In 1995 Warp records put out a promo cassette featuring a mix of material from their back catalogue by DJ Food (then Strictly Kev and PC) called Blech. The following year they put out a cd version, featuring a completely different tracklisting called Blechsdöttir. This recording is legendary amongst fans of the Warp label, featuring many of the highlights of their early catalogue including Autechre, Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, LFO, Nightmares on Wax, Plaid and lots more. The mixing is amazing. For over 10 years I’ve gradually gone from knowing pretty much none of the music outside the context of this mix to being familiar with most of it and along the way realising just how well mixed it is – discovering the way in which certain bits are actually made up of two or three tracks.  First hearing Autechre’s Lost without it going straight into Disjecta’s Kracht was a real shock. I still can’t work out how the hell they mixed the complex rhythms of Plaid’s Abla Eedio with anything at all. AFX’s Laughable Butane Bob never sounds right without the extra vocal samples they contribute. I can’t help copying their slow down Squarepusher’s of Problem Child whenever I play it in a set. It’s pretty much perfect from start to finish, absolutely one of my favourite albums of all time and one that I never get sick of listening to.

More recently I heard the original cassette, it’s interesting (and has some great tracks like a couple from Autechre’s Anvil Vapre, B12’s Scriptures and Seefeel’s Spangle), but clearly they took it to a whole new level with the sequel.

When Warp celebrated their 20th anniversary last year I bought their fantastic box set, but was a little disappointed there wasn’t a new Blech – now I’ve just discovered that there was, it just wasn’t in the box set! Strictly Kev did two one hour mixes for Warp’s 20th birthday, revisiting many of the classics from the original Blechs as well as updating with lots of more recent stuff like Boards of Canada, Battles, Broadcast, Clark and Flying Lotus. It’s available for download from Strictly Kev’s site and it’s fantastic.