Some scattered thoughts on dipole of Paul Oakenfold & Andrew Weatherall

On Saturday I had the opportunity of listening to a DJ set by Paul Oakenfold, the former DJ superstar of the 90's and 00's. The feeling of nostalgia was intense, hearing again classic tunes (even in bastardized versions for my taste) and remembering a forgotten era. During the event I recalled somehow the DJ set by the late Andrew Weatherall, performed in Athens in 2019, one year before his unfortunate death from pulmonary embolism. His set was very eclectic, consisting of playful tracks with the beat constraint under 122 bpm.

It is strange how two Englishmen that started in the same period but followed extremely different paths (Greg Wilson's article describes this matter way better than I could ever articulate) influenced my taste for electronic music throughout the years.

I familiarized myself with the iconic Essential Mixes of Paul Oakenfold at the start of the new century, the time at which he reached the ultimate stardom. My brother had even bought the seminal Global Underground 007: New York CD; while the mixing can not be considered smooth, the diverse track selection is superb. For several years, Paul Oakenfold was my favorite DJ, blending tracks from ambient and drum & based to progressive house & goa trance.

Ten years later, I was deeply disillussioned with the direction of electronic music. As a former trance-head, I was not interested at all in the new genres that emerged and the marketeering approach of popular DJs. Luckily for me, I came across with the ALFOS sessions performed by Andrew Weatherall and Sean Johnston. Surely, I was aware of Sir Andrew's early work (incl. Primal Scream, Sabres Of Paradise, etc.), but to be honest, I never performed a deep dive to go into details. Adopting an "it's never too late" mindset, I started listening more to his early & more contemporary works and I appreciated his approach on music production & mixing. Furthermore, I started liking other genres such as leftfield, nu-disco & indie dance, which were seamlessy interchanged in his sets. 

Back to 2019, after the completion of his DJ set in Athens, I approached Mr. Weatherall and shook his hand, congratulating him for the quirky set. He was very kind to thank me for my feedback, giving me the impression of a simple and humble man, despite his enormous contribution to electronic music. I performed the same gesture to his partner in crime, Sean Johnston, when he played an ALFOS set in a mini club at the centre of Athens in 2022. I am sure that Sir Andrew would be very proud that Sean Johnson preserves the atmosphere of the sets when they performed together. 

Fast forward to today, I did not have to chance to interact with Paul Oakenfold after the set (I left earlier prior the completion of the event), but I assume that it could be not possible due to his stardom persona (and frankly I was not interested in it). 

After many years of listening to electronic music, I am certain that these two figures were essential for crafting and evolving my taste in music. Paul Oakenfold (although irrelevant for me today) would introduce me to dance tunes that would be club mega-hits at the time and Andrew Weatherall would broaden my mind to explore different styles and appreciate more tunes that are not necessarily club-oriented. For the above reasons, I thank them both!

I will conclude with the obvious co-production:

HAPPY MONDAYS - HALLELUJAH (CLUB MIX)

Tune #118: MLO - Wimborne

One of my favorite Youtube channels is undoubtedly Abstructure, featuring original and custom-made video clips of the 90's electronic music cosmos, focused mostly on techno & ambient genres. I often return to the channel for an audiovisual experience of Electrotete - I Love You. In search of hidden gems of that era, I came across the official video clip of track MLO - Wimborne:

MLO - WIMBORNE

MLO was a music partnership between British musicians Pete Smith & Jon Tye, who had first met in Exeter during the late 70's through rival punk bands. Following their wandering in several bands and the acid house explosion in late 80's, they composed track New Generation, adopting the use of breakbeats instead of the four-on-the-floor rhythm formula. The demo was sent to Renaat Vandepapeliere, the head honcho of Belgian techno label R&S Records, and the first release was materialized in 1993; fascinated by the outer space and coming across the Manua Loa Observatory, MLO was deemed as suitable choice referring to the spatial aspect of music and as shorthand for word Mellow.

One year later, the duo was employed to create their debut album Io, which served as a soundtrack for a film of the same name, shown as live accompaniment to Pink Floyd gigs of that period. The film & album name originates from the seventh moon of Jupiter (Ιώ), which is the most volcanically active entity of our solar system.

Smith & Tye had to deliver the album in a short period of two weeks inside one of the world's most advanced multi-media studios. In return for their involvement in some tracks of Icelandic singer Ragga, they had unlimited access to the studio equipment, toying with Korg PS 3300 and an Emulator 2.

Despite the tight timeline, the result was excellent, providing a dreamlike ambient experience in space.

Io was released in 1994 by Rising High Records of the late Caspar Pound, with whom Pete Smith had worked extensively in various projects, such as The Hypnotist, Temple of Acid and Rising High Collective. Due to disputes regarding track royalties, the collaboration with the label ended abruptly and a lot of tracks, which were intended as the continuation of the debut album, remained unreleased. An additional album was released in the same year under the catering of the now defunct UK label i.t.p. Recordings. The final works of MLO were published in 1996, before its dissolution.

Fortunately, Music From Memory label curated in 2021 the compilation Oumuamua, which features a collection of previously unreleased material for the project. For more details, you may the refer to the interview of Jon Tye regarding the compilation.

In order to experience the journey, you can listen Io in full below:

MLO - IO

Tune #117: Latitude - Es La Rosa

At the start of the 90's UK club scene was already experiencing the explosion of acid house, which was emerged at the Second Summer of Love in '88. Meanwhile, the first generation of progressive house tracks has begun to surface with the support of legendary labels such as Guerilla & Limbo Records, championed by producers William Orbit & Leftfield and played in clubs by Sasha & John Digweed, prior to their stardom. Tunes of the genre that have been also presented in the blog are the following:

• Leftfield - Space Shanty
• Quivver - Saxy Lady
• Evolution - Jaywalkin'

Early progressive house tracks had the mixture of elements for a chugging dancefloor filler; dubby / groovy basslines accompanied by spacey & atmospheric synths & long chords. Back to 1991, a hidden artifact of that era can be found:

LATITUDE - ES LA ROSA (PIANO MIX)

LATITUDE - ES LA ROSA (GUITAR MIX)

Latitude was a short-lived project of art students David Hill and Ellen McAuslan, based in London. The duo was one of the first signings for Nude Records, mostly known for releasing the first works of English alternative rock band Suede.

Their first release was a white label for the discographic company, possibly influenced by the rising popularity of progressive house. Es La Rosa is a balearic prog tune, presented in two different editions; A-side contains more vocals with a leading piano melody, while the B-side is dubbier combined with a lead guitar! Both versions contain the classic stabs which are easily recognizable in the music style.

A nice trivia for the track is that it was the first vinyl release for Sean Johnston (performing mixing duties), curator of the ALFOS events along with the late Andrew Weatherall. IMO, it shares similarities with the remix of the latter for Sly And Lovechild – The World According To Sly & Lovechild (1990).

Little information can be found on the Internet regarding the group and its members. Only available information at the moment is that Ellen McAuslan continues to work in the art business as an animator and art director. I wonder if the group members are aware of their contribution to the early progressive music; the way it should be!

P.S. HAPPY NEW YEAR!