054. Gatecrasher: Red & Black [13-10-2012]

At the turn of the Millennium, Sheffield based clubbing promotion Gatecrasher was in the decided ascension. Throughout 1998 Trance was fully establishing itself in the collective clubbing consciousness, leading the way as the underground and overground dominant paradigm genre. By 1999 it had defined itself as the sound of the era, it's own production values seeping into artistic styles of other genres (think dubstep now). Trance was the zeitgeist. Gatecrasher was central actor in this process.

Unlike Ministry of Sound, which while commercially larger and around longer and having carved itself a niche as a trendy place to club. Gatecrasher had succeeded in a way MOS never could have imagined. It had spawned its own youth subculture. Like the Ravers, Goths, Punks, Metal Heads and Teddy boys before them the Crasher Kid was its own, if rather niche youth sub-culture which was essentially linked with music. Gatecrasher had it set out: the music, Trance, the new clubbing sound with european influence whit a harder edge, clothes from Cyberdog and a vaguely, but certainly undefined and often unacknowledged, Cyberpunk/cyber goth leanings. Oh, and that’s forgetting a little bit of a drug connection with MDMA and amphetamines.

Things change a lot in 14 years and all signs of that core cultural connection had long since been replaced by trendy handbags, shoes and shirts done up to the collar button.

Gatecrasher Red & Black was headlined as part of Gatecrasher Birmingham's 4^th Birthday. While the Gatecrasher brand had been around for much longer, the club had expanded from its Sheffield home. In way of celebration, a classics night featuring Tall Paul, Seb Fontaine, Judge Jules, Scott Bond, Solar Stone and Signum.

During that era Judge Jules was at the peak of his DJing career. Listening to his two weekly shows on Radio 1 was the reason why I got decks and started DJing in the first place. Seeing him play the tunes I owned, and remember playing on the radio would be tempting to say the least.

I have always attributed to Jules the skill of 'understanding' as a DJ - recognising the time he was playing, who he was playing between and importantly what kind of night he was playing at. I regarded him as a 'safe pair of hands' who could be trusted to keep the course true. I distinctly remember Jules adapting his sound the the particularities of any given night. Sadly, he got this horribly wrong at Red & Black, playing only a handful of 'classics'. While I understand the incentive to play some contemporary music to keep modern, younger fans interested, the balance last night was poor to say the least.

Things were amply atoned for with the arrival of Scott Bond on of the main driving forces behind the success of Gatecrasher during its halcyon days. As the average age of the dance floor dramatically increased, he produced a perfectly pitched set full of classic era tunes without the commercial baggage. A set brimming with the sound of Gatecrasher as I remember.

Pulp Victim - The World (Moonman Remix) by dcp84

Ticket Price: £13.55
DJ of the Night: Scott Bond
Tune of the Night: Pulp Victim - The World (Moonman Remix)

052. Tidy Girls EP

Back in the game! Finally, another record added to the collection. Over the last year collecting records has been relegated on the priority list. Yet, I still remember a time when amassing the coolest record collection the DJing world had ever seen was a priority second to none.

I'm not quite sure where this record fits into that goal, but this is certainly a record from those earlier years. By contemporary standards, its a bit laughable. And, if I'm honest, even in 1999 it wasn't much more. The key track from the EP is Lisa Lashes' offering, Looking Good. This was a central track from the first wave of vinyl releases which pushed Hard House further from the underground and closer to commercialism.

Roland - Alpha Juno 1

The entire EP is dominated by the Roland Alpha Juno. Even if you know nothing about synths, by listening to this record and reading the above sentence, you'll know that the Alpha Juno is responsible for 'that' sound – the hoover.

Hard House had a thing for hoovers. Starting out as a bit of harmless fun, it quickly became fetishised to an morbidly sickening state. Imagine what it might be like to watch the 28^th consecutive season of Big Brother, for 52 hours non-stop...without sleep. The relationship between Hard House and hoovers is now apparent.

The irony of all this was that most people were already sick to death of the sound by the late 90s. The Alpha Juno was already feeling fatigued from the hoovering it was forced to do on all those Rave, Happy Hardcore and Gabba tracks before Hard House was but a twinkle it its parent-genre's eyes.

Ok, so I've probably cheapened myself and my record collection just that tiny bit by succumbing to the sickly sweet charm of this EP, but the innocent enthusiasm of the young 15 year old record collector was stirred from the subconscious by the discovery of a £1.99 near-mint copy.

'Mon the hoover! (As they used to say back in the day.)

   Lisa Lashes - Looking Good [Tidy Girls Ep] by dcp84

Tidy Girls EP

[Tidy Trax : TIDY123T]

(1999)

Oxfam, Oxford: £1.99

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

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

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

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)

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)

010. The Space Brothers - Heaven Will Come (Lange Vocal Mix)

One should always be weary of vocal club tracks. Dance music is not about lyrics. For the most part, it’s music without words. If lyrical effervescence and wordsmanship are what you seek, you would be wise to look else where. Inevitably, vocals imply inherent commercial appeal. Frequently we witness a track which has such a large underground following that a attempt to cross over with a release on a major commercial label is prompted. In order to garner popular support some impoverished vocals, often written on the back of a napkin after a heavy night out, are hastily pasted to the top of the track. As such, you’ll forgive such inherent scepticism of vocals. But very occasionally, things work out.

From the off, lets not get confused here. I’m not for a second suggesting this track was released without commercial intent. But as such tracks go, this isn’t all that dire. What makes things work is the vocal intent; it’s designed to facilitate vocals from its inception. Moreover, the vocals have one idea in mind; to strike a pertinent chord with those who choose to ingest certain chemical substances when on a night out. The lyrics centre around personal development and happiness. If your ‘safe place’ had a soundtrack this would be on the playlist. It’s the kind of track someone on a bad trip wants dropped so they can get a handle on things. If it was released now, I’d no doubt be dismissive; the almost sacrosanct influence of late 90’s trance being what it is. But play this one in the early hours a safe distance from other vocals and just watch the arms raise to the sky.

The Space Brothers - Heaven Will Come (Lange Vocal Mix)
[Manifesto : FESX61]
(1999)

003. Technique - Sun Is Shining (Mash Up Matt Remix)

In the annuls of music history, the name of Matt Darey is unquestionably one of the most underrated ever to be associated with the genre of trance. He doesn’t headline major festivals, nor get booked for multi-arena nights. Instead he’s left to consistently produce to the highest calibre, slog away with his own syndicated radio podcast, run his own record label and promote his own club night while the ‘A list’ DJs snap up the peak time slots, and Mr. Darey is stuck with an mired reputation caused by the inclusion of his more accessible productions on old commercial trance mix cds. The man’s never even had an essential mix, yet they offer them out to just about anyone these days. Such is the ‘state’ of trance.

Mr. Darey’s remix of Technique - Sun Is Shining is a precise and exact simile of his career. An absolutely blinding production, but one which people never mention when reminiscing over that ‘golden age’ of trance: 1999. The concept is simple, an unpretentious lead against an atmospheric backdrop. However, it’s the bass line which really makes this track stand out. The programming on the simple square wave patch hypnotically runs through its rhythm before unrepentantly filling up the room in its entirety as the change in notation hits during the peak of the track. It’s sudden, out of nowhere, and leaves you wondering just where the hell did that come from?

Technique - Sun Is Shining (Mash Up Matt Remix)
[Creation : CRE 306T]
(1999)