Electronic pioneers Rick Smith and Karl Hyde announce the conclusion of their groundbreaking fifty-two week DRIFT series: a new single, a new album and their biggest ever live headline shows
Released on October 25th 2019, the new album DRIFT SONGS marks the conclusion of their hugely ambitious 52-week DRIFT Series. During that period, music, film and text pieces are created and published every Thursday as part of the band’s on-going, very public recording process; a unique and visionary space Smith and Hyde have created for themselves to exist within. By the end of the DRIFT series, more new music and film will have been released by Underworld in its one-year duration than in the last fifteen years.
DRIFT SONGS expands and enhances a selection of the recordings the duo have released since they began their audio/visual experiment in November 2018. The album will be released as a single CD, double vinyl and crucially an all-encompassing box-set featuring the music, visuals and text pieces released throughout the entire 52-week DRIFT.
DRIFT SONGS is Underworld’s first album release since 2016’s Barbara, Barbara we face a shining future (“an album full of heart, soul and brilliant noise” The Observer ) and the first physically released music since 2018’s Q award winning collaboration with Iggy Pop, Teatime Dub Encounters (“Born of the friction from a restless need to create… others of their standing may choose the wallowing legacy of safety. These guys do not.” NME ).
Underworld are Rick Smith and Karl Hyde. The press say they are: “Electronic heroes” The Observer “Hugely ambitious and unimaginably relentless” Q “True mavericks” Prog “Thrillingly relevant” The Times “(Underworld) boast a breadth and attack largely lacking in contemporary laptop electronica ” The Guardian
“The Drift experience is one of a torrent of ideas, with its own internal logic… (where) instinct, experience and chance lead to a strange kind of harmony” Mojo
quête:big audio
Zygos has been non-stop killing it for a good few years now. Every dub he churns out is a madness and he is constantly pushing and evolving his sound for the better. We couldn't be happier to get the man himself back for his third release and second wax outing on the label. His signature techno / industrial influenced sound runs throughout the EP from the twists and turns of Rotation to the deep dark sound designs of Sick as a Dog. Big ups Georgio on this wikid wikid plate!!!
Over the years, Claremont 56 has played host to some memorable collaborative
projects, most notably Bison, an unlikely super-group whose members included
Holgar Czukay, Ursula Kloss, Liquid Liquid’s Sal Principato, Ben Smith and label
boss Paul ‘Mudd’ Murphy. Now Murphy is at the helm of another collaborative
outft, Hillside, whose seductive debut single contains two deliciously pie eyed
instrumental workouts.
Hillside is very much a family affair, with Murphy joining forces with two old
friends: bassist/guitarist Alex Searle and percussionist Patrick Dawes. The trio
has a collaborative history that stretches right back to Murphy’s time in Akwaaba
in the mid nineties. For their debut outing, Hillside has also welcomed a very
special guest musician: award-winning jazz violinist and long-time Bert Jasch
collaborator Mike Piggott.
As opening gambits go, “Hidden Port” is an emphatic statement of intent. The
audio equivalent of sailing slowly around a cluster of sun-baked islands in
search of shelter from an approaching storm, the track sees Searle wrap bluesy,
Peter Green style guitar passages around a shuffing, Latin-tinged groove rich
in Dawes’ distinctive percussion patterns and Murphy’s languid electric piano
and synthesizer lines. As the track progresses, Piggott steps up to make his
mark, with his undulating electric violin lines complimenting Hillside’s impeccable
instrumentation while adding extra emotional weight to proceedings. It’s a
stunning beginning to the Hillside story.
Piggott also makes a big impression on accompanying cut “The King’s Tun”,
delivering fuid and energy-packed solos that weave in and out of a bright
and breezy instrumental track rich in jangling acoustic guitars, subtly spacey
electronics, freside-warm bass and more sparse-but-intricate percussion
courtesy of the effervescent Dawes. Searle’s eyes-closed, rock style guitar solos
cap another memorable excursion from Claremont 56’s latest in-house band.
LP,180, 2018 REISSUE - REMASTERED FROM ORIGINAL TAPES, CAREFULLY REPRODUCED ORIGINAL ART
Hot Wax is an assured KPM masterclass from a dream team line-up of Brian Bennett, Alan Hawkshaw and John Fiddy. Here we're treated to what happens when all three decide to explore the latest trends in production music'. The latest as of 1976, of course.John Fiddy's numbers are sumptuous, string-led and light. Floaty soft-psych underpinned by a solid groove, particularly on Taste For Living' and "Fresh Start". If you're into Koushik and those early Manitoba/Caribou records - and you should be - you'll appreciate these.
For us, the Bennett and Bennett/Hawkshaw stuf is on another level. Capitol City' oscillates between driving funk and downbeat sentiment. Name Of The Game' is tough, smokin' funk, famously sampled in 2007 by Madlib for Percee P's Who With Me'. Bop On The Rocks' knocks hard and Full Throttle' features a guitar solo with some of the nastiest, about-to-explode fuzz you're ever likely to hear.
As with all ten re-issues, the audio for Hot Wax comes from the original analogue tapes and has been remastered for vinyl by Be With regular Simon Francis. We've taken the same care with the sleeves, handing the reproduction duties over to Richard Robinson, the current custodian of KPM's brand identity.
Warehouse Find!
Danish producer Paxton Fettel joins Delusions for his debut EP for the label entitled Night Waves. Despite his youth, he has notched up an enviable catalogue of original, eclectic releases including two LP's for Greta Cottage Workshop as well as EP's for Plumage, Kolour LTD and Apersonal. Paxton's unique sound and audiophile approach to production has led to remixes for Uffe on Tartelet, Chocky on Secret Reels and most recently Sunrom on edgling vinyl-only label The Bricks.
For his Night Waves EP we get a snapshot of the mans diversity across three original tracks. The opener sees Paxton in his most raw, jacking, dance oor focussed mood to date and the result is a high energy house track which punches hard on a big system. Featuring his own bass playing, snipped and squeezed through the sonic mangle, Night Waves steams along with big bold pianos, swinging hats and just the right amount of oating synths. Simple elements which combine to be so much more than the sum of its parts and one of those stand-out cuts that will be stuck in your head long after you've left the danceoor.
Flipping over we have Paxton going full-on jazz mode in Pacica 399 To Freedom. A track which once again has his beloved Sandberg California live bass part pushed to the fore, pianos, strings and synths building around the driving disco groove. Feel-good sunshine vibes oozing from the speakers as little melodies dance around the sizzling hi hats and encompassing pulse of the kick drum.
Finally we have a deeper note to close on with It's Clear. A repeating vocal hook runs throughout the intro while intricate drum programming gives a nod to the sounds of broken beat and live jazz sensibilities. The end result is a warm, loose and dubby jam which completes the package in ne style and leaves us looking forward to hearing more from this talented young producer from Copenhagen.
In 1980, the 9th Creation began working on new music at a Modesto studio, South East of Stockton. The studio was suspiciously cheaper than all of its competitors. After recording weeks of material, the band discovered the reason. 'We didn't know that the guys that were running the studio were drug dealers,' A.D. Burrise recalls. 'There was a big raid.' All the studio's master tapes were confiscated by the DEA. J.D Burrise unsuccessfully sued the DEA to recover the tapes but to no avail. Luckily Mike Micenheimer saved cassette mix-downs of some of the group's songs from those sessions. 'A Step Ahead' is the the 9th Creation's lost album. 8 unreleased songs of pure soul, funk, disco and boogie.
We are proud to present this lost album for the first time. The ultra talented Jacob Arnold also wrote the complete story of the band that we are presenting with never seen before pictures.
Finally the CD version includes bonus tracks from the Love Crime 12', the Mellow Music 7' and 3 previously unreleased (rough) demos.
(Because of the source of these recordings, please know that (sadly) some of the songs have drops in stereo and are not 100% audio quality.)
audiobooks are pleased to share a remix bundle for their latest single, 'Friends in the Bubble Bath', out now via Heavenly Recordings. The release features two remixes by Gabe Gurnsey (Factory Floor) and one each from Welsh songstress Gwenno and audiobooks' own David Wrench. 'I love audiobooks, and 'Friends in the Bubblebath' is brilliant,' Gwenno says. 'I wanted to create a reflective atmosphere around Evangeline and David's lyrics, to try and compliment the story and that feeling of the party still trying to keep going at 3am, as parties tend to do.'
'It was a real pleasure to be asked to remix audiobooks' as I'm a big fan of theirs,' Gurnsey adds. 'I wanted to take all that energy they exude vocally and musically and bring it onto the dance floor. I ended up working on two remixes which work side by side, reflecting that chemistry David and Evangeline have in their live performances.
Smalltown Supersound Präsentiert Unveröffentlichte Aufnahmen Des Heute 58-jährigen, Norwegischen Ambient-meisters Erik Wollo Aus Der Zeit Zwischen 1986-1992. Inspiriert Von Jon Hassell, Brian Eno, Harold Budd Und Klaus Schulze, Fing Wollo Damals An, Mit Moderner Midi-technik Spacig-kosmische Klangkulissen Zu Erzeugen, Die Später Einen Massgeblichen Einfluss Auf Den Cosmic-sound Norwegischer Produzenten Wie Lindstrom, Björn Torske Und Prins Thomas Haben Sollten. Die Aufnahmen Auf "sources" Wurden Von Helge Sten (deathprod) Auf Basis Der Originaltapes In Seinem Audio Virus Lab Gemastered.
DJ Shadow has shared the artwork for his anticipated live album and film, Live In Manchester: The Mountain Has Fallen Tour. Recorded at a sold out Albert Hall in Manchester, England, the release (out 13th July on Mass Appeal Records) is now on vinyl, CD, and digitally.
Live In Manchester: The Mountain Has Fallen Tour, documents DJ Shadow's most ambitious, extensive worldwide tour yet - surrounded by stunning visuals, he blasts through classics and more obscure cuts from his discography. Watch the trailer here.
The release will be available on gatefold 12' vinyl, CD / DVD double pack, digital audio and digital video formats.
The news follows the recent announcement of DJ Shadow's podcast, DJ Shadow Presents Find, Share, Rewind, broadcast on Manchester-based radio station and music platform, MCR Live. Episodes are online here, and the first instalment hit number 1 in Apple's music podcasts chart.
Bay Area producer DJ Shadow (Josh Davis) was catapulted to prominence thanks to his landmark debut album, Endtroducing, acknowledged by Guinness World Records as the first LP created entirely from samples. Since then, Shadow has continually moved forward releasing innovative albums and collaborating with the likes of Thom Yorke, Massive Attack, Jason Newsted (Metallica), Mike D (Beastie Boys), Zack de la Rocha and several others. Live In Manchester: The Mountain Has Fallen Tour continues an exceptional couple of years for the producer: in 2016 he unleashed innovate new album The Mountain Will Fall, which birthed his biggest single yet, Nobody Speak featuring Run The Jewels; a massive worldwide tour followed - The Mountain Has Fallen Tour - plus an EP featuring collaborations with Oscar-winning film composer Steven Price, rap maverick Danny Brown and hip-hop hero Nas.
Just before Maceo Plex's Ellum Audio label reaches its half century, the influential outlet serves up a standout EP from fast rising talent Fred Lenix.
Iago Frederici is a young Brazilian music producer who merges new era electronic melodies with his unique perspective of Latin American and Turkish cultures. Always expressing himself well, he is a regular face in Sao Paolo who is driving the thriving local scene forwards, and this new EP is sure to win him plenty of new fans across Europe.
It kicks off with 'The Rails', a bristling tech track that is run through with wiry synths and frosty filters. It's cold and austere and perfect to shake up a big warehouse space with a real sense of futuristic drama.
Next comes 'Manipulated Dead', an excellent electro tinged number that builds the suspense with some edgy drum work and rumbling synths. A sense of cosmic ambiance lights up the background and make this a track with real feeling.
The slick electro bomb 'Manipulated Living' closes things out with excellent drum programming and taught kicks. The slippery synths bring real fluidity to the grooves and some distant pads enrich the whole thing with a sense of real serenity.
These are three fantastic tracks from a producer who is all set to blow up.
- A1: Turn Around & Count 2 Ten (6:54)
- A2: Give It Back That Love Is Mine (3:28)
- A3: Baby Don't Say Goodbye (5:58)
- A4: Stop Kicking My Heart Around (6:08)
- B1: Come Home With Me Baby (4:09)
- B2: I Don't Wanna Be Your Boyfriend (4:40)
- B3: Get Out Of My House (4:17)
- B4: I Cannot Carry On (5:02)
- B5: My Forbidden Lover (3:32)
180 GRAM AUDIOPHILE VINYL
- INCLUDING INSERT
- FEAT. THE HIT SINGLES 'TURN AROUND
AND COUNT 2 TEN' & 'COME HOME (WITH
ME BABY)'
- 30TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION OF 1.500
INDIVIDUALLY NUMBERED COPIES ON
COLOURED (PINK & BLACK MIXED) VINYL
Nude is the fourth album by the English pop band Dead or Alive. After the separation from their successful production team Stock-Aiken-Waterman band members Pete Burns and Steve Co took over the control of the ship. They created a respectable release which covers most of their highly attractive and energetic dance, pop and euro-disco music. The big hits of this release were 'Turn Around And Count 2 Ten' and 'Come Home With Me Baby', both an eclectic fusion of electronica beats and danceable rhythms. One thing that makes this album so remarkable is the fact that each song flows into the next and perfectly accompanies the previous one.
Dead or Alive gained success in the mid-1980s and sold over 50 million records worldwide. Founder and vocalist Pete Burns passed away in 2016 and since the band discontinued.
Nude is available as a pressing of 1.500 individually numbered copies on pink & black mixed vinyl.
Tetrad makes a welcome return to Foundation Audio for the labels 10th 12' vinyl release, precisely a year after his debut 12' with brother Dillon aka Ahkur.
FAV010 is overflowing with big bass lines and dub influenced soundscapes which take you on a journey from beginning to end. Sound system music at its finest from the LA based dub head and a fitting way to celebrate this milestone for the label.
- A1: Hypocrite - Heptones
- A2: Save The Last Dance For Me - Heptones
- A3: The Gardner - Julie Ann
- A4: Our Day Will Come - Heptones
- A5: Have A Little Faith - Nicky Thomas
- A6: Freedom To The People - Heptones
- B1: Every Day And Every Night - Heptones
- B2: Maga Doc - Peter Tosh
- B3: God Bless The Children - Nicky Thomas
- B4: Love Has Many Faces - Heptones
- B5: Be The One - Heptones
- B6: Mama's Song - Nicky Thomas
- 180 GRAM AUDIOPHILE VINYL
- FIRST PRESSING OF 750 NUMBERED
COPIES ON ORANGE VINYL
Primarily released to showcase the sublime talents of one of Jamaica's most celebrated vocal trios, The Heptones, the aptly titled Heptones & Their Friends album features a selection of superior reggae sides by the group alongside hugely popular works from the three of reggae's biggest stars of the period: Judy Mowatt, Nicky Thomas and Peter Tosh of The Wailers.
Backed by top session crew, the Now Generation, the Joe Gibbsproduced selection is of a predictably high standard throughout, with highlights including Be The One', a pitch-perfect slice of classic roots, a gloriously cheesy pop cover of the Drfters' Save The Last Dance', the strident Freedom To The People' and one of the biggest Jamaican hits of the early 1970s, Hypocrite'.
Genre: Electronic, World (Arabic). 180gram vinyl includes 12'x24' art print poster + 320kbps DL card. RIYL: Matar Mohammad, Pauline Oliveros, Nadah El Shazly, Lucrecia Dalt, Chino Amobi, Sote, Arca, Fatima Al Qadiri, Tacita Dean, Stan Brakhage. Jerusalem In My Heart (JIMH) returns with Daqa'iq Tudaiq, the third full-length album from the Montréal-Beirut contemporary Arabic audio-visual duo, following the acclaimed 2015 release If He Dies, If If I f If If If (ye ar-end li sts at The Wire (#39), The Quietus (#24) and A C loser Listen (Top 10), among other accolades).
Featuring voice, electronics, buzuk and other instrumentation from composer-producer Radwan Ghazi Moumneh (Matana Roberts, Suuns, Big Brave) and abetted by the 16mm analog film work of Charles-André Coderre in live performance, JIMH continues to expand the horizons of its profound conceptual and aesthetic engagement with Arabic/Middle-Eastern traditions. Daqa'i q Tudaiq translates as 'minutes that bother/oppress/harass'—which presumably needs no further explanation—and features two distinct album sides of music. Side One realizes a long-held dream of Moumneh's to record a modern orchestral version of the popular Egyptian classic 'Ya Garat Al Wadi' by the legendary composer Mohammad Abdel Wahab. JIMH assembled a 15-piece orchestra in Beirut, enlisting the celebrated Montréal-Cairo composer Sam Shalabi (Land Of Kush) as arranger and musical director for the session. Anchored by the stately hypnotic pace of mallet and percussion instruments (riq, santur, derbakeh, kanun), the piece unfolds with lush, languid, reverb-drenched manoeuvrings through virtuosic Maqam shifts (Oriental scales). Moumneh's melismatic lead vocals and electronic production sensibility pay homage to the genre's documented historical recording traditions, while pushing things subtly and respectfully into new territories of sonic distortion and noised, artefact-laden transmission.
The song's original title (with lyrics penned in 1928 by the poet Ahmad Shawqi) translates as 'Oh Neighbour Of The Valley', but JIMH takes a different line from the original lyric as the new title for its orchestral-electronic re-interpretation. 'Wa Ta'atalat Loughat Al Kalam' (' The Language Of Speech Has Broke Down') is an expression of wordless love and transcendent communication between two lovers' eyes in Shawqi's poem; JIMH re-titles the song with this line, exploding the sentiment with more complexity, tragedy and socio-political meaning - also prefiguring the formal aesthetic ruptures JIMH bring to the piece itself. Love in a time of politics, politics in a world conspiring against love, and the specificity of Arab diasporic experience in our brutish 21st century. Side Two comprises four tracks of non-ensemble 'solo' material by Moumneh which push rupture and decomposition/recomposition of tradition further into avant-garde territory - voice, buzuk and electronics take the lead on a suite of emotive and evocative songs, including the percussive loopdriven instrumental 'Bein Ithnein' ('Between Two' ) and the stunningly unsettling processed vocal track 'Thahab, Mish Roujou', Thahab' ('(The Act Of) Departing, Not Returning, Departing'). Daqa'iq Tudaiq is a masterful, mesmerizing artistic statement and confirms Jerusalem In My Heart as one of the most engaged and forward-looking avant-Arabic projects at work in contemporary music today. Thanks for listening.
For their next trick, Get Physical treats everyone to a taste of their latest big project, India Gets Physical, with a single from Kone Kone that includes remixes from Reboot and Todh Teri (who will be curating and mixing the bumper forthcoming compilation). Mumbai's Kone Kone has an unconventional DJ style, creating audio-visual productions that are 'a new route to discover old media.' Kone Kone's electronic sounds explore Indian musical practices with a lo-fi finish, including references taken from disco, funky basslines and rolling toms. This superb latest track is a tribute to Indian cinema's '80s dance music. Entitled 'Come Closer,' it is a brilliantly loose and louche house track propped up by elastic bass. A whole world of instrumentation and exotic percussion enrich the groove while female vocal coos and soulful pads bring rich colours to lift the listener. Remixer Todh Teri is behind the acclaimed Deep In India release series and is at theheart of the revival of Indian cinematic sounds, where Bollywood sounds are reworkedfor the modern dance floor. His brilliant version has heavier drums doing big loops and pulling you further in each time as the synths bring cosmic vibes. Last of all, label stalwart Reboot's Muscleflexx Remix is darker and more edgy, with late night dance floors in mind as the pulsing synths and slippery drums gradually unravel. This is a great introduction to the next exciting chapter in Get Physical's country- focused compilation series.
- A1: 20Th Century Fox Fanfare
- A2: Somebody To Love
- A3: Doing All Right... Revisited (Performed By Smile)
- A4: Keep Yourself Alive (Live At The Rainbow)
- A5: Killer Queen
- A6: Fat Bottomed Girls (Live In Paris)
- B1: Bohemian Rhapsody
- B2: Now I'm Here (Live At Hammersmith Odeon)
- B3: Crazy Little Thing Called Love
- B4: Love Of My Life (Rock In Rio)
- C1: We Will Rock You (Movie Mix)
- C2: Another One Bites The Dust
- C3: I Want To Break Free
- C4: Under Pressure (Performed By Queen & David Bowie)
- C5: Who Wants To Live Forever
- D1: Bohemian Rhapsody (Live Aid)
- D2: Radio Ga Ga (Live Aid)
- D3: Ay-Oh (Live Aid)
- D4: Hammer To Fall (Live Aid)
- D5: We Are The Champions (Live Aid)
- D6: Don't Stop Me Now... Revisited
- D7: The Show Must Go On
'Bohemian Rhapsody' Original Film Soundtrack
featuring previously unavailable QUEEN performances at Live Aid
and new versions of band classics heads for October 19 release.
Available on Virgin EMI (Universal) /Hollywood Records (USA)
For the first time ever audio tracks from Queen's legendary performance at Live Aid are being released as part of the soundtrack album to "Bohemian Rhapsody", 20th Century Fox and Regency Enterprises' forthcoming feature film celebrating the band, their music and their extraordinary lead singer Freddie Mercury. Recorded at the historic Wembley concert in July 1985, these Live Aid songs are among the rare gems and unheard versions from the band's rich catalogue.
Alongside the show-stopping Live Aid performances of Bohemian Rhapsody, Radio Ga Ga, Hammer To Fall and We Are The Champions, the album features other rare live tracks spanning Queen's entire career, new versions of old favourites, and a choice selection of the band's finest studio recordings. Among them are some of Queen's biggest hits, including eleven all-time anthems that reached Number One around the world. The track listing is being announced on 5 September 2018, which would have been Freddie's 72nd birthday.
"Bohemian Rhapsody" is scheduled to have its World Premiere in the UK on 23 October before opening across the world in early November. It stars Rami Malek as Freddie, Gwilym Lee as Brian May, Ben Hardy as Roger Taylor, Joe Mazzello as John Deacon, and Lucy Boynton as Freddie's lifelong companion Mary Austin. The soundtrack, featuring all-original Queen recordings and vocals, is released on CD and digital formats on 19 October.
Tropical Disco plucks out a spellbinding salvo of heaters for Tropical Disco Volume. 7, dished out on suitably heavy wax.
Moodeena's 'The Horns' boldly kicks off the record, effortlessly weaving together elements of funk, soul and afro, influenced by a myriad of far-reaching regions. The earworm of a bassline subtly leads the piece, morphing, dipping and then reassembling as the brass resurfaces, creating a tender, palpable sound palette. On the flip 'What Da Funk's playful track title doesn't reflect its cultivated build, and no doubt lethal functionality on a dancefloor.
Titillating strings are the driving force for Tropical Disco newcomer Sammy Deuce's input, bringing a burning, high-energy ode to golden-era disco with 'Smack My Strings Up'. Hot on the heels of a series of well received releases on labels such as Glasgow Underground, Club Session and Big Love, Sammy deuce offers up a rare guest track on the label that pairs perfectly with a recipe Sartorial and Moodena have refined so successfully.
Sartorial closes the EP with 'Little Love', a carefully plotted symphony and formidable sign off for the release. Hustling a creamy bass and slowly swooning vocal, this audio aphrodisiac will have dancers headed straight to the bedroom...
Tropical Disco's back-catalogue of quality nu-disco obscurities is building thick and fast, and the latest package is a diamond in a gleaming gold mine.
Support across Mi Soul & House FM.
- A1: Theme From The Conversation (3:33)
- A2: The End Of The Day (1:37)
- A3: No More Questions / Phoning The Director (2:18)
- A4: Blues For Harry (Combo) (2:39)
- A5: To The Office / The Elevator (2:40)
- A6: Whatever Was Arranged (2:09)
- A7: The Confessional (2:21)
- B1: Amy's Theme (2:51)
- B2: Dream Sequence (2:35)
- B3: Plumbing Problem (2:54)
- B4: Harry Carried (2:47)
- B5: The Girl In The Limo (2:25)
- B6: Finale And End Credits (3:54)
- B7: Theme From 'The Conversation' (Ensemble) (2:31)
THIS IS NOT A REISSUE. THIS IS THE FIRST TIME THIS AMAZING MINIMAL SCORE HAS BEEN ISSUED ON VINYL
This is the first time the complete score to The Conversation has been released on vinyl. The film itself was originally released in 1974 and a 7' demo of the theme was sent out as promotional material by Paramount (PAA-0305), but a USA stock edition was never issued. In Japan the same music was also issued on a 7' at about the same time (JET-2273), with a picture sleeve, but until now nothing else has ever been pressed on vinyl.
Jonny Trunk's little obsession with this music began after I'd caught the film, late night, sometime in the mid 1990s. Musically it's an exceptional example of the 'new minimalism' in film music of the period, marking a departure (for some) from big scores to smaller, more economic ensemble sounds.
The film was written, produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and is still a thrilling journey into sound, mind and murder. Heavily influenced by Antonioni's Blow-Up (and not, as some thought, by Watergate), Coppola wanted to fuse the concept of Blow-Up with 'the world of audio surveillance'. The story centres around Harry Caul (Gene Hackman), a mac-wearing professional wire-tapper and clandestine bugger who gets unusually consumed by a conversation he's been paid to record. Caul is a loner, an obsessive-compulsive character with numerous neuroses that play out brilliantly throughout the film. And as he slowly pieces together the conversation fragments and forms his own story around it, his world falls apart.
Sonically this movie - all about sound - is groundbreaking in many ways, with actual 'sound Design' Provided By The Legendary Walter Murch - The Man Who Actually Invented The Term In The First Place.
For The Music, Coppola Wisely Chose A Young David Shire, His Brother In Law. Shire's Deceptively Simple Piano Theme (composed Because Of No Budget For Big Orchestra) Is One Of Tragic Beauty, Brilliantly Capturing Caul's Loneliness, His Slightly Disturbed Nature And This Trip Into Darkness. The Melody Has Both Sweet And Sour Tones, Feeling A Little Like A Slow Ragtime, Which Both Develops And Retreats Throughout The Film; There Are Even Trips Into Avant-garde Territory With Electro-acoustic Flourishes And Concrète. The Solo, Agitated Figure Of Caul, Wearing His Distinctive Transparent Mac, Is Made All The More Raw And Poignant By The Score - The Sparse And Curiously Emotional Compositions Are Unlike Any Others I Can Think Of From The Period.
The Soundtrack For The Conversation Proved To Be A Major Break For Shire, His Career Really Taking Off From This Musical Point. His Next Score Was To Be The Underground Classic Taking Of Pelham 123, Followed Up Later Ironically By All The Presidents Men - A Thriller About The Watergate Scandal.
The Conversation Went On To Win Several Awards And Nominations, And Has Become A Classic Of The 'new Hollywood' Movement. Hopefully Now This Music May Become Part Of The Renewed Interest In Old Film Soundtracks.
Major Keys is a brand-new audiophile label focusing on fully licensed reissues of jazz classics, pressed on 12' for a fuller, louder version compared to the original album cut. What better way to kick of the series than housing Herbie Hancock's imitable 'Chameleon' and 'Watermelon Man', loud and proud on either side of a 12' - remastered and cut by the engineer of the original Head Hunters LP from 1973.
They don't get much more iconic than 'Chameleon'. Nestled on the incredible 1973 'Head Hunters' album it's a 16-minute exploration of legendary jazz funk - having all the sensibilities and solos of a jazz record, yet grounding its rhythms in funk, soul and R&B. Even, as its title suggests, morphing from a low slung slow jam into a full-on, fast paced spiritual gem. Lock in for one of the most iconic basslines around courtesy of Paul Jackson, alongside some of the sweetest synth and Rhodes playing you're likely to hear from Herbie, all tied together with Harvey Mason's mythical drumming. Sampled the world over by the biggest and the best this is a truly timeless and hugely influential piece of music.
On the B side, the equally intriguing 'Watermelon Man'. This version, again taken from the Head Hunters LP, differs from the Blue Note bop '62 original, with Hancock developing it into a jazz fusion expedition. Bill Summers top and tails the track with a style of beer bottle blowing imitating a type of whistle playing found in Central African Pygmy music, giving a unique flavour to Hancock's jazz funk stylings that focus on the rhythmic interplay between each instrument. From Dilla to Digable Planets, Madonna to Massive Attack it's a classic that's sampled time and time again for good reason.
- A1: Keith Mansfield - Tycoon
- A2: Keith Mansfield - Hot Property
- A3: Keith Mansfield - Whistle Stop Tour
- A4: Keith Mansfield - Power Complex
- A5: Keith Mansfield - Research Establishment
- A6: Keith Mansfield - Clean Air
- A7: Keith Mansfield - Fatal Error
- A8: Keith Mansfield - Sleeping Giant 1
- A9: Keith Mansfield - Sleeping Giant 2
- B1: Keith Mansfield - World In Action
- B2: Keith Mansfield - World In Action (Composite)
- B3: Keith Mansfield - Balance Of Power
- B4: Keith Mansfield - Motorail Express
- B5: Alan Hawkshaw - Road And Rail
- B6: David Snell (2) - International Flight
- B7: Keith Mansfield - Quality Fair
- B8: Keith Mansfield - Summer Location
LP,180, 2018 REISSUE - REMASTERED FROM ORIGINAL TAPES, CAREFULLY REPRODUCED ORIGINAL ART
The two sides of 1973's Big Business / Wind of Change are mainly the work of thegreat Keith Mansfeld but there's a killer cameo each from Alan Hawkshaw and David Snell to help deliver a thematic suite, diverse in mood, applicable to dramatic and environmental situations'. A Be With favourite and truly one for the heads.
The Big Business of side A is all the work of Keith Mansfeld. It's heavy on the suspense and features the vital Hot Property', an insistent groove so good that Madlib sampled it to lace the ace Long Awaited' by Lootpack with Dilated Peoples.
Sleeping Giant 1' is a more feshed out version of the equally-dazzling Fatal Error', evoking the orchestral magic of David Axelrod. Indeed, it conjures images of Diamond D falling over himself in the early-to-mid 90s to loop its intoxicatingly
eerie soundscape. Complete with guitar flls that recall Paris, Texas-era Ry Cooder, you need this record for this piece alone.
The horn-and-fute-led "Tycoon" is a head-nodder and "Power Complex" has some fantastic percussion. Other highlights include the breezy glide of Whistle Stop Tour' and its sister groove Clean Air.'
Over on Side B is the more expansive Wind Of Change, which includes the David Snell and the Alan Hawkshaw contributions. But these ain't no fller. Snell's shufing International Flight' sounds like a smooth Dorothy Ashby track tossed from the heavens. Hawkshaw's Road And Rail' is about as luxurious and strung-
out as the great man gets and it might just be the highlight of this whole set.
Not to be outdone, if Mansfeld's Balance Of Power' doesn't make you feel like king of the world then you must be playing it wrong. Oh, and did we mention World In Action'!
As with all ten re-issues, the audio for Big Business / Wind of Change comes from the original analogue tapes and has been remastered for vinyl by Be With regularSimon Francis. We've taken the same care with the sleeves, handing the reproduction duties over to Richard Robinson, the current custodian of KPM's
brand identity.




















