What do you get when you combine two Northern artists (Ian Blevins & Phil Moody AKA Al Gobi), six northern remixers (6th Finger, NY*AK and Last Waltz – who are three people – before you start questioning my maths) and a Northern label (that’s us)?

Gobi One Kinobi.

Al Gobi (named whilst looking at an Indian Takeaway menu) supply us with two shockingly original tracks, with a host of stellar remixes from their own friends and favourites.

First up - Change Acid. Wonky, weird, quirky disco – with a lot of punch. An infectious bassline, fonk-geetar and ominous vocals intoning ‘Acid…is goooood’.

Darlington natives 6th Finger are first to offer up their take on the original. Rick takes things down a deeper, spacier disco route – with emphasis on throb and atmosphere.

Next - NY*AK adds his signature sound to the original. Led with whiplash percussion, NY*AK teases a few of the original samples into a detroit warehouse builder.

Now in some ways this review is probably a little biased. I’ll say that now.

Yes, Andras Fox was one of the first of the APR extended family – and we owe him a pretty huge debt for letting us release ‘Your Life’. That said though, if ‘Daydreaming’ landed on my doorstep and the name Andras Fox was completely new to me – I’d still be penning this review.

For those of you who dont know – Andras Fox is a musician/artist/bohemian from Melbourne, Australia. He attended the Red Bull Music Academy in 2010 – and he’s been at the centre of Melbourne’s beat scene. The short bio on his Bancamp reads “Andras Fox likes human hands, wood panelling and drum machines. Moving between tape recordings, MPC production and live performance, his music is tactile and imperfect”; that’s pretty much all you need to know.

‘Daydreaming’ is only his second solo release – a collection of 2 to 3 minute skits, if you can call them that. What he’s done here is magnificent – there are ten tracks,  and about a million ideas. Each track sounds half experimental, half studio-jam – but where there is the possibility of trying to cram too much in, or not covering enough with such short tracks – Fox manages to find a very comfortable middle-ground. Each track feels perfectly formed, and even though the total playtime clocks in at just over 19 minutes – this really does feel like a cohesive LP – a body of work to be proud of.

This is an absolute must (but I would say that). It’s available on limited 10″ (which I can imagine are gone already), Limited CD (100 made; at time of writing this – only 15 left) and digital download.

Daydreaming

Artist: Andras Fox
Title: Daydreaming

Tracklist (CD)

1. That’s All
2. Strungout
3. Cartoon Jungle
4. Daydreaming
5. Bamboo’s Blues
6. Voicememo 5:32am
7. ABC’s
8. Touchy (Instrumental)
9. Japanese Goodbye

Released: 01 May 2012
Label: This Thing
Cat: TT004
Format: 10″ Vinyl, CD, MP3

OUR RATING:

Par·al·lax

   [Par-uh-laks]

Noun

1. The apparent displacement of an observed object due to a change in the position of the observer.

Music.  It’s a pretty little thing isn’t it?

A primary, resolute connection that we all share in a world of apparent disbelief and uncertainty.  Sounds, rhythm and beats, something that we can all understand, some better than others.  But it is the one true universal language that we can all speak.

So why is it that we all have such a disagreement over what is good, and what is bad?  Surely, a universal language should be appropriately understood by all?  Taste is an arbitrary feeling that perhaps is the problem we have with the unique vocal qualities of various lascivious languages. Sarcasm, tone, volume, all things that we can confuse in our language and the same applies for the beauty and technicality of music.  It all sounds different to each one of us, even if in some ways, it sounds exactly the same.

We live in an era of corporate greed. Some of the true musicians are being drowned out by the consumer’s choice to keep supporting the acts that do nothing for the art or message. It’s hard to say with whom the blame lays. Do the ‘artists’ devalue the subject and artistry of audio or are the corporations merely giving them, the masses of which I find myself secluded, providing them with what they want?

One direction. I can think of only one rather precise direction I would like this band to be heading in, and it involves a colourful side to my imagination I cannot legally divulge or recommend. Is this due to the preconceptions I have of them as a band, or am I missing something that this band offers musically that I have overlooked? In my opinion, no, not really. They are still a corporate band who have a particular style, a particular look because they are told to do so. They did manage to use the word ‘anointed’ in one of their songs however, and I did find that impressive.

However, if I step back and view this from a larger perspective, what they do offer is easy to listen to, inoffensive sound garble that you uncontrollably hum along with whenever it comes on. They make literally millions of people across the world scream with unadulterated glee, and sob emotional, joyful tears into their cheap and nasty merchandise. People did that for the likes of Lennon, too. So really, should I be judging them for that, or stepping back and reminding myself that there is more than one way to skin that 4/4 beat feline ? A parallax is an object appearing differently when the viewpoint of the original observer is changed. As such, I shouldn’t judge this band the same way I do Rolling Stones, or The Doors. They aren’t on the same wavelength, and they aren’t trying to achieve the same thing.

On the flip side, we have artists, true artists, the sort of people who shun big labels in the pursuit of a more total and profound message with which they imbue all of their tracks, EP’s and records. The problem being that without the big money advertising, the in your face method of production and class, it is incredibly hard for your message to ever be received. Do people simply listen to the likes of the pushy pop brands because they don’t have a choice? No, they don’t, but the vast majority of folk don’t go looking for that magical sound, and wouldn’t even know where to begin looking. I’m fortunate to have some good friends and family who can provide me such things, but even I feel I overlook great and important music because it simply isn’t there, right in front of my ever so blind eyes.

This will never go away, but neither will the artistry of aural capability.  Music is evocative, lustful, and penetrates the soul.  It can make your hairs stand on end and your heart rate bounce. The moment your favourite riff kicks in, a track drops, a sinful piece of verbose poetry woven into the fabric of three guitars and a ridiculous indie drummer. We all have our language.  I can recall exact places and moments in my life due to the influence of certain licks, beats and rhymes.  Music was my friend long before any woman, man, or child. Of course, there are also people who have no interest in this side of music, and simply want a big bass beat to which they can move their hips and feet. It’s why we have so many songs that mention clubs with the vicarious ability of young gentlemen, and the profound way in which they can meet women utilizing their main skill brackets. (Dropping bass, buying expensive sought after champagne, entering the VIP area. All incredibly viable ways to attract the woman of your dreams.) Again, their perspective is different, and they feel differently about music. They are perhaps harder to convince of a parallax movement.

I try not to criticize any type of music or any particular artist before I have listened and properly evaluated what they are trying to do, and what they are trying to achieve.  I have wanted to be the creator, but at the time of writing, I am unfortunately just the appreciator of fine works.

We should all be a parallax. Never undermine or fail to appreciate a piece of music by not understanding what it is supposed to be. Not every painting is the Mona Lisa, but nobody expects it that way. I have my favoured sounds, as do my friends, and the beauty of our universal language is that we can share and express these audible qualities without saying a word, and still begin to understand each other that much better. This is an amazing thing that we can do in a world where it is so hard to communicate.

Never be afraid to step back and admire that which you do not understand, for what you do not understand could be the answer to all of your questions.

You’ve just been unfortunate enough not to ask.

The McGurk Effect is a new project from Paxton Fettel and Aske Teis Wiborg. While Aske is under the radar as far as releases are concerned – Paxton’s made quite a name for himself as an in demand DJ, and has some cracking releases on the likes of Greta Cottage Workshop,  Noir, Falk and Side B Underground.

The boys are both incredibly accomplished in the studio and as DJs – and it shows.

The three tracks on offer here are sublime:

Speltede Spasser begins with big reverberated fairground synth lines, and is quickly followed by a twisted, laidback stringy guitar. A vocal sample (with swearing in!!) follows during the break, and a big wet chunky bassline drops – bringing the whole thing to a rather happy and full completeness.

No Foreign Feeling is all about the big Wurlitzer hook, bobbing along on distant, dreamy pianos and keys. Pitched up or down, this one’s my pick of the bunch – and is an absolute grinner.

Lastly we have Sporadic – which is anything but it’s namesake. Deeper and somewhat darker that it’s two counterparts on Serf Sounds - Sporadic thuds along with a tight-ass groove, complemented by atmospheric vocal snippets and lazy horns. A lovely way to round off proceedings.

Adrian Dickinson is the man behind said edits – ranging from deep subdued disco revisions to straight up 80s stompers, the last few years has seen Touchsoul pump out the edits at a relentless rate.  What makes Adrian’s work stand out though is the sheer quality – he literally never lets up. Every track that pops up on our Soundcloud feed is right on the money – and with edits, consistency is key. The genre gets quite a bit of stick in some parts, and justifiably so – there’s a lot of dross out thee, badly made chopshop jobs – but Touchsoul edits are the pedigree, and have earned their places in all the proper crates.

Touchsoul Music: Purrrrr

Recently, Adrian has decided to take the proverbial digital bull by the proverbial digital horns and launch his own imprint – Touchsoul Music.

The first release dropped on 20th April, and – not surprisingly, it’s a corker. Including tracks by the man himself, Beaten Space probe, APR faves MannMadeMusic and Ian Blevins (one half of Al Gobi) – it’s a debut that speaks volumes by its sheer quality. Dont take our word for it though – here’s what juno download had to say about it:

Having previously appeared on Chop Shop Digital and others, British scalpel specialist Touchsoul has decided to launch his own imprint. First up on the label is a split EP featuring a quartet of deliciously summery disco and jazz-funk reworks from Touchsoul and pals. Touchsoul’s own contribution is “Floyd’s Solution”, a deliciously bumpin’, low-slung rework of a track previously cut-up by Dr Dunks on his recent Disco Deviance 12″. Beaten Space Probe’s hustlin’ “Slow Down” is probably the highlight, though Manmade Music’s lazy jazz-funk groover “I’m In Dub With Nancy” runs it close – as does Ian Blevins’ darkroom disco-houser “Feed Le Flame”.

TOUCHSOUL 001 is available exclusively at Juno Download now. If you havent already, grab yourself a copy – it would be a wise purchase – and keep an eye out for future releases.

It’s called MidCity and it’s by Jesse Bru.

We’ve botched together a five track preview, below:

We hope you’re as excited as we are! More details coming soon…

Martin Scorsese filmed the spectacle, interviewed The Band and the show’s plethora of special guests (Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Neil Diamond to namedrop a few…), airbrushed a coke-hanger from Neil Young’s nose and packaged it up into one of the greatest rockumentaries ever.

Robbie Robertson, The Bands front man and songwriter – recalls a conversation with Ronnie Hawkins during the film:

He called me up, and I said, “Sure I’d like a job. What does it mean? What do I do?” And he said, “Well, son, you won’t make much money, but you’ll get more pussy than Frank Sinatra.”

Now, I can’t possibly confirm or deny whether ‘Pussy’ was the motivation that brought North East England’s DJ and production trio ‘Last Waltz’ together, or even if their name was inspired by Scorsese’s documentary. I rather like to think both are true though. Last Waltz certainly have a rock’n’roll ethos though – and they certainly like to do things a little differently.

Last Waltz is made up of three members; Mick Rolfe, Geoff Leopard and El.Dee – and in turn, Last Waltz is only a third of their collaborative output. As well as DJing and producing under the Last Waltz moniker, they also run a nomadic and quirky underground party – ‘Dada’ – and their own vinyl-only imprint, ‘Object of Distraction’.

As Last Waltz they DJ regularly at some of Newcastle’s best parties and nighteries, as well as guesting up and down the country – recently and notably warming up for Trevor Jackson at Shameless Disco and Mark E at Throwback. Other bookings for 2012 will see them at Dalston Superstore and Croatia’s Garden Festival.

Their studio output is, in my humble opinion – exceptional. The music they produce is esoteric, slightly to the left and at all times made for dancing. It’s little wonder that their tracks have pricked up the ears of A&R types at forward thinking labels such as Endless Flight, Futureboogie, Andy Blake’s World Unknown, Tusk Wax and People Get Real’s Join Our Club.

Last Waltz: Beats and beards

Their ‘Dada’ parties are the stuff of legend in and around Newcastle. In a city that touts itself as Stag and Hen party capital of Europe and whose biggest recent export is chav-media-monster ‘Geordie Shore’ – the Dada parties are a beacon of light to any rug-cutter with a discernible taste in music. The venues are always different and unique –

disused music halls, roof terraces, Jazz Cafe’s and basement restaurants – and the guest DJs are first class. They’ve had Marcus Marr, Felix Dickinson, Nick The Record and Chris Duckenfield.

This roving reporter has a ticket for their next party in May which is set to take place in the basement of an Italian eatery in the heart of the city – an event review may or may not surface, depending on how things go on the night…

Lastly – there’s ‘Object of Distraction’ – the lads highly limited, Vinyl-only label. They released their first release ‘Criminal World’ in December of last year – a cover version of Metro’s original track backed up by a hefty-disco version by Phoreski and the lads own Italo-esque re-excursion. Further releases are in the pipeline; one to watch boys and girls.

So – Mick, Geoff and El.Dee are understandably busy – but we managed to catch up with Geoff to attempt to gain further insight into their collective mind. Results below:

APR:  Last Waltz are really making their mark this year by all accounts; you seem to have really put the operation into overdrive – your name popping up on a lot of decent flyers and releases signed to top-rung labels such as Futureboogie and Endless Flight. Looking from the outside in, all this appears to have happened pretty quickly. Is this the case, and if so – was there a trigger?

LW: That’s really kind of you to say. It’s really quite hard to pick a “day one” for our own music, because it’s always been something that’s been bubbling away in the background in some form or another. We spent a long time working away on our first release for Object of Distraction, which was kind of beset with problems and delays from pressing, sorting a distributor etc etc etc. In the meantime we were just all getting on with making bits, both together and separately, and sending them out to friends (and friends of friends).
There’s never been any great big master plan regarding the releases, but when we took the time to look up from working on OoD1 we realised that in the period we’d been concentrating on getting it released, we’d ended up with quite a bit of interest from people who wanted to release the other music we’d been making.

APR: So in terms of the creative process involved, is the material we’ve been hearing lately the result of individual efforts thrown into the last waltz pot? How do the three of you work together?

LW: I wouldn’t say there was a standard creative process for us.
All of the songs are all 3 of us. On a few occasions there may have been only one or two of us doing the main part of the track, but editing and arranging are often the most important parts of a piece of music, which is something we all have an involvement in, even if it’s just listening and saying you’re completely happy with what’s been done. Without meaning to sound too wanky, we’re all introducing each other to different sounds regularly and we spend that much time working together, or just drinking together, that even subconsciously we can’t really help but have an influence on each other.
We are getting a bit more formalised in what we’re doing now though, mainly because we’re working with live musicians for a lot of our newer stuff, which has had the effect of forcing us in to a more regimented mind-set because we’re wouldn’t be just wasting our own time in the studio anymore.

Last Waltz – Trinket (Preview) [Forthcoming on Futureboogie]

APR: Can you tell us more about the addition of live musicians to the equation?

LW: We’re probably making this sound like a bigger deal than it is. Mick has always performed as a live musician, both in bands and as a solo performer, so he’s very much immersed in that world. A lot of mine his and Lee’s mutual friends are musicians and we know a lot of talented people from the region who are doing really exciting things. I don’t think it’s ever been our intention to make purely electronic music as all 3 of us have very wide tastes.
But that’s not to say we’ve suddenly become a band or anything. We’ve just got the opportunity to use a live studio as well as continuing to make music how we already have been, so we’re seeing what we come up with.

APR: Can you talk us through the releases you’ve got coming up?

LW: I can talk you through the ones I’m allowed to mention, but there’s a couple we’ve been asked to keep hush for now.
Our next release is on Audio Parallax and it’s a remix of Al Gobi, which is a project that our friend Ian Blevins is involved with. Around about the same time we’ve also got the next release on World unknown, which is a split 12 with a guy from South Shields who calls himself Emile Strunz. His side is real analogue stomper and ours is a more of an industrial chugger.
Personally I’ve been a huge admirer of Andy Blake, one of the guys behind World unknown, since he ran a label called Dissident a few years back, so for me in particular that release  feels a bit surreal (in a good way). After that we’ve got a 12″ out on Futureboogie with a couple of our tracks, plus a remix by our old friends Bad Passion, who run an ace party in London.
Then after that we’ve got an EP on Tusk which we’ve promised we won’t give very much away about. There’s also a bunch of remixes we’re working away on for a few labels and artists, one of which is especially exciting, and a bunch of other possible releases in the meantime, which again I’m not really in a position to discuss at the mo.
It’s all very flattering that these people are up for working with us though.

Last Waltz – Lovebites (Preview) [Forthcoming on World Unknown]

APR: You’re certainly keeping up momentum! As well as a packed release schedule, you have your Dada parties running full pelt. The night breaks the current mould – quirky venues and booking DJs that my mother’s never heard of. What’s the story behind Dada?

LW: Well, the 3 of us had being DJing together for a few years as a kind of interchangeable partnership as the residents at a weekly club that was really really good at the time. We’d made the decision to start working together a bit more formerly when El.Dee started throwing some parties in a restaurant basement with people like Todd Terje, Phoreski, Steve Kotie etc. That was around about 4 or 5 years ago. The parties were great, but the venue got closed and that kind of fizzled out.
Then a couple of years later the 3 of us had a crack again. The 3 of us started a party called “Last Waltz”, because it was on a Sunday basically (and given the connotations it’s fucking cool name). Last Waltz was doing brilliantly, but we were doing it in league with a notorious shit bag of a venue owner, who royally fucked us over on a bank holiday, thinking that things were going so well that we’d have little choice than to just take it. Being the contrary wankers that we were, we told him to stick his venue up his arse and just shitcanned the whole endeavour.

I think it was El.Dee who initially pointed out the fact, when confronted by the list of “superstars” we were being forced to consider, that we were about to start booking people we didn’t like to bring in people we didn’t know.

Dada: DiY Disco

Anyway, without going in to any detail, a series of events in our personal lives gave us cause to sit back and rethink everything.
We were making a decision about the next big booking we were going to go with, as we’d realised that was the only way to ensure the numbers we needed to keep the beast moving along. I think it was El.Dee who initially pointed out the fact, when confronted by the list of “superstars” we were being forced to consider, that we were about to start booking people we didn’t like to bring in people we didn’t know. The simplicity of this point gave us all cause to question what we were doing and we thought fuck it (again) and jacked in the weekly parties.
What we did instead is look for a venue that we really wanted to play in and set about  inviting the people who “knew the score” as it were. We struck gold with the Jazz Cafe, which is a mad little spot that has stood untouched for around 30 years. There’s really nowhere else like it. We just announced we were doing a secret party and sent out some invites. We were absolutely blown away by the vibe of the party. People were just properly going for it, and the size of the venue pretty much forced everyone to get to know each other too, which was brilliant. After that we just kept on cracking on at different spots and some sort of following just seemed to develop.
Colin left to concentrate on his business, and to be honest the vibe was moving away from branding or fancy artwork anyway, we just needed a piece of paper saying where and when. We’ve thrown parties in Warehouses, on rooftops, in basements and we’ve recently been using a derelict Victorian music hall. We still book the occasional guest, but only because we really want to hear them and in most cases they’re generally unheard of locally anyway. The maddest thing we actually came to realise was that the minute we stopped treating it as job and just started to enjoy it; that was the point were it started doing well on its own.
Actually, I’ll use this as an opportunity for a plug, as our next party is a prime example of our booking policy.
Without giving away the venue, we’re doing a party on July 27th with 2 DJs who, while not being hugely well-known outside of a select few proper heads, we feel are possibly 2 of the most exciting DJs we’ve heard in a very long time. Theyre both from Japan and it’s a really rare opportunity to cath them in the UK, never mind the North.
The guys are DJ Kent aka The Backwoods who is part of Forces of Nature with KZA, and Chida who runs Ene Records.
I’m bound to say this, but they really are unmissable.

Last Waltz – Tangiers [Endless Flight]

APR: You’re kidding! I still listen to the KZA mix that came out on Endless Flight a few years ago  - I’ll definitely be showing my face at that one!
So that leaves Object of Distraction. Anything in the pipeline?

LW: We were just talking about that the other day actually.
There’s been talks of repressing OOD1 for a further handstamped 100, just because we’ve been getting asked about it. For OoD2 i think we’ve decided to go the extra mile. The plan is to go purely vinyl only, limit the distribution and just do a very, very limited press with some really special packaging.
This basically flies in the face of common wisdom regarding maximizing exposure etc, but we feel it would be nice to make something special. Vinyl is pretty much the last remaining non disposable physical format for music, so it feels like a nice idea to both increase the inherent value of a release by its exclusivity, as well as rewarding someone for making the choice of supporting it by giving them something that’s physically a pleasure to own.
It wont be for a while yet though, as we’re quite enjoying everyone else putting in the hard work releasing our music at the moment.

APR: And finally, anything else you want to add, promote, tout?

LW: Actually no, which surprises me.

Keep your finger on the Last Waltz pulse using the links below:

Say either of those words to me and the very first thing that pops into my head is the memory of scrambling up the ladder of my cabin bed, diving onto the mattress, slipping on a pair of headphones and pressing play on a huge, clunky red coloured Sony Walkman.

I had the house to myself that particular afternoon and I listened to three albums in full. The first was Iron Maiden’s ‘Number of the Beast’, the second was Jean Michelle Jarre’s ‘Oxygene’ and the third was Michael Jackson’s ‘Bad’. While this wasn’t exactly my first memory of music or listening to tapes, and certainly if I was to make a list of albums that influenced my current taste’s, ‘Number of the Beast’ would be propping up the lower entries – it seems to be one of the most vivid, a real game changer.

I think the key factor was the experience. By that age I’d been exposed to a lot of music; mainly tapes my dad played at home or in the car – he had pretty eclectic tastes, but he was fond of 50s Rock’n’roll as driving music – but I’d never owned the experience. That afternoon alone on my bunk was the very first time I’d listened through a pair of headphones, and the very first time I’d chosen what to listen to – had full control. The slab of a walkman and the tapes themselves were my older brothers but it wasn’t long before I’d pestered my parents to invest in a walkman and hifi of my own.

You cant scratch, or indeed sniff, an MP3...

I’ll always have a love for tapes, if only because that memory still makes me smile. And I still have those tapes (don’t tell my brother). Tapes started my personal music journey, which moved to Vinyl (and recording vinyl onto tapes), CDs and (the dreaded) non-physical formats.

So, when I received a message from Andrew Morrison (the man behind the excellent Adventures in Disco blog) telling me about his new venture, I was understandably excited.

Adventures in Dubbing is a record label who’s releases are limited to 100 units, contain two tracks by artists which Andrew has championed on the blog – and are only available on tape.

I caught up with Andrew to ask him about the label, the blog and his plans for the future:

APR: In an age of MP3, iPods and diminishing physical music sales – starting a label on a format that’s almost obsolete is a pretty bold move – but an admirable one. Where did the idea come from? 

AM: I think the seed was planted when I was having a post-Christmas clear out. I had a drawer full of mini-discs and 7” that were headed for the loft but there were also a couple of tapes in there. When I’d moved house a few years back I’d (stupidly) got rid of all my tapes so those two were the only survivors, which made me feel pretty sad to be honest. I’d spent most of my formative years with all those tapes and I really wish I’d kept hold of them now. Anyway, a couple of days later I noticed that DFA Records were selling a cassingle of the YACHT track Shangri-La. If it had been a 12” or 7” I wouldn’t have cared but this was on tape, it seemed like too much of a coincidence and I had to have it. I couldn’t stop thinking about that tape after I’d bought it and I knew I wanted to release my own, I just need to figure out how to do it.

ADUB001: Duke Of Burlington – Flash (Scratchandsniff Re-Rub)

APR: So what was the next step?

AM: Number one on the list was finding out if anyone still actually sold tapes. I’d read plenty of articles about the demise of the cassette so I’d assumed it might be quite difficult to get hold of some custom wound ones. A quick Google search proved me wrong; there are still plenty of companies out there selling tapes, which was a good sign. Once I’d come up with a name for the label I just needed to get some music to release. There were a few guys I’d covered on the blog that I was really keen to get on board and Scratchandsniff was actually the first person I approached. He liked the idea and put together a couple of edits for me.

I couldn’t stop thinking about that tape after I’d bought it and I knew I wanted to release my own, I just need to figure out how to do it.

APR: You cover a lot of music on the blog, edits and original tracks. Will the Adventures in Dubbing releases reflect that – or will they be primarily edits?

AM: I would really like to get some original tracks at some point but I’m leaving it up to whoever is making the music to decide what they‘d like to be released. Not just in terms of edits or original material but also genre. With the blog I’m generally writing about music that falls within certain parameters but with the label I’d like to push things a little.

APR: The artwork on the Scratchandsniff tape is gorgeous. How and why did you enlist Donald Ely?

AM: It really is something special; I was kind of blown away when I first saw it. As soon as I had the idea for the label there was a thought in the back of my mind that Donald would be the perfect person to do the artwork. I wanted the label to have a certain aesthetic and I knew he could capture that, to me the cover was just as important as the music inside so I really wanted him to be on board. It was through Twitter that we became aware of each other and I was just really impressed with the illustrations that he would post on there. He’s already agreed to do that artwork for the next tape so I can’t wait to see what he comes up with.

ADUB001: Johnny Pate – Shaft In Africa (Scratchandsniff Re-Rub)

APR: Can you give us an indication as to what tape 2 will be like?

AM: To be honest I’m not really sure. I’m expecting a couple of tracks very shortly but I have absolutely no idea what they’ll be like! I’ll be posting some previews on Soundcloud as soon as I get them though so keep an eye out.

APR: Ha, quite a refreshing way to work man! I think I’m just as excited as you are…The blog certainly doesn’t seem to have suffered while you’ve been setting up the label – in fact, it seems to be going from strength to strength (including getting a mention on Guardian online’s Blog Jam). What’s next?

AM: It’s going really well at the moment, I was a little bit worried it might get neglected while I was getting the label off the ground but I’m glad to say that hasn’t happened.  I didn’t really have any plans when I started but it just seems to have grown and grown over the last year and a bit.  It’s something that I really enjoy doing so I was really happy about the Guardian Piece.  I’ve not got any big plans for the blog but I would like to start writing more in-depth pieces eventually.  I’m still making edits now and then but I’d really like to get some original material together and release it on the label.  I just need to find the time to fit it all in!

Keep track of Andrew’s adventures in disco and dubbing using the links below, and do yourself a favour and grab a copy of  ADUB001 before they’re all gone: