Twisted Mentasms

Keep It Coming (Dem 2 Twist Up Dub) - De Souza feat Marcell Duprey.
Holy Fuck this is a tuuuuune!!!!!!! This has to be one of the best records ever. I don't think I even knew these 2 tunes until the other day so they're new to me and they're fantastic. This one from 98's got subtle and slinky Mentasms. I can't believe how much I like garage now. I was certainly one of those guys who didn't get the paradigm shift. It didn't really matter because there was still loads of other types of music happening but then by the early 2000s even that had dwindled to a trickle. Never even heard of De Souza and according to discogs this was the only thing he did. Don't ya love that? Make an all time classic then skedaddle. Of course Dem 2 are always good. Did they do anything shite?

The Twisted Mentasm - Bizzy B.
Bizzy B man of many top tunes but this one totally passed me by. I'm wondering if there was a different version of this though but I can't seem to find it. Like Second Phase's Mentasm wasn't fucked up enough Bizzy B had to fuck with it some more in 1993. This is pure hardcore gold.

Mentasm - Second Phase.
Why the fuck not? Hey while I'm in the mood we might as well hear the most seminal rave track ever. What more can I say that hasn't already been said. Mentastic!!!

MENTASM 101

*Some people say my blog goes over their head a little. I guess I take for granted my knowledge & do expect a certain amount of pre-knowledge from my readers on the subjects discussed. Or I think 'hey they're on the interweb if they don't know what I mean, finding out is just a click away.' But people are lazy and will quickly lose interest. Anyway this is something I endeavour to correct. There's not much point preaching to the converted, or is there? There must be something in it as the same people go to mass each week. This would be a good essay topic. Anyway what I'm getting at here is that mental noise on Mentasm. When I say things like Mentasm Stab, Mentastic or Mentasms this right here is what I'm referring to-The tune Mentasm by Second Phase which was Joey Beltram & some other guy. It was released in 1991 on the legendary techno label R&S Records from Belgium in 1991. This sound became treasured and had to be had by every hardcore artist for the next few years in the 90s. It kinda actually was the sound of the 90s wasn't it? Hey it's even been back recently on some top 40 hits from the likes of Rihanna. I'm boring myself. Being a teacher must suck. Next week's class: The Hoover Sound.

RIP Alexander Shulgin

Simon Reynolds tribute to Alexander Shulgin here. Well I didn't know much about him until today. He rescued MDMA from historical obscurity in 1976 and is now a legend. Somewhere along the way MDMA became known as Ecstasy. I'd like to thank him for the hits and the memories. In my teens I remember first reading about Ecstasy in The Age (Melbourne equivalent to The Guardian/New York Times) in an article that featured S'Express and 70s fashion. I recall being fascinated by this drug and the subculture surrounding it. I'd probably only ever been pissed previously and never even been stoned. I think I cut this article out. Then a few months later there was an entire expose on Ecstasy and it's effects on its users in like The Age's weekend magazine (probably sourced from The Guardian actually). It had all these great modern fried psychedelic graphics of people being wasted on E. I cut that one out as well. You'd think I was well on the way to being a total E head but I reckon it would have been five years at least until I tried it. Maybe Shaun Ryder and Bez, from The Happy Mondays, put me off trying it any earlier. I was a very infrequent user of the substance but I gotta say I enjoyed it every time.

Then there's the music it helped create. Wow, Shulgin couldn't have foreseen such a flourishing musical movement being created for and by this drug. Ecstasy has been the catalyst for some of the greatest genres of the modern music era of the last 30 years and still continues it's influence today. MDMA was revolutionary and that's an understatement. I've possibly listened to more music created for and by Ecstasy than anything else. It's a testament to the drug that you don't even have to be on it to enjoy this music. Rest in Ecstasy Mr Shulgin.

I could go on probably forever posting E related tunes. Oh hang on this captures something about E-ing. That moment when you think you've been ripped off and bought a dud. Then minutes later it kicks in big style.

Faceless Techno Bollocks

I am a big electronic music fan but I remember a couple of years ago saying I could never listen to proper bangin' techno again in my life.  That was a glitch in my taste best forgotten about.  Kraftwerk, Cabs, New Order etc. were still OK.  Bomb The Bass, MARRS & S'Express OK too.  Aphex, Seefeel, Boards of Canada, Mouse on Mars and other IDM artists were OK too.  It was the 'faceless Techno bollocks' I thought I could never listen to again like 'ardcore, gabba, jungle, bleep, trance, big beat or anything that was purely designed for you to go mental at a rave, warehouse party or er.. a club whilst under the influence of drugs.  Surely that was all nonsense and I was more mature now.  Last year however I watched the box set of the British sit com Spaced which was written by and starring Simon Pegg & Jessica Hynes.  There was a lot of techno music in the series as well as a character who was a raving bike courier.  In one episode they go to a club and dance to some moronic (in the best sense) tune.  The fun and excitement was captured so well it made me remember Raves fondly for the first time since well I was goin' to 'em.  FUN remember that!  It started slowly but I got out a Pole record and thought this is just repressed faceless techno bollocks- Paraplegic techno.  The real thing was comin' soon.  There was a bit of Basic Channel/Chain Reaction.  Then chillout ie. The Orb, Ultramarine, Global Communication, Woob etc.  LFO, Orbital, Biosphere, Polygon Window followed.  I couldn't believe I was listening to this stuff and loving it.  Then it was Joey Beltram, Marc Acardipane etc.  Next I trawled the net for Belgian hardcore comps  Then I was trackin' down Jungle mixes on podcasts from Woebot, Goldie....... there is a whole bunch of stuff I've never even heard which is waiting for my eardrums and feet in the future.  What a strange turn of events.