Electronic Sound Magazine Issue 107 Edizione posteriore

It’s almost four years since Andrew Weatherall died, robbing the electronic music world
of one of its brightest, sharpest and most unique talents. It still feels strange to think that he’s no longer with us. Thank goodness, then, for the huge volume of astonishing music he has left behind – classic remixes, countless collaborations, occasional solo releases and plenty more besides.

This month sees the release of ‘Phonox Nights’, an album Weatherall recorded with his long-time musical partner Nina Walsh in the year or so before his unexpected and untimely passing in February 2020. It’s credited to the pair’s Woodleigh Research Facility project and it’s a superb record – weighty, edgy, acidic, minimal, warm, raw… select a track and take your pick. One of the many highlights is ’Gates To The South’, which they completed on their final day in the studio. That was the last time Walsh saw Weatherall, who she had known since 1988, when they met at the seminal acid house club Shoom.

We’ve spoken to Walsh about ‘Phonox Nights’ for our cover story, which is something a bit different in that it’s made up of four separate but interconnected features. These are snapshots of Weatherall during the early days and closing years of his career, focusing on his work as a remixer and a recording artist, rather than a definitive, all-encompassing, nuts-and-bolts history. The ‘Phonox Nights’ piece sits at the centre, but we’re starting by reprinting the first interview Weatherall gave to the music press outside of his role as a member of Bocca Juniors. It was originally published in Melody Maker in 1991 and we have the photo that accompanied the MM article, which was taken by Stephen Sweet and hasn’t been seen for 32 years, on the front of this month’s magazine.