superlongevity

 

around the period 2000-02 was when i really discovered what i then referred to as 'glitch house', but i now understand is commonly referred to as 'minimal house'. in the pre-podcast days, living in australia, removed from the clubs of europe, it was a series of mix CDs that opened up my mind to these sounds. i have tried to place them in the order i discovered them. i remember very clearly a time late january 2001, a few weeks after i had an amazing new year's eve filled with some mindblowing music. i was feeling lost. i didn't know where to go. but i found myself at a record store in melbourne and i bought two CDs: herbert's "globus" mix and uusitalo's "vapaa muurari live". these were revelations. both opened my mind up a sound i was only just aware of, and i am not exaggerating when both renewed my faith in electronic music. "superlongevity 2" i bought from the same store. first time i heard i was wondering whether i'd just wasted my money. but i kept listening. and i fell in love. later in 2001 i found myself in japan and there were a series of other purchases - mixes from swayzak, bell and ricky v - that cemented my love and interest in this genre of music. after listening to this sound of music on CD, the first time i really got to hear it in a club was ricky v playing at fumiya tanaka's chaos party at the liquid room in 2002. it was one of those sets where you just felt like you were getting punched from every direction at the same time. i had no idea what villalobos what was doing, what records he was playing, it wasn't techno, it wasn't house, it was somewhere in between, but it sure as fuck wasn't tech-house, i know that. whatever it was, it was one of those nights that leaves an imprint.

looking back at these CDs i am pretty sure most of them have stood the test of time, especially the two globus mixes on tresor. i don't think it would be too much of an overstatement to say that the dan bell mix became a template for aspiring minimal house DJs. for me, though, it was always the herbert one that had the special place in my heart. this was before he became a completely pretentious wanker. there is something so warm and endearing about this mix, and the tracklisting looks just as sublime today. he even managed to mix booty techno into plastikman and make it work. if you have never heard this mix, i think it just got a re-release, so hunt it down and check it... this is a very long introduction to the point of this post: the club globus never meant shit to me. it was just a watered down version stuck onto tresor, the club that i was really interested in. but these two globus mix CDs were pivotal in introducing me into a whole new way of thinking about and appreciating music. and in this sense, globus does mean something to me.

the reason for all this reminiscing is that our good friend eric cloutier has down the latest promomix, and yes, you guessed it, the club he did was globus. eric has done a mix that revisits this era, and these sounds, in a beautiful and loving way. listening to it i was filled full of different memories and recollections of a different part of my life. the mix goes beyond some of what i am talking about here, but for me it captures that time of my life in a similar way to these mix CDs act as important markers of those memories. so listen, remember, enjoy. thanks eric.

eric cloutier - promomix - globus

Swayzak - L.O.9.V.E. (Pagan)
Salz - 1b (Salz)
Theorem - Cinder (Minus)
Soylent Green - Low Pt. 1 (Playhouse)
Superlova - 100% Bomull (Stir15 Recordings)
Dimbiman - Good Morning, Eyeball (Perlon)
Sutekh - Murderans (Drop Beat)
Stewart Walker - Amateur Surrealism (Matrix)
Wier - Laptop (Reused) (Organized Noise)
Wise Caucasian - Celestial Empire (Mosaic)
Precession - Sandcastle (Ferox)
Baby Ford - Normal (Is It Normal? Club Mix) (Rephlex)
Aril Brikha - Groove La Chord (Fragile)
DBX - Flying Saucer (Accelerate)
Steve Poindexter - State Of Shock (Chicago Underground)
Aubrey - Jazz Oscillator (Ferox)
Oz Artists - As If the Living Were Moving (Oz Interactive)
Dimbiman - Round? (Pal.Sl)
Minimal Man - Six Of One Pt.1 (Trelik)
The Memory Foundation - Un-Theme (Mosaic)
Aztec Mystic - Aztlan (Underground Resistance)
Stephan G + The Persuader - Chaos (Svek)
Byron C. - Isoplace (Obsession Music)
Swayzak - Burma Heights (Pagan)