Maybe not IDM as we all now know it but answering a number of recent
questions....
Suprised no one mentioned 'Einstein' yet as a classic Keith Le Blanc
track. This was a single in '89 on Nettwork and was also on the 'Stranger
Than Fiction' LP. Around this time Keith also did a number a great gigs
in London.
The next 'proper' LP was 'Time Traveller' on his own Blanc label which
had also released the 'Tasteless Cuts', 'Raw' and 'Invisible' LPs which
were either anonymous or under the name DJ Spike. This period was, for
me, a low point in terms of quality and also featured the musically very
poor 'Ear Drum - Beats To Sample' which was really just a collection of
drum patterns.
Keith later guested on the Bomb The Bass LP 'Unknown Territory' along
with Wimbush and following on from this there was a number of 'Nights Of
Interference' in London. These were fairly experimental live performances
with Bomb The Bass and Tackhead/On-U sound musicians collaborating.
More recently the Tackhead team have been back together as The Strange
Parcels. An album appeared last year via On-U Sound, this picks up pretty
much where Tack>>Head left off though thankfully the vocals of Bernard
Fowler have been dispensed with. On this Jesse Rae, Basil Clarke (ex
Yargo) and Skip McDonald himself do the vocals. There is also a single by
Little Axe which features, as far as I can remember LeBlanc, Wimbush and
McDonald. This was a pretty recent release with Sherwood and
(surprisingly) Fluke mixes available. I think an LP is also due under
this name. Finally, I yesterday saw a single under the Interference name
in the On-U section at Rough Trade records. I _think_ this is new as I
never seen it before. However I didn't pick it up so I have no more info
than that.
OnNow: Khan - Sweet Pink Lemonade (Mille Plateaux 7)
jbuzza@cix.compulink.co.uk (Jon Burrell)