New friend Cooper Bethea told me about these comps: The History of Our World Volume 1 and Volume 2. They've got nice Dave Nodz covers (Pedro Bell, Limonius, Alan Oldham AND Dave Nodz, dammnit I've nearly got an article here) and a great selection of tracks, but not nearly the depth of obscurity that I think is recquired. Here's my collection, which is OK. I'm always linking to this Excel document because it's SOOOO sad, something to be truly proud of. I get the varying spellings of Ruffige Cru down pat as well as the catalogue numbers.
But folks, there are MUCH sadder Ardkore collectors than my good self. I've only ever encountered him on the internet where he went by the pseudonyms of "Twist" and "Hungry Ghost". He used to run an FTP server which was DOMINATING, trust me stocked with the rarest tracks and stupendous volumes of them. Two years ago, after that site went down, I sent him a naggy email, he told me he'd dumped everything on Audiogalaxy, which was easier to maintain. "Twist" is the kind of dude who I imagine it would be difficult to have a coherent conversation with, a "monogeneric" collector like my Reggae pal Steve (I kid you not) Caruana, and Darren "I bought all of the African sub-continents records" Booker. The world would be an emptier place without such degrees of fanatacism. If there is to be an even 'arf decent ardkore comp, it needs to operate at these nutty levels. If anyone knows "Twist" get him to drop me a line.
Possibly the best Ardkore collection I know is Kodwo Eshun's "Routes from the Jungle". I'm talking here in terms of an "arty" reading of the era. Smile (based in NYC), who put out the "History of Our World" compilations, have a healthy rep, and strong connections to Moving Shadow. They might even be up to the task given their geography lends them a healthy perspective. Smile put out a great 2 Bad Mice Double LP as well as licensing loads of great Shadow stuff straight to 12". My fantasy Ardkore comp would probably be on Breakdown (the SubBase subsidiary who put out the greatest Jungle comps) compiled "Lenny Kaye-style" by Reynolds (gush gush) and it would definitely require some kind of suede or leather "luxury" packaging.
Posted by Woebot at August 6, 2003 07:26 PM