Recording during a hot August night in Berlin, but no summer vibes in there. I often like electronic music that is a bit dark, melancholic and tripping. The tracks I used here are all over the place in terms of origin, but apparently I was aiming at a certain nocturnal state of mind. I still love all these tracks but the really interesting odd one out: the remix of 4th Measure Men’s The Need by Johnny D and Nicky P aka Johnick, better known for slightly psychedelic disco house. But this tune is really someting else. Nearly psychotic, and pitch black.
Rhythm Workshop – R U Ready Johnny Dangerous – I Can’t Handle It (How Deep) Schatrax – I Hold You Precious Psyche – From Beyond Tronikhouse – Smooth Groove Suburban Knight – The Groove Intercity – Out Of Control Mr. Lee – I Can’t Forget Nature Boy – I’m On Fire Twenty Twelve – The Cool Rebellion 4th Measure Men – The Need Logarhythm – The Jungle Callisto – Breezin’ The Parallax Corporation – Anti-Social Tendencies The Wolfgang Press – Time Xon – Midnight Express Paris Grey – Don’t Lead Me Never On Sunday – Urban Rains Talking Heads – Drugs
Mix with moody Detroit techno sounds, with a few detours to early UK breakbeat techno and 80s electronics. This was most likely not meant for daytime use. The vibe is quite noir. Funky though!
DJ Dozia – Drum Attack Induceve – Papillon Yello – Heavy Whispers Vice – Mindmelt Low Res – Amuck Suburban Knight – Echo Location Blake Baxter – When A Thought Becomes U Black Odyssey – Sweat Outlander – Vamp (Remix) LFO – Probe Human League – Seconds Rhythm Invention – Chronoclasm Shut Up And Dance – Autobiography Of A Crackhead Shut Up And Dance – Derek Went Mad Suburban Knight – The Worlds Schatrax – Strings KGB – Stark Laurie Anderson – O Superman
The sad truth about going out in the 80s in a small coastal town: Even if you read all the right magazines, had knowledgeable and smilarly enthusiastic friends, and kept on digging all the time. It just did not mean that you could actually dance in a club to what you just discovered. That does not mean the DJs were bad, but a lot of them were a bit lazy. If a sequence of songs worked, it was repeated for quite a while. And music was played in topical blocks. You had an italo disco round, then maybe a goth round, new wave, 2 tone, synthpop. If you came in and you just missed your preference you had to wait. Thankfully a lot of music at the time was good and interesting enough to make that bearable. But there was so much incredible music coming out, it was just frustrating that you could only hear a fraction of it in the clubs you had most frequent access to. I must admit I compensated that for many years, playing as much different music on the same occasion as I could, and often it did not make much sense. In any case a lot of mixes I did were some kind of ideal party that rarely happened, for a particular style of music or several at once. This mix is a good example, even if at the time I recorded it my situation in those aspects had already changed quite a bit. But it seems I could still remember…
Pere Ubu – The Modern Dance The Flying Lizards – Her Story Hot Gossip – Geisha Boys And Temple Girls Telex – Raised By Snakes The Bollock Brothers – The President And The Showgirl New Order – The Perfect Kiss Strawberry Switchblade – Since Yesterday Holger Czukay/Jah Wobble/Jaki Liebezeit – How Much Are They? The Fun Boy Three – Life In General Visage – Anvil (Night Club School) The Residents – Diskomo The Stickmen – Do Get Down Devo – Freedom Of Choice Yello – Base For Alec Human League – The Sound Of The Crowd Heaven 17 – (We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang Matia Bazar – Elettrochoc Cabaret Voltaire – Nag Nag Nag Tuxedomoon – No Tears Suicide – Dream Baby Dream John Cale – I Keep A Close Watch
I really have to ask myself why I recorded so many mixes with old music in this period. Actually I was buying new records all the time. And compared to later phases the early 00s felt less generic and stale. But if I take a look at this playlist a common denominator is funk. I love techno that is funky. Funky basslines, funky grooves, funky ideas. I remember when I started working at Hard Wax a few years later we were hearing the daily news on the store pa, and DJ Pete, with whom I was working with mostly, said about some techno records that there was just not enough music in it. I still think about that regularly. DJ Tools are fine, and needed. But musicality is an important aspect.
Adonis – Lost In The Sound Chez Damier – Untitled The Closer – Strong Meets The Weak Vitamin B – You Make Me Feel Seven Grand Housing Authority – Love’s Got Me High Pet Shop Boys – Go West Inner City – Praise Induceve – Monolevel Orlando Voorn – Dream World Sluts ‘N’ Strings & 909 – Past The Gates Trackman – Don’t Stop Hardlife – Hardlife Minimal Man – Treatment Feel Minimal Man – Outside The Window KC Flightt – Voices Chaser – Sides Of Iron Psyance – Motion Octave One – Octivate Octave One – I Believe Black Dog – Erb The New Birth – Don’t Blame The Young Folks (For The Drug Society)
I’ve been to countless clubs in my life, but Front Club in Hamburg, which ran from 1983 to 1997, is still the best club I ever had the privilege to witness. This mix contains some personal faves played there in the late 80s to early 90s, a period I particularly loved. I was young, fresh in love and the music might have been called house, might have been called techno. In fact, nobody really cared.
The photo depicts the sign from the club’s ladies room. Front started out as a gay club, later women were tolerated, but the ladies room was still mostly occupied by men. Again, nobody really cared.
One morning after dancing there all night long, I woke up lying on the floor of a friend’s appartment, and the sign was stuck on the front of my t-shirt. I had no idea whatsoever how it ended up there. I will post some more background on the club at a later point, but this incident sums up the place quite adequately.
101 – Rock To The Beat Foremost Poets – Reasons To Be Dismal? Jam To It Again – Aquarius Kenny Dope – Jam The Mace House Of Venus – Dish And Tell No Way – Sound In The Air Royal House – I Can’t Quite Understand Rhythm Warfare – Two Notches Cybersonik – Technarchy Mental Mayhem – Joey’s Riot The Untouchables – Trippin’ Armando – 100% Of Dissin’ You 33 1/3 Queen – Searchin’ Steve Poindexter –Work That Motherfucker Outlander – Vamp Sound Factory – Cuban Gigolo Bizarre Inc – Playing With Knives Steve Poindexter – Computer Madness N-Joi – Malfunction Bobby Konders – Let There Be House Brian Harris – H2O Earth People – Reach Up To Mars
Another one from the vault that was pretty popular when I first put it online. Then I was still revisiting what I danced to more than a decade earlier, for whatever reason. I was probably just missing a similar vibe. I am still very happy with the intro, a Jack Nicholson monologue lifted from the soundtrack of Five Easy Pieces. “Auspicious beginnings”. Bless soundtracks which contain snippets from the movie. You can do a lot of fine things with such. Also notable, the track that follows. It was from an album compilation of the NYC label Hit-N-Run. I first heard it played at Unit club in Hamburg in 89 or so, and pre-internet it took me quite a while to track it down. It has this mysterious feeling of good Nu Groove Records, but a really original sound. As mentioned, an album track. Once a guy claiming to be behind the label asked me to rip it via Discogs because he had lost all of his masters, but I did not believe him. In any case, this screams reissue with good mastering right in your face. The Rhythm Workshop track is a bit obscure too. The rest are classics. But hey, they are classics for a reason.
New-Ro – Music Trance Rhythm Workshop – Aftershock Aphrodisiac – Song To The Siren The Outerlimit – Dance In A Daze Sandée – Notice Me E.S.P. – It’s You Master C&J – In The City Pal Joey – Partytime A Bitch Called Joanna – I’m a Bitch House 2 House – Hypnotize Me KC Flightt – Planet E Arthur Baker And The Backbeat Disciples – Silly Games Freedom Authority – Expressions The Vision – Shardé Frankie Knuckles – Whistle Song Lil Louis – Do U Luv Me
So there I was in Berlin, surrounded by all these clubs and buzz, and I was adapting quite well actually. But dear me, the minimal hype at that time was difficult for me. I was ready to party, but hours upon hours of reduced subtlety was not what I was really hoping for. This mix was a reaction to that. I recorded it late at night, and it consists mainly of some personal favourites that I used to play at my residency at Tanzdiele in my hometown Kiel. I was not exactly homesick. But I was slowly getting the notion that there was maybe more fiction than fact with the celebrated Berlin scene. Sure, there was a whole lot happening, but I missed the musical variety I experienced in other cities. Strangely enough this mix became quite well loved, so there was hope. Still had no plans to go back into DJing though.
Sensorama – Helgoland DJ Duke – Escape From New York Soylent Green – Untitled Isoleé – Initiate 2 Johnny L – This Time DJ Linus – Pleasure Forever Sweet – Untitled Reset – Robodisco Prescription Underground – Untitled Jon Cutler Feat. E-Man – It’s Yours Johnick – Don’t Stop DJ Sneak – Manos Que Tocan Sensorama – Harzzeit The Untouchables – Something Bugged Orkestra Galaktika Feat. Michael Fewtrell – She Brings The Rain Saint Etienne – How We Used To Live
I was deeply involved in the local subcultures in my small coastal hometown in the 80s. I did not know what I wanted to be, of course, but I know I did not want to be as boring as so many other people my age I met. So local subcultures seemed like an easy way out to be or at least act different. I always listened to a lot of different music at the same time but I opted to be part of the Two Tone/Mod scene. I liked the style and the hierarchical challenge. And well, the fashion was so much better than in other scenes. Of course the town was so small that you kind of were stuck with all the other scenes though, because the majority of other youths hated other youths who thought they were something else, and looked different (and better), and thus you were constantly beaten up. Given the many rules of conduct of “my” subculture many records I loved had to stay guilty pleasures, though I gained a lot of pleasure from them nonetheless (and still do). Now in the process of assimilation in Berlin I also realized how lots of 80s styles were already recycled for a while, like Post Punk, Synthpop, Electro or Italo Disco. I always was interested in context, so mixes like these were probably an effort to set things straight for myself. Never forget where you are coming from and so on. But probably they also reminded me that I was getting older too, and whether I should leave my years of being relatively irresponsible and unreasonable behind. The photo is a take on the Larry Levan story of him cleaning the mirror ball himself before the party, taken before a party at my flat.
Cabaret Voltaire – Just Fascination Shriekback – Working On The Ground John Foxx – Underpass The Weathermen – Punishment Park Impedance – Tainted Love Dominatrix – Dominatrix Sleep Tonight Yazoo – State Farm The Fun Boy Three – Faith, Hope And Charity Yellow Magic Orchestra – Behind The Mask A Certain Ratio – Knife Slits Water A.R. Kane – A Love From Outer Space Yellow Magic Orchestra – Nice Age Nitzer Ebb – Join In The Chant Soft Cell – Torch Liaisons Dangereuses – Etre Assis Ou Danser Visage – Visa-Age Suicide – Shadazz Rheingold – Fluss Godley & Creme – Under Your Thumb
I had just moved to Berlin. I was 35 already and I had already experienced a lot (and had a lot of fun along the way) and thus did not fall for all the hype surrounding my new environment so easily. I was basically through with DJing then, as I had been playing out since the 80s and it kind of felt as it was a good time to let it go. I spent most of my time pondering what to do next and exploring the city. I went out quite a lot and made some new and met some old friends, but a lot of the music played at the clubs was not really my thing. So I did a few mixes to pass the time that kind of revisited favourite tunes I purchased and danced to during my youthful formative days in Kiel and Hamburg. I was still in love with music, but I was wondering if I might just turn into an enthusiast and make a living with something else.
Amnésie – Turas Bobby O – Pump It Up Hipnosis – Droid Casco – Cybernetic Love One Two Three – Runaway Eberhard Schoener – Why Don’t You Answer Visage – In The Year 2525 Sparks – Beat The Clock Klein & M.B.O. – Wonderful Tapps – My Wonderful Lover Klapto – Mister Game Max Him – Japanese Girl Man Two Man – Energy Is Eurobeat Divine – Shake It Up Magnifique – Magnifique Man Two Man – Who Knows What Evil? Bobby Davenport – Time (Has Come Today) Trans X – Living On Video
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