I wanted something that was obscure and superb to inaugurate the blog, and this more than fitted the bill. New Age Dance are an enigma to me - I found the album in a charity shop in Clapton and there’s very little info on them out there. The tracks are utopian Detroit house peppered with cosmic poetry  - it’s the kind of optimistic mystical escapism that makes early house so appealing. The label - BPM - has got a great logo, a kind of unity-meets-defiance black and white power fist, check it out:

*edit* It looks like this has just been reissued by a Dutch label, so I can’t in all conscience go with my original plan of posting the full album for download - but here, at least, is a download of the wonderful opening cut Distant Drums, and a stream of Five Pillars - If you like what you hear, you can grab the double album reissue from these guys.