This week I am in a state of quite feverish excitement over the latest episode of Near Mint. I’m aware that I tend to open all of my posts on these pages along similar lines, waxing lyrical about how excited I am to be bringing you the current edition of Resonance FM‘s journey into the wonderful world of obsessive vinyl collecting; but today I am even more jazzed up than usual (though as you’ll subsequently hear, the term ‘jazz’ is a distinct red herring). In fact if I was American I’d even go so far as to claim that I was ‘pumped’. Why? Well, because last week I had the good fortune to come across two separate vinyl treasure troves: the first a collection of mint-condition Oldskool Hardcore 12″s and the second a trio of LPs from the BBC’s classic Sounds Of Death And Horror SFX series. And I figured what better way to salute such outrageous good fortune than to produce a half-hour radio programme where these two separate worlds were slammed together?! The result is a truly joyous escapade that pits classic tracks by Noise Factory, Nebula II and Egyptian Empire against assorted werewolves, baying lunatics, killer bees, some eye-gouging and a cameo from Pacman himself. And while you’d be forgiven for assuming such behaviour to be the revolutionary outpourings of some dangerous maverick, it’s a curious truth that the opposing worlds of hardcore and horror have proved surprisingly compatible bedfellows in the past. Producers such as Boogie Times Tribe, Shy FX and Urban Shakedown (to name a few) have all pilfered Auntie’s scary sounds to great effect, and this classic track by MC Lethal just might have sampled one of the ominously tolling bells on the second side of Even More Sounds Of Death and Horror, but the jury is still out on that one (the jury is me).
In other news, I will be making a return appearance on 6Music’s The Freakier Zone this Saturday night / Sunday morning where I’ll be discussing the pros and cons of magnetic tape as a creative medium with Mr. Stuart Maconie and playing some of my favourite examples. And who could possibly offer a better or more balanced perspective on the subject? Surely nobody has called tape machines as many names as I have! Which other fellow could boast toes as flat as mine after years of stubbing them on various hefty pieces of equipment? What other mortal has loudly serenaded his phalanx of semi-functioning Revoxes with as many shades of profanity as I? Who else has crossed London town without noticing the long piece of misplaced tape dangling out the back of his trousers like a small brown tail? Well, you get the idea. It’s a total no-brainer. And there’s even a little sneak preview of something from the new Howlround LP, which is so near completion that I can practically taste it…
Robin The Fog 