Aphex Twin's Rephlex imprint is to release 12" remixes of New Order tracks on 13 September. Blue Monday (So Hot Mix) and Confusion (Acid House Mix) were created by 808 State for live performances in Manchester in the 80s and precede Prebuild, which gathers their music from that period. 808 State's Graham Massey explains the tracks' genesis to David Hemingway.

Why did you make these tracks?

They date to 1988, when, as the first incarnation of 808 State - Gerald Simpson, Martin Price and Graham Massey - we played a lot of underground parties in and around Manchester. Blue Monday and Confusion were in our set as crowd pacifiers if two hours of bleep mayhem wound them up too much. They were Manc anthems and we had the sequences written on stickers on our 101 synths. We recorded them as part of a cassette to take to the Hacienda Hot night. That's why it's got Gerald singing "so hot" all over Blue Monday. We finished it, walked the mile to the club, and Jon Da Silva dropped it from our cassette into his set, there and then. It was, as they say, a top buzz, mate!

Why release them now?

Autechre's Sean Booth asked if I had any early acid like our Newbuild, so I dug out some reel-to-reels and cassettes and made him a CD. Sean must have played it to Mr. Aphex, who offered to put it out. They'd done a great job reissuing Newbuild in triple vinyl and on CD.

How do you feel about the tracks now?

They've a naive charm and fit in an acid set perfectly.

[Author: Record Collector]