U-4-IC
U-4-IC is the name I go under when I'm DJing. If you've not worked it out yet U-4-IC is a phonetic pronunciation of 'Euphoric'. The style of this music is an eclectic collection of uplifting underground global-dance music. This "sound" is the result of years of listening to dance music; its what I've built up to over the years, with the roots lying at Whirl-Y-Gig. And since Whirl-Y-Gig has played such a large inspiration in this aspect of my life it's not surprising that the 'global trance' sound has rubbed off in U-4-IC, with some tracks having a world theme, i.e. African, Indian & Middle-Eastern vibes combined with modern European trance & dance production. I also play a lot of chill-out and down tempo music, which you will often hear at Planet Angel in the Chill Bar or at "post-club" parties. I've just compiled my fifth chill-out CD, titled 'Gently Down the Stream Vol.5 - Shikara Express', which reflects what’s on my current down-tempo play list.
I'm currently on leave from my residency at Planet Angel in London, although I will be returning to the decks in the near future. When i'm DJing you will often see me using CD decks as well as conventional turntables. The reason for this is that I own a lot of rare music that was only available on CD, plus countless killer tunes given to me on CD-R that i've never been able to track down the originals of. My opinion towards mixing with CD's is that if it works and sounds good then it doesn't matter whether the source of the music is from CD or vinyl. Mixing with CD's still requires a lot of effort, skill and, most importantly, a good ear for quality tunes, which is no different to the qualities required when DJing with vinyl. As a DJ i'm only interested in playing quality music and offering the crowd a night out they won't forget, and not the "image" and "attitude" that appears to be associated with many DJ's. At the end of the day the music I DJ speaks volumes, a statement that i'm sure would be echo'd by anybody witnessing my gigs.
The mixes listed on this page are what I've produced to date. They reflect the type of music I play when I DJ, each one a unique journey through global trance and dance. Currently available is the U-4-IC series Volumes 1-10 (as listed on this page), which essentially feature uplifting underground trance. I have also produced a series titled "Whirl-Y-Files" (Vol.1-4); these tapes/CD's reflect the music exclusively played at Whirl-Y-Gig, and hence are more along the lines of "global dance" mixed in with Balearic vibes. The series of CD's titled 'In This World' are a combination of the global & bigbeat type music that I seem to be playing more and more of these days, and a side-line of these CDs is my latest creation, 'Sounds of the Funked Up Generation'.
On top of all those are the 'Gently Down the Stream' CD's, which are down-beat/chill-out music.
E-mail me to obtain any of these tapes / CD's - please note that these have been recorded as DJ demos and that I am not attempting to make money from what is essentially copyrighted material.
See the bottom of page for information on how to book me as a DJ, or follow the links at top or bottom of page to go to the "Whirl-Y-Files" and the "Chill-Out" sections.
U-4-IC
[90 min. tape]
| Track Listing:
|
Following the production of the first two volumes of the Whirl-Y-Files I decided it was time to start DJing seriously and start developing my own style and unique sound. This tape, U-4-IC, was the result. It was recorded very early '99, featuring (at the time) a few virtually unheard of new tracks intermingled with some well-established classics. I started with Tenth Chapter's 'Wired', an old classic progressive houser from Jackpot Records which is the opening tune I used in my first ever gig. It's a long story, but in a nutshell I had an empty dance floor on my hands and a crowd of pissed off clubbers, simply because the previous DJ was absolutely crap (to the point where he was being asked to stop DJing). This made me even more nervous, and so I ditched my planned set that would have started slow and gradually built, and put on this track by Tenth Chapter which I only had as a CD-R at the time. Thankfully it had the desired effect and everyone was dancing in seconds - phew! So it's kind of fitting that I opened the tape with this track. Next up is a track by Jean Michel Jarre, something that I would never have thought of playing if it were not for the guy in Camden Market who is getting to know my style of music all too well. This lengthy Sunday Club remix is perfect for levelling off the pace, given that I'd opened with such an upbeat track. 'Flowation' by Vincent de Moor is another oldie classic; I think this was one of the first 12"s I ever bought. And then racing up-to-date with 'Liebe' by Ayla, an absolute superb German trancer that was originally written by Cosmic Baby. 'Spring Drops', again by Vincent de Moor, is a fun bouncy number that was released around about the time of compiling this tape. It's interesting that all the music media were harping on about the other track on this 12" ('Shamu'), whilst I found 'Spring Drops' more appealing. Then onto 'Protect Your Mind' by DJ Sakin, which was relatively unknown at the time of compiling this tape, and is a classic example of a superb track killed by overplay. However, it fitted at the time and to be honest I'd still play it today if the mood felt right. Into which Ayla cuts back in, this time with the fabulous Sacha (yes, Sacha - not Sasha) remix of Ayla's title track on Additive Records (which thankfully has remained non-commercial). This rolls over onto side B, where I've followed on with an all time favourite of mine, 'Yim' by Jez and Choopie. I heard this for the first time at Whirl-Y-Gig, where Monkey Pilot played the Qattara remix. Given that the Qattara remix is a hard edged trancer I found this didn't fit to well, and hence opted for the lighter Graham Gold remix, which works equally as well. 'Dream Universe' by CM on Hooj Choones just seemed like the obvious track to crank things up with and works a treat. Into this rumbles 'Universal Nation' by Push, another unknown Dutch trancer at the time. And then to close the set I chose a few lighter tracks, the first of which is 'Secrets' by the aptly named Viagra. This one was quite fun and uplifting, and so into the rather lengthy 'Ice Rain' from Xtravaganza Records. Up until this time I'd always veered away from vocals and hence this track was a big break for me - I had found a vocal based track that I really liked! And finally, just to round the set off, the edit of Tilt's amazing remix of Robert Miles's 'Children'. I chose this to finish with simply because its a superb tune, but on the other hand I didn't want to base my set around it because I knew that it was on its way to being a big commercial track - hence the short edit. And that's it - my first effort at a mix tape that had nothing to do with Whirl-Y-Gig type music. The result was a positively uplifting 90-minute experience; not perfect by any means, but it was a bold step in the right direction. At the time I don't think I realised what I had started!
U-4-IC 2 - The Elysian Fields
[90 min. tape / 80 min. CD / 80 min. minidisc]
| Track Listing:
|
Forward wind a couple of months and I started producing U-4-IC Vol2. I set out with the aim of producing a tape that was "commercial" - i.e. something I could give to pub and club managers with the vain hope that they would recognise some of the tracks. The first attempt started with the same first three tracks as listed on this final version and then onto a whole series of commercial dance tracks. I liked these first three tracks, but from then on it spiralled downhill and ended up in the cheese factory. After listening to it for a week or so I ended up hating it completely, realising that it was not the style of music that I enjoyed DJing or listening to, and was therefore not the type of music that was going to represent me. Hence I went back to the drawing board (i.e. my stack of vinyl, and paid a few more visits to HMV) and the result was this tape, which has turned out to be a real journey through trance music. It starts out on quite a deep foot with the original mix of Hardy Hellers 'ICE794', but then breaks into uplifting, bouncy trance with Yum Yum's 'The Vision', a classic trancer from Sperm Records. A quick detour into Ethnic trance with E-Razor's 'India' leads back into uplifting territory with the wonderful Gaelic sounding 'Sweet Images' by Chant. That's just the first four tracks - I guess you get the picture when I call it a 'journey'. Next up are the simple yet euphoric Kamaya Painters with 'Endless Wave'. A slice of mighty fine progressive house from Wisdom leads into 'Amber' by Natious, a track that has been caned by the likes of Sasha and Oakey. Over onto side B and the theme is considerably moodier. Lange's classic 'Root of Unhappiness' is followed by the minimal yet big building Salt Tank remix of Illuminatus's 'Hope'. Taucher serves up an uplifting break with 'Child of the Universe' before stomping off with what was an unheard of track at the time, 'Toca me' by Fragma. Subsequently this track has been re-released both on Additive and Positiva. I stick to my guns with the closing three tracks, with hard-edged trancers from Vimana, Sosa and Push. Looking back on this tape nearly six months down the road I realise what a huge step I'd made from the first U-4-IC tape; I had developed my own style of mixing and production, and the tunes spoke for themselves. Incidentally, the "Elysian Fields" is from Greek mythology and means "a happy otherworld in the West for heroes favoured by the Gods". Available as a 90 minute tape and as an 80 minute CD/minidisc (w/o tracks 7 & 13).
U-4-IC 3 - Etosha Pan
[90 min. tape]
| Track Listing:
|
Etosha Pan is the third volume in the U-4-IC series and was produced during the end of the summer '99. Volume 2 really established my own style and hence volume 3 continues to explore and develop this. It features a superb collection of tracks and reflects the strong wave of trance music flowing out of Germany, Belgium, Holland and the UK at the time. I've kicked off with 'Winds of Change' by the Sunday Club, which is a track I love to bits but is really difficult to slot into a set - hence I've placed it at the start! After the midtrack breakdown this track seriously takes off and sets the pace for the rest of the tape. This rolls into The ATB remix of 'Cream' by Blank and Jones - I've chosen the ATB remix because I believe it to be a quality remix that was virtually ignored simply because the single also featured a Paul Van Dyk remix. It also fitted with the piano theme of the following two tracks, 'Digital Times' by Star and 'Alone' by Natious. Now the fun starts, with the rather different 'Jabberwock' by Skyscraper; I fell in love with this track as soon as I heard it at the listening post. Moving gradually into harder territory via Plastic Angel's 'Shatten' is a clever rendition of the classical piece, 'The Flower Duet'. Now the set is at its peak, so in with a hard trance track followed by a hard houser from Jon the Dentist and Dave Holmes, respectively. The following two tracks, 'Nightshift' by Taucher vs Talla and DJ Panda's 'It's a Dream', are a couple of gems from Germany that I was tipped off about by a regular contact (cheers Thomas!). I've only got these on CD and hence this is an example when a dual CD player with pitch control is a necessity. UK based Lange puts in an appearance with his superb remix of 'Rock With Me' (naff title - excellent tune!), then onto another lesser known trancer from TBR, before closing with the semi-commercial 'Touched by God' on Hooj Choones and Signum's 'Coming on Strong'. These last two tracks have significant vocal content relative to the rest of the tape and make for a gentle close, rather than finishing on a full-on banging note. Again I feel I've made a significant step forward with this tape, both in terms of its content, mixing and production. The cover art was a mad five minutes of creativity on my behalf. It is actually a photo of Stonehenge that I took a few years ago, which I've cut out and placed behind a picture of some Ostriches who are legging it across the salt flats of Etosha Pan (in North Namibia, Africa). I seriously worry about myself sometimes!
U-4-IC4 - Top of the World
[90 min. tape]
| Track Listing:
|
I finished this tape in September '99. After U-4-IC 3 I returned to the Whirl-Y-Files and bashed out volume 3 in that series. I wanted a short break from the U-4-IC music, plus I'd acquired numerous new Whirl-Y-Gig tunes that I wanted to compile together. But following that I was ready to embark on U-4-IC 4. I open this time round with 'Memory' by Swan, on the same label that brought us Binary Finary's '1998'. I'd had the original mix in my collection since it's initial release at the beginning of '99, but with its long beatless introduction I had found it difficult to slot into any of my previous sets. However, new remixes were on promo from Aquarius and I'd just picked this up a few days before recording the set. It's a great uplifting track that I'm sure will be as big as '1998' when it gets a full release. The new Bedrock 12" from Diggers and Muir is a superb slice of deep progressive trance; I've taken the flip side track, 'Life Line', in preference to the hyped up title track 'Heaven Scent', simply because I prefer 'Life Line'. I'm starting to realise a trend in my preference to music - if the music media rave about a certain track or remix I'm guaranteed to think otherwise! Still, I'm playing what I believe is good music, and not relying on what other folks think. Nipper & Sueur is a superb white label I picked up recently; it's got this wicked riff that bounces through the first and last sections of the track. 'Together' is another of Talla and Tauchers collaborations, which I homed in judging on the previous 'Nightshift' single. Initially I was going to use the Sean Dexter remix, but then I managed to find the extra 12" which featured additional remixes, including this superior Push remix. Another great Additive 12" is 'Paradise' by Ralph Fridge. I've been meaning to use this track since U-4-IC 2, but somehow have not fitted it in until now. Time for a slice of commercial trance from Agnelli & Nelson, before returning to a lesser known German track by Zeitreise. I've purposefully gone slightly harder at this point, following a similar pattern to that used on U-4-IC3. This flows into the Dave Holmes remix of 'This is Who We Are', which contains elements of the excellent hard house track 'Samsara' (by Dave Holmes) that I used on U-4-IC3. System Lush is a project by Mike 'The Silence' Koglin with promoters and DJ's from the Irish club Lush. This track softens the tone back down again whilst keeping up the tempo at the same time - listen out for the sublime vocal in the mid-track breakdown. 'Slapbang' is a track from the same label that first brought us Hardy Hellers's ICE EP, and I think is actually a duo between Stefano Libelle and Hardy Heller, although minimal track info on this 12" makes it impossible to confirm this. It is interesting in that it features a near identical riff to that used in the Nipper & Sueur track back on side A of this tape. The two tracks back-to-back would be too much, but splitting them up by half-an-hour works really well. 'The Voice' by Blonde L is another track from Steelfish, who have been supporting some superb tracks recently. As the title suggests it features a wonderful female vocal that's sung in Latin, a bit like something you would expect to hear in a church! It's unusual, but it works a treat. Vincent de Moor serves up an uplifting remix of Armin's 'Communication', before hitting the true gem on this tapes, which is the Gigolo remix of Hardy Heller's 'I.C.E 794'. Whereas the original cut is quite deep, as used to open on U-4-IC2, this new remix on Additive Records is upbeat and really races along. And seeing as I was in the mood to revisit tracks I've used in the past I decided to close with this excellent new remix of 'Endless Wave' by the Kamaya Painters (DJ Tiësto in disguise). And that's your lot. After a few weeks of this tape going round and round in my car stereo i've decided that i'm more than happy with it and think its probably the strongest tape i've produced to date, if not a strong competitor for U-4-IC3. As for the cover art - I'm not even going to try to explain it!
U-4-IC5 - Ghardaia
[90 min. tape]
| Track Listing:
|
Ghardaia, which is Volume 5 in the U-4-IC series, took quite a while to finish, mainly because of the lack of seriously good tunes over the last few months. However, I got it finished in time for Christmas. This time round I kicked off with the new remix of 'Lift' by AZukx and Natious, a tune that is very close to my heart. At the time of finishing this tape the remixes hadn't been released and thus I'm extremely grateful to Gary from AZukx and Tim Ratcliffe (Natious) for allowing me to use this track. The original mix of 'Lift' is an old Whirl-Y-Gig anthem, that probably only escaped being a big mainstream club hit because of its low bpm. However, we hope this time round it will be noticed by some of the big names, especially now the bpm has been cranked up to about 128 and a solid progressive house beatline put behind it. 'Nanuki' by Digger seemed like the obvious follow on track, given the similar beats and subtle ethnic under-tones that compliment both 'Lift' and the following track 'Atlantis' by Solar Stone. This track by Atlantis had been a favourite of mine since I first heard it, since it uses an Adiemus sample very effectively and is an all round uplifting trancer. I change tune slightly with the Z2 remix of 'Run' by Ecano. This is another very strong track on the Aventgarde label that is seriously deep, slightly dark, and yet manages to retain an uplifting vibe. Next up is the Trommelmaschine version of Der Dritte Raum's 'Hale Bop' which is essentially a pure percussion based track - this one is great to play around with since you can get away with really long mixes. Hence I chose the Johnny Vicious remix of the classic 'Age of Love' by The Age of Love as the next track since this has a really long percussion based introduction which fits wonderfully with Trommelmaschine. 'Children of Africa' by Liquid Breeze is quite a simple trance track, which really has no links with the kids of Africa apart from the spoken sample stating 'the children of Africa'. However, it's simplicity is catching and hence it made it onto the tape (although it did take me over six months to buy it in the first place!). Onto the B-side and first up is 'The Sound of the Atom Splitting' by Final Fantasy which is a rare track from Germany by Ralph Fridge. 'The Hymn' is a fun number by Skyscraper, the same guys who brought us the wonderful 'Jabberwock' (used on U-4-IC3). It's uplifting and features choirs of high-pitched brats that gives it an angelic theme. Into 'Messsages' by Solange - there is also a Ferry Corsten remix of this track, but that would be too predictable, plus I prefer (again) the alternative 4AM remix. This rolls into the Mike Koglin remix of 'Symmetry C' by Brainchild, which is a revamp of a golden oldie classic from the EyeQ label. I remember when this was first released about 5 years ago - it was a darn good track back then and Mike Koglin has done it justice and remained faithful to the original. 'Cover the Sun' by The Other Benjamin is a lovely slice of male vocal progressive house, using a sample that I suspect is from David Bowie, although I may be wrong. Then into 'The 'Electrofunk' by the Space Penguins, which steals the hook from a really old track (1972) called 'Popcorn' by Hot Butters. It's instantly recognisable, really daft and lively - just what is needed to draw a set to a close. And finally is Ayla's latest single, Angelfalls, which I would have used earlier in the tape if not for the fact that none of the mixes are exactly DJ friendly, since they all end rather abruptly. So, that's volume 5 (which is named after a town in Algeria). Overall the sound is more trancey than the previous two volumes, that, in my humble opinion, makes for a pleasant break form the progressive house sound.
U-4-IC6 - Far From the Mad Cows
[90 min. tape / 80 min. CD / 80 min. minidisc]
| Track Listing:
|
I finished this tape in February 2000. I later remixed & edited it for the CD version in October 2002 (note the CD excludes tracks 12 & 14). The title of 'Far From the Mad Cows' was somewhat inspired by Thomas Hardy, an English Poet/Novelist. It's a play on words of his famous novel 'Far From the Madding Crowd', a title later used on Chicane's debut album. The artwork is from a painting of a cow that a friend of mine did a few years back when we were at university, which I've further adapted - thanks Howard. I've opened with Solar Stones latest track, 'The Calling', which is a wonderful, chilled breakbeat trancer; a perfect set opener or closer. The 'Church of Ra' mix of Digger's 'Episode 1' picks the pace up and gets things rolling, although I've held back a bit by then blending into the Ayla remix of 'Ruhe' by Schiller. Both of these tracks have an ethnic/world theme and complement each other nicely. It's from here on that the set really gathers pace, with a string of uplifting trancers including the Kamaya Painters, Control Freaks and Rank 1. The first two of these are both simple and subtle in their power and are relatively unknown tracks, but 'Airwave' by Rank 1 is a superb track that I know is going to be played to death once it gets its formal UK release - ho hum. I take a break from the uplifting trance and go a bit deeper and harder with the X-Cabs remix of 'Stargazer' by Deepsky, and then the excellent 'Teeth of the Jungle' by Terra Ferma. Over onto the B-side and into 'Totality' by Cassidy, which is a really clever deep trance/breakbeat fusion that's really grown on me over the last few months. And then back into the uplifting trance with 'End of Time' by DJ Energy & Tatana and Matt Darey's Mediterranean fuelled 'Bailamos'. I've used the Oliver Lieb remix of 'Universal Nation' to calm things down a little before finishing on a banging note with the latest remix of Three Drives on a Vinyl - 'Greece 2000' by York (Torsten Stenzels younger brother) and 'Angel' by Fridge. Like U-4-IC5, this tape is predominantly trance - the vibe is very uplifting and as a set it works really well. Onto Volume 7.....
U-4-IC7 - The Fifth Elephant
[90 min. tape / 80 min. CD / 80 min. minidisc]
| Track Listing:
|
Following Whirl-Y-Files Vol.4 is this latest outing of U-4-IC madness, 'The Fifth Elephant' (yes, its a play on words of the excellent film 'The Fifth Element'). Recorded in July 2000 as a 90 minute tape and a 80 minute CD/minidisc (CD/minidisc features tracks 1-11). This continuous mix follows on from where U-4-IC6 left off, keeping with the same summer vibe, although this time with less main-stream anthems. This is probably because trance music is currently enjoying a period out of the lime light, hence there are more underground tracks being produced and less chart bound tracks, which is good news for folk like myself. I've opened this set with a progressive house track by Philippe Van Mullem which sounds like a hybrid between Chicane, Paul van Dyk and BT. Its slow to build, yet sets the uplifting theme for the rest of the tape and hence makes for a great set opener. 'The Dream' by Dimension-D is another one of those trance tracks with spoken samples, which seem to crop up left right and centre in my music collection. This track isn't as dark as the mix title suggests and if anything keeps the uplifting vibe going. 'The Prayer' by Norlander features wonderful ethnic chants, another typical feature of the music I tend to DJ. 'Black Snow' by Rank1 is a less well known track compared to the chart hitting 'Airwave' from a few months ago. Whilst this is less anthemic than its predecessor, its a solid track and one of my current favourites. Then into 'Recalling 86' by Digger, from their third 12" release, which is actually quite commercial sounding relative to their previous two releases (see U-4-IC5). However, this track works really well in this set and follows on perfectly from the previous tracks. Up until this point in the set the vibe has been mainly uplifting trance and progressive house, hence I thought its time to change tune rather than let the set become stale and boring. Hence I've thrown in Tauchers recent 'Science Fiction', a mad outing of deep and dark trance featuring the craziest of spoken samples I've heard in a long time and some wicked acid tweaking fx. From here I've followed with a harder edged trancer from Tom Wax & Jan Jacarta, into which flows Travels 'Pray to Jeruzalem', another pounding trancer with ethnicy chants. 'Freefall' by Benno is a classic that has been missing from my collection for far too long, having only recently being able to get hold of it. After the brief hard and deep part of the set Freefall returns the vibe back to uplifting, cheeky and cheerful - this one really bounces along. The KayCee remix of 'Ein Schoner Tag' by the German based group Schiller is a clever rendition of Madam Butterfly, a concept that seems to be a little too popular at the moment given the recent release of 'Willow' & 'Dido' by Aria, plus Luminaire's rendition of the 'Flower Duet'. Next up is 'Xanthia', a blinding slice of ethnic trance that was written by a friend of mine whom generously allowed me to use it on this tape/CD. I sincerely believe that if this track got into the right hands its would be a huge hit in club land - however, as anybody who writes music knows, that's the tallest hurdle to get over. Anyway, thanks Tommie (& Chris and Barney) and best of luck with getting this track (and future tracks) released. The following three tracks only feature on the tape version of this mix. 'African Soul Anthem' by Arriva seemed like the perfect choice of track to follow on from 'Xanthia', given that it features more ethnic type chants. I prefer this Atlantis ITA remix over the original since the original goes a little overboard with the chants. Into DJ Eyal's 'Dreamcatcher', with the fabulously titled 'Tea Freaks Milk & Two Sugars Mix', which is quite a deep trancer, although once this one builds up its breaks with a beautiful anthemic melody. And onto the end I managed to squeeze in (and I mean squeeze!) a fantastic trancer from Sunbeam, a lesser known member of the Trance Allstars. This one is only a short track but it finishes the set in perfect style and is the icing on the cake for what is a perfect summer mix/compilation.
U-4-IC8 - Woof Factor Five
[80 min. CD / 80 min. minidisc]
| Track Listing:
|
Recorded September 2001. Its been over 12 months since I recorded U-4-IC7, the reason being that I've been exploring other area's of music including chill-out and all the funky bigbeat stuff i'm playing so much of these days. So here it is, Volume 8 - Woof Factor Five. There's a bit of a long story behind the title, but in brief: Rick Mayal used to play a character called Flash in the Black Adder TV series whose favourite line was "woof woof" whenever he saw a piece of eye candy. About 6 months ago I was joking around with a friend of mine and woof came into conversation, to which we then associated a numeric scale with "5" being drop dead gorgeous and "1" having received a heavy beating with the ugly stick. Hence Woof Factor Five. After trawling through lots of pictures of gorgeous models (which was truly awful, honest) I came to the conclusion that a more appropriate picture would be that of a typical builders bum. Hence the link of the cover art to the title requires a generous helping of sarcasm. As for the music - this time round its full on trance, and not so much of the progressive stuff that has adorned many of the U-4-IC compilations. Its a well balanced mixture of commercial and very rare tracks, opening with 'Voila' (an oldie from Platipus Records) which then flows into a lesser known belter of a track by the Ebop Allstars, featuring the spoken sample of 'Isn't Life Wonderful'. The mix then dips into a bit of a happy-house/trance fusion with SL's 'The Way it is' before swaying back into trance with the hard edged 'Estonian Blue' by Digger. This flows into series of rare German and Dutch trance gems, the first of which is Julika. Next up is 'Nothing is Over' by Possible Words, a rare German tune from the mid 90's that was written by Torsten Stenzel (who went on to work with Ayla, York, DJ Taucher, DJ Sakin & Friends etc). This one has a slow and long build up but it lets rip half way through in extraordinary fashion. The orchestral opening of 'Enlightenment' blends beautifully with 'Nothing is Over' and I regularly play these back to back in my current sets. Then into 'Once Upon a Time' by The Secret, a hard trance track with a slightly dated sounding opening, but once past the mid-track break this one soars. To finish I keep the tempo up with two classics, 'Wake Up' by Sunbeam and the fantastic 'DJ Culture' by Blank and Jones. Both of these tracks are pounding trancers which form the core of my current sets. Collectors of my mix tapes/CDs will probably find this one slightly harder than the others, which wasn't really planned and just happened I guess. Hopefully i'll get the tape version of U-4-IC8 done soon.
U-4-IC9 - Methuselah's Walk
[80 min. CD / 80 min. minidisc]
| Track Listing:
|
Recorded December 2002. This CD has been in the works for about 12 months. The reason for it taking so long is primarily because I'd not been happy with the overall standard and diversity of tunes of recent and also because my resulting 80 minute continuous mixes didn't show a great deal of diversity or originality over my previous CDs. Eventually, however, I cracked it and the result, Methuselah's Walk, is a blistering meander from breakbeat trance through to uplifting trance and finally tougher trance. The title and the original image used for the cover art of the CD is from Thomas Pakenhams book on 'Remarkable Trees of the World', a highly recommended read if you are at all interested in nature and the natural world. In case you are wondering, Methuselah is a biblical character from the old testament (the grandfather of Noah) who, according on lose translations of the bible, lived until he was about 950 years old. Hence the name 'Methuselah' is associated with being old. In this case, the Methuselah Walk is a path leading through a grove of Bristle Cone Pine trees, 10000 feet up in the White Mountains of California, as discovered and named by Dr Edmund Schulman in the mid-1950s. Found here in this harsh environment is the oldest living tree known to man, clocking in at an impressive 4100 years old! Whilst nothing remotely to do with music (or any reference to the fact that I'm about to turn 30 myself - thanks Charlie!), these trees are truly remarkable and struck a chord whilst trying to dream up a title and image for this mix CD.
It's a month since I mixed and recorded this CD and its still playing constantly on my CD player. The feedback from friends who have copies of it has been nothing short of very positive - could this be my best trance mix CD produced to date? I open with the breakbeat-trance mix of Cape Towns 'Skydriver', which I completely over-looked when I first got the vinyl a couple of years ago, hammering the more obvious trancey ET mix instead. Here the Urban Jungle mix is a perfect opener, with its uplifting chimes setting the vibe for this CD. 'Flashpoint' by Natious is another breakbeat-trance tune, also from a couple of years back. I've had to pitch this one right up since its not the fastest tune on the block, but what a tune! Then its into the deep rolling and thunderous instrumental version of 'Pray' by Syntax, a former member of Fluke. At the time of mixing this CD 'Pray' was doing the rounds as a white label promo and shortly it will be getting the full release it deserves with the vocal mix probably heading for the charts. From 'Pray' I break into a series of uplifting European trance tunes, the first of which is the excellent 'Desire' by Blank & Jones', who have regularly featured on my play lists for the last few years with tracks such as 'DJ Culture', 'Beyond Time' and now 'Desire'. Whilst bordering the upper commercial end of the type of trance I DJ, this is a great uplifting tune which really picks the crowds up on the dance floor and hence works well here at this point on this mix CD. 'Land of Illusions' is a trance anthem that I was introduced to by a guest DJ at Planet Angel (thanks Adam!) whilst 'Sweetest Dreams' by Corderoy (another promo currently doing the rounds awaiting formal release in the UK) is a slice of euphoria that really grabbed my attention when I first heard it on the Underground Beats CD that I subscribe to from the CDPool. 'On Y Va' by Karuma (by Ingo Kunzi aka Ayla) is an anthem that was first released in Germany back in 2000 and for some strange reason when Gekko Records (daughter label of Platipus Records) licenced this track in 2001 they left off the superior Allan McLoud remix. This is a favourite tune of many of my friends and gets a big response when played out. So after a string of anthems its time to take it a little harder, hence 'Excelsis' by DJ Energy, a tough trancer that retains anthemic qualities. Rather than let the vibe get continuously harder and tough, I dip back down into the lighter 'Dead Cities' by V-One, yet another tune that I completely overlooked when I first got the vinyl a few years back (this is becoming a habit of mine!) and stumbled upon it by accident whilst looking for another tune and happened to notice the title (V-One remixed Solar Stones 'Seven Cities'). Then its into the Lange remix of 'The Secret Wish' by Boccaccio Life (who are better known as Airscape on Xtravanganza Recordings), which suitably toughens up the vibe for the penultimate leg of this journey. I finish off with 'Japenga's Ride' by A-Tension, which is one of those tunes that really soars once it gets going and concludes this mix on a real high note.
U-4-IC 10 - Lost Property
[80 min. CD / 80 min. minidisc]
| Track Listing:
|
Recorded January 2005. It's been just over two years since I recorded U-4-IC 9 'Methuslah's Walk', which is a slightly longer than anticipated break. Yet again, the reason for this is mostly due to a severe lack of decent tunes being produced in the year that followed Methuslah's Walk, with the trance scene being dominated by uninspiring, repetitive commercial twaddle. However, things appear to be looking up again, as a recent surge of decent uplifting trance tunes have surfaced. So, with a range of new tunes at hand this new mix CD finally came together. In a nutshell, this mix focuses in on uplifting trance, featuring a handful of very rare & relatively old favourite tunes of mine (Trinity from 2001, Resistance D from 1998, Chrome & Price also from 1998 & Rodd-y-ler from 1997(!)) mixed in with some more recent anthems. The beauty of these older tunes is that they've not dated one bit, and still sound as fresh as when they were first released, which is always a sign of a good tune. For once I'm not going to write a full breakdown of the mix like I usually do and will sign off by simply stating that 'Lost Property' features a diverse range of driving & uplifting underground trance anthems that have been carefully hand-picked and crafted together by myself to give an 80 minute journey that twists, turns & flies! Enjoy.
Please note that I am available for DJing anywhere in the UK. Music style can be tailored to suit individual events. For further information on U-4-IC or for DJ booking information, contact:
Tel: 0777 6402269
