As heard on Enrica Falqui’s excellent set for Kiosk Radio, ‘The Download’ is an early 21st century Dutch trance track which sounds so much better pitched down. This changes the track completely, bringing it into the realms of fast chug and embellishing it with a thick veneer of sleaze. This seems to be a current trend. It’s not the first time that I’ve recently come across old trance tunes that have been given a new leash of life within the sets of non-trance DJs searching for that high-intensity seamless flow. This is the way things are moving and I expect it to be more than just a thing next year. Fine as far as I’m concerned. There are loads of great tracks that have been too casually jibbed because of their apparent cheesiness, when all that was wrong with them was that the DJ at the controls didn’t know how to deploy them properly.
Monday, December 29, 2025
Sunday, December 28, 2025
Track Of The Day: Viper Patrol - Bizarre Feeling (Nocturne)
A very versatile track this. One that effectively blends chug and trance, and is used,as such, to devastating effect early on in Unai Trotti’s recent RA mix. It’s a dense, deep trip through the underbelly of an eastern promise gone horribly wrong. The type of warped, messy musical detritus that decomposes itself at will, only to reconstitute itself in the most melodic way. When you listen to this you can’t help but ask yourself “What were they on?” Which is the bottom line as far as I’m concerned.
Saturday, December 27, 2025
Track Of The Day: Moodymann - Radio (Peacefrog)
The opening track of Moodymann’s 1998 ‘Mahogany Brown’ sums him up as well as anything he’s done I think. It’s seven minutes of transistor dial twisting, taking the listener through an aural collage of different, late night soul drenched sonic flavours. It’s abstraction Setting the tone for the rest of the album, which is a bit wayward and lacking a solid narrative. That’s ok though, inasmuch as up to the time ‘Mahogany Brown’ was released, Moodymann has been milking his secret side, coming across as some sort of house music outlaw. ‘Radio’, as a consequence, has a similar function to the coded messages in ‘Orphee’, which ape those of the French resistance, ,and are meant to be understood only by a select few.
Friday, December 26, 2025
Track Of The Day: J.S. Zeiter - Taken (MCMLXV)
He’s made a lot of tracks, but this one, which came out last spring, is one of his best. What I like most about it is its depth and aquatic feel. I could be in a submarine listening to this, going deeper and deeper and not realising where I am until the pressure gets the better of me. A few more well-deployed synth gurgles and I can imagine this fitting nicely into one of Barac’s many dub/trance marathons. Essential cold weather music to keep you cosy and introspective.
Wednesday, December 24, 2025
Monday, December 22, 2025
Track Of The Day: HMC - Body Mechanics (Juice Records)
From 1995’s ‘Southern Cross EP’, ‘Body Mechanics’ is a singular acid track that doesn’t highlight the 303, if that’s at all possible. The focus is the decaying riff of an electric guitar, put through an electronic mangle and draped over a linear beat. It’s ‘LSD’ that gets the most plays from this EP, and it is probably all-round the best track. But there’s a power and a contrasting deterioration that this tune brings together so well. When it was released everything on this EP was caned by the discerning techno DJ, and it’s tempting to say it was “very much of its time”. However, all six of the tracks on ‘Southern Cross’ have aged very well and still sound fresh.
Track Ot Yesterday: The Black Dog - Age Of Slack (Black Dog Productions)
I wasn’t aware of the first few Black Dog releases, like this one, for example. I was still listening to a lot of hip-hop and finding my way into rave culture via much more commercial paths. Tracks like this though, and the already featured ‘Virtual’, were staples on the UK rave circuit, and were instrumental in merging the sound of Detroit with a more home-grown interpretation which has gone on to become every bit as influential. You can hear the beginnings of hardcore in these grooves, and Ken Downie was a driving force behind this. He has left behind a great legacy.
Saturday, December 20, 2025
Track Of The Day: deWaal - Timelapse (Ooz)
I’m a bit late to the party where Ooz is concerned. Better now than never though. And ‘Timelapse’, from deWaal’s ‘OOZ05’, is the type of track that I have going through my mind from dawn til dusk. It’s a self-propelling grenade. On the edge as far as the tempo is concerned. I would pitch it down a bit meself; it’s got that tech house feel of old though. Tempo -wise reminiscent of releases from days of yore on Wiggle, Surreal, etc. And straight out of sarf Landan as well. Has Palace Vinyl taken over as the spiritual home of these beats from Swag?
