Andrew Weatherall

★★★★★ Heavenly Remixes Vol. 3 & 4 HEAVENLY. CD/DL/LP

The late Lord Sabre’s inspirational makeovers for UK indie’s roster.

Remix culture, which propelled musically untutored acidhouse DJs into production, was a better idea in theory than in practice – until Andrew Weatherall. After his savant debut on Primal Scream’s Loaded, Weatherall of course went on to produce much of Screamadelica, but concurrently racked up further studio experience thanks to his new manager, Heavenly’s Jeff Barrett. Barrett commissioned numerous remixes for the label, many of which (for Sly & Lovechild, Saint Etienne, Espiritu and particularly Flowered Up, all included here) equally revealed AW’s visionary qualities – exploratory, cosmic, dubby, extraordinarily musical (considering he didn’t play an instrument), and playful. For those mid-’90s aficionados who couldn’t keep pace with his productivity, the latter-day stuff (a tech-funk masterclass for Confidence Man’s Bubblegum; Slits-y post-punk on Audiobooks’ Dance Your Life Away) is every bit as exceptional and mind-bending. Rescuing these 16 cuts from digital oblivion, Heavenly Remixes Vol. 3 & 4 explains why the house fraternity called Weatherall the Guv’nor.