Murderous (Instrumental)

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In Complete Darkness

from the 12” single, Uphoria Records, 1993



One of the first raves I ever attended was a tiny gathering of ~200 kids in the woods of northwestern Massachusetts during the early fall of 1993, put on at a time when parties were just beginning to get a foothold in the American psyche, and it was abundantly clear to many of us that this was gonna be our shot at experiencing something similar to what the generations before had done with “acid tests”. I remember this track getting spun: not the beginning of it so much, but the moment that sample from Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation dropped into the floor’s conscience there wasn’t a single blasé expression in the place---this was our childhood, remixed & repackaged, virtually re-imagined as MDMA’s clarion call unto a shared vision of empathetic unity, “…in complete darkness we are all the same, it is only our knowledge and wisdom that separates us; don’t let your eyes deceive you…” Being from Florida, and proud of the fact that I’d already been into beats for a couple of years prior, I marched boldly up to the booth and asked the DJ what this track was, and after getting a gruff reply I figured I would try to impress him with my knowledge of breakbeats, so I requested that he spin Smart E’s – Sesame’s Treet---BIG mistake. This dude turned to me and said something like, “sorry man, that cut is way too mainstream”. Ouch. I recoiled and slinked away, feeling decidedly un-cool for the next couple minutes, but I never forgot the name of this amazing track.

Live On Haight

Side B, Housewares, 1998



“…play them vibes for us…” Yes, it’s another legendary DJ from Chicago…I know, I know, big fucking surprise. Look, it just can’t be helped that there’s so many heady dudes around spinning mad freshness who also happen to hail from Chi, it’s been the reality for nearly thirty years, get over it. Gene Farris blew up during that city’s second tsunami of house music maestros, in the mid ‘90s, proving himself as both a top-class producer of dank beats and a consistently crowd-pleasing DJ; he actually lived in Amsterdam for over 4 years, only recently returning from that sojourn, and a wise expatriation it was for him, developing a larger following in Europe than many other American house DJs. This mix was part of a lengthy archive of “Live On Haight” tapes & CDs that were put together by HouseWares co-owner Owen Maigrit, and although it was definitely recorded live in the Bay Area, I’m not sure whether it was at a party or an in-store appearance. I do know one thing though, “…I like the sound when we, clap our hands…”

Red Alert

from the LP Remedy, XL Recordings, 1999



How can this track not have been laced in Chi-town??!? To be perfectly honest, the same could be said for the majority of singles & EPs the boys in Basement Jaxx dropped in the mid ‘90s leading up to this, their debut long-player; being from London, their ability to work within the Chicago phatty-boom template was uncanny (too bad all their recent stuff has been shite). The only thing I can come up with is that DJ Sneak, who was spinning at their club nights in the UK as early as ’94, must have smoked them down with so much weed that his sets somehow infused into their DNA through the cannabinoid receptor system, thus leaving them helplessly beholden to that Windy City tracky-jack groove. Not a satisfactory answer for the elevated levels of dankness found within this song, I know, but it’s the best I got; many blissed out memories of this number though, sweltering parties packed with soggy ravers rolling face on double-stacked Mitsubishis…good times.

In Your Eyes

from the CD Disaro, Disaro Records, 2010



Distance often impacts the vibrations of music, regardless of if one is speaking about a dissociated emotional ambiance or the literal void between sound waves and your ears, fashioning an emotional response in humans that people typically either take a lot of pleasure in or dislike intensely; I’ll bet you can guess what camp I fall into. A running theme in many “witch house” tracks is a severe sense of detachment, found in both the minimalist beats and, if included, the blasé vocals; to my surprise (a hipster I am not), a chunk of this scene comes from right here in the Denver area, including the band for which the genre gets its name, Modern Witch. This track is the easy highlight for me on their somewhat uneven debut album: pummeling beats, stabby synths, evil effects-laden keys, and the singing, which shows up just enough to hit the correct notes, and not an iota more. Everything about this song resonates for me, perhaps most of all their decision to skew the equalizers in such a way as to give the impression of being recorded in a tunnel, propelling us alongside their dark, neon-lit nightmare party.

Depth of Sound

from the EP Overload, Network Records, 1990



Although often times overshadowed by its more well-known siblings (the 303 & the 808), Roland’s TR-909 was the drum machine most techno and house producers in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s ended up using to lay their beats, usually after having reached the limitations found on the other previously mentioned machines; frankly, the 909 is just easier to work with and has everything you need in one contraption. Midlands-based duo Altern-8 (Mark Archer & Chris Peat) probably know every last in & out of this particular device, all the fun patches and every last pattern, having employed one to craft many of the UK’s biggest rave anthems in the early days; these dudes used to show up at parties dressed in full-on, EPA style hazmat suits, including masks over their faces---which makes an old raver wonder, were they the first to start rocking those masks (pre-Vicks) which became ubiquitous at raves worldwide in the years following…? This track, and a grip of their initial wax, walks a fine line between techno & house: a bit too bouncy to be techno proper, but dark enough to sit pensively in the middle.

Deutschland

from the LP Burn Berlin Burn, Grand Royal Records, released: 1997, recorded: 1995



Typically, when someone announces that they are an anarchist, it’s met with understandably doubtful expressions & exhausted sighs---even the Black Blockers I knew up in Minneapolis (deemed by some to really be “true” anarchists) were mostly just angsty, middle-class white kids acting out their pre-conceived notions of rebellion (i.e. “smell me, motherfucker…”). Thus, it was with a suspicious & cynical mind that I first laid ears on digital hardcore forbearers Atari Teenage Riot, although it was admittedly more enticing due to the press reports of them being banned in their own country following a spate of riots that had erupted after their performances; I don’t mean that I think riots are cool or anything vacuous like that, but when art causes people to lose it, I can’t help but take notice. The results, musically speaking, were a pretty mixed bag: much of the album (not an LP proper, but a collection of their previously released 7”s & EPs) was filled with jackhammer gabber-beats which proved to be near unlistenable to all but the most dedicated of hardcore fans (see: people high on glue), but a few of the tracks where they slowed things down have become a consistent part of my library over the years, including this song---the one which got their LP barred from stores in Germany. For us Americans, it’s like the Weather Underground going techno, radical slogans & brash tunes; frankly, somebody out there needs to sample Alec Empire (the band’s leader) when he says, “…we react very strongly to tranquilizers, you know…” Seriously though, given Angela Merkel’s declaration last month that multiculturalism in Germany is dead, and the rise of right-wing neo-fascism spreading across Western European politics like wildfire, maybe these guys weren’t just being paranoid or dramatic…

East Coast Science

Vol. 1, Side B, 1996



Perhaps no other American jungle DJ has received as much global acclaim and notoriety as has Damian ‘Dieselboy’ Higgins, and although that amount of visibility has certainly brought with it the standard chorus of haters, no one can argue that his ascendance to power was almost entirely the work of his own two hands, along with important early support from Nigel Richards, the granddaddy of Philly’s beats scene. If you were an up & coming DJ back in the 1990s, your reputation was often made on the weight of mixtapes, and few parts of those mixes were as important as the intro---in this case, the jungle breaks don’t even drop until over four minutes past the start. Dieselboy’s sound got considerably darker as the years progressed, but he came out of the gates ready to throw down, as this mix ably demonstrates. LOVE to Shampoo & the Philly massive!

Lusty

from the LP Lamb, Fontana Records, 1996



Having been locked up from February of ‘95 – May of ‘97 meant that I’d missed an inordinate amount of music releases, and I can still recall my many fervent footsteps throughout the mall to get to a Camelot music store (remember those…), more than ready to make up for some lost time. I actually corralled a sales associate and told them something like, “I’ve been away for a couple of years and need to get caught up”, after which I proceeded to list off a laundry-list of band’s I loved, both for updates & to garner suggestions of new musicians I might dig. This LP, by Manchester duo Lamb, got purchased in that first chunk of new tunes, suggested on the weight of my professed love for Portishead; the vocal stylings of Louise Rhodes are the main element that links the two crews up, but the beats in Lamb come across a lot tougher & closer to breakbeats than trip-hop. Good looking out music store dude!

I've Lost Control

from the 12” single, Trax Records, 1986



It’s incredible to watch drama unfurl in academia--- not in the classroom however, but in the department; when you get that many brilliant people all shuffling around for power and respect, things can get mighty ugly from time to time. Unfortunately, it must be that time again, because shit got wacky here recently, mainly a small cluster of big-headed tenure-track faculty that are attempting to pull a quasi-coup; thankfully, the chair is squarely in our corner on this one, so those whiny fucks will just have to relax a little bit, lose some control as it were. The history of this particular track is also wrapped in drama, with 2 of its 3 creators claiming the construction of that wonky bassline: Mike ‘Adonis’ Smith and, more credibly, Marshall Jefferson (I say that because Vince Lawrence, the other part of this crew who was there, claims that Marshall's version of history is the right one), whose lack of ability in programming the 303 is what’s responsible for the funky roll; supposedly, it was on tape and playing at the Music Box before he even met Adonis. Alas, dealing with big egos can be an awfully difficult endeavor, no matter what the setting I suppose. Grab the headphones for this one, and let that vintage acid attack bubble bath take you away.

Thanks Vision

from the LP Causers of This, Carpark Records, 2010



Ever wondered what house music would sound like if you slowed it down by about half? There’s no way to be sure, but I’m guessing that query may have been a part of the catalyst which resulted in many of the gauzy musical wonders loosed upon the world over the last couple years; either that, or Chazwick ‘Toro y Moi’ Bundick and fellow South Carolinian beach buddy Earnest ‘Washed Out’ Greene got mad baked one hazy afternoon and dropped the tempo (accidentally or purposefully) on the turntable. Whatever forces served as the impetus for their sonic experiments, we can all rejoice in the resulting synth-gasms they gave birth to; Greene’s dazzling Life of Leisure made numerous year-end lists in 2009, and I have no doubt that Bundick will follow along this year, as his album here ably carries that mellow torch forward a few more steps (nice Cybotron-esque cover art as well). Having also grown up at the beach, I immediately connected to these waste-y sounding vibes, like waking up on a soft flannel blanket to the sound of crashing waves after an all-night bonfire. Indeed, now we can all party a little harder on Saturdays, knowing that we have sublime music like this to help ease us back down to Earth the morning after…

Music Box Mix

Side B, Mix Connection Multimedia, 1999



Yup, it’s another refreshing mix from a true Windy City luminary: Angel Alanis has done it all inside the world of beats, from DJing & throwing raves in the ‘90s (with legendary Midwest crew Mushgroove, who have one of the all-time cutest mascots with that dancing mushroom, and I’ve heard they still throw killer parties--- they sure as hell used to, some of the most positive vibes of any Chi-town events I attended back then) to producing loads of killer tracks under a slew of aliases, work he continues to this day. His sets were always tribal as fuck, exploring all the outer reaches of house and tech-house, and this mix is no exception; he gives us a stellar sampling of Chicago based producers from that era (excepting for Hatiras, the crazy Canuck), including his own divine “Chi’s Revenge” and a chunky cut from the stellar Dave ‘DJ Rhythm’ (big ups to the Moody crew), a strong mix from start to finish, and tracky as all fuck! I know there ain’t no going back, but those truly were the good old days…

Fire (Sunrise Version)

from the LP Experience, XL Recordings, 1992



Sure, you could call the Prodigy a “band” in strict terms, thanks to the assistance of dancers and, occasionally, someone singing or rapping, but it would be misleading in the scheme of things---for all intents & purposes, Prodigy’s tunes are the work of one Liam Howlett, an Essex-born punter who was 18 years old when Britain was turning on and enjoying their Summer of Love, and like so many other kids at that time he was hypnotized by the combination of beats and E. The major difference about his DJing and, eventually, production pursuits were that he was, quite literally, a “prodigy” in every sense of the word: his early mixes were mad fresh, his ability to lace forward-thinking beats was matched only by a small few, and some of the most memorable samples from rave’s early days arrived care of his tracks. Case in point is this song right here, where he pinched the infamous vocal intro from classic prog-psych monster “Fire” by Arthur Brown, along with a killer snip from Pablo Gad (much slept-on), on what sounds like helium, “…when I was a youth I used to burn collie weed in a Rizla…” This album was pretty much solid from front to cover, a rarity in general, but even more so among electronica long-players, so props to Liam.

Feeling For You

from the 12” single, Astralwerks Records, 1999



Progenitors of a sound that became widely known as “La French Touch”, the duo of Philippe Zdar & Hubert “Boom Bass” Blanc-Francart, known to most ravers as Cassius, actually have roots that reach back over a decade and are planted in hip-hop, as La Funk Mob long before their later rise to fame alongside crews like Daft Punk and Air; frankly, their LP 1999 was far more diverse in sound and beats than their contemporaries’ albums were around the same time, perhaps pointing to the widely varying influences at play in their minds. This track, which samples Gwen McCrae’s “All This Love That I’m Givin” both generously & successfully, teems with creative energy and easily established the fact that, indeed, “…Cassius in the house…” The French are often ahead of the curve with trends, and it was no different in electronic music, as Parisians found themselves toward the end of the ‘90s unwilling to wait another decade for that ‘80s synthtastic sound to come back, a vibe which the rest of us have only embraced in the last few years over here. Good lookin out guys, merci!

Logical Progression Mix

Good Looking Records, 1996



The undisputed king of so-called “intelligent” drum-n-bass, which I still prefer to call deep jungle or jazz-step, Danny ‘LTJ Bukem’ Williamson largely created this approach to beats all by himself, incorporating the spacier elements of ‘70s jazz-funk crews like Return to Forever or Lonnie Liston’s Cosmic Echoes without coming off the tough-as-fuck breaks; his also runs the Good Looking and Looking Good record labels, in addition to DJing all over the world, no slacker here. The result is always hard for me to describe: it’s almost like you are floating above the clouds, contemplating human kind’s long association with music, the concept of beats being both the oldest & newest expression of our rhythmic desires… basically, the cover photo is a good start! As this was ripped from a mix CD, the tracks are zipped into one big file download. I kindly ask that you keep your seat-belts fastened at all times while cruising through this atmosphere, as it’s been known to leave listeners way the fuck out there, dig?

Midnight Walk

from the EP Bright City Lights, Tuff Em Up! Records, 2010



I realize this song made the rounds on a grip of blogs a while back, but it’s so fucking silky smooth that it deserves to stay in rotation all damn year in my opinion! With a thundering bassline that would make Patrick Cowley proud & and synthesizers tastefully mangled slop-chop style, this burner is a rather ambitious and all around epic affair for someone’s debut release--- and goddamn right too, because it’s clear that Chilean artist Barretso isn’t fucking around with any foreplay, he’s going directly for the money shot. Not only does he serve as the composer & producer of the tracks on this EP, he’s the one singing as well, doing a bangup job at channeling that coke-fueled anthemic ‘80s vibe which lays at the root of this entire ‘chill-wave’ explosion. There is a forthcoming full length slated for release later in the year, and gauging by the tracks he has posted on his myspace page, it’s not going to let up on the velocity at all; buckle up and pump this one on the highway for full effect...

What's the Game

from the 12” EP Inteference, Metroplex Records, 1988



Darker, more nuanced, and often slightly faster than it’s cousin down in Chicago, early Detroit techno producers were still primarily concerned with their tracks being danceable at this stage, something which went out the door a long time ago in the world of techno; quite frankly, these early cuts have much more in common with house music than with the last 15 or so years of “techno”. Remember, before raves became common place in the US and the demographic of listeners changed (mostly to white), techno music was primarily a black, heterosexual, inner-city nightclub scene, so the music still needed to be groovy enough that the whole crowd could get down to it. One thing which great techno records have never lost is their ability to put subtle effects and sounds in the front of the track without compromising the bottom end, a trick which Juan Atkins (aka Model 500, with Kevin Saunderson & Derrick May) might do better than any other producer on the planet, and as this song skillfully illustrates, an aptitude he’s had since the very beginning. A venue where one would have been likely to hear this record played, back in the day, was on a cable access dance program in the Detroit area called the New Dance Show, and I encourage all of you to follow this link and get a clear idea of just how much techno has changed in the interim: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOlKS1VX6yU&feature=related

Melissa Juice

from the LP Twoism, Music 70 Records, 1995



With the possible exceptions of Eno and mid ‘70s Tangerine Dream, I don’t think any other musicians on this planet have been able to coax such sincere & glowing warmth from a synthesizer the way that Boards of Canada seemingly do in their sleep; honestly, anyone who listens to this stuff and can still walk away claiming that electronic music has no soul needs to get their fucking head checked. It’s the feel of a light snow falling at dawn, the journey of a single dandelion seed drifting about on the breeze, electrical currents moving along their neural pathways inside your brain. The ethereal moods and distanced memories their songs invoke can carry me away at a moments notice, and indeed, there is no “having to be in the right frame of mind” for enjoying this music, as it’s equally able to quell the gnarliest psychic storms or instantly deepen the calmest, most isolated moments in time. Half-assed metaphors aside (sorry, heavy wake-n-bake here this morning… word), for me it all comes down to the same basic measure I apply to anything else in life: this music makes me feel.