Getting down to Biz-ness

When things were getting fluffy - and in Sydney in the 90's things invariably were - you could always count on Biz-E to deliver something serious.  Biz was the true champion of proper, booty-shakin' techno right into the early years of the 21st century and although he doesn't seem to DJ as much anymore he's still kicking about, and producing some pretty cool techno.  He's just Biz now, though.  The 'E' has gone the way of, well, E's in general.

This tape comes from around '95 and the music has aged well.  With the passage of time music styles change, reference points change and in that context this tape brilliantly captures what was 'NOW' at the time it was recorded.  I remember thinking at the time this tape was quite minimal, but compared to today's minimal it most definitely isn't.  This tape is lush and beautiful in places, utterly slamming in others.  It's straight up and twisted. Sometimes it's frenetic, other times it's quite restrained.  Much like I remember Biz-E the many times I heard him play - unpredictable yet tight.

Download Biz-E's "Fresh Outta The Lab" Side A
Download Biz-E's "Fresh Outta The Lab" Side B

Pleasuredome '94 - Best party ever?

Everyone has a party they look back on as a favourite.  For me, it's Pleasuredome '94.  It was absolutely massive but retained just the right illegal, warehousey feel.  It was the third party I went to and I'll never forget first walking in and wondering why so few people were dancing.  It was a mad surprise realising the small group I could see was just the very back of the dancefloor, and there were about 4,000 more happy ravers going nuts just around the corner.  And with sparklers, everyone seemed to have sparklers.

What an awesome night followed - the huge chillout full of old, street-side lounges; a pumping, intense hardcore room up the back, and particularly memorable sets from Pee Wee, Jade and a little, unknown group named Infusion.

The UK's DJ Slipmatt headlined the night and first introduced me to the UK breakbeat style, a style it baffles me never really took off in Sydney.  His set covered all the big, breaky numbers of the day - all four SMDs, "In Effect", "In Complete Darkness", "Ool Lortnoc" and many more.

Adelaide's Maestro D is on MC duties and, despite my general distaste for MC'ing, I really enjoy it.  His style really carries forth the idea that you were in that moment, in the midst of something epic, a true Australian raver aesthete.

There were more Pleasuredome tapes in existence.  I had the Pee Wee set on loan at one point and would love to track it down - or any other sets from the night for that matter.  Can anyone help?

Click here to download Slipmatt live at Pleasuredome '94 Side A
Click here to download Slipmatt live at Pleasuredome '94 Side B
Click here to download Slipmatt live at Pleasuredome '94 Side C
Click here to download Slipmatt live at Pleasuredome '94 Side D

Who the f*** is DJ Apex?

I have no idea who DJ Apex is but this might just be my favourite hard trance tape ever.  I lost my copy back in '96 and have been trying to find it ever since.  Happily, through this little blog it has once again come my way! 

The tape was originally picked up in '94 and as far as I can remember had a prism with light passing through it on the cover.  I also seem to remember being told Apex was DJ Fenix using a different moniker for his trance sets.  Can anyone confirm or deny?

The tape flies along around 170bpm and, unusually, gives barely a nod to the predominant happy-hardcore sound of the day.  There's the odd scattering of anthems like "Enter the Arena" and "Wizards of the Sonic", but for the most part this tape is all about the underground, with a hard trance sound that's somewhat bigger and dumber than the more popular Hi-Shock tapes of the day.  I say that in a good way as this set really is a lot of fun!

Click here to download DJ Apex - Spectrum Side A
Click here to download DJ Apex - Spectrum Side B

DJ Jade - Liquid Everything

So I'm going to do some tape ripping of my own this weekend, but in the meantime I've discovered the one and only DJ Jade has posted her entire back catalogue for download on Facebook.  "Liquid Anthems" is my pick of the bunch, distilling the best of the other tapes into one sweet 90-minute mix.

I purchased three copies of this tape back in the day.  The first I lost along with a prized Walkman.  The second was part of a long-running argument with my girlfriend at the time, to whom I was adamant I'd loaned the tape while she was adamant I hadn't.  Needless to say, it turned up at her house some months later.  Total win for her 'cause she got to keep the tape since I'd already bought another.  Smart girl.

Click here to check out Jade's back catalogue on Facebook.
(You don't need to be registered with Facebook to view this page, but seriously, is anyone not on Facebook these days?)

Trance used to be GREAT. Really!

So next on my list of rips was meant to be Jasper's blindingly good Mercury Mixes, but I've been beaten to it  by Spectrum on ITM.  Cracking tapes these are, and well worth the download. When I listen back to trance like this, it really does make me wonder what happened.

Part 1 is especially good.  It's taken from a time when  trance really began to establish itself as not just a genre but a force within dance music.  The raw trance from the early 90's is spit-polished with shiny, new production values but the template of what makes trance "trance" is still not quite set.  As such you get a varied set, each track experimenting with the palette in its own little way.

You can tell trance has developed that little bit more by the time Part 2 rolls around.  While following a similar path to Part 1, there are definitely parts that are identifiable as one of the many genres that splintered-off around the time - psy-, hard-, techy or whatever.

Click here to download the Mercury Mixes via ITM or

Click here to check out the whole thread and leave a little love

Can't mix with 2 decks? Try three!

Okay, so the title of this blog is a little harsh.  I've heard Crisis pull off some blindingly good mixes.  But the fact remains for the most part his mixes were deeply unsophisticated.  An off-time train-wreck, if you will.  How this prompted him to become a master of three decks intrigues me.

But it was always about the tracks with Crisis.  Solid sets of hardcore were his trademark, never heading overboard into nosebleed territory and never settling for crowd-pleasing cheese-fests either.  Respect to the man for that.

This mix comes off CD, picked up around 2004 or 2005 from Cash Converters of all places.  A $7.00 win amongst a whole rack of Hanson's first album.  I'd never heard this album before then (I'm back on Crisis now), but the artwork suggests it's a companion title to the much-loved "Crisis Sunday 3AM".  And it's of a similar quality to that mix, if a little harder.

Downoad Crisis Mental 666 Techno Extreme

Carl Cox Live in Sydney, wrecked by a shit MC

I fucking hate MC's in electronic music.  There are three exceptions to this rule:

• The UK's MC GQ, who appeared on a few UK Jungle tapes I managed to pick up over the years.
• Adelaide's Maestro D, most famous for his MCing on Spellbound 8
• Steve Spacek.  If you haven't heard him get your ass down to Void NOW to see what I'm talking about.

In the above cases, these men apply their own creative talents to give something more to the music.  Most importantly, they use their talents sparingly.  Less really is more.  The other 99.9% of MC's "work the crowd" by screeching random shite over the top of the music with scant regard for anything but the sound of their own voice.

This mix contains possibly the WORST MC EVER, who comprehensively destroys Carl Cox's otherwise epic DJ set at World Party in early '95.  Damn shame, because the music is brilliant.  The set covers similar ground to the infamous F.A.C.T mix CD, with the energy levels increased by Cox's vigorous 'live' mixing style.

Audacity, the software I've been using to rip the tapes here, has some fantastic filters like "Noise Removal" and "Click Removal".  If only there was an "MC Removal" it would be a win for everyone.

Download Carl Cox live in Sydney 1995