world of stelfox

Bring it on! Stupidly adrenalised tear-out reconstructions of the Bug’s anthemic “Killer” – available for a limited period from a dealer near you (but almost certainly on CD at some point as well, I would imagine).

Soundmurderer’s mix is what you would expect – extreme mashing up of amen breaks, timestretched vocals and the rest.

As usual I find this all a Bit Much, there’s no breathing space at all and so it ends up being claustrophobic, but not in funky “ordered to dance” sort of way. Having said that, things calm down for the last third of the track and there are some wicked bits where all the beats are echoing around.

Enduser I know nowt about, but they/he/she turn in a great tech-steppy version with a superb two note droning bassline and some nice crispy breaks as well. The vocals work really well with the darkness of the track, lifting it up. I must dig out those old Optical and Ed Rush twelves sometime soon… This is tailor made for your more discerning dancefloor and I’m sure it’s going to turn out to be something of an anthem at places like Sick & Twisted.

Wayne Lonesome - Run Tings

Wayne Lonesome: “Go Fuck Yu Self” (Raw Mix) b/w “Go F@$K Yu Self” (Radio Mix) Run Things 7″

Now this is a bit of a curio – looks like “the ubiquitous Wayne Lonesome” (copyright Dubversion over at Pounding System) grabbed his vocal from The Bug’s album and released it on his own label (he’s listed at Executive Producer…) in Kingston as a proper bashment cut.

Trouble is, it all sounds a bit easy listening compared to the “original” – I guess nobody can come close to that intensity. You can make the lyrics out much better now, and this should prove to be an essential addition to the armoury for your version excursion. Play this as an intro and then bring in The Bug!!!

Quite why anyone would want a “clean” version of a song called “Go Fuck Yu Self” is beyond me, but there it is on the flip. Yer usual reversed out bad words – it’s probably my sick mind but I reckon you still hear it as “fuck” anyway. There should be a top ten of sound effects used to disguise “foul language” in dancehall – maybe that’s a job for another day…

Twilight Circus 10″

28 April 2004, 12:14 pm

Twilight Circus featuring Big Youth – Love Is What We Need 10″ EP (M Records)
Twilight Circus featuring Luciano – What We Got To Do Now 10″ EP (M Records)

After several days of blazing heat – down came the rain. Lightning FLASH Thunder CRASH over Liverpool Street station. All the commuters soaked in their summer clothes – hair dripping, make up running. Heh.

Boom weather for boom tunes. Twilight Circus operates out of Amsterdam and is the vision of one man, Ryan Moore. Ryan makes wicked reggae and dub and is another post-industrial refugee, being a (former?) member of weirdo psychedelia merchants Legendary Pink Dots.

My soggy pocket contains two promo CDs cadged off Greg Whitfield. First up is a tough tough collaboration with Big Youth: “Love is What We Need”. I guess this came out about a year ago – lyrically it transports us back to a time of Weapons of Mass Destruction and debates with the UN. Jah Youth is on top form here – chanting down the war mongers.

The production is equally top notch – straddling UK and classic JA, tight but loose with fantastic live horns. The dub is a stormer, opening with some crisp rim shots and phased brass. When the vocals float over the top, everything is present and correct. Perfect!

I’m a bit wary of reggae “remixes” – it means someone feels that version is not sufficient. However the remix here is a different kettle of fish – a complete reworking of the backing track with some great jazzy stylings (and let’s be honest, when have you heard me say that before, eh?)

“What we got to do now” is a further collaboration, with Luciano – one of my favourite contemporary vocalists. A nice plea to come together to solve the world’s problems. The mix is much less “traditional” than the Big Youth. Beats are more binghi tinged and there is a whole spectrum of weird noises and stuff going on in the background – even the bass is taken down a notch. This makes it all much less immediate but rewards are paid if you pay it all the requisite attention.

The version is dub at its most spacey – we are in “sounds echoing across an alien landscape” mode for sure. But surprisingly, the remixes hold the key. Again, I was aghast at the idea of a “club mix” – expecting clod hopping trance or lame hip hop. But Twilight Circus are wiser than that. Club mix here means a techno relick in the same neighbourhood as Rhythm & Sound. In terms of tempo it reminds me more of some of the Chain Reaction stuff I’ve heard but it really works well – exactly the sort of mutant cross-over people have been crying out for.

The closing track is an acoustic number with vocals and guitar only. Really moving stuff.

Outside of the Crooklyn Dub Consortium compilations this is the first time I’ve given Twilight Circus due attention. They certainly hooked me in, though. There’s enough creativity and talent here to warrant serious further investigation.

[Both tracks, but not all the versions or mixes, also feature on the recent Twilight Circus album “Foundation Rockers”]