#90's trance

[posthumanwanderings]

Hard Trance Live 1998 (Dj chipstyler special)

[randomvarious]

1997 London Playlist

Back with another little update to a London underground playlist, this time for the year of 1997. This week we've got a trip hop beaut' from the one and only DJ Vadim, an electronic and alt hip hop stalwart who is originally from Russia but was raised in London. In May of '97, Vadim dropped an EP called Conquest of the Irrational, which was then followed up in Japan that same year with his third LP, U.S.S.R. Reconstruction (Theories Explained). '98 would then see the release of this album more widely.

On U.S.S.R. Reconstruction, you won't find an original version of "Conquest of the Irrational" itself, but what you will find instead is a similarly-titled song that was remixed by Copenhagen hip hop production trio The Prunes called "Theme from Conquest of the Irrational." This is a track with a lurking, sort-of cinematic 60s spy thriller vibe to it, which was a sound that definitely came back en vogue in the late 90s, as nostalgia for a retrofuturist cocktail lounge aesthetic became a little bit of a thing. And it has a pretty similar sonic palette to a song like Mos Def’s Yasiin Bey’s “Auditorium,” feat. Slick Rick too, which came out more than a decade after this tune, and was produced by Madlib. This remix also appeared on Parisian Kid Loco's excellent DJ-Kicks mix in 1999, and it currently has over 68.5K plays on Spotify.

DJ Vadim - "Theme from Conquest of the Irrational (Remix by The Prunes)"

And then for the YouTube update, we've got that song, plus one more that really can't be found on Spotify at all: a remix of Indiana alt rock/dream pop darling Lisa Germano's "Lovesick," done by London's own Trevor Jackson. Now, you may be more acquainted with Jackson under his Playgroup moniker, but before he ever donned that name, another one he used was Underdog.

And *the official version* of this Underdog remix is of way more of a trip hop bent than it is breakbeat, but the version that I’m supplying you all with this week is the one that appeared on that Kid Loco DJ-Kicks mix. This one appears to be blended with the beat from the preceding song in that mix, whose official version I can’t even find on YouTube, called “Culture Consumers,” by a short-lived duo called Tongue. Like much of the rest of that mix, this song makes for some truly heady and totally stoned trippery, but it also comes with some pretty dissonant guitar noise too! Currently hovering at around 72K YouTube plays.

Lisa Germano - "Lovesick (Underdog Rmx)"

And this playlist is also on YouTube Music.

So this update now brings us up to 13 songs on Spotify that clock in at a total of 84 minutes, and then on YouTube we've got 22 songs that run for a total of 147 minutes. And if you really want some of those underground London '97 goodies, you'll give that YouTube one a listen, because in addition to the Underdog remix of Lisa Germano, what you'll also find on there are a couple gems from incredible IDM artist Freeform; a version of Groove Armada's all-time chillout classic, "At the River," that appeared on a 2000 Fatboy Slim mix with it mashed-up with the drums from Underworld's "Born Slippy;" a hard-to-find house remix by Dimitri From Paris of acid jazz group The Brand New Heavies; and an excellently bouncy house remix of the gone-way-too-soon Wildchild's "Renegade Master" that was done by duo Stretch & Vern. All highly terrific stuff! 👍👍👍

And here's some more 90s London playlists for you too!:

1995 London: YouTube / YouTube Music 1996 London: Spotify / YouTube / YouTube Music 1998 London: YouTube / YouTube Music 1999 London: YouTube / YouTube Music

Next week, some future jazz!

Enjoy!

More to come, eventually. Stay tuned!

Like what you hear? Follow me on Spotify and YouTube for more cool playlists and uploads!

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

Megadeth - Almost Honest [Danny Saber Mix]

[dankalbumart]

Namlook V by Namlook FAX +49-69/450464 1994 Ambient / Trance / Ambient Techno

[indigoheaven001]

Indigo Heaven (formally Auden) - Element Remixes (2020)

Singles covers and shoots.

[knightofleo]

Vitesse X | Repress Reprise

[mysongdaily]

‘Surely there’s time to be with me.’

[ashadowofburnedoutstardust]

Ok, but no this s*** is bomb

If you're not old enough to remember this you need to shut yourself in a room, smoke something, and allow yourself to be educated

This was like one of those bands that people either loved, or they hated it publicly in front of other people and still secretly listened to it when they were by themselves

Like the techno trance version of Enya, or those South American pan pipe covers

The "cool kids" were all Gatecrasher ravers

[entheo-music]

Peter Lazonby - "Sacred Cycles" /Original video 1994/

Peter Lazonby - "Sacred Cycles" /Original video 1994/

[mitjalovse]

There are some musicians whose introductions don't change much in the long run. For instance, Chicane had a great debut and his career is still going on, but we mustn't forget – the LPs don't matter for him. Yes, I'm selling them short – they're fine, most of the times –, though he belongs on a dance floor, which means that any album can mostly serve as an approximation of him concerting. Remember what I said a long time ago – the players like him, i.e. trance DJs, have their own set of rules, they have their own world to attend to, where the outside doesn't really equate much. While the idioman visit the charts, they do not mean much to their gigs, which remain the main reason for their tunes. True, I may be overexagerrating here, the reality is somewhere else.

[posthumanwanderings]

Toronto - Skydome (trance, 1997)

[randomvarious]

Today's mix:

Headliners: 01 - Live at the Gallery by Tall Paul 2000 Progressive House / Trance / Progressive Trance / House

Ugh. I really hate to besmirch the often excellent and eclectic DJ Tall Paul here, but this man was simply *not* bringing it for this Ministry of Sound double-disc back in 2000. What we have here to kick off this ultimately fleeting Headliners series is an unfortunately jumbled up and incoherent mess of house and trance tunes from the turn of the millennium, some of which are quite good, but most of which are quite bad 😑.

And that, more or less, really just seems to sum up Ministry of Sound in a nutshell; some bangers to be sure, but also, a lot of these hulking superclub-type entities that operate branches in multiple cities—while also having their very own record labels too—seem to have this inevitable penchant for pushing out a whole torrent of mind-numbingly tacky crap, don't they? 🤷‍♂️

*sigh*

Anyway, with all that in mind, I really did enjoy certain parts of both of these discs. Paul chooses to close out each set with conventionally great trance runs, with the finale on disc 2, Rob Searle's remix of Frankie Goes to Hollywood's "The Power of Love," probably being the best of the bunch. But the paths that he takes to get to both of these runs are largely windingly unentertaining, with yawn-inducing turn-of-the-millennium progressive house marring disc 1, and then a spat of mindlessly bouncy Euro gunk in the middle of disc 2. And to jam all these different types of dance music in here like this just feels so forced and awkward in the first place, resulting in a classic case of failing to please anyone by trying to please everyone 👎.

But actually, the variety was totally winning me over in the beginning, mainly because Paul was keeping steady and connecting good tunes together from different genres that you wouldn't be likely to hear in succession otherwise. He opens up the first disc with a satisfyingly quirky bit of quiet, eerie, and jazzy deep techno from the great Laurent Garnier, then follows it up with a pulsating and wavy piece of breakbeat-infused trance from Germany's Nalin + Kane, and then gets into a literally bubbling and locked-in house groove with UK duo Tin Tin Out. But after that, he departs from this fun grab-bag, genre-hopping concept, and just proceeds to dig himself into a pit mainly comprised of progressive house emptiness, until he finally decides to climb his way out and finish up the first set with some quality trance tunes 🫤.

So, there's definitely some great y2k-era dance music on here—and the totally memed-to-a-bloody-pulp Darude's "Sandstorm" too!—but really not worth the listen, overall. A genuine miss from the legendary and beloved Tall Paul 😔.

Listen to CD1 here. Listen to CD2 here.

Highlights:

CD1:

Laurent Garnier - "The Man With the Red Face (Original Mix)" Nalin & Kane - "Superfly 20019 Live at the Crystal Palace (Alternative Club Mix)" Tin Tin Out - "Anybody's Guess (Mr. G's Out Dub)" Cygnus X - "The Orange Theme (Solar Stone Remix)" Chris + James - "Darkstar (Original Mix)" Moonman - "Galaxia (Solar Stone Remix)"

CD2:

Agnelli + Nelson - "Embrace (Original Mix)" Darude - "Sandstorm (Original Mix)" Push - "Till We Meet Again (Original Mix)" Parker + Clind - "Cosmos (Original Mix)" Frankie Goes to Hollywood - "The Power of Love (Rob Searle Club Mix)"

[dankalbumart]

Spaceglider by Der Dritte Raum Ultra Records 1999 Trance / Techno

[indigoheaven001]

Indigo Heaven (formally Auden) - Element (2020)

Single covers and shoots