Track-By-Track: Ghostcast #13
It’s worth going through Jaime Read’s Discogs bio in full even if you’re already familiar with his work, as it’s a rollercoaster ride of surprising facts and connections. For example, I knew he’d recorded at the Tenth Planet studios but didn’t know he’d also used Justin David’s studio to produce some of his early tunes - including some that would be stolen by Joe Lewis. Nor did I realise that LHAS Inc was actually Jaime Read working with Felix Dickinson, as opposed to Read flying solo as LHAS.
I’m not a completist when it comes to collecting records and there are only a handful of (actually quite random) instances - Derek Carr, Nev, Conemelt - where I’ve found myself trying hard to track down everything someone has done. So even with a producer as brilliant as Jaime Read I haven’t heard - let alone get hold of - all he’s put out. I’m happy to have the ones I’ve got, to have them in the bag, then let them sit on the shelf for a while until the time comes for them to circle back in. And one day when I’m not expecting it I’m sure I’ll hear another amazing tune that I didn’t know was by him, and that’ll be a happy surprise.
The 4-D EP by LHAS Inc, out in 2004 on the Belgian label Eskimo, has an even more checkered history for me because it didn’t just cycle in and out of my bag - for a while it left my collection completely. Back in 2010, I included the track ‘Captured’ in a DJ mix I recorded for (I think) London crew TOTHEBONE, which tbh I wish I still had on file, because having found the tracklist in my gmail it looks fucking banging:
tama sumo & prosumer - play up - ostgut
mr fingers - waterfalls - alleviated
lhas inc - captured - fragmented
deep six - deeptrance dance - deep south
master c & j - face it [dub] - trax
instra:mental - leave it all behind - apple pips
three generations - get it off - atlantic
hayden andre - omni vision - strobe
romanthony - testify #1 a2 - black male
hakim murphy - wiggles - metamorphic
romanthony - testify #1 b2 - black male
murat tepeli - rides - playhouse
armando - the future [cajmere mix] - radikal fear
the look - march [instrumental] - sexy
armando - the future [original] - radikal fear
da posse - i'm trying to win your love - dance mania
(Sometimes I look at old tracklists or listen to old mixes like this and feel like I’ve just got worse as I’ve gone along.)
Anyway, after that mix I must have fallen out with the EP for some reason and culled it from my collection, because it was absent for about the next ten years. It was only early last year that it made its way back to me, when I found a copy sitting in the second hand bins at Carpet & Snares here in Lisbon.
On relistening, the sexy bassline and gradual build-up of ‘Captured’ are as seductive as ever, but the cod accent on the vocal remains a dealbreaker and I still struggle to enjoy it. ‘A Feeling’ also has a vocal that verges on intrusive but in the end it stays on the right side of ignorable. I really don’t think it’s necessary for any more hoarse-voiced men to tell us how much of a feeling house is, but here I’ll let it slide cos it’s only in passing rather than an entire narrative. The track itself is a plain enough exercise in Mr Fingers bounce until the 4 minute mark comes round, when it unexpectedly unfurls into a thing of real beauty. This is Read doing what he does best - heartstrings pulled, tears jerked, all that jazz.
And then there’s the title track ‘4-D’, which on the face of it is the least ‘me’ cos it doesn’t really have much of a song structure or progression, but in practice is the one I’ve returned to the most. Something about the almost UK Funky-esque offbeat snares and claps gives it a real flare, even while the pads and atmospherics are just moody as fuck. It has that thing of occasionally interlocking into a propulsive groove, then loosening up for a bit, then locking in again for more momentum. Unlike most of the records I play it’s really subtle, working its magic through patience rather than show. In the mix I feel like it can also work on different beats, which is always a fun trick to break people’s heads a bit.
[Incidentally, Read’s Push II Shove label has just reissued LHAS’s The Hevalo EP for anyone wanting one of the absolute greatest pieces of dance music ever committed to vinyl: ‘LHAS Pt. 1’. This is a tune I first heard played by Prosumer at a party called Cock Soup at The Star of Bethnal Green in 2009, a moment that stands out even among the many near-religious experiences I had following Prosumer around back then. There’s actually a very strong case to be made that the back-of-someone’s-head that features in this photo of Cock Soup, from a random blog back in 2009, is mine. Memories!]
LHAS Inc - 4-D [Eskimo, 2004]
(Discogs)
This is an entry in the Track-By-Track series for my mix for The Ghost.
Track-By-Track is a series that looks back at records you will have heard in my mixes, one by one in the order they were played. Who made them, and when? How did I come across them? And what do they make me feel?