Tummy Touch is a label I’ve been a fan of since it started putting out records in the mid-90s. It has veered from the offbeat disco slackness of Tutto Matto and early Groove Armada to more recent “artist” based fare like the solo troubadour Tom Vek and the live sensation The Phenomenal Handclap Band, all the time being steered by the eccentric and “extravagantly bearded” dj Tim “Love” Lee.

The label’s website describes its sound as “Bohemian disco rock, sci-fi electro soul, unruly latin mash ups and oddball urban exotica”, and I’m not gonna argue with that, except to add that analog warmth is a key element of their sound. Oh, and that the split Groove Armada/Tim “Love” Lee twelve inch called “Disco Insert/Again Son” is one of my favourites from that period and should be in every discerning DJ’s box. “Again Son” in particular is a twisted delight, an early 90s breakbeat classic that samples a Christian preacher admonishing his own son to beat him “again, son… harder!”

Now based in New York as opposed to London, Tummy Touch is currently celebrating 15 years of releasing fine music by giving away a free compilation album, Fully Bearded: 15 Years Of Tummy Touch, featuring many of the labels best known acts remixed in a dub style.

This is simply some of the finest downtempo music around right now. From the Police-esque post-punk of Circuits and the psych-pop-funk of Bing Ji Ling, to the more dancefloor aimed grooves of New Young Pony Club and the previously mentioned Phenomenal Handclap Band, this is definitely worth a click of the mouse and the donation of your email address. 

In fairness, I should have posted this ages ago, as it went up on the Tummy Touch Facebook wall 3 weeks ago with a note that said it would available for a limited time only. Which I guess means you should just download it now before it gets yanked.
 

 
Have a Hippie Thanksgiving.

01. “Love Years Coming” - Strawberry Children
02. “Walking Through The Streets Of My Mind” - Beethoven Soul
03. “I Don’t Mind” - Fat Mattress
04. “Better Way” - The Rainbow Press
05. “AM I The Red One” - Mick Sofetly and The Summer Suns
06. “Now” - The Paisleys
07. “The Man In The Moon” - Village
08. “Flashing Lights” - Screaming Lord Sutch
09. “Bottom Of The Soul” - Bonniwel Music Machine
10. “Machines” - Manfred Mann
11. ” My Degeneration” - The Eyes
12. “Lemonade Kid” KAK
13. “Pink And Green” - Shirley Hughey
14. “She Moves Me” -  The E-Types
15. “Don’t Let It Bring You Down” - Neil Young
 

 
Some more vintage electronic French pop to round out the week on Dangerous Minds. Some folk may not know the name Pierre Henry, but they definitely know his music - well they would know his music, were it not for the fact that what they are hearing isn’t actually him. I’m talking of course about the Futurama theme tune, and how it is a blatant rip-off of Henry’s classic ‘Psyche Rock’ from 1967 (more specifically, the Fatboy Slim remix).

Now, don’t get me wrong I love Futurame, but it’s to Matt Groening’s eternal shame that he did not just stump up whatever cash was required to purchase the original track. What we now have in its place every week is a lame facsimile, that some people even confuse with the original track. Oh well. That’s entertainment!

Regardless, The Art of Sound is an excellent French (subtitled) documentary directed by Eric Darmon and Franck Mallet from 2006 that follows Pierre Henry as he collects unique sounds for his compositions, sets up an even more unique live concert in his house, and generally looks back over a career in music that spans over fifty years. It’s intimate and revealing, and its central figure comes across as quite the character.

No, scrub that - Pierre Henry is the shit. He went from being a pioneer of musique concrete with Pierre Schaeffer in the 1950s to creating psychedelic sound-and-light shows in 1960s Paris that could match anything dreamt up by Pink Floyd and the Grateful Dead. He composed music for abstract ballets that still sounds genuinely psychedelic and like nothing else today. He may come across as crabby and extremely eccentric in this film, but I still hope I end up as cool as this guy if I get to be his age. I mean, you have to be pretty awesome to attract a steady fanbase to abstract electronic recital shows in your own bloody house, right?
 

 
BONUS!
More psyche-pop magic, this time with Henry & Colombier’s “Teen Tonic” (1967) set to footage of the 1960s German TV fashion Show Paris Aktuel by YouTube uploader Cosmocorps2000:

Pierre Henry & Michel Colombier “Teen Tonic”
 

 
Here’s your weekend dose of psychedelia.

Visuals: loops from the Joshua Light Show, Mark Boyle and Joan Hills’ liquid lights for London’s UFO club, Jerry Abrams, Robert Breer and Derek Jarman.

Music: Country Joe and The Fish, Nico, Soft Machine, Docdail and Exitmusic. The Abrams clip says Blue Cheer, but it’s Country Joe in this mix.
 

 
Thanks to Gary for the UFO loop. Animated gif from Lysergioacid

 
In 1967 I went to school to be a psychedelic poster reader. But I dropped out. I later became a jive talk translator. The pay was good but the drugs sucked. I was recently offered a job writing subtitles for mumblecore movies but you get paid by the word and no one really says anything in slacker flicks. So, I’ve decided to enter the lucrative field of teaching urban slang sign language to deaf hipsters.
 

 
(via Das Kraftfuttermischwerk)