8 Tracks: Of Xtc Garage

Truly Madly: A great label and for me this is the pick. Many memories attached to this. One of those happy sad tracks that I seem to gravitate towards so much. The sentiment of the lyric is positive but the music conveys a sense of impending doom mixed with a possible light at the end of the tunnel elation. One for a very late night dancefloor when just the dregs of humanity are left – maybe, just maybe it’s going to be alright. Also still cheap as chips and it’s getting less often you can save that about such quality.

Truly Madly: A shady, deep, tracky, swirling sea of beats with a perfectly used instrumental sample. Then that baseline. Even the slightly dodgy vocal sample that comes in later on can’t spoil it for me, and that’s rare. Understated simplicity and you can play this anywhere.

Truly Madly: A big hug and a kiss of a record that I bought randomly from Quaff Records bargain bin when I was a student. Unconditional love in the form of plastic grooves. I used to mix the accapella of Pacha – One Kiss over it, which although works quite well, in hindsight I think it might be sacrilegious in the extreme.

Miles P: Mateo & Matos have got more killer cuts than I can count, but this mid-tempo chugger just smacks it for me. It does a really good job of twisting the Brass Construction sample into a ten-minute disco-house epic – walking bassline, triumphant trumpets an’ all. It’s a weird release because the lads only used the Backintyme alias once, and it came out on Milanese-eurotrash-sausage-factory “Dig It International”, but it’s quite collectible. Anyway, sure shot.

Miles P: The finger snaps, the organ, the smoothness of this track. I love Kerri’s switch-up at 3:37, it sort of takes you by surprise but then reassures you with the familiar Robyn S vocal sample. It’s just such a sophisticated sound, and would have sounded just brilliant in 1993 NYC. Like a phoenix arising out of the ashes of hip-house. Out of the three records Kerri Chandler released on Strictly Rhythm, this is the one I would rescue from a house fire if I could only fit one plate in my bag. A frightening prospect indeed!

Miles P: This is a very uplifting record but also quite melancholy too. I love music that carries a sense of hope, and I think that’s what the chord progression does. John Robinson aka Spring was a centrepiece of the early 90’s New York house scene and broke many new records on his Saturday Mastermix show on WBLS. He was tragically killed in a car accident whilst in London. I picked this one up in A1 Records NYC for $25 several months ago and is definitely a prized piece of wax for me.

Miles S: Wayne Gardiner is a bit of an XTC Garage hero. Best know his Logic production alias, under which he produced the seminal New York deep houser, The Warning, and the proto-UKG classic Blues For You, on Strictly Rhythm. This was his first release on another of New York’s contribution to pantheon of great house music labels, Nervous. The bass draws you in, the drums slam you to the ground, the strings sweep in to lift, then the keys tip you over the edge, and float off into the deep on a cloud ecstatic bliss. It’s XTC garage in its purest form.

Miles S: This ticks all the XTC Garage boxes really. Produced by Jovonn? Check. Warm Pads? Check. Bonkers bass? Check. XTC Sax? Check. Backwards Strings? Check. And if that wasn’t enough already, the final criterion clinches the deal: Released on a fairly obscure Italian sub label in the mid-1990s, that just so happened to the original home of God Made Me Phunky too? CHECK! Actually, we could of stopped at “Produced by Jovonn”, he really is the main man and pretty much everything that came out on Goldtone could be on this list. There are 3 other great tracks on this EP too and having been a £50+ record for years, the prices has fallen through the floor since it was re-released by Mojuba. So go get on discogs, because NYC.XTC rule #1 is NO REPRESSES…