Made In Two Minutes

As you may have already read recently, we’ve seen a very welcome return to these pages from a Mr Ian McQuaid. Having been collecting rave records for the last 21 years he felt it was about time he began documenting his stacks of vinyl for others to enjoy through his new blog ‘Made In Two Minutes‘. Collecting vinyl between the good ol’ days of ’88 and ’09 Ian’s collection spans all the way from house and bleep rave, through hardcore, acid techno, jungle, 2step grime and UK funky. We’ve witnessed it in the flesh, he’s got a ridiculous collection… and that’s not a euphemism.

Each week the tracks are also going to be up for download for you lot to get your grubby little mits on, but you’ve been warned, they’re only going to be available for a limited time only…

In this week’s bumper edition, Ian provides us with some obsure utopian house from the likes of LFO (but not who you’re probably thinking of), Bleeps International and Ital Rockers.

LFO – Brainstorm 12

?

I always thought this LFO was the same as the LFO youre all thinking of – the Sheffield based Mark Steel, who was behind the classic bleep and bass track LFO (sorry if this is getting a bit confusing..). Actually, this LFO is none other than Paul n-n-n-n-nineteen Hardcastle, who set up Fast Forward Records to release house records, and coincidentally called himself LFO – in fact he probably had the name first.

The confusion is deepened by the fact that this 12, Brainstorm, sounds exactly like the kind of stuff Mark Steels LFO would have made – its full of menacing subs, alien synths and disembodied vocal samples. In fact, Id say its something of a neglected classic. I guess because its not that fashionable, its currently really cheap to buy on Discogs, and if I were you Id snap up while you can.

Bleeps International – Bleeps 12

Another one from 1990 on Paul Hardcastles Fast Forward label. Bleeps doesnt piss about, delivering a healthy dose of skitzed out video game bleeps and some fine speaker bothering low end. It pretty much nails how bleepy Sheffield techno sounds in my imagination, and its fairly unique in that its a contemporary tune that calls itself by a genre name, like an 03 grime tune being called Grime (which Ill be posting an example of at a later point).  For those of you not old (or English) enough to remember, the name is a play on Norman Fatboy Slim Cooks Beats International, who had a long spell in the charts in 1990 with the Clash sampling Dub Be Good To Me.

Seeing as the B Side to Bleeps is a remix that adds pretty much nothing to the original, Ive decided to give you a bonus instead, a cut from the Breaks, Bass and Bleeps LP that came out on React around 1991.

The comp featured  both Bleeps International, and also the previously posted Brainstorm, as well as this great track from Project 1. After a pleasing, if unimaginative warehouse rave opening, it drops into the weirdest pitched up dancehall sample Ive heard on a techno record – kind of like a Jamaican rave child up way past their bed time. Whilst there are loads of squeaky voiced soul and hip hop samples in UK rave, ragga generally got pitched down, or left alone, making this a sweet little oddity.

Ital Rockers – Ital’s Anthem

Thanks to DJ Tendraw for introducing me to this slow bleepy burner. Its such a UK record, taking the sharp electro snares and 808 drums of Detroit techno and teaming them with diasporic dub stylings. The lead synth sounds like the ghost of Augusto Pablos melodica run through a high pass filter, and Id say that the title is a blatant nod to Pablos weed drenched classic Itals Dub. Bassic was a Leeds based label that focused on local producers, and Tendraw assures me Itals Anthem was a hit in iconic Leeds club Back to Basics in the early 90s. If anyone can recommend any other Bassic tracks Id love to hear em

Content supplied by Ian McQuaid‘s Made In Two Minutes