808 STATE
Prebuild

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Rephlex CAT 807 CD

Newbuild was the defining UK acid house album, its 1988 release coalescing the disparate emerging elements of the E-generation into a seamless, hip-swivelling abstract built on beats and Manc madheads. Some 16 years later. Prebuild brings together a collection of previously unreleased lost tapes, pseudonym-releases, live mixes and radio sessions that outline the fizzing, hissing energy of '87-'88. The instantly recognisable 303 B-lines and the filter sweeps retain the palpable funk (in both senses) of a thousand dank cellars full of sweating, wild-eyed and shirtless punters ready to change whatever — through rubber limbs and rubber lips. For 808 State this meant gathering together as many black boxes as possible, splicing together old BBC tapes and jamming bare wires into sockets with matchsticks to access power — pioneers always live dangerously with results that are as are frantic and fuzzy round the edges as life was back then.

Joe Shooman