http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/mar/06/erol-alkan-beyond-wizards-sleeve
Alexis Petridis The Guardian,
Friday 6 March 2009
Erol Alkan and Richard Norris have a theory about Summers of Love.
"They happen every 21 years," says Norris. "1967 was 21 years before
1988, and 21 years after that is 2009. It's going to be the Third
Summer of Love."
This isn't perhaps an idea that stands up to close scrutiny - at the
exact moment Norris is expounding, police are, alas, voicing fears
that the economic downturn is going to lead to a "Summer of Rage" -
but you can't fault their enthusiasm. They have even had badges
specially made up to promote their Third Summer of Love hypothesis,
which fits perfectly with the music they make as Beyond the Wizard's
Sleeve. Over the last few years, they have released a string of
acclaimed remixes and re-edits that boldly attempt to meld 60s
psychedelia with dance music, treating Franz Ferdinand, Goldfrapp,
the Chemical Brothers and a host of others to an overload of phasing
and backwards guitars, and subjecting some improbable source material
- including Love's This House Is Not a Motel, the Hollies' King Midas
in Reverse and late 60s obscurities such as the Factory's
acid-drenched 1968 single Path Through the Forest - to what you might
call the psychology of the dancefloor. "It's about treating them in
the same way as dance music," says Alkan, "getting that hypnotic
quality, the big buildups and everything, but working with the
charisma of the records, recognising their unique character."
Boldly attempting to meld 60s psychedelia with dance music has been a
lifelong preoccupation for Norris, as is evidenced by the decor of
his home: the cushions on the sofa feature acid house smileys, the
walls host original posters for the Byrds and mod bovverboys the
Action and there's a vintage Yellow Submarine fruit machine in the
corner. His obsession began when he went to work at famed psychedelic
reissue label Bam-Caruso in the 80s, an experience he likens to
"going to psychedelic university". "I kept thinking, 'Wouldn't it
have been great to have been around in 1967 and go to the UFO club?',
but this was 1987, so luckily acid house was coming around the
corner. I've been trying to fuse the two ever since." To that end, he
made Britain's first acid house record, Jack the Tab, with Psychic
TV's Genesis P-Orridge, unencumbered by the fact that neither of them
actually had any idea what acid house sounded like ("we'd just heard
the phrase 'acid house' and got really excited"). Later he formed the
Grid with Soft Cell's David Ball. He found a kindred spirit in Alkan
- DJ, producer, remixer and founder of London's legendary
indie/electro night Trash - whom he met on a radio show.
They embarked on a series of DJ dates, performing eight-hour sets to
an audience that included both "people cheering and singing along to
Wimple Winch records" and a smattering of baffled Erol Alkan
devotees: "I don't want to confuse people who see my name on a flier
and expect two hours of dark, twisted electro, and instead I'm there
playing Granny Takes a Trip by the Purple Gang," says Alkan,
thoughtfully. "But surely we've got some power and influence to
introduce them to something. You don't want it to be like, look you
idiot, you didn't read the poster properly. You've got to lead
people, not drag them. You've got to be the pied piper, not a cowboy
with a lasso."
It's an approach that appears to be working: the remix requests are
flooding in, a new compilation collects their finest moments to date,
and they're "gradually moving towards original material". They will
have to move fast on the latter if they want to catch the Third
Summer of Love. "Tony Wilson had a theory as well," says Alkan. "He
thought something big happened every seven years." Norris interrupts
with a triumphant cry of "... and three sevens are 21!", before Alkan
corrects him. "No, he thought the last big things were Oasis in 1994
and the Strokes in 2001. That would have made it last year. And there
wasn't a Third Summer of Love last year. Last year was really boring."
• Re-Animations Vol 1 by Beyond the Wizard's Sleeve is out now on New
State Music
.
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