Now This Is How To Program A Mix
June 16
The audio below is a clip of Slam's classic mix 'Past Lessons / Future Theories'. It's actually about the first 20 minutes of CD1, and is still, for me, one of the most exciting entrances to a mix CD. Me and Bao were recently cruising the M62 over the Pennines in our whip (a rented Transit van) and had this album for company, and it was great to listen to it again, nearly a decade on from its original release.
A few things stand out - firstly the level of depth, and the pacing. As you can hear, the mix doesn't really start 'pumping' until 15 minutes in, with Flunky's "Love Song (dub)" - or to put it another way, the beat steps up a gear with a introduction of some jacking swung percussion - and even then we've still got melancholic pad sounds and dubbed out vocals echoing off the sides of this big, night-time soundscape. It's probably my favourite track on the mix; I love the way it just sets up an aesthetic with a rolling beat, and does just enough to hold you in.
One other thing that grabs me is the level of sincerity and soulfulness that comes through. I mentioned before that I'm not a fan of irony in music - as far as I'm concerned, mocking something rubbish is weak when you could be trying to do something with a bit of artistic integrity; but there's a lot of it coming through these days - and one of the things I love about the Detroit sound heard here is the constant push to do electronic music with soul, and with musicality. (If anyone can name a techno crew besides UR that have a saxophonist for example, let us know!) I think this soulfulness is sometimes missed these days from the techno that's around now - it's all too easy to fall into sterile minimal territory.
Maybe I've been looking in the wrong places, but the last mix CD to really stir me like this was James Holden's 'At The Controls' - and that was a while back! So I'd welcome any suggestions in the comments for others...
From Bao: Yeah I think the whole double pack CD affair is one of the best house / techno mixes ever put together. The section we uploaded is obviously a highlight, but I really like the second CD as well - starts of with the utterly amazing 'Healer' by Bushwacka and gradually builds, through stuff like Onionz and Hipp-E (uber chunky house drums) into some of the very best of loopy / funky techno - when it still had vibes and soul. Tracks like 'Compound' by Michel de Hey vs Grooveyard, 'A Sound Called House' by Trevor Rockliffe, 'Tribe Cut' by Samuel L Session and classics like the Wink mix of 'How's Your Evening So Far' all lead up to a pretty much untouchable finale of 'Positive Education' into 'Jaguar'.And - the whole thing is mixed on vinyl (or possibly acetate, I don't know). Mixed incredibly tightly, with perfect phrasing, and totally in tune key-wise. So impressive, and not in a cold, clinical 'yeah that's very clever' way, but in a super warm, fully enjoyable and yes dare I say it, soulful, way. Thoroughly recommended.
(download)
..... and hey - while we're here, and in a kind of fawning mood, lets just have a quick blast of the tune that got me into Slam in the first place. It was given away free on a CD with an issue of Future Music circa 1995. I was just getting into dance music (having previously been a bit of a metalhead) and was blown away by the way minimal electronic dance music could be every bit as dark and aggressive as shouty, thrashy rock....
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i.d.
Posted by bassmusic
