Limited edition double album with oversized OBI-strip
Long-time coming re-press of NWW's homage to rock n roll savants Jac Berrocal and Graham Bond from 1994. The Berrocal cover that opens the record is a bit of an outlier in the NWW canon, delivered unexpectedly straight - it's quite disconcerting to hear NWW singing about rock and roll when they've spent their entire existence burning its orthodoxy to the ground. Don't worry though, we're not exactly talking Status Quo here. Though not entirely indicative of the entire album, as an opening salvo it does position Rock N Roll Station as a remarkably accessible and immersive set, propelled by an almost fourth-world like rhythmic focus that offers a proper innerworld trip. The 17 minute long centrepiece 'Two Golden Microphones' is a particular highlight, a dreamzone journey through Jon Hassell-esque textures, built on a palimpsestic haze of didgeridoos, submerged rhythms and the signature non-origin NWW sounds. Given the conceptual foundation and Colin Potter's typically warped layering, Rock and Roll Station displays a clear connection with the ghostbox/hauntological aesthetic Mark Fisher was to define some ten years later. What's funny is that some saw Rock N Roll Station as NWW's attempt to plug into the prevailing electronic music of the 90s, whereas actually they were shaping a blueprint that was to emerge much more clearly a decade later. I guess that's the NWW way...
