DJHistory.com’s Frank Broughton and Bill Brewster (co-authors of esteemed dance bible ‘Last Night A DJ Saved My Life’ and the soon to be released ‘The Record Players: DJ Revolutionaries’), the duo have gathered together some of their favourite DJs and asked/persuaded/threatened them to divulge their own secret DJ weapons – bomb away!
Due to the amount of great CDs coming out last week, we’re a little behind on this one but you can’t ignore the DJHistory.com boys and first off is Bill Brewster himself with a very odd one called ‘Rusha’ by a space cadet called Jesse Rae (no, I’ve not heard of him either). This track could have been on the recent compilation Bustin’ Out 1983: New Wave To New Beat Volume 3 (or more accurately Vol. 2 as it was originally released in ’82) or even Brewster’s appearance on Jonny Trunk‘s OST early this year (not that I know it was on a sound track but it could have been).
Other names you’ll recognise are Prins Thomas (he of Prins Thomas CD earlier this year) that stays out on the leftfield with a fine interpretation of a long distance disco train ride (from Boxsaga), Chris ‘Modern House Is Rubbish’ Duckenfield) continues the theme with a suitably long R??yksop mix of Anneli Drecker’s ‘Sexy Love’ and Luke Solomon picks on Brennan Green Mix of ‘Demons’.
And then there’s Frank Tope (who re-edited Roxy Music’s ‘Angel Eyes‘ with Dean ‘Jazzy Vibes‘ Rudland you’ll recall) and his pick is a samba heavy jazz dub Nubian Mindz that’s also got train elements and to top that, there’s Bullet Train’s ‘Bang Bang’!
There’s some right oddities here like the Moroccan-French of Carmel’s ‘Sapho’ as selected by Moonboots who says “Any tune that sounds like Siouxsie & The Banshees meets Arabic dub disco is worth the hunt” and you can’t argue with that.
And I was pretty convinced that my favourite all time UK post-punk disco groovers were the Gang Of Four but in amongst Secret Weapons up pops the Diagram Brothers with a track ‘We Are All Animals’. This one wasn’t on the John Peel Session (as played by Stuart Maconie’s on Freak Zone the other day, fitting as it was International John Peel Day the weekend just gone. Chosen by the Rhythm Doctor, in the sleeve notes he says the Diagram Brother were “somewhere between Half Man Half Biscuit and Slim Gaillard”. Andy Diagram went onto make a name for himself in Pale Fountains and James and then lately, he’s been paddling his own canoe with a collaborative project the Spaceheads (there supposed to be a Diagram Brothers re-issue coming out so stay tuned).
But there’s lots of gems (as you’d hope) and it’s choc a bloc right up to the dirty jazz-funkin’ Franco disco Skylite ‘Boogie Butt’ ends the set; in addition to that bassline, there’s jingle bells on top that’s definitely earmarked for my Christmas box session in a couple of months.
It’s most odd that I’ve not heard many of these tracks before (and definitely couldn’t name them blind) but they are so mainstream in many ways as well, as it says on the tin, they all have a DJ history as Secret Weapons! Love it.
Reviewed: V/A – Secret Weapons (DJ History) Cat. No. DJHIST-002LP/DJHIST-002CD/DJHIST-002DL Release date: 4th October 2010
1. Jesse Rae – Rusha (chosen by Bill Brewster) (5:55)
2. Carmel – Sapho (chosen by Moonboots) (6:34)
3. Boxsaga – Zen & The Art Of Deadlines (chosen by Prins Thomas) (7:42)
4. Anneli Drecker – Sexy Love (R??yksopp Mix) (chosen by Chris Duckenfield) (6:37)
5. Suede – Determination (chosen by Kelvin Andrews) (4:11)
6. Red Hook Dreams – Your Love (Kenny Dope Remix) (chosen by Gerd Jansen) (5:49)
7. Diagram Brothers – We Are All Animals (chosen by Rhythm Doctor) (4:22)
8. Derrick Carter’s Sound Patrol Orchestra – Tripping Among The Stars (chosen by Luke Solomon) (7:06)
9. Mr. Gone – Mosquito Coast (Down To The Bone Club Mix) (chosen by Jon Marsh) (6:40)
10. Nubian Mindz – Samba 909 (chosen by Frank Tope) (8:09)
11. Bullet Train – Bang Bang (chosen by Psychemagik) (5:24)
12. Skylite – Boogie Butt (chosen by Lexx) (5:43)
Links:
www.djhistory.com
DJHistory: Jonny Trunk’s OST Show, 13th March 2010
Stuart Maconie’s Freak Zone with Psych-Electronica pioneers The Silver Apples guest on this week’s episode of the ‘zone and The Diagram Brothers (Peel Session)
I Didn’t Get Where I Am Today By Being A Right Git
My Bad Chest Feels Much Better Now
Postal Bargains
Sun, 8 Aug 2010, 18:00 on BBC 6 Music www.bbc.co.uk
