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Pearsall presents Squat Rocking 7: The D.A.V.E. The Drummer Tribute
right-click, save as to download this free mp3 mix
Mixed in Berlin, February 2016
100% Vinyl
(92:53, 212 MB, 320 kbps MP3)
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Style: Acid Techno: A Tribute to D.A.V.E. The Drummer
Direct link to the mix:
http://sonicrampage.org/mixes/sqr7/Pearsall-SquatRocking7(DaveTheDrummerTribute).mp3
Tracklisting:
01. Chris Liberator & D.A.V.E. The Drummer – Happy Birthday (Noom)
02. Dirty Blonde & D.A.V.E. The Drummer – The Ugly (Havok)
03. Thera – Menace (Boscaland)
04. Vibe Bar Rejects – Disturbance (Smitten)
05. D.A.V.E. The Drummer – Amphetamine Or Cocaine (Routemaster)
06. D.A.V.E. The Drummer – The Sound Of The Future (Eukatech)
07. Sentience – Break The System (D.A.V.E. The Drummer Remix) (Full Blown)
08. Creeper – Undulator 23 (Immersion, Chris Liberator & D.A.V.E. The Drummer Remix) (Stay Up Forever Remix)
09. Kektex – Predator (Routemaster)
10. Kektex – Treatment (DJ Slop) (Routemaster)
11. D.A.V.E. The Drummer – The One Last One (Smitten)
12. Time Stretch Armstrong – Fuel For The Fire (Stay Up Forever)
13. Kektex – Inner City Junkies (Routemaster)
14. Henri Lorenz – Hackney Council : Bunch Of C**** (Routemaster)
15. D.A.V.E. The Drummer – Freedom Fighter (Smitten)
16. Henri Lorenz – Red Herring (Routemaster)
17. Dynamo City – One Night In Hackney (Stay Up Forever)
18. S.H.L.A.G. – Traffic Lights (Hazchem)
19. Weathermen – Domination (By Any Means Necessary) (Boscaland)
20. D.A.V.E. The Drummer – Conspiracy 23 (Routemaster)
21. Kektex – 2 Lines Of K (Routemaster)
22. Star Power – Nothing Can Save Us London (Stay Up Forever)
23. Time Stretch Armstrong – Ad Astra (Stay Up Forever)
Keep up to date with The 780 Project
All photos in this post by Molly Macindoe
Week 9 of The 780 Project is here, and I am very excited to drop the first new Squat Rocking mix in two years time, and this is (in my very humble opinion) a very good way to return, because this edition is a tribute to Henry Cullen, a.k.a. D.A.V.E. The Drummer, one of the true heroes of the London underground acid techno scene.
I’ll get the obvious objection out of the way right now – indeed, there are no tracks from Hydraulix on this mix. Really!
Yes, this is a very major omission. It’s the man’s own label, after all. I realize that!
Why have I taken that approach, though? Well, six years ago I sold off all of my hard techno records, including all of my Hydraulix collection, and I didn’t think that it really made sense to re-buy some of those tunes on vinyl just for the sake of this mix, especially considering that I otherwise already own about 70 records that Mr. Cullen played some role in making. I suppose I could have bought some digital copies from 909London and burnt them to cd, but I have plenty of his music, so I thought why bother? Hydraulix is a great label, though! Well worth exploring.
So if I didn’t use any of his releases from his own Hydraulix techno label, then what did I use?
This mix mostly focuses on Henry’s acid techno releases, with some techno sprinkled through to break up the 303 mayhem. I guess I would need to double-check, but pretty much everything on this mix is from the 1990’s, when these sounds were rocking the London squat party scene. As you can see I’ve used a constellation of different artist names on this mix, and they are a mix of aliases for solo releases and collaborations.
Here’s a list of the different acts involved:
- Solo releases: D.A.V.E. The Drummer, Star Power
- Thera/Dynamo City: D.A.V.E. & Chris Liberator
- Vibe Bar Rejects: D.A.V.E. & Steve Smitten
- Kektex/Henri Lorenz: D.A.V.E. & Lawrie Immersion
- Time Stretch Armstrong: D.A.V.E. & Geezer
- S.H.L.A.G.: D.A.V.E. & DDR
- Weathermen: D.A.V.E. & Julian Liberator
I’ve tried to chop things up nicely throughout the mix, with some techno bits to break up the 303 madness, and obscurities to balance the anthems. It’s good fun stuff, and exactly the kind of music that used to rock the London squat party scene back when I was, well, younger and thinner than today. I’ve also tried to use my own style of mixing throughout, with plenty of cuts, and quick mixes interspersed with long fades, plus sudden dramatic switches and so on. As you know, I’m not really a fan of the “wait five minutes and do a quick segue” style of mixing, especially with techno, so in that sense I think the mixing featured in this mix is very much in line with the style of the man himself.
Free music for free people!
As a little bonus, here’s a quote from an interview with D.A.V.E.:
What were the best things about being at a key player in the 90s when acid techno was at it’s peak?
It was a crazy time, we went mad at the weekends for days and tried to stay sane during the weeks, I made a lot of music, had some hard times and some super long parties, went abroad, played a lot and loved every minute of it, yeah it was good, not quite superstardom, thank god, but it was fun to have people totally loving what I was doing for a while.
How much has the scene evolved and changed since you first joined the circuit 15 years ago?
I’ve watched things come and go from the hippy traveling scene through the squats and then the raves, it has mutated in many different ways, people have grow up, had kids, changed direction and younger faces have come in with new ideas, and things have moved on. The world is a very different place to how it was 15 years ago. Essentially the idea is still the same, but the music and the lifestyle has changed in many ways, mostly because of the laws that govern things like squatting and illegal parties, which have pushed certain things further underground. The resurgence of punk and the live band scene has been good.