My Top 5 Most Influential Releases ~ Simon Murphy

by Simon Murphy

If you have ever been in my car, my house or even just seen inside my record bag, there is one thing that is blaringly obvious….. I have a small obsession with music. Well actually, who am I kidding really? I have a full blown, OCD laden, verging on unhealthy, obsession with music and have done so for as long as I can remember. I have hundreds of records, CDs, tapes, DVDs and videos plus hard drives FULL to the brim with every conceivable genre of electronic music from the last 15+ years of collecting. The collection fills any spare bit of shelf, cupboard, car or floor space that I have and then some. Am I concerned? Not at all…. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

So what does this have to do with anything? Well, when you have as much music as I do and somebody asks you to come up with 5 albums that have influenced you the most as a DJ it does tend to open up a Pandora’s box. It was my equivalent of someone asking a parent which is their favourite child in that even though deep down I had favourites, I felt bad for the others. It was no mean feat to come up with this list as I could have easily made it 20 or 50 influential albums but through a lot of thought I have managed to narrow it down to my top five.

This list is by no means a definitive list of the best or most defining releases across the whole scene. These are not necessarily the most highly praised releases across the genres that they cover or are they even necessarily the most highly regarded releases by the artists included. This is simply a list that captures where my headspace was musically at different times, where I have drawn inspiration from, and most of all, what has shaped my outlook on music and the tunes that I play. It was hard to prepare this list without sounding conceited or self righteous as I had to try to justify what were extremely tough decisions. Passion can easily be mistaken for arrogant self indulgence so I hope that this comes across as the former as this was my intention. The list naturally formed in chronological order as it follows what I was listening to at different times, a few explanations of the scene at the time (sorry if some were long-winded), my changing tastes in music and how I went from being a music-obsessed party-animal promo-whore to a…. well…. to a music-obsessed  party-animal who feels lucky to have the opportunity to spin the tunes I love (when people let me).

So enough of my rambling (or the start of a whole lot more rambling?) here are my choices……

1. The Prodigy – Music for the jilted generation (1994)

The Prodigy - Music for the Jilted GenerationAs a teenager in the mid to late 90’s I was, like everyone else, riding the grunge and punk waves. I liked music with a lot of energy but never really liked the more classic ‘rock’ sound per se. I got into dance music when I was pretty young and I’m not going to lie; a lot of the stuff I listened to was horrible stuff. Whilst bouncing around between these almost polar opposites, I found myself unknowingly searching for something that would grab me and shake things up. Enter stage right…. The Prodigy.

The Prodigy turned any preconception that I had of music on its head by merging the ideals of punk with the structures and sounds of electronic music. I blasted this through my walkman like there was no tomorrow. They were the gateway act that got me hooked on the good stuff and made me thirsty for more. With the little money I had from my part time job at KFC I would hit up Dixon’s and buy anything and everything from the ‘dance music’ section. Buying second hand CDs from Dixon’s, armed with minimal knowledge of what I should be looking for, meant my collection included everything from Detroit House to Rotterdam Hardcore, from trance to jungle, from commercial cheese to experimental Goa. Again, a lot of it was horrible, but it opened up my eyes to a whole new world of music that I fully immersed myself in. This exposure to such a wide array of sounds meant that I always kept an open mind about music and this is an ideal I still try to remain true to.

PURCHASE

2. Sasha + Digweed – Northern Exposure : Expeditions (1999)

Sasha & Digweed - Northern Exposure ExpeditionsBy 1999 I had a bit more knowledge of the electronic music that was out there and had started to go to club nights and events around Melbourne. My weekend diet consisted of a whole lot of trance and a whole lot of techno. Like most kiddies I liked my music banging so there was a fair bit of hard house and other UK sounds in there too. I was still listening to anything and everything that I could afford and as I slowly got more involved in the scene I read about or got told about more and more acts that I should check out.

As is still true to this day, there aren’t many bigger names than Sasha and John Digweed so it was no surprise that I came across this compilation on my travels (I think I may have actually lashed out and bought this at Sanity Dance Arena). I’m not going to lie, at first listen I really wasn’t that impressed, it sounded like a chill CD and I didn’t get what all the fuss was about. After subsequent listens though, it all started to make sense. This double CD taught me that music didn’t have to be banging to be awesome. The music had so many layers, so many different sounds and the mixes were so long that you almost couldn’t tell where one track stopped and the next track started. Every time I listened I heard something different that I hadn’t noticed before and I loved it. This album is still one of the reasons that I still look for music with lots of layers and textures that can be played around with and used to make long mixes.

PURCHASE

3. Dave Clarke – World Service (2001)

Dave Clarke - World ServiceBy the time I heard this album I was well and truly hooked on the Melbourne scene. Whilst I was at uni I was promoting around Melbourne so that I could go to all the events that I wouldn’t have been able to afford to attend otherwise. After listening to enough trance, hard house and hardcore to turn anyone sterile I began my techno honeymoon with this double CD being one of the key catalysts. I am pretty sure it must have been in the @mosphere DJ’s contracts to have a copy of this on vinyl as the tunes on here received a fair caning and formed part of the soundtrack to that period of time. As a promoter for @mosphere I met a bunch of the techno faithful and didn’t look back. I was promoting for crews like Hardware, Wetmusik, Melbourne Techno Massive etc and my brain was well and truly rewired to run on techno time. Even though I cross between genres a bit now, techno still forms the basis of the majority of what I play and Dave Clarke still reigns as one of my favourite DJs (Ben Sims still takes the cake as the best DJ I’ve ever seen though – sorry Dave).

PURCHASE

4. Vitalic – OK Cowboy (2005)

Vitalic - OK CowboyIt’s blatantly obvious to anyone who has been around more than a couple of years that after years of techno domination, electro hit the Melbourne scene in a BIG way and before it became a taboo word due to commercial oversaturation, there was a thriving scene with some exceptional music. By this stage I’d been heavily involved in promoting, running events, writing reviews & other press, event photography etc and I had always been quite content to let others do the DJing. This was probably due to minimal funds whilst studying full time and working casual jobs but also because I never really felt the need. Heaps of my mates were DJs and I’d go to so many events I could always hear the tunes I wanted to hear. I was happy with this arrangement.

When I finally jumped behind the decks I did much the same as when I started buying CDs, I bought records (a lot which were second hand) that crossed a number of genres. From early on I got hooked on the heavier electro sounds of artists like Anthony Rother, The Hacker, Fischerspooner, Black Strobe and of course Vitalic. Seeing Vitalic smash out his set at Two Tribes in ’04 was a set that resonated in my mind when I was first buying records and when this album came out it was definitely a major influence in the sound I was aiming for. The Melbourne scene had some great electro gigs and DJs which definitely contributed to the sound I was playing. Sometime around this point I went from being a bedroom banger with absolutely no desire to play in public at all, to getting a couple of random gigs around the traps and then BANG…. my vinyl addiction morphed into a burning desire to play gigs.

PURCHASE

5. Trentemoller – The Last Resort (2006)

Trentemoller - The Last ResortAfter electro got destroyed by hideous electro house I was looking for something new (note: before anyone jumps up and down there definitely was/is some very good electro house around, it just got totally paled in comparison to the amount of absolute trash around). I moved back to my techno roots but in a new form; minimal. Much like when electro hit the scene in a big way, minimal threw a net over the scene and I got hooked (again, there was some terrible minimal but there was also some amazing music around at this time). Trentemoller’s music acted as a catalyst for me as his music bridged the gap between my taste for electro/early electro house and minimal.

One of my very early records was a white label of Trentemoller’s Beta Boy. After falling in love with the track, I went on a search to find anything and everything that Trentemoller had anything to do with. His EP’s on Poker Flat plus a long list of remixes were staples in my sets and they never left my record bag. This album was released about a year after I had first gotten into his music. I had loved his previous work but this album definitely struck a chord much in the same way that Northern Exposure: Expeditions had done all those years earlier. This album is a beautiful piece of amazingly structured melancholy techno. It re-taught me the value of quality production, texture and layers in music. This album made me really listen to the music I was playing and is probably partly responsible for the OCD I have now about finding the right tunes for the right set. Since this album I have immersed myself in a lot of down tempo, melodic and often melancholy music that really did changed the way I played my sets.

PURCHASE

 

So there you have it. There were numerous other releases that I would have loved to include from acts like Daft Punk, Laurent Garnier, Sasha, Gui Boratto, Lamb, Joris Voorn, Shpongle, Booka Shade, Riccardo Villalobos, Protoculture, James Zabiela, Phonique, Trifonic, Lusine and well, the list goes on. Overall, I think that the five releases above are a good cross section to illustrate how I managed to get to the point I am at now. Hearing my sets, after looking at this list, you will hopefully be able to hear and understand where I draw a lot of my inspiration. The elements presented in these releases have all contributed to the ideals that I seek in music. I attempt, with varying degrees of success, to translate these core elements into my mixes and my sets. Add to this the huge amounts of quality local and international DJs I’ve been spoilt enough to catch playing around Melbourne over the last decade and you should also be able to see why I am still addicted to the music after all this time and why I can’t see that changing any time soon.

Category : Articles
Tags : , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Digital age of music from slim beginnings to what we have now

by Taran M

The internet was inevitably the Trojan horse of the music world. The unknown steed was wheeled slowly into the fort of the music fraternity, mystified by this technological gift, speculative about its power, amazed by the sheer beauty of its concept and above all ready to exploit the power that lay before them. Unfortunately what lay inside that was given to the secure guarded palms of the music industry was the very thing that would reshape it forever. In June 1999 the beast slay the confines of the walls and revolutionised the consumption of the musical world. From here in the metaphor ceases and so did the sure-shot multi-billion dollar industry we here on planet Girth call…music.

Ableton LogoNapster turkey slapped the music industry, slept with its sister and then defecated on its parent’s bed and introduced itself as the arsehole “Johnny Rotten” Boyfriend of a virginal industry that had never really been threatened. Sure record companies had been competing against themselves for sales, signings and strength. But now they were all challenged by their own product, their own sales had turned around to them, repacked themselves and gone AWOL. It’s the equivalent of the Navy Seal team storming Bin Laden’s safe house, kidnapping him to the outer regions of Mongolia and demanding a ransom. How would Barack Obama deal with this, he’d “kill em all” and that’s exactly what the major record labels did.

The “I disappear” fiasco which triggered Metallica’s famous court case against Napster, subsequently initiating hundreds of others, gave us the very clear reality of what was at stake, more importantly what we sometimes fail to see with peer to peer sharing. While the reaction from the public was especially skeptical of a multi-million dollar band complaining about losing a few thousand sales, Metallica was not just drawing a line for themselves, but for the other bands or producers that they supported. For every major label success, there are six failures. Bands that get a record deal get forwarded $60K to make their record and more often than not, fail to meet sales expectations over three albums. Three albums times $60k is a lot of money for producers and bands to recoup when they’re earning roughly $2 per album sold. So to appreciate exactly why Napster became the target of nearly every record label and most bands is understandable. Napster is great for free exposure, but I would never base a foundation of a music career on the basis of peer to peer websites if I was an unsigned artist.

CDJ200 USB inputNapster cut the wound and for a time the wound was stitched. Record labels realised however the imminent threat. When Napster went to a paid website, the whole medium of how music could and should be distributed by record labels entered into a whole new realm. The effect on this especially rippled through the dance scene. Music consumption has developed considerably since the late 90’s through to today by a combination of the way music is played and how it is purchased. It’s funny to think that the cutting edge of dance music, the new technological revolution, up until about 2004 was banged out with a device originally conceived in the late 19th century, the humble turntable. As 2005 hit the CDJ cut the swathe through the electronic scene, tearing through the rotary drive denon CD players like the sword named Excalibur. Suddenly in no less than six years, turntables are an “Analogue clock in a digital age” to quote George Clooney in Oceans 11. DJ’s no longer carry 300,000kgs of vinyl that they might play, or not. The advent of the latest Pioneer CDJ’s allows the DJ to wander into the club with two USB’s (If he has enough faith). Macbook, Serato, Ableton, Traktor, Dongles and APC controllers now litter the dance scene, the humble Technics 1200 is sitting at the unemployment line or the pension office muttering its jaded diatribe “The scene has changed man” or “It’s not like how it used to be in the olden days”. Yes the discontinued 1200 is now eating cat food, wandering around the pub and hoping that number 6 in race 3 at Randwick is going to pull through, just so it can buy some budget steak for dinner. In short it’s dead and technology is the box they are going to bury it in.

With all these advents in technology of course the way users and abusers of music purchase tracks is going to change. After its initial inception in 2004 and then re-release in 2007, Beatport opened…….. a port…… to true online music purchasing for the dance music scene. There was no more shipping, no more waiting for that Aust Post slip to say tracks had arrived. The whole art of relic hunting for the likes of 5:55 by Durango was gone.

Beatport LogoWith every action there is a reaction of course and as Beatport inspired others to do the same, major dance labels stopped pressing as much vinyl and their stores evolved into online digital download stores. Slowly but surely the likes of Vinyl Warning shut up shop, focusing on equipment only. Beatport’s inception, and the digital age in general, inspired Producers to not look for a major label to support their quest for promotion and fame. If you can hook onto Beatport, or any of the boutique labels our production talents can be wormed all the way through the world. Just think right now DJ Novi Stoalstarki from the small nation of the Ukraine could be banging out Blinky’s “Kiss not a Kiss” or any number of Kalus’s tunes to a bedroom crowd, to 800 people at the “Capitol to Central” (I hear it is Moldova’s biggest nightclub) or to himself as he hunts down wild game with a rusty coat hanger and a picture of Jennifer Love Hewitt. The fact is that this Digital sphere has harnessed the world of electronica and shortened the very big distance that needs to be covered by producers in Australia. Australian artists like Steve May, Blinky and NFX have their tunes played by the likes of Tiesto, Dubfire, D-Nox and Beckers and maybe even DJ Novi Stoalstarki (If he even exists) and for them I know personally this is extremely humbling.

The other effect of this last five years has been the closure and the slimming down by major labels in the dance scene due to technological advances. As I mentioned before producers are able to farm their tunes off to boutique labels on Beatport and if marketed right can expect some degree’s of royalty payments. The major labels are no longer the shark in the pond, just a slightly larger fish in an ever expanding sea. Two weeks ago Kevin Energy announced the subsequent closure of the “Nu energy Collective” sighting all of the above as explanations for the dwindling sales. For those that don’t know of Nu energy, they have been strong in the Hard dance, free-form and Happy hard scene for over 15 years. There are more to come in both the electro, hard dance and tech scene’s, that I know of personally. The big cause again comes down in part to that ugly beast, that we all love and use… Peer to peer sharing.

Carl Cox 'avin it large on some Vinyl back in the day!I really wonder if the whole torrent thing is a backlash by people who think the music and now motion picture industry are just greedy. Peer to Peer sharing has never been so out of control and don’t ho and hum, unless your brethren or you haven’t looked at a PC since 1985 you have illegally downloaded something. Everybody wants something for as next to nothing as they can get it. With torrenting as rampant as planking at the moment I guess we can’t really tell what is going to happen next. I guess for the best part that is why they call the future the unknown. I’m sure if you told Carl Cox ten years ago that one day his set would just comprise of him playing solitaire and Ableton instead of working up a sweat with three turntables, he might have a heart attack. But that’s the way it goes, who knows what is going to happen next? We just might have to brace ourselves for some pretty interesting developments as the life of dance music continues to embrace adulthood.

Category : Articles
Tags : , , , , , , , , , ,

My Top 5 most influential releases ~ J-Slyde

by J-Slyde

After the interest that Taran M’s Top 5 article received, we thought it worthwhile getting the rest of the krew to write up their own list. I personally found Taran’s list extremely interesting to read, and felt it gave a great understanding of how he’s progressed as a DJ over his career. With this in mind, I hope to illustrate that with my selections.

I’ve opted to include purchase links to each album to encourage those that may be interested in the music to support the artists rather than downloading for free.

So without further ado, here’s my list of the top five albums that have not only influenced my desire to DJ, but those that have shaped the music I play.

1. Hybrid ~ Wide Angle (1999)

I can safely say that this album has influenced me the most, not just with my DJing, but also with my general appreciation of electronic music. When I first heard it I was a young and impressionable phat-pant wearing raver. Somewhat narrow-minded with what I listened to as far as electronic music went, my knowledge was restricted to Hard Trance, Trance, Hard Dance, Hard Style and pretty much every other genre with “Hard” or “Trance” in it. When I briefly came across a magazine review about the album, I was instantly intrigued. I’d heard a lot about these “Progressive” and “Breaks” genre’s, and had only briefly been subjected to them in side-rooms at larger events. On a whim I headed down to my local Dance Arena store (R.I.P) and picked myself up a copy.

At first I thought id purchased the wrong album, and had instead grabbed some kind of orchestral CD. But once the acidic intro of ‘If I Survive‘ filtered in, I knew I was in for something good. Almost instantly my taste in electronic music began to shift. Slowly everything I used to listen to started to sound bland and I began to crave for more depth in my music.

The album itself, for those that have not had the pleasure of hearing it, is a unique work that combines Break Beats, Progressive House/Trance and orchestral elements with a heavy nod towards string arrangements. All fused together, Hybrid create a cohesive journey that’s heavily emotive, at times dance-floor orientated, and ultimately, utterly brilliant. Put simply, it’s an electronic masterpiece of the highest caliber. Even 11 years on it still holds it’s own against current dance music. Every track stands on it’s own, with no fillers.

I could go on and on about how great it is, but will instead urge those that may be unfamiliar with it to give it a listen. It opened my eyes to a whole new world and was the main catalyst for pushing me towards playing Breaks and Prog – two of my most favoured genres.

Disclaimer: I opted to list ‘Wide Angle’ over their 2000 re-release ‘Wider Angle’, purely because it was the first version of the album that I heard. In comparison ‘Wider Angle’ is a much stronger release taking into consideration that they re-recorded a majority of the string sections and bundled it with a second disc of a live recording from one of their shows in Sydney, Australia. Not only do you get a feel for how they are in the studio, but it also shows how they adapted their music for the live stage.

PURCHASE

2. Sasha ~ Involver (2004)

Hands down one of my all time favourite electronic albums, or any album for that matter, this is as close to perfection as Progressive music gets as far as I’m concerned. A unique approach to the tried and tested DJ mix compilation, Sasha and his talented production team (Charlie May, Barry Jamieson and co) took each track and remixed them to construct one of the best Progressive House albums of our time.

Some might classify this album as a straight up DJ mix compilation, but it’s far more then that. The amount of time and care that has been taken with the reworking of each track is mind blowing, and it shows! There’s not one stale part in the whole album – instead, each track compliments the other, blending together seamlessly to create an intensely interesting and highly emotive piece of art. The scope of artists included within the album is also noteworthy – from the intro track of Grand National’s Indie-Rock number ‘Talk Amongst Yourselves‘, to  UNKLE’s vocal Prog masterpieces ‘What Are You To Me?‘ and ‘In A State‘, through to Shpongle’s Psy influenced ‘Dorset Perception‘ – listening to any of these in their original forms instantly demonstrates just how much they were changed and adjusted to fit within the album.

Introduced to me when I was first starting to play around with DJing Prog, this album showed me that not everything you play behind the decks needs to be peak-time bombs, and demonstrated the need for light and shade when attempting to construct a musical journey through the medium of DJing.

Later seeing Sasha live during his Involver tour in 2004, at the then Metro nightclub in Melbourne, changed me forever. Seeing one man command a crowd of thousands was astounding. For his entire 2+ hours set he had the whole venue in the palm of his hand. It was absolutely magic, and something I’ll never forget.

PURCHASE

3. James Zabiela ~ ALiVE (2004)

Released as Pioneer was beginning to take a firm hold of digital DJing, this album played a huge part in the CDJ and EFX revolution. Zab’s first release on Renaissance, this was the album that got everyone’s interest. The digital wizardry contained within the two disc compilation was nothing that had ever been replicated before. Technically brilliant and precise, it showed Zab’s out-of-this-world skills whilst at the same time demonstrating the full potential of Pioneer’s CDJ1000’s and the EFX1000 unit. In my opinion, this album helped lay the groundwork for many of today’s digital DJs, and is in ways responsible for Pioneer now being the club standard world wide.

Not one to be shy about his technical prowess, Zab’s also included a play-by-play of how he constructed the two disc mix – giving an insight into the inner workings of his digitally geared brain, listeners were able to pin-point just how he crafted and manufactured the sounds, transitions and effects within. Thinking back to my first read through of the booklet, I was astounded at how he had pulled off some of the effects and digital tricks – a majority of what he’d done I actually thought were part of the original tracks! Another thing that stood out was his ability to accomplish such a polished and cohesive journey using a huge variety of different genre’s – Breaks, Techno, Prog, House, Electro, all flowing seamlessly throughout.

However, the most significant part this album played in influencing my DJing was in demonstrating the scope and advantages of the digital approach. Before I’d heard the album I was a Vinyl purist through and through – swearing against CDJs and getting on my analog-high-horse at any given chance. Once I heard it, I knew that I was putting myself at a disadvantage by restricting myself to just the one format; it made me realize that whilst there was still a big place for Vinyl in my DJing, that there was also more to it than just beat-mixing two records together.

PURCHASE

4. BT ~ Movement In Still Life (1999)

A true pioneer of the electronic movement, BT is one of those producers that’s been around since the early days and continues to constantly change and adapt with the times. This album illustrated, as my previous selection did, the need for diversity, not only in the music that I listened to, but also later in how I began to approach DJing. Touching on everything from Nu-School Breaks in tracks like ‘Ride’ and ‘Movement In Still Life’, to the Prog-Breaks masterpiece of ‘Running Down The Way Up‘, all the way through to the Trance anthems of ‘Dreaming‘ and ‘Godspeed‘, this is a fantastic example of how an artist album should be approached. Not pigeonholed or confined to any one sound, BT broke away from genre constraints to deliver an extremely varied release that showed his diversity as an electronic artist.

I first purchased this album after hearing ‘Godspeed’ and ‘Dreaming’ – a big fan of Trance at the time, I’d never really been subjected to Breaks. This changed all that and was what initially sparked my interest in the genre.

PURCHASE

5. Gatecrasher Black (1998)

Gatecrasher black was the first mixed DJ compilation I had ever heard. Before then, I had no real grasp on what a DJ was, or what they did behind their consoles. Previously I was of the mind that all they did was press play and stop. Black changed that. My first listen was somewhat confusing – I had no idea why there wasn’t any type of pause in-between each track. After repeat listens I began to hear that the tracks were somehow being pieced together. Further research revealed that the CD itself had been mixed by a DJ. Almost instantly my mind was opened to a whole new world.

If I could pin-point where my obsessive love for electronic music began, it would be this album. Don’t get me wrong, I’d heard plenty of electronic music before this, cheesy shite like 666’s ‘Amokk‘, but none of it had the depth that this album displayed. None of it interested me as much. It sparked something in me that’s still apparent over 12 years on – a feeling that can’t be described in words – just a knowing. I can still remember traipsing round the streets as a young teenager endlessly listening to it on my Sony disc-man. Engulfed in the music, I knew that electronic music was destined for my ear-drums.

PURCHASE

Next up in the series, Simon Murphy delivers his Top 5!

Category : Articles
Tags : , , , , , , , , , , ,

My Top 5 influential releases ~ Early years and beyond, the music that got me playing!

by Taran M

These are the five albums that I feel have influenced not only my desire to play, but also my influence in exploring dance music as a whole.

1.) Paul Van Dyk – Out there and back. (2000)

Paul Van Dyk - Out There and BackI originally bought this because I had heard “For an angel” played out and only knew it was a Paul Van Dyke track, that release was not in this CD I felt like I had been violated. Until I listened a bit longer. I can even remember buying this on my break at Borders on Chapel in 2000. To me this CD was always a perfect car CD on the long haul drive into Billboards from Eltham. With this album Paul really brought his production to a whole other level in my opinion. The albums flow is a graceful progression from the stigmatic Break Beat intro of “Vega”, detouring into the tingling melodic rifts of gems like “Avenue”. This is a beautiful album, incorporating what was back at its time of release all the major elements of trance. The more you get into the album the mood gradually builds, plateau’s then builds again. There is a twist of genius in using “Face to Face” which I would occasionally play as an early morning tune at festivals as an elevator to reach you to the very clubby “Love from Above” which is my personal favourite tune on the album. The album culminates with the massive dance-floor hit of 2000 “We are alive”. Paul proved a lot of naysayers back in the day with this album that he was not a one trick pony and whilst this album did travel over a few pundits’ heads, it flew right into my CD library and never really looked back.

2.) Astral Projection – Another World (1999)

Astral ProjectionNever leave one of your favourite cd’s at a drug dealers house. That is the lesson I learnt with this CD. This was the 3rd or 4th electronic release I ever bought and although i have the digital copy on my laptop, I miss the CD. This was the only Psy trance purchase and probably will be. The thing that really got me about this CD was probably because it was less Psy trance and a little bit more tech. This was when Psy was still referred to as “Goa trance” and this CD to me is a perfect wedge to see how Psy Trance has developed. You have to remember that when this album was released Psy was still very much a two year old bastard child of tech and trance parents, keen to run away and do its own thing, but still heavily relying on its parents for daily necessity. Its a gritty and earthy listen with a constant tech fueled beat. “Nilaya” and “Searching UFO’s” were the picks of the bunch. If you can find it have a good listen.

3.) The very best of 3 years Headline – From Tech to Trance (2003)

HeadlineThis is in short the best tech trance album ever released in my opinion. Myself and my then girlfriend had this wedged in our CD player for possibly six or seven months. Oliver Klitzing basically threw together all of the releases that had spawned of his label, remixes, his production as Chromedioxide 2, Kaylab and his countless other aliases into a two disc marathon of balls out tech trance. This CD testifies him as an amazing producer and I for one feel he was majorly over looked as the likes of Tiesto, Van Dyke and Van Burren came into dominance. His problem which can be noted on this album was that at the time his music really had no genre, he was the only really flat out tech-trance producer and tech trance was being built or probably was built around most of his releases. Oliver is best described using the Hunter S. Thompson rant on Dr. Gonzo “There he goes. One of God’s own prototypes. Some kind of high-powered mutant never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die”. As trance built and tech backed off he was left a duck in an ever changing pond, It was either Tech or Trance. Not both at once, well at least for the masses. Tunes like “Fucking society”, his remix of Emmanuel Tops “Turkish Bazaar” and Judges “The only one” show off his creative sack of beans. Seriously I cannot stress how unbelievable this two disc compilation is, it’s hard, but not hard enough to be hard trance. The fluffy melodic “I feel love” riff’s are kept in line by swift, non-exaggerated break downs and 808 drum lines. I fear that if you do try to track this down you may hit a number of brick walls. But if you can hunt it down it is well worth the listen.

4.) Hard Kandy Episode 2 mixed by Nexus and the Kandy Kollective (2006)

Hard Kandy Episode 2“One and in comes one, then there comes the two to the three.” “ All your bass belongs to us” “Full Intention” “Oh yeah baby jam your fingers in my……” You get the idea, we all got the idea and the kids were fucking hooked. This CD was seriously like crack cocaine when I was just starting to come up on the scene as a DJ. It had dropped like an A bomb on the Melbourne club-rave scene in 2006 and while Bass Station vol 1 killed “power trance” (whatever the fuck that was anyway) and delivered hard darker style trance; Episode 2 went the other way, showering us with a serving of hard trance and then delivered us the desert of UK hard house and hard dance. The two CD’s in episode 2 act as an amazing catalyst for each other. Nexus’s offering on disc 1 delivers us an array of very serious German hard trance. Relying on a heavy dose of Scott Project who at the time only had to record his farts to have a number one, this CD is littered with classic gems that still get their fair share of rotation. The unbelievably picturesque classic Alex Bartlett “Amnesia” (Flutlicht Vs. SHOKK RMX) is timeless, whether it be the at times haunting female vocals or the intensely crafted breakdown , much like Marc Aurel’s “Running”. Packing his mix with the likes of the Scott Project remix of the Signum classic “Coming on Strong” and Thomas Trouble’s “Insane Asylum” Nexus took us through an intelligent journey in German Hard Trance, culminating with the epitome of classics Ultrashock’s “Sound of E”.

If Nexus’s mix was the sun then disc two was definitely the moon. While Ajax and Krash’s offering on Hard Kandy Episode one pointed me in the direction of what sound I was after, Episode 2 disk 2 stamped exactly the sound I was shooting for and eventually the sound that would define the beginning of my career. Mixed by the Kandy Kollective (Sott Alert, Ajax and Krash) this hyperactive offering of UK hard house and UK hard dance is one of those mixes that has developed into an institution for my generation of ravers. So many scattered days in my memory of running around repeating Tomcrafts “Prozac” “Prozac”….”Prozac” or “This is what we call a global killer….The end of mankind.” Featuring five releases out of the Tidy Two label and offerings from Stimulant DJ’s and War Brothers the key developments of this mix was that it clearly illustrated the cognitive shift Hard house made seamlessly into UK Hard dance. In tracks like “The Birds” or “Snatched” the bounce of the hard house scene is there, but the kick drum is just that little bit heavier and hollow. Songs like “Blow the Roof” and “You’ll know it” have the sharp tight snare rolls and driving bass lines that would come to define UK Hard dance. There is the damn right obscene in Pornrockers “Cuntlicker” and the swiss cheese of cheesy songs, Scott Alert its “10am and there are still 300 people rocking it on the billboards dance floor and we’re not fucking leaving till you drop ‘WE ARE ONE!’” by Chemistry. To those that were partying at that time and for the next two generations of party goers this album will always be an institution in its own right.

5.) Clubbers guide to 2007 mixed by Goodwill and Kid Kenobi (2006)

Clubbers Guide to 2007Usually I am not terribly enthused by Ministry of Sound annuals or cd’s. Unless it’s the chillout albums or the NRG series from back in the day I tend to shy away. However this release was one I actually went in search of whilst I was still living in Sydney during the period where I had left Kandy and starting Substance. This release was in fact very much the “How Taran M, got his groove back” in terms of releases, as this release prompted me thinking about what I was going to play at this club I was starting up. It is very much an album where for one brief moment MOS have seemed to lapse in creative control over DJ’s and just let them do what they are best at. Sure there are a couple of radio friendly bleeders like Fedde La Grand’s remix of “Creeps” and the annoyingly earwormish Body Rocks- “Yeah Yeah”. But where this CD succeeds is the foot tapping Kid Kenobi mix on Disk two. Apart from the Hook and sling remix of Stanton Warriors “Shake it up” which has about as much class as an Ikea vase, The mix is decidedly well prepared. Tracks like Canberra locals The Aston Shuffle “Killer Application”, Trente Moller’s remix of Moby’s classic “Go” and Plump DJ’s- Mad Cow gave me the basis of what I would begin exploring in my sound at Substance. Goodwill’s mix as well carries a very solid feel to it, although being a tad commercial “ (previous tunes mentioned) there is not a lot of pretension and wank which you would come to associate with the general expectation of MOS annual. This was very much MOS’s retaliation against the now famous “One Love” CD’s and for once they actually achieved a release that I’d score over the 8/10 mark.

Well there you have it, that’s my top five influential CD’s in my time behind the decks the last 10 or so years. Other notable mentions would Be Hardware 1-3 for my dollop of techno and Aqua’s first Album, but in terms of what I have played and when, that would be it. Actually Aqua should have been in there, I mean I used to play Brooklyn Bounce back in the day and there the same thing kinda??

Next top 5 in a few weeks, probably chillout albums… Peace out 🙂

Category : Articles
Tags : , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Prognosis ~ June 18th @ LOOP

by J-Slyde

Prognosis June

With a mere three successful events under their belts, the Prognosis krew have secured themselves a bi-monthly residency at the infamous Loop (the 3rd Saturday of every second month for those keeping track!).

A sought after venue in it’s own right, the last three Prognosis events have seen Loop transformed into a veritable wonderland of delectable auditory mayhem. Playing host to some of Melbourne’s most talented DJs, producers and visual artists, Prognosis has shown with only a handful of events that they are a truly unique event worthy of attention. Needless to say that this has shown to be common place and the trend is set to continue come round four on June 18th!

Continuing with their offering of high quality talent, the Prognosis krew have been lucky enough to secure Canadian born Timothy Allan. Now residing in sunny Melbourne Tim has earnt a solid reputation in the EDM scene with a multitude of worldwide top 10 Billboard, DMC and ARIA charting releases and remixes, including multiple tracks which have hit that magical number 1. His remix (now the main mix) of ‘The Shrink – Nervous Breakdown’ was DMC’s 5th biggest club track in the UK for 2010 and voted 2010′s 7th biggest dance track in the UK by Music Week. How’s that for talent?!

Welcoming back to the decks after a one event hiatus, Aaron Static also joins the ranks. Receiving airplay from Markus Schulz, Jaytech, Cid Inc, Sasha Le Monnier over the past few months, Static’s notoriety in the EDM scene has been going from strength to strength. Currently knuckling down on production, he’s been hard at work putting the finishes touches on one of his biggest releases of the year – Solar Empire. Set to be released on Indigo Records towards the end of June, Static will test drive the high quality Progressive anthem exclusively at Prognosis. Needless to say, for Static and Prog fans alike, it’ll be a set not to miss!

Visuals for the evening will be brought to you by VJ Pied Piper, while audio support duties will be handled by LockNLoad front man, Jules Plees, along with young gun and EDM aficionado Insomnia. Oh, and those guys J-Slyde and Simon Murphy might also be around.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
LINEUP:
● Timothy Allan (Audio Therapy / Armada )
● Aaron Static (Indigo / Hyline / Spherax)
● Jules Plees (Lock N Load)
● Simon Murphy (Substance / Interview)
● J-Slyde (Substance)
● Insomnia

● With visuals from: VJ Pied Piper
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
WHERE:
● 23 Meyes Place, CBD
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
WHEN:
● Saturday 18th June
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
PRICE:
● FREE!!!!!!!!!!
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
● https://substancesounds.net/
● http://facebook.com/substancesounds
● http://twitter.com/substancesounds
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Category : Events, Prognosis
Tags : , , , , ,

Dubstep and beyond, what could possibly happen next?

by Taran M

Dubstep!Sub genre’s in general at the moment seem to be the new black and in the words of the famous rap tune “It don’t take much to realize that”. I state this as we gaze into the open abyss of obtuse genres of electronic music making the acoustic ‘jump’ across to the mainstream pond of both the popular electronic and pop music spheres.

At the moment it’s all about Dubstep. Yup its fucking everywhere and I for one feel a little ill about the concept. I’m not hating on Dubstep, I am actually quite fond of the occasional slice of Dubstep with my afternoon coffee. What I’m not entirely sure of is how it became so big so quickly. In the last three weeks I have seen/ heard comment’s whilst out and trawling Facebook that have made me want to throw a sack of puppies in a meat grinder. People who have been vehemently against Dubstep, to the point of driving in my car and saying “Turn that fucking rubbish off” are now jumping up and down gayly clapping their hands as they dance around like an autistic child who has been stung by a wasp. At Day Glo in the middle of a brutal tech house/ Electro set…. BOOM! massive Dubstep breakdown…. Creamfields everywhere….. Dubstep… The thing that made me throw my earplugs out and walk away throwing hand grenades was…. Gabrielle and Dresden… Dubstep breakdown….. For fucks sake, really did I just hear that…. Oh and for the previous examples, Britany Spears’ last radio hit… MOFING DUBSTEP BREAKDOWN, how does that make you feel? It definitely seems more sturation than admiration.

I just don’t understand what has changed, although I understand more after seeing Skrillex at Creamfields. I regularly played his track “Kill Everybody” in the last few months of playing out. I never knew he was predominantly a Dubstep producer as “Kill Everybody” is a banging piece of Electro house. However the majority of his production is a blend of dub step and Electro. So here is the bridge that got people across to Dubstep. This is where the sub genres become murky bout whats what, whats not etc. Hardened dub veterans will state Skrillex isn’t Dubstep, a hybrid, like a 95 Toyota Camry with a Sunroof and a V12 engine. Instantly unique and attractive to some but not what the core element of driving a Camry is about. Now I’m not wailing on Skrillex, he played a stellar set at Creamfields for what he is, but for what he is when he played and me having another idea about what he played, his sound is way too loose to fit into either Dub or electro. The core throw away is to compare Skrillex to Ed Solo or Love and Light. “Hello Chalk….Have you met Cheese?” that’s pretty much it. I’m gad that this form of Dub has got people interested but the thing that producers have to worry about is not so much selling your soul, but the soul of your genre.

It has happened so frequently in the past with Grace. “Born Slippy” by Underworld gracefully danced across the EDM sphere and popular radio without damaging the underground tech scene. “Addicted to Bass” introduced the public to Drum and bass and then Pendulum’s recent crossover hits have reengaged the music buying public to DnB without saturating and exploiting. Then the most delightful graceful crossover was in 1997 was DJ Honeysmack and his quirky “Walk on acid” which brought funky minimal tech/ house into the rooms of the public.

So it has always been form that Sub genres will occasionally dip their toes into the waters of popular music and with merging Dubstep and Electro, the market has been exposed and another genre will either grow or flop in its 5 minutes of fame, or its 30 second breakdown of fame. In writing this though I think I have already worked out why Dubstep in general has been slotted in with every genre, it runs at roughly half the BPM of most 4/4 electronic music, that’s the fit. So while I listen to a mix i have just done of Scrillex, Egyptian horns and Chase and Statuses mix of Heartbeat, played in between the breakdown to Energy 52’s “Cafe Del Mar” I wonder in 6 months what is the next crossover… I can see Psy Trance and Hip-Hop, then again maybe I can’t…

Category : Articles
Tags : , , ,