VARIOUS ARTISTS - Bob Stanley & Pete Wiggs Present Fell From The Sun (2lp)

1989 had been a long hot summer, but 1990 felt longer and hotter. Since the house music explosion of 1987, Britain had had a whistle in its mouth, and it needed a lie down. February 1990 brought two records that were made to accompany the sunrise and would shape the immediate future: The KLF s Chill Out was a continuous journey, a woozy, reverb-laden mix; and Andrew Weatherall s drastic remix of a Primal Scream album track Loaded slowed down the pace on the dancefloor itself, right down to 98 beats per minute. Within weeks of Loaded and Chill Out emerging, a whole wave of similarly chilled, floaty, mid-tempo records appeared. The charts were full of chugging Soul II Soul knock-offs, but further out were amazingly atmospheric records such as the Grid s Floatation , which married the new-age relaxation method du jour with Jane Birkin-like breathy sighs; BBG s Snappiness , which was all sad synth pads and Eric Satie piano; and the Aloof s Never Get Out Of The Boat , which re-imagined Apocalypse Now as if it had been shot in Uxbridge. This was a modernist sound, grabbing bits of the past, the feel of the immediate now, and creating something entirely new. There was a notable 90s-does-60s vibe, a neo-psychedelia that didn t involve guitars. For a moment, or at least for a summer, it felt like the perfect future had already arrived. Fell From The Sun encapsulates that moment.

Vinyl release of Various Artists - Bob Stanley & Pete Wiggs Present Fell From The Sun (2lp). Released through ACE RECORDS and available on 2LP.