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

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