The curse of missing tapes

Anyone got this tape set floating about?  I have the cover but the tapes are long lost.  Would love to rip and post....

Classic CDs from '94

Two classic CD's from 1994 here.  Well, sort of anyway.  If I recall correctly, Paul Holden's "Happy to be Hard" was originally released on tape in 1994.  The edition posted here is dated 1997, and trumpets its status as "the first ever CD released by Australia's #1 DJ Paul Holden, remastered and edited into a 'Gold' collectors edition".  Having never owned a copy of the tape edition I don't recall whether it differs greatly from the original, but I presume it's the same.  The mix itself is nicely summed up by the puffery on the rear of the CD case: "This mix captures the essence of Happy Hard Bouncy Beats that is Australia's party scene".  Although it's a pretty Sydney-centric view of Australia's party scene if you ask me.

"Jumpin' Jack in the Box" is my pick of the two.  I can't listen to it without thinking about the period around Christmas and New Years '94/'95.  To me, it's the real deal of the rave sound from that time.  The predominant happy hardcore sound of the day features front and centre, but the mix itself offers so much more - bouncy techno, Noom-style hard trance, UK breakbeat.  Despite the style jumps, the mix itself is (for the most part) quite tight and sounds fantastic today, probably because it doesn't rely on anthem after anthem after anthem to keep the energy levels going.

Download Jumpin' Jack - "Jack in the Box"
Download Paul Holden - "Happy to be Hard Gold"

Two sides of Nik Fish

So my tape player is most definitely on the blink, which makes ripping kind of difficult.  Luckily, I have a few goodies on CD and other media from which to post while I get on top of the situation.  If anyone happens to be handy with that sort of thing, please feel free to get in touch...

This 1997 "mixed cd in twp parts" (oh, how I love Rave spelling!) from Nik Fish is perhaps one of his lesser known mixes.  Divided into two tape-like 'sides' it gives us a trance mix and a hard house mix, providing a real window into what was happening at the moment where - save for some notable exceptions - the big parties completed their move out of the warehouses and into the clubs. 

Download Nik Fish - Underwater Mixes Part I
Download Nik Fish - Underwater Mixes Part II

Why does your lifestyle give you such a big smile??????

Okay, okay, okay, okay, OKAY!

If there's one question I get asked more than any other, it's "when are you going to do the Spellbound tapes?"  And, I guess no true Sydney DJ Tape Archive would really be complete without them.

I've not bothered with them til now because I had thought they were all posted online elsewhere, but with the ageing of the tape lists on the Inthemix and Oldskool forums, the links are all more or less dead so I think it's time for a refresh!

I can't understate how big a part these tapes played in my raving life.  Dancing as the sun rose to Volume 6 on top of a mega dirt mound at Sydney Park with a posse of randoms after Space Cadet 33 1/3 got shut down; first hearing Volume 7 on the packed bus on the way to and from Sunrise (Freedom 3) - wherever on Earth that party was held.

Most poignantly, though, it was listening endlessly to my pick of the bunch, Spellbound 8, recorded at Prodigy 7.  To this day I kick myself for missing that party, and the opportunity to hear that set live.  It's probably the ultimate set of 1995 Happy Hardcore tracks and Maestro D's awesome MCing spawned so many oft-repeated lines, such as the one from which this post title derives.

The collection below was not ripped by the archive.  I'm merely reposting the hard work of others.  (But I was able to provide the cover art for some of them!)  There's more to come, but I'll have to rip those ones myself.  Look out!

Download Spellbound 5 Side A + B

Download Spellbound 6 Side A
Download Spellbound 6 Side B

Download Spellbound 7 Side A
Download Spellbound 7 Side B

Download Spellbound 8 Side A
Download Spellbound 8 Side B

Download Spellbound 9 Side A + B

(The above tapes were not ripped by the Sydney DJ Tape Archive)

We're back, and we're slamming!

 

After a small hiatus following some technical issues, we're back with plenty more mixtapes and memories!  What better way to start off than with Jumpin Jack's slamming Mix CD "New NRG".  I'm not 100% sure whether this CD is from '96 or '97, but I'm putting it at '97 'cause that's when I bought it and hammered it.

This was the sound of some of the predominant clubs of the day - Friday nights at Sublime on Pitt Street (no Rewind Bunnies in those days!), early Plastic at the Palladium and Transmission.  The set is heavy on anthems like X-Cabs "Neuro" and the fantastic Jon the Dentist remix of "Stuck on a Space Trip".  Excellent!

Download Jumpin Jack - New NRG

Back soon!

After a few months technology-enforced hiatus the Archive will be back on deck soon.  Watch out!

More Pleasuredome goodness...

I was a huge fan of Pleasuredome '94 and have been eager for quite some time to track down as many sets from the night as possible.  Thanks to Rob RadioDog for posting a link to DJ Angus' set from the night in the comments on my previous Pleasuredome post, which I've not heard before.  It's a great set which contains many of the great anthems of the day and skits effortlessly between happy hardcore, more Italian stuff and even a little house.  Pretty darn good!  Also below is the DJ Vic set from the night which, while a little harder, is just as good.

I have the full Pleasuredome video floating about my house somewhere.  I'll have to work out a way of posting it to the archive as well.  It would be great to get a full archive of available sets from the night.

Do you have any of the other Pleasuredome tapes?  Hit us up in the comments or on Facebook!

On the Archive's Facebook page, there's a bit of chatter on the wall from others who have tapes squirreled away, just waiting to be ripped and uploaded.  From my standpoint I'm particularly interested in "official" tapes that were put up for sale (you know, with covers 'n' shit) and live sets from legendary parties.  Hit us up in the comments or on Facebook and let us know what you've got!

At the moment I'm trying to upload tapes I haven't caught online elsewhere, so if you're looking for something in particular that isn't on here, there are hundreds of tapes in the forums on Inthemix or the Oldskool page on Facebook.

Click here to download DJ Angus live at Pleasuredome '94 Side A

Click here to download DJ Angus live at Pleasuredome '94 Side B

Click here to download DJ Vic live at Pleasuredome '94 Side A

Click here to download DJ Vic live at Pleasuredome '94 Side B

(These tapes were not ripped by the Sydney DJ Tape Archive)

Or click here to read our post featuring Slipmatt's set from the party