Xon – Midnight Express Cyclone – A Place Called Bliss Sweet Exorcist – Testone The Step – Yeah You (Robert’s Dub 2) Sweet Exorcist – Trick Jack Cabaret Voltaire – What Is Real (Virtual Reality Mix) The Wolfgang Press – Time Paris Gray – Don’t Lead Me (Nexus 21 Mix) Altern 8 – Objective C & M Connection – Another Night (Techno Dreams) Ability II – Pressure Dub Ital Rockers – Ital’s Anthem (Trebledown-Bassup Mix) Unique 3 – Pattern 12 Unique 3 – Beats And Bass Mix Nightmares On Wax – Aftermath (LFO Remix) LFO – Squeaky Uncle 22 – Pain Baby Ford – Blow Back Tuff Little Unit – Join The Future Cabaret Voltaire – Easy Life (Jive turkey Mix) Unique 3 – The Theme (Original Chill Mix) Rhythmatic – Take Me Back (Bass – Head Mix) Juno – Soul Thunder (Drillers Mix) Fantasy U.F.O. – Fantasy (Strictly Underground Mix) Salt Tank – Charged Up (Instrumental) Synchro-Bass – Mystic Voyage Midi Rain – The Crack Train (Vocal) Logarhythm – The Jungle (N.O.W. Mix) Unique 3 – Weight For The Bass (Digi House Mix) Baby D – Day Dreaming LTJ Bukem – Delitefol DJ Mink – Hey! Hey! Can U Relate (Deep Space Mix) Unique 3 – Activity (Mix 1) Zero B – Spinning Top 4 Hero – No Sleep Raver (The G And D Mix)
UK Bass/Dubstep special, recorded for m50’s radio show in Chicago.
Kahn – Like We Used To DJ Abstract – Touch djrum – Turiya Taylor – Squeege Nautiluss x Lord Skywave – Ultraviolet Zed Bias – Reminisce About The Phuture Elgato – Luv Zombie Pangaea – Inna Daze Kuma – Dawn Stepped Outside (Horsepower MK7 Mix) Grey Goo – See Me Irrelevant feat. Brad Sucks – Better Off In Me Graphics – Name This Bandshell – Rise Em Instra:mental – Thomp Untold – Bones (Rockwell Remix) J Beatz – Subwoofer (Grievous Angel Remix) Helix – Stacks Riddim No Symbols – Straight Kode9, Benny Ill & The Culprit – Fat Larry’s Skank Djrum – Turyia (Tessela Remix) West Norwood Cassette Library – Coming On Strong (Pangaea Remix) Djrum – The Darkest Hour Is Just Before Dawn (Undercoat Pt. 2) LD – Traumatic Times Lorca – Hold Back Pangaea – Memories Synkro – Don’t Know Luke Envoy – So TRG – Surreal (5AM) Forsaken – Hypnotised Horsepower Productions – Voodoo Spell Double Helix – LDN RSD – Pretty Bright Light Killawatt – Sidewinder (Ipman Remix) Kahn & Neek – Percy Geeneus – Congo Untold – No One Likes A Smart-Arse Data – The Construct Data – Knives From Heaven Photek – Closer (Pinch Remix) Pinch – Elements Opus – I’m Goin In Dub War – Funky Deal Anti-Pop Consortium – Ghostlawns (LFO Rik Waller Mix)
Ain’t No Mountain High Enough (The Garage Version) (1981)
Schon die 1970er-Version von Diana Ross war ein Klassiker der frühmorgendlichen Sleaze-Phase legendärer Clubs und DJs, aber erst die vom Disco-Wunderproduzenten Patrick Adams betreute Interpretation legte das ganze hymnische Potential des Songs frei. Von Jocelyn Brown geschmettert, klang die Musik nun tatsächlich im gleichen Maßstab wie die Naturgewalten im Text, und Larry Levan legte in seinem Remix noch etliche Schippen drauf. Ein unsterbliches Denkmal, für ihn, die Paradise Garage, und Disco überhaupt.
Kraftwerk
Tour de France (François Kevorkian Remix) (1984)
Ein sehr beeindruckender Zwischenstand, den Kraftwerk in das jahrelange Warten zwischen “Computerwelt” und „Electric Café“ setzten. Kevorkian gelang es in seinem wenig später folgenden Remix, die fragile Schönheit der Melodie zu bewahren, die noch auf Jahrzehnte die Fernsehbilder über den Lieblingssport der Düsseldorfer begleiten sollte. Aber er unterstrich auch mit wenigen, aber wirksamen Akzenten die Physikalität des Themas, und brachte den Track in die hedonistischste Höchstleistungszone, den Club.
Nicolette Larson
Lotta Love (Jim Burgess Remix) (1978)
1978 gab der Disco-Boom derart dominant den Takt vor, dass Plattenfirmen selbst Neil Young-Songs singenden ehemaligen Neil Young-Backgroundsängerinnen einer Tanzflächenbehandlung unterzogen. Glücklicherweise erhielt hier Jim Burgess den Zuschlag, der genau wusste mit welchen subtil-eleganten Mitteln man tausende von hyperemotionalen Tänzern durch den Morning Music-Engtanz geleitet. Und zwar so genau, dass zwischen den Second Hand-Preisen der Original- und Remixversion ein erhebliches Preisgefälle besteht.
Nightmares on Wax
Aftermath (LFO Remix) (1990)
LFO ließen von der schon sehr guten Originalversion nicht viel mehr übrig als das Vocal-Sample von Main Ingredient und ein paar verteilte Soundschlieren, und addierten dazu die Grundelemente, die sie in der Frühphase von Warp Records so originär und konsequent einsetzten, dass sie eine ganze Weile als die einzig legitimen Nachfolger von Kraftwerk gehandelt wurden: möglichst hohe Frequenzen (Bleeps), möglichst tiefe Frequenzen (Bass), und dazwischen ein nicht mehr menschlich klingender, psychotischer Maschinen-Funk.
“LFO” ist eine dieser Platten, die sich ganzen Generationen ins Gedächtnis gebrannt haben. Was war Dein “erstes Mal” mit dem Track?
An mein erstes Mal mit dem Track kann ich mich gar nicht so genau mehr erinnern, ich war damals 13/14 Jahre alt. Ich bin mir nicht mehr ganz sicher, ob ich es im Radio bei BBC gehört hatte, oder ob ich es quasi nachrecherchiert hatte, weil ich davon gelesen hatte, ich glaube es war im Radio gewesen.
Ich kann mich aber noch sehr gut an das absolut überwältigende Gefühl erinnern das entstand während ich den Track zum ersten Mal hörte. Als Musikliebhaber ist man ja irgendwie immer im Sisyphos-Modus auf der Suche nach dem perfekten Stück Musik, und bei dem Track hatte ich für eine kurze Zeit das Gefühl da ist es! Wie es halt so ist, hielt sich das absolute Gefühl nicht so lange, aber es ist bis heute einer der ganz wenigen Tracks geblieben, der für mich persönlich dem sehr sehr nahe gekommen ist und bis heute immer wieder neu auf die alte Art zu begeistern weiß. Der Hörgenuss war schon ziemlich vollgepackt, denn davon mal abgesehen dass „LFO“ von LFO mit seinem unwiderstehlichen melancholischen Futurismus eine Vielzahl von Gefühlen beim Hören aktiviert, wurde bei dem Track damals als Bonus noch ein Aha-Erlebniss mitgeliefert, denn so etwas hatte man wirklich noch nie vorher in dieser Form und Intensität gehört.
Hattest Du Warp Records damals schon als ein Label auf dem Radar, bei dem sich spannende Entwicklungen anbahnen würden?
Ja unbedingt! Ich war zwar noch kein fanatischer Fan dieses Stils der Bleeps und Clonks, aber Releases wie die Forgemasters “Track With No Name” oder DJ Mink “Hey Hey Can You Relate?” oder auch Nightmares on Wax mit “Dextrous” bzw. “A Case of Funk” haben bei mir schon früh die Kinnlade fallen lassen und zählten zu meinen damaligen Lieblingstracks. Trotzdem passierte damals in so vielen Bereichen elektronischer Club Musik Neues, dass zumindest ich, mit dem Wissen eines 13 Jährigen, das Potenzial des Labels schwer einordnen konnte. Es war eine Zeit, in der ununterbrochen eine revolutionäre Aufbruchstimmung bemerkbar war. Man konnte aber rückblickend schon erkennen das trotz schneller, von der Presse initiierten “Bleeps & Clonks” Hype-Schlagzeilen, etwas mit mehr Substanz als ein Zeitgeisttrend dahinter steckte. Read the rest of this entry »
Im Gespräch mit Ulrich Schnauss über “Force Majeure” von Tangerine Dream (1979).
Ich nehme mal an, Tangerine Dream waren nicht so ein gängiges musikalisches Thema zur Zeit Deiner Jugend. Kannst Du Dich noch daran erinnern, wann und wie Du die Band für Dich entdeckt hast?
1991 erschien das Album “Frequencies” von LFO – eine Platte, die mich sehr nachhaltig beeindruckt hat – zum einen musikalisch, zum anderen da sich im Inlay der Text des Openers “What Is House” befindet: im Prinzip einfach eine Aufzählung der wichtigsten Vertreter der elektronischen Musik der vorangegangen Jahrzehnte. In dem Alter hatte ich tatsächlich keine Ahnung, wer Yellow Magic Orchestra oder Tangerine Dream sind – als großer LFO-Fan hat es mich aber interessiert, wen die beiden da als ihre Vorbilder nennen. Ich habe mich dann einfach Stück für Stück durch die Liste durchgearbeitet – als ich schließlich bei “Tangerine Dream” angekommen bin, hatte ich so eine Art musikalisches Erweckungserlebnis.
Ich kann mich noch daran erinnern, wie Du in den 90ern im kleinen Rahmen eines Clubs Deiner Geburtsstadt Kiel ein DJ-Set mit Deinen liebsten Tangerine Dream-Platten bestritten hast. Hattest Du damals schon die musikalischen Ideen im Kopf, die Du dann an anderen Orten umgesetzt hast? Wie wichtig waren Tangerine Dream für Deine persönliche Entwicklung als Künstler?
Ja, ganz bestimmt – ich habe eigentlich seit meiner Kindheit eine bestimmte Art von Musik im Kopf, die ich gerne irgendwann machen würde – alles was ich veröffentliche ist Teil eines langsamen Annäherungsprozesses an dieses Ziel.
Tangerine Dream war für mich in verschiedener Hinsicht wichtig – grundsätzlich erst einmal um zu erkennen, dass man mit Hilfe von elektronischen Instrumenten nicht nur Dance-Musik machen kann – für Jemanden, der zum ersten mal bewusst Synthesizer im Rahmen von Acid House gehört hat, ist das nicht unbedingt eine Selbstverständlichkeit. Zum anderen finde ich Edgar Froeses Herangehensweise an dieses elektronische Instrumentarium immer wieder inspirierend und das ist zu einer Art Leitidee auch für mich geworden: anstatt die Technik zum Fetisch zu erheben und die Transformation zur “Menschmaschine” zu propagieren (wenn auch zunächst in ironischer Brechung), steht das Werk von Tangerine Dream für ein Modell, bei dem der Mensch der bestimmende Faktor bleibt – das Sounddesign von Tangerine Dream unterscheidet sich grundsätzlich: warme, organische Farben, die den Hörer auf eine “Reise im Kopf” (pardon für das Klischee!) schicken – weit entfernt von technokratischer Kälte und büro-germanischer Sterilität (wobei ich nicht bestreiten will, dass sich unter dieser Voraussetzung nicht auch interessante Musik produzieren lässt – mich persönlich hat das allerdings nie sonderlich gereizt). Read the rest of this entry »
The first one is by Rinder and Lewis – “Lust”, which is kind of a space disco prototype so to say. For 1977 it was kind of a landmark record I guess.
For 1977, yes. I suppose Rinder and Lewis were a very prolific production team in the 70s and 80s. They made an awful lot of records, a lot of albums. That’s probably one of their most moody tracks. A lot of their stuff has got a 1920s, big band, Charleston influence to it. But I like a lot of their stuff. But some of it is unusual in its arrangement. That one’s got a slightly more mystical vibe to it.
Would you say they tried to explore their field a bit further with this record? You mentioned that a few of the other productions had certain influences, like the latin stuff for example. But this one is really something different, almost science fiction.
Yes, but that’s quite different from the rest of the “Seven Deadly Sins” album. I reckon it wasn’t a track that was made to be a hit. It was probably considered an album track. But with that weird bit in the middle with the glockenspiel, it goes into a sort of devil bit about two thirds of the way through. Which is very out of character with the rest of the record. But what I think is interesting about that is that you don’t get those sort of unexpected bits in records now. I guess when musicians are making records, it’s very different to when DJs are making records. Now, when DJs make records they just tend to have the same stuff going throughout the track, it just loops round and round. Maybe there might be some changes, but there’s nothing drastic coming in really loud. A bad DJ produced record might just be a bit boring, whereas a bad record from the 70s might have a great verse and a really terrible chorus. Or you might have something really cheesy. A lot of records now are just rhythm tracks made by DJs for mixing and whatever, whereas then you might have records that have got loads in them, maybe too much. But the reason that they’re not great is maybe because they’ve got too much in them. They might have some great musical parts, but the vocals are crap. I think I’m digressing a little bit. A lot of Rinder and Lewis stuff – have you got that album “Discognosis”?
No, I know the THP Orchestra stuff which I found really good.
Yeah, and there’s El Coco and Le Pamplemousse. I like that track. It’s always very well orchestrated, they always had a bit of money to make the records. It wasn’t done on a shoestring budget, they must have sold pretty well. I think El Coco’s “Cocomotion” is one of my favourites by them as well. Obviously a lot of the stuff on AVI was produced by them, they were putting out a lot of music. They must have lived in the studio in 76, 77, 78, 79.
This is also a really good example for what you can do if you’re a good arranger – the arrangements they did are really complex and beautiful. Is that something you miss? You talked of modern rhythm tracks and functionality – I think it’s hard to pull off these days because you don’t have budgets for studio work…
Yeah of course. I suppose you have to think, this is now and that was then. Record sales were much higher, I suppose disco was like r’n’b was 5 years ago in terms of its worldwide popularity. So there was a lot more money, obviously there weren’t downloads or people copying CDs. I don’t know what the sales figures were like of something like Rinder and Lewis, but it probably sold half a million or something like that. It’s a completely different time, in terms of being able to get a string section in for your record. I’ve paid for string sections before, but to be honest with you what I’ve found is a string section with 30-40 people is so different to a string section with 7 or 8 people. I’ve only been able to afford 6 or 7 people. It isn’t really a string section! Nowadays, with CD-ROMs and whatever you can make something that sounds pretty good – not the same – but pretty good with just samples. To really make it sound a lot better, you need a 30-40 piece, big room orchestra. People at Salsoul and a lot of them classic disco records had that big proper string arrangement. Also, paying someone to do the arrangement isn’t cheap if you get someone good. Very difficult to do that now. So yeah, I do miss it. But there’s no point missing something, it’s like saying “Oh, I wish they were still making Starsky and Hutch”.
As long as a glimpse of an orchestra won’t do, it doesn’t make sense?
I think the only it could make sense is if George Michael decides to make a disco album, or someone like that. He could afford it. Or Beyonce. Some big star. But your average dance record – I suppose Jamiroquai had some live strings on some of his stuff. But then again, he was selling a lot of records.
Doobie Brothers – What A Fool Believes (Warner Bros. Inc., 1979)
“What a Fool Believes” by the Doobie Brothers, which is a merger of rock and disco.
There’s other tracks, like the Alessi Brothers “Ghostdancer”… I suppose that just shows how popular disco music must have been at the time when people like The Doobie Brothers and Carly Simon were actually making disco records. I suppose it’s the same as nowadays people making a record with a more r’n’b type beat. Or at the beginning of house music, there were lots of pop acts making house records. I was listening to a best of ABBA a few years ago. It started off sort of glam-rock, sort of sweet, like Gary Glitter, that sort of production. And by the late seventies their stuff had got pretty disco-ey. And by 82 it was folky. So I think the disco beat was just featuring on a lot of productions by acts who just wanted to make a contemporary sounding record. That’s probably why a lot of the American rock establishment hated disco so much. It wasn’t just that it was there: their favourite acts were making disco records! They hated the fact the Rolling Stones made disco records, it just wasn’t allowed.
But the thing is, that when the disco boom ended, a lot of the rock acts who made disco records acted like they never did! They deserted it pretty quickly.
Yeah, once it became uncool they pretended they never liked it, it wasn’t their idea and all that. I tried to once do a compilation album of that sort of stuff. But it’s too difficult to license it all. They’re all on major labels, they’re all big acts, and it’s very hard to license that stuff. In fact I’d go as far as to say it’s impossible: just too difficult and expensive.
Was it just because of budget reasons, or because the acts didn’t want to be reminded of what they did in that area?
I think often those big acts have to approve every compilation album license. A lot of the time, for the people who work in the compilation album license department, it’s easier for them to say no than to write to the management of Supertramp or Queen. And often, if they do see a title that has disco in it, they will say no. And a lot of them won’t license the Rolling Stones to a comp that’s got a projected sales figure of less than half a million. There’s so many reasons why it’s problematic. You could do it, but you’d have to leave off so many tracks, there would hardly be any point doing it. I did have a chat with a major label about doing it and that was one that owned quite a lot of them. But it’s just so difficult. They want to see a big marketing budget, they want to see you spend a hundred grand on television adverts. Otherwise they just go, why are we on this compilation album?
I think it’s a shame really, there were so many good disco records done by major artists…
Yeah. I like a lot of those things. I’m doing this compilation for BBE which is maybe a similar thing, just it’s not all well known acts. People like Fleetwood Mac, they did that track “Keep On Going”, those sort of things. I guess it’s blue-eyed rocky soul. Quite danceable… it’s not all disco, but it’s not really rock either. More black music based. I always think, if you look at the back of a rock album and it’s got someone playing bongos on it, it’s worth checking out. Read the rest of this entry »
Promomixes was a website conceived by Todd L. Burns. The concept was that DJs do an application tape for a club they would have loved to play at. My choice was Front club in Hamburg, of course. The site had a number of incredible mixes, but is sadly defunct.
Dream 2 Science – My Love Turns To Liquid (Original Mix) (Power Move) Foremost Poets – Reasons To Be Dismal? (City College Mixes) (SBK) Lovechild – Sweet Ambience (Club Mix) (Strictly Rhythm) Logic – The Final Frontier (Acoustic Mix) (Strictly Rhythm) The Utopia Project – File #1 (Nu Groove) Orbital – Chime (JZJ Oh Ya Mix) (FFRR) Circuit Feat. Koffi – Shelter Me (Digital Mix) (Cooltempo) Da Posse – In The Life (Keys Mix) (Republic) Nexus 21 – Self Hypnosis (Network) Heychild – Heychild’s Theme (Network) Nicolette – Single Minded People (Shut Up And Dance) Rhythim Is Rhythim – The Beginning (Transmat) Break The Limits – Hypnotizer (Break The Limits) LFO – LFO (Remix) (Warp) N.Y. House’N Authority – Forty House (Nu Groove) BFC – It’s A Shame (Fragile) Octave One Feat. Lisa Newberry – I Believe (Vice Mix) (Transmat) Baby Ford – The World Is In Love (Dub) (Sire) The Beloved – The Sun Rising (Norty’s Spago Mix) (Atlantic) Electronic – Getting Away With It (Extended) (Factory) Sister Sledge – Thinking Of You (Atlantic)
This is very early electronic music, from White Noise’s first album from 1969. They were among the first to use synthesizers in a rock context and their music became very influential later on. This particular track seems indeed way ahead of its contemporaries, and it is pretty wild.
I didn’t know that at all. I had problems listening through it, it is almost disturbing. From today’s point of view it maybe is not that overtly experimental anymore, but setting it into the time of its production, it is very cool.
There certainly was not much comparable music back then.
The sound is very good. They already had synthesizers? There is a lot of space in the production. If you would not have told me, I would never have guessed that it is so old. The arrangement and the noisy parts reminded me of destructed Amen breaks, totally distorted. Very interesting.
Quartz – Chaos
The next one is by Quartz from France . Also early synthesizer music, but within a disco context.
I was not into that at all. My calendar does not really start before 1990 or so. Even stuff like early Model 500, Cybotron, it is ok, but it’s not mine. I also can’t get into Kraftwerk. What has been called techno from 1990 on was what got me to listen to music consciously for the first time. I was never the one to check the influences on music that I like. I know Disco only from TV, Saturday Night Fever and such. I was never really interested in it.
Is that based on a basic antipathy towards the sounds of disco music?
There was a short period I found it exciting, around the time the filter and cut-up disco house arrived with DJ Sneak, all the sample stuff. But that was over pretty soon when all the records started to sound the same. So yes, it is based on principle that I don’t like the sounds too much.
So you were more interested in how a track was built on samples than where they came from?
Exactly. It was fascinating to me how all could be said in a loop that went for three minutes, if it was a cool one. Longer than that it could get boring. Of course you can’t compare that to what happens in the original disco track, there was more happening there than in house tracks, which only used bits. It was interesting that many people used the same samples and you became aware that there must some source for it. But sample based productions are not my philosophy. I never wanted to just use bits of other people’s music.
Those disco house records also did not always pay tribute to disco, they deconstructed it, and often in a not very respectful manner.
Not at all. It’s strange how American producers often deal with each other, all that stealing amongst themselves. But in the end we all benefited from that (laughs). Read the rest of this entry »
A guy asked me if I could provide a guest mix for his show Jackin’ Planets at a Berlin radio station called shouted.fm. Sadly I forgot his name, but he asked me very politely and I liked both the name of his show and the name of the station, so I agreed. To be honest I might have been in the mood to record a mix of some old school techno faves, and I just jumped to the occasion. Anyway, here is the result.
LFO- Freeze Constant Ritual – Hard Way To Come Paperclip People – Jerry Lewis (Mayday Mix) Mark Imperial – I Can Feel The Music (Chicago Street Mix) Eddie Flashin’ Fowlkes – Liquid Disaster Gemini – Festival Cybersonik – Revelation 928 Adolfo – Do I (Ivan Iaccobucci 4 A.M. Mix) Psyance – Andromeda’s Dance Laurent X – Drowning In A Sea Of House KC Flightt – Planet E (Acid Drop Mix) Chrome – My Reflection Prince – The Future (Remix) Octave One – Black On Black Yazoo – Bring Your Love Down (Didn’t I) N.Y. House ‘N’ Authority – Fort Green House Metro – Straphanger Urban Tribe – Eastward (Forme Remix) Model 500 – Pick Up The Flow ABC – The Greatest Love Of All (Mayday Mix)
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