Been taking this time to dip my toes further into some genres I've only a passing relationship with. As mentioned on the poscast moons ago, entering any new electronic genre is a bit of a minefield, there are so many sub-genres and jargon it can be hard to find your way. I've tried my best to do a quick rundown here of all things I like that are Acid. What kind of Acid? Well, all kinds really (apart from Jazz). Let's 'ave a look.
Kicking off with a bit from Ceephax Acid Crew. Yet another artist that kept cropping up in my recommends but sorely overlooked. Ceephax is Andy Jenkinson, brother of Thomas of Squarepusher fame, in fact some of the early Squarepusher stuff (Especially under his Chaos A.D. alias) is quite Acidic. Ceephax has stuck to those acid guns though, hence the name. I really dig his stuff, mainly because there's interesting things happening beyond squealing 303s, not that I don't like that mind you but it's definitely refreshing to hear this kind of approach. Ceephax also gets full on DMX Krew style irony when it comes to the visual side of things, really going for that Ceefax aesthetic that he takes his name from. Get a load of the video for this one for example
That of course isn't where I got my start with Acid however, we're going back to the acid heyday of 1988 here for one of, if not the first, acid tunes I had in my collection. Hailing from 'round my neck of the woods is Gerald Simpson, better known by his stage name the beautifully understated A Guy Called Gerald. A far cry from synths that sound like they're about to explode that comes to my mind when I think of Acid, Voodoo Ray is in contrast a rather sedate piece. But all the hallmarks are still there, and the house influence is much more clear. This is a time where a lot of releases blur the line between House, Acid, Garage, Techno and so on (Strings Of Life springs to mind). Totally understandable as genres evolve and get more popular, but as mentioned above Voodoo Ray is unmistakably Acid, albeit in its early form! You can totally hear the similarities and influence on the Ceephax track and there's a good 24 years between them.
And finally rounding things out, a new one I picked up along the way. Heard this one on some random Acid mix I ended up on and I was a little disappointed when I looked it up. Not because the tune's bad or anything but it was played faster in the mix, and honestly I think it sounds better a little quicker. I found that was the case for most of the tracks in that mix actually, but still good to have to hand. Perhaps a little generic in parts but that's not necessarily a bad thing (see my post on Eurobeat for proof!). And as I've said in previous posts, music is a lot like food, sure you will appreciate a really well done dish but sometimes you just want a bit of greasy comfort food. And to me, that's tunes like this.
And so ends our brief foray into the acid world. I hope I showed enough variety here, it does feel a little shorter than other posts. Regardless, keep reading as there will still be content to come, reminder that next post will be an old one republished and then back to a new one after that. As always; stay safe and enjoy the music.
-CVF
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