Since the publication of “Join The Future” in December, I’ve been overwhelmed by the positivity of feedback from readers. It’s been genuinely heartening to see how well the book has been received. Remember, if you’ve yet to grab your copy, you can get one direct from my publisher Velocity Press.
If you still need persuading, I have some good news: there are a couple of extended extracts that you can read online.
The first went live on Resident Advisor before Christmas and is taken from the chapter entitled “House Party”. It focuses on the changing club scene in Yorkshire during the late 1980s and early ’90s, with a particular focus on the role played by the “acid Blues” (Jamaican style unlicensed “speakeasies” that played dance music instead of reggae and dub) and the illegal raves such as Gildersome, the infamous warehouse party of July 1990 in which over 800 ravers were arrested by West Yorkshire Police. You can read that one here.
The second extract was published by The Quietus yesterday. It’s a lengthy exploration of the contribution made by Richard H Kirk, Cabaret Voltaire and Sweet Exorcist to the Bleep & Bass movement (and the similarly-sounding sideshow that was “clonk”). It’s taken from a chapter entitled “Play The Five Tones”, which any Bleep-head will tell you was the famous vocal sample featured at the beginning of Sweet Exorcist’s seminal debut single on Warp, “Testone”. You can get stuck into that by clicking on this link.
In addition, I’ve also written about some of my favourite overlooked and under-appreciated Bleep & Bass jams for theTest Pressing crew. There’s some real gems in there (though I would say that) including a number of “secret weapons” that DJs and dancers have asked about when I’ve played them in club sets. You can read that one here.
If you have read “Join The Future”, I’d love to hear your feedback, be it positive or negative. You can email me at ma (at) mattanniss (dot com).
Matt Anniss 