Hefner - An Evening With Hefner (Inertia) INERT-08 1998

Time has not been kind to that whole nu jazz / future jazz scene from 10 years ago. With way too many releases, a lack of quality control and a dubious seriousness to the whole scene, it has all but disappeared today and is lovingly referred to by most of my friends as 'jazzy pish'. Saying that there are a few artists and releases that supersede any such put downs. Obvious examples are The Cinematic Orchestra and Jazzanova, but the likes of Hefner and his releases on Inertia are equally timeless.

Hefner was one of these artists who came from the jazzy drum'n'bass scene but developed a more soundtracky vibe that reached its peak with this release. Back round this time I was DJing on Tuesday nights at a bar in Glasgow's west end and this was the perfect backdrop. In fact, back then my wife and I ran a website that included an extensive article on Inertia. Will & Chris from the label were great in helping us get it together as their label didn't have a website of their own at the time. In today’s terms it was basic stuff but this was back in the days when streaming audio was big news.

Since then it seems like they all got washed away by the changing tides of the music industry and the download culture. Hefner and label mate Victor Malloy (his real life brother) pushed for a more commercial sound to no avail and it was all over for the label by 2004. Hefner is now going under his real name Lee Jones and has since re-established himself more on the minimal techno front. Can't say I've checked this stuff out.

Note - Have ripped Parts 1 & 2 as one track as they merge together.

A1 An Evening With Hefner Part 1
A2 An Evening With Hefner Part 2
B1 Actionslacks
B2 An Evening With Hefner Part 3

Shawn J Period - The Come Back (Rude001) 2006

Time for a bit of hip hop. Although only a few years old, this kind of slipped out and then proptly dissapeared. One of only 2 releases on Karl Injekt & Tyler Askew's short lived Rude Movements label, the other is the equally blinding Taylor McFerrin. You can pick his EP up off I Tunes, but this one is deleted vinyl only - hence the rip.
Shawn J Period was one of those 'should have been huge' producers, being behind many of the mid 90's Rawkus productions. You can check some of his finest moments here. In proper Cat Stevens style he then found God and retired from the scene. Heard a rumour that he refuses to use samples now and that this EP is all live shit, it certainly sounds quite unique. All 4 tracks are killer and are a must for any beat heads, kind of on the Jaydee tip but with crisp production and very thought out arrangements. He also stuck out a 12 around the same time on Brownswood which is also fab. Since then.....nothing.
This is still in my vinyl DJ bag, but its been over a year since i played vinyl out and quite a few times since then i've really misssed it. Not anymore....


A1 The Come Back
A2 The Comeback (Instrumental)
B1 Journey's Process
B2 Shawn J. Instrumental Bonus No. 1

The Unspoken Heard - The Jamboree EP (BDS-826) 1999

Some hip hop dating back to just before the millenium. This was actually going to be the first record I uploaded onto this blog, but I'm sure any collector out there knows that plans change when you start going through piles of records.
This is a great EP with the lead track 'Jamboree' being a trumpet led party classic. Produced by 88-Keys, he has since went on to bigger things, currently working with MTV and Kanye West.
Also worth catching on this EP is the neo soul, beat poetry of 'Dream-Birth' where Michael Abbot beats lyrical about becoming a father. Checked up on Michael Abbot and acording to discogs, the only other thing he has done is engineer a Moody Blues live album!!!Guess there must be 2 of them then.
Remember that Gilles Peterson played this at the time, which is where I initially discovered the Seven Heads material. Again, this whole era of hip hop seems to have dissapeared now. A shame....


A1 Jamboree (Neat & Tidy Version)
A2 Jamboree (Jamstrumental)
A3 The Music (Sanitized Version For Miss Djali)
B1 Track Runners (Live Version, Sans Curses)
B2 The Music (Just The Music, Homeboy)
B3 Dream-Birth (Unsoiled For Miss Soukeyna)

No Man: Painting Paradise EP (1993) 93TP12

Can’t say that I’m too knowledgeable on No Man but this was a big favourite with me. Until ripping it from the vinyl, I hadn’t listened to it in eons and although it has that mid 90’s style production and a bit of that dated ethnic chill out feel – it’s an epic piece of music.

Ignore the A side which is a pop song very much of the time that has dated badly; it’s the monstrous flipside ‘Heaven Taste’ where it all happens. All you need to do is to look at the musicians involved – Mick Karn, Steve Jansen & Richard Barbieri from Japan as well as the mighty Steve Wilson just before he moved onto bigger things with prog titans The Porcupine Tree. Sprawling on for over 20 minutes it’s a bit like Pink Floyd meets Massive Attack.

While mentioning Steve Wilson – big thanks to him for doing an exclusive mix for my long since deceased website back before podcast was even a word. He mixed up a selection of remixes and exclusive ambient material under the Bass Communion alias. I think he eventually released it through his own website.


A. Painting Paradise
B. Heaven Taste

Idjut Boys & Laj / Bam Bam - Oh La La Teaparty / Funkyland (1995) DIS001

Still love this to bits. As mentioned before the Idjut Boys have been a big favourite with me. This was the first release on the Discfunction label as their U-Star label started to wind down.

The Idjuts is a guitartastic disco groover but it’s the flipside where it really happens with Bam Bam’s stripped down, raw as hell, old school ‘Funkyland’. Mixed by Crispin J Glover, the man is the unsung hero of house music. With to many pseudonyms to even start, his catalogue is serious…

This was such a vibrant time for house music with the likes of Nuphonic, Noid & Disorient all responsible for loads of great releases, normally all spaced out with heavy dub effects and phased guitar solos. Still as vital today, it mixes in a treat with Lindstrom and loads of DFA type stuff. I’ve noticed that Beats In Space still drop loads of this stuff…and why not.

A. OH LA LA TEAPARTY

B. FUNKYLAND

Do Make Say Think: Besides EP (Resonant) RES001 (1999)

Hard to believe it's 10 years since this came out. Do Make Say think were originally noted for sharing members with the mighty Godspeed You Black Emperor, but have established themselves far beyond an offshoot project in the intermediate years.
Back at this time I was promoting nights at the 13th Note Cafe in Glasgow where I was attempting a fusion of post rock and electronica to a tiny audience. Just a couple of years too early - if I had stuck at it I would probably have been quids in.
Anyway back to the music...This release came on the Resonant label and these tracks have never been released anywhere else since, so its a bit of a rarity. Best track for me is 'Our Man in Havana'which is on a stoned dubby soundtrack vibe.
I was really excited by the early days of post rock with the likes of the early Tortoise gear, Labradford, Godspeed and those cool little 7" labels at the time. After years of living & breathing dance music, this was my first foray back to anything remotely 'indie'. In fact, for me, guitar music hasn't really developed beyond this era.

A1 I Love You (La La La)

A2 Bobby Zincone

B1 Our Man In Havana
B2 A Week In The Dark

PASTRAMI MAN - PASTRAMI MACHINE (FREESTYLE LTD) FST 005 (1994)

Ah the Idjut Boys!! As this blog develops you will no doubt see a lot from this name. They pretty much got me re-discovering house music again in the mid 90’s, when drum’n’bass, techno and (tr)hip hop ruled. Since then they have stuck to what they love and have a devastating catalogue.

This one is more on the edit tip and comes from a few years back on the short lived Freestyle label. 2 tracks – both killer – touched up for the dance floor.

Although the edit of Hamilton Bohannon's 1979 disco tune ‘The Groove Machine’ is ace, it’s all about the flipside here, where Tina Turner’s raw take on the Led Zep tune, gets stretched out. I played this to death when it came out and now it’s re-discovered, will again.

A big part of this blog is about rediscovering my vinyl collection. I only DJ with CD’s now which are burnt from MP3’s, so I have a massive amount of lost classics in the old format that need dug out.

Watch out…….

A. PASTRAMI MACHINE

B. WHOLE LOTTA PASTRAMI

JOSHUA FALKEN – FALKEN’S MAZE (GO BEAT) JFK1 (1998)

A long lost and overlooked musical deviation from the mighty Kieran Hebden. Nicking the alias from 80’s sci-fi classic ‘War Games’, this brief excursion into the (at the time) newly emerging 80’s electro influence, it is a sound in which Mr Hebden has never touched again. Perhaps it was down to Go Beat, which went tits up just after this release. Either way this is a wee gem for the 21^st Century’s answer to Brian Eno.

I have loads of rarities from Kieran Hebden which will appear up here in time. Around the turn of the millennium he launched his Four Tet alias which took the spaciousness of his post rock group Fridge and injected it with more of a groove. It’s strange that a lot of this era has been deleted considering how much his profile has lifted in the emerging years.

A. Falkens Maze
B. Chase HQ

Welcome to Afrotronica

Welcome to Afrotronica, my first (belated) foray into the world of blogging.
Why Afrotronica?
First and foremost - this is a blog about music. Music that has influenced, inspired or intrigued me. After buying music for nearly 30 years and DJing for 15, you start to see patterns emerge in what you like. I have a pretty eclectic taste in music but it comes down to 2 things - rhythms and electronics. For me all rhythms come from Africa in essence while electronics have always spoken to me more than any guitar riff. In an era where I Tunes allows you to create new genres all the time - Afrotronica was spawned.
When I first started buying music it was on vinyl (mostly 7"), before moving into CD's in the late 80's (bad move!!). As the dance culture exploded in the early 90's I embraced my beloved vinyl all over again and until the last couple of years it was my format of choice. However, times change and I do feel some of my mates who still dogmatically ignore digital in favour of vinyl are a bit like your embarrassing uncle who still has his 78RPM's. With this is mind, expect to see some old unavailable vinyl releases making their debut digital format before they disappear into the vaults of history. Elsewhere I will publish current listening habits, review new and old music, reminisce about the 'good old days' as well as the rantings of a sad muso rapidly approaching middle age.