Corker Number Two, and the final third of the FSOM trilogy : Beyond (1993)

This one has they're biggest success, "Welcome" on it. I think I can safely say I was the first person to play it out at a rave (the week it was released), but since it was to a near empty room at 11pm at night it probably doesn't count. For you trainspotters out there, the piano intro comes from D-Mob's late 80s pop house hit "C'mon And Get My Love", while the "Welcome" sample is courtesy of a Gino Latino italo house number from 1988, also called "Welcome" (duh!). There's also clear reference to Mr Monday's "Future" - big with Davide Carbone - in the way the stab patterns are constructed at the breaks.
Massive party tune for a peaking room (and for years I think I told Davide that every time I saw him while I was nutted, much to his bemusement of course).


"International" is a disappointment - owing everything to Ian Pooley's "Message (All Over The World)" on Force Inc. (1991) and adding nothing that improves on it. But "Track Six" is a choice little techno number, slow in tempo, grounded by a neat breakbeat and with a red flavoured rhythmic synth lolloping lazily above. It's the perfect track to play to an emptying warehouse when you don't feel evil enough to fuck with tired heads. "Sub-Zero" is classic Steve Robbins acid - and the kind of track you could play to an emptying warehouse when you do want to fuck with tired heads.


Fans of FSOM will know that I've missed some of their work; yes, they had more than three releases, but apart from 1995's "Flashflood" I don't own them. I do have their CD Album Prologue though, so I can always post some more tracks later - "Pleazure" and "Equinox" are sure to make an appearance.

Discogs
A1  Welcome
A2   Sub-Zero
B1   Track Six
B2   International


Vinyl Rip _ 320kbps MP3 ...mediafire 

Corker Number One - Prisoners of Ecstasy (1992)

Forget about the American rave remixes, what you want here is the nearly 12 minute long trance mix, a blinding piece of scorching early 90s acid, produced by the German trio of Jörg Burger (The Modernist), Ingmar Koch (Air Liquide) and Wolfgang Voigt (Mike Ink; co-founder of Kompakt records). These guys must have had a hundred plus aliases/projects between them, I don't know how they kept up with everything organisationally - but they are German after all...

A female voice breathes 'We're prisoners of ecstasy" and a gentle washing intro is overcome by the TB-303. When the claps begin you know you're in for a serious workout, and once the kik drum commences the track really begins to pump. There's lots of freaky synth sounds filling out the mix and also the hysterical screams of some bird (who may be supposed to represent the throws of ecstasy, but more than not just annoys me). It's one of those records that should be played solo from the very start, and I've seen Frank De Wulf play two copies of it to lengthen the intro out even more to fine effect.

Discogs

A1   Prisoners Of Ectasy (Trance Mix)
B1   Ravetasy (New York Techno Mix)
B2   Prisoners Of Ectasy (Garage Mix)

Vinyl Rip _ 320kbps MP3 ...mediafire

In Order To Dance, or In Order To Kill

A few years ago, there was a really good blog going InOrderToDance. I think the dude was Canadian - but he posted some really good stuff, mostly out of his own CD collection. If he ever re-posted, he always gave due credit. In the end he got pretty agitated with inane questions from dumb asses about passwords, download errors and the like - (but you sort of have to accept that not everyone is fully clued up about zip files and so on if you want to be a blogger). What really got his goat though was when other spaz buckets started re-upping his posts as their own.
Today I can fully concur.

I don't own anything I post - the original artists have that priviledge - but I've taken the time to dig my old vinyl out, rip it, clean it up a little, normalise it and convert it to easily digestible mp3s for everyone's pleasure.

Now some fuckers (from the same forum that so annoyed InOrderToDance no less) have seen fit to repost my stuff as their own. They've even been defended by other forum members. I'm having a rather pleasant discussion with some of them at the moment... follow it here (you'll need a translater though because they write in Russian). Once again, I can't stop (don't want to stop) cyberspace sharing my uploads - but please don't go and relabel them as your own. Oh, and for anyone who still plans to, go out and find your own music you lazy fucks, because I've got some real corkers lined up to post here and if they find their way in to your posts everyone will know where you got 'em.

Gypsymen - Hear The Music / Bounce (1992)

An absolutely fantastic release on the short-lived New York house label E Legal. Once again it's a Todd Terry and Zahid Tariq production, and once again the duo are in top form.

I think there are two really good examples of taking a vocal sample and cutting it up to create something new (and better). First off is Orbital's use of a reversed loop of Kirsty Hawkshaw taken from Opus III's "It's A Fine Day" to generate the spectacularly lush melody of "Halcyon".

And then there is "Hear The Music", which chops up a guy saying something to the effect of 'Hey buddy, do you do hip hop?' and builds a song around the variations. David Morales on remix duties probably didn't hurt either. Other releases added more remixers, but from what I've listened to on youtube they're pretty crap. All the gold is on this release folks.

"Bounce" is a solid piece of dark house music, perfect for a dingy basement club with only a strobe light to illuminate the dancer's gyrations. Both these tracks more than stand the test of time, and you could probably still play them to a house loving dance floor today and get a good response.

I bought my 12" after hearing "Hear The Music" on the excellent 1992 Sasha mixtape Magic Carpet Australia - bought whilst on one of my record buying jaunts in Sydney. Not sure how widely available the mix is, but I think I'll pull out my cassette deck one day and upload it.

Discogs

A1   Hear The Music (Def Club Mix)
A2   Hear The Music (Def Dub Mix)
B1   Bounce (Wild Warped Mix)

Vinyl Rip _ 320kbps MP3 ...mediafire

808 State release Blueprint

I think it is to celebrate 21 years since the release of ninety, or maybe they just wanted some more cash/recognition. Either way, the boys (mostly Graham Massey probably) have decided to release a sort of greatest hits, but with some of the choons reworked or remixed. Thankfully, they've stayed true to their leftfield techno roots and there's no audible sign of any electro house sellout. Or UB40.

The've had the good sense not  to touch "Pacific State" - it's already had more goes at it than Tori Black - and some tracks like "Firecracker" have just been tweaked enough to keep them lively; the rehash of "In Yer Face" ain't nothing too special, but "Cobra Bora" and "Cübik" have had the full benefit of remix love bestowed upon them and the results are good. "Cobra Bora" keeps the same structure as the original but reworks the phrases - I really like it.
There's even a few new tracks - "Spanish Ice" is pretty good vintage 808 State. Oh, and for those who missed it, there is Aphex Twin's 2001 rework of "Flow Coma": relentless acid house to fuck you up proper.

You can read a review and preview tracks here, but I'm not linking any downloads for something that just got released. There's also another remix of "Cübik" you can download for free from 808 State's own site here.

I'm Coming Hardcore

Now I'm not much for English hardcore, happy hardcore, or any of those other speeded up breakbeat sounds. I never much liked the Prodigy (Android excepted) - I hated Charly from the moment I first heard it and I still do today. To me, most hardcore was derivative, uninspired and pretty stupid; why would I listen to it when I could get down to quality European rave or American techno?

Yet for every rule, there is always the exception.

The original was released in as part of a 4 track EP in 1991, and is nothing more than a pale breakbeat paced imitation of Together's "Hardcore Uproar". I don't remember hearing it when it first came out. But in 1992 it was remixed and re-released on a double A side 12" - the other track being the quite horrendous "Take Me Away".

"I'm Coming Hardcore (Remix)" is really just a clever appropriation of samples, but fuck it is done well. It steals from noisy Belgium rave techno (Set Up System's "Fairy Dust"), the emotional horn melody comes straight from the 1989 New Beat track "We're Gonna Catch You!" by Bizz Nizz (which also provides the 'The rhythm is hot' sample. Tyree's "Hardcore Hip House" gives up the 'I'm Coming Hardcore' hook. Not to mention inspiration from Together's "Hardcore Uproar".

By all rights, it should be a mess; but instead it is a glorious piece of high energy that's guaranteed to bring a peak on and send a dancefloor stupid. It weaves a wonderful line through cheese, euphoria and mindfuck; I remember my good mate Squid (who incidentally provided the name for this blog) almost wetting himself in anticipation as the opening chords poured out of a recovery's speakers back when this track was first out. 

Still a magic track today.

Discogs
A1 I'm Coming Hardcore (Remix)

A2  I'm Coming Hardcore (Original Mix)
B1  Take Me Away (Sub Bass Mix)

B2  Take Me Away (Original Mix)

Vinyl Rip _ 320kbps MP3 ...mediafire

And we're back (?!?)

Okay peeps, sorry for the break in transmission, but sometimes life gets distracting... to that funny fucker who posted a comment about this blog not being very constant; hey, you're right - but it was never about constant posting, just about music that should be on constant rotation.

Amongst other things, I have been wowed by the pure downloading pleasure resource that is soulseek - for a while there that was pretty much all I was doing. To all those good folks sharing some really good hard to find tracks, I can't say thank you enough. It's allowed me to complete some glaring gaps in my collection and should mean a few extra goodies will get posted - I'm planning a couple of artist retrospectives to start with.

I've also been playing around in Ableton Live a bit more, especially since buying a Launchpad controller for it. I tried it all out at the last Arm In Arm party a month or so ago and remembered to record my set this time. Lots of the usual old skool nonsense, including 808 State's mental "Cobra Bora", a couple of Carl Craig bombs, and the best mix of S'Express's "Hey Music Lover" (The Red Giant Mix) amongst other things.

Download it here.

Note that I'm trying out Filesonic instead of Mediafire for a bit. Let me know of your preference, but for me it means I don't have to double wrap my files to password protect them any more. There is a different password for the Filesonic files, but the Mediafire pass stays the same as before.

There's an RSS subscriber in the right panel now, so you won't even have to check back here unless you want to - apparently you'll be notified if I post again. And soon you might find this on facebook. Or not.

Stay Tuned.

Come Fly With Me Remixes - 1991

I can probably count the number of vocal tracks I like on both hands and still have fingers to spare: like Graham Massey of 808 State, I just don't need some wailing slag to tell me what a tune is about. Obviously there are some good songs out there, mostly by Inner City, but Alison Limerick, Jimi Polo, Ce Ce Rogers and Joe Smooth would also get a guernsey.

DJ Pierre's Phantasia project gets a look in too with this house anthem presented in two superb but contrasting mixes. The Graeme Park mix is predictably on the garage tip, quite spartan and leisurely in its delivery. Jesse Saunders pumps the mix up to become a massive rush suitable for a peaking main room, hitting you with the chorus first and then taking the energy (but not the vibe) down a tad as he lets the song proper play through.

Beats the shit out of all those moody progressive numbers by the likes of Way Out West and iiO.

Discogs

A1 Come Fly With Me (Graeme Park's Fly High Mix)
B1 Come Fly With Me (Jesse's Hype Instrumental Mix)

Vinyl Rip _ 320kbps MP3 ...mediafire

Sonic Rave 1992 - Russell's 4 Hours Of Power

This was Jeff Tyler's first event, and around 200-300 punters turned up to find that he had managed to cram in two or three times the required light and sound into the room - a not uncommon newbie mistake - he wasn't the first to make it and wouldn't be the last.
Unfortunately, too much sound would be his undoing...

Jeff was good mates with Russell 'Hardcore' Hancorne, who found later fame as elegant trance artist 'Mystic Force'. Jeff and Russell were both avid collectors of vinyl - and extremely competitive with each other. It's a pretty safe bet that Russell had one of the country's best collection of deep techno, but Jeffy's wasn't too far behind. If either of them found a special release, the other would do their best to prise it off them.
One time Jeffy traded a record off Russell for the following: a Technics SL1200 turntable, a crate of (good) records and a few hundred in cash. That's right folks - Russell got about $1200-1500 worth for one piece of vinyl. Jeff wanted Russell to play at his party, but internal politics put a stop to that; somehow I got my first gig - not sure if I even knew how to mix yet.

Obviously, I was opening the night and played a full 2 hour set; then the other guys (Jeff, Will and Richie) were going to play an hour each on rotation until the party ended - it wasn't licensed to sell booze so theoretically it could go on into the next day if we wanted. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to us, the masses of bass coming out from Jeffy's superb sound system was travelling out across the adjoining Albert Park Lake and hitting the houses on the other side like some kind of sonic boom. Needless to say, the residents of such houses were not impressed and had notified the police (repeatedly). Well, bass sounds are quite difficult to locate - parties in warehouse complexes can easily go undiscovered even though you can hear them well enough because you just can't get a fix on where the sound is coming from. This wasn't a problem for the police here though; the Powerhouse was one of the only suitable venues in the area, and about the only one on the lake itself. Jeff's lighting extravagance meant the place was flashing like a beacon for the police find.
They shut the party down quick smart; I was the only one who got to play a proper set.

Thing is, everyone came out to party well stocked and we were all on our way to being truly off our faces; this was ably assisted because a certain good fellow had also brought a large bag of magic mushies that most of us had dipped in to (some more than once). When the police arrived to shut the party down, there was a bit of a panic and, fearing it was a bust, many ate their night's stash in one quick go. It could've been a disaster, but everyone made it home or to another venue safely before they completely lost the plot ... just about.

But let's get back to Russell.

As compensation for not getting to DJ, Jeff asked Russell to make a mix to play in the chill out area; the result was a 4 hour long video tape of some of Russell's finest choons from the finest artists and labels of the day: Joey Beltram, Mundo Musique, Leftfield, Nu Groove, Strictly Rhythm....

Russell was never the greatest mixer, but the tracks more than make up for it. Enjoy!

Alas, the tracklisting is woefully incomplete. I've filled in all I can, but anyone who wants to help fill in the blanks can find a .rar of the unknown segments to go through here. So far:

1. Eclips 21 - Nebula (1st Soul Mix) (Indisc)
2. Dance 2 Trance - We Came In Peace (Suck Me Plasma)
3. Ramin - Reality (Dance Ecstacy 2001)
4. Kenny Larkin - Manik Man (Plus8)
5. -
6. Noise Control - Tehniska Musika (Neo Ego)
7. Cosmic Enterprises - Tao Nonstop (White Label)
8. -
9. Logic - Celebrate Life (Soundshaft Mix) (Strictly Rhythm)
10. -
11. -
12. -
13. Audio Clash - Electro Rhythm (Electropitch Mix) (Strictly Rhythm)
14. Urban Rhythm - Luv Will Make It Right (As It Grooves Mix) (Strictly Rhythm)
15. -
16. After Hours - Waterfalls (3 A.M. Mix) (Strictly Rhythm)
17. -
18. Ramin - (Where Is My) Ecstacy (Dance Ecstacy 2001)
19. Revelation - Odyssey (Atmosphere Records)
20. 
    
21. Mundo Muzique - Andromeda (Easy Street Records)
22. Phenix - Revelations Reprise (Atmosphere Records)
23. -
24. -
25. Leftfield - Not Forgotten (Outer Rhythm)
26. D-Shake - Technotranced (Feel The Space) (Go!Bang Records)
27. Westworld - Techno Cop (West)
28. The Hypnotist - Pioneers Of The Warped Groove (Rising High Records)
29. -
30. N-r-gee Posse - The Final Word (D-Zone Records)
31. -
32. Groove Sector - Release The Energy (Hi Bias)
33. -
34. -
35. -
36. -
37. -
38. Code 6 - C.O.D.E.S (Nu Groove)
39. -
40. Lost Entity - 2 Minute Madness (Nu Groove)
41. R.S.H. – Laughing While Intoxicated (Dopewax)
42. Code 6 - Beyond The Bassline (Nu Groove)
43. -
44. Lost Entity - Annihilate (L.E.S Mix) (Nu Groove)
45. Code 6 - Forgotten Moments (Nu Groove)
46. -
47. Code 6 - Quad 1 (Nu Groove)
48. Jam & Spoon - Stella (R&S)
49. -

Thanks to Brewster for making a copy all those years ago, and doing the audio clean up and artwork to let me post it. Very much appreciated mate.

Videotape Transfer _ 192kbps MP3 ... mediafire part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4

Classic Pure Closers By Steve Robbins

Pure was my home; every Friday I was there - I can't remember how many nights I missed, but it wasn't many. Did miss the final night at Dream nightclub because I thought nobody would go and it'd be too much of a downer, but Will-E rang me as soon as he got home to let me know what a great night I'd just missed. Apparently the floors were shaking because there were so many people rocking till the last track. Oh well.

It started out in the rear room of St. Kilda's Palace nightclub, I think in May 1991 - but it's all a bit hazy. It was Melbourne's first straight up rave techno night, although Maze @ Commerce had previously championed techno alongside underground house. Run by DJ Mark James, this was the club that made Will-E-Tell a star, yet what I remember 20 odd years later are the end of night sets of DJ Steve Robbins (later of techno group FSOM). He was older than the rest of us, and, shall we say, more learned in the art of getting off your head, but he'd been DJing since the first days of electro and had a fantastic record collection that leant heavily towards the 303 acid end of the spectrum. Steve didn't like to mix his records too much, so you got to hear great tracks in their entirety, and he always brought the night gently down towards close (none of this banging to the end and then tell the punters to fuck off nonsense).

Steve in the box at Pure after it moved to Dream Niteclub in late '91.
(Scotty working the lights)

So, with that I present two of his best closing tracks, both house, and both out of New York: Chapter 1's "Unleash The Groove (E-Funk Mix)" on Strictly Rhythm and The Sound Vandals' "On Your Way (Deep Mix)" off Nu Groove. Really fantastic tracks that deserve to be played in their entirety to the munted at 6am.
And they still sound great two decades later.

Discogs

A1 Unleash The Groove (E-Funk Mix)
A2 Unleash The Groove (Love In Sheffield Mix)
A3 Unleash The Groove (Blips In Heat)
B1 Unleash The Groove (125th & Lenox Mix)
B2 Unleash The Groove (Screamin' Pipes)

Vinyl Rip _ 320kbps MP3 ...mediafire




Discogs

A1 Tonight's The Night (Club Mix)
A2 Tonight's The Night (Bonus Beat)
B1 On Your Way (Deep Mix)
B2 On Your Way (Bonus Beat)

Vinyl Rip _ 320kbps MP3 ...mediafire





1990's "Unleash The Groove" is a particularly strong release; "Blips In Heat" is a piece of blissful beatless bleep, and the b-sides are completely insane organ workouts. "Tonight's The Night" on The Sound Vandals' 1991 release is a quite annoying bit of New York sample house, but the bonus beats are good.

Crash Course

Fookn H A R D C O R E.

Maybe the first thing I bought on Nu Groove. It's a product of its day, and there are many greater tracks than this on the label. It did represent the beginnings of that harder Brooklyn sound championed by Lenny Dee, Frankie Bones and the rest - but hardcore wasn't for me for very long.

Still, Crash Course is a classic piece of banging tek. Like many rave tracks of the period it gets an energy boost by adding new elements every 8 bars (instead of the more leisurely 16 or 32 commonplace today), so the track crams a lot into a short duration. Industrial edged sounds make it feel like it was recorded in a Depression-era iron foundry - the major break is particularly evocative with its chanting and whirring noises - John Lennon's "I get high with a little help from my friends" doesn't hurt either.

The B-sides are a bit of a disappointment, being just simple rhythm tracks with minimal usability. A bit of a let down after the A-side. The English license dispenses with the rhythm tracks in favour of a an even more hardcore remix of Crash Course - but it loses the industrial simplicity of the original.

Discogs

A1   Crash Course
B1   N.Y. Jungle
B2   Crash Rhythms
B3   Free Style Groove

Vinyl Rip _ 320kbps MP3 ...mediafire

2 great mixes from the turn of the century

First of all, one from Mr Dave Angel, who I've had the pleasure of seeing live a couple of times and is a damn fine DJ. From 1998, we have him in fine form over 2 cds. What I like most about Dave is that he plays his records fast, changing a groovy house tune into a pumping bit of tech funk [It's always been my opinion that a DJ's record box is full of tunes to be worked together - the DJ is their boss, not the other way around. All this nonsense about respecting the purity of the author's intent and playing a track at or near the original tempo and only blending in with other tunes a little bit at the start and end is a load of crap. Play the bits you want to play, save the bits that don't work now for another time. Play the fucking record at whatever the speed you want to work the dancefloor (within reason of course - don't want to go all chipmunk gabba). And, obviously, if you get too smart and fuck with your tracks too much and get your dancefloor pissed off you should rightly expect to cop a very public glassing, kicking, beating, or similar].

But I digress.

"39 Flavours Of Tech Funk" is just that - 39 tracks of different structure and feel, but combined to form a singular energy; he doesn't play too deep or too banging. It's party music to dance your arse off to.
Each CD has a different personality (I prefer the second mix). Of all the flavours of tech funk you can imagine, the only types missing here are those of the TB303 acid variety. It's one of the few techno mixes I can think of that is pretty much acid free. Not that it makes the release any weaker.

Discogs

Dave Angel: 39 Flavours Of Tech Funk (1998)

CD 1 _ 256kbps MP3 ...mediafire
CD 2 _ 256kbps MP3 ...mediafire







Next up, something from the very well dressed Mr Justin Robertson. Have only heard him DJ once, and he wasn't very impressive (but in his defence he had just come off a 22 hour flight and was jet lagged as all fuck). I was never really that into any of his artist projects - do really like "Packet Of Peace" though - and wasn't really aware that he was a good techno DJ until I heard this mix. Frankly, it's one of the best of the period and probably up there with the best there is. Valentino Kanzyani did a similar styled mix around the same time in "Rock The Discotheque", featuring some of the same tracks as Justin Robertson's "Imprint". But where Imprint is a superbly crafted piece of blinding-techno-dance-floor-heaven, Valentino's mix is not very well programmed and sloppy in its execution (even featuring wildly drifting mixes). If I had made that mix I wouldn't have given it out to my mates let alone press up a few thousand copies and put it into shops with my name on the cover.

Discogs

Justin Robertson: Imprint (2001)

CD Rip _ 256kbps MP3 ...mediafire

Fuck It - Here's some more vintage R & S

I think it was outside of the Harmony rave in mid 1992 (or 1993?) that I was wandering around the carpark by myself - I think I had just seen off some friends and waiting for the next phase of the evening to begin. It was late in the night and I was quietly tripping off my little head, probably 50 to 100 metres away from the party. You could still hear the music though, loud and clear. I have a feeling it may have been raining a little, but if not there was definitely the feel of a storm brewing. Perfect atmosphere for a walk on acid.
Anyway, in the distance I could hear the track playing being allowed to fade out to nothing by the DJ before the next one began. I knew it well - I'd been hearing it out constantly for 2 years - but now it was like a call to arms; massive pads and then "Turn it UP!"
I was energized beyond doubt, the coming storm and D-Shake's phenomenal peak time mix made sure of it. I ran like the wiry little fucker that I was and got inside the room just in time for the big kick off of "Are you READY?"

Discogs

A1   Space 3001 (The D-Shake Trance Mix)
A2   Space 3001 (The Team Mix)
B1   Space 3001 (UK Mix)
B2   Space 3001 (Out Of Control Mix)

Vinyl Rip _ 320kbps MP3 ...mediafire

Best R&S track?

Come on guys!

No one's suggested an alternative for my favourite R&S tune yet... Must be pre-94 old skool (nothing past 1993 please). Only other requirement is that you can't nominate "Dominator" because it is shit.

I do want your thoughts on this  - maybe 17+ years of hindsight has promoted some of less famous tunes to classic status...

Secret Desire - White Light / Anna Lies (1990)

All across the UK in the early 1990s record shops launched their own music labels, and many became important definers of the dance movement... Zoom, Vinyl Solution, 23rd Precinct... the list is long. Sadly, many died due to poor/inexperienced management (the record biz wasn't as easy as some hoped), changing tastes or a loss of interest from their owners.

London's Vinyl Solution had the good fortune of having Bizarre Inc. and J. Saul Kane (Eon, Depth Charge, etc.) on its roster, but although it managed about 100 techno flavoured releases, its time had come by the end of '94. The over-appreciated Bizarre Inc. overshadowed some of the other talent:  Subject 13 and Secret Desire for example. But these acts produced some quality tunes, and for me they are far easier to listen to 20 odd years later than "Playing With Knives".

Secret Desire's double A side 12" features two seriously good pieces of techno; "Anna Lies" is hard-arsed dance floor fuel, fucking with your head and feet as it pays homage to Detroit and Orlando Voorn's looping synth styles. Meanwhile "White Light" takes you on more of a head trip, but this is one for a big empty warehouse. Very haunting and a lot of energy comes out of its snare patterns.

Nowadays, with patience not what it once was, these tracks might be thought of as a bit too repetitive to justify their 6 and a half minute lengths, but in the right [head] space they might just be perfect.

Discogs

A1 White Light
B1 Anna Lies

Vinyl Rip _ 320kbps MP3 ...mediafire

A really fuckn good New Order remix

What can I say? THE greatest electronic band of all time!

Even better than Kraftwerk or Underworld - and that's some seriously stiff competition. Don't bother to argue though, it's purely subjective.

Pretty much the entire New Order and Joy Division back catalogue can be found here, but as far I can see they don't have this up.

5-8-6 was recorded for the 1982 opening of Manchester's Hacienda, apparently it originally came in at 22 minutes, but thankfully they shortened it for the album release.

These 2001 Peter Black remixes keep it sparse and deep, and the fantastic dub dispenses with the vocal altogether to accentuate the grinding bassline. Perfect 5am munt music.

Apart from Shep Pettibone and Arthur Baker (who helped define their sound back in the early 80s), very few remixers have done New Order real justice. But Peter Black gets them, and gets them good.
It's amusing that all three of these guys are American and isolated from the English Acid House scene, but get it more than anyone who was part of it.

Discogs

A1 5-8-6 (Peter Black Remix)
B1 5-8-6 (Peter Black Dub)

Vinyl Rip _ 320kbps MP3 ...mediafire

Sasha's First Remix; but is it any good?

A quick look at that bastion of electronic knowledge, Discogs, shows that 'The Man Like' has been credited with over 275 remixes so far, but this is his first. Widely considered a bit of a classic in early progressive house, but it's not one of my favourite tracks - certainly there's a very good intro built around a "Take me, take me higher..." vocal, but after that it really only just plods along.
One thing I can say for sure, is it is much better than the original.

Discogs

A1 Came Outa Nowhere (The Worldwide Mix)
B1 Came Outa Nowhere
     (Sasha's Take Me Higher Mix)

Vinyl Rip _ 320kbps MP3 ...mediafire

The Best R&S Track

Right off, I just wanted to point out that it's not really my intention to get in to posting tracks from the big players (Soma, UR...) because given enough time they'll all be relaunching on Beatport or similar - if they haven't already. And besides, if it's still in print you should be supporting creativity and paying for it.
I believe R&S is moving in the digital re-release direction too, although I'm not sure that label boss Renaat Vandepapeliere is altogether interested in looking backwards; me thinks any money he could make from his back catalogue would just go towards financing new acts.

When I think back about R&S, I can see it pretty much defined the early 90s for me. I spent a good amount of time searching for its latest releases or looking for other labels' output that followed on from the R&S sound. So many classics - the Ravesignal series; Radical Rob's "Monkeywah"; RHC's "Fever Called Love"; Spectrum's "Brazil"; the "Order To Dance" compilations. Mostly big room rave flavours, but also just straight up quality techno from the likes of Joey Beltram and Kevin Saunderson too.

So what is the best R&S release?

Resistance D's remix of DJ Hell's "My Definition Of House Music"?
Or something from CJ Bolland: "Mantra", "Camargue", "Space 3001 (Remix)", the absolutely storming Exclusive UK Remix of "Horsepower"?
Outlander's "Vamp"?
"Stella"?
Possibly even "Dominator" or "Mentasm"?...

Well, my favourite R&S choon is by Dave Clarke as Directional Force.

"Parameter" begins with a little speech about the potential of midi technology to create music with no boundaries (classic techno attitude that!) before moving into some very lush and melancholy pads. Quickly building into storming techno it hits a peak with a hard as fuck proto-jungle Amen Brothers breakbeat. But the track really gets good after this initial break, dropping back to just the kick and bassline before introducing a simple but beautiful one note melody and some really fat analogue pads. Then some fantastic ringing bells come in over the top and we're back to that banging breakbeat.

Rivals anything from Detroit for emotional depth and dancefloor energy.

As is often the case with classic tracks, "Parameter" is not the title track to the release; the two other tracks are more straight up acid-fused techno, quite hard for their day, but both quality choons with a good trippy edge. They haven't aged as well as Parameter, but care. Back in '91 I had to swap my copy of "Exposure To Little Electronic Noises" on Stealth to get a hold of this 12", which really hurt. But it was worth it.

Dave Clarke left the R&S fold after this release (something about money and how he felt he wasn't getting his fair share), but it'd be years before he put out anything of this calibre again - and even then, I don't rate his Red series all that highly. The Parameter EP was recorded and mixed in Renaat's Ghent studios so maybe he should get some credit for nurturing a classic.

Your submissions for best old school R&S track are most welcome, but must be pre-94 (not 1994 or later). And you can't vote for "Dominator" because, let's be honest, that track is crap. And not "Kinetic" either. I own it, but don't really like it. "Mentasm" shits me too, but it is a classic (spawning a few billion pale imitators) so you can vote it in if you want.

Discogs

A1  F.O.
A2  Parameter
B1  Forever

Vinyl Rip _ 320kbps MP3 ...mediafire

Tektonics Mixtape (1998)

Another from the archives, this time on the uptempo trance-techno tip; gets pretty acidic in the end.
No tracklisting, but after a quick listen through I can give a rough idea of what's in the mix:

Terry Lee Brown (Straylight?); Secret Cinema (Timeless Altitude); Warp 69 (A Natural High - Dave Angel Rework); Luxe-Live (Live Steam); Jan Driver (Filter); some more Terry Lee Brown; early Chris Liebing as La Folie; lots of Dutch tech tunes; some banging Chris Cowie; a touch of goa and the pumping acid of Massimo Vivona's Kinetico project....

Done on two 1200s and a pretty basic mixer, the mix moves along well enough and the mixing is not too bad either. Most importantly, the tracks have pretty much stood the test of time and are still worth a listen.

Tektonics Mix (cassette recording - 2 x 45 minutes, 128kb) mediafire

The Wee Papa Girl Rappers - Heat It Up (1988)

Fancy a bit of quality English hip house? Twin sisters did the rap, while the musicians who went on to form the Fine Young Cannibals were in charge of the beats. Fine so far, but it was Kevin Saunderson dropping the track in acid that truly made this a classic.

Discogs
A1 Heat It Up
B1 Heat It Up 

     (Acid House Re-Mix)
B2 Heat It Up 

     (Instrumental Mix)

Vinyl Rip _ 320kbps MP3 ...mediafire

Area 10 Featuring MK - Get It Right (1991)

Here's some more from second-wave Detroit cat, Marc Kinchen. He was mentored by Terrence Parker and his early output was very techno. As Separate Minds he released "1st Bass" in 1988; it sampled a sound from Konami's 1987 stealth fighter video game Metal Gear to generate an outrageous melody, then laid a vocal loop from Saunderson's remix of The Wee Papa Girl Rapper's "Heat It Up" over the top to create dance floor mayhem. In taking that video game sample and using it to create music, Kinchen was really pushing the concept of techno - a genre whose name was symbolic of where it came from, how it was produced, and where it was going. Probably only electro (the 80s form, not the current dross) could claim a similar relationship between intent and name.

Having served his apprenticeship in Detroit, MK headed to the bright lights of New York where he became a leading exponent of dubby deep house (see K.E.L.S.E.Y's "Baby Can (M.K. Dub)" on the previous 313 Detroit post here). Eventually, he became one of the city's top remixers, helping Celine Dion and Betty Boo to achieve chart success... so no one's perfect.

For those of you who like your banging club techno from the turn of the millennium, Carl Cox's Intec imprint will be well known. I think one of its best tracks is Deetron's "Don't You Know Why?" from the Alien Entertainment EP (Discogs). Rocking:

But essentially it's just a rehash of  "Get It Right", which is uptempo vocal house music bedded over manic percussion (the vocal is courtesy of Aretha Franklin's excellent 1983 release of the same name). MK also introduces some great techno noises later through the mixes, adding depth and twisting them in new and pleasingly darker directions.

This release also has quality straight up Detroit techno in "Divisions" and another house cut in "Feel The Fire".

All in all, really good stuff from a not too well known release.

Discogs
A1 Get It Right (R. Flack Ooh Mix)
A2 Get It Right (M.K. Mix)
B1 Feel The Fire
B2 Divisions (Techno Mix)
B3 Get It Right (S & M Mix)
B4 Get Up Early (Remix)

Vinyl Rip _ 320kbps MP3 ...mediafire

Trust In 6 - Life In Ecstasy (Instrumental Mix) (1990)

Picked this up in a second hand record shop in Seattle in '94 at the height of grunge rock. Couldn't believe my luck; and I think it only cost a few dollars to boot.

I had got the vocal mix on that very fine 1991 compilation Techno Trax; a very decent introduction to German techno trance. But to be honest, it is very rare techno that sounds good with a vocal over the top - rarer still if the vocal is male and exponentially rarer still if they are singing or talking in German - I can only think of one successful example, Konzept's "Hypnotic Beats" (according to Mijk van 'Microglobe' Dijk, the lyrics are pretty silly, but since I can't speak German all I can go by is that they sound pretty cool).
I can't think of any successful examples of a German singing in English, let alone the singer being a man. Hence, the problem for the vocal mix of "Life In Ecstasy"...

So no vocal mix here, just the instrumental. And what a top tune too, an all time favourite. Very strong and energetic, with a wicked synth line that comes out of a swooshing intro. Quite a mental climax too.

Discogs
Life In Ecstasy (Instrumental Mix)

Vinyl Rip _ 320kbps MP3 ...mediafire

Supertronic Co. - Sunrise (1992)

"The ultimate opening record for the morning set (especially if it's on the beach). A gorgeous intro, full of birdsong and throat singers. Sounds a bit like portions of KLF "Chill Out". Perfect build up of percussion... then second bass drum hits with a nasty breakbeat and it's all over... arms in the air business. Wonderful arrangement; layers of twinkling keys and comp'd chords fade in and out like waves. Better have another serious record to follow and be ready to mix out; this slice of heaven ends too soon!" (Shalako, Discogs 2005)

Couldn't put it much better if I tried; this is another outing by Jeff Hype (Transformer 2, Liquid Empire, Ravebusters - fuck he basically did most of those early 90s rave classics didn't he?!). It does sample the same throat singers (or frog calls?) as The KLF's Chill Out, and once it kicks off it really does end too soon.
Up there with the best breakbeat of all time. The rush inducing snares are up there too.

Glorious.

Discogs
Sunrise

Vinyl Rip _ 320kbps MP3 ...mediafire

[Thanks to Tricky for the rip]

I'm also putting up the mediafire link to my mate Davros's 2010 reinterpretation here, performed live at the last Arm In Arm Old Skool Party. It's not too radical a shift, but does add a nice break and grooves it out a bit at the end. Not bad.

Techno Grooves Mach 4 (1991)

The best of the series: "Techno Slam" is the big track, but all are excellent shades of techno - there's the rave of "The Aaaaaaaah", "Instinct" and "Rhaaa !!"; the acid of "100% Of DX-ing You" and all out jacking fest of "I Like P*Z".

Nothing too smart, but good to dance to none the less.
And the track names are pretty cool too.

You can find this release pretty easily online, but sound quality is not great so I uploaded mine.

Discogs
A1 Instinct
A2 Rhaaa !!
A3 100% Of DX-ing You
B1 I Like P*Z
B2 Techno Slam
B3 The Aaaaaaah

Vinyl Rip _ 320kbps MP3 ...mediafire

Sound To Light - Breeze (1991)

More solid Euro Rave; a totally rocking number from the He Butcher EP on Germany's Overdrive Records. Verging on hard trance, it's one of the best tracks to dance to off your head - a perfect blend of uplift and hard grating beats. Like the sample says, "yiiaah."

Discogs
Breeze

Vinyl Rip _ 320kbps MP3 ...mediafire

RJ's Rule - Rave This Nation (1991)

So what is rave and what is rave music? A proper definition would be the music that featured at the first dance parties - by definition, a rave is a wildly boisterous party (usually with music) - so in the mid '80s this might have included some disco, hi nrg, early American house and balearic tunes that took in everything from Manual Gottshing to Hall & Oates.
Okay, but that's not what I think of as rave music. For me, a rave was not just a party with music - it was an opportunity to dance your heart out to quality electronic tuneage. While lots of folks were happily wandering around in some kind of euphoric stupor amazed by the lighting rig and the pretty patterns they could make in the air with their glowsticks, me and a few other like-minded warriors saw the night as an opportunity to go to war with the DJ, pushing our bodies to keep dancing to the non-stop techno music coming out of the speaker bins. If any e-d up rave bunny dared come up to to talk shit while we were rocking our groove they were certain to cop an earful of "fuck off, I'm dancing..."
Our favourite tunes weren't noisy, overly fast or that hardcore sounding; mostly they were European, energetic and just a little bit on the trippy side. But unlike straight up trance (which could kill a dance floor quicker than a round of special-k), these tracks were great to dance to. I've already posted some like Digital Boy's Kokko and Full On Sound's Mayhem, but this is the quintessential rave anthem.

The "Raw Substantial Mix" opens with a sample taken from the Woodstock (1969) documentary at the point when the organisers have realised that they can no longer control the gates to the event because of the massive crowd numbers. From the main stage they announce to the half a million party people that...

"It's a free concert from now on. That doesn't mean that anything goes; what that means is that we're going to put the music on here for free."

And then we're off into the realm of heavy duty 4-by-4 kick drums and a pumping bassline. Every 16 bars or so, some new component comes in to the mix, upping the urgency and the call to dance. My favourite part has to be the speak'n'spell chant (taken from an old electro track) mid way through that signals the oncoming (and all too short) climax. The "Fly Tech Groove Mix" is less manically energetic, darker and pretty good too; while the third mix is more of a bridge track.

So who were the RJ's?
Just one guy actually: Ramon Roelofs, better known today as Charly Lownoise. With his mate Mental Theo, he's gone on to produce some of the most god awful Dutch hardcore ever put down on wax and helped create that atrocious brand of dance known as Hardstyle. A pity.

Discogs
A1  Rave This Nation 

     (Raw Substantial)
B1  Rave This Nation 

     (Fly-Tech Groove)
B2  Rave This Nation 

      (People Of All Nations 

       Dancing Together)

Vinyl Rip _ 320kbps MP3 ...mediafire

My Favourite Mashup - "Stand By Acid" (1991)

I know mashups are supposed to be a fairly recent concept, but this one comes all the way back from 1991. I first heard it on a mix tape I received as a newbie raver and had no idea that it was basically the overlaying of a classic soul track over the seminal acid house track. For a long time, thanks to the label art, I thought it was by Mr Lee - but Discogs revealed the true author of this masterful mix is Darren "Rocky" Rock, who may be better known as part of The Problem Kids, Xpress 2, and countless other dance acts.

Essentially, it's Phuture's "Acid Tracks" overlaid with Ben E. King's "Stand By Me"; not much else to it apart from a siren sound intro, but - as Warhol and Duchamp have proved - genius is in the idea, not the effort (although I suspect Rocky probably knocked it up as a live mix on two decks so it probably took a few takes to get right).

I picked up my copy at a second hand record fair years ago for $10 - bargain.
The b-sides are also quality acid house (Laurent X's "Machines" and Alexander Robotnick's "Problèmes D'Amour") but they're still available so go get them elsewhere.

Another top mashup of the period is by Rhythm Doctor; it's another outing for Phuture but this time with "We Are Phuture" combined with The Art Of Noise's "Moments In Love". I don't own a copy but I know folks who do so I'll post it if they let me...

Discogs

Stand By Acid

Vinyl Rip _ 320kbps MP3 ...mediafire

Selected tracks by The KLF

A little while ago I posited that Jimmy Cauty and Bill Drummond might rightly be considered as true pioneers of electronic trance. For the most part, The KLF owned all the rights to their own music, publishing it through their label KLF Communications. According to Discogs, in May 1992, they officially ended their music careers to pursue new artistic endeavours; they also deleted their entire catalogue of releases. I've checked Beatport and Juno and there was no KLF to purchase, so it seems that the two remain committed to art over profit.

I thought I would post a few select tracks only - there are extensive tribute site here and here and both have plenty of downloads available if you want to delve further...

First of all, "What Time Is Love?" in its two best forms - "Original Pure Trance" (1988) and "Live At Trancentral" (1990). I've said it before, but the Pure Trance mix is just so way ahead of its time that I can only think of one other track to compare it with, Humanoid's "Stakker" - both from England, both released in '88, both completely rewriting the dance floor template, both glorious mind fuck inducers.

The original mix of "What Time Is Love?" is very bare, has a slow tempo and a haunting sci-fi bassline fusing its melody and subtle kick drum. A Dr Who-like 'ooooooohhh' runs throughout to massive effect.

In 1990, the boys updated their tune (with a bit of help from others such as New York's Lenny Dee), totally transforming it into a high energy rave monster that pioneered the transfer of stadium rock excess to dance music. Everyone from The Prodigy to Underworld and 2 Unlimited took notice.

Discogs

What Time Is Love?
(Pure Trance Version)

CD Rip _ 320kbps MP3 ...mediafire

Discogs

What Time Is Love?
(Live At Trancentral)

Vinyl Rip _ 320kbps MP3 ...mediafire

"3am Eternal (Pure Trance Version)" (1989) is taken from the excellent Warehouse Raves 4 compilation - it's also got the Pure Trance Original of "What Time Is Love?" and a heap of other hard to find goodies (I'll probably post that too at some point). It's quite blissful, with a laid back vocal and a hypnotic groove. A few years later, it too got a stadium update leading to commercial chart success - The KLF had embraced cheese once more.

Discogs

3am Eternal 
(Pure Trance Version)

CD Rip _ 320kbps MP3 ...mediafire

Cauty and Drummond didn't leave the underground altogether though, at the end of 1990 they reverted to a previous moniker, The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu, and put out the apocalyptic techno of "It's Grim Up North" in a limited release of 350 single-sided 12 inches on grey vinyl. No label text, no obvious artist identification - just a plain grey inner label.

In Melbourne, only one person had it - Mr Terry "H2O" Ho, and he DJed at the massively influential Maze underground night at The Commerce Club.

People waited all night to hear The Grey Record and embrace it's locomotive techno as it stormed out of the speakers and through the smoke machine across the dancefloor and into our shattered minds. It too got remixed and re-released (with new vocal and an awful guitar break), but the original was by far the best.

Discogs
A1 It's Grim Up North
(Original Club Mix)

Vinyl Rip _ 320kbps 

MP3 ...mediafire

Shi-Take - Don't Look Back In Anger (1994)

More goodness from Billy Nasty and Steve Jones, this is their second outing under this moniker (and first released as a promo in '93). I'll also put up their first "(In The Age Of) Perfect Virtue" - an altogether different track, but very classy - when I get around to recording some more tracks.


The Club Mix is proper hard progressive house, peak time music to dance your arse off to - very percussive and bassline driven, with a crazy "ma - ma - ma" chant to boot. Even my mate Will-E-Tell, the techno don of Melbourne (and who positively hated most things progressive house) liked this track - although he'd never play it in a thousand years. The Dub Mix and Touching The Spirits are a bit less energetic, with a bit of added tribal percussion and fx - more for building a set up than rocking it out. Still good tracks though.


You can find "Don't Look Back In Anger" in the mix on my Another Hard House Experience mix here.

Discogs

A1 Touching The Spirits

A2  Don't Look Back In 

      Anger (Road Rash Dub)

B1 Don't Look Back In 

      Anger (Road Rash Club)

Vinyl Rip _ 320kbps MP3 ...mediafire

Update: Live @ Arm In Arm 5 - Tracklisting To My 2010 New Year's Old Skool Mix

OK peeps, I've had a few requests for track info for my last set post (which was a while ago, and I do plan to do more ... no really, I do.) For those who don't read past blog posts, this mix was born from a 1 hour live set I played at an old skool party late last year. It was my second outing with the laptop and ableton live (version 6). I cut all my tracks up into parts and pre-prepared for my set by arranging the parts into something that flowed with a little bit of cohesion. On the night I used a midi keyboard to trigger the parts as I deemed fit - looping and rearranging on the fly. But being a dickhead, I forgot to record it.
Coming up to New Year Eve, I sat down and re-performed the set as best as I could remember, and then cleaned it up a bit, adding a few extra effects and fine tuning some of the cuts. I also chocked on an extra half an hour of favourites.
It's a pretty pumping choice of choons from '88 to '91 and moves along at about 130bpm or so; for anyone who wants it you can find it here. As always, thanks for listening and all comments are welcomed...


Electrotête - Grigri (Remix)
Grandmaster Melle Mel & The Furious 5 - White Lines '89 - Part II (Short Version)
T99 - Anasthasia
Subject 13 - Eternity (Spiritual Club Mix)
The Raid - The Party
Quazar - Midsummernight's Dream
R-Tyme - R-Theme (Dramatic Mix)
Xpansions - Move Your Body (1991 Remix)
Piece - Free Your Soul (Future)
Rhythm Section - Check Out The Bass Bass
FPI Project - Going Back To My Roots (Vocal Version)
Trust In 6 - Life In Ecstasy (Instrumental Mix)
CJ Bolland - Horsepower (Exclusive Remix)
Brainstorm - Rock The House
Konzept - Hypnautic Beats (Ambient 1990 Mix)
Cubic 22 - Night In Motion (Original Mix)
The Shamen - Pro>Gen (Land of Oz)
Earth People - Dance (Club Mix)
The Melody - I Want Your Love
Frankie Bones & Lenny Dee - Hold Me, Squeeze Me (Vinyl Zone Mix)
Moby - Go (Voodoo Child Mix)
MIC - OOBE 2
Spectrum - Amplification
Mental Mayhem - Joey's Riot
Art 1 - Olympia
Altern 8 - Real Time Status
FSOM - Melodia
Inner City - Good Life (Magic Juan Mix 12")
Ramirez - La Musika Tremenda (DJ Ricci Remix)
Quadrophonia - Quadrophonia (Original)
a little bit of anti-acid house media hysteria off youtube
Neal Howard - Indulge (Club House Mix)
Tronikhouse - Multifunction (Multi-Mix)
Humanoid - Stakker Humanoid (Snowman Mix)
PKA - Let Me Hear You (Say Yeah)(Bass Bins At Dawn Mix)
Yin Yang - Oh-One (Oh-Too Mix)
S'Express - Theme From S-Express
Adamski - Bass Line Changed My Life