Bastard [CD] (ONLINE ORDER ONLY)

It was four years into the swim ~ labels history before Bastard arrived. Like my previous albums, it was another collaboration this time with my partner in life and crime, Malka Spigel.

There was a point in the 90s when British music journalists basically didnt get dance music and would refer to it as faceless techno bollocks. It was that very attribute that Malka and I felt most attracted to. In instrumental music, you could be anyone from anywhere.

With Bastard, it took a while to get to the concept: What if we subverted the whole bloke from Wire thing and had a Colin Newman album without any actual songs on it? These days, this is not such a big thing, but it was hugely transgressive at the time. The language of Bastard is house, techno, breakbeat, drum and bass, and doubtless post-rock. The only singing is a one-line Malka sample on Turn. Not only did the album not play by the rules of what would these days be called music by a heritage artist, but it didnt play by the rules of dance music either. Back then, dance music artists didnt mix up styles as they do today. This is one of the reasons the albums called Bastard.

Upon release, Bastard was modestly successful although widely misunderstood. Malka and I have done more work together on swim ~ and, of course, there has been plenty of Wire activity after its second hiatus during the 1990s but I never felt the need to do another solo album. I dont crave attention and certainly dont feel I lack ways to express myself. In many ways, its more creative to collaborate with others.

1. Sticky 2. May 3. Slowfast (falling down the stairs with a drumkit) 4. Without 5. g-deep 6. Spaced In 7. Spiked 8. The Orange House & the Blue House 9. Turn 10. Automation 11. Faq 12. Voice 13. Output 14. The Narrativ (with Corrado Izzo) 15. Blank Canvas 16. Time Will Allow 17. Tsunami 18. Cut The Slack (2001) 19. Found & Bound (2001) 20. Unbroken (2001) 21. Flight Mode (2008)

• Format Detail: 2CD
• Format: CD
• Genre: Rock