I'm feeling incredibly inspired. It'd been a week of stagnation; I'd looked at my record collection and had said to myself, "wow... I've successfully built an autobiographical library of the greatest examples of each niche genre I love - downtempo electronic, avant-garde jazz, the Berlin School... and many others. But NOW what do I do?
With the purchase of Underworld's 20th anniversary deluxe edition of their masterwork, Dubnobasswithmyheadman, I'd come full circle to the album which first-inspired my life-long musical journey. But something was missing.
The 20th Anniversary Box Set of Dubnobasswithmyheadman
The majority of my knowledge of electronic music focuses on early revolutionaries of the genre - the tinkerers and innovators of monstrous noise machines. I've archived classic milestones from the grating clamor of Luigi Russolo to the soothing sounds of 20th century ambient music, concluding with Basinski's soundtrack to 9/11.
But I'd really lost touch with modern music, instead obsessing over the rich and vibrant sounds of 1969-1973. Thankfully, a siren sound lured me to the official website of DJ Food in the last few weeks, and, on a whim, I compiled an archive of his 35 Solid Steel Radio shows, and with the entire weekend ahead of me pledged to dedicate some serious listening time to these programs.
These would be the first "modern" recordings I'd heard since the dream pop halcyon revival of the late 90s and first years of the new millennium. And with the opening minutes of the very first set, my ears piqued and I was swept away.
His "A Weird World Reader" mix is described as a trip through the recent EP 'One Man's Weird Is Another Man's World' featuring tracks, samples and influences that make it what it is. The first track is a 17 minute tour de force collaboration with The Amorphous Androgynous - a track called, "The Illectrik Hoax." 10 minutes passed in a single breath and as the track concluded and I returned to the physical world, I leapt from my listening chair. Locating my girlfriend and fellow music junkie, I fit my studio monitors firmly upon her ears and cued the track up a second time. Her eyes closed and her head began to groove with the rhythm. I paused the track asking what she thought, but her only response was a whine of discontent translating to, "play more!"
The wonderfully weird "Weird World Reader"
Minutes later I had the full album playing in my studio and was absolutely enamored by the mysterious, sci-fi soundscapes of the record. Best-absorbed in its entirety from start to finish - this is a concept record of infectious rhythms and strange sounds which successfully transport the listener to the "Weird World" Food alluded to in the Reader mix. Long before the end of the album, I'd searched Discogs.com for a copy and phoned my local shop to order one for my library.
The Search Engine is a 4LP set of 45RPM discs housed in a magnificent quad-gatefold sleeve. True to DJ Food's usual form, it features eye-popping artwork that is best-viewed in its proper 12" format.
Discogs classifies the record as
"Abstract, Breakbeat, Broken Beat, Downtempo, Experimental, Hip Hop, Leftfield music." - effectively a mishmash of all my very favorite words. Thank you, DJ Food for breaking me of my pretentious retomusical fanaticism, and for initiating me into the music of the now.
Here's the track that broke me - "The Illectrik Hoax". But again, for the full-flavor of the album, it is best taken in as a whole.
UPDATE: New findings reveal that the 17-minute mix is exclusive to the 2012 Record Store Day smokey psychedelic wax vinyl edition, limited to 1500 copies worldwide. I've just tracked down a sealed copy and it's on its way to me now.
