After the spectacular early 90s detonation of techno’s locker room that was Sabres Of Paradise, Andrew Weatherall started fashioning a spanking new armoury with Keith Tenniswood as the Two Lone Swordsmen. He also established his Emissions Audio Output labels, which were lower-key and a conscious move to return to the underground. The new group’s sound was a startling beast, straddling the deep, proto-minimal tech-house Andrew played at his Blood Sugar or gutbucket punk-electro. This compilation ropes together highlights of the ‘Swimming Not Skimming’ and ‘Stockwell Steppas’ albums and shows two men on a mission to either weld together disparate musical styles or simply hump them greedily like a rampant bull-terrier. The opening ‘Rico’s Helly’ is a good example, marrying Cyprus Hill bassline and understated emotional melody. There’s often a fractured beauty here like on the warm and deep ‘Bim, Jack And Florence’. ‘Spraycan Attack’ dates itself back to when everyone had a dabble in drum ‘n’ bass but even that comes out with a raw TLS brand steaming on its upturned buittocks. Hey, look at where some of all this came from and then wait for that new album.
5 Out Of 5
Reviewed By: Kris Needs