone saying this is at the Elephant and Castle (our closest tube back in the day, put this down to living in the South East).  My ears perked up at this and we decided to go down that way and take a detour and find it.

It is indeed at the Elephant and Castle tube station, more specifically if you want to find it or just happen across this post 6 years from now. its located just outside the middle exit to the south bound branch of the Northern Line, as you come in or indeed, go out.  Took me ages to find, even though its not small, exited at the far entrance and looked along the Bakerloo station  before doubling back and finding it at the last.

Northern Line

Of course what I found out, is that there were two posters exactly opposite each other.  I could bark up the wrong tree here about mirror magic and getting caught between two images.  Think Granny Weatherwax from Witches Abroad and such, but if I'm honest I don't know what it all means.

this is the opposite side of the wall.

As far as I can tell I have no idea what this is all in aid off. It could be like last years live show at field day complete with Fingers Inc intro.  Or  more likely a new album along the lines of Syro or Cheetah.  I will of course update you when I know more.

Oh and when I got off at Morden this shit was going down.  Cue lots of 20 something ladies in not very much (it was baking out) and blokes in their best tees and beards (Seriously would have killed for the I love techno shirt).  On our way home from Sutton we saw this stretch jeep limousine thing outside a church and thought of Windowlicker.  So will leave you with that image here.

Lemme put mah shit on.

EDIT its for a new EP coming out in September and its sounds fucking lush.