Not only do we know James Clements as the man behind one of the best ambient albums of last year (No Stars Without Darkness), or one of our favorite electronica EP's in the form a new alias as Comit, or as a pioneer of the 'autonomic sound'... or as label boss of one of the most forward thinking labels out there - Auxiliary. But we also know him as a vinyl obsessive, part-proven by his meticulous and beautiful presses on Auxiliary and other labels lucky enough to get his music on board (take the X3LP Imagine The Future or his black and green colored EP with Ulrich Schnauss - just two examples of his labor of love).
With both an amazing musical background spanning everything from drum'n bass to techno and ambient, alongside a pure love of the format, we were always going to enjoy knowing what lay deep within the crate digging dreams of ASC...
1. Sandwell District - Feed Forward [Discogs]
I had it in my cart on Juno and for some unknown reason, I didn't complete the order. I recall that I'd forgotten about it, and a few days later I returned to see it had sold out. I started to search all over the net for a copy and couldn't find any left. Of course, it's pretty much folk lore what sort of prices it goes for used, although that's also down to Discogs listing price suggestions, which help to inflate the price of a used record. All it takes is one person to buy it at a high price and then the median increases, Discogs suggests a higher listing price and the trend continues. I suppose from a business point of view, it makes good sense, but from a consumer point of view, it's fucking annoying. Rumor has it that it wasn't pressed in high numbers either, which makes it all the more annoying that I missed out. C'est la vie.
2. Lee & Tango/Lee & Gwange - Legendary Volume Three [Discogs]
I had this record in my collection at one point, but when I moved to the US from England and shipped my vinyl over, I couldn't find this. Both sides are absolutely essential pieces of music to me. Growing up on hardcore, drum & bass, early jungle etc, this record is the epitome of everything I loved about that era. One side is some dark menacing jungle-tekno and the flip is a serene piece of atmospheric drum & bass, much in the vein of the stuff LTJ Bukem was starting to push in the early 90's. I tend to set myself a limit of what I'd pay per record these days, but for stuff I've already owned and lost, it pains me to have to buy it again!
3. Convextion - Venus In Spurs [Discogs]
Another amazing record that I missed out on, although no stories of near misses on this one - just me sleeping on Convextion. I only got into his music after hearing his debut album in 2006, and by that time, this release was already 6 years old. Two gorgeous pieces of music here, especially the b-side, Crawling and Hungry. This is one of those records I dream of getting lucky with while checking out some random record store in some city around the world, although I'm not holding my breath on it happening!
4. Ostia - Clamp EP [Discogs]
I have a fascination with Iesope Drift's stuff. Some of the rhythmic creativity shown in their work was absolutely light years ahead of its time. This one is an obscure 12" from their Seico Corp sub label and the only release they did under this guise I think. Fortunately, 2 of the 3 tracks here were reissued on a vinyl release earlier this year, that kinda came out of the blue. I still want the original 12" though, as I'm just like that :)
5. No Artist - Two On One [Discogs]
Bit of a strange one here, as there's no music on this piece of vinyl at all. This was a picture disc used as promo for Moving Shadow's Two On One series back in 1994. It features the super cool Moving Shadow World Domination logo on one side and the flip gives information about the upcoming series. I've always wanted a copy anyway, mainly as something to display in a frame on my studio wall. Perhaps I'll buy one at some point :)
