Champion Sound: Stephen Morris of New Order, British Ideas Corporation, 2014
The bit of the magazine where someone of sonic sophistication supplies a selection of serious dance-floor stompers.
YOUR DJ 2-NITE!
Stephen Morris of New Order
[In the test issue of British Ideas Corporation magazine, I’d devised a Champion Sound page where someone with impeccable music taste supplies an hour’s worth of dancefloor foot-shufflers. Stephen Morris from my favourite band New Order took the decks for’ Issue 0.6′, which was given away free at The Prisoner-inspired Festival No.6. I just checked Ebay and there’s a copy for sale for £6.25. I dumped 700 copies at Barrowell Green tip in 2019]
“Here are some dance tracks that you probably shouldn’t dance to, in no particular order.” – Stephen Morris
“Knickerbocker” – Fujiya & Miyagi (2008)
“The best song about exotic ice-cream desserts that also namechecks Lena Zavaroni ever written. Their album Artificial Sweeteners is great too.”
“Los Niños Del Parque” – Liaisons Dangereuses (1981)
“This used to get played at the Haç in the good old days. I saw them live there, too. It was one of my all-time, top-ten, best gigs ever. It’s also the only track I’ve played where someone has asked what it was called. They went away none the wiser, though, mostly due my poor Spanish accent.”
“No Time” – The Juan MacLean (from the LP The Future Will Come) (2009)
“The Juan MacLean will make someone somewhere feel like dancing. This is one of my favourites. ‘Feel So Good’ is another.”
“Rock The Box” – Sylvester (1984)
“An electro-funk classic from yesteryear in which Sylvester shows his limited knowledge of UK geography with the line ‘from Liverpool to Wales’. It’s not that far really, is it?”
“Number One Song In Heaven” – Sparks (1979)
“The Mael brothers produced by Giorgio Moroder. Brilliant, so long as you remember to skip the longish intro. Another all-time favourite of mine.”
“He’s Frank (Slight Return)” – The Brighton Port Authority feat Iggy Pop (2009)
“Originally done by The Monochrome Set, but re-done by Norman Cook with the singing bits by someone called Iggy Pop.”
“Losing My Edge” – LCD Soundsystem (2002)
“Got to have something by James Murphy. It’s usually ‘North American Scum’, but this week it’s not.”
“Original Challenge” – Umek & Tomy DeClerque (2011)
“I know nothing at all about this track. But its one that I can mix in to something else and look a bit like I know what I’m doing. It’s also good to dance to, so I’m told.”
Note: the cover incorrectly spells DeClerque’s name.
“Silva & Grimes” – Holy Fuck (from the LP Latin) (2007)
“At 170bpm, this is surely impossible to dance to properly unless you are some kind of apprentice dervish, but it’s very exciting in a high-speed Krautrock kind of way.”
“Archangels Thunderbird” – Amon Düül II (from the LP Live In London) (1973)
“Talking of Krautrock, here’s the genuine article. This is Amon Düül’s not-quite-a-hit single – the version on Live In London is the best one. I used to play this in the Cortina on the way to Joy Division gigs. No one else liked it, though, and the cassette got chucked out the window eventually.”