Second appearance at Betalounge in Hamburg. At that time I was still celebrating by rekindled love for disco, mostly with Hunee, whom I got to know in a record store, of all places. We were some kind of go-to tag team when a floor required some vintage gems and we had tons of fun. Playing a set of that kind in Hamburg was a bit like carrying owls to Athens, though. After all I learnt most of what I knew about disco in that city and its clubs, and there were really many DJs and collectors there who were hard to impress with this playlist. Anyway, I had to try, and paying dues and so on.
A mix I contributed to the great website deeprhythms, run by Tomi Rotonen since 2001. That is quite the achievement and I hope it will go on for many years to come. Cheers Tomi!
Here are the liner notes:
And we’re back with another fine guest mix – this time by Finn Johannsen, familiar to those who frequently visit discogs and it’s board. I asked Finn for a mix and what a treat he provided us with! It’s not house – just great, great music, perfect for the summer, brings back a lot of memories. In his own words: “What led me to record ‘After Season’ was actually the old-fashioned desire to give something personal to my loved one on a lazy weekend when we both again forgot about the day we came together. We both didn’t really mind forgetting about it, as it had happened more often than not for some reason, but still we were getting a bit sentimental over the time we spent together and all we could share. I guess we all made tapes for our loved ones at some point for lack of better words and I felt this was a perfect occasion to revive that. Other than that I was getting a bit irritated by the recent flood of ‘balearic’ sets, many of which seemed more intent of displaying obscure beautiful mellow music than what was really played there from the late 80’s on. Being involved with club music back then meant you were automatically exposed to this style even if I was never really intentionally looking out for downtempo records. Still, I had some personal favourites then which I regularly revisited, so I wanted to assemble some classics of the deeper variety that always moved me, ranging from melancholia to bliss, with an admittedly large does of strings. Some of these, like Chris Rea and Electribe 101, are confirmed balearic classics, others like Marshall Jefferson’s mix of Dusty Springfield or Plaid’s take on Deee-Lite may not be so obvious and again others like the remix of Salt ‘n’ Pepa are just included because I have this opinion that the production talents of Blacksmith should never ever vanish from sight. You may, however, just take it for what I hope it would turn out to be, a pleasant set of fine tunes.”
Dusty Springfield – Nothing Has Been Proved (Instrumental) Massive Attack – Safe From Harm (Instrumental) The Beauty Room – Don’t You Know Deee-Lite – Try Me On (Plaid Remix) Reborn – Right To Be (Rocker HiFi Remix) Innocence – Senza Voce The Family Stand – Ghetto Heaven (The Remix) Soul Family Sensation – I Don’t Even Know If I Should Call You Baby (Symphony) Quartz – It’s Too Late (Overnight Mix) Electribe 101 – Talking With Myself (Next Big Thing Mix) Swing Out Sister – Notgonnachange (Mix Of Drama) Chris Rea – Josephine (La Version Francaise) Salt ‘N’ Pepa – Expression (Brixton Dub Mix) The Wiseguys – The Real Vibes Dream Warriors & Gang Starr – I Lost My Ignorance (Tim Bran Remix) Shanice – I Love Your Smile (Driza Bone Dub Remix)
I was still playing a lot of disco around Berlin then. And still being mostly informed by formative club experiences and digging finds of my youth. I was actually doing a lot in the there and now too, but if you had so many great memories and experiences, why not use them. Also I was 37 when I recorded this mix, and I never expected to still be playing records in clubs at that age. But instead of retiring I just kept going and granted myself the occasional look back. Also a lot of what I listened to many years ago was now in a revival/reissue loop already, so I never felt guilty.
Jeff Young – My Night Time Syncbeat – Music Hot Gossip – Soul Warfare Secession – Touch Altered Images – I Could Be Happy Thompson Twins – Lies Sharpe & Numan – Change Your Mind 400 Blows – Let The Music Play ABC – Be Near Me Cabaret Voltaire – Dream Ticket DAF – Brothers Clock DVA – The Act Gino Soccio – Turn It Around Frankie Valli – Let It Be Whatever It Is Sparks – Madonna Paul Haig – Running Away The Colourfield – Running Away Scritti Politti – Absolute Sly & Robbie – Make ‘Em Move
Da Real Deal – Space And Time Electrik Bugg – Untitled Octave One – Eniac Alien FM – Art Of Illusion Musicology – Obsessed John Arnold – Universal Mind Heaven 17 – Song With No Name The Connection Machine – Bitflower LFO – Simon From Sydney No Movement No Sound No Memories – Acetate Andy Stott – Replace Dan Curtin – Spliffed Doctor Rockit – Tape Measure Photek – Raenon Carmel – I’m Not Afraid Of You Sensorama – Echtzeit John Carpenter – Street Thunder
I’ve met a fine Englishman on the Discogs message boards named Craig Birmingham aka EvilJack who had excellent taste in music. We corresponded regularly and he asked me to contribute a mix for his blog Special Needs, now defunct as most blogs. Sadly we lost touch over the years but looking back he was one of those fine persons you obsessed together with over music and then get to know better personally, a phenomenon I encountered often on Discogs then, and later in other places. This was before social media went big, mind. But likeminded souls often find their way to each other, no matter how.
John Carpenter – Walking Out Link – Amenity In Sync – Subway Route Hey O Hansen – Moon Robot DJs – Remote Control Brian Harris – Chemistry Unknown DJ – Basstronic Vitamin B – A Headache Terrace – Seventh City Pod – Vanguard Loosefingers – What Is House?
Guest mix for Red Bull Music Academy Radio. I knew people working there and had mixed feelings about contributing, as I was mainly writing for de:bug, which remained independent and limited in terms of budget throughout, whereas the sponsoring of RBMA offered whole other possibilities of content. In short, I was a bit envious of that but would not admit it, and stuck to prejudice. But to be fair, they really made good use of the money. And of course I thought having a mix there would make me instantly famous. It didn’t.
Yoko Ono – It Happened (Edit) Andy Stott – Long Drive Precession – Sandcastle (Mike Huckaby Remix) Isolée – Bleu (Dixon Edit) Dolby A – Klang Voom Voom – Oggi Mute – Basics As One – The Electric Hymn Smoke City – Aguas De Marco (Restless Soul Instrumental) Carl Craig – Butterfly Foremost Poets – Reasons To Be Dismal (Instrumental) Romanthony – Make This Love Right (A Parte Ante) Material – Memories
My first appearance at the seminal Betalounge, live at its premises in Hamburg. I was scheduled to play an old school house/disco night in town so I played what I prepared for that. The location was a place were people were usually hanging out in the afternoon before they hit the nightlife, but I had the whole place dancing at some point. I was particularly honoured that many friends and other DJs showed up, including Vienna’s hip hop legend DSL, whom I always really admired.
You really cannot underestimate the impact of the Betalounge. Operating from San Francisco and Hamburg they were the Boiler Room of those days. Just check their vast archive and you will know what I mean.
Telly Savalas – Looking Back At Thirty David Bowie – Changes Bomb The Bass – Winter In July Marden Hill – Bardot Go-Betweens – Bachelor Kisses Cocteau Twins – Cherry Coloured Funk Elvis Presley – Bridge Over Troubled Water Aphrodite’s Child – Break Terry Callier – Love Theme From Spartacus Rance Allen Group – Ain’t No Need Of Crying Barry White – Let The Music Play Ultra Naté – Funny (How Things Change) Roxy Music – A Really Good Time It’s Immaterial – Homecoming Carole King – Home Again Carly Simon – Coming Around Again Frankie Goes To Hollywood – The Power Of Love Madness – One Better Day
Walker Brothers – I Don’t Want To Hear It Anymore Sammy Davis Jr – Love Is Just A Meaningless Word The Fun Boy Three – Alone Soft Cell – Say Hello, Wave Goodbye Issac Hayes – Ike’s Rap II / Help Me Love Everything But The Girl – Fascination Julian Cope – Me Singing Pretty Things – Trust Echo & The Bunnymen – The Killing Moon Robert Wyatt – Shipbuilding Chapter & The Verse – Lorraine (Memphis Listen To Her) Was (Not Was) – Zaz Turned Blue Richard Ashcroft – Check The Meaning Glenn Gregory – Wichita Lineman Mr. Fingers – Survivor Style Council – My Ever Changing Moods Beach Boys – Disney Girls The Free Design – Memories
Michael, a music enthusiast I got to know on the Discogs message board, had a now defunct blog called Silence is a Rhythm too and asked me if I could provide a mix with something I did not usually publish. So I came up with the idea to do three mixes that contain sad or melancholic songs. The mixes are structured so that they start out really depressing than get a bit less depressing, and end in something vaguely conciliatory. Jan Rikus Hillmann, the art director of de:bug magazine, told me they were world class, which caught me so off guard that I still remember it.
Tuxedomoon – The Cage Lee Hazlewood – The Night Before The Prisoners – Mourn My Health R. Dean Taylor – Sunday Morning Coming Down Yazoo – Winter Kills Simon And Garfunkel – So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright Pet Shop Boys – Your Funny Uncle Paddy McAloon – Sleeping Rough Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66 – Pradizer Adeus (To Say Goodbye) Liza Minnelli – For No One Kissing The Pink – All For You Coldcut – Autumn Leaves Rose Royce – Love Don’t Live Here Anymore Jesus Loves You – I Specialize In Loneliness Dee C. Lee – See The Day Human League – Louise The Colourfield – Sorry Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band – I’m Glad Matt Monro – And We Were Lovers The Zombies – I Remember When I Loved Her The Carpenters – Rainy Days And Mondays / Goodbye To Love
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