Hey, fool: we're renegades of funk

I've been wanting to post this for a while, but there were delays in translating the rap.

For me and many of my ilk, this is a highlight of our clubbing and raving life - I remember first hearing it fully loaded on a nice fresh red dragon at Kemistri, in early November of 1990. Here I was, quite happily tripping away when suddenly the music stops, some cunt screams "Total Confusion" and the whole room erupts in a blur of electrified stabs and Red Indian whoop-whoops. Not only that but then the rest of the party people started whoop-whooping all around me - I was quite possibly under attack. Total and complete madness ensued. My head was fried. It was good. My head was fried good.

At this point of my raving life I still had not fully committed to techno, lots of my friends were still into the indie bands scene so I wasn't getting along to weekly club nights too often - my only exposure to new tracks was through the occasional mixtape, the radio or a monthly rave. I'm not sure how long the track had been out for, but that night obviously a lot more peeps were familiar with it than me. Anyway, a week or so later someone brought a new mixtape to a little Friday night trip party I was at and this track was on it. We played it all night long. It fried my head again and again, but eventually I learnt some of the rap and was even able to recognise that there was a Public Enemy sample buried inside it too. I got a hold of that record asap. Still have it, but it's a little worse for wear these days.

It is of course an early project of Caspar Pound (still a teenager), Marc Williams & Tony Winter - the hippy, homeboy and funky dredd respectively (I think). I remember reading in NME that they spent most of a day in the studio just perfecting the noisy stabs - heavily effected guitar riffs - but they also created one of the finest breakbeats ever put on wax, started a whooping phenomenon, and found a way to include a classic sample from a classic movie: "What are you, people? On dope? " (the elderly teacher, Mr. Hand, in Fast Times At Ridgemont High). Not to mention sampling Public Enemy's "Radio stations I question their blackness; they call themselves black, but we'll see if they'll play this." from 1987's Bring The Noise. Or "Total Confusion" off of short-lived East Coast hip hoppers Original Concept's only album, 1988's Straight From The Basement Of Kooley High!

"Total Confusion" may be one of Melbourne's first real cross over hits from the underground to the club scene. It was a massive tune; maybe equalled by "Vernon's Wonderland", Marmion's "Schöneberg" or "The Age Of Love" - but I don't think so. I'm pretty sure it was still on weekly rotation in house clubs up to a year later but by then the only people still whoop-whooping along to it were drunk nongs, or people making fun of drunk nongs. Despite all this, it is still regarded as a classic, and will always get a good response at an old skool night (and even still fry an unwary head or two). "Vernon's Wonderland" just doesn't compare.

The boys knew they had made something good before it's release, but it wasn't until they took it down to a local club and watched the room go mental that they realised just how good the tune was. Or how big it would be. Caspar Pound made enough money out of it to start Rising High Records.

Here's a clip of them performing it 'live' on TV in 1991.

Yet for all of this, what makes "Total Confusion" truly great is that it was able to pull off the near impossible - putting a rap into techno. This was real hardcore hip-house, not simple or upbeat, but full-on. Marc Williams' relentless rap is surely one of the best recorded - E V E R - maybe only equalled by some of LL Cool J's early work ("Jack The Ripper" comes to mind), yet it is also an enigma because it was never allowed to dominate the mix. Just another component of the proto-hardcore onslaught, the vocals are often clouded by everything else going on around it; true total confusion.

I always thought I had an ok understanding of the rap, but then I went to write it down for this post last week. There was a lot I couldn't decipher so I looked around on the web and everyone seemed as stuck as me in the same places. Yet I persisted and by a day or so ago, I was pretty certain I had it nailed. Except for a line or two. So I found a thread on oldskoolanthemz.com, posted what I had there, and straight away a fine chap named 'spaceface' filled in the last bit... but only Marc Williams knows for sure...

I see you on the streets in yer dashing threads
you're taking in the lyrics like you're smoking incense
you're getting high, wondering why you can't fly
ask me no questions and I will tell you no lies
because the days craze and amaze
so I'll rephrase
I can keep on going for days, days, days, days will turn to years
you'll still be here
and if I get half a chance I'll chop off your ear
because I can taste the music
hypnotic
you come over here, you're going to get your arse kicked
into a hearse and put under a stone cold surface
and when I'm finished that I'm going to jam at you suckers
you're astounded
and you're walking around in circles
and it's a big miracle how you're still going
you're slowing
your battery's running low
you try to pull me back but of course I keep towing you
on and on and on that that's wrong
you should be concentrating on rapping your own song
'cause rapping is an art
but there are many rappers
it takes talent
I got plenty of that
plus the fact that I ain't wack jack
you come over here
you know that you're going to get slapped
back to where you come from
it'll be the front door London
I'll take you all on
Because you choose to mess and jest with the roughness,
Manchester in the house said something,
to blow your mind into the atmosphere
c'mon feel the bass 'cause London's here!

Let the music music move straight through your blood stream
and when you feel the vibe you'll know what I mean
by a place that's taken from the heart
and it's prime time to get started
on the beats that really matter
this is not your average chit-chatter
on the microphone
you're all alone
talking away like it's the Twilight Zone, boy
you wanna change that
rearrange that
find a sucker on the streets and play that
because that's played out
and I'm paid in full
so don't talk that bull
Because you choose to mess and jest with the roughness
Manchester in the house said something,
to blow your mind into the atmosphere
c'mon feel the rhythm 'cause London's here!

While Marc Williams did more raps for the HHFD project, none matched the intensity of the first round - maybe he used up all his good lines for Total Confusion? As far as I can tell, it's a bit of a dis rap between Manchester and London, with London being seen as all shiny and shallow, too willing to follow the latest trends. Manchester is the pacesetter. I suppose it did have the Hacienda so there was some truth to the claim, others may disagree.

Apparently the b-side is all the work of Caspar Pound. There's a reverb heavy "Reprise", which is really just 2 minutes of the breakbeat with some effected vox over the top; I think this is where Cosmic Baby and Kid Paul found the break for Energy 52's "State Of Mind". And there's the "Heavenly Mix", an instrumental, less intense but way trancier (that's trance as in good music to fuck you up on acid, not trance as in stupid arpeggiated chords with some slag wailing on about lost love over the top) - it took a while for us to turn the record over to find this mix, but once we did it got as much play in the underground as the vocal mix. Super. The "Heavenly Mix" has a little phrase repeated through it that is a cut up of the first part of the sample "Hey fool, whatcha say - c'mon" that's been used in just about every funky house track ever made and the spoken outro of Afrika Bambaataa and The Soulsonic Force's "Renegades Of Funk"...

Discogs.

A1   Total Confusion (Confusion Mix)
B1   Total Confusion (Heavenly Mix)
B2   Total Confusion (Reprise)

Vinyl Rip _ 320kbps MP3 ...mediafire

Note: there are lots of rips of this around, but all that I've found are terrible quality. Here, the b-side is taken from my own 12", but I took the a-side off of a CD compilation. 

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 

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

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.

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

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

Full On Sound - Mayhem (1991)

Very, very big Richie Rich track. For a long time he was the only person in Melbourne (and probably one of the few in the country) with a copy, and he wasn't telling anyone what it was. Melbourne was very competitive for DJs - like everywhere else I suppose - but there was also a strong desire to have exclusive tunes to generate an individual identity. To be a successful DJ required not just playing good tunes, but playing good tunes that no one else had. And this wasn't as easy as it might seem.
Back in the early 90s, the city (with a population of 3 million) only had one or two dance music record shops - no I'm not kidding - so it required some skill and dedication to get hold of different music to everyone else. It was not uncommon for guys to stay up into the middle of the night so they could ring London or New York and have tunes played down the phone to them; then anxiously wait 6 weeks or so before receiving a bundle in the mail. It was expensive and didn't have a high degree of success. Quite often you only liked one or two tunes out of twenty - meaning each track had cost you maybe a couple of hundred dollars. So once someone found a gem, the cover would be substituted for something plain or misleading and the inner label obscured or covered over. Pretty soon not even the owner knew what the record was called.


Not sure how he did it, but Richie consistently found real corkers like this - high energy European rave that wasn't full of silly hoover or farting sounds. It's actually by two English lads, but more about them in a later post.


Richie played the Apocalypso Mix with its big building intro of horns and a tuff call of "yeaaaahhh", but both mixes have qualities. They're also appropriately full on and manic - near the ends of each mix the sequencing of sounds gets quite fucked up. All in the name of mayhem I suppose.

Discogs
A1 Mayhem (Doin' The Apocalypso)
B1 Mayhem (Doin' The Mayhemizer)

Vinyl Rip _ 320kbps MP3 ...mediafire

FSOM - Melodia/Alien 8 - 1992

On the heels of their first ep posted here a little while back, comes this 2 tracker. Produced without the aid of third man Steve Robbins, you still get two tracks of well produced techno here. "Melodia" could even be FSOM's finest work - peak time breakbeat led rave music with a tremendous breakdown half way through (just right to bring a rush on). They stole the breakbeat from Ian Pooley's "Message (All Over The World)", but no matter - this is an all time favorite. As for "Alien 8"? Never really listened to it much - a bit too 'outdoor bush festival' for my liking, but you should make up your own mind...

A1 Melodia
B1 Alien8

Vinyl Rip _ 320kbps MP3 ...mediafire

Hot Weaks - Ovation (1992)

A bit of Belgian rave here - the Underground Mix was on high rotation with Melbourne DJ Richie Rich - with its haunting female vox and squelchy acid line backed by a pumping breakbeat it successfully straddled the line between rave and trance. The other mixes have their moments, but the Underground Mix is where it's at.

Discogs
A1 Ovation (Club Mix)
A2 Ovation (Dub Mix)
B1 Ovation (Underground Mix)
B2 Ovation (Rave Mix)


Vinyl Rip _ 320kbps MP3 ... mediafire

Coming party: Arm In Arm 5 - November 19, 2010

OK kids - been a bit slack with the posts, but I've uploaded a fair wack of trax for your attention so I just need to pass on the links with a few comments....

But first, a message from our sponsors.

Anyone in Melbourne (Australia) on November 19, is invited to the next installment of the Arm In Arm old skool parties, organised by fellow rave veteran Seth Taylor - who really does do these for love and not the money. They're small parties and everyone there is into the vibe. 

I'll be playing not too late and not too early - which means I get to knock out some pretty uptempo house and techno. I've already started picking choons, but when you've got 20,000 tracks on your computer and only 1 hour to play you can bet it will be top shelf all the way. All I can say is thank you Ableton for making it possible to cram so much into so little time. More AiA5 information here, and expect some promo mixes from me shortly there too...

Here's a little bit of info from Seth himself to get you in the mood:

This time around we are again focusing on the little things that make an old skool event feel like you’ve truly stepped back in time. The lasers are back, the strobes are back, the smoke machine will be pumping, all of which is guaranteed to give you a full acid flashback experience. So if you only go out once this year, make sure you don’t miss Arm in Arm 5. Don’t risk the pain and mental torment of thinking forevermore, “if only....?”.

Tickets are only 20 bucks - less if you get an early bird. See you there guys.


Oh, and here is me live at the last party... Live @ Arm In Arm 4

Intro, "If you haven't danced yet..."

Toxic Two, Rave Generator (Brooklyn Remix) (Dancefloor, USA, 1992)

Shi-Take, Don't Look Back In Anger (Road Rash Club) (Zoom, UK, 1994)

Avenue, Ice Cubes (Beat Box International,Belgium, 1991)

Twin Hype, For Those Who Like To Groove (Hollywood Sweat Mix) (Profile, USA, 1989)

Eddie Flashing Fowlkes, [R-t] (Tresor, Germany, 1992)

Mr. Monday, Future (Elevation Inc., UK, 1990)

Me And Jack, Viva House, Jack, UK, 1993.

A Homeboy, A Hippy & A Funky Dredd, Total Confusion (Confusion Mix), Tam Tam, UK, 1990.

Cosmic Enterprises, Tao Nonstop, White Label, Germany, 1991.

Energy 52, State Of Mind, WEA Music, Germany, 1991.

Bomb The Bass, Beat Dis, Rhythm King, UK, 1987.

Neverland, Mato Grosso (Marco Biondi Mix), Dance And Waves, Italy, 1990.

Underground Resistance featuring Yolanda, Living For The Nite (For The Feeling), Underground Resistance, USA, 1991.

Underground Resistance featuring Yolanda, Living For The Nite (For The Music), Underground Resistance, USA, 1991.

Gordon Edge, S. F. Acid Mix, Edge, UK, 1992.

New Order, Bizarre Love Triangle (Shep Pettibone 12" Mix), Factory, UK, 1986.

Frank De Wulf, The Tape (Remix), Music Man, Belgium, 1991.

E-Trax, Let's Rock, Dance Street, Germany, 1991.

Underground Resistance, Jupiter Jazz, Underground Resistance, USA, 1992.

Martin Luther King Junior, I Have A Dream, USA, 1963.

Rhythim Is Rhythim, Strings Of Life, Transmat, USA, 1987.

Wood Allen, Airport '89 (Club Mix), BCM, Germany, 1989.  

Sonz Of A Loop Da Loop Era, Far Out, Suburban Base, UK, 1991.

Shut Up & Dance, Lamborghini, Shut Up & Dance, UK, 1989.

Together, Hardcore Uproar (Boom Mix), FFRR, UK, 1990.

Together, Hardcore Uproar, FFRR, UK, 1990.

Digital Boy, OK!Alright, Trance Mission, Belgium, 1990.

Digital Boy, OK!Alright (Luca Ciberspace Remix), Flying, Italy, 1991.    

The Prodigy, Android, R & S, Belgium, 1991.

Techno Grooves, Techno Slam, Stealth, Netherlands, 1991.

Very Early Will-E-Tell Mixtape (1991)

Recorded at his mum's house in Camberwell, it's typical early Will party music.

For the uninitiated, Will was one of Melbourne's rave DJ pioneers – and possibly also it's first superstar DJ; and this is the earliest tape I have of his, mid 1991 I think. Programming and mixing is pretty tight, but why he put “Another Sleepless Night” on half way through the "Mind Fuck" side beats the shit out of me.

Full-On Mix (cassette recording, 128kb) mediafire

Collapse - My Love (Ambient Drops). City Beat, UK (1991)

Frank De Wulf - The Tape (Remix). Music Man, Belgium (1990)
Bizarre Inc. - Playing With Knives. Vinyl Solution, UK (1991)
The Prodigy - Android. XL Recordings, UK (1991)
Space Trax - Atomic Playboy. Stealth, Netherlands (1991)
Spectrum - Brazil. R & S, Belgium (1990)
Beltram - My Sound. R & S, Belgium (1991)
D-Shake - My Heart, The Beat. Go Bang! Records, Netherlands (1991)
Capella - Everybody. Media, Italy (1990)
Spectrum - Spectral. R & S, Belgium (1990)

Head Fuck Mix (cassette recording, 128kb) mediafire
Spectrum - Amplification (Lenny Dee & Eric Kupper Remix). R & S, Belgium (1991)
Modular Expansion - Eliminator. Music Man, Belgium (1990)
Second Phase - Mentasm. R & S, Belgium (1991)
Shawn Christopher - Another Sleepless Night. Arista, USA (1990)
The Untouchables - Yeah C'mon
Beltram - Energy Flash. Transmat, USA (1990)
The Untouchables - Trippin'
Juno - Soul Thunder. Basic, UK (1990)

20 years ago this week: Biology Rave, Melbourne 1990.

It's a lifetime ago, yet in part seems only a recent memory.
Here I was, innocent (ignorant?) but keen - I'd been getting deeper into dance music after years spent listening to 'inde'. House music was good, but I was really more into its bastard son, Techno. I'd heard about raves on the other side of the world in the UK, and knew that drugs could improve the experience...
Anyway, June 1990 - one of Melbourne's first fully fledged dance parties (I think there was one at the Old Greek Theatre a few months before, and more underground parties had been going for years...), put on by the guys who would later run the Every Picture Tells A Story raves, Richard and Hydi John plus Mark James who now fronts the Future Entertainment leviathan.
It was advertised as being in a warehouse, but close to party time the venue changed to the Powerhouse on Albert Park Lake. Suited me fine - I lived in a shitty flat around the corner, and I could see the party from my window. A couple of minutes walk and we were inside the party.
I'd planned to get on some E, but funds only allowed to try acid for the first time. Now it all made sense!
Eight or nine hours we stumbled out back to reality, but my life was never the same. I became a dedicated acid lover; any opportunity to drop was a good one - weddings, hair cuts, you name it; but I loved it most because Techno got different on it or because of it. That Biology party is important to me because it showed me for the first time that music should have enough depth to allow independent interpretation. That's why I hope the music you'll find mentioned here will be notable for its quality and thought provoking nature (but it won't be disappearing up its own arse; after all, it is just music to dance to - even if you are losing your mind in the process).