Namlook III

An afternoon walk through Clapham Junction one Saturday unearthed these 3 techno / ambient albums.

Whoever donated these to charity must have been getting rid of their 1993/94 section of CDs. As alongside there were releases from the likes of Salt Tank, Orbital, Warp and Seefeel as well. Cashflow prevented me from buying the lot but here are the three that I did.

Artist: FFWD
Title: FFWD
Label: Inter-Modo & Discipline (inta 001 cd) 1994

FFWD >>

Up until the release of ‘Pomme Fritz‘ in 1994, The Orb could do me know wrong. The first two albums were, and still are, essential listening. A mix of styles from ambient dub to techno and back. Perfect for mainroom, backroom and headphone listening. A ticket to their gig at Brighton Event in October 1993 was one of the things that kept me at Uni in that first month.

Then they released THAT mini-album and the love affair was over and I never bought a brand new Orb release again.

Listening to it now (I am as type this) I like and get it. But at the time it sound completely different to the Orb we knew. The heavy sound and samples were gone and it all sounded very electronic. It sat unloved in the collection until I sold it on eBay a few years back.

Around the same time of the Pomme Fritz release, Alex and Thrash of The Orb had released the FFWD album with Robert F ripp and Thomas F ehlmann. At the time the only track I had heard was ‘Lucky Saddle’ off the ‘Trance Europe Express’ 2 compilation CD. Once again I wasn’t overly impressed . I wasn’t ready for the minimal beatless stuff back then. I wanted it all a bit banging. This along with ‘Pomme Fritz’ turned me off the who/e ambient / electronica sound and I stepped it up a gear into more house and nu-nrg stuff.

Anyway after playing ‘Lucky Saddle’ again recently I fell in love with this great track and acquired the whole album courtesy of the Everything On My Ipod blog (which appears to have now gone). It really is a great album, certainly one for the headphones and its another album that sounds better after time.

Artist: Namlook
Title: Namlook III
Label: FAX+46-69/450464 (1994) PK 08/88

Namlook - Namlook III

Seen the name on many a release over the years, both online and in the stores, but never purchased a thing. I’ve always known Pete Namlock releases are pretty collectable so seeing this in the charity shop rack I took a punt.

Purchase here.

Artist: Plastikman
Title: Sheet One
Label: Mute Records (NoMu 22 CD) 1993

Plastikman - Sheet One

The classic debut album from the best known of Richie Hawtin’s various aliases. Plastikman.

I had a C90 cassette of this ever since I copied off a flatmate back in Brighton in 1994 when he bought it (and subsquently returned it) from Borderline Records.

Minimal (to the extreme) techno from the UK born, Detroit resident at the time and now Berlin based Mr Hawtin. This CD comes complete with the controversial ‘acid tab’ inlay that apparently caused so much trouble in the states.

Purchase here. (August 2010 – sold)