DJ Alex Corton – Good Looking Records

Good Looking Records

Vice Versa / Greenfly – Studio-X2 X4DB

2004

   The first two tracks on this release are the last two tracks on CD 1 from the compilation LP. Just thought I’d start with that piece of info. It’s onto plate 2/3 in the X-2 Series and another double 12” to wet the beak. Time to cannonball off the top diving board and into the music. 

   Up first is ‘Trust’ from the Australian duo Vice Versa. They were reviewed a while back with their 2003 and 2004 releases on Good Looking Records (GLR060 & then GLR063). The Deshpande brothers provide another of their upbeat, busy and summer sounding productions, putting the extra coating of musical oil on the springs in the sound. While the work is one that doesn’t have the focus on a major breakdown or complex palette, it’s the basic nutrients of their skills which seep into the system, that they unleash so effectively. One for the bubblers and the skankers. 

    Side B is Reading based artist, Lawrence Green, AKA Greenfly who we reviewed back on Cookin’ Records (which will be in the blog eventually) and also on a couple of the GLR reviews (GLR056 & GLR061). The fresh and free flowing style he has is a breath of fresh air, jamming out that piano, the busy snare break and those soaring pads, spilling open the skies of wonder and falling like delicate drops of paradise into your soul. Greenfly was always putting a mask of the live performance goodness and an extra step into the rhythm and percussion of his work.

  We will hear from him again on CD 1 in a few seconds, and then again on Looking Good Records in a few months time. Big up to Lawrence! 

   On the CD we have another track that didn’t make it to vinyl and of all the pieces it’s the one I wish had. Nu Moon’s ‘Too Right’ is one of their epic displays of music writing which holds such a powerful and emotional degree of depth and intensity, that it really should have been a 12” single in its own right. The launch catapults you up through the building and building of this tune, hammering its way up from the chaos of ground level, rumbling, hurtling and piercing its way up through the clouds and twilight zones. The last part of the tune breaks free from the confines of gravity and atmospheric layers and the flotation and sparseness of space hit the hurtling craft, making the madness of speed and friction a past memory, releasing the tension into the seemingly still and unrestricted placement in space. A masterclass of music from the Nu Moon boys, Simon & Steve. 

  Another track that we have to accept as CD only is Greenfly’s ‘Gulfstream’ which is one of my favorite tracks of his, across all his GLR projects. The generating currents of sound gather to drift into the channels of radiant drum and bass from Greenfly, carrying the listener into the waves of unconscious tranquility which knocks on the door of recognition. The split in channels covers the newly sparked conscious awareness of the shivering caresses and melting arms that cocoon you in the magic of this track. Both the Nu Moon and Greenfly track really hit hard on this CD.

    Back to the music on the vinyl and it’s a couple more remixes we have on Side C & D of Part 2/3 of the series. We have on Side C, a remix of ‘Trust’ from plate one on this release, from Stress Level & TC1. Anthony Crook is TC1 and a familiar name on a number of projects from DJing to productions to label operations (Dispatch and now Metalheadz) and remains a pivotal member of the drum and bass world. He teams up with Graham Booth who is Stress Level. They put a real sense of the sun soaked beaches into the imagination of this tune, kicking open the carnival doors and making every little moment a party in your head. They took the original and injected a serum of Mardi Gras straight into its heart. I reviewed a track of theirs on Advance//d Recordings called ‘No Way Back’ that was featured on Progression Sessions 10, a few years back. They brought the party, that’s for sure. 

  Side D is our last on this 2/3, vinyl release, and it’s another remix of a Vice Versa tune, this time from Commix. He had the release on Good Looking called ‘Brass Eye’ on GLR064 and then we’ll hit another of his on Looking Good Records when we reach it. He lends a more rugged break and chest rattling bassline to the original of ‘Luck Of The Draw’, and it peps up the grooves that stem from it. George Levings made such good music, that it still astounds me how things turned out for him, with stitching up people, swindling money off them. A talent that could have kept a strong appreciation only lies in tatters now. It’s listening back to his work that now lessens the enjoyment a little, but the tunes still connect. Who knows, maybe he’s back making music as someone else..while watching over his shoulder.

    That’s Part 2/3 reviewed now, we hit the final part of the series tomorrow and I’ll be heading out tonight with the record box, to bring some tunes to the Austin D&B heads at Pop on West 6th. I hope anyone that can make it, are ready to lose it out there. It’s a treasure chest of tunes, guaranteed.