Watching Top of the Pops 2 on BBC4 one Friday evening, I was delighted to find they’d finally moved onto the 90s. The show was a retrospective of 1990 and included TOTP performances from MC Tunes vs. 808 State and Orbital amongst others. Orbital’s performance of Chime included the plugs for their synths sitting unplugged in plain view. It mentions that Orbital never performed again on the show. It didn’t hinder them with their career.
The show got me thinking back to the 1990s. For me, a decade that was musically dominated by house music. Over the last few months I’ve also spent time listening to John Digweeds Bunker Sessions. He’s been playing some classics in his mixes. Tracks like Joe Roberts – Love Is Energy (DOP Mixes) and Disco Evangelists – De Niro. I dug out the Joe Roberts tune and found myself rummaging through the rest of my 90s tunes. I realised that some of these tunes I’d never used in a mix. So I made a mix. These are the tunes:
Schleichende Erkenntis – Sandmann. Sasha, Phoenix Festival 1997. First tune in a 4.5 hr set he did with John Digweed. I stayed for the duration, even as David Bowie was playing the main stage. This tune took a long time to track down, repeatedly referenced as ‘Unknown – Unknown’ or ‘ID’ in tracklists.
The Band (Original Mix) – Marco Zaffarano. Sasha, Twilo NYC 1997. All about the scales. Clearly I wasn’t at Twilo, I heard it on the wireless.
Heaven Knows (Galvatron Dub) – Angel Moraes. John Digweed, Essential Mix, Tall Trees 1995. ‘Deep Deep Down, all the way down’. A time and place.
In Front – Wan’ It? – NY Connection. Sasha, Essential Mix, Jan 1994 and Renaissance 2nd Birthday Party March 1994. All these years later, I’m still delighted to have this on 10″. It has stood the test of time well.
The Teazer – Solitaire Gee. Sasha, Rhumba Club June 1994. The only place I ever heard this getting played. As breaks and drum rolls go, this is epic. Can I have the rhythm?
Heart of Imagination – Sasha. Sasha, everywhere during 1995. This is a double A-Side with the more commercial Be As One. It builds to a massive piano breakdown.
Change (Brothers In Rhythm Mix) – Daphne. John Digweed throughout a lot of 1995. Typical Brothers In Rhythm vocal sound of that time. It makes me smile when I hear it now.
Run (Z2 Mix) – Ecano. I never heard this getting played out. To be fair, it was 1999 and I wasn’t going to clubs much at this point. Along with Size 9 (Josh Wink) – I’m Ready, one of the longest breaks I’ve heard. The drumroll goes on and on….
I thoroughly enjoyed putting this together. I apologise in advance for the condition of a few of the records.
If you fancy a listen:
Jaykits 