Ali Renault
Running on Vapours
I walked into Fold with my friend Sam on Sunday morning to hear Hackney Electronica play out for the first time (Unai Trotti’s, you can set your watch by how chuffing reliable it is, ‘Cartulis’ night). After walking from Canning Town tube station - it was about 3:30 AM when we got into the main room and resident Vass played Ali Renault’s ‘Running on Vapours’. A casual entrance of Italian space power boogie proportions for us then. Proper hairs on the back of your neck moment. For a genre forever intertwined with machines - Electro’s soulful power can knock you for 6, especially with new artists unlocking levels of sound design not heard before like Client_03 and OG pioneers including Juan Atkins himself still packing out floors. Incidentally, both of whom played Earth in Hackney for Alien Communications recently and during Juan’s set, some older heads on the dance floor who had seen him play at the Hacienda ‘back in the day’, literally had tears in their eyes. It was the smoke, honest!
Nelson Of The East
Phones
The man, the myth the Swiss Italian-via-Berlin legend! I met Nelson in 2021 after messaging him with a production question about one of the tracks on his Album ‘Kybele’. Since then he’s become my music production mentor and a great friend. Plus it was he who linked me up with Pieter @ Q1E2 records. So without him it’s safe to say this release would never have happened. I’ve chosen the track ‘Phones’ because, even though it was possibly intended as a kind of ‘interlude’ kick-less track - it has this building energy and cinematic intensity that I hope will make you want to launch into the rest of the album. Check out ‘Phase Lines’, ‘Culto’ and ‘Draw me. It’s rare, *que old man voice* ‘especially in this day and age’ [oh hello dad] to have an album where you love every track and there’s a flow that makes sense and has you anticipating your favourite moments every time you listen. A modern day future retro masterpiece.
L Major
Ravin Cru (Caldera Remix)
Madam having a wavy moment? May one suggest some jungleydubstep from L Major and Caldera to bring you around? It’s deep, it’s huge it sounds like it was recorded in a massive warehouse. Amazing energy, brilliantly produced. How did you pack in so much bass Caldera, TELL ME!
Black Box
I Don't Know Anybody Else (Steve "Silk" Hurley's Remix)
The house party’s kicking off. There’s far too many people in the kitchen and someone’s just chundered in the sink. A copper bottomed, Gordon Ramsey approved foot tapper of Silky proportions. Also there’s an acapella intro that’s really fun to mix.
Talk Talk
Wealth
From the album ‘Spirit of Eden’. Mark Hollis’ expressive vocals always make me want to cry. He’s most definitely of the real ones. It’s an album that took me a few listens to properly appreciate - and now I find myself coming back to it every few months. I always liked this quote from him “Before you play two notes, learn how to play one note… it’s as simple as that really. And don’t play one note unless you’ve got a reason to play it.” So really I should pack it all in now I guess…!
Anna Wall
Missing Moments
Local hero Anna Wall has been inspiring me for years first with her DJ sets - particularly at The Lion and Lamb & Fabric and then with her productions. In 2021 she launched the label Dream Theory to explore ambient and experimental. This is one of the few tracks in my collection to have the search tag ‘uber chill’, which I reserve for hand sifted zero peril Brian Eno countersigned zen sonics but really it should probably be ‘warning may cause emotional breakdown’. It’s 6 minutes and 47 seconds of pure therapy. Stunning textures and layering. I’ve been trying to get this on vinyl since it came out - if anyone has one to sell, please let me know!
