Georgia - Ray Guns (Dan Carey dub)
- NICK DUTFIELD
- Jan 14, 2021
- 3 min read
Theorising is one of the principal duties of the blogger, and one I’ve pretty much neglected up until now. So here goes, this blog’s first dip into theoretical waters. Picture the scene, it’s 1982 and a little fan comes home with a 7”, let’s say Just Who Is The Five O’Clock Hero by The Jam. As well as the music and the picture, there’s another source of entertainment - Names. There´s Steve Nichol who plays trumpet, Peter Wilson who produced the song, and if you´d splashed out on the 12”, you could have thrown in Strong & Whitfield, who wrote a b-side. So many pondering opportunities open up as we scan the names of these mystery figures. Now let´s skip forward to the age of mp3s and streaming, all those names have disappeared and what happens? ‘Featuring’ goes nuts. This is the crux of the theory, today’s preponderance of ‘Featuring’ reflects a thirst for names which is no longer fulfilled by producers, trumpeters, and songwriters, all of whom have faded into foggy anonymity.
This brings us to this week’s true launchpad, a blunt question – Do you know who Dan Carey is? If not, here’s some quick career highlights. In Rough Trade´s online shop he’s described as a Dub Wizard; he co-wrote Kylie´s Slow; he´s the producer of albums by Hot Chip, Franz Ferdinand and Fontaines DC; he’s also worked with Kae Tempest, Nick Mulvey, La Roux, Sia and lots more; he runs a label called Speedy Wunderground. Most importantly, he used to be a customer in my wife´s old cheese shop. It was there that I think he entertained me with accounts of conversations he´d had with Sly & Robbie, in which Sly contributed dialogue while Robbie stuck to gut-rumbling bass. This is roughly the sort of thing:
Dan – When I was little, I had a guinea pig. Until it got eaten by a fox.
Sly – Man, that´s a deep, sad story.
Robbie – BRRRRRRR, BU, BRRRRRRR, bububub, BRRRRRRR, BU
All this came back to me thanks to playlist I threw together, which helpfully arranged Carey´s dub mix of Georgia´s Ray Guns next to Sly & Robbie´s relatively recent Sweet Dub thing with Cherine. Naturally this made me think of cheese, and also made me slightly question Carey’s status as a true Dub Wizard. If there has to be a magical hierarchy among dub people, I think Acolyte might be more fitting, leaving the Wizard rung free for the true legends, except King Tubby who might consider it a step down. I clocked this Rough Trade shop plaudit on an advert for the 7” of the Ray Guns mix from back in September (£16.99! A price that would have made Just Who Is The Five O’Clock Hero blush). We´re counting the mix as new though because it has only just turned on Spotify etc, as part of the updated reissue of Georgia´s Seeking Thrills album. This Ultimate Thrills reboot comes with remixes, the cover of Running Up That Hill and rave stab fave, Feel It, now with Toddla T production and featuring (they´re everywhere – see theory above) Yung Baby Tate.
Ray Guns was always the most MIA-ish track on Seeking Thrills, beat-wise, vocal-wise and glitzy aggro in the title-wise. Carey has blown plenty of air into the track. Vocals come and go, sirens keep you alert. Bass simplicity wobbles against occasional flourishes of hi hats or something. Guitars, middle eights, and hysteria have all been scrapped in favour of rhythmic drive. If you’d bought that Rough Trade shop 7” back in September, you could fantasise about dropping a needle on it and watching bass bins and human bottoms all start to reverberate in response to your actions. Suddenly the £16.99 price tag looks like a bargain (although bear in mind that the price doesn’t include the time machine or inoculation programme you would need in order to make this fantasy anything but a distant dream) (Sorry).
THIS WEEK
Georgia – Ray Guns (Dan Carey dub)
40 (!) views since 10th December Weekly Average Views – 8
LAST WEEK
Four Tet – Parallel 4
Weekly Average Views – 9,138 Blog Week Views – 5,441
EXTRAS
Sly & Robbie – Sweet Dub (Featuring Cherine)
M.I.A. – Jimmy (Dan Carey Radio Mix)
Tinariwen – Wartilla (Dan Carey dub)
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