053. Hysteric Ego - Want Love [EGO 001]

Comparing this iconic house record, straight from the halcyon days of mid 90s Ibiza, to contemporary house music and the difference seems insurmountable. On the one hand you have real synthesizers short loops and samples, on the other huge risers, endless monolithic grooves, and increasingly complex automation channels all woven together on a DAW.

If all these divergent sounds and influences are to both be considered house music, we need a common denominator. Chords and melodies won't do, nor will production techniques; both of these get caught in the tidal shifts of technology, societal trends and the interests of capital. Intrinsically, the only single essential element to house music is the 4/4 electronic kick drum with a ride cymbal on the off beat. Even then, these rules are broken on numerous occasions.

Once these rules get broken consistently, the variations spawn into their own unique genre. In some cases, the differences become so profound and sounds so established they themselves develop into a parent genre such as Techno or Trance. As a genre they come with with their own rules; rules which become broken, and so evolution progresses.

This continues to the point where the end products seem so far removed from the point of origin there seems to be no semblance of continuity between them. Yet, without house, there is no Acid. Without house (and synthpop), there is no Techno. Without Techno, there is no Trance.

Indeed, with so many variations on the theme, and so little consistency between themes, we could easily head down the social constructionist route. House is nothing more than an unwritten agreement between DJs, dance floors and record producers; it is a temporally and socially specific sound.

House music is nothing more than what we are told house music should sound like at any given time. Perhaps this is true. Either way, Hysteric Ego – Want Love is a classic house record, one which should be selectively reintroduced to contemporary house dance floors.

Hysteric Ego - Want Love [EGO 001] by dcp84

Hysteric Ego – Want Love

[Ego : EGO 00]

(1996)

Discogs: £2.74

050. Johnny Shaker - Pearl River (Instrumental)

Perl River is for many a definitive trance track. As with most things though, definition (or rather social labelling) holds greater sway than any specific characteristics. How we think about the world is always holds more sway than the objective reality of the world.

The period betwen 1998-2001, plus or minus a few years, is commonly regarded as the ‘golden age of trance’. In 1999 Pearl River smashed out across dance floors across the globe. DJs smoothly mixed the track into countless double CD compilations following on from its clubland fortunes. This late 90s success earmarked it as genre framing classic trance and I distinctly remember it featuring in a Gatecrasher New Years Eve Classics night in the mid 2000s.

In truth, 1999 was Pearl River’s second outing. Originally hitting dance floors in 1996 with a release in 1997, it shares status with other ‘classic-trance-from-99’ tunes which weren’t actually from 1999 at all; Paul Van Dyk’s For An Angel probably being the foremost example.

Like the archaeologist who digs up an Iron Age broach which has evidently been made in the Bronze age, we have to ask, what’s at play here? Why did some Trance fall short in the mid-90s only to explode in the late-90s?

Explanation can be found by examining the socio-economic historical context of Pearl River’s first outing. In 1996 clubland was a very different place. The euphoria from the days of acid house had all but been completely extinguished by the crackdown on race culture codified into law by 1994’s Criminal Justice Act.

As "sounds wholly or predominantly characterised by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats" were being slowly and uncertainly appropriated by a fledgling club culture, the ravers used to hurtling round the M25 of a weekend looking for tips on the next illegal party didn’t feel comfortable enough just yet to abandon the free cultural moral high-ground and head into the arms of the capitalists - however clean the toilets and good the weather was indoors.

It would take a youth culture in the UK who were happy to embrace the benefits of high capitalism’s cultural product, of cultural consumption choices used to create post-modern musical identity, clubbing brands rather than simple clubs and record labels as websites, T-Shirts, video streams and web radio for a dance music to really grow.

In 1996 and 1997 things were beginning to bubble. The queues outside house and techno clubs were getting longer and someone walking around town in a Ministry of Sound T-Shirt didn’t look out of place. The formula of the golden era of trance had yet to be agreed upon, but the key musical characteristics were being experimented with. Breakdowns were getting longer, snare rolls louder, saws were making wider leads and Dutch DJs seemed to be talked about more and more.

The kids who were too young to have embraced Acid House were thinking about electronic music and clubbing in an increasingly positive light. Thinking they could get the best out of capitalism without any of the cost they started getting sucked in. It isn’t without irony that many from this cohort were the first and loudest to proclaim in the early 2000s that the trance bubble had burst, that the brands had become too commercial and the music had become a boring and formulaic only driven by hype. Followers of Techno on the other hand, a much more subversive, anti-mainstream and possible even politically aware genre, just looked on with a smug smile, saying quietly ‘I told you this would happen’.

So, in 1996 and 1997, people just weren't ready for Pearl River. Only by 1999, when the commercial apparatus of Trance as a clubbing brand, a cultural identity marker and symbol of post-post-Modernity was ready did it have the success it finally won. This odd artifact in the social memory of Trance is worth thinking about as it throws up some very interesting questions about aesthetic origin and of course the normative account of the genre’s history...not bad for something you mum probably owns on her digitally mixed ‘WORLD’S BEST MEGA-TRANCE HITS’ triple compilation.

Johnny Shaker - Pearl River (Instrumental) by dcp84

Johnny Shaker – Pearl River (Instrumental)
[Low Sense : 12SENSE24]
(1999)

Discogs: £4.70

049. Oliver Prime - Radiance

Trance – what should I say about the much abused genre? I'd never admit it to the uber-cool elitists nodding rhythmically to Dave Clarke or Rex The Dog, writing down each and every record in the set list, but I do have a soft spot for the genre. Trance was the genre which brought me into DJing, sparking the obsession for record collecting and electronic music which has been with me for the majority of my life. Alarming but true. When my mind was opened to electronica, trance was the upcoming sound of the moment, bubbling away with an unrestrained energy in the few years before its unprecedented explosion into popular culture.

It is all too easy to fall back on the ubiquitous old writ that 'Trance is not what it used to be'. Wile there is truth in that to a degree - modern trance productions frequently rely on massive overproduction to carry a tune and excessively euphoric and uplifting programming to achieve their sound - I'm wise enough to understand that many of us are looking back on things with a rather biased perspective. Who doesn't think that their defining soundtrack, their pure genre, their musical everything hasn't lost the soul that made it so great along its way? This is a common understanding which unites the punks of the 70s, the goths of the 80s and the ravers of the 90s.

Despite all this, sometimes the jaded, tinnitus ridden ears of this record collector strike lucky. Despite the bias, despite the over production and despite the commerce you get to hear a genre defining track. As if out of nowhere, it makes you remember just what it was you loved about all that chemical driven Cyberdog Gatecrasher hands in the air nonsense.

After you've heard this, you once more know what to say about Trance. Close your eyes, let your mind go blank, and you’re on an introspective journey wherever your mind wants to take you. Add some substances of questionable legal origin into the mix, and you’re on a trip to another realm of consciousness altogether.

Oliver Prime - Radiance (Original Mix) by dcp84

Oliver Prime – Radiance
[Reset : RS006]
(2004)

Discogs: £4.20

045. Hybrid – Finished Symphony

I have a bit of a bias against orchestral music. Classical music in particular is heralded as the most technically proficient, the most intellectually stimulating and aurally arousing genre in the history of mankind. Many use it as the yardstick with which to measure every other composed work.

In truth, it’s simply the preserve of the well off, highly educated and quite often snobbish sections of society. Like fine champagne, its only real value lies in its scarcity; its esoteric rules out of reach to most, with access granted only to a certain privileged elite of society. In short, orchestral music is bourgeois.

The problem is, high cultural biases aside, orchestral music seems to capture an almost physically tangible epicness. Producers have many times over tried to capture this and imprint it onto their own work. Usually the results feel forced and uncomfortable. All the classical composition clichés are wheeled out in a cringe worthy effort to make the latest electronic hit serious and intellectual. The classical crew don’t do much better either when they repackage their sound with a sexy mega babe and cinematic video in an attempt to make it edgy and cool and get da yoofs listenin’ to BBC Radio 3 yo.

That’s why Hybrid’s Finished Symphony is so perfectly unique. Recorded in Moscow with the Russian Federal Orchestra, it succeeds because the orchestral and electronic are arranged in such a way as to build on individual strengths and compliment, not to bask in reflected glory.

Hybrid - Finished Symphony by dcp84

Hybrid – Finished Symphony
[Distinct'ive Records : DISNST52]
(1999)

Discogs: £7.23

042. Pants & Corset – Malice in Wonderland

Back in 2000, just as the tsunami of Trance was beginning to show the initial signs of commercial fatigue, a new and trendy working class sound was starting to gain popularity: Hard House.

As a genre in its own right, this was something of a blip on the musical radar. Emerging out of the ashes of Nu-NRG and the gay club scene, but taking inspiration from Hardcore and Rave, it chugged away uneasily while what became known as ‘Hard Dance’ slowly and painfully began to establish its self. No one really makes or listens to what people would have called Hard House any more, and fast forwarding to 2010, you realise just how temporally fixed it is.

However, despite its relatively short lived appeal, some absolutely fantastic tracks were produced in its name. Pants & Corset – Malice In Wonderland featured on a Mixmag cover CD by then up and coming superstar DJ, Fergie. The tune is actually a bootleg of Cenith X – Feel and goes to show how much a simple change of tempo and restructuring can really alter the mood and feel of a track.

Delightfully, this is limited to only 500 pressings; yet another example of that most enchanting and precious feeling in record collecting which has sadly been evaporated by changes in technology: exclusivity.

   Pants & Corset - Malice In Wonderland by dcp84

Pants & Corset – Malice In Wonderland

[White : n./a]

(2000)

Discogs: £4.49

040. M&S pres. The Girl Next Door – Salsoul Nugget (If You Wanna) (M&S Extended Vocal)

The other day I was messing around online, trying to find info about a track off the legendary disco label, Salsoul. Not before long I was listening to youtube videos when I stumbled across Double Exposure’s Everyman. A handful of neurons in the deepest recess of my brain started to tingle in recognition of the tune; I recognised the sample. It took me a full day to remember the tune.

Back in 2001, a funky filtered disco sampling house number hit the charts and stayed at the business end for weeks on end. Cutting elements from both Double Exposure and Loletta Holliway, M&S’s Salsoul Nugget provided an excellent example of how sampling could, and should, be done. The promo brought desperate elements from differing sources to create something new. However, with its success and crossover it was felt that an additional vocal should be added to give commercial appeal. Generally, attempting this manoeuvre offers a poor finished product, but in this case the vocals really add something extra to the track.

For some reason though, its massive success failed to translate to any kind of long term classic status. I do wonder if this track was dropped would the floor remember it? Even if they don’t, surely its own production merits can carry it to a new audience? There’s only one way to find out.

M&S pres. The Girl Next Door – Salsoul Nugget (If You Wanna) (M&S Extended Vocal) by dcp84

M&S pres. The Girl Next Door - Salsoul Nugget (If U Wanna) (M&S Extended Vocal)
[FFRR : FXXDJ 393]
(2001)

Discogs: £6.50

037. The Timelords - Doctorin' The Tardis

This year’s carboot season well and truly slipped my mind. Driving to work on Firday I suddenly noticed the sign for the last bootsale of the year. Aye carumba! As I rocked up late in the closing hour, just as everyone was packing away I though how this was an apt metaphor for my carboot attitude this year.

Idiot record collectors may scoff at the idea of hunting at these events, but really they can be gold mines. When speaking face to face you can strike deals and haggle to increase the value for money factor. Not to mention the joys of wandering around with a nice cold can of DC in the summer sun, trying to figure out how on earth anyone in their right mind hopes to sell an old TV remote for a set that’s probably older than you are.

If you’re after a mint condition first pressing Beatles LP for under a fiver, you’re probably going to be out of luck at a carboot sale, but if you fancy bulking out your collection with good quality mainstream staples at a reasonable cost, it really is the place to go. Charity shops generally have a good selection, but with vastly inflated prices. This is of course fair; I’d never begrudge the starving children of Africa or little Johnny getting a nice bed in a hospice. Online, prices have become staggeringly expensive and artificially inflated way beyond the actual value of items.

Today’s purchase is a good example. I paid 50p for what would be classed as a sleeve G to VG, media VG to VG+. On discogs you’d be looking to pay around £2.50 for a similarly classed item, ignoring of course postage and packing. If I was a capitalist, I’d surely sell this one on and make a tidy profit. Thankfully I’m not.

I’m slightly reticent to blog about the KLF, the masterminds behind this track. With such a rich and interesting history behind them, and the countless essays already written about them, a few words scratched in haste in the afternoon sun can hardly penetrate the depth of such an infamous and influential act. So, let’s just keep things brief. While many of my generation, and especially those of the current generation, may dismiss the KLF as flagrant commercial pirates, pillaging the charts for all they are worth, you really cannot deny they played the system with aplomb and always kept one step ahead of the game.

For my money, they turned a mirror at the burgeoning celebrity pop chart world of the 1980s, analysing what they were presented with and extracting any utility laden elements and using it to their own ends. Yet, at the same time they weren’t swallowed by pop culture maschine. They managed to retained an esoteric element of charm and distinction, and struck at the heart of the culture while remaining somewhat on the fringes. They had a post-modern irony to them, that what they were doing was blatantly uncool, but because they recognised that fact and had constructed another layer of identity around this fact they suddenly became incredibly cool. Of course, this was in a way that if you actually acknowledged this cool, it would instantly become uncool. Whoops, I guess they’re uncool again now. Then again, it’s been years, I’m sure they won’t mind me rumbling them this late in the game.

The Timelords – Doctorin’ The Tardis (Minimal)
[KLF Communications : KLF 003T]
(1988)

Tetsworth Carboot Sale: £0.50

036. Tunespotting In Joburg

By no small coincidence, good record collectors also tend to be good tunespotters. Admittedly, it does verge on the unhealthy side of obsessive compulsive, but you generally like to know which tunes samples what, can memorise your favourite DJ’s best playlists, absolutely love tune ids, and can usually recognise a song in a club before anyone else, even if it is still just from the kick and hi hat which is barely mixed in. By and large, this makes you think you seem uber-cool when you state with authority, ‘I bet he’ll play so an so next’. Of course, in retrospect, you’re probably not.

After going to see District 9, a superb piece of dystopian political commentary, I checked out the short on which it was based, Alive In Joburg. About halfway though my ears jumped to attention, and within an instant I’d got the sample, Matt Darey’s Possessed. Much to the detriment of the producers, this was not acknowledged in the credits. Once again, Matt Darey retains the award for most under rated and ignored producers in electronic music.

Possessed is awesomely energetic dark and brooding trance number. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t get picked up by all the major DJs despite its superb atmosphere. So, in lieu of any credits, I thought I’d dig out the vinyl and share it here. Shame my pressing sounds like it’s been mastered in a wheelie bin though.

Matt Darey pres. Lost Tribe - Possessed by dcp84

Matt Darey pres. Lost Tribe – Possessed
[Darey Products: DAREY002]
(2004)

Alive In Joburg
Neill Blomkamp
(2005)

034. Mauro Picotto & Riccardo Ferri - Taotek EP

Picotto is quite the chameleon, subtly altering his sound to match the backgrounds of popular electronic music. An appropriate parallel given he had a thing for reptiles, naming three singles after various types (Lizard, Iguana and Komodo if you’re interested).

Before 1999, Picotto was relatively unknown outside his Italian homeland. Just as trance was kicking off big style, Lizard - a euphorically laden yet also hard number - hit. Come 2000 Picotto started playing gigs in the UK. As Hard House was the in thing, his sets reflected this. Then, by the tail end of 2000 when everyone realised that as good as the Juno hoover sound was it had already been done to death years ago, his sound morphed in to a mishmash between the realms of Trance, Techno and Hard House.

The big question at the time was, ‘is Picotto techno?’ The answer, like most things in life, was a delightful shade of grey: yes he was, but no he wasn’t. While tracks like Iguana and Save A Soul were clearly chart trance nonsense, others such as Taub, Verdi and Strum Und Drang were much harder to place, sharing from both the trance and techno list of production values. Further fuel stoked the fires of confusion when Picotto would end up spinning all out techno belters such as Gabry Fasano - Logarithm.

No surprise then to hear that around this time Tech-Trance was starting to really establish its self as a legitimate and popular sub-genre. It kept true to trance’s techno roots, but at the same time embracing a less tune-spotter, mainstream friendly format. In the end a modus vivendi was reached; Picotto was Italian Techno. The elitists could be happy their uber-cool and way better than you genre wasn’t ‘poisoned’, while the non-elitists could pretend that they were elitists listening to real techno.

True to form though, as people started switching off from tech-trance and rediscovering what real techno was about Picotto once more made a change, this time to full on techno belters, at which point we get Taotek. While the elitists will no doubt say it’s not techno, frankly they’re wrong, and are just put off by the itinerary of Picotto’s musical travels. Still, there is something inherently commercial and calculated behind it which leaves a sickly sweet taste in the mouth; it tastes good, but too much is bad for you and in the end you’ll just end up regretting it.

And guess what? For the last few years he’s been playing minimal too. Unless you’ve been living beyond the reaches of civilisation, you’d not need a degree to work out that the cool underground sound of the moment is, you guessed it, minimal. So, the more important question which should be asked is not, ‘is Picotto techno?’ but, ‘is Picotto a trend-setter, ahead of the pack in the musical development stakes, or is Picotto a shameless bandwagon jumper, hopping onto “the next big thing” to keep the euros rolling in?’

In the end, I don’t really know. As a self-proclaimed techno elitist on the one hand I want to say bandwagon. Yet on the other hand, with admiration for pop sensibility, he’s clearly an astute individual who has a knack for seeing which way the wind blows. Ultimately, all I can say is that from time to time it’s ok to give into those sickly sweet cravings…just don’t get fat.

Mauro Picotto & Riccardo Ferri - Taotek EP by dcp84

Mauro Picotto & Riccardo Ferri - Taotek EP: Taotek
[Alchemy: ALC004]
(2004)

Discogs: £6.00

032. Valentino Kanzyani - La Sala Loca EP

Why I only recently bought this record I’ll never really know; it should have been in my collection from the day of its release. This is potentially one of the best records I now own, looped techno at its finest. It’s that good, I’d even say it’s touching ‘never leave the box’ status. With the funk turned up to 11, it’s guaranteed to get the dance floor hot and sweaty within seconds.

With this in the collection, my mission to own the entire play list of Valentino’s 2004 essential mix, one of the best showcases of funky looped three deck techno action ever, is one record closer.

Valentino Kanzyani - La Sala Loca EP by dcp84

Valentino Kanzyani - La Sala Loca Ep; La Sala Loca
[Recycled Loops: REELOOP12 / White Label]

Discogs: £6.30

031. Reflekt feat. Delline Bass - Need To Feel Loved (12" Club Mix)

Need To Feel Loved was a feature of the soundtrack to 2004’s, It’s All Gone Pete Tong, a wistful morality play about a DJ who loses his hearing. At the time, I was probably busy being way too cool and elitist to bother with such mainstream nonsense. Films about ‘clubbing’ and ‘dance culture’ never really seem to capture the real essence of it all. However, I’m not so elitist to ignore when I’m wrong. Seb Fontaine, the co-producer, has a habit of popping up now and then with really solid tracks, this being a prime example. Need To Feel Loved is a blissful and relaxing number which straddles the Balearic area between trance and house. Full of summer charm, the recently pleasant weather a few weeks ago made me hunt this one down.

Reflekt feat. Delline Bass - Need To Feel Loved (12" Club Mix)
[Positiva : 12TIVDJ213]

Discogs: £8.00

026. The Sisters of Mercy - Alice (Dirty Funker Mix)

For someone who wears clothes from places like Hennie’s, Mark’s or Gap, I have a rather unusual penchant for goth music. Who can explain why? A sociologist may point to exposure to indelible Eldrichian tones in my most formative years. Alternatively, a psychologist might suggest some primal desire to run around in black all day. Some how, I don't think so. although, now I think about it, a lot of my running kit is black.

In truth, I both find the subculture interesting, almost from an academic point of view, and I also know that some of pop music’s best kept secrets are provided by its black clad dissenters. It’s also often easy to forget that, despite retaining its status as a ‘deviant’ sub-culture, as a genre it did make an indentation into the charts. Both the Sisters and the Banshees, arguably the two most iconic bands of the genre, made appearances on Top of the Pops!

While goth bands are in no way averse from tinkering with synths or embracing the production values of electronic music, rarely do the realms of dance and goth meet successfully. It seems that neither world really finds a common language with which to communicate. It’s either goths trying to make what they think a dance record should sound like or ravers trying to make a record they think goth music should sound like.

When things do work, they are more than worth the wait. After finding a well made fan video on youtube of this track several years ago, I have been on the hunt for it ever since. It has traded at some ridiculous prices. Thankfully, I found it at a reasonable cost and snapped it up straight away. This track works because it manages to find a common language. It doesn’t sound like the original has been distorted out of recognition to meed the demands of the house genre. Similarly, the remix does enough to give justice to the aesthetic qualities of the goth genre, the breakdown being a shining example. The record even looks like a sisters release using very familiar artwork. While I’m sure this would rub up some of the purists the wrong way, I’d love to see what reaction this would get when dropped on a goth dance floor. I have an intuitive feeling it would work.

The Sisters of Mercy - Alice (Dirty Funker Mix)
[n/a : SOM001X]
(2004)

Discogs: £10.99

024. Paul Glazby & The Narcomaniacs - Acid Disco (D.A.V.E The Drummer Remix)

I last heard this track late on in an uncompromisingly energetic set at Planet Zogg. This was sadly to be my last appearance at the awesome Sheffield night, which aimed, and succeeded, at joining the dots between trance, techno and psy. Since then, I knew I had to have this in the collection. Yet, due to the quality of the production, and presumably a relatively small pressing, the prices this has been traded online for have been ridiculous. Only recently did I spot it at reasonable price.

Dave The Drummer has an ability to squeeze more than anyone could think possible from the 303, and this track is one of the synth’s finest moments. This is not a pretty record. This is not a happy record. This is a record which will grab you by the scruff of your neck and throw you onto the dance floor whether you want to be there or not.

Paul Glazby & The Narcomaniacs - Acid Disco (D.A.V.E The Drummer Remix)
[Vicious Circle : VCR022]
(2003)

Discogs: £6.99

022. Joey Beltram - Dragon (Original Mix)

Yesterday, I suggested that there were few exceptions to the generally mundane trends in electronic music of recent years. Joey Beltram however is one of those priceless few exceptions. Each record he produces seems better than the last. Making his debut on MB Elektronics, Marco Bailey’s superb techno imprint, Dragon is the type of track I wish I could make if I only had the skills to do so. It’s a brooding and understated techno piece which subtly nods to underground acid house. While it may not be a peak time monster, it certainly will add tension when well placed in the mix.



Joey Beltram - Dragon (Original Mix)
[MB Elektronics : MBELEK 048]
(2009)

Juno: £6.99

021. Allied & Phyon - Osirus

Most of the music I buy isn’t new, its second hand. This is rationalised under the idea that I’m ‘consolidating my back catalogue’. Once that’s done, I can concentrate on the new stuff! Realistically it’s because I think that old records tend to be better. With disappointingly few exceptions, the state of contemporary electronic music is neither healthy nor engaging. You can find what I do think is good by looking through the 2008 and 2009 tags. Still, as a record collector who is known to share his collection with others on occasion it is important to keep your hand in with new releases. With the recent visit to Hospitality Oxford in mind, I thought it appropriate to share with you the Drum & Bass sounds which I like: Tech-step, example tune: Allied & Phyon - Osirus. House is to Drum & Bass as Techstep is to Looped Techno. It’s about experimentation, drive, rhythm and repetition. With this genre you are encouraged to use your records a protean resource, from which one is expected to carve your own distinct musical pattern. What draws me to Techno, draws me to Techstep.

Allied & Phyon - Osirus
[Sinous : SIN-LIMITED001]
(2009)

Juno: £6.00

017. Hand's Burn - Good Shot

This is one of those ‘they don’t make ‘em like they used to’ tunes, sounding and feeling distinctly of its age. This takes you back to halcyon 1997-1999 period when the commercial trance sound was slowly evolving, but before its noticeably overbearing format had been settled upon. It’s subtle, understated and repetitive; traits which were distinctly British in comparison to the dominance of the Dutch super-saw anthem bashers. Sadly, this is a very underappreciated and overlooked record, one which frequently gets neglected in retrospective discussions. I can’t decide if this is good or bad. It’s a tune which deserves recognition, but also all the more special because it doesn’t have that recognition.

Hand's Burn - Good Shot
[Spot On : SPOT 23]
(1999)

Discogs: £5.49

015. Robin-S - Show Me Love (Stonebridge Club Mix)

In my (almost) ten years of DJing experience, the practice has seen a number of changes. Radically new modes of music distribution coupled with changes of format, the ubiquitous standards of key signature mixing, and the appearance of laptops are just some examples. Despite this, there are some fundamentals which can never be eradicated. For example, remembering the distinction made between ‘DJs’ and record collectors, one can find a thread of consistency: the desire to acquire music. This is inexorably connected to hearing others DJ.

Let’s set the scene to illustrate. You’re on a night out and you hear a piece of music which, for whatever reason, resonates with you, the fragments of which stick in your mind: on the way home in the car; as you try to sleep; and, when you wake up. If you have any affinity with decks, you can’t just let this fragment fall forgotten from your memory, you have to possess it. You have to incorporate it into your sound, to delicately and subtly alter the balance of your collection with it. Once it’s in your possession the DJs and record collectors diverge. After a period of play, the DJs quickly lose attention, charmed away by shiny new offerings. The record collectors somehow keep hold of this magic.

At this point, we turn to the Stonebridge mix of Robin-S - Show Me Love. This track really is a classic. Many such classics exist on an often hypothetical list of records to be bought when one gets some time, or money, or after a few more pressing records have been acquired first. However, the priorities of such lists frequently alter. After a somewhat dubious night out featuring this tune the gentle organ lead remained stuck on loop in my head. It was then the acquisition desire took control. Once that happens, the tune must be bought.

Robin-S - Show Me Love (Stonebridge Club Mix)
[Champion : CHAMP 12-300]
(1992)

014. Cassidy - Implode

In conversation trance as become a dirty word. I could never imagine saying to anyone that I liked, or listened to ‘trance music’. This may seem somewhat pretentious position to take. Perhaps these are the deluded ramblings of a disillusioned elitist. But, the vast majority of music going under the name of trance has no connection to what I feel trance should sound like. If I say trance, people will think something completely different to that which I mean. This isn’t a problem confined to this genre, say you like techno to someone and the first thing they think of is 2 Unlimited. Add a prefix of Detroit or Looped and they look at you blankly wondering which planet you come from. This is somewhat understandable since they are specialist genres thus providing a central reason why I say I like ‘electronic’ music in favour of stating a particular genre.

However, back to the genre in question. I in no way wish this to collapse into a diatribe about how good trance was back between 1998-2001. That has been argued a million times over, and no doubt will be again in the future. And, irrespective of the merits or de-merits of that claim, the debate misses a key fundamental. Instead, I wish this to read as a general comment over general trends in trance production. Simply put, the majority of trance misses the true essence of what trance music should be. We are constantly subjected to over produced, euphoric nonsense: music which is supposed to be emotional, which is supposed to make you happy, which is supposed to be uplifting. That is not trance.

Let me use Cassidy’s Implode as a paradigm case of what is right with this genre. Trance music should be hypnotic, futuristic, and introspective. Music which has the ability to make you close you eyes on the dance floor and draw you into you own small universe, separate from the existence of others. A place where only you can go. It is to the detriment of music, and trance as a genre, that tracks like Implode are in the minority.

Cassidy - Implode
[Intrinsic : INT 001]
(1999)

013. Eufex - You Got It

Ok, I’ll concede that UK hard house isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. At its best it can capture a raw energy and vitality which begs to be let loose on a large sound system. At its worst, it is a collection of all the worst production clichés one can find in hardcore, jump-up and chart based dance music from the last decade crammed into one seven minute long mind numbing noise. Bad hard house sounds like the sort of music clowns would make if they broke into a music studio on an E induced rampage.

In terms of quantification, the split between these two categorisations is around 20% former, 80% latter. This is probably a generous estimate. You really have to work hard to uncover the gems of this genre. But even these caveats considered, it is a straightforward mystery why Eufex never really made a bigger indent into the UK, and even global, club scene than he did. You may not like what he produces, but you cannot disagree that the man has talent, and what he does produce is done with skill. Single handed, Eufex has been steadily supporting that slim 20%.

So why isn’t Eufex bigger than he is? Politics perhaps? While I don’t know the actors involved, nor have first hand information I am not in a position to accurately comment, but based on the evidence I can see it certainly seems that way. He had releases on strong UK labels, most notably Nukleuz. He had major support on several releases from Judge Jules. Yet in the end the man was forced to retire from the music industry due to lack of funds.

You got it is one of those big room, large sound system monsters. At home, you’re left thinking ‘ok, so this isn’t a bad tune.’ In a club, everything changes; it suddenly makes much more sense. The key point for me is after the rolling sub line ends its climb during the peak of the track and drops back down to the low end. As it climbs you forget just how much presence it originally had, only to be brought back with a bump. Add this on top of the complex layers of efx and percussion which are the hall mark of any Eufex track and you have on your hands a pristine example of what hard house should have been.

Eufex is one of those producers whose discography is so small and yet talent so great, it really is a crime not to have every production he’s made tucked away in the collection. He’s one of those little secrets, not big enough for the world and his wife to recognise, but significantly talented for those who know the difference to nod sagely when you drop one of his many underrated offerings.

Eufex - You Got It
[Ravage : RAV-105]
(?)

011. Mitch & Mart - Get Up

Elusive, rare, hard-to-find, valuable; these adjectives represent increasingly disappearing values and concepts in the age of digital DJing. Tracks get picked up by the big jocks, spend a while doing the rounds in promo then get released and distributed via MP3 format to the online stores for the world and his wife to download (if they haven’t already after it’s been sneakily ripped and leaked to the internet by a nefarious link in the chain). This is a central reason why we progressively see DJs tending to re-edit and remix tracks for their personal use only; to unconsciously reinvigorate and maintain exclusivity. As back catalogues are being uploaded, we’re rapidly approaching a point were if you can’t find a track to download, the chances are you never will be able to. While I have sympathy with values of egalitarian access, this trend undermines much of the appeal I find in record collecting and DJing. What are we supposed to admire in sound craftsmanship of the work-a-day DJ when we know all the background research he (or she) has put in has been half an hour spent downloading online? How can I respect you as a DJ if this is the case? Does a collection of music have as much intrinsic meaning if it is electronic and not physical? Can something still hold value if it lacks rarity?

Putting these somewhat metaphysical problems of contemporary DJing culture aside for one moment, here we have one track which still clings onto those adjectives we introduced earlier. Mitch & Mart’s Get Up was a regular staple of Mr. O’Riordan’s back in the hazy days of 1999 and early 2000. It’s a funky, but hard, housy number with trancy overtones. As indefinite descriptions go, that’s about as good as it will get. Despite receiving consistent DJ support from one of the biggest DJs of that era, and featuring on Ministry compilation with wide commercial distribution, this never saw the light of day. All that exist of this track are a few white labels which were pressed for promotional purposes. As a result, quite a buzz still exists about this tune. Thankfully, I’m now lucky enough to own one of those elusive copies now.

Mitch & Mart - Get Up
[White : MITCH01]
(1999)