From Martin Sent Wed, Dec 3rd 1997, 19:58
From Martin Sent Wed, Dec 3rd 1997, 19:58
david holmes has had a long association w/ the sabres crew. i 1st came heard him on their "smokebelch II" single, and his remix of that track was widescreen acid strafed tribal pounding of the highest order. pretty amazing as it begins sounding like a fairly inoccuous piano based house shuffler. this version is pretty easily available on the "sabresonic II" compilation on warp. his best stuff imo is in a similar vein in that the tracks are basically one long crescendo, and if yer lucky end in a torrent of drums and acid squelch. the "johnny favourite" single on warp is a more subdued and sinister take on this approach but is also worth having. the saint etienne single "like a motorway" is a definate must, a blinding mix from holmes, plus an autechre mix, and anyone who is a sucker for shangri la's style pop death story songs (like me, unfortunately) will also enjoy the original. did this have a chemical bros mix when they were still the dust bros? don't have it w/ me so i can't check, but they did a lot of similar forgettable thumpers around this time. actually they still do. -btw- a. weatherall also weighed in w/ a great dubby hip hop mix of saint etienne's "only love can break your heart" some time earlier. around '94 holmes was also part of 4 boy 1 girl action on his own exploding plastic (...?) imprint , with at least kooner + burns of the sabres, who i think released 2 singles. unfortunately i only have 1 track, "hawaiian death stomp", on a cd comp "euphoria" (which is also reccommended). starts off w/ a patti smith sample (?) "i haven't fucked much w/ the past, but i've fucked plenty w/ the future.." and blasts off into a raging percussion meltdown. anyone know if any of this stuff is still available? and then the cinematic techno "this films crap..." phase, which left me cold. i traded the cd. "let's get killed" is better, funky grooves, jazzy touches, short tracks. tho' i'd swap it anyday for the two 4 boy 1 girl action singles. -martin