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 

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tata Box Inhibitors - Plasmids (1994)

Gaston Steenkist and Alex Dijksterhuis (better known as Dobre & Jamez, The Trancesetters, Jark Prongo, Basco - or any other number of project aliases) pull off one of their finest moments here as the Tata Box Inhibitors. In "Plasmids (Placid Mix)" you have a gradually building epic that isn't techno, trance or acid house - it's a bit of all three. To a certain extent, a lot of their work follows a formula (slow build, big break, big release, long out) but if it works why not. The other two tracks use similar sounds and patterns but to completely different effect. They're also excellent. Check Discogs for other reviews.

A1 Plasmids (Placid Mix)
B1 Plasmids
B2 Spanning
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

New Year's Eve 2010 Mixup

Fuck me if I haven't been a bit quiet on the posts of late. 
Never mind, here is a link to a reasonably long mix - 1hour40min or so - total old skool - and just done today so excuse any excesses. 
For those of you at Arm In Arm 5, you'll recognize the first half - I forgot to hit record on the night and this is my approximation of the set. It's straight up rocking dancefloor techno, rave and acid house - for those who are planning to sit down tonight in front of the telly and watch the fireworks, this mix isn't for you (but it should be). 


Going to be a hot one here in Aus, 40 degrees Celsius (105 Fahrenheit) so this is just the one for a hot night out. 
No tracklisting; that would ruin the surprise!!!! Hope you enjoy; especially, some of my all time favorites for the last 2/3.


Oh, and happy new year - party like it's 1990!!!!!!


mediafire 192kbps

FSOM - Maglamania EP (1992)

They were never the most original production crew - hey they even pinched their name from Future Sound Of London - but they did know how to rock. Later releases spawned "Melodia" and "Welcome", both exceptional tracks, but this is their first. As far as I know, they don't think much of it these days, but it holds good memories for me. If there's a flaw, it's that each track tries to do too much, but it's also what makes them interesting - there's a fusion going on here of pretty much every sound they were into at the time - rave, house or techno.
Even so, my favorite bit is on the centre label: "...anyone found copying, broadcasting or sampling this record will be hunted & shot". 

A1 Resist The Beat
A2 Raving Mad
B1 The Witch And Her Spell
B2 Barefoot In Sydney

Vinyl Rip _ 320kbps MP3 ... mediafire

DJ Rope & Marco Bailey - Be Free (Wavesong Mix) (1994)

Taken from quite a valuable slab of vinyl - 25 euros on discogs even in today's crappy vinyl valuations - but this to me is the only decent track of the release (so I haven't recorded and won't be posting the rest - don't ask). Verges on hard trance, but it is a driving mother fucker of a track. Then comes the euphoric break and we're off again. Giddy Up.

Discogs
Vinyl Rip _ 320kbps MP3 ... mediafire

Major Problems - City Under Siege (1990)

Nu Groove. The underground label of 1990/91. 


So much a product of its time, I doubt if it would work these days - such a diverse output of music. Everything from faggy house beat to mind bending techno. In hindsight, it could only have come out of New York; yet it made its way around the world to inspire us white kids here in Australia - who would have thought?
I've got many Nu Groove releases - treasured bits of plastic that they are. So which to post, and what first? Well, with a nod to my old dance buddy Craig E M (who named his sound system after them), lets post some Lenny & Ralphie Dee - aka Major Problems - and their first release together on Nu Groove, "City Under Siege".
As the title suggests, three pieces of quality, fucked up New York techno.


Much more Nu Groove to come folks...........

Discogs
A1 Murder (25 To Life Mix)
B1 Arson (4 Count Version)
B2 Manslaughter (First Degree Mix)


Vinyl Rip _ 320kbps MP3 ... dmca deleted.

Musto & Bones - The Music Is Right (1991)

Frankie Bones does the commercial thing - not sure how successful it was chartwise. The R&B mixes are pretty ordinary, but the techno mixes are not too bad (except the rave stab is a bit too cheesy).


Discogs
The Music Is Right (R & B Club Mix)
The Music Is Right (R & B Dub Mix)
The Music Is Right (Techno Club Mix)
The Music Is Right (Techno Dub Mix)


Vinyl Rip _ 320kbps MP3 ... mediafire

Mixtape - "Another Hard House Experience".

1995 and I put out this promo mix tape. I still think it’s about my best work. I remember spending ages on track selection and programming, but I think I got the actual mix down in one take on tape on only the first or second try. My mixer was pretty simple, 2 channel faders and nothing else, so don’t expect any fancy FX work.
As is usual for me, it’s a mix of pumping progressive house, techno and rave music. Music to dance to, not trance out to. Me and my mates called it hard house because no other genre fitted it at the time, but that was before the likes of Tony Di Vit came along and claimed ‘hard house’ for themselves. Have a listen and decide what it is for yourself; get back to me with your imaginative genre ideas at withinaconstantgroove@gmail.com. Winners notified by registered mail. Or not.

side a ... Download @ 128kbps here: mediafire
1. Marine Boy - Creation, Light, Energy. Total Music, UK (1994)
2. Sublime - TGV (Paris-Marseille Mix). Limbo, UK (1994)
3. Epik - The Blob. Chug N Bump Records, UK (1994)
4. Circle City - Moments Of Inertia. Warp Records, UK (1993)
5. MikeroBenics - Julika (Comes Too Late Mix). Harthouse, Germany (1994)
6. Melt - Be Liquid (Transformer 2 Remix).  DFC (1993)
7. F.W. Noie - The Original Movement. Opium, UK (1994)
8. Richard Brown - Flange-O-Matic. Tippy Tappy Bollocks, UK (1994)
9. Lekker Vet - Fuzzy Logic. Whoop, UK (1994)
10. Epik - Driver. Chug N Bump Records, UK (1994)
11. Whitestorm - Bongos And B-Line. Bedhopper Recordings, UK (1994)

Another Hardhouse Experience - Side A by Withinaconstantgroove on Mixcloud

side b ... Download @ 128kbps here: mediafire
1. Whitestorm - Bongos And B-Line (Bedhopper Recordings, UK 1994)
2. unknown
3. Esco B - Free Your Mind (Oscilator, Belgium 1993)
4. Ultrahigh - Primitive Love (Force Inc. Music Works, Germany 1994)
5. Marine Boy - Creation, Light, Energy (Total Music, UK 1994)
6. Man With No Name - Teleport (Dragonfly, UK 1994)
7. Vinyl Blair - Horsework (Hard Hands, UK 1994)
8. Shi-Take - Don't Look Back In Anger (Zoom, UK 1994)
9. Stereogen - Hi-Q (Vinyl Addiction, UK 1992)
10. Marine Boy - Fluid (Ohm, UK 1994)
11. Clockwork - Supplanter (X-Gate Records, UK 1994)

Another Hardhouse Experience - Side A by Withinaconstantgroove on Mixcloud

Two massive German B-sides from 1994.

Harthouse and Eye Q - giants of trance. Most of their decent releases have found their way on to various compilations and re-releases over the years, but as far as I can tell, these two tracks have only ever appeared on vinyl as b-sides.

Discogs
B1 Skyline (Sky Mix)

Vinyl Rip _ 320kbps MP3 ... mediafire

Absolutely rocking hard trance; the melody won't leave your head for days.

Discogs

B1 Desire (Tronic Mix)

Vinyl Rip _ 320kbps MP3 ... mediafire

The a-side is a bit cheesy, with some girl whispering something about feeling her desire - not my cup of tea. The Tronic mix is proper trance; killer bassline, some nice pads and a main melody that's not too dissimilar to Sourmash's "Pilgrimage To Paradise" (released the year before). But unlike Sourmash (which was veering towards the hard house side of trance), the melody on this mix of "Desire" sounds like it was written by aliens to fuck with your acid dazzled mind.

My favourite Eye Q track.