BRAINTRUST BLOG // 25.06.15
CHOSEN BY: GALAXIANS
Playlist chosen by us ahead of our show at the Waiting Room in London on July 17.
“I first saw Galaxians play at Tramlines last year in the back room of a social club in the outskirts of Sheffield. They had this intricate set up with multiple analog synthesizers going against a small acoustic drum kit, but they produced this uplifting disco sound going on. I loved the fact that their general positive vibe that they brought to a night meant they can slot onto genre bending bills and make punk kids fall in love with them. Drummer Matt Woodward is a DJ at the Release Yourself parties at Wharf Chambers and we’re delighted that he’s made a fifteen track mix for us. I guarantee you’ll find gems in here.” NIALL CUNNINGHAM (Braintrust)
Galaxians headline The Waiting Room with support from Teej on Friday 17 July. Tickets are available through: Billetto + DICE
Galaxians playlist:
1) MATRIX METALS ‘Ray Ban Meltdown’
Matrix Metals is Sam Mehran. He’s possibly more well known as a member of Test Icicles, but for us the MM record is his finest hour. It’s one of those records that defies categorization and people who dig it really dig it. A hard record to describe for sure, but it has a drugged-out, hypnotic, cyclical beauty to it, and it’s all the more amazing when you discover it’s essentially made from tape loops.
2) WICKED WITCH ‘Under Your Spell’
WW is the solo studio alter ego of Washington DC’s Richard Simms and this is from the compilation album ‘Chaos 1978-86’. Again, it’s hard to describe because it’s a pretty nuts record. It’s dark, wild, fucked up psychedelic machine funk, that’s pretty much the only way we can describe it. Matt picked this record up from a-Musik in Cologne recently.
3) RAVIOLI ME AWAY ‘Cat Call’
We played with RMA recently and enjoyed them a lot. They are Sian Dorrer, Rosie Ridgeway, and Alice Theobald and this one is taken from the album ‘The Inevitable Album’ on Good Job Records. It’s just a winner, firstly because it’s a straight up pop hit, secondly because the lyrics are good, and thirdly because the video has them doing some good David Byrne-style dancing in it.
4) SHOPPING ‘In Other Words’
Another ace band we’ve had the pleasure of playing with a few times over the past year. We both dig their album a lot and they’re always super-fun live. Shopping are Billy Easter, Rachel Aggs, and Andrew Milk. They’re also known for being members of other bands such as Wet Dog and Trash Kit. This is one of our favourite songs from their album ‘Consumer Complaints’ (Milk Records) and that guitar line just chops its way into the brain and stays for days.
5) ROLANDE GARROS ‘Polycrosscourt’
Rolande Garros is the alter ego / solo project of Tobias Piel, who is also one third of the trio Les Trucs from Frankfurt. We played with RG at the Robert Johnson club in Offenbach recently and it turned out to be one of the most memorable nights on our European tour this year. And he was one of many very nice people we met that night, too. And that sound system….oh my.
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6) J.A. GROOVE ‘Release The Tension’
This is, as far as we know, the only record ever released by Jeff Seifer and Archie Lucas. It’s something of an obscurity but is a regular feature of Matt’s DJ sets at the Release Yourself parties he hosts at Wharf Chambers in Leeds. It’s one of those post-disco / proto-house records from the mid-80s with a super-tight bass line and conga groove that just jumps out of the speakers and gets people up and onto the floor. At 10:48 minutes long it’s no radio-friendly pop hit. It’s for people who want to get in deep, y’know?
7) MADONNA ‘Lucky Star’
…..and speaking of radio friendly pop hits, this is one of our favourite Madonna songs. For us this is Madonna at her finest and in her most natural, instinctive setting. That early 80s NYC boogie funk club sound was just perfect for her in those first years. Of course, ‘Into The Groove’ is incredible and a more obvious choice (for THAT bass line alone) but the naivety and charm of those early songs is so attractive. It’s the sound of pop rapture.
8) KENTON NIX Featuring BOBBY YOUNGBLOOD ‘There’s Never Been No One Like You’
A West End Records NYC classic and christ, there are so many of those that picking one is a mission. Weirdly, we only came across this one fairly recently, despite being huge fans of the label. But that’s one of the many great things about music and buying records – just when you think you know every record on a label something pops up from a rack in a record shop and blows you away. This is one of those. It’s classic West End – soulful, shimmering, and beautifully arranged.
9) JAMES MASON ‘I Want Your Love’
This is a recent release on Amsterdam’s Rush Hour Records, but it’s actually two songs from 1984 and 1978. The A side ‘Nightgruv’ is really good too, and has a great proto-house vibe to it, but this one is a stunning, sexy, slow burner, more in the boogie style. One of the things we love on this jam is the combination of the slow beat with the crazy fast conga pattern. Marry that with the soulful vocal and those great piano chords and it’s a big win.
10) WALTER WHISENHUNT ORCHESTRA featuring GLORIA ANN TAYLOR ‘Deep Inside You’
This is a really beautiful song from 1973, and we read recently that the original EP – which also features the even more stunning ‘Love Is A Hurting Thing’ – is one of the most expensive disco / soul records ever. More importantly, it’s a gorgeous, eerie, seductive, super-soulful record from start to finish and every home should have one.
11) ADONIS Featuring THE ENDLESS POKER’S ‘!The Poke!’
Not our favourite cut on DJ International Records by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s something Jed picked up recently from Kompakt Records in Cologne when we did a bit of record shopping whilst on tour. It’s kind of a daft record, but just has that unmistakable late 80s Chicago house vibe, with those 303 sounds and that wobbly acid house bass line. And it’s always going to remind us of our time in Cologne which turned out to be a real highlight of the tour.
12) DIBLO DIBALA ‘Super K’
Diblo Dibala is a Congolese Soukous musican whose nickname is ‘Machine Gun’ because of his insane skill and speed on the guitar. This song is from a mid-80s album Matt picked up from Deco Records in Withington in Manchester the morning after we’d played a show at Fuel Cafe. If there’s a more positive and uplifting record than this in the entire world we’ve yet to hear it. Diblo’s records are a big influence on Matt’s other band Azores.
13) DEERHOOF ‘Paradise Girls’
Choosing just one Deerhoof song for a playlist is a near impossibility. Choosing a favourite top five albums is difficult enough and we are constantly amazed by their ability to keep writing genuinely incredible music after thirteen albums. Just such a great band and a constant inspiration as people, writers, musicians, the whole shabang. This one is from the most recent album La Isla Bonita.
14) UNIVERSAL ROBOT BAND ‘Barely Breaking Even’
It’s always difficult for us to put into words how much we love the combination of Leroy Burgess (as songwriter and performer), Greg Carmichael (as performer and producer), Patrick Adams (as producer) and John Morales (as remixer). For us this 1982 record is a benchmark and the pinnacle of the NYC post-disco / boogie era (there’s even a record label named after it). It’s just the perfect boogie jam and is a deejaying no-brainer. It always brings a full floor along with whoops and hollers.
15) GOLDEN TEACHER ‘Party People’
GT are Cassie Ojay, Charles Lavenac, Laurie Pitt, Oliver Pitt, Richard McMaster, and Sam Bellacosa. Together they somehow seem to effortlessly combine every element you’d want from a dance act and in live terms there’s probably no one to touch them right now, at least not as far as we know. When we played with them on tour recently their new material just floored us, and we like them a lot as people, too. They are part of Glasgow’s great tradition of community-focused experimental music and art.