Thursday 31 January 2013

Thursday 10 January 2013

From the Top Drawer XLVI - The Irresistible Force

Paradox - "What happens when an unstoppable (irresistible) force meets an immovable object?"
Well, in this case you get some excellent chill-out ambient music courtesy of a producer and DJ called Mixmaster Morris, the man who came up with the great quote - 'It's time to lie down and be counted'. A very influential figure in the UK underground electronic scene, and a chillout room pioneer.

 
 
Here's his bio -
Mixmaster Morris started Dj-ing in 80s at indie gigs and then on pirate radio/tv station Network 21. Opened his first club in 1985, Toured as DJ with The Shamen, then signed with Rising High Records for the albums Flying High & Global Chillage. Joined up with Pete Namlook to record two albums as Dreamfish. Did two sessions for BBC’s John Peel. Residencies at underground clubs like Lost and Megatripolis. Remixed Coldcut’s Autumn Leaves which went on to become a classic. Played at Love Parade and Glastonbury festival throughout the 90s.
Wrote for NME, Mixmag and i-D magazine, presented The Chill Out Zone on Kiss FM.Toured Europe, USA and Japan repeatedly, made mix CDs like The Morning After, Abstract Funk Theory, God Bless The Chilled. Signed with Ninja Tunes and made the album Its Tomorrow Already and singles Nepalese Bliss & Fish Dances. Got involved with the Big Chill at the very beginning in 1994 and played every year since for them. Appeared in the cult movie Modulations. Recorded an album in Japan with Jonah Sharp and Harry Hosono of YMO. Made a TV commercial, soundtracked a play on Radio 3 and remixed the Dr Who theme for the BBC. Talked about Brian Eno on C4. Moved his Nubient club to Big Chill Bar. Won Ibiza Chillout DJ of the year – twice. Did two mixes for Rob da Banks show on Radio 1. Remixed Anne Garner and 6th Sense. Made an Altermodern podcast for the Tate Britain. 2010 won Best Downtempo DJ again, and started new job running Apollo label as part of R+S…
Dating from the early 1990s (September 1992 amd October 1993 respectively) here are the two sessions that Morris recorded for the John Peel radio show which I recorded myself directly from a stereo FM tuner onto chrome cassette so the sound quality is fairly well preserved (although some of 'Spiritual High' suffers from tape damage - apologies for that).

The first session features different, slightly truncated versions of 'Spiritual High' and 'Mountain High' which appeared on the 1992 album 'Flying High', released on Rising High Records (a fine groundbreaking label while it lasted), as well as the non-album cut 'Space Is The Place'.
The second features two tracks that I think only appeared on compilation albums - 'Lotus Position' and '(I Left My Hardcore In) San Francisco'.
All are perfect examples of Morris' user-friendly, soothing, twinkling, playful style from this period.

So -
John Peel session broadcast on 19 September 1992
- Spiritual High (some slight tape damage)
- Mountain High
- Space Is The Place
&
John Peel session broadcast on 11th October 1993
- Lotus Position
- (I Left My Hardcore In) San Francisco

Ripped @320kbps as individual tracks
Get it HERE
(I've started to use 7-Zip to archive the files as it's a good free open source piece of kit)


http://mixmastermorris.net/