Woody McBride’s excellent Sounds label sent me a white label of this some time in 1996. I can’t remember exactly when in 1996 and I never took note of those things because I never thought I would be archiving these pieces for posterity on the interwebulars. I’m sure as soon as I arrived back at my apartment in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco, after moving furniture all day, that the package containing this record was sitting at my door or my ex had arrived home before me and taken it in with her. I probably tore open the packaging and slapped it on the turntable. I was probably stunned by “Memory and Forgetting” because it is a stunningly beautiful track, a big favorite of Laurent Garnier and the Fish Go Deep boys in Cork, Ireland.

I still have my promo, in fact I put an image of that promo on discogs. I’ve found a few other copies subsequently and either flipped or traded them. “Memory and Forgetting” is the house tune that you need right now. If Laurent Garnier and Greg and Shane hammered it then you need it. Trust me.

Wamdue Kids
Ocean Between Us
Sounds/US/12
The opening track of this EP “Memory and Forgetting” is easily one of the best tunes of this year. Like 16B’s “Secrets” it has that driving Detroit-style percussion, jungle textures (which originally came from Detroit techno anyway) and an epic soundtrack sort of feel. However, it still manages to seem raw, and the untreated piano breakdown in the middle reinforces its organic appeal and its beautiful and soulful serenity. The percussion contradicts the emotions contained in this track and this is what creates its considerable dynamic. On the flipside Chris Brann ventures into harder territory, with the cyber funk of “Abduction” being a prime candidate for techno dancefloor rotation. Chris Orr