Glasgow mainstays Optimo have announced the release of a new 12” via their own Optimo Trax imprint from Muslimgauze which claims to predate UK Hardcore by around five years. You can hear previews above.
Announcing the release, a text says: “In 1996, JD Twitch released a 12" by Manchester’s Bryn Jones aka Muslimgauze on his then label Pi Recordings. He also, along with a friend, arranged Muslimgauze’s first and only Scottish live performance (attended by 6 people). Around that time, Jones, sadly no longer with us and one of the most prolific musicians ever to exist sent Twitch multiple CD-Rs of unreleased material, including the track featured here. He said he had made this track in 1985, and there is no reason to doubt his word although also no way to prove this is true, but we are going to accept his word for it which means that it could be said Jones pre-empted UK Hardcore around 5 years before anyone else. This is made all the more remarkable by the fact that he never used samplers but rather worked extensively with tape loops.”
JD Twitch, one half of Optimo, has very slightly edited the track, entitled ‘Untitled 1985’ to make it more club-playable, while Gerd Janson and Victor Shan have been enlisted to turn in an updated ‘rave mix’. The split 12”, which also features the sounds of field recordings from Kenya’s Mukunguni tribe edited by male/female duo Underspreche, is out on vinyl and digitally on January 15, 2016.
