- Two vital relics from the early '90s Warp Records catalogue resurface.
- Between 1993 and 1995, The Black Dog hit a purple patch. The UK group's three original members—Ken Downie, Ed Hanley and Andy Turner—were prolific, talented pioneers in the UK's home-listening electronic music movement, and generally ahead of their time when they released two fan-favourite bodies of work, Bytes and Spanners, both just reissued by Warp Records.
The Black Dog started out, like Warp itself, in Sheffield. As a group, they were highly influenced by Underground Resistance and the sounds coming out of Detroit at the time. Hanley and Turner left the group shortly after Spanners to focus on Plaid, their duo project, while Downie kept The Black Dog going, becoming the dance music institution it remains today. The record they made before they split is generally considered the group's best, and one of the strongest examples of IDM from its peak era.
But it's Bytes, which was originally released under the name Black Dog Productions—and which celebrated its 30th anniversary earlier this month—that might be the real treasure in this reissue package. Instead of a collaborative group effort, Bytes is more like a compilation, focusing on the various alter-egos and side-projects from the three original dogs: Close Up Over, I.A.O, Discordian Popes, Balil, Xeper and Plaid.
The nuances of each individual's musical styles are most-prominent on Bytes, which came as the third installation in Warp's Artificial Intelligence trilogy, after the Artificial Intelligence compilation and Aphex Twin's Surfing On Sine Waves LP—in other words, good company.
As pointed out by Kirk Digeorgio in a review of The Black Dog's 1989 breakthrough EP Virtual, Downie was the driving force of the trio's early days. Take Discordian Popes, a Downie alias. The track "Fight The Hits" is a hypnotic drum machine workout where Downie lets his sequencers run into overdrive—the results are rough, cathartic and rawer than anything else on Bytes. Some Warp fans might also recognise the skeletal drums and shimmering synths of I.A.O's "Clan," an alternate version of an iconic track first released on Artificial Intelligence (and also produced by Downie).
On the other hand, the two catchiest tracks on Bytes come from Close Up Over and Balil, two early aliases of Hanley's. The soaring strings of Close Up Over's "Caz" and the swinging drums of "Olivine" conjure ebullient feelings, while the slow piano chords of Balil's "3/4 Heart"—a euphoric chugger with orchestral flourishes—transport you to an optimistic time and place where there isn't a single phone on the dance floor.
In the few short years following Bytes, The Black Dog refined their sprawling sound into something sleek and sophisticated. Spanners endures as the group's quintessential album. From the jazz and trip-hop inspired opening chords of "Raxmus" to the frenetic drums of "Tahr," the lambent melodies of "Frisbee Skip" or the psychedelic themes explored on "Psil-cosyin," the Dogs cover a lot of ground. By blending techno, acid, rave and electronica with a whimsical, almost childlike awe, they hit on a unique sound. The group began experimenting with cinematic vocal samples, incorporating different textures and feelings into their production to create moments with redemptive healing qualities not at all unlike their Scottish peers Boards Of Canada.
Wearing their influences on their sleeve, The Black Dog's motive was putting their own take on a sound UR had been pioneering across the pond and sending it back "as a signal" (the mission remained the same as late as 2008 for their RA Podcast). They also incorporated a series of short interludes, or "Bolts," as the group affectionately dubbed them, which stitch together the bigger ideas on the album into an epic tapestry of sound.
Listening to Bytes and Spanners side by side, it's easy to fixate on the similarities and the differences. There's the occasional clunker or dated moment, but all things considered, they've both aged well. Packed with character, Spanners leaves you with something to chew on, the most realised version of the original Black Dog trio we'll ever get. And Bytes is fascinating in its own right, for presenting a unique access point to discover the early group's idiosyncrasies. Like UR, The Black Dog have always been shapeshifters and true pioneers in their field.
TracklistBytes
01. Plaid - Object Orient
02. Close Up Over - Caz
03. Xeper - Carceres Ex Novum
04. Atypic - Focus Mel
05. Close Up Over - Olivine
06. I.A.O. - Clan (Mongol Hordes)
07. Plaid - Yamemm
08. Discordian Popes - Fight The Hits
09. Balil - Merck
10. Close Up Over - Jauqq
11. Balil - 3/4 Heart
Spanners
01. Raxmus
02. Bolt 1
03. Barbola Work
04. Bolt 2
05. Psil-cosyin
06. Chase The Manhattan
07. Bolt 3
08. Tahr
09. Bolt 4
10. Further Harm
11. Nommo
12. Bolt 5
13. Pot Noodle
14. Bolt 6
15. End Of Time
16. Utopian Dream
17. Bolt 7
18. Frisbee Skip
19. Chesh