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Josh Wink
Why the hell hasn’t Josh Wink been over here lately? We haven’t really seen much of the Philly guy since ’Higher State Of Consciousness’, 'Don’t Laugh' and ’I Am Ready’ and that was like, five years ago. so he better have a good excuse. ’I didn’t really care to go the UK for a while,’ he says, furiously packing for his Euro tour. ’l've been focusing on the US, and the market is really beginning to open up here.’
Fair enough, but that wouldn’t stop him taking the odd weekend jaunt across the Atlantic. The reason he hasn't been to visit is because we suck, basically. ’It was just getting really commercial and cheesy in the UK. Overall the whole scene has been bastardised.’ Wink reckons the music just ain’t special any more, it's omnipresent and sold out. He bemoans the fact that you can hear a Judge Jules mix on airline radio and nights are being sponsored by booze and fag companies.
'At a time one went out and hunted for music and it's just changed. I’m not necessarily saying it’s a bad thing , but it didn’t get me excited and make me want to come over. I want to be educated and learn about new music.’ It's the dance industry press that switched
him off to the UK, too. ’I used to love coming over and reading the press, like old Melody Maker and i-D back in the late 805. Then the journalism got really bad, it was more gossip than it was education. It just sounded like a soap opera: you followed the same people and their
careers, it was like your EastEnders.’
So will the vegan music man fall in love again with the UK? What happened to his baby, the album Hearhere released summer last year which disappeared without
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Higher state of conscience: Josh Wink
trace, and just how much did his stormy relationship with the major record labels make him set up his own imprint Ovum with King Britt? Sorry, got a bit carried away there. Wink is looking forward to playing Scotland and says very simply ’lt’s been a while since I’ve been
there and I’m going to have a good time.’ (Rory Weller)
. Josh Wink and King Britt play at Relief, The Arches, Fri 73 Aug. Josh Wink’s mix album Profound Sounds Vol. I is out on lNCredib/e Mon 76 Aug.
My Machines
For those who like their techno hard, fast and bouncy, Knucklehead has become something of an institution in Glasgow. And, now that Knucklehead has morphed into My Machines, it looks like the fans have something more to look forward to.
’The change of name represents a slight change of emphasis,’ says Hatch, who runs the night with fellow DJ Jilkes, 'we're going to be putting on a lot more live music.’
This move was prompted, as the new name suggests, by the amiable nature of today’s technology: ’You can play
dance music live these days with a couple of little machines that fit in a record bag - you don’t need a computer and a mixing desk anymore, and we want to promote that sort of friendly technology.’
Thanks to the pair’s devotion to their chosen genre, the progress toward production does not mean that My Machines will lose it's edge, however. ’We started the night because of our sheer unadulterated love of the music, and we both believe that music scenes can go quite stale, but if you're really into the music, everything will go well for you.’
This dedication has lead to Jilkes setting up a new label, Evol Urbaine, to release the work of local techno acts, as well as the fruits of Knucklehead’s forthcoming live interactions with their machines. In short, Knucklehead have shifted up a gear. And anyone who is serious about their house and techno should take note. (Jack Mottram)
I Knuckleheads Presents My Machines at Glasgow School of Art, Sat 74 Aug and weekly.
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Phactfile
Mo of house music's most infamous caners hit Scotland this weekend. Rory Weller gets the lowdown on Brandon Block and Alex P.
Names? Brandon Block aka Blocko/ Blockster and Alex P aka Peezy. Occupations? DJs, producers, broadcasters and full time party animals.
Ages? It’s hard to tell. They’ve got the sort of faces that look lived in, condemned and then demolished. Just how out of control are they? If you take our local caner kings Zammo and Kilkie, double them and then add a whole extra heap of cane on top, you’re getting near. Block was awarded ’Caner of The Year' by Muzik a few years back.
Why are we talking about the two of them together? They have a Friday show on London’s Kiss and, while having entirely independent careers, the two of them (especially on their annual Ibiza jaunt) are very much seen as partners in crime.
What's the radio show like? One journalist who sat in on the programme described their antics as ’absolutely terrifying’ with the two jumping about the studio, shouting and generally being super-scary. Didn't Block nearly come a cropper? A few years back he became seriously ill and, while not directly linked to his abuse, it surely couldn’t have helped. He vowed he wasn’t going back to Ibiza and to completely cut everything out.
And did he? Yes and no. He was back on the island as before, but as far as we know he has laid off the drinks and pharmaceuticals. He's certainly got a bit lardy of late.
Have they been at it a while? Too right. Block set up the Flying Organisation in ’89 with Dean Thatcher and Charlie Chester, and Alex made his name in the early days of house with Sunrise, Back To The Future and Energy. He was there from the start in Ibiza, way back when he had residencies at Amnesia and Ku, and was DJing at the Space garden as far back as ’90.
I Brandon Block and Alex P D! at Colours at The Arches, and Room At The Top on Sat 14 Aug.
Brandon Block
12-19 Aug 1999 THE usrns