Greg Wilson Presents XXXO + ICA Beats

A central theme in the life and work of the British DJ pioneer Greg Wilson, UK electro is a page
turner. With the seminal Street Sounds compilation from 1984 (please see Greg’s blog for the whole
story) being the beacon, there are still a few overlooked corners.

XXXO by Equip is one of them. Originally intended to be part of said release and produced by Greg
Wilson, Martin Jackson and Andy Connell (like most of the comp), it was turned down at the time.
Sounding like a like a proto -house template with a dash of Klein and MBO, it wasn’t considered strong enough at the time, but found it’s way to the public as a one-sided 12“ in 2006, it felt like a brand-new track as it perfectly correlated with the electro influenced underground dance music mainstream at the time (Chicken Lips et al.). Here it is again: remastered, rekindled and unreduced cut to 45rpm. For full disclosure please see the liner notes on the back cover.

Pressed and released for the first time on this planet though are the ICA Beats Pt 1 and Pt 2. Intended
to be backing tracks for a UK Electro live appearance in August ́84, they haven’t seen the light of day
until now. Both Restored and re-edited with some help of label owner Gerd Janson, they are fierce
examples of the sound at the time. Sitting between rhythm tracks and experimental drum machine
compositions (and a short greeting from their creators’ other project Syncbeat), it makes you wonder
how one could have lived for so long without them. The history of the past enables you to dream of
the future.