There was a time that rock n roll was easy – but now it’s clean and heavy. Amen to that.
Techno hero Frank De Wulf made this in 1989. Amazing examples of dad dancing from some serious-faced Belgians with mullets and Bros-style outfits. It was the charty tip of the New Beat iceberg – also known as Electronic Body Music – the slow heavy industrial sound centred around clubs in Belgium and acts like Front 242 and Lords of Acid. And of course Frank De Wulf.
The EBM sound led directly to the early R&S records, which I will never cease to go on about, ever.
This is one of those rare cases of a remix being as good, if not better than, the original, which was a massive rave tune from Tim Taylor in 1991. It had a dirty great amen break, a Human League sample, a dash of Egyptian Lover and those freaky horns. I forgot where they came from. Carl Cox and people like that used to play it.
Anyway Luke Slater rerubbed it in 2002 and made it into an industrial monster which I rediscovered last week, as the Dads were back in town at a rare techno gig in a small function room, a leaving do.
It was one of those rare opportunities to break out the family favourites to a small but willing audience (thanks Colin for asking us). This was the biggest tune in a night of big tunes…it’s the gift that keeps on giving. It will knock your socks off. Tim Taylor’s original was the one I always used to play – but this mix has that industrial oomph. Massive.
Decided to make a CD length podcast for a change rather than a short sharp shock. Not that CDs are of much relevance anymore.
Tracklist:
Silver Columns – Columns
A Guy Called Gerald – Voodoo Ray (Greg Wilson Edit)
Superpitcher – Voodoo
Benoit & Sergio – Walk & Talk
Dimbiman – Good Morning Eyeball
Thomas Brinkmann – Karin
DOP and Wareika –Play Play Play
Minimal Man – Chicken Store
Ana Helder – El Groove de Tu Corazon
Black Devil Disco Club – Timing, Forget the Timing (Kerrier District remake)
Canto de la Liberta – 3rd Face
Soylent Green – Low Pt 1
Ramadanman – Glut
MyMy – Everybody’s Talkin
Someone Else and Mistake – Rip It Cookie Muenster
The Dirtbombs – Shari Vari (Omar S Remix)
Silver Columns – Browbeaten (JD Twitch Remix)
SLACKK – Theme From SLACKK
Cajmere and Terrence FM – Feelin Kinda High
LCD Soundsystem – Throw
It’s Friday – time for a huge banger. This Kevin Saunderson rave epic stretches the idea of a remix to the limit. You have Cameo’s vocal over a rolling breakbeat, a monster kick, a wee hoover sample and that ‘aa haa haaaaa’ vocal. Kicks like a mule and as with all KMS’ best work, sounds fresh as a daisy despite being from 1992. My favourite line is ‘It’s not easy being cheesy’ which thanks to the wonder of digital DJing I can loop for fun and frolicks. Watch out for that cheap trick in a forthcoming ravey prodcast.
As with so moany of his best tunes it was much sampled by the UK hardcore scene – off the top of my head I remember 2 Bad Mice reusing the vocal to great effect in another good tune, their remix of Blame’s Music Takes You (one I’ll share another day perhaps cos I got it on me shelf).
Mr Harry Vast of Wevie Stonder ‘fame’ has an album of musical meandering about to be extracted from his strange and childlike mind. As a taster, he’s made a couple of deep, thought-provoking videos, check em out. Anyone who loves the Wevie should dig this stuff. Small dogs feature, always a good thing. He’s got some Gary Numan synth, whistling and sax honking in there. And bongos. And badly played electric guitar. And a little David Bowie vocal cameo. It’s pretty catchy, it’ll get stuck in your head if you’re not careful.
I’m guessing the title refers to the ease and speed with which these guys generate Cack, and not something chemically inspired that would shock my mum.
Sorry we’ve been a bit quiet of late, I have been busy with oh, work and babies and all that. Also I decided to try doing a bigger podcast and it’s turned into a bit of an epic which is taking me ages. Time to get some more dads involved in this I think. Though we do have plans for a regular Australian beer correpsondent.
Long before Armando Iannucci did The Thick Of It, he had a very good sketch show on Channel 4 which almost nobody noticed. It was probably just too downbeat, clever and odd for most people. It’s all on Youtube though.
The most Techno Dads bit is the home for middle aged men. Only instead of an Abba tribute band, we’d have a chubby live PA from TTF.
Last Friday’s Screamadelica-inspired 1991 nostalgiathon on BBC Four had me reaching for some old indie disco favourites. Mr Andrew Weatherall’s contributions to the doc were possibly my favourite bits. Back in 1990 when this was released, he was obviously on fire after ‘Loaded’ and the indie darlings of the day were queueing up to enlist his magic touch. Here’s the epic job he did on what was an already pretty tasty number from wall-of-noise shoegaze-kings My Bloody Valentine. Get it down yer fat pipe. I went to see My Bloody Valentine when they played Barrowlands recently. Big noise
The collection of 1991 Top Of The Pops clips that followed the Screamo doc was pretty patchy. The factoids that appeared on the screen felt like they were cobbled together by a researcher in their mid 20s who got all their info about the period from Wikipedia. It was a nice reminder though for those who look on the past through a nostalgia filter that there was just as much guff in the charts back then as there is now. However it did include KLF larking about, always a good thing. Nobody really larks about on TV now, not in the music business anyway.
Who says Techno Dads can only be about scratchy old rave records?
Here’s a new one for you. Mr Luke Vibert continues his Kerrier District electronical disco/housey gubbins with a four track EP on Soundofspeed that seems to be at least partly about revisiting old rave vocal samples and placing them in a feelgood setting ripe for summer dancing.
It opens with Needy Feelin’, a dad-friendly disco number (dad-friendly in the sense that even chubby middle aged ravers can dance at this plodding boogie speed), and features a sample I know from Bizarre Inc’s Such A Feeling 1991 chart rave tune. Not the best Bizarre Inc tune (that accolade would go to Playing With Knives of course), however using the sample in this new context is a clever move that I’m sure will be very effective on da floor as they say. It also helps that it has a lovely fat bassline.
The whole EP in fact features Vibert’s trademark classy sound – chunky and smooth…like chocolate. Or an expensive yoghurt. Highlight tune is Kiss My Bass which has one of those spanked Another One Bites The Dust basses on the beat that always do the disco damage, with an added big fat moog or something chunking it up even more…and the ‘Talk Talk Talk To Me’ vocal used by Altern8 continues the theme of repositioning well known samples.
But the most Techno Dads tune of all is the final track – the childishly titled ‘Dick’. Techno Dads like childishness – we still wear hoodies and trainers for God’s sake. It sounds like a chart rave house tune from 1992, featuring again some very recognisable rave vocal samples set to a chunky house beat. I’ll dad dance to that, no probs.
I was going to post a link to where you could buy this record but it seems it’s been snapped up and simply isnae available to purchase. Anywhere.
Filthy Friday banger number two is this 303 techno monster from 1994.
As I have said before, the acid techno genre is probably more likely than any other to produce embarrassing Techno Dad behaviour. Big fish little fish cardboard box, sowing the seeds of love, stinky dreadlocks, fractal posters, tie-dyed smocks, the whole sorry shebang.
A hippy yesterday
However, this tune has an oomph that was missing from a lot of this type of stuff, and takes it beyond Goa and all that pish – I think it’s down to the ferocity of the beat, which is more techno than trance. In fact it might be the cowbell on the offbeat that does it – a very Joey Beltram sound, from a 727 if I’m not mistaken (I used to have one).
My brain filed it with the Robert Armani tune, I think i probably used to play them together.
The Pump Panel was a loose collection of producers headed up by Londoner Tim Taylor who ran the Missile techno label. Their big mainstream moment came when their so-called remix of New Order’s Confusion (which bears no obvious relation to the original) soundtracked the opening scene of Blade. That was the A side of the Missile release of this btw.
When techno went glam
techno dads 