Dissident World Cup! (Part Two)
The Dissident World Cup continues!
We are still in the first round of 62 and in this part we go through the second half of the bracket. In case you missed it, and are wondering what this is all about, you can find the intro and first half of the bracket here.
A reminder of the full bracket:
Let’s get into the first round matches on the right hand side — due to a bracket format issue we’re going from bottom to top on this side. Photonz’s ‘Shaboo’ gets an immediate pass in Group Three, so we kick off instead with a controversial cover version…
Round of 62: Group Three
Group Three features a bunch of new names and another bunch of familiar ones. One of these head-to-heads turned out to be the toughest of the first round and we were very reluctant to make a decisions. Others provoked ambivalence.
The Niallist - ‘Remember’ vs Control Voltage - ‘The Bounce’
I’m terrible at puns, but it takes me less time than usual to realise the name The Niallist is quite a good one. Teamy tells me that Niall is an Irish guy who moved to Glasgow then Manchester and is an important figure in the city’s bear scene. This cover of Gino Soccio’s ‘Remember’ is fine enough but we both agree that we like the original too much to put this through. ‘Remember’ is one of those all-time favourite tracks, so stratospherically good that there’s absolutely no need to cover it.
Of course I then want to know if Control Voltage’s ‘The Bounce’ is a cover of the Kenlou track of the same name, but sadly it is not. We assume this is Andy Blake again and discuss how cool it is that Andy released so many tracks under different aliases. It shows an impressive disdain for building a name — Teamy draws a comparison with Alan Moore. In truth we don’t listen to much of ‘The Bounce’ before putting it through, vowing to give it a proper listen in the second round.
Winner: Control Voltage - ‘The Bounce’
Gatto Fritto - ‘Clem’s Bounce’ vs Ali Renault - ‘Our World Is.…’
A battle of Dissident staples here.
Teamy sees a broad trajectory across the label’s three years, from the earlier nu disco through chuggier EBM-y stuff and into the more World Unknown (i.e. generally unclassifiable) style of the final year. ‘Clem’s Bounce’ was Gatto Fritto’s first release and its drums/percussion remind me a little of the classic Willesden Dodgers More Jive Rhythm Trax EP, plus a bit of a balearic vibe from the guitars. It’s just fine.
Ali Renault’s ‘Our World Is….’, on the other hand, is a 90bpm growler that instantly has us rave face-ing. It’s like a slowjammed Vitalic tune, all leather and grease. Our only complaint is that the track title has an extra full stop in its ellipsis. Copywriters of the world unite!
Winner: Ali Renault - ‘Our World Is….’
The Off-Key Hat - ‘Lairy Little Junkie’ vs G&S - ‘Show Me The Good Times’
The Off-Key Hat surprised us in the first half of the bracket with ‘Emergency Calling’ so we are curious to hear their second entrant, though we almost discount it completely thanks to the track title. ‘Lairy Little Junkie’ is also a very different beast, a kind of shuffling triplet-time NRG tune with a vocal delivered again with conviction by Michelle Manetti. It turns out the titular LLJ is an aspect of Manetti’s own personality that wants to “take [her] back to Rimini”. I’m allergic to most music in triplet time (“it’s like a schaffel Doctor Who”) and Teamy is allergic to the term “lairy”, so it’s a tough sell.
G&S — apparently standing for Gavin & Stacey — was the name chosen by the duo of Nadia Ksaiba and Matt Waites. We don’t actually listen to ‘Show Me The Good Times’ right away, choosing, in the interest of keeping things moving, to give it a clean pass through to the second round.
Winner: G&S - ‘Show Me The Good Times’
Casionova - ‘Shoreham Harbour Blues (Ali Renault Remix)’ vs Andy Blake - ‘Terror International’
Another 100bpm banger from Ali Renault, this time remixing Casionova aka James Penrose, co-founder of the italo label, radio station and festival Magic Waves. Teamy embarks on an unlikely and rather extended digression regarding Buck Rogers In The 25th Century, saying that the noise at the start of this track sounds like the robot Twiki. I have to take his word for it. We decide this is a bit gallopy but, critically, not clippy-cloppy like that John Waynes record. Yes we are music critics. (Funnily enough the youtube upload of this tune seems to be on 45 instead of 33, and it sounds great too, if a little rushed after hearing the original.)
Andy Blake’s ‘Terror International’ is 18 minutes long. “I think someone’s ripped it on the wrong speed,” I say, but no, the label itself says ‘plays at 33rpm’. “Don’t tell me what to do!” complains Teamy. Apparently the alternative track name for ‘Terror International’ was ‘Thru The Mirrorball’ and to be frank, the track sounds like the combined chaos of the two. It makes us feel a bit queasy, and while we admire Andy’s commitment to the bit, a scan through the track’s full runtime leads us to question exactly where and when we would want to either play or listen to this in full. Probably only World Unknown, at 4am, tops well and truly aff.
Winner: Casionova - ‘Shoreham Harbour Blues (Ali Renault Remix)’
Photonz - ‘No Fear’ vs Midnight Steppers - ‘Locked Out’
Teamy informs me Photonz was a duo back in these times, something I had no idea about. “Marco doesn’t make bad music” says Teamy of the Photonz we know today, and I agree with him. (Check my review of ‘Orpheus’ earlier this year to see what he’s been up to more recently.) ‘No Fear’ is a Motor City banger that takes sounds from Juan Atkins, UR and a handful of other heroes and mashes them up into an endlessly mutating Detroit techno symphony. It’s huge and kind of uniquely daring.
In what must be the biggest head-to-head of the tournament so far, we have a Detroit vs Chicago battle on our hands, with Midnight Steppers representing the jacking acid house of the Windy City. For a second we assume it must be Andy at it again, but actually this is the duo of Neville Watson and Alex Martin. “Why can’t we put both of these through?” Teamy asks, fairly. It’s such a shame one of these has to go out at this stage, and we regret not using a seeding system from the start. It’s a really tricky one.
Me repeatedly saying “I would definitely play this out” as I sofa-dance to Midnight Steppers seals the deal for me. Teamy is torn (“that is Ireland and South Africa getting drawn in the same pool”), but on the basis that another Photonz track already got a pass in this group, he joins me in reluctantly jettisoning ‘No Fear’.
Winner: Midnight Steppers - ‘Locked Out’
Den Haan - ‘Theme From Den Haan’ vs Neo Filigrante - ‘Lizard Cowboy Boots’
This was the first tune that Teamy took to Andy for Dissident. Den Haan used to do a high-energy live show in Glasgow and — an amazing piece of trivia — Teamy (or at least Teamy’s torso) is on the front cover of their album. ‘Theme From Den Haan’ is glorious and the “ooh-ah” makes me laugh out loud with glee.
We like both sides of the Neo Filigrante EP, ‘Lizard Cowboy Boots’ and ‘Esmeralda Rides The Robot’. The former especially has a cool electroclashy vibe, but in the end it’s up against stiff competition. The Cock takes it.
Winner: Den Haan - ‘Theme From Den Haan’
Muravchix - ‘Replicant’s Lament’ vs Cage & Aviary - ‘Giorgio Carpenter’
Muravchix’s ‘Replicants Lament’ is a smooth piece of robot italo that neither of us like quite as much as ‘Tropical Warrior’ from Group One. Nevertheless, it’s a bop.
We both wonder if Cage & Aviary’s ‘Giorgio Carpenter’ does what it says on the tin, and it turns out indeed it does. We both approve of the finger snaps and the on point references in the track title. This is a close battle, but C&A edge it.
Winner: Cage & Aviary - ‘Giorgio Carpenter’
Round of 62: Group Four
Into the final group of the first round, and the bracket still holds a few surprises! Who is the mysterious Caja De Ritmos? Will our flagging energy levels make us more decisive, or less? And can anyone pronounce “spessivtseva” correctly? Read on and you might find out.
Ali Renault - ‘Cuffs’ vs The Niallist - ‘The Hots’
“Well, it’s definitely Ali Renault,” I say, as the sloooow growling bass of ‘Cuffs’ comes in. We both like the track a lot but it doesn’t quite invoke the same scrunchy rave face as the other Ali productions we’ve listened to.
The Niallist is back with ‘The Hots’, a “sleazy, dirty, beautiful piece of drug chug disco” if discogs user CRONK1980 is to be believed. They are: Niall’s vocals are cute and naively sexy, and the instrumental simmers satisfyingly. Even me singing “I’ve got the hots for you” over the top doesn’t ruin it.
Winner: The Niallist - ‘The Hots’
Helium Robots - ‘Long Lost’ vs Naum Gabo - ‘Spessivtseva’
“I would say this qualifies as overlooked,” I say on looking at the discogs listing for Helium Robots’ ‘Long Lost’, and indeed Teamy admits to overlooking it in comparison to ‘Metallic Dawn’. I really can’t get over the way the bleepy motif at the end of each phrase sounds like ‘Freaky Deaky’ by Lex Loofah on Warp Records, while Teamy draws a comparison to Maurice Fulton’s Boof alias. We like its clipped, glitchy vibe, and Teamy nails another clear reference point in the Wighnomy Brothers. “It’s just a bit weird isn’t it,” are the words that come to my lips, and for that reason I decide it would be a hit with Gwenan.
Naum Gabo is the duo of Jonnie Wilkes from Optimo and mastering engineer James Savage, and this track is named after a ballerina compatriot of the famous sculptor. Teamy quickly spots that these two tracks could mix together quite nicely, as ‘Spessivtseva’ is also a bit weird and wonky, though in a chuggier way. As you’d expect from a studio wizz, the production is imposing, with fat drums and the different elements hanging together just so.
We can’t make a decision because the tracks are both so good, so since Helium Robots already have a track in the second round we give it to ‘Spessivtseva’.
Winner: Naum Gabo - ‘Spessivtseva’
Kruton - ‘Nitro Hassle’ vs The Off-Key Hat - ‘This Is Not...’
“This is a record I own and play A LOT.” In fact Kruton’s ‘Nitro Hassle’ must be the first track I’d ever heard on Dissident, when my friend Leo aka Lerosa put it in a DJ mix many many moons ago. This year I gave it an outing at Mansions in New York and, as with every time I play it out, it smashed the floor to pieces in its singularly wacky way. Teamy notes a Yello similarity — it’s like Yello put on a hot wash cycle.
Dark horses of the bracket The Off-Key Hat return with ‘This Is Not…’, a squarely italo banger that both of us enjoy for its classic sound and artful progression. Sadly, my attachment to ‘Nitro Hassle’ means it doesn’t stand much of a chance.
Winner: Kruton - ‘Nitro Hassle’
Gweilo - ‘Ghosts’ vs S.C.S - ‘Model Specific’
Teamy tells me that “gweilo” is Cantonese for “ghostfaced” aka white westerners. Their track ‘Ghosts’ is a coldwavey number that at this point doesn’t leave much of an impression on us, though we like it fine enough.
Andy Blake is back with his S.C.S. moniker and ‘Model Specific’, which is quite different from the surprisingly garagey ‘Redemption’ track in the first half of the bracket. A rave-face bassline secures its passage into the second round.
Winner: S.C.S. - ‘Model Specific’
Binary Chaffinch - ‘Guitar Shaped Heart’ vs Neville Watson - ‘Time To Lose Control’
Possibly the only Dissident record to be labelled as ‘art rock’ on discogs, ‘Guitar Shaped Heart’ by Binary Chaffinch aka Milo Smee strikes us as a bit of an outlier on Dissident. I spend a good 15 minutes trying to remember what Japanese psych rock outfit it reminds me of. “The sleeve has a lion on it” is the best I can do, and only later do I manage to track down the thing I’m thinking of: Koenji Hyakkei’s ‘Rattims Friezz’. To be honest it doesn’t sound much like the Binary Chaffinch tune, but that’s not the point, I finally remembered it! ‘Guitar Shaped Heart’ is a NY no-wave curveball and we’re both really into it.
Neville Watson’s ‘Time To Lose Control’ is a stark contrast if only for being so traditional. It’s straight-up Chicago house and while it has all the right elements, it just falls on the wrong side of pastiche for me. Contemporary producers dabbling in this sound can very rarely win with me, I’m afraid. We move on, and my mind is clearly elsewhere as I say: “maybe they were Finnish?”
Winner: Binary Chaffinch - ‘Guitar Shaped Heart’
S.C.S. - ‘Marauder’ vs Caja De Ritmos - ‘Drumstep1’
It’s the third S.C.S. entry in the tournament and we wonder if ‘Marauder’, like the others, pretty much just does the same thing for the whole of its 10 minute runtime. That ‘thing’ is of course a very good ‘thing’, a pulsing, driving italo bassline and a panoply of cheeps, bleeps and other burbling percussion over the top. Another Andy banger.
It’s up against one of Teamy’s favourites, a tune he says he’s been looking forward to all tournament. “Has it started?” I ask after 20 seconds or so, thinking the drums could just be the clicks in the run-out groove. Caja De Ritmos’ ‘Drumstep1’ is a bit of Roland-sponsored ASMR, its soft touch rhythms and lack of pretty much anything else apart from echo making it a half-soothing, half-creepy listen. “Talk about minimal techno,” Teamy observes, and with a twinkle in his eye: “can you guess what happens next?” Of course the answer is nothing much. The Juno review alludes to a vocal but I can’t find it in the track. Bleep, meanwhile, compares it to ‘Spastik’ by Plastikman, which I also don’t really hear. I think we’re better off with Teamy’s discogs review from a year ago:
“I can’t remember what the other track sounds like, because I’ve forgotten what music sounds like,” I say, and, without quite believing it, I find myself giving this one to the pitty patty drums of Caja De Ritmos on sheer cojones alone (cover version: ‘Cojones De Ritmo’). Given that both of these are by Andy, we can at least reassure ourselves that, either way, Andy Blake goes through.
Winner: Caja De Ritmos - ‘Drumstep1’
Gweilo - ‘Acolyte’ vs Tommy Walker 3 - ‘Sure As’
Gweilo are back again with punky electro chug on ‘Acolyte’, which we both find more interesting than ‘Ghosts’. I still find it a bit unchanging, but given it’s following ‘Drumstep1’ that feels like a rather uncharitable criticism.
Tommy Walker 3 — there is a quick discussion about whether it’s Tommy Walker the Third or three guys called Tommy Walker, like a jazz trio — has/have a surefire hit with ‘Sure As’, which sounds like a Human League b-side. We are both a fan of its buoyant groove and harmonies and it shades it over the Gweilo gang.
Winner: Tommy Walker 3 - ‘Sure As’
Kruton - ‘Unresolved Trilogy’ vs Photonz - ‘Compulsion’
Two titans of this bracket take each other on in the final head to head of our Round of 62. In the right corner, Nicolas Cage aka Milo Smee aka Kruton, who’s fighting for his third place in the second round. In the left corner, John Travolta aka Marco Rodrigues aka Photonz, whose ‘Shaboo’ is already through on a bye, but whose ‘No Fear’ suffered a bruising loss to Midnight Steppers in the previous group.
Kruton’s ‘Unresolved Trilogy’ is, as its name suggests, a three-part epic that, to my ears at least, actually strays quite far into Binary Chaffinch territory. The guitar riff in part one is undeniable, while the slap bass in part two builds some funky tension, before in part three things go a bit off-piste, ending, as expected, in unresolved fashion.
Photonz’s ‘Compulsion’ makes it another tough choice. The promo text describes this as “some kind of warped exercise in dyslexic hip-house”, which feels about right, at least once the vocal comes in half-way through. I find its stilted shuffle not very DJ-friendly, while Teamy reckons he’d get more mileage out of it than the Kruton track.
In the end, Kruton takes it by a hair, the final victory of our Round of 62!
Winner: Kruton - ‘Unresolved Trilogy’
Aside from the “5-4 slobberknocker” (Teamy) of Photonz vs Midnight Steppers, this half of the bracket saw some very close calls and tracks were knocked out that against other competition might well have made it far. But them’s the breaks in a single elimination tournament, and there’s no use dwelling on these things. As such, we march onwards into the second round and beyond — stay tuned for Part Three!