Round One to Round Five 1993-1999 Main Street Records
So Jacob Burns put me onto this compilation of Basic Channel’s house offshoot from the 90s. He’s a “cat” who enjoys a good “jam”. (This is how we say a person likes a record in the current US house friendly climate) So for a young “cat” Jacob sure likes him some old “jams”, as you can see.
Main Street was an offshoot from Basic Channel, basically a vehicle for them to do some more housey “jams” for “cats” who enjoyed their dubbier excursions but needed you know, some funkier SHIT to “blow up the spot”. Some musical Clearasil if you will.
What’s interesting (enough cats/jams) is how populist some of the tracks here are, as evidenced by some of the mixes being called “Club Vocal Mix”. Would anyone have the balls (that’s English for “Cojones”) to call a track they’d put their heart and soul into “Club Vocal Mix” in 2008? Did you know Basic Channel had a “Club Vocal Mix” in their back catalogue?
If I knew the origins of the word “upfront” rather than simply the context in which I’ve seen it used then I’d describe the Club Vocal Mixes on this record as “upfront”. Anyone want to explain what that lost word meant? People dancing around their bags?
Still, despite rising closer to the surface of the water than ever, you’d still know this was Basic Channel by the end. It gets darker towards in the last few tracks, and drifts into actual dub. Some of the tracks at the beginning though sound like they could be on some Ministry of Sound CD in 1995 (a good one.) And that’s a good thing I think, though you all probably know I enjoy muddying the waters.
The Club Vocal Mix of “New Day” for example seems just nicely formed house music, with a strong vocal. For all the talk of legacies and legends, you’re listening to a pretty simple Basic Channel here at times. I can remember Carl Craig recently saying he felt 00s minimal was entirely indebted to Basic Channel, not to Detroit, and when you hear this record you can see how even post-minimal deeper stuff was pre-empted to some extent by them.
If this sounds good to you then you can check out two tracks (sorry, “jams”) from this album below, which you can buy on Boomkat (Boomcat?) if you then want to hear the rest.
(Never really got going, this post, did it? Maybe play the streams first!)
Round One-I’m Your Brother (Chicago’s Twisted Mix):
Round Two-New Day (Club Vocal Mix):
clom wrote:
Lids? Man you don’t use lids on jams.
Back in the day the real shit just used a bit of wax paper, some cellophane and an elastic band around the top.
Lids make everything too easy.
Posted 09 Sep 2008 at 3:29 pm ¶
Ronan wrote:
I just want jam makers to give me a choice! If I want a lid why should I have to go to the hassle of buying a lidless jar of jam, buying a lid online (which inevitably is warped while it’s being delivered) and converting the lidless jam jar to a lidded one, but ending up with a crappy copy….
And jam makers wonder why people steal their product….
Posted 09 Sep 2008 at 3:32 pm ¶
Daragh wrote:
I’m just pretty disgusted by the wide availablity of cheap jam making technology. It seems like any kid these days can sit around with a bag of sugar, a bucket of fruit and a saucepan and lash out jam after jam. Obviously this is responsible for the glut of rubbish jams on the market these days.
Posted 09 Sep 2008 at 4:02 pm ¶
chrisdisco wrote:
glad you discovered this. really special comp. i am constantly amazed with what the basic channel guys have done. justus recently covered ‘new day’, which is kinda nice but fails compared to the original.
Posted 09 Sep 2008 at 4:03 pm ¶
clom wrote:
daragh, are you telling me you don’t grow your own fruit? APPALLING.
i bet you steal other people’s fruit.
it’s probably not even your own shaggin’ bucket is it?
Posted 09 Sep 2008 at 4:08 pm ¶
Ronan wrote:
I am so sick of picking up a really hot jam, only to find it is very similar to an older jam I’d already bought.
And I have to taste another fucking strawberry jam for 8 hours…jesus christ. The trouble with grandmas these days is they only spread one type of jam.
And the people who like that shit drink so much fucking tea that they can’t even taste a good fucking jam anyway.
It’s not even about the jams with those cats, just about who can drink the most fucking tea.
Posted 09 Sep 2008 at 4:18 pm ¶
Daragh wrote:
my fruit is 100% organic and grown by my own hands, none of this genetically modified, greenhouse shit the cats are into these days. lovingly crafted into jams using only the traditional methods, as befits a quality jam.
I will admit to occasionally not paying for jams but if I find them to be of sufficiently good quality I will always find a way to tip the jam maker, be it by paying for a fresh jar of that same jam, or another jam by that jam maker.
There’s no label on those jams in the picture, proper underground jam that.
Posted 09 Sep 2008 at 4:36 pm ¶
Ronan wrote:
Some of the best jams I ever had didn’t have a label on them, they were buried behind tons of shit jams, and when you tasted them it was like they were made from cat guts and burnt human hair.
Fuck accessible “trendy” jams, pomegranate can suck my motherfuckiing cock. That shit ain’t no motherfucking jam.
Posted 09 Sep 2008 at 4:38 pm ¶
clom wrote:
ronan, dude, don’t be wylin’ out on other jams and bringing the hate.
just show some love for the good jams,
just dig the jams you dig.
um, dig?
anyway, pomegranate is too astringent for jams. you need to boil that shit down into molasses.
Posted 09 Sep 2008 at 5:27 pm ¶
Joe wrote:
you know sometimes tea and jam go together, you just have to be moderate - like trying smaller cups, rather than a whole teapot - or just being a bit discerning with your choice of brew.
Posted 09 Sep 2008 at 8:03 pm ¶
andrew wrote:
every time i hear ‘new day’ out i scream uncontrollably. my favourite ever vocal house track
Posted 09 Sep 2008 at 10:22 pm ¶
leo wrote:
“new day” is one of the best house tracks ever! and chez damier and ron trent did one of their best tracks ever with that “chicago’s twisted mix”! so great.
Posted 10 Sep 2008 at 12:31 am ¶
leo wrote:
also check the dub of new day for some extremely dubby house - even more minimal than trak ii.
Posted 10 Sep 2008 at 12:32 am ¶
todd wrote:
how are we gonna play the streams first if you suggest it last ? no more dope in your jams !
Posted 10 Sep 2008 at 4:20 am ¶
Ronan wrote:
I figured you all skip to the streams anyway! Like happy school children in an Amish village.
Posted 10 Sep 2008 at 10:50 am ¶
jacob wrote:
the thing that makes me mad about cats and jams these days is that some cats think you can just serve jam any old way. NO! Jam must only be eaten on crumpets, with butter as well. Some of these new cats think you can eat it on toast and shit, wtf? I remember before crumpets, you only used to get jam on victoria sponges. Things were much, much realer back then.
Posted 10 Sep 2008 at 10:59 am ¶
beingboring wrote:
You should also check Justus Köhncke’s cover of “New Day” (released under his Kinky Justice moniker)
Posted 12 Sep 2008 at 7:00 pm ¶
Scott Ferguson wrote:
New Day! One of my favorite house tracks ever made. Have two dusty old copies sitting in my parents basement!
Posted 13 Sep 2008 at 4:52 am ¶
sean wrote:
“andrew wrote:
every time i hear ‘new day’ out i scream uncontrollably. my favourite ever vocal house track
Posted 09 Sep 2008 at 10:22 pm ¶ ”
yup. just one of those pefect tracks that never tires and still gives me the same hair-on-back-of-neck tingle as the first time i heard it
Posted 14 Sep 2008 at 3:01 pm ¶