Saint Etienne 'Only Love Can Break Your Heart' (Richard X Mix)

This has been about for a bit, and I assumed it would be shit, (if it ain't broke)......,
But its fucking great- the summers not over yet....

Saint Etienne 'Only Love Can Break Your Heart' (2009 Extended Remix) �by� cmjct

My Music Has Always Had a Rock Element To It...

As part of the recent resurgence in what has been termed cosmic disco, or disco not disco, has been a real convergence of some of the mellower synth led elements of soft rock, and more leftfield ‘disco’.

With Fleetwood Mac being a standard set staple at Lowlife and bass laden Compass Point productions showing up everywhere, it’s not a new trend.

Anyway, the sound is no better personified than the fabulous AOR Disco blog, who have put a little selection of tracks together for Disco Outcast here. Well worth checking out....

Raving 89 The Film

PUMP IT UP SOME.....

Orbital Electro Mix

To be honest, Chime and Belfast aside, I never really had much time for Orbital. However they are veterans of the scene and redeemed themselves a little bit by throwing down this classic electro mix on 6 Music a couple of weeks ago:

Download here:

PHIL HARTNOLL OLD SKOOL ELECTRO MIX

Shannon - Let The Music Play
Newcleus - Automan
Kid Frost - Rough Cut
Roxanne Shante - Bite This
Hashim - We're Rocking This Place
Imperial Brothers - We Come To Rock
Afrika Bambaatta - Planet Rock
RSW - The Phantom
Ryuichi Sakamoto - Riot In Lagos

Here's a robot:

Still Going........

Still Going: Still Going Theme (With some dodgy visuals)

Aesthetics

Crowhead

Straight out of Bonafide....

Crowhead

Born With Teeth

ATIC

Out of Manchester on the ATIC label, Crowhead is the debut long player from the artist formerly known as DJ Woody, alumni of Grand Central Records-the discerning head nodders label of choice at the back end of the Nineties.

Having returned to his roots to work with fellow Grand City associate Aim, ‘Born with Teeth’ admirably captures the GC vibe of slick beats, liberal use of melody and guests from roaming US rapper.

Kicking off with an uplifting bass driven melodic vibe, that almost recalls the sun rising over the Hacienda at dawn, opening track‘ECM’ does a great job in harnessing the Manc roots of the team This record is far from a retro chill-out trip however as it soon heads straight into the clipped beats and expertly delivered rhymes of ‘The Bends’, boosted by Niko dropping his chromatic flow.

From there in its a real music lovers delight, with the instrumental ‘Until You’re Dead’ delivering an almost perfect blend of straight up beats, samples and horns of doom, treading the line carefully between the funkier end of breaks and indulgent beat nodding.

Referencing hip- hop so heavily in what is essentially a modern UK electronic album is a difficult juggling act in itself. However rather than deferring to the default ATCQ position of shuffling beats and jazz samples employed by those trying to distance themselves from the bling; Crowhead takes the road less travelled by throwing a hefty slice of genuine experimentation into the pot.

This cross genre approach is never better than penultimate track ‘Super 8 Bit Disco’, a fucked up Atari bleep disco joint that manages to cram a reference to everything radical about growing up in inner-city UK in to four and a half minutes..

Unless I’m proved very wrong (it happens) then Crowhead is never going to bother the charts, or scoop a MOBO, and maybe it’s all the better for it. Having the breathing space of being detached from scenes and scene-makers seems to have given Crowhead time to breathe. A solid album, from a solid team- catch the crow before it flies.

Toby Hemming