A Berlin classic: Currywurst from Zur Bratpfanne on Schloss Strasse
Ok, this should have been posted yesterday, but such is life!
If you saw Mondayday’s post you’ll know that I’m currently sorting through my records in our new Berlin flat. So, for today’s edition of the (very occasional) Tuesday Time Machine, here’s a look at all nine of the tunes that are nestled (somewhat precariously) on top of the stacks in the picture. I have a big collection, so there are even more tunes out of view!
First up, let’s jog your memory with the pic again:
Working clockwise from the top left, first up is Liquid Art’s first release on Hook Recordings. My pick of the tunes on this release is Xplorer, a classy piece of driving hard trance that was a favorite of Mark EG and M-Zone’s back in the day. If you want to hear this tune in the mix, check out Rampage Archives 3.
On an entirely different tip, to the right of that on the top of my UK Bass pile (most is still in a box, though) is Hypnotic by Trusta, a fine slice of, er, hypnotic electro-bass released last year.
In the top right-hand corner is my London acid techno pile, with the awesome Choci & Geezer remix of ‘Acid Air Raid’ by Solar Quest sitting right on top. As one of the comments on YouTube says, this is “an absolute belter of a track, if ever there was a poster child for the? facemelting acid sound, you could do a lot worse than this. A track that could transform exhausted dancefloors into wrything seas of jelly at any time of the night.” A total acid monster which, bizarrely, I have never featured on a mix. This is something that needs to be rectified! In the meantime, if you are looking for acid, how about my mix for 7D The Seven Dimensions of Euphoria?
On the right-hand side we have the first of two piles of European hard trance. For clarity’s sake, I split them by speed (roughly) with the faster stuff on the left-hand side and the slower stuff on the right. As you can see, I have more slow than fast tunes, and the top record on this pile is Mandala’s Remixperience EP on the almighty Noom Records. This was a special remix EP of Mandala’s Astralia EP, and it featured remixes from Brainstorm, Commander Tom, and, as featured above, acid trance superhero Cores (aka Michael Kores). Again, this is yet another tune I’ve not featured on a mix … even with all of these dozens of mixes, I still have loads of tunes I’ve never used!
In the bottom right-hand corner you have one of my dubstep piles (the other is just to the right, out of view), with Kryptic Minds’ awesome album One Of Us on top. Originally released on Swamp 81 in 2010, this is now farcically expensive (at least judging from prices on Discogs), so maybe I should sell it … Anyways, if you like the ‘pure’ halfstep sound, then you can’t really outdo this album, which is deep, dark atmospheric dubstep, bathed in oceans of sub-bass. Basically, if you like the kinds of nights where the bass is so powerful it makes your nostrils flap like a flag in a hurricane, then you’ll recognize cuts like Three Views of a Secret (above) or Generation Dub.
Right on the bottom is a tune that I actually featured pretty recently – Mercy Mercy by jungle legend Cool Hand Flex, which was the opener on last year’s Dark Side of the Nuum mix. That’s the jungle pile right there, so you know there are some serious goodies stacked up!
This is cheating slightly, but in the bottom left corner you can see a little sliver of orange. What’s that? It’s Concentration by Gang Related and Mask on top of my jump-up drum n’ bass pile. Gang Related and Mask are the aliases used by DJ Krust and Roni Size for their jump-up expeditions on the almighty Dope Dragon label. Sick tune – and featured on a certain mix called Urban Shakedown.
As I mentioned, I have two piles of European hard trance, and on the left hand side you will find my pile of fast stuff (155 bpm+), with one of the greatest hard trancers of them all sitting pretty on the top – the infamous hoover monster Are Am Eye? by the one and only Commander Tom! A tune that absolutely annihilated dancefloors upon its release in the mid-90’s, it features one of the greatest breakdowns ever made, twinkling pianos leading into an industrial grade mentasm fest. 100% classic. As featured on my own Rampage Audio 2 mix.
Last but very much not least, right in the middle you find Earth Volume One, a compilation of drum n’ bass and downtempo tunes from a number of different producers, as collated by LTJ Bukem. I was actually planning on putting up my fave tune from the comp, ‘Tokyo Dawn’ by Doc Scott, but for some (inexplicable) reason, there is no proper full length version of it on YouTube. You can hear it on Drop The Hammer 1 however! So, instead I’ve put up ‘Above And Beyond’ by Funky Technicians (aka Total Science) and PHD, which is a rather lovely atmospheric drum n’ bass tune.