046. D.A.V.E. The Drummer - Dig Your Own Grave E.P

If you want the definition of acid techno, look no further. The One Last One provides us with paranoid, schizophrenic, twitchy, dark and ominous synthetic utterances. The perfect track to drop at 0400, when people wiser than you have already have gone home.

Its been trading online for obscene prices, fluctuating around the £50 mark. While I’d have loved to add a mint condition pressing of this gem to the collection, my bank manager is less than enthusiastic. Instead I opted for a punt on a £21.90 version; a punt that paid off. While the sleeve was a bit worn around the edges, the vinyl was spot on.

D.A.V.E The Drummer - Dig Your Own Grave E.P. by dcp84

D.A.V.E. The Drummer – Dig Your Own Grave E.P.: The One Last One
[Smitten : SMT 46]
(2000)

Discogs: £21.90

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

033. Judgement Day: XFade’s Judge Jules Interview (2000)

Judge Jules polarises the dance music community like no other. Everyone has an opinion on him. Everyone has at some point seen him play. Everyone falls into two categories; hailing him as an iconic figure of dance music, or crucifying him as its nemesis. I fall into the former.

This might seem a funny position to take considering that Jules is no longer what I would consider a personal highlight of a DJing roster. Sadly, his current musical position and my own are several stages removed.

However, for the period between 1997 and 2001, Jules’ radio show felt like a personal institution. I was obsessed. I had to listen religiously and study the playlists. And, without doubt, devoid of Jules I wouldn’t have started collecting records, got into DJing, become station manager of my university student radio station, started my own mobile DJ business, or promote my own nights.

While not the most technically gifted, he did extol a number of very important values which I attempted to emulate and have stuck with me though my DJ career: the importance of interacting and engaging the crowd, the wisdom of tailoring your sound to the night and audience, and finally the confidence to explore multiple genres within a set. He was the people’s DJ, playing not what he though he should because it was popular or expected, but what got the crowd going.

With this hero worship came the habit of collecting as much related media as possible. I stockpiled as much as I could. These scans come from Xfade, February 2000. Xfade decided to take on the pretentious hegemony of DJ mag who had monopolised DJ journalism. Xfade had a refreshingly down to earth candour though quickly changed names to International DJ and became a bit more serious.

While I may be somewhat in the minority with my opinions of Jules, thankfully I am not alone. The Judge Jules Archive is a vibrant community dedicated to documenting and preserving the history of the DJ. And, like a number of scans I did previously these will soon join the rest of the archive. The JJA is well worth a visit for anyone with similar views.

Pitchin’, the track alluded to in the article, and the first release under Jules’ north London Hi-Gate alias, seemed the appropriate audio accompaniment to this post. Back in 1999, I vividly recall the agonising wait for its vinyl release after Jules had been spinning it months on end - a situation frustratingly repeated with the follow up singles.

While his music may be different, and my tastes may have changed. Two thing stays constant. Firstly, I won’t ignore or denounce the massive influence he’s had. Secondly, I’m sure that he’s still inspiring many young men and women, just like he inspired me. These two facts still keep me as one of his biggest proponents. I just hope the next generations of Jules’ tutees have as much fun ten years on as I have.

Hi-Gate - Pitchin' (Original Mix) by dcp84

002. Da Hool - Eichelruck (MG Remix 1)

Certain pieces of music just don’t sound right at home. No matter how loud you play them, no matter how much you compensate the deficiencies in the lower end of the audio spectrum, nothing you can do will sufficiently emulate the experience you participate in when you get to hear it on a club sound system. The problem is, some tunes need to be felt, not just heard. Without the deafening power of kilowatts upon kilowatts of speakers and amps, your body will never be able to feel the air vibrate with the dramatic tones of a piece of music resonating deep in the caverns of your chest. Not only that, but they need an accompanying context; the sweaty, mob filled dance floor rhythmically gyrating in time to the music, the seizure inducing stupor of flashing lights and a room temperature, heavy with humidity, which wouldn’t be out of place several hundred miles closer to the equator than we currently are.

Marc Green’s delivery is one such piece. Placed at home on a turntable, it just doesn’t feel right. It’s the sort of tune which begs to be put in the record box and blasted out to a receptive audience at the first opportunity. It’s the sort of tune you probably wouldn’t choose to listen to on your own, but would unquestionably upend the dance floor when dropped at an opportune moment in a club. Using the characteristic squelchy, deep, nasal sound Marc Green is associated with we are left with a dirty, unashamed piece of dance music which taps into the primal raving instincts that lie at the heart of any good electronica night. But what kind of night? It’s a record which just resists classification. The skilful DJ could easily drop this tune into a house, trance, or techno set with equally effective results. Unfortunately, none of this is going to make any sense until you hear this one dropped in a club.

Da Hool - Eichelruck (MG Remix 1)
[Additive : 12AD056]
(2000)