“A loop is a section of recorded music that can repeat indefinitely, the end joining seamlessly to the beginning so the music becomes a never ending sonic cycle. Originally a tape loop.”
Very happy to be able to give you a little sneak preview of the new book shortly to be released from the guys behind the legendary Robert Johnson venue in Frankfurt. Its their 13th anniversary this year and the book charts some of the history and characters that have been part of the Robert Johnson story.
Harvey is one of the contributors to the book, check out his Sarcastic Disco commandments…
Title of the book: Come On In My Kitchen – The Robert Johnson Book
Editor’s name: Christoph Keller; Ata Macias
Publisher: JRP Ringier
Author’s name: Bill Brewster; DJ Harvey; Gerd Janson; Ewan Pearson; Ivan Smagghe; Katharina Helmbold; Roman Flügel; Stephan Loichinger; Theo Parrish; Tobias Rehberger; Tobias Thomas
We caught up with Chris Galloway from Soft Rocks about a new project he’s currently kicking off along with Stuart Leath: Emotional Rescue / Emotional Response
Hi Chris, Why start this label? what is it’s ethos? whom are you running it with? how did you meet? and why the collaboration?
Well, both Stuart and I had long admired and bought from those proper reissue labels out there like Light In The Attic or Time-Lag etc, but as collectors/DJs we thought that there was an angle of putting out some of the records we unearth and love, and that are just too good to be kept amongst the small group of collectors/DJs. I guess that really the artists and the music deserved to be heard by a wider audience.
At the same time it’s so frustrating to see all these bootlegs of records that you’ve spent time digging up, passing on, playing and sharing being trumpeted as “reissues” when everyone knows label like Island or Warners are not going to press 500 copies of something from the mid-70s. It’s a bit of joke really, that shops and buyers now say ‘reproduction’ or ‘repress’ when we all know they’re not. So leaving the major labels to one side, we decided to put out lost, forgotten or obscure music that we love.
The idea actually came together a few years ago when we both happened to be out in Ibiza for whatever reason, and as we sat around over beers both realised we’d been thinking the same thoughts about a proper reissue label and also, about the type of artists and music that should be heard. I was doing Soft Rocks and Stuart had done some bits and bobs with other people’s music, so when we got home we hooked up here in Brighton and when I was up in London for gigs. We came up with records and started contacting people and it went from there. I mean, we’re lucky as we have hooked up with people like Village Green, a London based design company and they have really helped bring ideas on packaging together and then we’ve hooked up with our friends and fellow music lovers to try and do something a little extra for remastering etc.
It’s all aimed at music lovers so hopefully they’ll appreciate that and support us. I mean the African-South American-World scene and Folk/Rock Americana stuff is so well covered by the likes of Soundway or Stutt or Mississippi etc that we’re just trying to forge our own path at our own pace and see where we end up…hopefully digging up stuff that others would miss or simply never know about.
Whom is this Bob guy? Tell us the story behind the record if you would…
Bob is now a chilled 70 year old retiree over in Huntington Beach, but back in the day he was a working singer, songwriter, musician with a bit of a following around the LA area. As the story often goes he got in the studio for a crack at the big time and out of that came a number of pysche thumpers, one of which was Wild, It’s Broken and that was then pressed up on a few Test Pressings. However, at the time nothing came of it, so several years later he re-recorded it and that became the 7″ version now titled simply It’s Broken and which came out on a flip of red vinyl release called The Bomb.
Shortly after he did get an album together which for diggers out there has a number of amazing killer cuts, including a 9 minute discoid version of It’s Broken. This is due for reissue from the esteemed Trunk label at some point but until then the copies of the album that are floating around are pretty rare and pricey…so if you want one mail me!
What other releases are we to expect soon?
Loads really. We’ve got a reggae-disco-dub 12″ due next month from 80s ethno-dub band Suns of Arqa which features an unreleased edit of the last known recording of Prince Far I and also has a secret balearic gem tucked on the flip.
Its all remastered/repackaged nice and loud. Next up is a cosmic-kraut release coming from one Cosmic Hoffmann, this is for the heads, plus a beautiful re-issue of a private press folk-soul-hippy LP from Jaki Whitren and John Cartwright recorded at their commune in France back in the day.
There are quite a few to follow after that, some post-krautrock from ex Can members, some unreleased new wave from Baldelli favourite Kevin Harrison and we’ve just signed contracts hopefully just in time for a Record Store day special if we can get it all sorted in time… that is gonna be special as it’s a super rare slice of British Post Punk Dub oddness as you’ll ever hear.
2012 the year of the… ???
Well there is also a sister label called Emotional Response coming soon too where we are gonna release some interesting and left-field new music from the likes of Andrew Weatherall’s engineer Timothy J Fairplay and others.
Plus there is a load of music coming on the other labels I’m involved with..Kinfolk, Soft Rocks Recordings and our Roots Unit alter ego label Vibrations . We’ve got some amazing stuff from Protect U / Tiago / The Grid / Luv Jam and others all due this year.
Tell us about Soft Rocks, what are the latest movements? Is the remix LP round the corner? Who were you most suprised to be digging the LP?
Soft Rocks is good, looking forward to a forthcoming small Japan tour. The album has done really well so we’re very pleased. The remixes album and 12’s are due real soon with loads of friends and associates on the case so watch this space. Kate Middleton tweeted she loved the album and gave copies out for Xmas, bless.
Brighton, what’s cooking down there?
We are planning to do a couple of small ’semi regular’ nights here soon…one with us and two good local dj’s Jamie Phillips and Tim Rivers who recently recorded for the World Unknown label, plus a weirdy beard night with Richard Norris from Time & Space Machine.
Terje sat down for a chat after his recent appearance at Homoelectric in Manchester,check out the full interview at HuWho : Todd Terje interview – Feb 2012
We have a few new nice bits from Greg Wilson to keep you busy, first up his own ELECTROFUNKROOTS site has had a complete overhaul and now features a wealth of new content, interviews & charts.
Check Greg’s early 80’s floorfillers from January of 1982
Bonar Bradberry of PBR Streetgang fame, took time to chat to Sean Brosnan (NeedWant label boss) & Matt Johnson, head honcho of The Pool, about his new solo record, balearic bakeries, Club Asylum & listening to your dad!
SB- I feel you come from a similar place as me with your music, there’s a hint of disco but you tend to have a house groove when you DJ, and most likely why you find a nice warm home at Needwant. When did those sounds come from? We are both too young to have been on the floor at Studio 54 or dancing to Ron Hardy.
BB – Unfortunately not yeah !
I suppose it come from two places really. When I was little my Dad lived and worked in America for 3-4 years in the early mid eighties, mainly in New York and Chicago. he would come back with the brilliant stories and photos and so I fell in love with the place without ever going and grew up feeling like I knew it in some way and had a really romanticised image of eighties New York as a result.. and so in turn, Disco then House
The other route I guess is pretty common one that a lot of people do .. they get into house music first then loving loads of the samples that are in them you start find out for yourself what the originals were, so learning backwards in a sense !!
SB – Do you like / buy / play all kinds of music? Will we find Bonar Bradberry at a Drum and Bass night or enjoying bands, or is it house to the bone.
BB – I like & buy all kinds of music really but i play disco and house music on the whole..
At home i don’t really listen to too much of it though usually more left field stuff or singer songwriter stuff / folk type ( is that even a genre ?! ) things.. I think its important to listen to different stuff, helps keeps your own ideas fresh.
SB – Bonar Bradberry is your real name, many people have trouble believing this I hear?
BB – Yeah its pretty unusual as far as i know , its a good conversation starter at times…its usually the first question people ask me “so , is that your really name? ” I like it now but used to hate it as a kid !
SB – So you are getting set to have your second release on Needwant, You Were Away. What’s is the song about, and how did the whole EP come together?
BB – Yes its great to be back releasing on the label after a little break. “You Were Away” underlying theme is really personal for me which is probably why I chose to sing on it myself rather than ask someone else. That was the first one that was made, Lip Therapy seemed to subconsciously come as almost the lighter side to it most of it flow really quickly and easily .. but there always loads of fiddling and fixing tiny things for ages afterward !
SB – How does it feel to have people remix your tracks? Does it annoy you if they cut out your vocal or play around with a sound that took you ages to perfect.
BB – Not really no, if your giving the track up to be remixed you’ve gotta expect some pretty opposing takes on what you did, its kind of the point, to be honest I like that kind of ‘throw it over see what happens’ random outcome type thing.
SB – We know you can produce top sounds, but did you know you could sing? I know I was pleasantly surprised when the vocal came back and even had to say to turn it up. Is this the start of Bonar the singer, song writer?
BB – Haha, i don’t know about that but its given me confidence to do more. I didn’t really know i could sing anymore until i actually tried last year, i used to sing as kid quite a bit, but i haven’t done it in probably 20 years, so i guess it was a case of plucking up the courage to do it yourself.
SB – You are based in Leeds, and I played there last year and saw how the parties rock, the scene seems really vibrant for what isn’t that big a city. Do you think being based Leeds influences your music?
BB – I guess you’re influenced a little by your surroundings where ever you are, but mostly i try to make music from within as much as I can rather be overly influenced by what going on right now. That said I love living in Leeds, its a great city that punches above its weight in a good way and almost spoils you as a DJ sometimes because the parties can be so good.
SB – We know you are part of the Streetgang known as PBR, do you prefer to produce as a partnership with Tom or as an individual?
BB – Depends what day of the week it is !
SB – Do you find it difficult to balance the two?
BB – It can be but it definitely has its rewards.
SB – This one has been troubling me for a while, what does PBR stand for? And do you menace local people as a streetgang?
BB – What ? like with flick knives and knuckle dusters and stuff ?? Yeah all the time man its how we get by, you know, a shake down here, a shakedown there … hahaha Nahh!
PBR stands for Patrol Boat Riverine officially, but some of our mates say it stands for “pretty boring really” and some even ruder ones, but i’ll leave it there
SB -Every year you go to Ibiza as PBR, though we are yet to cross path’s on the island, (maybe that’s a good thing considering we have planes to catch). What keeps you going back there each year and what’s the plans for 2012 on the island?
BB – .. we keep getting asked back is the rubbish answer ! I feel very lucky to be part of a great bunch at WeLove @ Space and to be resident on the Terrace for the last couple of years, as you know yourself with Future Disco parties you do its an amazing place to play and there is no where else like it. Too early tell about 2012 yet but hopefully we’ll be asked to continue our residency, its still probably ono of my favourite place to be and to play.
SB – Things seem to be going well and really started to have momentum over the past year, are you pleased with how it’s all going? What would you do if music wasn’t your career path?
BB – I’m really pleased with how its going at the moment but you’ve always got to push yourself and explore further.
If I wasn’t doing this? i have a degree in fashion, so would have probably gone into fashion buying or something .. but I wasn’t passionate enough about it if i’m honest… and anyway its too late now … there’s no way back !!
MJ – Beat the Bed is a stone cold classic… we heard Michael Cook from Lowlife playing it at Glastonbury one year. How did that one come about, are you still in touch with Mr Rudman?
BB – Thanks! Well that was the first record i ever made and as a result it took ages.. i started it in 2005 and it didn’t come out till 2007! my mate Dan Ward (Negghead) help me produce and engineer the whole thing and i had some great friends play piano / keys and bass on it too and because the was no budget i did my own remix ! so i really learnt loads about working with other people as a producer on my first thing.
Ilija Rudman was so supportive of that record, i might not have had the confidence to release it if he hadn’t been so keen to put it out. Were still in touch but not as much as i’d like to as he lives in Croatia
MJ - Tell us about your Mindless Boogie 12″ did you approach Dirk with it or did he come to you? How did it all come about? What is the source material?
BB – To be honest I cant remember who got in touch with who first it was a while ago now, but it was probably I liked the Mindless edits and Eskimo that I sent him some stuff.
It was really something that came from my Dad I guess .. he gave me his Focus album “Hamburger Concerto” when i had just started DJ’ing and thought I should ‘do something it with it in my sets’ of course being 14 I thought he was nuts and completely dismissed the idea. Wasn’t till about 10 years later i was listing to it again and realised just how much amazing music was in it, and that could be edited out of its concept album form into a some more palatable / playable tracks.
Moral of the story … listen to your Dad when he tells you something !
MJ – As resident at Asylum with Tom, tell us abit about what made that club special. The Pool regularly booked artists to play there over the years, what was in the air at those events? Special guests? Big records? Location?
BB- Of course it started off in great regular venue the Mint Club (for me still the best in Leeds) and some pretty unusual one off’s too – car parks, railway arches, countryside hotels… We got some incredible dj’s to come play from Jazzy Jeff to Trentmoller. In a lot of cases we’re the first night to put these guys on in Leeds or even in the UK. As well as a group of great resident DJ’s , whom many of have gone on to do great things on their own.
That all massively contributed to it, but like with any party it was the the people that run it ( Tom Thorpe and Steve Banks) and the people that turned up every other week to come party with us. Its always had a very friendly family kind of vibe and still does, its the crowd that makes Asylum parties what they are.
MJ - Mat Playford and Craig as Weirdo Police seemed to be doing great stuff a few years back. Mat works with We Love alot still, did you mention you used to work in his record store? Have you played at Craig’s Lunar Jam party before? Is it still going strong?
BB – Yes, when i first moved to Leeds i worked at Playmusic which was an amazing record store run by Tristan Da Cunha , Ben Brophy and Mat. Its where i met and worked loads of other people like Mat who helped shape me further as a DJ
MJ – Is there really a Balearic bakery in Leeds?
BB – yep and its ace … Joes Bakery .. they bake bread serve lovely food
Here at The Pool we are delighted to welcome Tiago to the roster, exclusive for UK bookings.
We’ve long been an admirer of his production work on labels such as DFA, ESP & Golf Channel, and his long running residency at the fantastic Lux venue in Lisbon.
A full interview with the man himself coming soon, but for now check a new mini mix Tiago put together for us:
