In an era when artists grapple with the fear that everything meaningful has already been said, Warp Records looks back to those who defied such doubts. With the remastered releases of Sabresonic and Haunted Dancehall, The Sabres Of Paradise return to remind listeners how originality can still sound timeless.
Originality still sounds timeless
In our current age, there is a central fear for the artist. A question that looms over their work and taunts their efforts. What is left to say? This worry haunts certain artforms more than others. If AI can spew out poetry like T.S. Elliot, what chance have I? Electronic music has the same fears. Many listeners, and labels, are retreating into the past to find authenticity and, ironically, originality.
For several years now, Warp Records has been searching its own back catalogue to breathe new life into albums. The main focus has been on the Artificial Intelligence series. Now, the influential imprint is focusing its attention on a group that occupied their own very unique place.
The Sabres of Paradise, the team of Andrew Weatherall, Jagz Kooner and Gary Burns, arrived in the early 1990s. Their style was a mish mash of movements. DIY dub and re-imagined reggae were fed into their cranking analogue machines to produce a steampunk future funk. In the space of three years, the trio released three albums. More than thirty years on, their debut, Sabresonic, and its follow-up, Haunted Dancehall, have been remastered and given the full vinyl treatment.
Released in 1993, Sabresonic arrived when Britain was knee-deep in raves. The youth, and not so youthful, chugged their weekends away in sweatboxes up and down the isle, stomping cheek by jowl until the inevitable sick-call into work on Monday morning. It wasn’t so much free love as a free-for-all where cannabalised sound systems put up shop in fields and warehouses alike.
Into this melting pot came The Sabres Of Paradise with their debut album. As organic as your local sourdough, these dreamers spliced tribal techno rhythms with marijuana melodies. Drugged out and joyful, tracks like “Smokebelch” sounded like nothing that had come before. From the needle drop of “Fighting Still,” the listener is brought back to the rough and tumble of the regular club nights that Sabres put on; home-brewed rhythms forming through the smoke and fog.
Sabres redefine electronic boundaries ::
Sabresonic arrived when the trio were riding a wave of experimental success. Musical strains were cross pollinated to produce fantastical new creations. Elated and intelligent, this was music that arrived from a different place as Warp cultivated a glut of UK talent. With their own record label, the eponymous The Sabres Of Paradise, and regular appearances up and down Britain, there was a deserved buzz surrounding these mavericks. They gathered a new generation of electronic talent at their nights with Weatherall remixing and spreading the sound of Sabres to the faithful.
Their creations came from jam sessions, the three infusing ideas with influences through hours of improvisation and live recording. External factors also came into play. Legend has it that “R.S.D.,” with its sidling bass and low-slung tempos, was originally laid down for the Jamaican beer brand Red Stripe (who never used the piece.) There was no rule book to what was being done, and Warp were willing to take risks. Seven tracks appeared on the 1993 double album (eight with the 7”.) The fourteen minute ambient horror score of “Clock Factory” is countered by dreamy technoid numbers like “Ano Electro (Allegro).” This 2025 remaster contains an extra gem, “Smokebelch II (Beatless Mix.): Featuring on the extra 7” that accompanied the album for a lucky few, this is as timeless as it is beatless; a gentle reprise to welcome the dawn.
Sabresonic was quickly followed by Haunted Dancehall. Whereas the latter was a collection of works, this new record was made as an album. The production quality shifts. The hazy smouldering sounds remain, but there is greater ambition and depth. Track lengths still lounge and sprawl, as in the reverb-soaked ebbs and flows of “Bubble and Slide II.” Another resemblance to Sabresonic is the refusal to adhere to genres, rim shots are flanged and split in the blackened playfulness of “Duke of Earlsfield” or the emblematic slo-fi dub funk of “Wilmot.” But the two albums feel, and sound, more like cousins than brothers. While Warp was exploring man and machine through the Artificial Intelligence series, Burns, Kooner and Weatherall were finding new musical meeting points between styles.
Echoes of a rave revolution ::
The instrumentation and eclectic mix is still daring. “Tow Truck,” the second single of the album, toys with percussive textures to create a fertile patch for bold bass lines and shrill siren blasts. Steady ground comes from the unsteady beat structures, a rhythmic re-invention that permeates the album. Inspiration comes from a wealth of fonts, the movie score dramatics of “Theme” (featuring on the record for the first time) are then dropped into aquatic ambience for “Theme 4.” Perhaps the most ambitious foray is the journey of McGuire, a character creation who finds his way on the second LP to “The Haunted Dancehall.” Sodden lines squelch and strings ascend in “The Ballad of Nicky McGuire” before the odyssey takes a turn down the lurching bittersweet sci-fi of “Jacob Street 7am” and into the quivering rapture of “Chapel Street Market 9am.” The finale, the title piece, is dripping in cinematic splendor. Harking to the slasher scales of the silverscreen, bright and brilliant darkness fill speaker cones.
By 1995, shortly after Sabresonic II, the band broke up. Weatherall went on to form Two Lone Swordsmen with Keith Tenniswood while Burns and Kooner joined The Aloof. Yet, despite their brief existence, their sound continues to resonate and garner attention; even three decades later.
Matt Colton has more than succeeded in his remastering of these albums, dusting down the original DAT tapes and reinvigorating both Sabresonic and Haunted Dancehall. The Sabres have even reunited. Of course, Andrew Weatherall is sadly no longer with us to see these re-issues or the band’s reunion. Burns and Kooner are returning to dancehalls, reviving the renegade sound for a brand-new audience.
What’s there left for the musician to say?
The Sabres Of Paradise said and did some things, and then some more.
In an age where all is accessible, Sabresonic and Haunted Dancehall challenge perceptions of both artists and listeners. The group’s originality and uniqueness of expression are what continue to shine through on these remastered records. Sounds from audio dissidents that ring true to this very day.
Sabresonic and Haunted Dancehall (Remastered) are both available on Warp.
