Warp Speed: Stop, Sit, and Listen
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On Tuesday, through Matador in the U.S., Warp celebrates its tenth anniversary with three more compilations, each containing two CDs. The first collection, Warp10+1: Influences, spotlights the late-80s sounds that tickled the fancy of founders Steve Beckett and Rob Mitchell when Warp was still merely the name of their record store. The second, Warp10+2: Classics 89-92, collects 18 hard-to-find singles released by the label in its early days. For the final set, Warp10+3: Remixes, 26 contemporary artists–mostly electronica acts but also some electronica-friendly pop artists, including Stereolab, Mogwai, Spiritualized, and Pram–remixed tracks by current acts like Boards of Canada, Red Snapper, and Squarepusher as well as older stuff. (The roster of knob twirlers also includes Chicagoans John McEntire and Jim O’Rourke.)
As dance-music retailers, Beckett and Mitchell were caught up in England’s massive acid-house scene in the late 80s, so not surprisingly they include among their inspirations Detroit techno pioneers Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson, and Derrick May and Chicago acid-house giants like Phuture, Mr. Fingers, and Adonis. The sleek, cold precision of Detroit techno and the Chicagoans’ squelchy bass lines, courtesy of the Roland TB-303 synthesizer, are apparent on some of the first Warp singles, but an even greater force seems to have been New York’s Nitro Deluxe, whose “Let’s Get Brutal,” a hit in England in 1988 and the opener to the Influences comp, was built from almost inaudibly deep bass patterns and freestyle beats. And as Beckett consistently tells it, the track that ultimately made him want to start his own label was “The Theme,” a spartan doodle of Kraftwerkian bleeps over a repeating, descending set of four fat bass tones by English rave favorites Unique 3. “The Theme” kicks off the second disc of Influences, which is rounded out by yet more Chicagoans–K. Alexi Shelby and Farley “Jackmaster” Funk–and key British acts like 808 State and A Guy Called Gerald.
Send gripes, leads, and love letters to Peter Margasak at postnobills@chicagoreader.com.
