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artist · bentley rhythm ace
release · midlander
year · 1997
genre · beat
label · skint records
catalogue · skint 023
website · www.skint.net
date · 30-jul-2004
quality · 198kbps/44,1khz
source · vinyl
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a1 midlander 6:41
b1 something to keep your sandwiches in 5:28
b2 midlander (there can only be one edit) 4:46
playtime · 00h 16m 55s
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one was an unemployed tarmaccer and lighting whizz. the other
member was a barman and the bass player from pop will eat itself.
together they are bentley rhythm ace, britain's brightest
beatsmiths with the technology to create a new boogie.
the bentley's were born in birmingham in late '95; mike stokes
(aka michael barrywhoosh, shorter, the ex-road layer) and richard
marsh (aka barry island, the ex-bass thing) met at a party were
mike was playing some psychedelic pop tunes. "i was playing
records and he really loved them. then we nearly kissed... but we
didn't, so we made music instead. we were lonely."
a shared love for the sunday studley car boot sale led to the pair
picking up odds and sods, bits and bobs and hundreds of dodgy
records (twenty for a quid, usually called 'something a go-go')
with which to pilfer ace noises from for the project b.r.a. the
"serious with a smirk" bentley sound was born with the e.p.
bentley's gonna sort you out (summer '96) featuring bizarre beats
and sampled seals of the 'carbootechnodiscobooto'. a monthly
residency at the lengendary heavenly social ensued and their
purist-baiting follow up late train to bentley on c caused instant
pogoing on the nation's big beat-friendly floors.
if the bentleys are musically and sampledelically influenced by
the jamms then their live show seems to go for some top costumed
klf action. behind a huge polystyrene car replete with old skool
disco lights they dressed up as scousers in shell suits at the
ministry of sound, at the rocket they were ravers with vicks in
their masks, sporting policeman's helmets and boiler suits with
'east' on the front and '17' on the back. in iceland over the new
year they dressed up as vikings, though they admit "some people
didn't like that".
so what's the album like then? well it's eponymously titled -
which means it's called bentley rhythm ace. "great title", they
say, "it's even spelt the same". it starts off with let there be
flutes a multiple beats assault with slippin' and slidin' bass and
that good old fashioned wind based instrument. "i was fixing a
friend's car", says bentley, "we got good karma rebate because we
heard these flutes coming from this house we were parked outside.
i threw stones at the window and it was a girl i knew and she's
ace on the flute!". forthcoming single midlander (there can be
only one) is a slo-strung rumble where radios are retuned with
hammers and guitars are dragged behind a battered sherpa van
racing to the nearest balti house. "it's about tough blokes from
the midlands like ourselves", they confess," what's the average
midlander like? i dunno, cos there can only be one and there's two
of us so we're still rowing about it". why is frog, too? is
remixed with a trancier slant. it's spookier than the original
with a whopping great breakdown. mind the gap is a rejigged wiggy
version of late train and run on the spot concludes side one, with
an ancient slimming album scratched up, multiple handclaps that
sounds like some old bloke playing the spoons, trumpet parps and a
grooovy guitar that altogether sounds like a crazed hair bear
bunch party. ace!
the boys stroll through the sunshine in straw skirts for bentley's
gonna sort you out before burning through brum in the rag top
skoda car chase with it's spooky scattershot beats and 70's horror
film vibe. "a friend of mine had a convertable skoda', they
explain, "we were driving through kings heath and everyone thought
we were in a posh sports car". whoosh! is the bentleys at their
funkiest and rankin' roger of the beat turns up on who put the bom
in the bom diddle bom bom? rankin' is joined by police cars,
elephants and sinister snarls over caribbean blues. they like
space hopper to running through all rooms of the brummie club if
the same name before signing off with the return of the
carbooter's disco hardcore jumble roadshow. "the best version
we've done'. it's faster with hundreds of beats per second with
the guitar, mad acid and the barking seal still intact. ace again!
perverse, party friendly and fun in a 'what the fuck is this?'
sort of way. bentleys gonna sort if out? better believe it.
included is an exlusive edit of midlander only on this vinyl.
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