Sailing Ships – Perry Granville

Released today on Brighton’s reliably excellent Higher Love Recordings is this fine two tracker from newcomer Perry Granville. The menacing cover artwork give a clue to the contents, a dark, moonlit shot of the rusting wreckage of the old West pier hinting at some dark, twisted productions within. Reeking of smoke machines and amyl, the 8 minute acidic throb of ‘Sailing Ships’ sounds like a new beat echo from 1988 blasting from the Bocaccio’s infamous Klipschorns. It’s dark, disorientating and right on the money. Track two ‘New Arp4’ is even slower and sludgier, with old school break beats, tweaking acid lines and atmospheric vocal lines creating a soundtrack for dark after hours dancefloor missions. Out now via Bandcamp (see below) or Juno Download.

This Is Belgium? The New Beat Story…

Following quite a bit of interest in yesterday’s Rhythm Device post, I thought I’d compile some material as a brief guide to ‘New Beat for Beginners’. I remember hearing lots of these tracks in British clubs as part of the anything goes ‘Balearic Beats‘ acid house scene in 1988 -1989, but in Europe these tracks formed a self contained and influential (if brief) subculture. The first link below is a new beat documentary from those famous Belgians, Soulwax, detailing the origins  of the scene, a 1991 article from Richard Norris fleshes out the dark, industrial heart of  this Euro proto-techno and this ’89 radio playlist shows the breadth of influences on the sound. Check the other links for some dancing Popes and Rabbis, S&M industrial smiley jumpers and…