Label: not on label – none
Format: Cassette, Mixtape
Country: UK
Released: 2022
Genre: Electronic, Reggae
Style: Dub Techno, Downtempo, Techno, Dub
A fourth Peace Pipe tape, this time a mix of dub/techno/downtempo and earthy house that conjures the morning after the free party.
In late May 1992 I watched on the news as 40,000 people partied on Castlemorton Common in Worcestershire. Over 7 days they created a temporary autonomous zone in a sleepy corner of middle England. Initially this just seemed like the start of what was by then a fourth or possibly 5th summer of love. But as the week wore on and questions began to be asked in Parliament even I could see that this might be the end of something rather that the beginning. In response John Major’s conservative government drafted the Criminal Justice Bill. This was a draconian parcel of measures designed to seriously hinder Travellers, Hunt Sabs and most of all Ravers. In 1992 I had no real sense of what I was looking at except that it looked like fun. But by 1994 when I attended the huge anti- CJB demo in Whitehall I knew what we stood to lose. This demonstration felt significant, a show of collective will and politicising moment for thousands like me. But as the bill passed into law, effectively ending a 4 year spate of truly free parties all over the midlands and Home Counties, the sense of disappointment was palpable. Looking back on this moment feels relevant while listening to the music on this tape. There’s none of the ferociously fast attack-techno favoured by Spiral Tribe et al or the fluoro-trance beloved of middle-class crusties. It’s more the kind of dubby electronica and psychy ambient techno I remember hearing in the second and third rooms of clubs like Megadog, Whirligig and Megatripolis. Of course there were big ticketed events, commercial festivals and the occasional furtive forest party, but dancing outside wherever you liked was largely done with. The party I had just missed was over… (Mint / New - with free DL)
Tracklist
A Untitled
B Untitled
