One of the tracks in the Italo disco mix reminded me of Manuel Göttsching’s e2-e4, the guitarist for Ash Ra Tempel / Ashra. Not only did Larry Levan end his sets with this (probably the full 59 minutes!) at the Paradise Garage – you can imagine how this would go down – but also was later sampled for Sueno Latino, then inspired Alex Paterson and Jimmy Cauty to mix it in and out of extended sets with sound effects at Land Of Oz – starting The Orb and ambient house. Also a major influence on any trance related music, and probably the Detroit techno pioneers – I can hear echoes of Juan Atkins and early Cybotron in this.
Strangely the e2-e4 refers to chess moves and not drum sequences as I thought (2nd and 4th beat where you would usually put the snare in a pattern). Interestingly it wasn’t intended as dance music but I think the minimalist comparisons in the Village Voice are good ones (note: John has gotten us tickets for the opening night of Glass’s Einstein on the Beach at my insistence…5 hours of minimalism! Will he cope? :-D) although the Krautrock feel comes out more than say Riley’s hippyfest Curved Air, but closer to something like Steve Reich’s Electric Counterpoint in build (another Orb sampled track, and I’m guessing another Land of Oz regular).
Currently blasting this out home, windows open with dusk falling…perfect music.
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