1993 debut album by the trio of Andrew Weatherall, Jagz Kooner
and Gary Burns. Unavailable on vinyl and CD since original
release. Remastered from the original tapes by Matt Colton,
contains “Smokebelch II (Beatless Mix)” for the first time on the
2LP edition.
Coming off the back of his work on the era-defining
Screamadelica album by Primal Scream, not to mention
groundbreaking remix work for the likes of New Order, My
Bloody Valentine and the Happy Mondays, Weatherall was as
revered by fans of indie guitar music as he was namechecked by
hardcore ravers. The increasing demands on his services led
to a studio partnership with Kooner and Burns, forming the
production trio The Sabres Of Paradise (named after a
1960 book about a Muslim chieftain’s efforts to repel a
Russian invasion).
The opening track on Sabresonic (named after the popular
weekly club night Weatherall was then running) started life as a
remix of the Primal Scream track “Don’t Fight It Feel It” but
got so radically mutated that it turned into something entirely
new. As well as reflecting on contemporary trends in dance
music (“Inter-Legen-Ten-ko” is a swipe at the IDM genre name),
the album also brought in older influences - “R.S.D” is an
acronym for “Red Stripe Dub”, the deep influence of King Tubby
et al evident at various points throughout the album, whilst
the epic icy vistas of the 14 minute+ “Clock Factory” are
informed by the electronic experiments of industrial groups such
as Coil. The album also flagged future trends in electronic music,
with the timeless “Smokebelch II (Beatless Mix)”, a beautiful
re-work of an old Chicago house tune by Lamont Booker,
becoming a staple of chillout compilation CDs for the rest of
the decade.
