Andrew Weatherall Live at Basics 20 London

There exists no more fitting guest to feature first on the basic vision blog than Andrew Weatherall.  He was instrumental in directing the musical direction of back to basics from the very first time he guested in early 1992.  His remixes of My Bloody Valentine, Primal Scream and Happy Mondays all dropped around the time we started the club and he was already well respected as a formidable DJ.   I first saw him play when he was supporting Primal Scream on tour.  At the time he had long curly hair that at some point developed into dreadlocks, well, he looked like this -

There are some moments on a dancefloor that you remember forever and I have a golden one firmly imprinted in my memory of Weatherall dropping Papua New Guinea as his last track at The Music Factory.  I'd never heard it before and it totally floored me.  It was almost as if time itself had ceased to exist and been transplanted by another state of being.  I remember looking around and no one was talking, everyone was just focusing intently on the music and the moves they were making to it.  It was the singularly most beautiful piece I had ever experienced.  Weatherall has always been a master at delivering an audience his vision of heaven and hell, in equal measures.  For every drop of pure beauty he delivers, he demands blood.  No one else can devastate a dancefloor so effectively by using this technique.  The hardest acid track you have ever heard suddenly makes way for cascades of melody.  It is therefore fitting that it was Andrew who found one of the most beautiful pieces of electronic music ever recorded by an artist called The Prince of Darkness.  It appeared as 'New Age Bonus Track - The New Age of Faith' by the artist L.B.Bad on Nu Groove Records in 1989.  It became 'Smokebelch' by Sabres of Paradise when re-created by Weatherall.  

We recently started throwing 2020Vision Warehouse parties in London.  Our last show of 2011 happened to fall very close to the Back to Basics 20th anniversary so we decided to make it a birthday party celebrating the hallowed Leeds institution.  There was only ever one choice of headliner and that had to be Andrew Weatherall. It was a truly incredible night but every DJ there will admit that was largely due to Weatherall.  He came on when the Village Underground was already heaving and started his set with the beatless version of Smokebelch.  Nearly 20 years since I first heard him drop Papua New Guinea he pulled the same trick - Time stopped and people starred as the magic was created.  It is a massive honour that Andrew gave me his blessing to present this very special mix exclusively for you on the basic vision blog.   

Image - So Hasegawa

Mix - Andrew Weatherall

Andrew Weatherall Live at 2020Vision presents back to basics by ralphlawson