Presenting the first episode of Near Mint, a brand new Resonance FM series, Tuesdays at 1800 GMT on record collecting, record collectors and the compulsive and foolhardy pursuit of blowing all your earnings on the pursuit of strange and obscure vinyl, a subject I consider myself something of a scholar. Presented with my old Resonance chum Hannah Brown, this first edition is the first of a two-part special recorded inside the record room of Strictly Kev aka DJ Food. In anticipation of his star-turn at our ‘Digging Deep’ Resonance Fundraising Night at the Book And Record Bar in West Norwood, on February 19th, we thought it might be fun to have him to spill open his secret record box and allow us a peek into the contents. Playful psychedelia, cut-ups (metaphorical and literal), locked grooves, direct-to-disc booth recordings, children’s songs about the elements… The results were far too good to contain in a single half-hour programme, so part two will follow at the same time next week. Here’s what we played:
Alan Copeland – Mission Impossible Theme / Norwegian Wood (ABC)
Stock Hausen & Walkman – Buy Me, Sue Me (Hot Air)
Unknown Auto Recording (My Bike) (Calibre)
Christopher Rollen – #7″ (Hosing Records)
Johan Timman – The White Blood Cells and the Antiibodies (Look Out For the Killer) / The Brain (excerpt) (Hausa International)
Golden Orchestra & Chorus – The Space Alphabet: Comets / Hydrogen & Helium (Golden Records)
Alen Robin – Introduction / Humphrey (Janus Records)
The John Benson Brooks Trio – Love Is Psychedelic (Decca)
Marshall McLuhan & Quentin Fiore – The Medium Is The Massage (excerpt) (Columbia)
A little post-show detective work revealed the above ‘Auto Recording’ to be a rather lo-fi cover of this. Though I must say I prefer our unknown friend! When was it recorded? Where? And who was this unknown motorcycle enthusiast? It’s the fact that we’ll never, ever know that gives it it’s savour!
Many thanks to Kev for not only pulling out such incredible treasures, but for taking the time to photograph the sleeves and send them over so that you can enjoy poring over as much as I did! And to cap it all he’s only gone and designed us a new poster for the fundraiser as well! If all this classy material doesn’t encourage you to come down on 19th, nothing will!
Robin The Fog 