Best reissues and archival releases: February

Records from Honest Jon’s, Music From Memory, Blackest Ever Black and more feature in this month’s round-up.

Although this month’s most high profile reissue – at least as far as dance music circles is concerned – is undoubtedly Strut’s retrospective of Dance Mania Records, we’ve elected not to include Dance Mania Hardcore Traxx: Dance Mania Records 1986-1997 in this month’s round-up of the best reissues and archival releases. This shouldn’t be read as a comment on the quality of the collection by any means – read Brendan Arnott’s full review for proof of that – but that fact is that the number of Dance Mania reissues we’ve already seen in the past few years, some of which have come from the recently reborn label itself, negate the freshness of Strut’s compilation somewhat.

This month’s selection of essential reissues represents some comparatively more untapped musical ground, with special mention going to Honest Jon’s stellar 4LP collection of early 20th century music from Iran and Music From Memory’s retrospective of Venetian musician Gigi Masin – a set which has been on heavy rotation in the Juno Plus office since we got our hands on it a month ago.

Gigi Masin – Talk To The Sea (Music From Memory)

Launched by Redlight Records founders Tako Reyenga, Abel Nagenast and Jamie Tiller early in 2013, the Music From Memory label has only had one release prior to this, comprised of material from the 1980s private press output of Rhode Island resident Leon Lowman. On the strength of the label’s second release from Venetian ambient composer Gigi Masin however, they clearly know their stuff. Talk To The Sea covers 30 years of Masin’s work, from the 1980s to the present day. Largely going unknown at the time, Masin’s solo albums Wind from 1986 and Wind Collector from 1991 have since found cult appeal among collectors.

It’s not hard to see the appeal of Masin’s music when listening to Talk To The Sea. When you think of late ‘80s ambient music the immediate thought might be for something approaching faintly dodgy new age music or the well-worn tropes of ’80s analogue synthesiser productions, but the sparseness of Masin’s composition has a great deal more in common with the production on Talk Talk’s Spirit Of Eden than anything else, especially in the moments where the Italian’s fragile vocals are brought to the surface.
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Stefan Jaworzyn – Drained of Connotation (Blackest Ever Black)

It feels like you can’t move for archival releases of analogue hardware-based experimentation at the moment – as well as the new Delroy Edwards mini-LP on The Death Of Rave, recent times have seen Move D, Best Available Technology and Jorge Velez all release crusty rhythm experiments made in their younger days with the minimum of gear. Whilst it might be incorrect to suggest a trend is developing, it’s interesting that Blackest Ever Black’s most recent release fits somewhere roughly in the same spectrum.

Of course, being Blackest Ever Black, Drained of Connotation is not exactly your average proto-techno fodder; a collection of tracks from former Skullflower and Whitehouse member Stefan Jaworzyn, an artist described quite accurately by the label as “a notorious and energetic presence in the UK underground of the 1980s and ’90s”. Drained of Connotation is comprised of material recorded early in his career, when he lived in Cardiff in 1982, and was made using only a Korg MS10 or 20 and a Dr Rhythm drum machine. As such this collection of seven tracks is about as basic as techno gets. Anyone who enjoyed Ron Morelli’s Spit LP last year will probably be on board with Drained of Connotation; like Spit, this is very much the sound of misanthropic, faintly sociopathic techno. Having said that, the white noise rush of “The Nightclub Toilet” and nihilistic sonics of “Psychoanalytically Speaking, You’re Fucked” are the kind of thing that makes most comparable modern productions sound like Theo Parrish.
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Donato Dozzy & Nuel – The Aquaplano Sessions (Spectrum Spools)

Another reissue that could easily slot into the category of lo-fi techno experiments is the latest record from John Elliott’s Spectrum Spools label. Years before Voices From The Lake or last year’s Plays Bee Mask, revered producer Donato Dozzy and Nuel collaborated on the Aquaplano series of 12″s which were issued in limited quantities through Berlin’s Hard Wax store. As you’d expect, the prices for the original versions fetch a pretty penny on Discogs nowadays, but for good reason. Originally released in 2008, when techno was making the transition from between minimal to the grittier kind that has since swung back into favour today, the Aquaplano records are about as vivid a middle ground between the two as you could imagine.

Whether these records are quite as important as Spectrum Spools would have us believe is up for debate, but there’s no denying their relevance at a time when similarly crunchy techno seems to be all over the place. While it would be incorrect to try and compare anything on The Aquaplano Sessions with any of the self-consciously lo-fi dance music or noise-techno doing the rounds, the rolling crunch of “Aqua 3” could almost be something from either of Container’s two LPs for Spectrum Spools. In the main though, The Aquaplano Sessions is comprised of heady, psychedelically charged techno – the aqueous rhythms of “Aqua 6” and mid-tempo collision of gnarled bass and ambient textures on “Aqua 6” are the kind of thing that could only have come from the mind of Dozzy.
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Joe Delia – Ms 45: Original Soundtrack (Death Waltz Recording Company)

While Death Waltz’s first year of operations in 2012 might have seen Spencer Hickman’s label releasing some of the more well known examples of the horror film score – Zombie Flesh Eaters, Prince of Darkness and Halloween II for example – subsequent years have seen Hickman pushing ever further into the shady world of video nasties as well as expanding outwards with OSTs from documentaries like Room 237 and Horror Business. Whether it’s down to the competitive nature of the OST reissue business or just a desire on Hickman’s part to uncover more rough diamonds, it’s something that has arguably lent the label a great deal more credibility than most of their closest rivals.

Their latest reissue is a case in point. Ms. 45 is a 1981 US exploitation film directed by the the man behind the notorious serial killer movie Driller Killer, Abel Ferrara. The subject matter of Ms. 45 is just as lurid, telling the story of a mute seamstress who becomes a vengeance killer after being raped twice in the same day. As such, much of the early part of the soundtrack is shot through with particularly Carpenter-esque piano and synth vignettes, but the soundtrack becomes gradually more unhinged as the protagonist’s decline takes pace. The score itself is not all comprised of pensive piano melodies however, with unexpectedly energetic moments like “Bass & Drums Thana Waling” and “Ms. 45 Dance Party”, where the mood transforms instantly thanks to the type of ‘80s disco-funk which seems unique to exploitation movies. As far as Death Waltz’ catalogue of reissues go, it’s easily one of the more diverse scores in the collection.
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Various Artists – Let No One Judge You: Early Recordings From Iran 1906-1933 (Honest Jon’s)

Not counting last year’s two volumes of their ongoing London Is The Place For Me series, it’s been a while since Honest Jon’s has released an in-depth collection of archival music, which makes Let No One Judge You: Early Recordings From Iran 1906 – 1933 such a welcome collection. For obvious political reasons Iranian music is something rather under-represented in reissue culture, and Honest Jon’s have done quite a sterling job of what couldn’t have been an easy project.

Although the 4LP box set with slipcase and 20 page saddle stitched booklet makes this an impressive package from a collectors standpoint, it of course the music itself that takes centre stage. Restored from the original 78s, not all the music comes from Iran – eight of these tracks are culled from over 300 recordings made by the travelling Persian Concert Party above the Gramophone Company offices in 1909. It is however as accurate a snapshot as you’re likely to find of Iranian music during that time, representing female vocalists as well; the illuminating release notes explain that the title of the compilation comes from a track whose singer, known only as Helen, states: “Keep your cards close to your chest. Kiss nothing except the lips of your beloved and the rim of a cup of wine. Let no one judge you.”
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Scott Wilson