RiL027 Espiral - Dunne (Reflex Records)
/Espral was one of Ali Cooke's anthems at the early back to basics nights at the>music:factory. It had all the elements that he loved in a record - tough Belgian New Beat drums, catchy melodies, saxophones and an emotional feel. I've said it before but I'll say it again - It is the greatest pleasure for me to unearth the stories behind the records for the RiL series. I know the tunes so well but I never really researched who was behind many of them until now. It turns out that the producer of Espiral was G.Bau from Valencia, who was also the man who produced the legendary 'Bacalao' or 'Machina' classic 'Asi Me Gusta Me' by Chimo Bayo. This was the anthem for the emerging 'Ruta Bacalao' which was a series of clubs just outside Valencia that started to play hard industrial electronic music in the late 80s / early 90s. The clubs included Barracca, which I experienced myself as a DJ, Chocolate, NOD, Spook Factory and Espiral itself. Clubbers would drive up and down 'La Ruta' trying the different clubs out. Back in the days when you couldn't even buy a packet of crisps after 2am in the UK, clubbers could leave Valencia on Friday evening for 'La Ruta' and not come home until Monday. They were open all weekend between them. It's odd how there is so much written about English and Ibizan clubs but this huge scene is still largely unknown outside Spain. It's true the music got progressively harder and faster until it became unlistenable but for a while it was one of the most happening scenes in Europe. Other great records that came out of the scene were Force Legato - System and DJ Dero - Batucada. These were all busted unsuspectingly at back to basics by us, having never travelled to Valencia at the time. Espiral is still highly sought after on vinyl and a mint copy will cost over £30. Ali Cooke died tragically in 1993 but records like this still remind me of him.
Espiral features at 1.45.30 on my music factory mix part 2