1 Duncan Gray – The Weak Nuclear Force (Rich Lane Remix)
Duck and cover and whack on your nuclear shades – it’s chug for the atomic age. It’s certainly pushing the “home listening” front a bit, but I subject most people in my house to this at some point. The only problem with playing this at home is that everything else sounds a bit crap afterwards.
2 Fluke – Electric Guitar (Humbucker)
Surely having a laugh – and it’s great fun – this track has electric didgeridoo noises, an ace vocal hook from Mr Fugler, and a top groove. It doesn’t, though, have anything that sounds even close to an electric guitar on it.
3 Kieran Holden – The Science of Plants
Basic biology at a funky laid-back tempo. It’s the menacing chords underneath the relatively jaunty, if wonky, lead that really makes this an interesting record.
4 Soft Rocks – We Hunt Buffalo Now (Andrew Weatherall remix)
In memory of The Guv, a great rocky remix with a catchy and powerful hook. Does the trick.
5 Craig Bratley – Birdshell (6th Borough Project Mix)
I struggled to pick a Craig Bratley track, to be honest, as they are universally excellent productions, but this is one of the more chilled efforts. “Night Moves”, the Hardway Bros remix of “Obsession” (perhaps too much for a Back to Mine), his remix of Paresse’s “The Night Before You Came” and his “Play the Game” with Danielle Moore were all on the shortlist.
6 The Long Champs – Y Llwynog
This foxy little number is a fantastically weird bit of interestingly bent electronica. I was, again, tempted by the more lively Rich Lane remix, but I suppose we’re supposed to be calming down a bit by this point.
7 Mountain of Love – Mountain of Love
From one of the original members of the brilliantly eclectic country-acid-house fusion outfit, Alabama 3, this whole album is a masterpiece of dubtronica. If you can dig out the original demo versions – mostly gig recordings – that feature fewer live instruments and up the cool electronic elements, these are also a treat.
8 Syntax – Pride
An excellent blend of acoustic guitar, distinctive vocals with an ecstatic electronic build. I love the way this track effortlessly fuses genres, sounding almost folk-rocky at the start but leaving you in no doubt as to where it allegiances lie.
9 Moby – Honey
OK, this track is definitely overplayed, but it’s such a lovely fusion of gospel and electronica that I can never resist it. Way down yonder… sometimes.
10 Leftfield – Release The Pressure (album version)
So it sounds a bit like The Macarena, but I love the vocals from Earl Sixteen and the rebuild at around the 6’30” mark. A great opener to a classic album.
Martin Eve feat. Jon Fugler – Night Train (Tici Taci)
British producer Martin Eve made his debut on Tici Taci last year with the superb ‘The Learning Experience’ EP, backed with remixes from label boss Duncan Gray and Rich Lane. He now returns to Tici Taci alongside former Fluke vocalist Jon Fugler for a stellar new record, accompanied by remixes from Nu-Disco producer Peza, label favourite Jack Butters and one half of the Field Of Dreams duo – Al McKenzie under his retroforward alias. Says Martin, of the inspiration for ‘Night Train’ – “I get a lot of late-night trains. They’re interesting places with people from all walks of life. They can be depressing spaces of solitude, uplifting sites of communality, sober scenes of work, and drunken places of revelry. The lyrics just came to me while I was travelling. I’d also been a MEGA fan of Fluke throughout my teenage years, perhaps they were the most underrated electronic group of the past twenty years. I’d had the fortune to meet Jon a decade or so ago and I had wanted to get his voice out there once again. Collaborating and recording remotely, Night Train was born” Martin Eve’s original of ‘Night Train’ is built around a mid-tempo rhythm section and acidic stabs which provide the perfect backdrop for Fugler’s trademark vocals, this is an instantly catchy yet very wonderful subtle production. Peza’s chuggy acidic workout is fueled by sci-fi effects and indie-tinged melodies before Jack Butters marries guitars, synths and looped bass to reveal a futuristic cut. retroforward’s remix slips down a slightly darker route, as we see a deep percussive groove brightened by bursts of subtle keys and restrained acid. To close, Peza’s offers up a dub that strips back his mix for those who like things a little less vocal.
