The signature sound of electronic music veterans Posthuman – slo-mo techno & acid house – has been featured on the likes of Tusk Wax, B12 Records, Body Work, Polybius Trax, as well as their own imprints Balkan Vinyl & I Love Acid over the years.
Living and breathing Acid, this London duo is spearheading the recent UK Acid House revival alongside the likes of Marquis Hawkes, Paranoid London & Jerome Hill, with a residency at legendary vinyl-only label and clubnight ‘I Love Acid,’ which has overseen a hundred parties since 2007 in London, Edinburgh, Barcelona, Antwerp, Berlin, Dublin, as well as their annual summer party in Malta, and regular stage at Bloc Weekend.
Here, celebrating the milestone 10 year anniversary of ‘I Love Acid,’ the guys have given us 10 of their ultimate acid hits (no pun intended…maybe). What are some of your favorite acid tracks from over the years?
1. Phuture – Acid Tracks
This is where it all started. Although the TB303 had been around for a couple of years, its intended use was as a replacement bass guitar synth for rock bands. In 1985, Earl ‘Spanky’ Smith and Nathaniel ‘DJ Pierre’ Jones, aka Phuture, wrote this track, calling it “acid” because of the way the tweaking of the 303 sounded like acid melting the components of the synthesizer. Nearly 2 years later, they gave the tape to Ron Hardy, who played it four times in the one night – the first to a static, confused audience…but by the fourth play, the place went insane. The track was then signed to the notorious Trax Records, and “Acid House” was born. Official.
2. Armando – Downfall
There are about a dozen releases from Trax Records between 86 and 88 that could be regarded as iconic acid, but this one from Armando is probably the pick. Still a total dancefloor controller today, heavy raw and uncompromising. Armando founded Musique Records alongside Mike Dunn, and went on to release several more heavy hitters for Trax (most notably ‘Pleasure Dome’) and A&R for Felix da Housecat, before passing away from leukemia in 1996.
3. F.U.S.E. – Substance Abuse
2 years before his ‘Plastikman’ alias, Richie Hawtin had already made a name for himself in the world of acid as F.U.S.E. Released on Plus8 – the label he co-ran with John Acquaviva, this is thought by many to still be Hawtin’s finest moment.
4. Woody McBride aka DJ ESP – Bad Acid No Such Thing
Essentially the first of America’s “Acid Techno” producers, fusing the harder techno sounds coming back from Europe with the TB303 Taking inspiration from the likes of Marc Trauner, Affie Yusuf and Ege Bam Yasi, McBride upped the tempo, distortion and energy to new levels about a year or so before the explosion of ‘avin it acid techno from Stay Up Forever and DJax Beats.
5. Hardfloor – Acperience 1
The elder statesmen of German Acid, Hardfloor combined acid techno and trance with an eye for harmonies that very few have ever managed to match. Multiple 303 lines syncopate against each other, spread across massive snare rushes, crashes, and with one of the greatest drops in the history of dance music.
6. The Black Dog – Psycosyin
Taken from their 1995 BBC Radio One Peel Session, but not released until 1999 on Warp Records, this was Black Dog before Ed & Andy left to form Plaid. Led by a melodic acid hook with little subtle variations, awash with middle-eastern horns and bleeps – truly epic track.
7. 808 State – Flow Coma (Remix by AFX)
The 1988 original from 808 State’s album “Newbuild” was released by Manchester record store Eastern Bloc’s own label Creed, and is a classic in it’s own right. This version by Aphex Twin came, all edits FX and filters of the source material with a remix of Phuture’s Box Energy, a much more manic affair.
8. Luke Vibert – I Love Acid
An anthem, no doubt. We even named our clubnight and label after it (with Luke’s permission of course)
Taken from Vibert’s 2003 album Yoseph, which also boasts killers like Acidisco and Freak Time Baby.
Luke Vibert is probably one of the greatest TB303 programmers of all time, the modern master.
9. Syntheme – Red
A lot of mystery surrounded the identity of Syntheme, with some thinking it may have been another of AFX’s monikers (like The Tuss at a similar time). When the live shows were performed by Louise Wood that added to the confusion. It turns out that much of the earlier material was Global Goon, but some of the later productions were Louise as well. Regardless of who was responsible, this is an absolutely excellent acid disco track that still rocks a dancefloor a decade after it’s release.
10. Paranoid London – Eating Glue
No interviews. No press. No bullshit. Hard partying. Raw analogue acid music. Paranoid London’s modus operandi is a strictly no-bullshit affair. They had been releasing since 2007, largely unnoticed until this and ‘Paris Dubs’ in 2012, and then suddenly everyone wanted a piece. This features their longtime collaborator Mulato Pintado on vocals, and one of the funkiest basslines ever to grace the little silver box.
