Mix - Thunder Guest Mix for All Out War Radio

Ahead of next week’s party with Sub Club and Scottish house legend,  Domenic Cappello, we've done a Thunder mix for the All Out War Radio show. Part 1 is me and part 2 is Mr Rick Hopkins.

Part 1 (Miles Simpson)

Moodymann - Long Hot Sexy Nights
Session Victim - Alpine Glow
Keith Worthy - I Used To Love Her
Kai Alce - Willow (Deep Explorer Mix)
Joy Orbison & Bodikka - Prone
Lo Soul - Raw Beauty
Kenny Hawkes - Dance With Me
Kammerton - Dark Nebula
Italojohnson 5 – Untitled

Part 2 (Rick Hopkins)

Basic Channel - Innervision
Leonel Castillo - 1974
Radio Slave - RJ
Jared Wilson - Let UR Body (Conforce Mix)
Andre Lodemann - Dark Edge
Small People & Rau - Unke
Norm Talley - Cosmic Waves (Delano Smith Mix)
Unknown - Untitled
Rednail Kidz - Elekrtik Disco
DBX - Spocks Brain
Stojche - Revolt
Stephen Brown - Horizontal

Mix - For Someone a Little Faster (for Rough Magazine)

In the run up to the last Thunder party, with Patrice Scott, super cool online fashion magazine, Rough, were kind enough to ask me to do the first mix for their recently launched venture. They also asked me a few questions about how rubbish I am at DJing and stuff.

Here's a bit of what I had to say about my best DJ performance ever, "One of the more memorable was Bam Bam in Birmingham... Bam Bam had a bit of reputation for slo-mo house (Mark E played there quite a bit), so I planned to take it down in a slo-mo style to start with, it was a plan I stuck with. Suffice to say the Bank Holiday party crowd weren’t up for the slo-mo shuffle and buggered off en mass next door to the pub to listen some bloke playing disco re-edits, leaving me with a handful of dancers..."

Good, eh? I also talk about the worst. You can find the whole thing on Rough Online >>here<<

And you can listen and/or download the mix using the player below. It's dead good. The mix that is, not the player.

UPDATE! Kenny Hawkes '25 Years of London House' Tee Shirt

The revised design for the Kenny Hawkes memorial '25 Years of London House' t-shirt is complete.

Based on the 'London House Tree' map of house club history in our fair city, which was drawn for Faith Fanzine in 2008, we've updated it to ensure it includes more recent developments in the club landscape and we've rectified a few omissions from the first time round too.

The tees will be available through The Original Store in the not too distant future and we hope to do a limited run of posters too - watch this space for updates.

Proceeds from the t-shirts will go towards some sort of memorial for Kenny. We hope it will be  something permanent like a bench in Brighton, possibly a  musical one, but there are many bureaucratic hurdles to clear to make that happen. We have our best people on it though and rest assured, one way or another, we will get there in the end.

You'll get a lovely a t-shirt and something to remember Kenny by too.

RIP Kenny Hawkes - and Kenny's Synth School

One year ago today, on Friday 10 June 2011, the wonderful Kenny Hawkes tragically passed away at a tragically young age. To this sad anniversary, I thought it would be good to remember how funny Kenny was and have revived this post.

On a professional level, Kenny was hugely influential in British house music. He was an extremely talented DJ and producer, he jointly ran the seminal late 90s London house night Space, and equally important Girls FM pirate radio station. It is difficult to overstate the significance of Kenny’s contribution - without him house music in London simply wouldn’t have be the same.

On a personal level, Kenny was a friend. A warm person, who was generous with his time, knowledge and kindness. There was no pretence and definitely no pomposity, from someone who had achieved so much in his chosen field of endeavour. To put it simply, he was just a bloody nice bloke. And moreover, he was properly funny.

Kenny had a great, if slightly crazed sense of humour, which came easy to him. One of the best examples of this effortless, almost Pthyon-esque wit, was an innocent, maybe even slightly boring thread about various synths used on various tracks, over on the faith fanzine forum, which Kenny rapidly turned into his own, very special synth school…

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Question: What's the synthesiser they use on the opening of 'Supernature' by Cerrone?

Kenny: It's the 'Oberheim Matrix 6' or the "Mounilnex Clairvoyance 4' in the arpeggiator mode, I think... There's also a 'Crazy Fingers' setting with the other 8 preset sounds, that you could use. Then you want to use the 'Drwow' or the 'Dwat' wave forms, and set the envelope to look like Mount Fuji. If you're using the 'Stereo Fizoo' wave form, set your frequency to 6, then go around the back of the keyboard and set your shit level to low.

And then you'll need to give yourself a long delay, I recommend a photograph of Camilla Parker Bowles (Hahahahhahaha - Sorry, that's just an old synthesiser joke). Then cut and paste it all into a XL Spread Sheet (don't use the midi files, as they're as worse as paedo files), and then place it in a folder and name it: "Doctor Beat, Doc, Doc Doctor Doctor Beat".

And remember, keep the noise level down really low - think of the neighbours.

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Question: Hey Kenny what’s the sythn playing on Sammy Gordon and the Hip Huggers ‘Making Love‘?

Kenny: OK, this is a common question, and it comes up daily. Now, I know what you're thinking, it's 'The Vox Hall 2000' right? Well NO! Don't switch it on! I can almost see you reaching for it, but don't touch it, as you're too stupid and it's just going to confuse you (I'll cover that in an advance class in a few weeks).

It's the 'Amstrad Miz-Take' with the inverted keys.

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Question: Can you please tell me what synth Rick (Wakeman) is using in this clip and also what his settings are ?



Kenny: I’m not too sure if this is a trick question or not! A lot of people think this is the 'Roland Rat D7' but it's actually the 'Amstrad DX Kackhorn 14' which was favoured by synth legend 'Howard Jones', who funnily enough taught 'Rick Wakeman' at Northhob Music College in Eastbourne. No need to adjust the settings as it only has 1 preset and a factory setting of zero on the the wave form. The only trouble is, it's a digital keyboard, so you could just buy an iPhone and give all your money to Hitler, burn down an orphanage and buy the 'Polyphonic Wiggle Application' . It works for me.

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Question: Can you name all of the seven deadly synths?

Kenny:
1 - The Synthetic Lightsaber Crystal (commonly referred to as The Sith-Crystal)
2 - The Korg Sorcery 6
3 - The Korg Warlock 8000
4 - The Moog Lockerbie 103
5 - The Roland Brownout
6 - The Vox Hall 7
7 - The Academy i-Raq

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Question: Many years ago, I was told I could "get my rocks off" with Synthia Pain. Never understood what on earth they meant. Until now, help me Kenny.

Kenny: Sadly the 'Synthia Pain' was discontinued in the early 80's. Most synthesizer fans found the sound too dry and had to use lubrication on the bottom end. Try eBay.

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Question: I've heard herbie hancock used a cumdorian based anthrax modulator on 'rockit'. Can you recommend any settings to achieve that backwardsy sort of noise in the middle eight?

Kenny: OK, I'm going to try and explain this to you, which is going to be really hard, as this is really advance stuff and you're not very intelligent, so you might want to put your tin foil hat on at this point...

The key comment here is you "Heard" that Herbie Handcock used the Cumdorian Based Anthrax Modulator on 'Rockit' - it's just a rumour that's been spread around amongst record shop sales staff. But the truth is, he actually used the 'Vox Hall Cavalier 3000' with the 'Brown Love' foot peddle control, and pushed the sustain level up as far as it will go (Level 3).

Rumour has it, he was working at home and his girlfriend was saying "Have you finished that fucking 'Rockit' track yet?", then (apparently) he planted his face into his hands and at the same time, his pet cat walked over the synthesiser, thus creating the 'Backwardsy' in the middle 8. I'm not too sure how true this rumour is, but I recommend you eBay "Cat" if you want to achieve this sound.

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Question: So what were the Japanese using on this?



Kenny: The best thing about the interweb pipes these days is there's actually a mode that will give you the actual sound that is playing in the music clip. I know, it's crazy isn't it, but let me give you a little tutorial..

You probably spent hundreds of american pounds on your computer and was only using $70 pounds worth. Now I'm going to open it up for you, so you can reap the benefits of this modern technology, and you can start using the full $350 pounds worth.

If you look at the Youtube video, down on the bottom right hand side you'll see a football icon. Press that and vouloir, you get the real sound, click it again to switch it off! I hope this helps...

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Question: My juno 106 has been in a cupboard for some years now. It hasn't been plugged in for all that time. Can you suggest what might be wrong with it?

Kenny: HA! This happened to me once with the 106. Try tweaking with the top end nipples on the arpeggiator, this helps with the whole lubrication of the bottom end (which you have to squeeze really hard), but I won't go into that right now on this class, as it's too complex for your small brains. Instead you should be focusing on drums!

This is called "The Rhythm Section". They are right there - in the "Product Keys". EVERYONE loves drums, it's an instrument EVERYBODY loves!

There's the Bass Drum.
The Snare Drums.
Crash Cymbal.
Open and closed Hi Hats.
Tom Toms.
(and more importantly) WARM PADS.

Try all these together, but remember to say (in your mind):

One, Two, Three, Four, One, Two, Three, Four, One, Two, Three, Four, One, Two, Three, Four, One, Two, Three, Four, One, Two, Three, Four, One, Two, Three, Four, One, Two, Three, Four, One, Two, Three, Four, One, Two, Three, Four, One, Two, Three, Four, One, Two, Three, Four.

This helps with quantising, you can even use double hi-hats in your creative process.

It can de-humanise the music, but at the same time, this can humanise the machine, so it's all swings and round-abouts and very organic. A personal interaction with people and the music is SO important, so never be afraid to fondle with your Modulation Wheel, thats what I do in my laboratory.

And more importantly, this helps sell more records.

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Question: Hi Doctor Kenny, can you name Chaz Jankel’s ’3,000 Synths’ alphabetically please?

Kenny: This is a trick question, right? Any Synth head will tell you that Chaz Jankel only had a 'Stiff Polydor 800' and the 'Polio X1 Kilburn'.

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Question: Kenny what are your tips on triggering a pre patched Roland 303?

Kenny: I got this tip from DJ Pierre when he was in the 'Hoxton Squares'. Put a massive ashtray on the side of your 303, and fill it up with ash and fag butts, and when you get to the point of having no idea what the fuck you're doing, while all the time your girlfriend/wife is bitching at you, saying "have you finished that fucking 'Steve Walsh' remix yet". Roll your eyes in your head, tell her she doesn't understand that you're an artist, and then go down the pub, and sip away on a warm ale, on your todd! Come home, hit the keys really hard, just to make a point that you're home, and BINGO!! Patch Triggered - And you're up for another 24 hours.

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Question: For some reason, the thousands of pounds i ploughed into hardware in the mid nineties is now worth around fuck all. I'm not really looking for any tips, just for someone to tell me I can claw back at least a monkey for my JD-800 (never gigged), a carpet for my Matrix 1000 (studio use only, smoke free environment) and a long 'un for my Mackie 24-8 (unwanted gift - first to see will buy!)

Kenny: Well, I don't think you should get rid of these classic synthesis contraptions, as ultimately they're priceless, and nobody could ever afford them anyways. And replacing them with plug-ins would mean going digital, and I don't think you really want to do that, do you? It's rather like inviting your mother-in-law around while the wife is away, filling her up with rohypnol, and then doing a poo on her stomach!
It just wouldn't go down too well, plus you might feel guilty about it afterwards.

Instead, try out the Mackie 24-8, and just near the battery slot underneath there's a noodle switch. Switch that on, and set the envelope to automatic loner mode for less friends. Works for me.

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Kenny: OK, here we are onto to week 8 of my synthesiser tutorial. Now it's time to step it up a gear into David Cameron league. So, if some of you people can just take off your 'stupid hat' for a few minutes, cause I'm not sure you're going to understand this very well, and maybe have a pen and paper at hand, yeah?

First of all, get about a five foot (1.524 meters and 33 Khz) sheet of aluminium foil, then fold the sheet 4 times into 5 parts and make sure you keep the shiny side upwards (this is very important), then use scissors to cut one corner from one end to the other, then bend the foil and squash it over your head and use scotch or gaffa tape to make it secure, and protecting your Cranium.

Beware of using commercial tin foil, as you should trust nobody, always construct your own tin foil hats to avoid the risk of subversion and mental dwowling of the Wii.
(Hahahaha, that was another in-house synthesiser joke)

Sometimes Tin Foil Hats will be sold on eBay, but even if the seller seems trustworthy, they may contain back doors, blip holes and other degraded psychometric circuitry, or other methods of mind control, I really can't stress enough how important it is to have the shiny side pointing upwards. This is needed because of psychotronic radiation, and these new satellites can read your mind thoughts with their mind reading equipment. While the dull side can actually absorb it, there is no protection from Trojan Horses. I suggest getting a 'Naynah 406' sound card which would also help with this.

OK, that's about for this week. Any questions? Feel free to ask. And tune in next week as I take you through the rich green pastures of compression.

P.S. And once you've placed this tin foil hat, please re-read this tutorial, as you'll find a hidden message

Question: Dear Kenny, I have been told that in an emergency a hot towel can be substituted for a tin foil hat. Something to do with compresssion. Is this true or just and urban myth?

Kenny: I'd like to start off by saying thank you for your informal, but informative question. Hopefully I'll be able to answer this without confusing that one last brain cell you have left in your head.

A hot towel will "NOT" (and I can't stress enough on the word "NOT" without making it bold and in a different font) deflect the 'Gammer Rays' from todays modern Satellites, with their modern mind reading controls. Hot towels just don't have enough Reggae in them to deal with the Ska. Unless you buy all of Reggae's LP's (some of them are good).

I don't want to go into this too deeply just yet, as it's a tutorial that I'm saving for mid November 2014 (you're going to love it). When I don't have any tin foil, I normally put my cat on my head, if you Google the word "Cat" you might find one. I hope this helps, and feel free to call me if you want me to rewire your studio (just as long as it's not digital)?

Question: Paging Doctor... Kenny (not Beat)

Shiny side up, or they will fuck you up,
Shiny side down, you silly clown.

A little something I put together to help me remember which side of the foil to use. Thing is, am I right? D, D, Doctor, Doctor... Kenny (not Beat).

Kenny: That doesn't sound like a question to my advance synthesiser tutorials, that sounds like a cool kicking rap rhyme, I think the kids will love that. Here's a video tutorial I did that might give you some inspiration:



It helped me get through some those awkward moments with the 'Roland Hastings 1066' and the middle 8 problems

P.S. I don't do paging by the way, I only have a fax and a telex machine, but I intend to get a computer one day, so I can use all the interweb pipes, but that would mean going digital (which is weird).

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Question: Dear Kenny, I'm trying to re-wire my speak and spell toy from when i was a kid (please see photo if you don't know what it is)

I'm trying re-wire it so i can get some really demonic voices and so far i can only get my voices to sound like alan ball can you please tell me where I'm going wrong?

Kenny: This is your problem, you're putting too much attention on 'Alan Ball' so it's never going to work, as he had Ginger Hair and was very short, plus he played for that 'Other' club in Liverpool, that we don't ever mention. Instead consider using the 'Bruce Forsyth' mode - and go for the Cuddly Toy and press the 'nice to see you to see you nice' button. Just don't midi it up, cause that would mean going digital, and that would be wrong and might do your head in! Then you want to convert it to digital, so you can midi it up.

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Question: Hi Kenny, I just can't seem to get the yodel reverb working on my Castrol GTX 303 Velux Semi Pro. I saw them do it on Tomorrow's World in 1982 and ever since have been trying to replicate this unique effect. My mother has been very patient since I gave up my job in 1986 and moved back in with her to concentrate full time on this important task, but I just can't seem to get it. I've tried pretty much everything, most recently adding extra dampling but this as expected had the classic knock on effect in terms of the uplighter and acrostic overspill in the mid range and as a fellow perfectionist you can imagine that this really isn't acceptable to me. I had thought of inserting padding to fill out the extraneous back trimming but have doubts. Finally, just a silly query, vanity really, but there's a nasty smear on the walnut veneer of my Ultralow Forward (Cordless), just won't rub off, blast it. Any tips?

Kenny: OK, I'm very willing to school you on this, but you don't seem very intelligent, and you being a bit of a fucktard (like most the people on this site) I'm going to have to type REALLY slowly so I can get it into your thick skull! You know that big round thing on the top of your shoulders, it's called a "Head" inside that "Head" is a brain, you may have one or two brain cells left, so try and use them on reading this? I normally charge £3000 per hour for tutorials, but as I'm nice, I'll give you a free-bee! Just imagine me as a Thai Ladyboy you met in Bangkok.

OK so, I'm glad you asked me this question, as 'Castrol GTX 303 Velux Semi Pro' was a subject I was going to cover in my next tutorial, but I'll do it now I guess, as I'm more intelligent than everyone on this website. What you want to do is rob your mum's credit card and then ask her for her pin number, then move out to vietnam and order 18 'Mac Pro's' from Ireland and sell them to kids for twice the price. Then go outside into your garden with your 'Korg Backyard 3000' and your 'Roland Sultan of Brunei 1973' and make some smash hit records.

Here's a video tutorial I made earlier:



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Question: If I was thinking of starting an all boy electronic supergroup, say in the vain of Kraftwerk or Bronski Beat. My question would be what synthesizer/organ should we all use ?

Kenny: You'll need the "Euclid Teardrop Explosion 8000' with the inverted keys and the 'Draught Excluder 2.0' plug in, which will stop any draught

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Question: Which synth has the best dog sounds please? I'm thinking Doberman rather than poodle, can you please help?

Kenny: HA! Some of you people are so, so stupid, that's why I'm much more intelligent than all of you. This is such a common question that I get asked all the time.

It was the "Matrix K9 Special 1979" which was used on the theme of Dr. Who and "Cat Stevens - Was Dog a Doughnut (from 1977)". Not to be mistaken for the "Roland Yorkshire Terrier 106" which just didn't have the same bite to it. Also you had to bend over it, around the back and click on the "Walkies" button for it to do anything (and it stank).

This reminds me of an email I had this morning from some bloke in 'Beristan headmans', asking me advice on his 'Swine Flu'! I told him to ring the "Swine Flu Hot Line" and ask them to sort it out for ya! He got back to me an hour later saying there was too much Crackling on the line! I told him to put some Oinkment on it...

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Kenny: OK, we're now into week 384 of Synthesiser Tutorials.

I hope you're all keeping up and not at some Free Rastafarian Street Carnival in that there West London, or something?

So, get you're pencils and papers ready!

OK, so you want to get yourself a 'Macro Minimoog' they are Massive and hard to come by, but I think you can find one on eBay for about 883.60p English Yen.

I got this information from Dr. Bob Jones (who's the godfather of the modern Synthesiser), and I'm 100% sure he wouldn't mind me sharing this information with you all, but it's rather complex, so I'm going to type really slowly so you can all understand me, cause as you all know you're a bit thick and I'm much more intelligent than you.

So, the first thing you need to do is invest in a 'Macro Minimoog' which is from 1843 and made by Dr. Sharon Carlos (he had a sex change), but it's the best Synthesiser of all time, and fortunately it's analogue, so you wont have to use one of those computers, which give you that Aids thingy, but not Aids in a good way, I'm talking about Aids in a bad way.

So, it's analogue and you can do wave forms that look like Mount Everest, and it plays one note at a time, so it may take you 5 years, but it has an isolator. IT'S AMAZING!

The isolator has a wave form, you can make it into any shape, like car parks, a triangle, a hexagon and that 'Gherkin Building' in that there city of London, it also does circles. And with all those harmonics, you can also shape the sound with filtering through a Kettle and you can also cut these harmonics out by using a rubber!

But it has an envelope, which does 4 things, attack, so you might want to buy an M16 machine gun, the decay and sustain and release, that's when you want to bring in a photo of Margaret Thatcher into the Studio for a long release.

I really have no idea what I'm talking about, but it sounds good eh?
And I hope you're listening?

Tune in next week when I cover 'WOW Peddles'

I hope this helps.

Good luck.

Thanks.

Bye.

Love you all.

K.x

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Bye Kenny. We love you too.

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Dead DJs (I wish I'd heard play)

1.       Walter Gibbons – Walter (pictured above, looking like presenter off of Rainbow) was using hip hop skills before hip hop skills really existed but with disco records.  He loved his drums and was known to work two copies of the same record stretching 20 second breaks out for minutes at a time - in the 1970s! Jellybean Benitez said “I thought I was the best DJ in the world until I heard Walter Gibbons play” and Francios Kervorkian put out a record based on one of Walter's live mixes.  His 'Disco Madness' double remix LP is probably my favourite disco record of all time, in fact he re-wrote the rule book with his remixes and then re-wrote it again with stuff like Strafe 'Set It Off' and his Arthur Russell remixes in the mid-80s, not mention discovering the Joubert Singers 'Stand on the Word' on a tiny private press gospel 7 inch single. He would seem to be one of the most naturally gifted DJs to ever live, he's also the only dead DJ I’ve ever dreamt about and I would quite literally crawl over broken glass to have heard him play.

2.       Tee Scott – Played to a tougher, rougher, blacker crowd than Levan at Better Days (pictured above), Tee apparently drove them wild with his tune selection and audacious mixing style. He gave Frankie Knuckles his break (and lent him records too), built his own mixer, pioneered the idea of using 3 turntables in clubs, and was dropping Gregorian monk chants and thunderstorms almost 20 years before you heard Junior did it at the at the Sound Factory. In all the interviews with him I've read, he is hugely humble about his talent and love not just for music, but for playing it shines through. Could have easily been number one on this list another day.

3.       Ron Hardy – Smacked up at the Music Box, mixing up sped disco, Italo, new wave, crazy tape edits (huh-huh) and early house to the housest crowd in history. An obvious choice but a must for the time machine list. Fortunately, there are lots of Hardy mixes knocking about online, many of which have can be found in the wonderful Gridface Ron Hardy Mix Library.

4.       Jim Burgess – The genius of Jim Burgess is outlined in more detail below. But he was one of the musically and technically most gifted disco DJs that ever lived, and the 6am sleaze king at Manhattan gay super club come space ship, The Saint. To have heard him live would have been magical.

5.       Larry Levan – Totally iconic and everyone’s favourite dead DJ – but for a reason, he was brilliant. Not gifted technically as some of his contemporaries but is said to have controlled the room like no other at the Paradise Garage and let's face it, flash mixing isn't the be all and end all. He came over to London in the early 90s and being the utter div that i am, I missed him. There is a recording of a set he played in Japan shortly before died here though.

Hot Newness! New LoSoul on Hartchef Discos

Was out shopping for records yesterday evening and picked up this little bullet from Losoul.

I was first introduced to the work of Peter Kremeier, for that is LoSoul's real and less catchy name, through his remix of Holy Garage in 1996 (which you should buy if you ever see it), but what really hooked me was his stunningly deep 'Lies (Watch Your Lift)' on Playhouse 3 years later. It ended up on Classic in the UK and even though it's not unique to them, remains one of the label's strongest releases. In the mid noughties he went a bit minimal but still had some moments, like the DC10-tastic 'Cut So Sweet'. I'm not sure I've picked up any of his stuff since the end of the last decade though, when he seemed to drop of the radar, so it was good to see his music back in the record racks, albeit no longer on Playhouse.

The track itself is great and quite hard to describe. Driving drums, a huge bassline and 2006 era Mobilee style noises. Well wonky. Anyway, have a listen yourself and then you can make your own mind up!

Last Night at The Saint - The Genius of Jim Burgess

I honestly think that this might be the greatest live mix I've ever heard. It's Jim Burgess' last set at New York gay super club The Saint, on its closing night 2nd May 1988, where he played the second last set of the weekend before Robbie Leslie. As one might expect it would be, it’s completely drenched in emotion but it is also creatively awesome (and I do mean awesome as per the dictionary definition) and is full of the theatrical drama that Burgess was famous for. In addition to the musical brilliance, from a purely technical DJing perspective, it is utterly, utterly brilliant, in key and perfect beat matching, holding long beat mixes with disco records using live drums and soaring strings almost and 4 and a half hours and there’s not even tweak of a turntable audible. It’s true lesson in the art of disco DJing.

It’s hard to listen to and not image the scenes on the infamous Saint balcony in the sleazy early hours at the club, as the music slowed and the high octane energy of the peak hours was replaced with a more sexual vibe.

This was Jim Burgess’ send ‘last set’ at The Saint, as previously held farewell party on 31 January 1981, when he retired from DJing aged just 28 to concentrate on a career as tenor. In true dramatic Burgess style, who was wearing in a white tie and tails in stark contrast to the Levis and white tee uniform of clone heavy Saint crowd, he walked out of the booth and club at the 6am peak of his set, leaving his last record to out. I’m not sure if the singing didn’t work out but he started DJing regularly at The Saint again from 1986, culminating in this set on the club's final night.

Unfortunately, Jim Burgess died of AIDS related illness on 18 January 1993, joining the long list of hugely talented DJs from that era who were taken too early. Not many others are survived by such a comprehensive record of their ability as Burgess is with this mix. I’ve had in parts for years but somebody has been kind enough to splice the entire 4 hours 20 minutes together on soundcloud.



For further reading on Jim Burgess, check this Disco Disco article, which includes insight from some of his close friends >>here<<

Graffiti Rock TV Show (1984)

Nothing really to do with house music, but I stumbled across Graffiti Rock online tonight and had to post it up. It's a Soultrain-esque Hip Hop from 1984 that apparently never made it past being a pilot. Which is a shame, because it's possibly the best thing I've seen. Original old school fashion, Run DMC, The NYC Breakers, Powerful Pexster, the host, rubbish scratching, Shannon, The Treacherous Three, live rap battles, b-boy threads, hip hop dictionary, sporting your hat fresh, and your 'most host'  arriving Star Trek teleporter style. Genius.

Vinylmania NYC = Vinyl Heaven

I recently stumbled cross a you tube video of the warehouse where all the deadstock from the legendary New York record shop, Vinylmania in is stored and it reminded me of what an absolutely fantastic place it was - almost a fantasy record store.

Vinylmania was opened by Charlie Grappone in 1978, ostensibly to sell rock music but after party goers from the Paradise Garage, which was just a blocks away, started showing up, he changed tack and started stocking the music that was being played in the club. Larry Levan himself soon started to frequent the store (see the picture below) and with staff that were regulars at the club itself, things really took off.

Some Saturday mornings, 50 people would be waiting for the shop to open and with one play of a record that Larry was spinning at the Garage, Charlie could shift 60 copies there and then - he believes that he sold around 5,000 copies of Tania Gardner’s ‘Heartbeat’ in his store alone!

I first visited the shop long after the Garage had shut up but experienced a tiny but of what had been, travelling there after a night at the Sound Factory and buying records we had heard Junior play the night before. The staff were amazingly friendly and helpful, and it seemed like the greatest record shop in the world at that time - although this was probably accentuated by the it being at the Heart of the New York hosue scene, which was at the heart of the world house scene at the time - what Frankie Kuckles described as a “golden era”. Off the top of my head, in the two weeks I was there, Alysus ‘Follow Me’, Djammin’ ‘Give You’ and Cassio ‘Baby Love’ all hit the stores.

On return visits so the allure fade a little and sadly, in 2007 Vinylmania closed its doors after almost 3 decades of business. But the stock has since moved his inventory into Downtown 161, a record distributor in Lower Manhattan, where he opens one day a week for a select group of shoppers.

And I dug up a few videos to give you a bit of feel of the store. But first up, here’s the:


Vinylmania Warehouse 2012




Vinylmania 1991 - I paid my first vists a little later in 1992, but this is how I remember the shop. You'll see from the opening shots, the counter's pretty much the same as it is in the picture with Larry Levan above. However, it would seem the chat for the guys behind the jump had gone downhill - rubbish!




Vinylmania circa 2004 - A pretty dry clip but again you can see the shop has hardly changed at all since the 1991 clip. Lots of 'warehouse finds' on the wall, some of which are legit and some of which are good old fashioned bootlegs.




Vinylmania 2007 - The last day ever! Rubbish picture and sound quality but still seems emotional. I was gutted when I heard it was shutting...




This is the only souvenir I have of the shop that isn’t black and round. But now I know they take callers at their warehouse, to paraphrase one of the hits the shop sold, "It's - not - over" and maybe a return trip to NYC is in order!

Thunder Spring/Summer 2012 Collection

IT'S ALL THE RAGE!

Mix - Larry Levan Live @ End Max, Japan - 1991

This is a live mix by Larry Levan, in Japan during 1991, around a year before he passed away.

I think it’s interesting because it whilst Levan is and will always be associated with disco and the post-disco pre-house scene in New York, in which his residency at the Paradise Garage was pivotal, this mix demonstrates that he was playing house music in a similar style to his Frankie Knuckles but probably even more like his comtemporary Tony Humphries.

If he had lived longer, would he have followed the paths Knuckles and Humphries did? Or would he have pushed boundaries in the different way?

A question that will never be answered - but I hope you enjoy.

I’ll try and sort out a more accurate tracklist at some point too.

Hot Newness! Diesel and Jarvis on Moton Records Inc.

In the run up to the Christmas holidays, a number of musical goodies dropped into both the physical and electronic mailboxes at Beyond The Stars Towers. The quality of these treats and has driven me to review them all for your delectation. First up is the new release from Moton Records Inc.

Moton is Dave’s long standing collaboration with the more handsome half of X-Press 2, Diesel (sorry Rocky x), starting, albeit with a different line up, in the 1990s when disco edits were some way from most people’s minds. Now, after a break of almost 2 years, they’re back with their 30th release.

The first track, ’Love and Money’, is a slo-mo Italo chugger that quite definitely tips its hat in the direction of Herb Alpert’s ‘Rotation’. In fact if you can imagine a spacey, slow, dubbed out electro version of ‘Rotation’, with wailing echo soaked guitars and a girl breathily panting about money and love over the top, you’ll be well on the way to understanding what this sounds like. Actually, that sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? Well it is.

Things get more up-tempo with the second track, kicking off with a heavily edited choppy, staccato percussion intro, before the beats start rolling with a healthy smattering of cowbell, then when the bassline drops and starts to sound s bit like a long lost Ian Dury dub before the slick female vocal slides in and we’re in some sort of left field boogie wonder land. He’s on the run apparently. He’s out there just for you, in fact. Edits like this drive me round the twist. Why have I never heard the original? How can a track this good not be well known? Have I been living in a disco cave? Have they created a silk purse out of a pigs ear? There’s those choppy drum edits again. Then it‘s over. And I want to go straight back to the beginning.

Great track, great record, great to return to form from the Moton boys. The vinyl should be in the shops around the middle of February.

Video - Konk Live in Tompkins Square

Konk are one of my favourite post-Punk New York bands, listening to their records always evokes images moments I never actually experienced on the dancefloors of The Roxy, Danceteria and Save The Robots. Pretty much all their records are great, but ‘Konk Party’, ‘Your Life’, and ‘Love Attack’, which is featured in this video, all come highly recommended.

Tompkins Square is just one of those really interesting places New York. It nestles between Avenue A and B in the lower East Side of Manhattan, in an area known as Alphabet City (because the avenues are lettered rather than numbered) just north of Houston Street. But when I first visited, there wasn’t any sort of NoHo vibe going on, east of Avenue B Alphabet City was pretty lawless - derelict buildings were abound, third world-esque shanty towns of homeless people existed on bulldozed blocks, projects bordered the area and drug dealers openly plied their trade on street corners.

Tompkins Square was also favoured by many homeless people and has a history of being a breeding for protest and public disorder, with it providing a back drop to the American Civil War draft riots in the 1860s, the infamous Tompkins Square riots when workers clashed with police in he 1870s, through to clashes in 44 people were injured, when the police tried to clear the square of homeless people in 1988. And the following year the ‘Butcher of Tompkins Square’ fed the homeless people, who were still there, soup made with human body parts (look it up if you’re ghoulish enough).

This video was made 3 years prior to that and 6 years before my first visit, so it was a pretty edgy place you probably didn’t want to hang around too much at night. I’ve been back many times since, not least because the now defunct Dance Tracks record store was a couple of blocks away, and Alphabet City has been massively gentrified and the only thing you need to worry wandering those streets after dark now is which coffee shop to buy your tall skinny frappucino from…

Anyway, the video is great and from another, more interesting time and if you watch the whole thing you get a few glimpses of world in in hard to imagine in existing in the heart of Manhatten. Oh and the music is great too!

Parties - 'The Idiots Are Winning' with Chez Damier, Friday 4 November

About a year ago, I found myself scouting for venues and in the basement of a sushi bar at the Clerkenwell end of Old Street. Whilst standing at the bar, in this small but perfectly formed underground space, a poster a party on the wall caught my eye, with a line up boasting 20:20 Vision act Crazy P, one half of the Unabombers, Luke, and Sheffield house legend, Chris Duckenfield, amongst others. Pretty impressive such a smaller venue, off the beaten track. Almost a year on, ‘The Idiots Are Winning’, have got a series of parties under their collective belts, all with cracking line ups that have included the likes of Luke Una, Rob Mello, Luke Solomun and I:Cube, and they are now preparing for their first birthday party, with bona fide house legend, Chez Damier.

I’m pretty excited, to be honest. Chez Damier is a fantastic DJ, has made some of the best house records ever committed vinyl and ran one of the best house labels in history, Prescription. So, I took the opportunity to catch up ‘The Idiots Are Winning’ resident and promoter, Jake Manders find out a bit more about these parties.

So, who are the brains behind ‘The Idiots Are Winning’ and inspired you get together to do the party?

Both myself and 'Idiots' cohort Louis used to run various parties in a Labour club in our hometown of Hebden Bridge. Having moved to London a number of years ago, I guess we were always potentially looking to get back into it. What tipped us over the edge from 'thinking about it' to actually 'doing it' was a chance encounter with Chris [Duckenfield] on one of the infamous Petrcane boat parties. With no little sense, he agreed to get involved - probably much to his regret as every other month I'm hassling him to do promo of some sort!

Does the party have some sort of underpinning ethos?

There is an ethos, so to speak, but not a particularly ground breaking one: Informal, infrequent parties with the odd red light thrown in. I think being from the north with it's various esteemed nights - Basics, Electric Chair, Scuba et al - played it's part in how we view a decent party.

Life really provides a great basement for your red lights - it’s a real gem of venue, isn’t it?

Definitely. It's a great little venue and works very well for us. We originally heard of it as Gilles Peterson ran a Wednesday night there whilst Defected also use it for one-offs from time to time - Frankie Knuckles recently played down there which as you can imagine, was a bit of a roadblock. On a more visceral level, there's just something immensely appealing about partying in the basement of a Japanese restaurant.

For such a compact space you’ve had some amazing guests - I remember seeing the posters for the first party down there and thinking “Wow!”, it most be a bit of labour of love getting such line-ups together?

We're in a very fortunate position of being able to call on friends and ask a few favours here and there but from a DJ's point of view, I'd take a punt and say that most would prefer playing at more intimate events. Part of the reason we've managed to book Chez Damier for our 1st birthday was on that basis and you only need to look at other parties in London such as Electric Minds' loft parties, Bad Passion and The Lift Party to see that small venues are appealing to both DJ's and punters alike.

Having someone as established and respected as Chris Duckenfield involved in a London party is pretty special, eh?!

Having Chris involved is a huge plus for us and somewhat of a coup. Considering how saturated London is with good, quality parties, I don't think we would have taken the plunge without him onboard. As you know, it's incredibly difficult to carve out a niche and as The Idiots Are Winning is Chris' first residency since Scuba, this has really helped us gain some semblance of a foothold.

Now you‘re almost one, are there any moments from the first year that particularly stand out?

Personally, Crazy P was a particular highlight. To see them play in a venue of that size is practically unheard of these days. There's so little space behind the decks, Danielle was having to sing whilst standing on a little chair in the corner! Seeing Chris, Luke Solomon and Rob Mello going back-to-back was another rare treat.

You’ve got Chez Damier playing too, a true house heavyweight, you most be pretty excited about having him play?

Absolutely. He's flying in from Chicago so as you can imagine for a party of our size, the bare economics of it are difficult but well worth the effort! It's not often you hear a set from a DJ that you know very little of and Chez is one of the few out there that can deliver that.

See you down the front!

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WERK! Vogue Video of the Week

IT GOT KRAZY! The first in what will undoubtedly be an irregular series, tapping the infinte drama mine of youtube vogue videos.

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Chart - The Sound of THUNDER

New Juno chart chart with hotness from Mark E Evetts. John Heckle, Carl Craig, Modernista Records, Neville Watson, Beond the Stars, and more.

Check the next THUNDER party on SATURDAY 26 NOVEMBER, at Visions on Kingsland Road, Dalston, with the amazing JOHN HECKLE (Mathematics Recordings/Tabernacle Records).

You can also catch me playing with TERRY FARLEY at the Gentleman's Pinch (@ The Griffin) on Friday 21 October.

And th new edit I did with Neville Watson of Jamie Principle 'Baby Wants To Ride' out now on Harmless. It's a rework of an obscure version from 1988 rather than the original mix.

Hot Newness! Modernista Records - modtwo

Back in Novmber 2009, I wrote about the first release on Modernista Records. The quality was impressive - music, mastering, pressing, design, packaging - and Beyond The Stars waiting excitedly for the follow up release. Now, almost 2 years later, it’s here. And boy, was it worth the wait.

Whereas modone drew more on Paul’s Chi-Town influences, this release clearly has its roots in the productions of Detroit’s most famous techno sons, the Belleville Three. ‘After All The Tomorrows Became Yesterdays’ it a long, multi-layered, and beautifully detailed production that might evoke memories of Derrick May’s mix of ‘Sueno Latino’, with the loop laden ‘Heavy Red’ sounding more like Kevin Saunderson in his more underground E-Dancer mode, and ‘Peculiar Movement’ tipping its hat in the direction of the Juan Atkins. It really is completely different in style to modone, with Paul, who was also behind many of the early and now infamous Moxie edits, showcasing his versatility as a producer.

The attention to detail is still there too - mixed in collaboration with Nick Moore of Linkwood and Firecracker fame, mastered and cut by FST at Dubplates in Berlin and more original artwork and design by Finnie Harrington.

It is both musically brilliant and a physically beautiful product that collectors will want to own. In fact, I can’t wait to buy one and I’ve got a test pressing! If you feel the same way, it will be in the shops later this week.
Paul Bennett - After All The Tomorrows Became Yesterdays by modernista
Paul Bennett - Peculiar Movement by modernista
Paul Bennett - Heavy Red by modernista

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Mix - Visions Of Visions

After I played at the inaugural Thunder party back in August (summer nights seem so long ago already, eh?), quite a few people were jolly nice about a number of the records I played, so I thought why not cobble them together in the form of a DJ mix but record it for posterity? And just to remove any further doubt I had in my mind, my good friends the Legendary Children asked if they might host it on their fabulous website. And thus the dye was cast and not long henceforth, one cloudy Saturday forenoon, the dark deed was done and the resulting mix be found >>>here<<< or by using the black magic that is soundcloud below.

Nope, no idea what I’m going on about either, but here’s the tracklist:

DJ Nature - Celebrate Your Life
Catz N Dogz - Excape From The Zoo (Carl Craig remix)
Paul Bennett - Heavy Red
FCL - Let’s Go
Virgo Four - It’s A Crime (Caribou remix)
Brawther - Ron & Chez D's Kms54
Precious System - Voice From Planet Love
Romathony - The Wanderer (CD Remix #9)
Milton Jackson - Dimensional (Romanthony's Romix)
The Gathering - In My System
Ron Trent - Pop, Dip and Spin
Storm Queen - Look Right Through (dub)
Freedom - Closer (Late Night Blast mix)

THUNDER a new BEYOND THE STARS party Saturday 13 August

After much procrastination and some pontification, Beyond the Stars has teamed up with some old friends and is finally getting a night that reflects the musical persuasion of the blog off the ground.

The night is THUNDER and is ostensibly about house, underground house and variations thereof . Think Chicago and Clink Street, Detroit and Dalston, SoHo NYC and Soho LDN. Think bass, think basements, think sweat, think smoke and strobes.

It will not be a retro party though. Good music from across the ages will be played. 1985 is relevant but so is tomorrow.

We hope to have a party around four times a year. The DJs will be Beyond the Stars friends Joseph Apted, Rick Hopkins, and of Miles Simpson, along with one carefully chosen guest for each event.

The first THUNDER party will happen on Saturday 13th August with Neville Watson as guest. Fresh from conquering the Panorama Bar in Berlin last weekend and Bob Beaman Club in Munich this weekend, it will be a pleasure to hear Neville’s trademark jacking sound, which has brought his recordings acclaim on labels such Rush Hour, Clone, Poker Flat and Dissident, in small, sweaty Dalston basement.

Rick Hopkins was previously resident at Andy Weatherall’s nights Blood Sugar and Haywire, and has played more techno influenced sounds all over the country and beyond. Joseph Apted was resident at the long running disKomatiK parties. And Miles Simpson? Well the less said about him the better.

The first party will take place in Visions Video Bar, on Kingsland Road in Dalston, is a classic East London acid house venue. Compact, low ceilinged, underground, and with a realness that comes with being owned by a former DJ since the late 80s. It’s the sort of venue we always hope to use.

We will also behaving a FREE pre-Party at the great new pub Junction Room pub, almost next door from 8pm-11pm, with music supplied by the Legendary Children.

There is an invite on Resident Advisor >>here<<

And you can join our Facebook Group >>here<<

Oh and the amazing artwork is from the very talented Neil ‘Best Ever’ Edward

Hope to see you at THUNDER soon.

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b Store Magazine Essay - 90s London Clubland

January 1990 - a cold, dark month and Britain was a cold, dark place. Thatcher’s reign now spanned three decades and like millions of others, I was unemployed again. Heeding Norman Tebbit’s advice, I got on my bike, well the Tube, and headed to the West End, dog eared CV in hand, to offer my services to any menswear stores that might consider employing me. Having trudged around Oxford Street with no luck, wet and miserable, I decided to cut through a still sleazy Soho en route to hustle and bustle of Covent Garden. But down at the end of Wardour Street, in amongst the seedy clip joints, run-down peep shows and dilapidated pubs, there was a shop and it had a sign in the window, inscribed ‘staff needed’. As I stepped into the brightly lit interior from the damp gloom of the street, little did I know that things were never going to be quite the same again.

Until then I had been a typical London rave kid. Swept up in the suburbs by the backwash from the summer of love in 1988, I was propelled into 1989 on a wave of baggy sweat shirts, brightly coloured wallabies and bad haircuts. No hanging out with Boy George, Paul Rutherford and Martin Fry at Shoom for me - it was all Centre Force radio, raves in yardie clubs in Wood Green, and wild goose chases around the M25 in a beaten up Escort van. I thought I was the epitome of cool but Boys Own fanzine might have described me as the epitome of an ‘acid ted‘. But all that was about to change, because Soho was where the heart of London‘s nightlife beat.

Soon after I started another young man came to work in the shop too. Similar background as me, same sort musical taste, clothes and even hair. Other people I knew had been reluctant to travel ‘up west’ to go out but the new guy and I quickly became friends and now I had a willing partner in dancefloor crime.

Initially, we went to Rage on a Thursday. Held at Heaven, a cavernous club under Charing Cross station, it was a logical progression for us – essentially a weekly rave in one of the biggest clubs in London. A few years later, Rage went on to give birth to drum and bass and as the house orientated DJs like Colin Favor and Trevor Fung had been replaced by orbital scene stars Fabio and Grooverider, break beats had already become more prevalent. The vibe was edgy, the music quite moody, the crowd ethnically diverse but this made for an electric atmosphere.

Along with Heaven, we were going to places like the Crazy Club in the equally vast Astoria. Bigger seemed to mean better for raves but the cooler promotors were downsizing. Nicky Holloway was part of the vanguard, opened the Milk Bar on the road next to the Astoria. Tiny by comparison, holding around 150 people, with its white on white interior, it was a world away from the increasingly lurid coloured rave world as it started to go mainstream.

Not long after it opened, we headed along to a night called Pure Sexy, which in the summer of 1990 was as about as alien name for party as one could possibly imagine. Danny Rampling ran the night with his wife Jenni and they were now reacting against the rave culture that they had helped create with their seminal night Shoom, so it was held on a Wednesday to scare off ‘lilac clad camels’ from the suburbs.

We were blown away - cool people, white Levis, Michiko, Destroy, Sol with lime, and DJs whose names we’d only seen on flyers hanging out at the bar. It was like a social club for London nightlife faces and still the best party in London, sound tracked not by the faster, break beat driven sounds that were predominant at raves but by slower UK music, real house music from the USA, and the flavour of the year, Italian house.

We eagerly signed up for membership (a fiver) and happily returned a number of times that summer until things changed at the shop. My friend went to university and I was left without anyone to hit the town with. Then one morning, an envelope landed on the doormat and it contained a coverted Pure Sexy membership card. By this time people were queuing down the road and round the corner to get in. You had to be taken in by someone in the know or queue and get knocked back by Jenni until she started to recognise you.

The following Wednesday I made the journey back into Soho on my own. Strange as it sounds now, it seemed normal then. The same people were there every week many of whom arrived on their own too, because for regulars it felt like one big special gang. Walking around town you would see people from Pure Sexy and give each other a knowing look or a little nod, the girl in John Richmond, the lads on the Berwick Street stalls - and everyone in Soho’s numerous record shops were regulars, Breeze and Dominic Moir from Quaff often warmed up for Danny, Lewis from Bluebird, and Craig and Oscar from Trax could often be found propping up the bar.

Quickly, people you nodded hello to became people you stopped to chat to became people you regarded as mates became close friends you hung out with.

By this time a proliferation of small clubs had established themselves in the area – Flying, Yellow Book, Ophelia, and things had reached fever pitch at Pure Sexy. That Christmas the Ramplings took some time off to go to Miami and there were ridiculous scenes ahead of the last party before their break. I turned up at Sutton Row and could hardly get into the street as hundreds of people blocked the road outside the entrance trying to get one last fix. Eventually the police were called to clear a path for cars to get but before they arrived, I was squashed next to Jon Marsh from The Beloved, in the melee about 20 yards from the door. Jenni pointed in the direction of Jon and shouted "Him! He can come in". Two bouncers then waded out into the crowd, grabbed me by the shoulders and hauled me, beaming, through the throng to the door. "Glad you could make it" said Jenni as I headed down the stairs to the dancefloor.

Clubbing rather than raving was now what London's clued up kids wanted to do. This popularity meant promoters were looking for ways to capitalise through bigger clubs and larger scale one off parties.

Kinky Disco, housed in the large, fairly tatty Shaftsbury’s probably led the way, providing a haunt for every bloke from the home counties with a King Charles perm and pair of leather trousers. The parties were fun but without question, it was rival night Love Ranch that gained the most notoriety.

Promoted by Sean McLusky and Mark ‘Wigan‘, fresh from their exploits at The Brain on Wardour Street, it took place every Saturday in a chrome and mirrors abomination on Leicester Square called Maximus. It really shouldn’t have worked but somehow, with strikingly designed flyers and a ‘fuck you’ attitude, it captured the zeitgeist perfectly. Whilst long locks still flowed at Kinky Disco, the clippers had come out at Love Ranch and ID Magazine ran a whole article on ‘psychedelic skinheads’ ostensibly because three people in one club had cut their hair.

But the affected Love Ranch attitude was a bit much. They had a banner on the dancefloor that said ’This Is Where It’s Fucking At’ but if you were where it really was at, you didn’t need a banner to tell everyone.

London was now in the grip of progressive house, which has become a byword for boring, convoluted music for blokes but there was actually some very exciting records being made at the beginning. It was a really a reaction to the more slickly produced music from New York, Rome and Rimini. The early progressive house producers started to reclaim harder edged sounds we had grown used to the days of acid house, set them in a new context, forging a distinctive English sound. And in these earlier days, DJs mixed this up with European and American records. We went to one of the early Puscha parties and heard Andy Weatherall, Danny Rampling and Sasha dropping new progressive house, alongside Belgium techno, and Miami deep house. And for brief a moment in time, it really felt like the future.

Puscha really ruled the roost when it came to one off parties for about a year or two. There were others, Sign Of The Times was good, as were the Deluxe parties, and Love Ranch even got involved in few, but Puscha ruled because the parties were special. Each was themed ‘Spend, Spend, Spend‘ dedicated to 1960s pools winner Vivienne Nicholson, ‘Oh So Surreal‘ dedicated to Dali, and the more obviously styled ‘Elvisly Ours’. The décor was lavish for glorified warehouse raves. On entering ‘Oh So Surreal’ you passed giant Dali chairs, before entering the main room which had hundreds of picture frames hanging from the ceiling, some of which had ‘art’ projected onto them. At another, people without tickets were fighting to get in and inside, we heard Milk Bar podium dancer John of the Pleased Wimmin’ play records for the first time.

Whilst Pushca was consistent, the best one-off I ever went to was Extravaganza De Paris. It was meant to take place in the then disused Café De Paris but upon our arrival, we were greeting by a lone long haired chap standing in the doorway who informed us that it had been moved to Old Street. In 1991 being told to go to Old Street was like being told to go to the moon - it was miles away and there was absolutely nothing there. Undeterred though, we jumped into a taxi and headed East. Old Street was empty save for the odd crisp packet swirling around in the wind on City Road but we found the fitness centre and entered what was to prove to be the closest thing to a Roman orgy I have ever witnessed.

There were three rooms, the first a bar where the drinks were free as they had been included in the price of the ticket. I went into room two, which was the gym, with all the equipment stacked in the corner and Kid Batchelor and Phil Perry playing acid house. I was oblivious to room three until a wet girl walked past me in her underwear. I went to explore and found a swimming pool and Jacuzzi! No one had brought any swimwear and as things got messier, more and more people started to strip and dive in. Someone had smuggled some ecstasy back from Amsterdam but they weren’t like anything we’d seen before they were big, brown and looked like they should be administered to horses. The locker room had turned into a drug cubicle room and the whole place seemed to half naked, wet and off their heads, with little or no security to keep anyone in check. It was just brilliant.

Another direction changer for London was the Rampling’s venture into the one-off scene. They brought New York DJ legend Tony Humphries over for a then rare appearance on UK shores. Held in some North West London backwater, pretty much everybody who was anybody in London clubs turned up. I’m not sure how anyone else threw a party that night because every DJ in London was there, eyes fixed on The Hump and his mixing. As a party, it never went wild, but musically, Tony delivered a master class in both mixing and programming, demonstrating a level of sophistication we weren‘t used to in London.

London was now looking in the direction of America again and in this was fuelled in no small part by the Ministry of Sound, which had opened in late 1991 with huge financial backing. Apparently it was based on the Paradise Garage but the Paradise Garage was in Manhattan not the Elephant and Castle. Although ‘The Elephant’ may have been apt location because no matter how much money was thrown at the venue, it could never buy soul and it proved to be a bit of a white elephant for serious club goers. We went on it’s second weekend. Early in the night we were confined to the huge, cold, high ceilinged bar which at the time, only sold juice. That might work in New York clubs where the punch is full of acid but it proved to be less of a success in South East London. We weren’t allowed on the dancefloor to start with and when the time came to let us in, it was pure theatre. The entrance to the room was blocked off with closed, venetian style blinds. Security eventually turned up en masse to open the two door ways, and eager dancers waited with anticipation, the keenest of whom ran through the door and down the short corridor to the main room as soon as blinds were up. I followed and entered the room to find the over enthusiastic ravers running around waving their arms in the air in what looked to me like a big school gym. A proper alcohol license arrived soon enough but the club remained a soulless hall.

Manoeuvres after dark were not just confined to London though. Down the M4 corridor lots of clubs had sprung up - Shave Your Tongue, The Full Monty, Check Point Charley, and infamous Sunday session, Full Circle, that saw the likes of Danny Tenaglia playing in a suburban pub.

Further a field, like minded clubs across the country were be brigaded together as some sort of national Balearic network. Road trips followed to places like Most Excellent in Manchester, Venus in Nottingham, Zap in Brighton, and eventually, Back To Basics in Leeds.

However, clubs like the Ministry of Sound and Back To Basics, were ushering in the era of club brands. The innocence of the Balearic Network would soon be replaced mass marketing, coach tours to likes of Gatecrasher in Sheffield and Cream in Liverpool, package clubbing holidays to Ibiza, John of the Pleased Wimmin’ on Top Of The Pops, and magazines like Mixmag, DJ and Muzik screaming about the latest superstar DJ.

This was big business and London clubland was disappearing rapidly into a vortex of handbag house, feather boas, and shiny shirts. More and more money was made until the bubble finally burst on New Year’s Eve 1999, when greedy club promoters finally throttled the goose that had laid the golden egg.

For many people, overpriced clubs, rubbish music and crap clothes has been their experience of house music in London but for those who were lucky enough to be there to hear Seechi and Blunted Dummies played in small Soho basements, we really had been where it was fucking at.

The Sound Of Soho

1 - Blunted Dummies - House For All (US Devinitive)
2 - Seechi - I Say Yeah/Flute On (Ital Energy)
3 - Shay Jones - Are You Going To Be There? (US ID)
4 - Sheer Taft - Cascades (UK Creation)
5 - Inner City - Pennies From Heaven (US Virgin)
6 - C.J. Bolland - Horsepower (Belgium R&S)
7 - Photon Inc - Generate Power (US Strictly Rhythm)
8 - Soft House Company - What You Need (Ital Irma)
9 - Liberty City - Some Lovin’ (US Murk)
10 - Acorn Arts - Silence (UK X-Gate)
11 - D-Rail ‘Bring it On Down’ (Ital DDD)
12 - React 2 Rhythm - Intoxication (Guerrilla)
13 - The Traveller - Just Me (Belgium Wonka)
14 - Yo! Bots - I Got It (US RCA)
15 - Nightlife City Rama 'Running So Hard' (Ital Mighty Quinn)
16 - The Good Men - Give It Up (Dutch Fresh Fruit)
17 - Phoenix - Plaything (US Big Beat)
18 - Johnny Parker 'Love it Forever' (Ital C.B.R.)
19 - Leftfield - Not Forgotten (Outer Rhythm)
20 - A.S.H.A. ‘J.J. Tribute’ (Ital Beat Club)

With love and thanks to Jamie Fahey, Jason Hughes, and all at b Store Magazine - http://www.bstoremagazine.com/

b Store Magazine is available in half decent newsagents right now.