the death of Global Underground as a prog comp..

or was it really ever a prog comp given the first couple of releases came from then hardhouse and trance dj's?


anyway next Global Underground is from...

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=83880840&blogID=348179200

another pick about 5 years too late.. would have thought even a minimal dj would be a safer pick in this day an age...

FELIX? UNDERGROUND???

oooooooooooooooooooooookkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

Since when has any of the GU djs been underground tho?

Well by a scale of dance music in general with 1 being Aqua and 10 being some pseudo-jazz-livejamm-Moodymann-ish guy the GU compilations would be an 8.

They pushed a completely un-commercial sound for years - only the series of CDs themselves gained enough popularity to become a target for swipes.

They're easily as underground as Fabric in their musical content. (referring to the artist CDs not the new GU Mixed-type ones).

Having said that - they're also usually pretty damn boring to me.

R

Oh.. and Chymera rocks.

And you know it Matt

R

Yeah it's not about whether or not the dj's are commercial or well known. It's whether or not they are pushing an underground sound, and for the most part GU has pretty much always done that. Though I can't honestly say I've paid much attention since Digweed's LA comp.

All those years of caning it are coming home to roost.

Haha - I just noticed it was Chymera's blog. Nice work.
Sounds like that dirty ol Felix will go for a liquid approach... tho if any of you guys were out of nappies, you'll have realised he used to be the king of liquid big room sounds, which predated most of the GU guys by a fair few years...

I wasn't taking the piss, was just saying that if the Djs who do Gu are in the top 10, 20 or even 50 of the 'best dj in the world' (sic) awards, then the name is purely marketing blather, and if you were honest, if it was "Global Dance Hits" with exactly the same music, over two thirds of the audience wouldn't have even come back for second helpings.

And yeah, Fabric is pretty commercial, the difference is that they are a lot more diverse, so you're going to be entering many different rooms at a club apart from the main one if you know what I mean.

Still, both solid as.

I'd much rather hear Felix do a mix like this than most... even tho he's not been that relevant for a decade.

Well I wouldn't have guessed that

The man cannot mix (not that you need to for these comps but still).

I honestly would have thought they would have tried to get teneglia. Everyone was raving about him from MWMC. Howells is about due too given the past standard rotation of him, warren and Deep dish. Id like to see one from carl cox actually...

How was the layo and bushwhaka one? Any reports?

Have you heard him mix live matt (anytime in the past 5 years?)
Either he's doing a frankie wilde or just can't be assed mixing at big parties now.

That he was. My god, hearing this at the Box was a privilege.


Also...
Felix Da Housecat "Metropolis Present Day Thee Album" - a masterpiece!
Maddkatt Courtship "Welcome to Club Strobe" - massive!
Felix Da Housecat "Smak Dat Ass" - massive!
Aphrohead "10" LP - massive!

And more.. After he did 'Silver Screen' I gave up on him.

R

Tenaglia is working on four-CD "Be Yourself" comp I think.

Howells has only done one proper GU Cd as well hasn't he? His 24/7 CD was better IMO. As always, needs more Bent.

R

From Chymera's myspace page



What a legend.

R

I've heard him a few times, a couple at the big parties have been pants, the bdo he had major gear probs, tho some ace tunes (he was just turning to the dark side, tho played a few stormers).

However, if he hadn't been lured by the commercial hell that is electropop he'd be able to out mix any house dj you could name. Solid as hell. Pity he's sold out.

Basically - he was the Moodymann of peak-time mind-fuk house in the mid 90s.

R

haha - perfect description there warner

Were you going to the Box when "In the dark we live" was big?

I remember being there and that dark vocal going over and over "I can, I can, I can, I can, I can, I can see the light". Actually it was sort of prog come to think of it - Dave Clarke was ahead of his time..

R

Yeah, actually had got that tune a bit before I heard it out. Sweet down in the dark sweaty pit that was the box.
Clubs these days need more darkness and sound density.

I havent heard much of the GU stuff since the deep dish 25 (or was it 24? 26?). Sashas 13 Ibiza was the best in the series closely followed by Darren Emerson 15 Uruguay. That shit was underground for ages until "underground" got cool and wasnt so underground. Now its just pap....

Oh my lord

Risk - you love your Euro-prog don't you?

R

LOL Felix is doing a GU? Never would have guessed that.

His last album was about exciting as a pop tart and the last time I saw him mix every transition was a HUGE filter that started with one track and ended with the next.

Oh how the mighty have fallen...

I simply cannot articulate how i thrashed the Sasha "San Fran 009", Dave Seaman "Buenos Aires 012" and Sasha "Ibiza 013" and what they meant to me when i has 14/15 years old.

those albums just epitomised what then was underground trance in the late '90s. every track was winner and have most of them on vinyl (after 5 years of searching!)


Sasha at his hardest and best, changing genre like changing gears, carpet bombing the place with progressive anthems.


havn't cared much for GU since Digweeds's "LA 019".

Yep those were the glory days. Sasha's two GU's, Seaman's Buenos Aires and Digweed's Hong Kong all came out in relatively quick succession and were just filled with amazing tracks.

I remeber Buenos Aires disc 2 escpecially getting a ridiculous amount of plays in my discman. Redshift Descender into Planisphere Deep Blue Dream into Christian West Eterna into Origin Refinied Intricacy 99' - fantastic run of tunes!

OMG I'm really revealing my trance roots.

Speaking of which... Leroy - you mentioned a GU hawtin CD. I had thought that a bit out of the park but just realised that he'd not do it due to contracts that bind minus to novamute/mute... which give him a MUCH larger bit of the pie, and he would easily sell as many as a GU comp on his own anyhow, the only reason he'd go there would be to get a new audience, but it'd be an audience that would be severely divided over the music, which would make the sales suffer, and make him less money...
er. Make sense?

Anyhow. Still think it'd be odd for him to do it. Now, I can see why GU WOULD really want him too do so since tech and minimal sales have been pretty much the thing that have been selling well, even CD wise.

Blather........ as you were.

the thing is commercially speaking, "PROG IS DEAD". Not even another nana Nick Warren mix would sell.

I think it's safe to presume the Felix will be GU034 Chicago. Will sell shit loads in his home territory and State Side, plus massive cross over into the Indy kids market. The CD will be pro-tooled to fuck, so the mix should be safe.

Wouldn’t surprise me at all if it's followed up with GU035 Hawtin, Berlin.

Target Marketing down to people, place and dj. Instead of "superstar Dj played their" approach. Might be one of the only ways left to make CD Comps a commercially viable venture.

Felix's mix will sell really well...like it or not, he's fucking popular...and MOS kids will lap it up, and hey, it might make them try out other Global Underground CDs too. Though probably only Freelands one.

Alos curious about Layo and Bushwacka's one...any reports???

Matt's right imo, Plasticman one wouldn't sell well...the prog fans who like GU, but don't like techno so much won't buy it, the MOS/Indie kiddies won't buy it, and the hardcore techno fans who love Hawtin may even boycoutt it coz it's GU! I hear that's how they roll!

I'd buy Felix on GU. Even though I say GU have lost the plot I mean that they abandoned 'prog' a bit prematurely and, as mentioned, they are tending to pick up DJ's way passed their peak. The Darren Emerson mixes sucked and recent Nick Warren's, even Danny Howells werent that great.
The Prog House/Trance lovers stuck with Renaissance or moved to Balance.

GU was big when Prog = Trance by Sasha, Oakenfold, Dave Seaman... Listening to Capetown or Melbourne or Ibiza I mean really - it is trance. GU helped break those Superstar DJs into the infant dance markets (ie NZ) so they were of huge importance seeding the scene worldwide. They opened the US, New York in particular, to Sasha and Digweed.

GU has simply had its day and in the contracting dance CD market its no more relevant than anyone else.

Couldn't DISagree with you more! They were a much needed step out of the box for the time, a contrasting sound to that of other release at the time, aside from Tenaglia, is was ALL 'reach for the lasers' prog-trance, and it wasn't an "underground" sound anymore...and they're both fucking awesome mixes!

They haven't dated/aged half much as some of the other GUs! You'll all harping on about the trance-esk days, the Sasha mixes and that's just emotion talking from your prog-honeymoon period, I've re-listened those CDs recently and they sound dated as hell...hollow, old and dull imo...the sound as old as they are...Emerson don't, which is the true sign of a well made CD imo.

Emersons GU 20 is my most listened GU compilation, I can go back to it again and again and again and it's beautiful...haunting and housey in parts, deep tech-house and slamming techno groove...it's brilliant! Perhaps you should re-try it Astral...fully respect your opinion normally, but that batty trance shit is clouding your judgement.

haha. I agree with your sentiment as I also really like Tenaglia London and Diggers LA wasnt exactly reach for the lasers stuff and I love that. Danny Howells was good, not really great though and I hardly listen to it now.
I just didnt like the Darren Emersons. Maybe Ive been put off cause he was so crap a Dj at Summerdayze as well

i live my life by it....