I was already obsessed with Kerri Chandler before I left Irelandland. When me and the ex stopped off in NY in January of ’95 I dragged her to Vinyl Mania on Carmine street and one of the records I bought was ‘Atmosphere’ EP on Shelter, which I couldn’t find back home. I was deloira and excoira – as they say in Dublin. Writing for XLR8R gave me ample opportunity to procure (or blag, if I was to be more honest) Kerri Chandler rekkids for free and write about them glowingly, albeit briefly. To me, his approach to garage, or house from NY and Jersey, was ultra-modern, slightly jazz-inflected, but not noodley. Also his tunes always had serious low end and killer basslines.

Thank you to MOTH in Belfast for letting me use the image of Kerri working the decks and keys at their party at the Ulster Hall on December 20th. I believe Kenny Glasgow from Art Department was also on the bill. I have very fond memories of Belfast in the early ’90s. The people I met who threw parties and djed up there were/are/will always be legendary in my mind. A big shout out to Iain McCready, a man who could twist hip-hop into Balearic action before dropping into some proper house and US garridge, and he was a walking riot to boot. Hilarious dude! Last I heard of him he was cutting Cristian Vogel’s hair on the regular in Brighton, Engerland.

He’d say to me on the phone, “I’ll bring a wee box o’ tunes with me, Chris, when I come down. There’ll a few Italian bits you might like.” Iain would bring down a box of tunes to sell, from his record shop, Sugarweet (that he ran with David Holmes) when he would dj with me in Galway. There were always a few goodies in there, and a few Kerri Chandler platters too, if I remember correctly.

Kerri Chandler 
Trionisphere EP Part 2
King St./US/12
Can Sir Kerrence of Chandelier do no wrong? If this EP is anything to go by, the answer is no. Four cuts of bass-heavy garage, punctuated with sparse, but strong, vocals, bright, jazzy chords and those beats, those Chandler beats. Fans of Kerri will be all over this and so will everybody else. Essential garage that proves this genre is strong as ever. Chris Orr