Sheffield Bleep

djtat: So after a long run of 105 years a piece of local...

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 09:06:04 +0100

The last haul

Cool Keith

The famous carrier bag

So after a long run of 105 years a piece of local folklore and history dies, Hudsons Records based in Chesterfield says goodbye. A combination of ludicrously high rent and rates combined with the mass move of buying music and DVDs from the likes of Amazon and LoveFilm meant it was time for the famous independent music store to close.

I came across Hudsons as I did like so many others through my fledgling love of vinyl records, as a 12 year old who suddenly fell head over heels with music and in turn the format of the 7 inch record. Once I’d reached that certain age that gave me licence to go on the bus and to that far far away land, called the town centre, I never looked back. Once there I was able to find solace and friends in the two record shops, firstly Connections, a fusty dark place on two floors that mostly contained prog rock, heavy metal and reggae, and the box that concerned me and my mates most - the electro imports box, all £4.99 and all from New York - remember this was 1982, a fiver was pretty much a big deal.

I was working as a bread lad for Mothers Pride, bunking from school for extra shifts, and those 10 hour days were usually exchanged for one return bus ticket, a US import, or maybe a few 7 inch singles.

Connections were the Krautrock younger brother to Hudsons soul, jazz and pop loving elder. Both shops were blessed with the same thing you rarely found in record shops - friendly and helpful staff - not too cool to try and help, and always able to point you towards a good tune. In time Connections would go under and others would follow focusing on dance, indie and pop but didn’t last apart from the popular Planet X records offering a selection of alternative and indie records.

All the while, Hudons continued with three shops, bizarrely two of them just yards from each other, the third selling music instruments. Eventually all three would fall back to a final defensive position opposite the market hall. Hudsons always had a loyal following, many of them being the blue rinse brigade after songs from their own youth, and eventually to replace their ageing lps with new fanged CDs. In time, CDs and DVDs arrived and along with the perennial singles charts sales, life was good. One thing that highlighted Hudsons was a good place were the staff, they all seemed to have worked their for years and had a combined wealth of knowledge from Aphex Twin to Kylie Minnogue.

From the mid 80s to the present day, electronic music was always well catered for, and there were even a few boxes of Hi-Nrg for the active gay and lesbian scene in the town. With the birth of electro, a steady flow of obscure US imports arrived and were always snaffled by a small group of passionate B Boys, many of which still have these tunes despite not owning a turntable for years.

Dance music boomed in the late 80s and early 90s and the shop stocked literally thousands of weird and wonderful tracks, usually order by Jay or Justine. Every week I’d go in to buy my usual pile to play on the pirate radio stations I frequented and Jay would play me the latest tracks he’d ordered looking for a sale. My reply was always the same, I’ll wait till a few months and get them from the bargain bins, pretty much knowing that I’d be the only one wanting to buy obscure German minimal imports whilst most of the dance customer base were stuck to prog house and trance. They even stocked bespoke mix tapes from my good self, I sold about 1500 there and only ever met one person who’d bought one, it was open house for like minded people.

As I moved away from the town for work, the visits became less and less, but I always tried to get in when I could. Whilst this was happening big changes were afoot in that the growth of mp3s had out-stripped the sales of conventional formats. Tescos and Amazon gobbled up more and more of the market and all of us had bought into the Frankenstein monster of mass commercialism, one day we’ll see how wrong we were. Each week a record shop closed and it was only a matter of time that Hudsons would get into trouble as their sales of singles fell away, a combination of a drop in sales in general and bigger competition. Add that to the incredible costs they had each week, with rent and rates of over £70k a year, it meant they had to make a lot of profit before they could even start to think about wages.

Nevertheless, Hudsons kept a loyal fan base and a loyal staff with many working there for decades, even one ex member of staff would return to work in the shop on Saturdays in return for vinyl, despite landing a lucrative job elsewhere. Rumour has it that a few old faces will return for one last Saturday, the last Saturday.

As for Keith, the owner he’ll no doubt find something to keep him busy, as he was always busy - like any business owner, putting in some long hours. I asked him if he had a big collection of records at home, he replied just a few - mostly jazz. Nevertheless this is a sad time for him and his family, the family he spent 6 days a week with behind the counter.

What happens to the space opposite the market hall is anyone’s guess, chances are it’ll be a hairdresser or coffee shop, maybe a PoundLand - and with it a bit of Chesterfield’s soul will be gone forever, replaced by a bit of the stuff that makes every other town centre look the same. Nevertheless, the vinyl and the famous yellow carrier bag that anyone reading this owns knows that while it lasted it was a good place to spend a Saturday afternoon. We can never go back and progress has to happen, but sometimes progress loses part of the element of something in translation. Like bookshops and libraries, we lose cultural hubs, places were ideas and interests are shared, where people find like-minded people, form bands and release records.

The Blapps Posse - Bus’it (It’s Time To Get Busy)...

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 10:54:00 +0000

The Blapps Posse - Bus’it (It’s Time To Get Busy)
Coco Steel & Lovebomb - Feel It
Wizard And The Prince - Wiz Is A Genius
Sweet Exorcist - Testfour
Rhythmatic - Take Me Back (Headstrong Remix)
Shades of Rhythm - Homicide
Dupree - Brass Disk
Success n Effect - Let The Bass Kick
Rabbit City 001 - Beyond Control
Neon - Don’t Mess With This Beat
Quartz - Meltdown
The Utopia Project - File 3
Steve Silk Hurley - Jack Your Body (Dub)
Dust Brothers - Chemical Beats
Sub Sub - Space Face (Techno Todd Dub)
2-X-Treme - X-Treme Theme

Catch me on @DJDaveClarke 's #whitenoise radio/podcast this week.

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 14:09:14 +0100

Catch me on @DJDaveClarke ‘s #whitenoise radio/podcast this week.

Live At The Laptop Café by Sheffield Bleep

Sun, 20 Mar 2011 16:56:30 +0000

Live At The Laptop Café by Sheffield Bleep on Mixcloud

Warp Bleep Era Tribute Mix

Wed, 26 Jan 2011 09:37:28 +0000

Warp Bleep Era Tribute Mix by Sheffield Bleep

Looking for the Perfect Beat Mix [Extended]

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 08:39:00 +0100

Looking for the Perfect Beat Mix [Extended] by Sheffield Bleep

Journey to the Martian Polar Cap

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 09:03:10 +0100

Journey to the Martian Polar Cap by Sheffield Bleep

Final Frontier
Journey To The Martian Polar Cap
Search Your Feelings
Seawolf
Ultraviolet Images
Skypainter
Firekeeper
The Jaguar
The Aztec Mystic
The 808 Celcius (Surface Temperature)
The Intruder
Tobacco Ties
The Stardancer
Quadrasonic
Free as you want to be
Hi Tech Funk (Sonic Grits Mix)
Beauty of Decay
Sunset
Untitled
Sun Chaser
Planet X
Code Red
The Mighty Asteroids of Jupiter
Base Camp Alpha 808
Body and Soul

The Wildsyle

Tue, 18 May 2010 10:48:00 +0100

The Wildstyle by Sheffield Bleep

Rock Master Scott And The Dynamic Three - The Roof Is On Fire (Club DJ)
Newcleus - Jam On It
In The Bottle
Al-Naafiysh (The Soul)
D.E.F. - Momentum (Hip Hop Mix)
The Wreckin Cru - Surgery (Vocal)
Rock Master Scott And The Dynamic Three - Request Line (Vocal)
Hashim - We’re Rocking The Planet
Grandmaster D. ST. & The Infinity Rappers - Grandmaster Cuts It Up (Un-Cut)
Jazzy Jay - Def Jam
Just Ice - Put That Record Back On
Scott La Rock & The Celebrity Three - Advance (Vocal)
Shango - Shango Message
T LA Rock - Bass Machine (Club)
Word Of Mouth & DJ Cheese - King Kut
Symbolic Three Featuring D.J. Dr. Shock - No Show
Steady B - Yo Mutha (Radio Edit) Skinny Boys - Jockbox (America Loves The Skinny Boys)
CD III - And You Know That
Cold Chillin’ In The Spot
Just Ice - Latoya
Skinny Boys - Feed Us The Beat

Machine Funk

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 07:58:00 +0000

Machine Funk by Sheffield Bleep

Kobal Electronics - Drafting Devices
Cosmic Force - Melancholie
Junq - From Below
Kobal Electronics - Code01
Rude 66 - Angst Bleibt
Seventysix - Roma Acida
Sinal Type - B-14
Sync 24 - It’s A Soft Slip
Silicon Scally - Process
Expose Yankee - Master Control
Matt Whitehead - Conveyor
Moog - Making Feeling
J Delano - Amersterdam (Logo rmix)
DJ Overdose - Whoever You Are
Dos Mas - Puertas Del Infierno
Eargoggle - Messier 55
Eric XVI - Unions Sista Dagar (Brassica’s)
Expose Yankee - Galaxy
Electronic Yellow Jammers - Si M’Etouffais (Blippo remix)
Novamen - Back Again
DJ Overdose - What
Constant Sequence - Bare Movement
Dos Mas - La Ramera
DJ Overdose - Round N’ Round
TEEBEE - Moonraker
Mood - Track 5
Datasette - Micro
Pupa Jim - I Am A Robot

Future Funk

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 08:15:00 +0000

Future Funk by Sheffield Bleep

K1 - The Stand
Automat - Hardware
Fancy & Spook - Modernate Emotional Intensity
Impakt - Universal Frequencies
Dynarec - Overland Traveling
Blackploid - Mystery Speaker
Cosmic Force - Resynthesize
Egypt Ear Werk - Egypt Ear Werk
Impakt - UFO Sightings
Blackploid - Photogenic
Automat - Robomelo
Fancy & Spook - Sustained Menace
ERP - Vox Automation
AS1 - Clouds Of Thunder
Syclops - Where’s Jason K
The Unknown DJ - This is Electro (Vocal)
Detroit In Effect - Space Travel
Gosub - Her Machine
Cherenkov Radiation - Roche Limit (v3)
DMX Krew - Left Brain
Eggfooyoung - Hoconut Grove
Gosub - Miami To Brooklyn
Dopplereffekt - Scientist
DMX Krew - Plasma Bubble
$tinkworx - Manowar
Move D - Rain_Shine
Like A Tim - MT
Der Zyklus - Mathematische Modelle
Ectomorph - Malfunction
Fancy & Spook - One Use Of Strong Language
Blackploid - Interstella Space
The Tuss - Shiz Ko E
Dexter - D Funked

Network Records Megamix

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 08:17:41 +0000

Network Records Megamix by sheffieldbleep

Neal Howard - Indulge
Xon - Dissonance
Rhythmatic - Take Me Back
Cyclone - A Place Called Bliss
Energize - Report To The Dancefloor (Electro Mix)
Rhythmatic - Frequency (Depth Mix)
Model 500 - Info World
Nexus 21 - Self Hypnosis
Rhythim is Rhythim - Drama
Heychild - Heychild’s Theme
Suburban Knight - The Art of Stalking
Symbols And Instruments - Mood (Optimistic Mix)
Fade II Black - The Calling
The Forgemasters - Track With No Name (Unique 3 Remix)
Nexus 21 - Together
Neal Howard - Indulge
MK - Somebody New
C&M Connection - Bio Rhythms
Critical Rhythm - Fall Into a Trance
Psyche - From Beyond
Constant Ritual - Hard Way To Come
Blake Baxter - When We Used To Play
R-Tyme - R-Theme
Altern8 - Move My Body
Altern8 - Infiltrate 202 (Vs Astrix & Space Mix)
True Faith featuring Bridget Grace - Take Me Away (Pin-Up Girls Remix)
Rhythm On The Loose - Break Of Dawn (Original Mix)
Liberty City - Some Lovin’
Altern8 - Re-indulge
MC Lethal - Rave Digger (2 Bad Mice Remix)

Artificial Intelligence

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 08:52:00 +0000

Artificial Intelligence by sheffieldbleep

Aphex Twin - Ageispolis
Speedy J - De-Orbit
Autechre - Chatter
B12 - Scriptures
Richard H Kirk - Reality Net
Beaumont Hannant - Utuba
Balil - Parasight
Link - Arcadian
Aphex Twin - We Are The Music Makers
Autechre - Nil
Autechre - Clipper
Speedy J - Fill 3
B12 - Telefone 529
The Dice Man - Polygon Window
I.A.O - The Clan
Autechre - The Egg
Autechre - Crystel
Caustic Window - On The Romance Tip
Speedy J - Symmetry
The Higher Intelligence Agency - Selinite
Mark Franklin - Release to the System
UP - Spiritual High
Seefeel - Spangle

SCR Tribute Mix

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:55:00 +0000

SCR Tribute Mix by sheffieldbleep

2 For Joy - In A State
2 Men On A Trip - Jack Serenade (Long Serenade)
Baby D - Day Dreaming (You Can’t Handle It Mix)
Mad Musician - Jazz Out
The Untouchables - Trippin’
D-M-S - A Brand New World (Dub Plate Mix)
The Untouchables - Take A Chance
Detromental - Rewind
Detromental - Move
The Riddim Composers - Don’t Try To Hurt Me
Open House - Keep With The Pace (Club Mix)
The Step - Yeah You (Occasions Mix)
FUSE - Approach & Identify
E-Culture - Tribal Confusion
Sweet Exorcist - Clonk (Homebass)
Hi-Ryze - After The Flood (Optimistic Mix)
The Black Cuban Opera - The Sound Of Love
The Riddim Composers - Baby Baby (Remix)
The Step - Bullfrog
Break The Limits - Hypnotizer
Techno Grooves - Christi!!!
Quadrophonia - Quadrophonia (Original Remix)
Nightmares On Wax - I’m For Real
Break The Limits - Fire Away
N-Joi - Manic
Mental Cube - Q
How & Little - Engineers Dream (E. Dream Remix)
Secret Desire - Whitelight (Previously Unreleased Mix)
The Prince And The Wizard - The Wiz Is A Genius
Tikkle - Outer Limits (The Cosmic Mix)