Here comes Emotional Rescue and Konduko’s last in their series of Noel Williams/King Sporty reissues, this time looking at later electro productions and the hip-hop/boogie influenced ‘Sun Country’. Vocals and co-production come from Williams’ long-time partner Betty Wright and as well as a vocal and instrumental mix there’s a longform remix by Bay Area disco dub stalwarts, 40 Thieves.
As one of the finest and most stylishly eclectic labels out there, you never know where Emotional Rescue will go next. This time out they head into a world of Afro-cosmic. Bôkaye’s 1990 gem ‘Ethno Groove’ stands out as a classic of the genre and joins the dots between the early house and techno sounds that were sweeping Italy with new age ideals, Afro drums and chunky tribal percussion next to Balearic synths. It features syncopated analogue beats and live percussion and as well as the original, this 12” features two of the further mixes that came in 1994.
Completing a trilogy of reissues from the Indipop label, Emotional Rescue celebrates its 10th Anniversary by looking again at the ground-breaking music of Steve Coe and his label. Having worked with Steve right at the start of Emotional Rescue, it’s fantastic his special mix of Indian Classical and Dance Pop under the spotlight once more, highlighting his role in helping to kick start the 1980s huge interest in world music, while achieving considerable commercial success and cross-appeal.
Emotional Rescue reaches its 100th reissue in its 10th year with a landmark, a collection of previously unreleased songs from Brenda Ray. Encouraged and cajoled since the label’s inception, Brenda Ray’s (Kenny) music has gone from cult curio to cult status in that time, as her mix of DIY/post punk, dub reggae, jazz and pop transcends reached admiring audiences. Following the completion of Naafi Sandwich in 1985 and the subsequent recordings as Brenda And The Beach Balls – the sought after Volume 1 LP in 1986 and three singles on Siren/Virgin in 1987/88 – her releases might of stopped for almost two decades but she never stopped recording. The 10 songs show not only continuous activity in her North-West home studio, but to be consistently creative, moving forward and relevant. Hip-Hop, Street Soul and House all feature alongside Brenda’s unmistakeable Be-Pop-Dub-Pop song writing. Working as always with partner Gerry Kenny aka Sir Freddie Viadukt, plus a cohort of friends joining across the sphere.
Emotional welcomes Kris Baha with ‘Barely Alive’, his first 12″ for Especial. Remixes start with Timothy J Fairplay who laces his trademark echoplexxed wash for a cold wave mover. Next, prodigy Job Sifre builds on his acclaimed debuts with a remodel that goes straight to ‘that’ basement, mixing his love of electro, new wave and industrial. To close, the legend of Das Ding creates a re-alternate remix, fusing his unique fuzz with Baha’s ode for a brittle finale.
Emotional Response presents a special project, a collection of music from Bartosz Kruczynski, recorded for “Selected Media” and presented here as a time-piece of his continuing works. Kruczynski returns to the ambient and ethereal – plus a touch of dub techno – to showcase his expansive collaborative work with Polish studio, TVP Culture. Given free artistic license, the 15 ‘short form’ recordings included here were for programming, in the main, on modern Polish Art including the likes of Magdalena Abakanowicz, Miroslaw Balka and Tadeusz Kantor, as well as some international aspects for Enrico Prampolini, Ai Weiwei and Monica Bonvicini.
Emotional Rescue reissue ‘Into Dark Water’, the second album from UK post-industrial ambient pioneers O Yuki Conjugate (OYC).
The willfully obscure OYC formed in Nottingham in 1982 and have had a sporadic career on the outskirts of musical culture ever since. Initially associated with the early 80s post-industrial scene OYC quietly forged their own brand of ambient music at a time when it was distinctly unfashionable to do so. ‘Into Dark Water’ was recorded in 1986 over four days in an eight-track garage studio in Nottingham. Produced and engineered by John Kaukis, the result was a blend of flutes, percussion, electronics and loops that focused their sound and became for many the definitive OYC album. Originally released in 1987 on the Leeds-based Final Image label, ‘Into Dark Water’ quickly sold out and has been highly sought after ever since. The re-issue, featuring a lovingly recreated sleeve, makes a vinyl version of this classic available again for the first time in over 30 years.
Emotional Response presents Elsewhere LVI. the 4th of soFa’s compilation series. This double LP takes us to the darker side of the elsewhere ouvre, via another 12 artist / 12 track travelogue. With certain future-retro feelings, this is club music for the open minded. An album that roams from dreamy ambient territories to rhythmic patterns – internationalism for the adventurous DJ. Rusty slow-mo bangers and post-industrial synth-wave kidnap the listener to a dystopic and shady wasteland. Elements of ethnic folk, vintage vocoders and Gamelan samples all united on one homogeneous selection. With artists now known to welcoming new brethren, this is an audio trip to leave reality behind. Exotic, hypnotic, tactile, trance-inducing meditations, washed down with a spoonful of magic.
Emotional Rescue announces an EP with two (un)classic songs from Thomas Leer, remastered, reappraised and reinterpreted with new versions by Bullion. The release starts with ‘Saving Grace’, a long famous cosmic classic, it’s mid-tempo, spacey, lifting repetition is the perfect soundtrack for trips straight to the stars. This is backed with ‘Tight As A Drum’, a quintessential Leer production, where Teutonic drums is overlaid with sequencers and synth tones to elevate the song to some kind of disorientating outer-dimensional dub, while his lucid, spoken word vocals instill degradation and reinvention. Bullion is offering his own take on these two songs. A revered artist in his own time, the warmth and depth of his versions takes the originals to his own inner world.
The spiritual and uplifting music of Clifford White is highlighted with two of his most sought after songs, taken from his 1989 album ‘The Lifespring’, and presented here in a special extended 12″ for the first time.
Emotional Rescue presents French 80s electronic band Takenoko and their unique and quirky euro synth-pop, here as collected works from 1982 to 1988. The compilation includes their 3 singles plus a number of unreleased songs heard for the first time. Formed in 1981 when Bruno Aujard, Jean Louis Simonet and Jean Michel Louisor met in Bordeaux, France, the trio took their admiration of post punk bands like Talking Heads and Gang Of Four and mixed it with the pioneering sound of Kraftwerk and the new wave of UK electronic bands and set about composing songs with the simple aim to make people dance. Encompassing their interest in Japanese culture, Takenoko, meaning young bamboo shoot – a metaphor for teenager in Japan – was born.
Emotional Rescue returns to the music of Takenoko, the Bordeaux based synth-pop project from 1982-1988, to follow their LP collection L’Amour Est Mon Arme (ERC062), with an EP of remixes from Dresden’s cult-like producer, Sneaker DJ.
It’s been a hot minute since Timothy J. Fairplay slipped on his Junior Fairplay guise, but he’s done just that for this bleep-tastic new 12″ on (Emotional) Especial. “End Of Love” is unabashed in its embrace of early Yorkshire techno tones, making a fine job of resurrecting the bleep spectre and letting it shake up the dance once more. Roy Of The Ravers is a smart choice of remixer, and he brings an off-kilter acid rub to the table in his idiosyncratic, braindance-inflected style. The B-side is equal laden with purposefully dusty dance grooves transplanted from the late 80s / early 90s, with “Faxes From The Future” hitting a particularly sharp point in its lazy breakbeat roll and the clanging harmonies of the stabs.
Mannequin, Emotional Rescue and Blowpipe come together to release the music of Dutch post-punk, industrial outsiders Nexda, by releasing a collection of music drawn from all their single and EP vinyl releases, to offer a compelling album. Taken from two 12′ EPs, a split 7′ and a flexi 7′, all released in 1982, the music within Word & Numbers captures striking compositions, part of, but some way removed from their contemporary post-punk bands coming out of the Dutch Ultra’ scene of the time.
Jeremy Campbell and R. Zanzibar return as Out 2 with their debut full length, Showcase. Following their recent Moving EP, the duo expand their mix of New York off-kilter pop lyrical poetics riding over percussive desk-dub funk grooves.
The King Sporty reissue series continues with the lesser known, but no less worthy, Rock Attack. This first time release of the song under the King Sporty name – having previously only been released as by the vocalist in The Ex Tras, Johnny Griffin – brings in to focus the breadth of music, numerous alias and versions used by Noel Williams on his Konduko label. This is backed with another specially crated Discomix done in fine style by discoid duo, Faze Action.
Emotional Rescue returns to the music of “dark ambient” pioneers O Yuki Conjugate (OYC) with the reissue of their debut album, ‘Scene in Mirage’. Released in 1984, it’s post-industrial; cold wave overtures mixed with an ambient oeuvre created a compelling album that has gained cult status. Quickly selling out in its original pressing, inexplicably their record label decided not to re-press, so an expanded cassette version called ‘Scene In Mirage/Soundtracks’ was re-released on the band’s own Final Image label with an accompanying video. Here, Emotional Rescue’s re-issue combines the best of both versions in a lovingly recreated sleeve taken from the original design templates. Based around original members Roger Horberry and Andrew Hulme, OYC is now returning in its fourth incarnation with live shows and hopefully, new music to come. Watch the horizon.
Emotional Rescue delves deep in to the past with the release of the first ever recordings by UK post-industrial, ambient pioneers O Yuki Conjugate (OYC). Recorded in Nottingham in 1983, the EP’s four tracks showcase OYC’s early sound: a beat-driven, lo-fi that places them alongside the early British electronic pioneers.
Dark Entries and Emotional Rescue team up to further explore Psychic TV’s Acid House years. Psychic TV was formed by Genesis P-Orridge and Peter Christopherson of Throbbing Gristle with Alex Fergusson of Alternative TV in 1981. After various line up changes, the band shifted direction to dance oriented songs influenced by the House and Techno scenes of Detroit and Chicago. By 1988 the group included Dave Ball of Soft Cell, Fred Giannelli of Turning Shrines and Matthew Best of Carcrash International. During the summer of 1988 the group recorded a batch of songs at Time Square Studios in London that would appear under the guise of various artists compilations Jack The Tab’ and ‘Tekno Acid Beat’. The idea behind these ‘compilations’ of imaginary artists was creating a sense that a healthy acid house scene existed in the UK.
Emotional Rescue and Malka Tuti join forces to bring a collection of the music of C Cat Trance. Drawing on the rhythms and melodies of Africa and the Middle East to produce a World Beat across some 6 EP and 4 LPs, here drawn together on a special double LP compilation. From the legendary Shake The Mind to the percussive, ethnic meets club inspired songs like Sudaniyya or the previously unreleased Some Day Soon, the album highlights a project that stood out from the post-punk haze with striking scales and time signatures to develop a unique sound. Formed by world music fan and multi-instrumentalist John Rees Lewis upon leaving post post-funk pioneers Medium Medium, the group retained the intensity of the former, but in a considerable new direction. Teaming up with fellow ex-band member Nigel Kingston Stone, together they formed the backbone of the band around a continual stream of guest players. Exotic, dense, tribal rhythms propel a mixture of club, pop and world music, creating an atmospheric fusion that can be heard across the 12 pieces. The alt-industrial feel of She Steals Cars and Screaming With You is countered by avant-percussive Dalbouka and I Looked At You or the Balearic vibes of Take Me To The Beach and They Made Them Up.
The Hipodrome Of Music 