It seems pretty stupid, given that I wasn’t too young to be part of it, that I missed out on a lot of dance culture. Silly me. In fact, I probably, like many indie kids, (and I mean that in the pre-Britpop sense of the phrase) was guilty of being snobby because it didn’t have guitars in it. Oh, and because I really can’t dance. The mad sweaty guy headbanging at the indie disco? That was your host. Working in a record shop changed a lot for me about what I listened to, and whilst an interest in ‘dance/electronica’ type stuff grew steadily throughout the nineties and noughties, it was my record shop clerk days that changed much of it for me.

XL Recordings on the other hand, seem to have come at it all from another direction, having started out putting out records by the likes of the Prodigy, SL2 and Kicks Like A Mule, but nowadays make records with the likes of Adele, the White Stripes and the Raconteurs, and for a time, Badly Drawn Boy. A recent compilation, The First Chapters collects much of this together. Now, while it took me years to ‘get’ The Prodigy, this was a track I loved at the time.

SL2 -‘On A Ragga Tip (original 12″ mix).’

This track was actually a hit several times for London-based producer Brian Dougans. I remember seeing this on Top of the pops, oddly enough.

Humanoid -‘Stacker Humanoid (12″ original).’ mp3

I also am going to have to put my hand up at this point, and confess that it was only this evening I found out that Brian Dougans is part of Future Sound Of London. Oh well, at least I’m honest. And I’ve posted this before, but it is glorious. And this I did like at the time.

Future Sound Of London -‘Papua New Guinea (7″ original).’ mp3

Enjoy…