R.I.P. Andrew Weatherall

Andrew Weatherall, 1963 - 2020

And so, we lose another of the greats - far too early.  It is with sorrow I must mark the passing of DJ, musician, producer, and all-round Dance Music eccentric, Andrew Weatherall, who recently  died from a pulmonary embolism, at the age of 56 (56 - for crying out loud!).

Weatherall's work has been an important part of my own consciousness since I first became engaged by the layered productions, polyrhythms, repetitive beats, and overall sonic experimentation of 'Dance Music', back at the turn of the 1990s.  He seemed to have been there, as one of that scene's pillars of wisdom, from very early on, coming through the Punk and Post-Punk years as a youth, before involving himself in the new emerging forms in the best way possible - as an enthusiastic record collector.

If an element of vaguely punk-ish contrarianism hung about everything Weatherall would go on to do, his real guiding principle was the impulse to dismantle and fearlessly experiment with sounds that came from the great Jamaican Dub producers.  For many, that was first encountered via his reinvention, as a producer, on Primal Scream's 'Screamadelica' Album, in 1992.  It was a record that, I recall, seemed to get played everywhere that year.  It also  turned an under-achieving Indie guitar band into the epitome of what might happen when sullen white boys discover MDMA, stop just staring at the floor (or their guitar frets), and dare to dance.

With all due respect to 'The Scream', that album sits in Weatherall's discography, far more comfortably than in theirs, and kick-started a fruitful career as the go-to, cutting edge producer/remixer of the day.  Nonetheless, it's to Weatherall's credit that he eschewed the course of easy wealth and fame for diminishing returns that might have resulted - just as he would decline the equally available option of becoming an increasingly predictable 'superstar DJ'.  Instead, he went on to chart a far less orthodox, and far more creative, zig-zag path through Dub, House, Techno, and even a bizarre kind of Rockabilly/Dance hybrid thang (in which he even, gasp - sang!).  Above all, everything he turned his hand to, seemed to be done for the best of reasons, namely - that it interested him at the time, despite what anybody else thought.

As a result, exploring the best of his deeper cuts can lead to a slightly arduous search for deleted gems and over-priced rarities, albeit one that consistently repays the effort.  For what it's worth, my own personal favourites would be the two albums, 'Haunted Dancehall' (the pinnacle of his work with The Sabres of Paradise), and 'Stockwell Steppas' (with Keith Tenniswood, as Two Lone Swordsmen).  The first is a loosely conceptual, and often eerie, melange of sounds and references that other producers might only dream of.  It's also a perfect example of that rare beast - a great Dance album that actually hangs together as such.  The second is a wonderfully dry, endlessly satisfying, collision of Dub,Techno and  Deep House, that has rarely been far from my CD player - both at home and in the car, for decades now.

Search those two out, if nothing else - to know why Andrew Weatherall will be missed by everyone in the know, and why so many called him 'The Guv'nor'.  Trust me - you'll wish you'd heard them sooner.