Discogs Bargain Bin: #1 Open Spaces

Music

Every fortnight, Nathan Gregory Wilkins and myself (Ivan Smagghe), will provide you with a piece of our 'Discogs Bargain Bin'. There is a cult of the rare expensive 12" or LP, that's fine (meeeeeh). But there is a much more intense pleasure in the cheap pleasure of an unknown tuppence (this is not a metaphor). These are great records in all cases, at least we think so and propose in our NTS show, Channeling.

This week, I am asking Nathan about a black and yellow EP (those things with more tracks than a 12" – double cheap then – but less than a LP).

So Nathan, where did you find that piece of cheap?

I found it in Academy Records in Brooklyn. The track title "Sunrise Paradise Garage" jumped out at me like a friendly mugger.

"Sunrise Paradise Garage", I can see why the attraction, though the title is a bit of an oxymoron. The track does not sound like a NYC/Chicago record, it sounds like some Manc back from Amnesia did too many pills and tried to copy "Chime" by Orbital.It has even got some weird prog-jazz bass on it (that may be me).Are a lot of those bargain bin records gonna be kind of "wrong"?

Well it was made by Italians in 1990, there's that wonderful mediterraneans getting US house music a bit mixed up thing going on (kind of the reverse of the Chicago house guys getting Italo disco a bit skew-whiff). Nothing about this track should work but somehow idoes, the whole thing is definitely greater than a sum of its parts. I'd describe this record as charmingly naive. I dearly hope that all of our future bargain bin selections will be slightly "wrong".