Total Confusion - remix from pirate radio - One for Torsten

[Zen Peddler]

^{And some nasty '93 Rotterdam - this one was huge:}

Edited July 6, 2012 by Zen Peddler BlueGreenie

[Zen Peddler]

and some new stuff but that captures the vibe - takes a while for the 303 to kick in

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0ktK76pmuc

Edited July 6, 2012 by Zen Peddler BlueGreenie

[Zen Peddler]

[Torsten]

I met so many awesome people when I was in europe, especially during my time in berlin. But these were all just normal people. Stardom hadn't changed them yet. All very hard working, inspired, inspiring, and approachable.... that's what made the scene grow. As a DJ i naturally met a lot of DJs, but as a vinyl distributor in a start up market I got extra perks ;)

Met Sven Vath a couple of times in germany, but he was always rushing around and in high demand. He played a gig at the Phoenician Club in sydney [the place that Anna Wood died at] where he was much more relaxed, so i actually spent more time with him in oz than overseas. This actually happened a few times as these DJs were commercial superstars in germany, but underground artists in australia. eg Commander Tom couldn't believe he had to score his own drugs in australia as overseas everyone was throwing pills at him ;)

[at0m]

I met so many awesome people when I was in europe, especially during my time in berlin. But these were all just normal people. Stardom hadn't changed them yet. All very hard working, inspired, inspiring, and approachable.... that's what made the scene grow. As a DJ i naturally met a lot of DJs, but as a vinyl distributor in a start up market I got extra perks ;)

Met Sven Vath a couple of times in germany, but he was always rushing around and in high demand. He played a gig at the Phoenician Club in sydney [the place that Anna Wood died at] where he was much more relaxed, so i actually spent more time with him in oz than overseas. This actually happened a few times as these DJs were commercial superstars in germany, but underground artists in australia. eg Commander Tom couldn't believe he had to score his own drugs in australia as overseas everyone was throwing pills at him ;)

 

I'd just like to say I absolutely love your stories. They're all so damn interesting!

[Zen Peddler]

I remember reading hardfloor used to use five 303s at once when playing live:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BO-OHthuQ_0

Sven did some really interesting stuff earlier then it all got a bit strange and quite commercial. I liked some of his ambient shit from 1995 or so. Then it just became cheesetrance as I call it. I can safely say I met none of the big names. A mate claims to have met Blake Baxter but I thought he was full of shit. I met some interesting characters in Melb though LOL. I wonder what happened to a lot of them.

And a bit of UR to bring back the memories. I ran into a bloke with a UR jacket on one random wednesday night at the Lounge in 2005 or so. That was a trip. next time I went back there it was a beer barn full of bogans and asian students. Considering what it was like in the late 90s its hard to believe.

[Zen Peddler]

I found this group on facebook talking about the dudes that tried to get Rising High records to sign UR for england and how apparently the releases under RH were never authorised because 'none of the pasty white boys' ever got their shit together for long enough to meet any of the UR dudes who spent hours waiting in the RH office.

Pretty sad what happened to Caspar at such a young age. I never read the full story about that but quite sad. I got the iobe that he was sick for a while before he went as well?

Edited July 6, 2012 by Zen Peddler BlueGreenie

[etherealdrifter]

Some Caspar for ya ears:

 

 

Savage@the Palladin, Fantasia??........you guys are stirring up some really fantastic memories here. Acid was my formative years...it will never be forgotten. I seem to be having something of a difficult time remembering those nights though haahaa........actually, come to think of it, ZPB i think that was me standing next to you in bra and undies. You were holding a wand and flickering angeldust everywhere from what i remember.

[Torsten]

I am sure you are aware that even though amsterdam and rotterdam are only about an hours drive apart, their music in the 90's was worlds apart. Amsterdam was most closely aligned with frankfurt in terms of style, which was the more melodic acid, techno and trance. Rotterdam was noize and at least 30 BPM faster. I did get into the rotterdam gabber for a while, but funnily enough that coincided with my 6 months speed habit ;)

That M-age track is a bit fluffy ;)

Hardfloor probably needed 5 x 303's and nothing else

I know loads of artists who gave up trying to get signed to the bigger acid & techno labels. The labels were very distinct so anyting slightly outside their target style was usually put n the backburner. That meant some real gems were neglected. The bigger the label the worse it got. But you know, in those days it only cost about $3000 to get a pressing and there were plenty of independent distributors. At least half of the vinly I imported was not from major labels and probably a quarter was what today would be called a vanity release.

Atom - I had a pretty exciting life and never let fear or comfort hold me back, but at the same time also had focus. I feel privileged to have grown up in a time when there was real innovation and to have been part of the birth of a subculture. The timing could not have been more perfect and that's what I feel so lucky for. I was already a professional DJ with two residencies when house music grabbed me and refused to let go. This was a couple of years before I consumed my first drug other than alcohol, so I feel that my brain was wired for this. In '87 the highlight of my fortnight was my 2h trip to central station records in melbourne. The guys there knew me well as I was one of only a handful of DJs buying that weird acid house they were importing. Some of the records I bought in those days are so precious I keep them in a bank safe!!

Obviously after my first acid trip I knew exactly where it all fitted together and the music had to be more than a job but rather a lifestyle. I see that the people who were in the house music industry at the very start have a very different understanding and perspective than those who came in later. I look at my DJ teacher who was a few years older than me and see that like most others he was already so set in his ways that he did not see the potential of house and consequently missed out on the career, lifestyle and opportunities. I also see DJs who came later and many simply don't get the origin of it all and especially the musical diversity of the early years, which I feel has an impact on their evolution and innovation. you'd be surprised how many of todays DJs and even producers don't know what a 303 or 909 is for example, while this was simply unimaginable in the early 90's. I still have a pile of my old rave clothes - half of them emblazoned with the 303 logo ;)

I was also extremely lucky that I am german and my dad lived in Berlin, so spending time over there, getting involved in some of the cutting edge technological events and collaborations quickly connected me to all the right people. I was lapping it all up, but also invested all my energy into it. I never do things without full attention and enthusiasm. If its not worth giving your all then its not worth doing at all.

I never seeked out any of the big names .... except Ellen Allien, but that was because I had a crush on her ;) All other DJs and producers I met just because of the business connections, the music production work, the rave promotions, the drugs, and the travelling. I have a terrible memory for faces and names, so most of the time when I met these stars I'd be talking to them because they were interesting and only later found out who they were. This wasn't helped by the fact that they'd usually be introduced by their real names rather than DJ names. I usually don't even recognise people if I run into them 6 months later, so even if I tried to mooch up to stars it wouldn't work. Like I said, I feel real lucky to have just cruised through all this with little effort other than total dedication to the scene.

[nabraxas]

talk about nasty, that sex on cocaine track was horrible.

we used to watch & laugh at the folks trying to keep up w/that kind ov hardcore.

i met Sven Vath at a party in Melbourne, seemed like a nice guy, but yeah after 1998's Fusion i kind ov lost interest

[Torsten]

The track that put Noom records [commander tom] on the techno map in 1994 to become one of the most successful trance labels:

Nexus 6 - Tres Chic

 

 

and the Acrid Abeyance remix of Tres Chic = AB Chic

 

 

I prefer the original, but the remix gave this track a longevity on the dancefloors that was quite unprecented among the fast moving style changes.

[Zen Peddler]

Savage@the Palladin, Fantasia??........you guys are stirring up some really fantastic memories here. Acid was my formative years...it will never be forgotten. I seem to be having something of a difficult time remembering those nights though haahaa........actually, come to think of it, ZPB i think that was me standing next to you in bra and undies. You were holding a wand and flickering angeldust everywhere from what i remember.

 

LOL do you guys remember those weird long beanies that were in for a while back then? I remember Ollie Olsen had one down to his bum.

Central Station was indeed a must. I was pretty young and often my only way of hearing new tracks was at clubs, mix tapes and then trying to explain what they sounded like to the central station dudes to see if they knew what it was.

You want fluffy - how about some Namlook trance:

And this was the UR link that I forgot to insert:

Edited July 7, 2012 by Zen Peddler BlueGreenie

[Zen Peddler]

yeah sorry about the Rotterdam. I was a bit excited last night after a drinks and got carried away. You've got to build up to a track like that. Energy and nasty but a little too much LOL

[Zen Peddler]

Still trying to get some people to find out what that original total confusion track actually was...

[Zen Peddler]

ahahah - Id completely forgotten this freakout:

 

[Zen Peddler]

shit there is lots of stuff on youtube now, much of it Ive never heard.

[whitewind]

Man this thread is the most fun I've had in years! I never figured out the names of most of the stuff I listened to back then, so it's a real blast to hear these things being posted on youtube, I wouldn't really know where to start looking! It's fucking great hearing the behind the scenes action from Torsten too.

All this stuff appeared out of no-where way back when I was just starting to go out, and it was so full of energy nothing could compete. It rocked all the dancefloors in the UK, it wasn't worth going to if it wasn't an acid house party. The energy was like nothing else, and it has to be said it has never been repeated - much as I love clever modern psytrance with all it's amazing ability to mix in sounds from everything and anything it can't compete for sheer exuberance like the original stuff. Mind you, one of my fave tracks posted up here - never heard before so it's blowing me away - is that Fourth Rebirth that Torsten put up. That's so good even my 18 month old kept asking for more! She tapped in to the akashic records, started jigging up and down waving one finger in the air! The only other music she really gets off on is a Shpongle Live video on youtube she can't get enough of. Good taste that one.

I love that Spaced episode, it was so funny, really took me back to the days. The water bottle scene is a classic..

[toby]

Torsten, I remember a party round that time, in the back of camperdown public school,

Forgot what it was called but remember quang, lance and biz e played later in the night, and the chill area was in another class room with the lights on. Was that rebirth?

[Torsten]

yes, that's the one. it wasn't just in the back, but in the classrooms! I never made it past the main room as one of my friends was having a bit of a meltdown, so we stayed at the back of the main room and in the rear corridor where the music was the loudest (and most grounding, LOL). We weren't much of a chill out room crew anyway. I thought it was rebirth, but now that you mention it, I got my wires crossed a few years ago. Good thing I posted about it on another forum in 2008 and now found my own post, LOL. It was actually overdrive. I still have the mixed tape for that party too. Simon (HiShock), Gemma and MD were playing too. It was the first time I'd heard Biz-e play and he blew me away. Poor guy at the BP service station down the road had no idea what was going on, but he was hell busy selling drinks and chewing gum all night.

The little raver dude in my new avatar was the character used in the rebirth comic strip.

so here is Overdrive:

 

 

[Torsten]

whitewind, youtube is great cos all you do is find one track [eg one of the ones listed here] and then surf via the suggestions on the right of the screen. Or you can do youtube searches like "1988 acid" and disappear down the rabbithole for hours ;)

I am lucky to have a huge acid vinyl collection, but as it was all 'filtered' by the guys at central station records in those days, a lot of it simply never made it to australia. one track I had never heard until about a year ago is "Jesus loves the acid". I only clicked on it cos it sounded like a funny title. It is one of my all time favourite acid tracks now and also one that can still hold its own 24 years later.

 

For anyone wondering about the very beginnings of acid, including the origin of the name, it is generally credited to Phuture with the track Acid Trax. It's actually a case of the track came first as a DJ release and when people called it that 'acid track' it was named so.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKbLI8EufNo

[toby]

one i remember from overdrive!

 

[at0m]

There really is a subreddit for everything.

http://www.reddit.com/r/AcidHouse/

[nabraxas]

this was my wifes '92 favourite:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnfz5xMiIH0

[Zen Peddler]

While im trying to turn the rest of that pirate radio mix into a youtube video ill leave you with one of my favourite of Caspar's work:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AeHOVy3N0Q

Such an eckie song!

[Zen Peddler]

Wow! I found this one randomly and instantly recognised it:

 

Trying to find Doppelganger by FLF but its not on youtube.