After yesterday's 808 State track, we move to another influential number also forged in Manchester, this time in 1991 by Garry Cobain and Brian Dougans, pushing dance into further innovative and ambient territory. The band's name of course is an ironic shot aimed at the capital, considering that Cobain, from Bedford, moved to Manchester as a teenager to study, where he met and began Dougans, from Glasgow, to then work together in clubs and studios. It was a message to show that the north, from the Buzzcocks to the Fall, the Smiths and an explosion of new bands in the late 80s onwards, was where it was at.
Papua New Guinea comes from their debut album, Accelerator, from which this track was a hit, and featured a vocal sample by the Australian singer Lisa Gerrard from Dead Can Dance's Dawn of the Iconoclast and a bassline from Meat Beat Manifesto's Radio Babylon. It features a fusion of trance, trip hop, rave and ambient elements, building slowly, but gaining real power and momentum after a couple of minutes.
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