Estelle

 

In the mid 80's one of the most hip places in Europe was a café located on the seafront in Sant Antoni de Portmany in the Cala des Moro bay on Ibiza. It became famous because the local DJ José Padilla regularly played a set at sunset, which consisted mainly of relaxed numbers by mostly unknown artists at the time. The term chill-out music was born and later solidified under the name Balearic ambient. 

So what could be more obvious than to publish compilations of these songs? In 1994, the first Café del Mar compilation was released, which included Sabres of Paradise, Underworld, Penguine Cafe Orchestra and A Man Called Adam. To mark the 30th anniversary, AMCA has now released various remixes of Estelle in the last few days. A song that is still a highlight thanks to its instrumentation with flute, interspersed word fragments and its Latin American arrangement.

Starlings

Sally Rodgers and Steve Jones aka A Man Called Adam are going to release another album later this year they made during the lockdowns 20/21 when they had time enough to spent in the studios. The first result was a new song released a few days ago and it is what you could expect in this way. It is a slice of uplifting neo-folk dance pop. Not a great step ahead of what they did but another great piece of music from their space. A song that works in almost every time of day.

 

The Chrono Psionic Interface

One year ago we were all shocked by the sudden death of the probably best DJ in the world. Since then I spent a lot of times listening to the songs and remixes by Andrew Weatherall and I have to admit that I miss him and his monthly shows on NTS introducing new and excellent stuff to me. I asked myself several times if there are existing some hidden remixes somewhere in the attic that will be released one day. Yesterday I got the news that A Man Called Adam released a song to commemorate the 1st anniversary of his death. This latin based song is a charity project for Thrombosis UK, a project supported by Andrew Weatherall and you can get it here.

Steve Jones wrote some words about this track:

Many years ago we spent a night in a shitty hotel room in Coventry (The Godiva), laughing and talking with Andrew, and that night he specifically asked if he could remix our song The Chrono Psionic Interface. It’s a wonderful mix that sounds as fresh and brilliantly Weatherall as it did the first time we heard it.

Love Forgotten

 

Steve Jones and Sally Rodgers aka A Man Called Adam released a few days ago a compilation of unreleased and reworked material. The album sounds like a mixtape from their 30 decade of work. I always liked their combination of electronic sounds from balearic to tribal. One of the forgotten ones is a collaboration with Jose Padilla who died a few weeks ago and on the the other AMCA worked together with African Singer Brenda Fassie, a song with a township jive and jangly guitars Johnny Marr could have played. Two fine pieces to start into the weekend.

Jose Padilla 1955 - 2020

 

Yesterday the sad news arrived that Jose Padilla died last weekend at the consequences of bowel cancer. Padilla got famous when he was DJ-ing in the mid 90's in Ibiza's Cafe Del Mar. He was maybe the first one that played soft flowing electronic sounds while the visitors of the bar was watching the sunset. His compilations of the so called chill-out sound were often played in pubs and bars during the end of the last century and he was part of the Ibiza sound. His musical taste was documented on the first compilations when he brought  Andrew Weatherall and A Man Called Adam to a major audience.

Rest easy Jose.

Jose Padilla - Agua 

Mountains And Waterfalls

Earlier this year Sally Rogers and Steve Jones aka A Man Called Adam released their last superb album Famarama. It was an album knowing no borders between lo-fi disco, deep house, dub and breakbeat. Most songs were full of melodies and it was an album I often went back since it's release. Now they released a remix-album with four of their songs that show how great these songs are. Not a bad way to start into a rainy Sunday.

Paul Valéry At The Disco

Since a few days some friends from Sri Lanka came to visit me and I spent a lot of time with them so that I found no time to write something on these pages. A Man Called Adam is an artist that is busy on releasing records and remixes. The latest one is this little gem that also could be featured on Mondays Long Song series. 10 minutes of percussive, tribal influenced ride that will work well in any club.