Sunday, May 22, 2011

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. Mundo Muzique - Andromeda (Easy Street Records)
  21. Phenix - Revelations Reprise (Atmosphere Records)
  22. -
  23. -
  24. Leftfield - Not Forgotten (Outer Rhythm)
  25. D-Shake - Technotranced (Feel The Space) (Go!Bang Records)
  26. Westworld - Techno Cop (West)
  27. The Hypnotist - Pioneers Of The Warped Groove (Rising High Records)
  28. -
  29. N-r-gee Posse - The Final Word (D-Zone Records)
  30. -
  31. Groove Sector - Release The Energy (Hi Bias)
  32. -
  33. -
  34. -
  35. -
  36. -
  37. Code 6 - C.O.D.E.S (Nu Groove)
  38. -
  39. Lost Entity - 2 Minute Madness (Nu Groove)
  40. R.S.H. – Laughing While Intoxicated (Dopewax)
  41. Code 6 - Beyond The Bassline (Nu Groove)
  42. -
  43. Lost Entity - Annihilate (L.E.S Mix) (Nu Groove)
  44. Code 6 - Forgotten Moments (Nu Groove)
  45. -
  46. Code 6 - Quad 1 (Nu Groove)
  47. Jam & Spoon - Stella (R&S)
  48. -
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

13 comments:

  1. I don't know how many friday nights were spent at 190 Heatherdale Road listening to this mix and trying to beat Sid at Street Fighter II on his Super Nintendo. Thanks for posting and big thanks to Brewster for preserving a little piece of history. Sonic was an interesting night, ended up in a very, very messy headspace at Shane and Julie's flat, and the thing that took me there was a tape that Russell had brought with him. Had me so spaced out it took a while to realise the discomfort in my chest was due to me not breathing. Those mushies, plus Mitchell's pot, made for a quite fearsome combo.

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  2. Oh and IIRC The Orb's 'A Huge Evergrowing Pulsating Brain That Rules From The Centre Of The Ultraworld' was in there somewhere too. Will figure out where and update the tracklisting.

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  3. Not The Orb - it is Eclips 21's Nebula on Indisc, out of Belgium (1990). Amazing what you can find after two straight days on Discogs...

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  4. may be i should have held of on sending this to nimmo,
    because in 12 months from the 23rd may(yesterday) it will 20 years since this party..!!!

    i cant believe this was 20years.. ago..!!!!

    I'm i making myself feel old or you as you read this???

    ahahahaaa..

    i hope people enjoy and fwd on the mix to any old skool they come across..

    cheers
    BB

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  5. Sonic... what a shame, but what a funny story! I can only imagine the conditions some people ended up in after they were evicted from the Powerhouse.

    So now Russell, or Jeff, needs to fess up to what this mysterious record was that fetched $1500 worth of records and turntables.

    Dloading the mix now - can't wait...

    Cheers,
    David Reece

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  6. It's a sigh of fucking relief to know that this has been immortalised. Useless (and heartbreaking) trivia, Julie B taped over one copy with an episode of Neighbours. I tried to knife her but people intervened.

    But now I have a copy!! Glory be to fucking god.

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  7. Pretty sure number 8 is 6 Bells All - Out Of Here.

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  8. Does anybody know number 29?

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  9. 31 is Insomnia ‎– I'll Be There (After Hours Mix)

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  10. 49. is Frequency X - Hearing Things (Ambient Mix)

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  11. Russell H last seen [by me]at Chadstone. 1999. Yo Brewster B, got a contact for me old mate? He's off the radar!

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