Keith LeBlanc – "Major Malfunction" (World Records – WR 005) 1986

Keith LeBlanc was the only white boy in the Sugar Hill Gang Village, hence the name. So to win the respect of the majority Black members of America's premier Hip-Hop collective Keith had to show off his technologically enhanced and Electro-influenced Drum style.

Just as Robin Hood and Little John fought each other in a sickening display of male machismo flailing staffs over what i can only imagine was the 12th century River Trent?

Like two medieval rappers free-styling their way towards a state of mutual appreciation ....sickening I know, but thats what they do innit.

Naturally LeBlanc gained their respect, and he, Doug Winbush, Skip MacDonald from the Furious Five,and Tackhead,ran off to the UK and joined up with pasty-faced mad Dub Professor Adrian Sherwood, and together took all that Electro hip-hop and turned it into something altogether more dark and Industrial to lure more pasty-faced White kids in long overcoats towards something they could at last tap their German army dead stock para-boots to.

This release being, allegedly, a Keith LeBlanc solo album.

Whose beats are heavy, dubbed up and distorted,and included a few tunes that appear elsewhere over many of those Tackhead Sound system records. It all sounds so dated these days, with W.S. Burroughs analogue samples,jousting with all the kinda stuff you expected from "My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts"

or a Holgar Czukay solo album around that time.

Funnily enough The Eno/Byrne/Czukay stuff has dated far better than the On-U-Sound stable,mainly because of LeBlanc's drums I hesitate to suggest.

However it does have a certain Industrial charm about it all,as no-one makes music like this anymore,.....except for a laugh.

Tracklist:

1 Get This

2 Major Malfunction
3 Heaven On Earth
4 Object-Subject (Breakdown's Not Enough)
5 I'll Come Up With Something
6 Move
7 Technology Works Dub
8 You Drummers Listen Good

9 Einstein Mad Dub

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Boards Of Canada – "Old Tunes Vol. 2" (Music70 – CANCAS003) 1996

Wow!? this Duo must have invented everything chill room infesting and bedroom festering one could care to imagine, it says 1985 to '96 here!? Not that it sounds like it was recorded on one of those cassette four track portastudios which I assume they must have used, with a noise reduction system that can only have been left behind by fleeing Aliens.

Just listening to this stuff makes me smug enough to lie about how many O-Levels i got in 1983,or is that a Dostoevsky in your pocket or do you like Intelligent Dance Music?

What these Scottish chum bums were doing making music like this in the mid-eighties has ones middle finger resting firmly on the 'dubious' button and another finger up each others arses.

As Pre-post-Club as this may seem, fill in the blank space,(_______).It is this partially inflated,dryly punchline shy, self-indulgent and occasionally clever-clever, attempt to be the Pet shop boys without any Pet Shop boys, does massage ones own 'I was there first' Dorsal vein enough to claim to have been listening to 'Intelligent Dance Music' before Aphex Twin was even born.

I used to say these things about The Fall,but have now cut it down to just preferring the 'Early Stuff'? Which is no doubt what Autechre fans say about Boards Of Canada.

Track List:


A1 We've Started Up 5:39
A2 Jimbo Rehearsing 0:35
A3 Staircase Whip 2:14
A4 Statue Of Liberty 1:52
A5 Dave (I'm A Real Traditionalist) 1:50
A6 Peace/Tony/Devil 0:18
A7 To The Wind 2:30
A8 Iraq Says 0:38
A9 Nine-Rubber Wisdom 1:20
A10 On A Rolling Sea 1:34
A11 Iced Cooly Beatnik 0:36
A12 David Came To Mahana'im 4:39
A13 Sir Prancelot Brainfire 2:51
A14 North Sea Arbeit 1:12
A15 Mushyz 0:35
A16 Heysanna Hosanna 0:59
A17 Fly In The Pool 0:51
A18 Mukinabaht 5:05
A19 It's A Whole 'Nother Year 2:00
B1 Kiteracer 2 2:29
B2 BMX Track 5:05
B3 Hiscores 3:38
B4 Geometric Piss 0:51
B5 Zander Two 3:59
B6 Magic Teens 3:00
B7 Apparatus 0:33
B8 Music For Pylons 1:12
B9 Alpha Rainbow 1:12
B10 Northern Plastics 1:55
B11 Buckie High 5:16
B12 I Love My New Shears 3:11
B13 Solarium 0:22
B14 Breaking Nehushtan 2:41
B15 Orange Hexagon Sun 2:22
B16 Lick 2:39
B17 Powerline Misfortune 1:15

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Thee Outside - "Deaf Disco" (Year Zero Records YEAR002) 1997/2010

Did someone say Drum'n'Bass? This gives me the opportunity to plug this D'n'B ignored underground classic from 1997; re-released in 2010 on Year Zero records.Bizarre dark Drum'n'Bass stylings with a splash of Black Humour. Still sounds remarkably fresh, maybe because it isn't yer bog standard Drum'n'Bass format. Fused with Electronica,with a dash of Exotica,found sounds,noise samples, crossed with a drop of only the best in Elevator Muzak.You could even dance to this if you were so inclined and on drugs.Probably the most commercial record on Year Zero! Think Luke Vibert, Aphex Twin , Squarepusher and U-Ziq as musical references.

(This is now the fully restored and remastered version as of 08/10/2020) 

Tracklisting:

1. Testcard (3:24)
2. Sectioned (4:58)
3. Empty Mind (5:48)
4. Intruder (5:33)
5. Instructions From God (6:33)
6. Its After The End Of The World (8:55)
7. The Grey Room (The Deaf Disco) (3:11)
8. Towers Open Fire! (14:36)
9. This is Your Saviour Calling (7:28)
10.In the Beginning (5:28)
11.Wormhole (3:53)
12.A Short Song About Death (9:54)  

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Derek Bailey ‎– "Guitar, Drums 'n' Bass" (Avant ‎– AVAN 060) 1996

Predictably,this is my favourite Derek Bailey record. Even though the Jungle backing track, by some brummie d'n'b producer called DJ Ninj(who?), is incredibly unremarkable,verging on the bland. This only helps to emphasize Bailey's nutty guitar improvisations, laid over the top of a DAT mix of Ninj's drum'n'bass by numbers, in Laswells studio in New York; after an aborted session in, ex-Napalm Death drummer, Mick Harris's studio in the west midlands.When ,apparently Mick had no idea what he was doing, and seemingly, was not too displeased when Derek suggested that they call it a day, after three full takes failed to be recorded properly, or even at all!
The discipline of the programmed beats, focus's DB's trademark fret abuse to the edge of accessibility.
Bailey freely admits that this record would have been A LOT better if he'd been able to release an album of improvisations with the folks on his local jungle-list pirate stations.; but that may have either eclipsed the guitar work, or created an electrically charged duel between two differing musical cultures,the like of which,we will never hear again?
Ninj, of course, was never heard from again.

Tracklist:

1 N/Jz/Bm (Re Mix) 3:33
2 Re-Re-Re (Up Mix) 1:35
3 Dnjbb (Cake Mix) 13:46
4 Concrete (Cement Mix) 7:02
5 Ninj (De Mix) 11:29
6 Pie (Amatosis Mix) 1:38

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