808 State - Prebuild
(Original article taken from http://www.bigchill.net/story.html?id=956)
808 STATE - PREBUILD (REPHLEX)
Although John McCready once said "those who continue to look over their
shoulders will fall over" on a '93 poster advertising one of the first "back to
'88" nights at the Hacienda, Rephlex's decision to re-release 808 State's debut
album 'Newbuild' in 1999 gave some people cause to trip up and do a double-take
in the process. Tracks like 'Narcossa' weren't the stuff of the dial-an-anthem,
ten-a-penny crap compilations which swept the shelves (and bargain buckets) of
many a chain store, even "back in the day". Instead, these were the tunes which
helped define the blueprint for northern England's take on the black
post-industrial rhythms of Chicago and Detroit, fused with the funk, hip-hop and
electro grooves from the US east coast. Not for the first time in musical
history, the north-west English working class subcultures embraced and ran with
black American music, with mainstream America eventually buying it back years
later as a more commodified form.
The original 808 State line-up consisted of Graham Massey, Martin Price, and (A
Guy Called) Gerald Simpson. But Gerald left the group during the making of the
second album 'Quadrastate', and the Spinmasters DJs (Darren Partington and Andy
Barker) entered the fray. Whilst the personnel change undoubtedly helped shift
the dynamic towards something that gathered sufficient momentum to make the rest
of the country and beyond stand up and rave on (e.g. 'Pacific State', 'Cubik',
and 'The Only Rhyme That Bites', with MC Tunes, Gerald had also more than made
his mark on the UK acid house blueprint with the seminal 'Voodoo Ray', writing a
soundtrack to the book 'Trip City', relocating to Detroit for a while, and even
appearing at the Big Chill for two amazing sets in 2002 (on BCFM on Sunday
night), then in the club tent in 2003 at Eastnor.
In many ways, it could be argued that the original 808 State line-up was the
catalyst for some of the UK's most significant contributions to how dance music
evolved from the heady daze [sic] of acid house. Over a decade and a half after
the original release of 'Newbuild', Rephlex has found and pressed up some of the
lost tapes from which this seminal, influential album came from and in a flash
of divine inspiration, called the resultant album 'Prebuild'. This CD is an
aural snapshot that captures this significance.
From the outset, it's immediately apparent that you're listening to raw, ad hoc
jam sessions. In fact, this is exactly what makes 'Prebuild' so special. If you
listen carefully, it's possible to hear elements of tracks which came to light
in subsequent years. Given how these three innovators pursued their own distinct
paths, it'll not be long before your ears start to prick up at a fragment of a
bassline, or the way you realise that within an extended melodic jam an
annoyingly recognisable hook will be on the fringes of your conscious thought
processes.
'Clonezone' begat the influential 'Narcossa' mentioned earlier, but to my ears,
it was a continually pleasant surprise to hear so many references to early
Gerald tracks: 'Automatic' later became Gerald's solo release 'Automanik', and 'Johnnycab'
is the blueprint from which came the title track of the highly sought-after
cassette-only soundtrack to Trevor Miller's novel 'Trip City'. The early acid
house influences are much more apparent (and to my mind, still as fresh and
exciting today to listen to) with tracks such as 'Sex Mechanic' taking cues from
the likes of Adonis and Todd Terry - if you're not familiar with these names,
I'd strongly advise you check out Marshall Jefferson's 'Move Your Body: The
History of Chicago House' compilation from a couple of years ago (probably one
of the finest retrospective compilations of its ilk).
Overall, this CD is something which should mean different things to different
people, depending on their own trail they've blazed in the ever-morphing world
of electronic music. Whilst there's an accepted wisdom that dance music is
near-totally self-referential, this album captures the early drafts of how three
Mancs, a drum machine, and a few other bits of kit took the first steps into
what was then uncharted territory. If you've ever had even a passing interest in
A Guy Called Gerald or 808 State, or by anyone who claims to have been
influenced by them, you really ought to give this a listen.
bgpz
'Prebuild' is released on 2 October 2004 on Rephlex.
Written: 24th Sep, 04
Read: 267 times