By Geert Sermon - 'The Sound Of Belgium' - A timeless collection of unintentional psychedelic, post-everything, and pre-anything music with his one of a kind, unique, selector air, compiled by Dj Morpheus aka Samy Birnbach, member of post punk/wave band Minimal Compact and responsible for compiling the classic downtempo/ambient late 90's Freezone series on SSR Records (parent label of Crammed).
Barking-born Jane Fitz, and Transmigration label founder David Fogarty, curate a collection of tracks from East London and Essex’s rich but largely overlooked constellation of independent record labels and distributors operating from London’s E16 to the edges of the Thames estuary during the 1990s.
Mysterious Vastness documents a hidden and largely detached scene that only forms into something coherent with hindsight. From a time when record labels could press and hand-distribute 1000 copies locally, the late 80s acid house and outdoor rave scenes were moving from the fields to the clubs of London and DJs such as Colin Dale, Colin Faver and Darren Emerson were dominating the airwaves and parties with a distinct mix of other-worldly techno, trance and out-there house music. Among the seemingly bland post-war housing estates and factories, a scattered handful of producers were experimenting with early versions of music production software to create an exotic, end-of-the-century soundtrack to the suburban-meets-industrial landscape.
The compilation features a selection of finds from East London’s second hand record or charity shops over a period of 15 years. Many of which have featured in Jane’s sets over the years, most notably the “Beyond The A13" Podcast for Furthur Electronix. A mix she described at the time as the soundtrack to an area of London “totally bereft of natural beauty, but to me, somehow always full of mystery and wonder.”
Hi Scores is beyond excited to present SSR Records: In Retrospect. This 2LP compilation album presented in a beautiful gatefold sleeve and through all digital platforms, wishes to highlight the immense and hard to grasp legacy of the Brussels based label. SSR Records was founded in 1988 by Marc Hollander as a sub label of his Crammed Discs and spanned the nascent years of house, acid, rave, trance, new beat, hip-hop, future jazz and broken beat, collaborating internationally and racking up close to 200 releases until it was put to sleep in 2002. Far ahead of their time, SSR Records released music of both European and North American artists that hadn’t broken through yet, such as those collected on this compilation: Move D, Nu Era, Gemini, Bjørn Torske, Glenn Underground or Matthew Herbert.
SSR Records was run by Crammed Discs chief Marc Hollander and Minimal Compact singer Samy Birnbach aka DJ Morpheus. SSR Records: In Retrospect comes with extended liner notes, exploring the pivotal milestones in the history of the adventurous label and zooming in on the origins of all records featured on the compilation.
All nine tracks on SSR Records: In Retrospect were selected by Hi Scores’s head honcho Kong DJ and have been remastered. Created between 1990 and 1996 and in the at the time pioneering spheres of house, breakbeat, electro and trance music, these treasures from the vast SSR catalog today stand as a stunning testimony to a truly remarkable and timeless musical legacy. Kong DJ: ‘While collaborating with Crammed Discs on the releases of Aksak Maboul in 2016 and Zazou / Bikaye in 2018 on Ensemble, I began to grasp the impressive catalog of the label and its sub labels, including SSR. Surprised by the tiny footprint SSR had left on the world wide web - often the case for labels ceased before the internet revolution - I wrote an article for British website The Vinyl Factory.
This would later prove to be the first step towards this compilation album, collecting favorites from the label as a kid in a giant candy store.’
Super deep n’ rolling ambient junglist mutations from hyped cloakroom attendent Florian T M Zeisig and mysterious XPQ? operator PVAS, uniting under the NUG moniker for a highly atmospheric session beamed directly from that short-lived, elusive sweetspot in the mid 90’s when Omni Trio and DJ Crystl collided with Mo Wax’s Some Scientific Abstract Type Shit! and Gescom’s Disengage, all red lights dappling thru a dense fog of smoke.
Rinsed out under the timeless influence of “bong & sterni” - who sound like a legendary Berlin ambient duo, but are just weed and beer - Zeisig and PVAS collide in midair for a stereo-swirled recollection taking us back to 1995 - that Autechre radio show on Kiss FM, peak Mo Wax, Kodwo Eshun’s ‘club trax’ column, just before everything went fully tasteful. Throwing links to more contemporary refractions found on various J. Albert workouts as much as Skee Mask’s most vapourised breaks, the NUG sound keeps toes and heads off the ‘floor with a rugged but lush suite of rave suspension systems making critical use of negative space and recoiling dub dynamics.
One for the early hours of the club, ‘Not Many People Here yet’ gives acres of room to bounce off the walls, while the ruder ‘Filthy Club’ sounds like the backroom heard from ceramic tiled bogs, and you’re already healthily zonked for the zombie float of ‘Is Under The Blanket.’ The radiant pads and swingeing breaks of ‘Morpheus’ dial up Skee Mask’s most pendulous rave visions, and ‘Napping Under God’ rolls out on 9 minutes of webbed breakbeat for the locked-in steppers, with Florian’s ambient texturing fully coming into effect on the blurry-eyed flex of ‘Lite.’
Thumbing Thru Foliage is a blunted journey through YUNGMORPHEUS’ mind where personal lyrics intertwine with socio-political themes and tongue in cheek humour. Produced entirely by ewonee. Lead single ‘Fistfulofgreens’ grooves on a g-funk-esque plain and is an assured mission statement - “original man who got the game plan, I aint switching my hands inside these strange lands” whilst also sharing some intimate insight “I don’t ever answer questions that the feds askin, they were cuffin’ my mama, you know I had to blast them”. Second single ‘Sovereignty’ takes a more soulful turn with ceremonial strings and r&b samples ringing under braggadocious bars. Third single ‘Middle Passage’ is a more introspective cut - sombre vocal and piano loops are juxtaposed with neck snappin’ energetic drums. Describing the project in his own words, YUNGMORPHEUS says, “Peace peace, I consider this album a call to action of sorts. The world is rife with distractions and oppressive tactics but niggas move through it nonetheless ! Respect to ewonee for providing a beautiful backdrop for me to get some much needed shit off my chest. Maneuver through the foliage yall... Power to all black people ! Salute to those who listen”. ewonee adds, “Growing up like we did in this corporation Neegas deal with a lot. Usually gotta go through the mud to get to the greens. Good comes with the bad and vice versa, learning how to adjust is a must. Hope y’all get that from this. Roll up count up and mount up. PEACE”. YUNGMORPHEUS is an American rapper and record producer, originally from Miami but now based in LA. He has released music on Leaving Records and Rap Vacation as well as collaborating with Pink Siifu, Fly Anakin, Koncept Jack$on and Ohbliv. Previously supported by Okayplayer, XLR8R, Bandcamp, DJ Booth, Tiny Mix Tapes, Earmilk, BBC6 Music, Dublab, NTS and Worldwide FM. ewonee is an American Multi-instrumentalist, Producer, Beat-maker & Audio engineer from New York. Part of the Mutant Academy crew and also involved with the Beat Haus Show, ewonee has previously produced & collaborated with the likes of Your Old Droog, Fly Anakin, Reginald Chapman and Koncept Jack$on.
Revered Belgian DJ and producer Mugwump proudly presents his longawaited debut album on his Subfield imprint. An impeccable nine track LP, informed by two decades as a globe-trotting DJ, producing tracks that have inspired everyone from Andrew Weatherall to Mr. Scruff. A mainstay from the Belgian club scene, on the ground in Ibiza in the early 90's, behind the cult Food Club in the late 90's, now running his own Leftorium clubnight in Brussels, with releases on the highly influential Kompakt label but also on R&S, Gigolo, Cocoon, Gigolo, Eskimo, Permanent Vacation or Throne of Blood... Mugwump has the CV to deliver one of the year's most eclectic and inventive studio albums, a timeless excursion into modern-day, leftfield dance-pop and mutant disco with heavy New-Beat influences. Produced with his partner Olivier Grégoire, it also gathers a solid list of collaborators : Circlesquare's Jeremy Shaw (!K7/Output), Brussels guitar wizard Raphael Lee (aka Spookhuisje), Luke Jenner (ex-The Rapture), Norway 's cosmic disco lords Päl Nyhus of Mungolian Jet Set and Tore Gjedrem from Ost & Kjex, Belgian multi-instrumentalist Stephan Fedele, Philip Janzen (frontman of Cologne's Krautrock-Disco band Von Spar) and Sami « Morpheus » Birnbach from 80's cult punkfunk/new-wave band Minimal Compact.
KEY POINTS
-Mugwump's SF001 and SF002 releases have been supported by Pachanga Boys, Ivan Smagghe, Horse Meat Disco, A Love from Outer Space, Huxley, Jack Savidge (Friendly Fires), Sasha, Ben Pearce, Groove Armada, Andrew Weatherall, Erol Alkan and featured in Mixmag, Clash, Ransom Note, Resident Advisor, DJ Mag, Phuturelabs, Insomniac and repeatedly in France's prime-time news show Le Petit Journal (Canal +)
-This album will be supported by a 4/5 piece live band, with SF002 collaborator DC Salas plus Raphael Lee (Spookhuisje), Stephan Fedele and Mugwump, plus a live drummer when possible. Early tryout dates already scheduled in Brussels (23.01 Maison du Peuple/20.02 Central)
-Freeman PR will be handling the full album UK campaign targeting all the major blogs, webzines, specialist and mainstream print medias with also tba UK plugger targeting radios. Two original videos are being finished right now.
-Mugwump co-runs and resides at the highly-rated Leftorium clubnight in Brussels and has a weekly radio show on FM Brussel, running for 10 years now.
