Been routing through the vinyl’s and re-discovering the old school sounds of late. To ignore the pioneers that have changed the landscape of the sounds in clubs today just seems rather insulting, and as the scene gets older and the pioneers become forgotten, it’s worth paying tribute before the backlash of badly remixed best of compilations are on the shelves. One thing I can’t help but notice in these few tracks is the stripped back element to the production. Sometimes we don’t need heavy-duty mastering and overly touched up samples, which can often take away the soul of the track itself.
I guess it’s just comforting to know when I was still knocking about on all fours, blaring out Bonnie Tyler, and tapping to the beat on the Fisher Price synthesizer. There must have been a lot of people dancing as ridiculously as I do now, in an overly packed sweaty room, listening to future skanking unstable rhythms for their first time. Here’s to the classics, and hail to the
pioneers.
Jeff Mills – You Can’t Deny the Bass
Not much need be said for Mills, he pioneered Detroit Techno and amassed an array of legendary productions. Here’s an early one from his catalog.
Formed in the late 80′s by some of Manchester’s finest, they were then propelled into the public eye raising awareness for the budding acid house scene. Chunky stomping synth lines on this one.
Really don’t know much about these guys except that Jonathon Saul Kane pioneered a lot of the tripped out big beat sounds of the late 80′s. Amusing kung fu samples and underwater bleeps are trademarks on Kane’s low pressure production.
Livin Joy – Dreamer (Slomushun Mix)
To some this track is a cringe worthy blip on the house scene in the 90′s. For me ‘Dreamer’ is reminiscent of a time when I danced round my bedroom with my cassette player in one hand, unaware that my shapes could be pulled in a much bigger room with a very loud sound system. The remix here that was originally on the vinyl release, has been given a slightly more tribal rhythm.
A timeless piece of melodic techno from yet another legendary British act. The slightly out dated sample really gives the track a sense of futuristic nostalgia, as at the time, heavy bass techno was still in it’s early days. The production on this track could have easily come out the studio yesterday. Epic.
A chilled breaks tune that kicked off the early 2000′s, it’s not so much a classic however it maintains the classic vibes of melodic house vocals that came before. Don’t be upset if you can’t stop “ooh la ladde la-ing” all day, you’ll see what I mean…
Darkly
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