Psychic Blasts: DJ Setlist and Tracks from the Past

Stewart Gardiner shares the records he played out under the Concrete Islands banner this month and unearths some ancient evidence of previous DJ activity

My relationship with DJing has been on-again off-again over the years. There have certainly been gaps, but I always return to it in some capacity and it’s a joy when I do. Safe to say that following a number of years in the wilderness my engagement with music has been reinvigorated with Concrete Islands, so it makes sense to go out and play some records on occasion.

Saturday was my second time DJing at the local taproom run by the Muswell Hillbilly Brewers collective. Apart from being a lot of fun, it was another opportunity to explore different musical angles under the Concrete Islands banner. On this occasion I thought it was worth scribbling down the setlist and sharing it on the site. Playing out again has also got me thinking about my previous half-lives as a sometimes-DJ. One of which comes with some physical proof.

East Village Voice

In late nineties Glasgow I DJed with my pal Leon McDermott under the name East Village Pharmacy. We did a fair bit in a relatively short space of time, before other life stuff gradually got in the way and EVP faded out. It was ace while it lasted though.

East Village Pharmacy has been on my mind this year. I was talking about those days with Leon up in Glasgow in the summer and I dug out my copy of the East Village Voice, a fanzine-like publication some good folks put together for us. If memory serves, it was produced for and handed out when we played the backroom at an Arches night. Unfortunately this was the only issue.

The cover features another friend, Harry, in costume as the Wicker Man at a house party. Can’t recall the details of the party, but it was a typically messy affair, which was made literal by the straw that spilled out of Harry’s delightfully DIY costume. Speculation that the head/basket/helmet provided protection from psychic blasts is yet unproven.

Setlist

Back to the present, here’s what I played on Saturday 16 November:

Sonic Youth – Disconnection Notice (Geffen)

A Happy Return – Hungry Ghost (Spillage Fete)

Vic Mars – The Last Days of the Great House (Clay Pipe Music)

Andrew Wasylyk – Journey to Inchcape (Athens of the North)

Kinbrae – Meander (Truant)

D Rothon – The Bus That Never Came, The Train That Never Left (Clay Pipe Music)

Belbury Poly – The Geography (Ghost Box)

Heartwood Institute – Phun City (Polytechnic Youth)

Polypores – Flora (Castles in Space)

Justin Hopper & Sharron Kraus – Breath (Ghost Box)

David Bowie – Warszawa (Parlophone)

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – The Misunderstanding (Dindisc)

De Ambassade – Duistre Kamers (Knekelhuis)

Algebra Suicide – Seasonal Zombies (Dark Entries)

Peter Ivers – In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song) (Sacred Bones)

Sons and Daughters – Rose Red (Domino)

Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood – Some Velvet Morning (Reprise)

Factory Floor – Real Love (An Optimo (Espacio) Mix) (Optimo Music)

Chris & Cosey – Walking Through Heaven (Conspiracy International)

The Golden Filter – Electric Light (4GN3S)

Happy Meals – Crystal Salutation (Night School)

Arthur Russell – That’s Us / Wild Combination (Audika)

Silver Jews – New Orleans (Drag City)

Bonnacons of Doom – Solus (Rocket)

DJ Shadow – Lost & Found (Mo’ Wax)

La Funk Mob – Ravers Suck Our Sound (NOW Mix) (Mo’ Wax)

Fernando Falcão – Ladeira dos Inocentes (Optimo Music / Selva Discos)

Liquid Liquid – Cavern (Strut)

Blondie – Rapture (Chrysalis)

Golden Teacher – Love Rocket (Optimo Music)

Patrick Cowley – Lumberjacks in Heat (Dark Entries)

Shakti – Kamasutra (Stroom)

Throbbing Gristle – Hot on the Heels of Love (Mute)

Moor Mother – After Image (Don Giovanni)

Special Interest – Fluid (Bound 2) (Anxious Music)

Spooky & Billie Ray Martin – Persuasion (Inward Mix) (Guerilla)

Slam – Intensities In-Ten-Cities (Soma)

Naum Gabo – Theme for Great Cities (Optimo Music)

Dove – Fallen (Darkest Hour) (Soma)

Fernando Falcão – Disse Álguem (Optimo Music / Selva Discos)

Four Play

But what was I playing out twenty years ago? I’m sure that is a question precisely no-one is asking. Nevertheless, I stumbled upon an answer a couple of months ago when I went searching for online evidence of East Village Pharmacy. Was pleased to discover that The List have digitised their physical back issues and indeed there were various EVP listings. Completely unexpected was seeing the face of my younger self staring back at me through the decades. It was part of a recurring feature in the magazine that I had forgotten I had done.

So, twenty years later, here are four records I was playing back then.