best acid house and old school
Posts tagged 1990
the scientist – the bee
Dec 5th
by Phivos (Phil) Sebastiane the Son of a greek singer and of a tool maker, Phivos grew up in Basildon Essex, when he first listened to the Doctor Who Theme music made by Delia Derbyshire and John Balker and fell in love with the synthesizers. Inspired by the legacy of the Depeche Mode, in 1982 at age 9, he bought his first records. In 1984, at eleven, he got his first synthesizer. A Yamaha CS01 MKII, a monophonic analog. He took six months of organ lessons for the basics.
His first close contact with the realm of electronic music happened when he listened to the Synth Pop classics of The Human League, and, of course, D.M. At twelve, his older sister Nina, took him to some concerts, such as the early tours of Siouxies and the Banshees, The Human League and even Depeche Mode. This gave him a whole new direction and inspiration.
Phivos loved all of the quality synthesizer music, from ambient to Detroit techno. He first heard Chicago sound at school, and got into the futuristic sound of Detroit some time later at the end of the 80′s. He got involved in Alternative Radio Station Phaze One, whose members were Fabio, Grooverider, Dave Angel and The Passion Crew (Jumpin Jack Frost and Bryan Gee). The named him The Scientist. They used to call Phil ‘Q’ a while before because of his intellectual skills. Then for a party at the Fridge in Brixton, they decided to write The Scientist on the flyers, an artistic name that definitely stuck. One night at the Fridge, he found himself suddenly sharing a dressing room with The Shut Up & Dance crew, who were doing a live set there.
He met their mixing professional at that time: DJ Hype, with whom he created “The Exorcist” (& “Champion Sound”), They produced “The Bee”, which hit No.1 on the independent dance charts selling more than 35,000 records. It was named track of the year in 1990 by Kiss FM. Then came The Exorcist, and after a split between house and hardcore and a year without releasing anything, Phivos left Kickin Records and started to produce under the name Pure Science.
Mr Monday – Future
Nov 22nd
Simon Monday
Profile:
Simon Monday has been and seen through the beginnings of acid house. In 1981 he bought his first synth; spending a few years figuring out how to make more than just gurgling/farty sounds and trying to emulate his then heroes DAF, PIL and Giorgio Moroder. In 1984 he moved to London to further get into electronic music – meeting people including Mix Master Morris and Tony Thorpe. In 1986 he bought his first sampler and began working with Thorpe on some of his early house compilations. “Keep On” was Monday’s first production, released on Greedy Beat Records under the name Mister Monday. In 1989 a young Judge Jules heard the somewhat bitty 12” version of “Keep On” and asked Greedy Beat if he could collaborate on a reworking of the track, which turned into the well received “Appreciate” featuring vocals from former flatmate and Colourbox singer Debbigne Curry.
Invites to perform live followed, including London’s ubiquitous Solaris and the very first Live at the Brian Performance – an association with Sean McKlusky (Sonic Mook) which led to the co-production of Sean’s then band IF with “Saturday’s Angels” becoming a firm favourite with the Boys Own contingent and getting the band a major deal with MCA and Glasgow’s legendary Sub Club run by Slam Boys Orde and Stewart. 1990 saw the initial release of ‘a mega rave anthem’ “Future” on Judge Jules and Roy The Roache’s fledgling Elevation Inc Recordings. Beset by teething problems and bankrupt distributions, few copies made it into the shops making it a coveted rarity amongst DJs and ensuring it’s status as a classic with DJs like Tony Humphries – who would finish his legendary sets with it for many years to come. In 1992 Monday formed Jetslags with Adamski and Hathem Al Sayed of Sensor. They made one record “Be Strong” featuring vocals by Elliot Sly of Sly & Lovechild and a few remixes – for Afrika Bambaataa and The Village People. They did their first live set at Love Ranch where Monday met Emerson for the first time. Also about this time, they were asked by Mark Stewart to collaborate on some studio material and live stuff, which meant several trips to Japan and Australia. Said album was co-produced with ON/U dub master Adrian Sherwood who in turn invited an ongoing collaboration with Monday that has included remixes for Garbage, Blur, Placebo, H17, Death in Vegas, The Cure and productions including Primal Scream & Sinead O’Connor. Along with tracks on Adrian’s self penned release – “Never Trust A Hippy” and the intended Mark Stewart Album. download mp3
BBG – Snappiness
Nov 17th
This uses the same piano break as featured in Happiness (dub) on Soul II Soul’s “Club Classics Vol: One”. Goes to show the Nelleee hooper connection.
download..
33 & 1-3 Queen – Searching
Oct 28th
this is one of the tunes from the classic Nu Groove Records e.p
The track Searchin’ is an adaptation of A Guy Called Gerald’s Blow Your House Down, the B side of Voodoo Ray EP released in 1988. The vocals used on Searchin’ are originally by Debbie Trusty, Searchin’ For Some Lovin’
THE UNDERGROUND SOLUTION – Luv Dancin
Oct 18th
Roger Sanchez tune.
good to see this still works for all no matter what age. classic tune. like most strictly records
Rebel MC – Comin' On Strong
Oct 18th
Michael West better known under the aliases Conquering Lion, Congo Natty, Rebel MC, Tribe Of Issachar, X Project, Ras Project is a jungle producer and toaster. “Conquering Lion” is an abbreviation for “The Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah”, one of emperor Haile Selassie’s many titles.
In the early 1980s, West formed the group Double Trouble with the now deceased Michael Menson, Karl Brown (more commonly known as the UK garage DJ Karl ‘Tuff Enuff’ Brown) and Leigh Guest; and released the single “Just Keep Rockin” on the Desire record label in 1989 as Double Trouble and Rebel MC. The single was a UK Top 20 hit, and the follow-up “Street Tuff” (1989) was his biggest success, reaching #3 in the UK Singles Chart.
Because of the style and content of these releases, West was often dismissed by a British hip hop community, distrustful of pop success and “selling out”. The release of his first album Rebel Music (Desire, 1990) did little to change their views. This album included the popular dance track “Better World”.
This was soon to change, however, as West used the money he had made from his pop successes to record his second album. Black Meaning Good (Desire, 1991) was a complete change of style for West, mixing his former pop-rap influences with reggae, hip hop, dance and the emerging jungle styles. The album featured ragga notables like Barrington Levy, Tenor Fly and Dennis Brown singing and toasting on top of reggae-house music rhythms
The Ragga Twins – Hooligan 69
Oct 17th
As ruff as you can get…
Socialist Worker referred to Ragga Twins as “one of the most influential acts to emerge from the rave scene”.