New stuff, old stuff and Sideshow

Sometimes it takes me a minute to get inspired and it’s hard to be all perky when the economy is going down the drain and you’ve spent the entire decade having your self-esteem downsized, struggling under the imbecile prince. Also the very tiring fixation with the ‘80s is beginning to seriously wear thin and that includes the slavish hunting for rare boogie, Italo etc. When you’ve gone through some music like three times in your lifetime — when it was released, when it was exhumed in the ‘90s and when the carcass is finally flogged in this decade — then you know it’s time to move on.

However if you're a younger vinyl junkie then you are where we old, jaded vinyl whores have been and we enjoyed every second of it and so should you, whether you're reading blogs, checking discogs or chancing on the tunes at used stores and thrift outlets. There's worse things to be doing than scooping old toons and may all the Mid Airs, Samson & Delilahs and Assos fall into your sweaty mits like manna from heaven. Plus you'll have the joy of turning up all the tunes we missed!

Time for some new shit perhaps, or time to shift up a gear to fixate on the records that came out after the boogie, Italo and raw house. And lo and behold there are some dope new records coming out, and though they may tip their hat to the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s so what. The great thing about slavishly hunting down old records is that their ideas and the joy you feel at scooping them can be projected into making new music yourself.

If you haven’t checked the Control EP by Ecce, which I wrote about on Sunday, please do so. The more I listen to both the original and the Justus Köhncke remix, the more excited I get about this kick ass record. The same can be said of the forthcoming Sideshow record, which will be dropping in January 2009 on the impressive British label Aus Music. A full length will follow in February, and this, first, single is a wicked piece of work. It features remixes from both Chateau Flight and Appleblim & Komonazmuk, with the digital release giving you two more mixes than the wax; a dub of the original mix and an Appleblim & Komonazmuk dub.

What more can I say about this frigging fantastic record? Well the Chateau Flight dub is outstanding, it’s a minimal techno thing that isn’t boring (a rare thing indeed), is very dubby and rather dancey. Also Paul St. Hillaire aka Tikiman — who sang on all those dope Rhythm & Sound and Round records — sings on this here record, I thought I’d leave the best to last. The A & K mixes are no miss either, fast, dubby and uplifting, they’ll sound good pitched back a tad too. Keep an eye out for this, it’s definitely a keeper.

Orr