Underworld - Two Month's Off (Album Version) - (Junior Boy's Own, 2002)

Euphoric, epic, stream of consciousness, classic Underworld.

Real life got in the way and the blog took a back seat for a couple of months, so what better way to come back from two months off than with this humongous Underworld classic.

A nine minute 'journey' building from dark and long-ness to dancefloor joy to weightless breakdown to cloudsurfing and back again. Chiming bells, repetitive chanting and a cowbell outro. Immense.

Download Underworld 'Two Month's Off (Album Version)' (epic, progressive, house, mp3)

New Order - Regret (The Fire Island Mix) (London, 1993)

Dancefloor melancholy

Almost Deep House smooth, this Fire Island remix really suits the laid-back, slightly melancholy feel of 'Regret'. Junior Boys Own's mastery gives the track some space and more propulsive beat but leaves the song pretty much intact, save for extended the instrumental coda.

Funnily, this is a more 'Balearic' sound than that of famously Ibiza-influenced 'Technique'.

Download New Order 'Regret (The Fire Island Mix)' (Alternative, mp3) (Divshare)

One Dove - Breakdown (Cellophane Boat Mix) (Junior Boys Own, 1993)

A Dub House symphony. Epic. Beautiful.

'Morning Dove White' - also touched by the hand of Andrew Weatherall - is up there with 'Screamadelica' for me in distilling the emotions and dynamics of Dub and House into a sumptuous cocoon of sound. You could call it Post Club Soul. Maybe it doesn't need a label.

'Breakdown' is a teasing, irresistable web of shuffling beats, reverb-happy piano, meandering bass and dubbed-out effects, bouncing subtly around the soundfield. It settles into a laidback groove and Dot Allison unleashes an angelic soliloquy to lost love.

A perfect companion piece to the Dub Symphony version of 'Higher Than The Sun' and the Lemonentry Mix of Saint Etienne's 'Pale Movie'. A seriously under-rated album.

Download One Dove - Breakdown (Cellophane Boat Mix) (Junior Boys Own, One Dove mp3) (Box.net)

The Ballistic Brothers 'Peckings' (Junior Boys Own, 1995) (mp3)

Frantic ska homage from one of the true classic London albums.

'London Hooligan Soul' is a superb, superb album. It captures perfectly the simmering meld of influences at play on London's music scene (of the time, there's no grime here).

Helmed by the multi-talented Ashley Beedle, it's a mix of downtempo sounds, soul, Saint Etienne/Foxbase Alpha-style dialogue snippets, Latin, House, Latin House, some Drum'n'Bass, a sprinkle of Progressive House, lots more soul and a bit of Ska.

Which brings us nicely to 'Peckings' which is the penultimate track. A descending, insidiously catchy guitar skank, circular bass motif, a sunrise of a horn riff, echo-laden percussion cracks, the crackle of old vinyl... Not much to it, but it is just beautiful and a ray of sunshine whatever the weather.

Download The Ballistic Brothers 'Peckings' (mp3) (Mediafire)