#alt dance

EPIC ALBUM COVER #242

Santigold - self-titled

Released: 2008 (Downtown)

Today's compilation:

JBO: A Perspective 1988-1998 1998 House / Downtempo / Big Beat / Leftfield / Alternative Dance

Man, this is just such absolutely essential listening if you want a good history lesson in the type of dance music that was especially surging throughout the UK for a certain period of time. JBO: A Perspective 1988-1998 presents a decade-spanning two-disc retrospective on one of the UK's foremost electronic dance labels, Junior Boy's Own, whose tunes reverberated throughout all the acid warehouse parties during the UK's famed second summer of love beginning in 1988, and long thereafter too, following the UK government's crackdown on said parties.

Now, something you have to understand about acid house is that there are essentially two different definitions of it: there's a more sonically literal definition, which describes it as house music that features a liberal use of the Roland TB-303 bass synthesizer sound, and then there's another definition that describes the type of music that was played at the acid warehouse parties themselves, which was actually far more eclectic than just house tunes with TB-303s. And this collection deals with that latter description.

Something else worth knowing here too is that the music that was played at these events sometimes stretched far beyond what we would often consider these days to be dance music. Dance music almost always connotes electronic music that's purely uptempo, but much slower tunes got plenty of burn at these things as well, like Primal Scream's incredible "Loaded," a brimming-with-sunshining-positivity, psychedelically ecstatic classic that's packed with bagpipes and horns and has often been referred to as the acid house generation's own "Sympathy for the Devil." This song, produced by JBO's Andrew Weatherall, was less a result of inspiration being drawn directly from the actual acid house music that had managed to find its way across the pond from Chicago, but was moreso a reflection of an amalgamation of the chill, Balearic vibes that the UK was importing at the time from the party capital of the world—the Spanish island of Ibiza—as well as the Madchester scene, which was seeing indie and alt-rock bands from Manchester like The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays quirkily meld their rock sound with dancier beats, and thus receiving plenty of play at acid house parties too. Oftentimes, whenever I find myself writing about a general history of UK music since the post-punk and new wave days of the late 70s, I talk about what a melting pot it all was, and a dynamic song like "Loaded" serves as just one beautifully prime example of it in action, as it's something that can simultaneously be accurately classified as downtempo, alternative dance, neo-psychedelia, alternative rock, and house. And you could, at one point or another, find any and all of these vibes blaring out of the speakers at an acid house party itself; it's just that "Loaded" is a song that managed to blend them all together so damn perfectly 🤩.

So, ultimately, in addition to "Loaded," what we have here is a chronological slate of tracks that was selected by JBO's Steven Hall, who is humble enough to point out in his liner notes that what he's put together is by no means neither extensive nor authoritative; there was so much more to these acid house years than just what JBO was either putting out themselves or their clan was producing and remixing for others, and as the compilation's title clearly states, this is just merely a perspective on the ten years since the start of the second summer of love.

But then again, by that same token, this 'perspective' is also indispensable from acid house itself too. JBO's role in shaping this 'genre''s overall sounds, development, and history is simply integral and wholly unignorable. Acid house without JBO is sort of like a triple-decker club sandwich without one of its decks; you still have a sandwich at the end of the day, but you sure are missing a whole lot of the stuff that actually makes it what it is in the first place!

And that's borne out by the names you'll find on here that were in the JBO stable, like The Chemical Brothers and Underworld, two of the most important and commercially successful acts in the history of electronic music, period. To his credit, Steven Hall doesn't unload with the obvious choices from either of these groups here; rather, he goes for the more obscure, before both of them started to really gain their respective statuses as icons. From The Chemical Brothers we get a pair of tunes from when they actually called themselves The Dust Brothers, one of which was 1994's "My Mercury Mouth," an expanding breakbeaty tune that really starts to destroy past the two-minute mark, when the guys ladle in all that feelgood synth work 😌.

And with Underworld we get a couple tunes too, including the bubbly and trancey "Rez," plus a solid remix of Björk as well. But in addition to those, we also get one from a prior alias of theirs, with the prominently blues harmonica-laced and bleepy house banger that is "Bigmouth," which they released as Lemon Interupt back in 1992. Pretty great leftfield stuff!

There's also a trio of songs in the beginning of disc one that actually predate the existence of JBO entirely: New Order's "Everything's Gone Green," Mr Fingers' "Can You Feel It," and Pete Wylie's "Sinful," the latter of which's edit I can't seem to find on YouTube 😔. These songs, all unique in their own regard, are ones that inspired JBO to form in the first place, starting out as a clubbing fanzine, and then becoming a party, and then, eventually in 1990, an era-defining record label too.

Didn't even mention the dope remixes of Saint Etienne and My Bloody Valentine by Andrew Weatherall or the remix of U2 by Pete Heller and Terry Farley that are on here, either. Clearly there's a whole lot of gold that's sitting on these two discs, so get yourselves educated on this diverse set of dance and dance-adjacent glory, folks! 😊

Highlights:

CD1:

New Order - "Everything's Gone Green" Mr Fingers - "Can You Feel It" Pete Wylie - "Sinful" Bocca Juniors - "Raise (63 Steps to Heaven) (Heavenly Rap)" St Etienne - "Only Love Can Break Your Heart (A Mix of Two Halves)" My Bloody Valentine - "Soon (Andrew Weatherall Mix)" Primal Scream - "Loaded" Lemon Interupt - "Bigmouth" The Chemical Brothers - "Song to the Siren" One Dove - "Fallen"

CD2:

Very Trippy Day:

Massive Attack, Vocals by Hope Sandoval, Paradise Circus from Heligoland (2010).

You know... I just don’t have the time or energy to personally DJ for every moment of all humanity and their lives.... Or I would.... *long awkward staring* So you know... in spite of this fact... since I do so enjoy my spite... I will share my Danse Danse vibe deal type thing....

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWj32ZEGfTRZRBDskMNY-6Gdu5E04p--r

Art, Music, Dancing, Expression... etc I’m one where that stuff holds a great deal of meaning and importance.... To many it seems obvious one would, but there’s a lot of people that never even bother... All I can say is, life or circumstance can be difficult, sometimes cruel... When you feel overwhelmed by the universe... When your SouL feels assaulted by the onslaught of reality... There’s many ways we all cope... If you’ve never gone to a place, where you can stand in a dimly lit room and hear your favorite kinds of music played at absurdly loud levels.... Drowning out the voices of humans, removing the reason for conversation. Allowing for Solitude while surrounded, feeling the pulse from those around you, of existence itself, with out any of the noise. I sincerely suggest trying it at least once.... You have to learn to ignore social pressures... Ignore fear, or judgement... If you can manage that, disconnect and be alone while surrounded by people. Like at any show or club really... just be alone with sound and the vibrations. Of the noises you love... It’s one of the most cathartic therapies I’ve experienced. It might not be everyone’s thing for sure... but... Sincerely, I suggest everyone give it a sincere try... at least once. Anyway.... Hope my human friends and their fleshbags find some amusement in the playlist, or at the least get inspired to go dance somewhere, and maybe later create something just for the sake of self expression.... It’s a therapy that we need as a species more than we typically recognize. -The End<3