To coincide with Numbers 10 anniversary we’re re-releasing Sparky’s Portland with a 30 minute Ricardo Villalobos remix. Listen to all tracks on Soundcloud
Out now on 2×12″ vinyl and digital.
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Portland was produced by our mate Dave Clark aka Sparky and was the first record we released in 2002, about a year before the first ever Numbers party took place.
Originally recorded live to tape using an MMT8, a Microwave II, and an ESi32 in the summer of 1998, it was released on an old label of ours named Stuffrecords and formed part of a somewhat rambling compilation called STUFF001. We hastily stuck this record out without any proper distribution, because at the time we didn’t know any better. Despite this the record did pretty well, selling 500 copies to a few select stores who had faith in what we were doing.
Fast forward a year or so to when Numbers kicked off and the track became one of the first bonafide anthems in the club. It was our tune and it would tear the roof off at any of our parties.
A couple of years later, we booked DJ Pete, aka Substance, to play. We’re talking about the record in the pub when he suddenly informs us that Ricardo Villalobos is crazy about it and even charted it. This was a deep, almost Drexciyan electro track and here was the king of crazy experimental minimal house music caning it in his DJ sets.
Not long after that night, the Numbers label was up and running and the idea to re-release Portland with a remix from Mr Villalobos was brought up almost as a kind of pipe-dream. Now in 2013, with a little help from Gerd Janson, it has finally happened. Recorded live in one take and clocking in at over 30 minutes long, it’s cited as an “experiment” by Ricardo. Designed to play at two speeds, at 33rpm its almost like an early 90s Black Dog track stretched out to infinity, whilst at 45rpm, it’s a club-ready groover with an almost Dopplereffekt rhythm to it – the sort you could imagine sneaking into a DJ Assault or Godfather Ghettotech mix. Somehow, it also manages to be classic Villalobos.
To finish off the record Dave gave us a two unheard tracks from those original Portland sessions in 1998. The malevolent electro of ‘Jigsaw’ would instantly have become another Numbers anthem if only Dave had let us hear it ten years ago, and closer track ‘Wilson St’ heads down an ambient route.
About Sparky
Dave’s a bit of a legend. In the early 90s he was a member of Glasgow Techno band State Of Flux who released on JD Twitch’s old label T&B Vinyl. Their first live show was supporting The Black Dog in 1992 at an old Glasgow venue called Industria, and they were also the support at the first ever Jeff Mills show in Glasgow. Later on Dave would release records under the name Truffle Club and regularly collaborated with JD Twitch on remixes under the Optimo (Espacio) banner. Dave and his brother Craig also released an ep under the name ‘Music At Nite’ for former Numbers label Wireblock. Most recently, he’s been working under the name LUMA for Optimo Trax.
