Old stuff better than new stuff?



Maria Minerva has a new LP Will Happiness Find Me?



There are all sorts of new records I would usually be salivating to to listen to by Maria Minerva, Emeralds & Sun Araw plus a new side by Oneohtrix Point Never and a new tape by Mark McGuire. I mean they are there waiting to be listened to but since reading Energy Flash I'm in some kind of British 90-95 timezone wormhole that has attached to my brain and will not allow anything else to get past my ears. This is no bad thing as I'm re/discovering exciting music from exciting musical times. It does however make me wonder if what's happening now is really quite inconsequential. Has that whole underground of above mentioned artists, James Ferarro, No Not Fun records et al. run its course? If hipsterhouse is the only thing on the musical horizon god help us. It could just be that I have read two books recently by Owen Hatherley & Simon Reynolds on 90s music so I've just naturally gone back and checked out the music. When the future of music looks barren I do usually go into undiscovered (by me) retro-zones though. I have musical zones waiting for such times like Musique Concrete, 20th century composition, Jazz, Early R & B, Disco, 70s AOR, Dancehall, Aboriginal Country, Doo Wop, ECM Records, Gamelin, NWOBHM, Anything from Finland, Country Soul  and general things I've just missed etc. etc. Worringly on Maria Minerva's new LP she sings on Perpetual Motion Machine "this goes out to the lovers of deep house" Forgive me if I'm wrong but whenever the term deep house first appeared (I dunno 90-91?) didn't that mean shit house. How much deeper/shittier has it got in the following 20 years god only knows.

Emeralds-Just To Feel Anything
Been waitin' 2 years for this but it remains unplayed!

Anyway I'm on this trip- The lineage (that would be a very crooked one) of 'Ardcore to Darkside to Ambient Jungle. Wow the times were moving then! A sort of hyper progression of culture that blasted into the future with the speed of light which was also reflected back into the music. I've been making ultimate mixtapes of hardcore, darkside and yesterday started one on ambient jungle. Had to dig out old Omni Trio, Foul Play and 4Hero tunes. A long time since I've listened to these records and they're great. This mix is already at nearly 3 hours. Someone on the blogosphere mentioned recently the Macro Dub Infection compilation released by Virgin in '95. I was getting massively into dub man in the early 90s like King Tubby, Scientist, Prince Jammy, Scratch, Augustus Pablo, Keith Hudson, Blood & Fire Records et al. This modern dub influenced collection on Virgin was great but out of the 4 tracks I could think of off the top of my head the other day (before I found it in my closet) 3 were jungle tracks. Omni Trio's The Half Cut, 4Hero's The Paranormal In 4 Form and a track by Spring Heel Jack. That just goes to show how outstanding jungle music was/is! There were only 3 jungle tracks on the compilation! I do have to mention the other track is one of the most astounding modern dub reggae tunes heard to this day. It was by Irration Steppas called Irration Steppas V Dennis Rootical (never found any of their records though). Anyway I remember playing Omni Trio on student radio and fuck me they were made for FM radio. Other tracks I recall from this one off night included The Beach Boys, Booker T and the MGs, My Bloody Valentine, Laika, The Beastie Boys and er....The Tindersticks. I have often thought my blog was a little too eclectic but clearly this is nothing new for me so I couldn't do it any other way.



Omni Trio strike more gold!



One of the greatest ambient jungle
 tunes. Which one???

2012 music

Gary War's new project.
On Spectrum Spools.

Is it just me or does there seem to be a dearth of good new music releases so far this year. Some of the new No Not Fun stuff Cruise Family, LX Sweat etc. it's ok but it's not that excitement like first hearing Sun Araw, Umberto, Ducktails et al. Then there is the 2012 disappointments Nite Jewel, Dolphins Into The Future (perhaps being a bit hasty only listened to it once), most music in the charts etc. The new Black Dice record, I dunno maybe I need more time to get into it or maybe I could just chuck it in the bin.  Editions Mego are doin OK though, Mark Van Hoen's record and Gary War's ..... sorry Human Teenager's new platter are good gear. The Revenant Diary sounds like Mark went into a deep sleep sometime in 1996 and woke up in 2012 and made a record as if nothing had happened. While the Human Teenager record Animal Husbandry sounds like a follow up to Gary War's top 2009 LP Horribles Parade. Human Teenager are his new collaboration with some other dude who was in Infinity Window I think. Gary War also has a solo record coming out soon too. It's not all bad news at No Not Fun, I'm lovin' Sand Circles new tape Motor City.  This is 2am driving music for the city's bewildered lost souls. Looking forward to the new Motion Sickness of Time Travel double LP on Spectrum Spools. Maybe I need to be lookin' elsewhere. I have been discovering some good 80s stuff from Ohio reissued on Columbus Discount Records, but I'm talkin about new music here. Any recommendations out there?

The Revenant Diary
Mark Van Hoen

Fabulous follow up to
Midnite Crimes