Rough Fields, Maya Jane Coles & Killing Joke

What, you may be asking is the connection between these three quite disparate artistes.. well, I’ve seen them all play live and they’re all British, but more importantly they’ve all recently released records that have moved me sufficiently to go out and buy the actual CD.. the first physical bits of music I’ve bought in far too long (at least a year)

Honestly, I’m so impressed by the Rough Fields record Edge of the Firelight. The singles released over the last six months or so have all been excellent, but hearing them all collected together really adds something to the whole. It still amazes me that I know someone that can write music this accomplished. It is pretty much flawless to my ears, breathtaking in its scope and ambition. Jim layers washes of sound, looped guitars and his fragile vocals, over skittery beats and percussion to create a truly a wonderful thing..

Listen to it on Spotify, but then go and buy it. Earn Jim enough money so he’ll make some more of this sublime loveliness…

About a year or so ago, And and I went to a Bank Holiday 2020Vision event at the less than impressive Village Underground in Shoreditch. Run by the DJ Ralph Lawson, 2020Vision is a dance music record label with a hugely impressive record (sorry) of releasing high quality tuneage to the world. I personally have at least 25, 2020Vision 12″s from when I used to DJ in the olden times..

On the bill that night was a young DJ by the name of Maya Jane Coles. Word was just starting to spread about how good she was and we were duly impressed.

A year later, and in the smallish (but perfectly formed) world of quality dance music, Maya Jane has gone stratospheric, and tops out a fantastic 12 months with what could easily be the mix of the year. Released through the ever consistent !K7 label out of Berlin, Maya Jane Coles DJ Kicks reflects everything that is a good about house music today, covering a wide base of sounds, but with the emphasis most definitely on quality. There’s house (obviously) electro, dub step, techno and even some old school acid and UK Garage in there.

In my humble opinion, this is what the young uns bring to dance music, their references and sources are now so broad, that they hear connections in sounds and styles that old bods like me would never think about putting together… And I know I’m old enough to be her father and I shouldn’t be getting excited by what 20 something women are doing blah, blah..  But dance music for me is still such a big thing, and I’m pretty certain that repetitive beats and machine made sounds will always move me.  So it’s excellent that the next generation are still nurturing and developing this wonderful music.

And finally Killing Joke…

MMXII is not a ground breaking record you understand, but its so much more than just another record, and is certainly an impressive return to form. Jaz is still warning the world of injustice and the coming apocalypse, but he sounds more convincing than he has for while, whilst Geordie, Youth and Paul Ferguson provide a tight, incendiary soundtrack full of power and ace riffs, that echo and magnify the doom laded prophecies of their intense front man…

Marvellous.. Check out my favourite track Rapture if you don’t believe me…

(bit of a shit cover though eh?)

Fabric Fliers from 2001

I was inspired by finding the Lemon Jelly Lucky bag the other day, so I thought I’d delve through the rest of my collected stuff, to see what else I could find, (and belive me, there’s loads…)

First up are some beautiful Fabric fliers from 10 years ago, a very scary thought. They are by the artist Tommy Penton  whose work I haven’t seen much of recently, but whose distinctive and immediately recognisable style seemed to be everywhere a decade or so ago, adorning album sleeves, magazine covers and book jackets. Check out his site, see what you recognise…

I particularly enjoyed this set of images when they came out. I liked the story of a morning they told over the six months: In January we see our man at breakfast, February he leaves the house, March and April see him travelling on the underground (I like his reflection in the carriage window), whilst in May and June he walks out to sit in the park.. And much like Tommi Ungerer or Maurice Sendak before him, Penton uses the device of a little repeated motif in every image (in this case a cat) linking them all together. Very nice…

Little A tells me that we went to at least three or four of these nights, and it’s interesting to read some of the names, still relevant (in my opinion) and still banging it out on a regular basis: Tom Middleton, Terry Francis, John Digweed (natch), Ralph Lawson, Bill Brewster and Lee Burridge to name just a few… Whilst my “what are they doing now/ greatly missed” list would have to include Circulation, Dave Angel, Doc Martin and our favourite deep house don, Jon Marsh.

I’ve written about Fabric’s excellently varied and democratic approach to design before, and these fliers are another example of the club giving  young illustrators free reign, without dictating a house style, an approach which is very much to be commended.

If you’ve got this far, I’ll finish with the footnote that this is actually my 200th post… and I’m no where near bored yet… So thanks for tuning in and hopefully the next 200 will be just as good…