Beyond the Wizards Sleeve - The Soft Bounce

The Guardian 80

Erol Alkan and Richard Norris started ushering the lysergic sounds of vintage psych on to the dancefloor via their remix work a decade ago. Now their debut of original songs finally arrives, and their initial vision is very much intact

Seven years ago, the Guardian interviewed Beyond the Wizards Sleeve. They were a curious musical pairing. Erol Alkan was best known for founding, aged 22, the hugely influential noughties indie/electro club night Trash; it had hosted early performances from LCD Soundsystem, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Bloc Party. Richard Norris’s long and fascinating career, meanwhile, had encompassed everything from working at the pioneering psychedelic reissue label Bam Caruso in the 80s, via co-authoring the first British acid house record and co-writing and producing tracks with Joe Strummer’s Mescaleros, to his time as half of techno duo the Grid, who both dallied with the top 10 and collaborated with Sun Ra.

Norris and Alkan were bonded by a mutual love of 60s psychedelia, playing eight-hour DJ sets together and releasing visionary, eccentric “reanimations” that left the Chemical Brothers sounding like a single from 1968, or set Tracey Thorn’s voice adrift on a sea of mellotron. They informed the Guardian that Britain was on course for a third Summer of Love: “They happen every 21 years,” said Norris hopefully, adding that they’d had some badges made to promote the idea.

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