Strictly 4 Groovers

There are few better Nineties rave documents than this compilation. DiY was a Notingham dance collective that held long and druggy parties in and around their city, and this album is their entire recorded output, give or take a few singles. Nobody on this album will likely be known to you and if the average Warp head starts talking about the early Nineties, they probably won’t mention this album. That’s a shame because, in its own modest and anonymous way, Strictly 4 Groovers is perfect. You get those Orb-y spoken word acid monologues on “Orange Is Orange” and plenty of denatured acid house throughout. There’s also a slow chillout deep cut here that could easily become something  big— “Eve’s Theme,” a simmering vamp that sounds equally like a Michael Mann soundtrack and an Arca outtake. DiY ringleader Peter “Woosh” Birch died in October of 2020, sadly. I think there’s going to be a DiY revival and I hope the rest of the gang gets to see it.