Long since a bringer of joy and great music to our inbox, West Norwood Cassette Library’s Bob Bhamra’s enthusiasm for the game is infectious. After hearing DJ C in Untold’s FACT mix he made it his own personal mission to track him down and snag a few of his unreleased cuts for his label, and it’s this commitment to going that little bit further to chase something he believes in, which has so genuinely struck a chord with us. As a producer Bharma’s anthemic ‘Blonde on Blonde’ is set to be the first release on the brand new TEAL imprint - hitting like Martyn does with his new trademark booming, relentless kick its coming correct with a deconstructed Pearson Sound remix on the flip – and his ‘What It Is’ track from the first WNCL release still stands out in any mix it’s wheeled out in.
In the wake of his label’s 3rd vinyl release, ‘Mrs Fingers’ - Bhamra’s self styled tribute to Larry Heard, placed over a stripped down dubstep template - he’s not only roped in Echochord’s dub techno don Quantec for a remix on the vinyl version but he’s also sought out Punch Drunk’s most recent artist, Ekoplekz, to submit a version.
“Ekoplekz surprised me this week by sending me a remix (or replekz, if you will) of ‘Mrs Fingers,’ completely out of the blue,” Bhamra recalled to me recently. “I was mostly surprised because his performances (live and recorded) are strictly analogue and improvised so I wasn't sure any remixes were ever on the cards... anyway, I checked the remix and it’s pretty bonkers.”
An experimental musician residing in Bristol, Ekoplekz just released the 20th 12” on Peverlist’s Punch Drunk label, a move that astounded many. Moving acres away from the usual oddball dancefloor pressure the label is so good at housing the two tracks, ‘Distended Dub’ and ‘Stalag Zero’ are pure sound experiments, reportedly made on nothing but analogue equipment. ‘Distended Dub’ takes a suitably heavy bass pulse and splatters it with sheet noise and swells for 8 minutes whilst ‘Stalag Zero’ veers through atmospherics and tortured Indian string instruments in a decidedly ‘BBC Radiophonic Workshop’ kind of way, igniting the ghosts of Delia Derbyshire and John Baker as it careers through its textures.
So to put it simply, we’re stoked and indebted to be able to bring you the premiere of the Ekoplekz ‘Replekz’ version of ‘Mrs Fingers.’ Taking the tonal qualities of the original version’s main riff, Ekoplekz thuds the whole thing out, deploying barrages of distorted kick drums, diamond edged stabs of noise and a severe talent for unleashing the requisite amount of reverb at any given time. It’s a sound experiment that really works; a dark and subtle almost beat-less (in the conventional sense) progression that stamps the Ekoplekz production process all over it while just hinting and the melody of the original.
DOWNLOAD: West Norwood Cassette Library – Mrs Fingers (Ekoplekz Replekz)
Both WNCL003, ‘Mrs Fingers’ b/w Quantec Remix and DRUNK020, Ekoplekz’s ‘Distended Dub’ b/w ‘Stalag Zero’ are out now. TEAL001, WNCL’s ‘Blonde on Blonde’ b/w Pearson Sound Remix is out 20th December.
Audio of nearly all of these is available at our Hivemind.fm show archive: mixcloud.com/sonicrouter
Links:
http://westnorwoodcassettelibrary.blogspot.com
http://ekoplekznews.wordpress.com
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