There was a time when Rephlex could do no wrong in my eyes. In the late 90s they released so many gems. My favourites include the especially retarded stuff like Bodenstandig 2000’s Maxi German Rave Blast Hits 3, Chaos A.D’s Remixes and Freakwincey’s I Farted. I also adored DMX Krew’s We Are DMX album and Cylob’s Living In The 1980s and Rewind – when those two made pop it was uniquely clever and fun. Fuschimuschi’s Super Sexy Lady was cool  and, yeah, Lektrogirl’s I Love My Computer has many moments of extreme genius too.

I don’t know if it was me sheepishly following fashion but by 2002 that scene seemed too retro (lol) and it felt like an incestuously chinstroking closed shop of egos and geekdom. These days I realise every scene’s the same and none of that matters and now I love all those 12”s again.

Here’s a long out of print track from their more unashamedly retro back catalogue that showcases why most plugins don’t match Roland analogue synths*

RAILWAY RAVER – PUMP UP THE HOUSING BENEFIT
and here’s another
RAILWAY RAVER – I WANT TO HELP U, ROLAND

* It’s an issue that I spend a lot of time thinking about.