The deep & sweet soul sounds are coming! Tom's VHS stash keeps on giving. Swapping yards of records to find samples in @vinylexchange Manchester. Cutting it up with Parker on stage in Perth, Australia at Vibes On A Summer's Day, 1999 (footage @danpeterparkerbaxter , thanks buddy!). Bobby Womack shots from the recording of the Get A Life video, L.A, 2000. Veba on stage for the Northern Sulphuric Soul tour, Edinburgh's Liquid [email protected]_aka_sneaky playing bass for Rae & Christian at the Montreux Jazz Festival. @spikeytee1 singing Hold Us Down with R&C at the North Sea Jazz Festival. @moodymanc_ on drums. @cruikschris on percussion. The countdown continues, pick up a pre-save.....it really helps us (bio). @erik_miles on production and mix here. Stunning! Special shout to @pete.simpson.music and @blackandwhitefromheart
1995. Granada Reports popped in for an interview with the Fat City crew in Affleck's Palace, Manchester. Mark One was turning two copies of Da Youngsta's "Mad Props" inside out, and Alf was not in the slightest bit worried if DJing had killed live music. Chubby Grooves, killer DJ and creator of Chopped Herring Records was serving customers. First Priority were a DJ duo featuring myself and Ross Clarke. Responsible for Feva at The Man Alive, 1989, and expanding into many more adventures. The origin story of the records we would all start to make and release. Shout out to Dave Walker, who must have been on the coffee run! X
The countdown to Grand Central Vs The Works - The Soul Sessions Vol 1, begins. Release date is set, we are dropping on the 12th of June. An incredible stash of footage has been discovered and transferred. Material that serves as a real insight into independent, underground music in the 90's. This reel is from 1998, on the lead up to the Rae & Christian album Northern Sulphuric Soul. It features footage in the Grand Central studio where all of the labels output was mixed by Steve Christian. We were remixing A.D.O.R "Let It All Hang Out" at the time. The interview features Eliza Tyrrel, Dave Walker and supreme vocalist Veba. The Soul Sessions Vol 1 remix project is a project undertaken in collaboration with 23 year old producer @erik_miles recording under his moniker @the_works02 .Drop some follows for The Works, and catch the story as it unfolds.
Rocking the Rizla tent with Sharleen Spiteri at V98 in Chelmsford, Sneaky on double bass. Organised by @wheelsuk 2) Checking out Tony’s Ford 150 sound system at a New Jersey swap meet. 3) Adorning the cover of DJ Mag when our first album was released as Rae & Christian. Shout out to Ian Dutt. The Hush with Texas……. A Sunday sunshine tune. X @simon.houghton_aka_sneaky
Soul can be found in unusual places, in the physical form, on record, and if you are prepared to listen, inside yourself. 1994, climbing down the rickety wooden stairs into a basement on Second Street, Trenton, New Jersey. Squeezing past the ten stone Akitas guarding the SP1200, waiting for Tony D to press the play button on the drum machine. Breath held, caught in an underground culture, a world where decades of independent soul and jazz records are stacked ready for sampling. The play button clicks under Tony’s sturdy index finger. The kick enters, pushing air from my lungs, for a moment the snare lifts the hair from my skull. Tony smiles, clicks a few arrangement buttons and the guitar comes in, then those voices, those plaintive voices! What is this feeling? Where did those samples come from? Soul is a journey, a distance travelled in discovery, where all are welcome. Grand Central Vs The Works -The Soul Sessions Volume 1 is being mastered this weekend. Hold tight for the next installment from @the_works02 and @erik_miles .
Message from Tom. « All the Grand Central vidéo has been transferred ». In the coming weeks we will be exploring the influence of soul music on the sound of Grand Central. The next EP with the @the_works02 will be called The Soul Sessions Volume 1. Watch this space ……and enjoy these super fine threads from Carnaby Street, 1966.
Take an audio visual trip through some Manchester music history, starting in 1993 and ending on stage in 2000. My father, Tom, would always film when he came down from Newcastle. This footage captures the spirit of these special times. @e.bloc1985 on Oldham Street, The second and third @fatcityrecords shops in @afflecks_manchester . @jigmastasofficial@darren_laws and Henry Smithson aka Ritontime before the double Grammy awards. @curt_cazal and @theoriginalqnc Q Ball chilling in the Manor Drive lounge in Chorlton. The MPC60, @matttriggss & Dave Walker in the Grand Central office on Tib Street. Rae & Christian live with The Pharcyde, @officialfingathing and YZ. @moodymanc on drums. For all of you who have supported our music for 30 years, this captures a behind the scenes look at the time when we made our first steps. A special time, when anything seemed possible and collaboration was key. A lifestyle dedicated 100% to music, selling it, making it, promoting it. This Manchester story is often forgotten but not by those of you who lived it. Hopefully you can feel an echo of the vibration coming again. The remix project with @the_works02 is called Grand Central Vs The Works, check out The Hip Hop Sessions Vol 1, link in bio. Thank you to all, for the support, through all these years. X
The spirit returns! 10 years ago, I sold my MPC60’s and an SP1200 to fund our final round of IVF treatment. As you can see, it worked ( praise the God of Great Snares). This week I picked up a refurbished second hand MPCX Special Edition( in the same colour as my old MPC60) Seeing little fingers press those grey pads took things a little deeper than I expected, in a joyous way. The cycle of life becomes a recycle. The power of the beat machine that helped make so many classic Grand Central albums returns. X @akai_pro #mpc #mpcx
In a world of cloud immediacy, bits and bites gone giga, companies selling every snare sound in history for three quid, it’s worth remembering the lengths we would go to when searching for samples. Like bloodhound archeologists we searched the globe, hunting to stay ahead, to make magic in our drum machines. Alchemy, it is possible through the prism of music. Kicks, snares, pads, keys and guitar riffs. Can you stitch them all together to make hay? Shot taken at a well known spot, used regularily by Pete Rock, Q Tip and Large Professor, quite apt as Princeton is a college town filled with professors.......who had the cash to collect decades of jazz albums...you can see where this is going. New Jersey, 1997. X
Bandcamp DJ Alert! Grand Central Vs The Works -The Hip Hop Sessions Vol-1 is now available in DJ wav form over at my Bandcamp page. This track is a flip of the Tony D song Queen of My Dreams which first appeared on the Grand Central Records album Pound For Pound. The video footage features Rae & Christian live with YZ and Fingathing at Kings College London plus our 2000 show with Supernatural, Kriminul and The Pharcyde at The Ritz in Manchester. Music written, produced & mixed by @the_works02@erik_miles
The work comes to light! Out on all platforms. Grand Central Vs The Works is a collab between super producer @the_works02 and a vault full of Grand Central DATs. Featuring The Jungle Brothers, The Pharcyde, Tony D and Rae & Christian. We are excited to share what has been an amazing journey in fusing the past with the future. Make sure to add to your playlists! Music written, produced and mixed by @erik_miles@forumrecordingstudiosuk . If you were at this concert at The Ritz in Manchester in 2000, drop a comment. If you weren’t, hit us with your favourite indie hip hop song of the 90’s. Love X Mark
