You’re NEXUS 21, central to the dizzy zeitgeist of the 1991 adrenaline rammed UK House Music juggernaut, and you have just recorded a masterpiece of an album MIND MACHINES. DON’T DO IT LIKE THAT - somehow even though your record label love the album it does not get released. DO IT LIKE THIS - it finally gets issued now. When Mark Archer and Chris Peat flew back from a seminal recording session at Kevin Saunderson’s KMS Studio in Detroit there was a palpable feel of excitement. Instead of merely paying homage to their Techno forerunners, they were now creating their own just as innovative waveforms. In the can was a gem - DON’T DO IT LIKE THIS, DO IT LIKE THAT. Motor City songstress Donna Black had unconsciously seemed to add Ma to the start of her name and her recorded in the dark vocals helped conjure up an almost Madonna and a drum machine meets Techno hybrid. This it was agreed could be a huge breakthrough single which - preceded by strategically released set up tracks - would build up Nexus 21’s surely inevitable rise to glory. And the release of the MIND MACHINES album. But it never happened. Instead one day Mark and Chris burst into Network’s Birmingham office excitedly brandishing no less than 8 new recordings infused with a propulsive Rave energy flash compared to their more cerebral Nexus 21 work. The label agreed that the new tracks should be released under a new artist name and an initial suggestion. Alien 8 replaced by Altern 8. What was planned as temporary dalliance became a long term relationship. You all know the score - Altern 8 became surf riders supreme on the rave tsunami, not just music makers but myth creators. The plan has been to run Nexus 21 and Altern 8 parallel, a kind of schizophrenic experiment by two men, a drum machine and a mad for it record company. History shows that Altern 8 became too DOMIN 8 and the lovingly recorded Nexus 21 album was left on the proverbial shelf (actually a box in Birmingham) So now MIND MACHINES finally meets the World. First thing that screams out that it hasn’t half aged well. Obviously it is a wet dream for the anoraks of electronica, that goes without saying. But above and beyond the history lesson of how 2 young UK techno mad kids got the dots from Detroit and deconstructed them to create something very British the music they created, sometimes naive but frequently knowledgeable, sounds .. well just great. The four Detroit recordings - NEXODUS, TOGETHER, DON’T DO IT LIKE THAT, DO IT LIKE THIS and EVERYTHING (NO STATUES) - variously feature contributions from Motor City luminaries Marc Kinchen and Anthony Shakir. Only two of the twelve recordings were properly released in 1990/1991 with two more making it on a withdrawn white label 12 inch at the time. Three of the tracks, including a live recording at London’s Brain Club that has been retrieved from a DAT that was thought to have disappeared, are previously unreleased. And as well as two previously unreleased much altered versions of Nexus 21 gems there is the legendary much tougher mix of the duo’s signature techno treasure Self Hypnosis.

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More

we wanted something to listen to in the car...” Network’s 30th Anniversary celebration continue with a dig in the vaults finding three timeless treasures from UK Techno pioneers Nexus 21. The “Progression Logical” 12” highlights how skilfully the Stafford duo - Mark Archer and Chris Peat - combined their love of Detroit inspired Techno with North of London Bleep culture. This is the first time the much loved original mix of “Self Hypnosis“ (that track with the ice cream vans sound)has been released on a commercial 12”. Up till now it could only be found on a sampler 12” for one of Network’s iconic bio-rhythm albums, and on that LP Itself, with a remix being done for a subsequent 12”. That original still sounds amazing. The 1990 recording was made at Derby’s much lauded Square Dance Studio, Next year saw a move to nearby Nottingham and Network (nothing to do with the label) Studio where “Mind Machines” was conceived. This is its’ debut on any format ever! Listening to something so epic now, that decision not to issue it at the time seems bizarre,but as Mark recalls: “The mad thing is it’s just a live mix because we wanted to listen to something in the car. We never finished it. That was live with us muting things, and and me changing patterns on the drum machines and turning the sounds up and down. There are so many small mistakes in it, but it adds to the character of the tune.” A later “proper” mix was never done as Nexus 21 turned into Altern 8 and life got ravey. The third track is well and truly an historic piece of Techno history - Carl Craig’s first ever remix no less. Nexus 21’s “Still Life” was conceived as a homage to Inner City’s “Big Fun” and “Good Life”. Upon signing to Network, the label thought a deconstruction by Inner City’s Kevin Saunderson would complete the circle. A kind of Stafford does Detroit and Detroit does Stafford back with 808 and 909 knobs on odyssey. Kevin obliged big time, and arranged for other remixes by then young Motor City hippersnappers MK and Carl. As the intro to his version proclaims - Mental! TRACK LISTING:: A1. Self Hypnosis (Original Mix), B1. Mind Machines, B2. Still Life (Keeps Moving) (Carl Craig Instrumental Remix)

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More

Of all the Network treasured relics set to be released this year to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the label there’s nothing as appropriate as the Nexus 21 “Made In Detroit” EP - it was recorded in the 1990 starter year and has been stuck In the vaults gathering dust ever since. Why the 4 tracks on the EP never got issued is partially shrouded in mystery as explained later on. A1. Don't Do It Like That , A2. Don't Do It Like That (Instrumental) , B1. Nexus , B2. No Statues


Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More

When Network Records originally issued “Innovator” in 1991 we knew that the music contained within was timeless. At that time, of course, we had no grasp of how well Derrick’s epic soundscapes would time travel. We christened the collection - “Soundtrack For The Tenth Planet” - because it seemed like the music (and Derrick) had indeed arrived from another world. The release has been acclaimed as iconic because Derrick, the madcap and maverick philosopher of Detroit Techno, introduced the concept of dance music with a musical and emotional agenda way beyond anything that had come before. Beats with beauty. Literally the strings of life. Where fellow musical geniuses Chic had previously urged everybody to simply "Dance, Dance, Dance" mood alchemist Mayday merged simple yet cerebral dreamscapes with strange and urgent complex dance rhythms and invited us all to Dance And Dream. And in a strange juxtaposed way helped birth the hedonistic Acid House scene with classics “Nude Photo” and “Strings Of Life” The energy is frenetic, but merged with a new age ambience. The gems collected on this offering were iconic in 1991, now they cause mass hysteria when Derrick turns his one time musical experiments, created in a tiny room in Detroit, and turns them into epic concerts with orchestras and musicians across the globe. “Hand In Hand” existed in 1991 and we wanted to release it then, but it’s taken until now for the complete 13 minute recording to finally meet the world. It will be revered, because like all of Derrick May’s music it is life affirming. Emotions Electric indeed. The original “Innovator” release was housed on one single slab of wax. This time around we have expanded it to two discs to make space for “Hand Over Hand” and also so everything elsewhere - masterpieces remastered - can be presented in a complete and superior fashion. Whatever the tweaks, changes and updates etc all these years on, this music still sounds gloriously alien and groundbreaking. But there’s still no Tenth Planet.

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More