APOLLOJAMS! > Mixtapes > Room J: Electronica/Trance/Jungle/Acid Jazz

MIXTAPES > ROOM J: Electronica & Trance & Jungle & Acid Jazz (mid to late 90's)!! Either scroll down and enjoy the ride, OR: *Quick Jump* to the details by clicking on a mix number, (then hit "back" on your browser to return to this list): mixJ.01: DJ Garth (England): Live Skankin' Wicked (12/92) mixJ.02: DJ Doc Martin (SF): Live (5/93) mixJ.03: DJ Taylor (Los Angeles): Live at EKG (5/93) mixJ.04: Michael Cook: Live In Manchester (Part 1 of 2, 7/93) mixJ.05: Michael Cook: Live In Manchester (Part 2 of 2, 7/93) mixJ.06: DJ Marcos: Acid Jazz & Trip Hop Mix (1997) mixJ.07: DJ Marcos: Jungle & Dub Mix (1997) mixJ.08: Mike Parker: Hardcore Trance 1 (1997) mixJ.09: Mike Parker: Hardcore Trance 2: Electro (1998) Choose: Skip to the first mix here OR.... check out the Devildoll's babble (read on).
Usually on most sites that deal with this sort of thing, you'd be in some sort of dodgy room, full of spotty teenagers in two legged skirts who bummed the turntable money from their parents and think that "roots music" is 1994 trance, or the first 20 or so releases on Strictly Rhythm or Nervous Records.....sort of what i encounter in certain local "dance music" stores. Whoops, did i say that? Oh well, it's not like i can't get MORE ostracized. Ya gets no props here unless you "dress" the part. Welcome to Cali.... I question a lot of their motives. Very little of it has to do with loving music. The selection is pitiful...how do these places survive with what always looks like, if you crammed it all together, FIVE bins of vinyl spread out to give the illusion of *more*?? We've got TEN times that here and FIFTY times that in storage back East being prepped for shipping, a chunk at a time. Not tooting my own horn here tho i certainly COULD if i want (hey, it's MY SITE, innit?), just making a point, is all. Get RID of the damn couches and the obligatory (?) dance store "couch potatoes" and fill in the space with some PRODUCT, fer Chrissakes. The attitude is acting haughtily benefactoral as they half-step thru their gig....using DudeSpeak right out of an Anchor Bay/Old Navy tv ad ("Uhhhh....a BOOK!"). Moving "onesies or twosies" of NON-returnable overpriced imports to Wanna-Be's, 98% of whom are just indulging a 6-month whim until Daddy orders them off to lawschool? Ick. But i digress.... Not to fear. You're in an Apollo Zone. We work it to the bone. We've got shit here to make you believe. It's ALWAYS in the mix. In the mid-80's, you had two VERY concrete genres: House (from NYC/NJ/Chicago) and Techno (Detroit). One could (justifiably) argue that House came from "garage" (which in turn, came from 70's disco), and that Techno evolved from the sped-up combination of Kraftwerk and the NYC street "electro" of "Planet Rock". But basically, the lines were clearly drawn. Our dance music was the product of a specific region, just like wine or cheese. THIS is house. THIS is techno. THIS is bass. THIS is hiphop. And so on. During the late 80's, early UK labels like Music of Life, Rhythm King, Warp, XL and others developed artists and producers who bought and were influenced by records from these different U.S. regions BUT felt no loyalty to 'regionalism', instead COMBINING the genres that they were exposed to. The first obvious hybrid was "hiphouse", basically a house beat with a rapper over the top. Then "ragga house" (house with a Jamaican-style MC) and of course, "raggamuffin hip hop" courtesy of Asher D. and Marley Marl. Oh, and there were some mostly laughable UK & European acid 'translations' that oddly evolved into a massive reinvention of "Techno" and managed to even steal the name from its' very different "Detroit" forefathers by 1991. And that's where the story of THIS room really begins. As the 90's got into full swing, the two 'roots' genres referenced above spun an ever-widening web that incorporated just a TON of influences, from musical to regional. All these....stupid...fucking...NAMES that hinged their distinction on the most facile of factors: a certain beat, a certain keyboard, a certain chant. Trance, tribal, goa, bigbeat, gabber, triphop, downtempo, drum & bass, electro (another *stolen* name from the early 80's), jungle, acid jazz (neither "acid" nor "jazz"), speed garage (loved THAT one: neither "speedy" NOR "garage"). And on and on and on. It's all been what Chris Rock referred to when he did his dead-on bit about the European explorers who sailed west till they found America: "uh...listen... Don't know how to break it to you, but...you've discovered SOMEONE ELSE'S BACK YARD, CHUMP!!!!" Still, altho we always championed the 'flavor de jour' just because hey, it's something NEW to market (sort of, but sssh! Quiet as it's kept...) and actually, i can't think of ANY musical genre from jazz thru rock thru soul that didn't go thru name change after name change. But the fact remains: there hasn't been ONE SINGLE music movement in the 90's within the dance music spectrum that isn't basically something from the 80's that SOMEONE hopes-to-God you don't know about, so they can repackage it under THEIR name and get the money/fame. What we've created here is a list of absolutely SUPERB mixes that transcend their categories. I've chopped down the number of entries in this section from a pretty long list (30 or more in the original print catalog!) to this shorter, more targeted selection for one simple reason: in the more competitive world of the Internet, it's important to offer mixes that LAST and warrant repeated listening year after year, not just sell mixes that are the musical equivalent of Big Mac's. So i chopped the "flavors de jour" to form a base structure of a mixroom i'm hoping will grow and grow in both number and diversity. From the world reknowned dj's like Garth & Doc Martin & Taylor & Michael Cook, to the Apollo superstars like DJ Marcos & Mike Parker, i think we've got a superlative "start" of euro & U.S. takes on "fringe genres" that had at least ONE shining moment in dance music history. This is just a barebones starting point. The first five entries are third-party tapes, meaning they were laid on me and i just flat-out loved them (as a result, NO track listings are available on these). Tapes 6 thru 9, and hopefully beyond, chronicle the emerging "next generation" of forward-thinking dj's, like DJ Marcos and the very talented Mike Parker from Baltimore and Definitive Records fame. We're "jungle-y" and "acid jazz-y" and very VERY hardcore "trance-y" up in heah! Yeah Baby!, blah blah blah, well wicked and all that...(sheesh!)...BUT If there's anything "new" on the horizon, I trust in these guys to take us there. Let's get to work:

mixJ.01) DJ Garth (England): Live Skankin' Wicked (12/92) (90m. (a) cassette-only for now, but do-able on cd if you want: just ask) Smooth trance and late night grooves.
mixJ.02) DJ Doc Martin (SF): Live (5/93) (90m. (a) cassette-only for now, but do-able on cd if you want: just ask) Trance and progressive house.
mixJ.03) DJ Taylor (Los Angeles): Live at EKG (5/93) (90m. (a) cassette-only for now, but do-able on cd if you want: just ask) Trance and progressive house with a l'il latin spice.
mixJ.04) Michael Cook: Live In Manchester (Part 1 of 2, 7/93) (90m. (a) cassette-only for now, but do-able on cd if you want: just ask) A steamy two tape megamix live at a Manchester after-hours. You can try just one, or both as a full set.
mixJ.05) Michael Cook: Live In Manchester (Part 2 of 2, 7/93) (90m. (a) cassette-only for now, but do-able on cd if you want: just ask)
mixJ.06) DJ Marcos: Acid Jazz & Trip Hop Mix (1997) (2cd only, no cassette) November, 2004: newly remastered/expanded. Was 90m. NOW: 123m! Highly recommended for cool-down, chill-out (but funky) late nights by yourself or with someone special. Marcos performs beautiful blends and an excellent song selection of not just the "obvious" trax, but picks and chooses from some eclectic sources you wouldn't necessarily associate with "acid jazz". And created a seamless non-stop mix that is both soothing and dazzling at the same time. Come get some of this goodstuff!
mixJ.07) DJ Marcos: Jungle & Dub Mix (1997) (90m. (a) cassette-only for now, but do-able on cd if you want: just ask) Jams include: > 88.3: Wishing on a Star (Sm:)le) > DJ SS: Gold (white label dub plate) > Special K: Knowledge (Low Key) > Ganja Cru: Wooha (white label) > Evil II: Cops Ain't Shit (white label) > ???: Sound of the Underground (S.O.U.R.) > DJ SS: Silver (white label dub plate) > Sniper: Dub Plate Special (white label) > Tribes of Ishticar: Junglist (Congo Nate) > Dillinja: Motha Fucka (Philly Blunt) > DJ Dara: Dog Eat Dog (white label dub plate) > Desired State: What Goes Round (RAM) > UFO: His Name Is (Talkin' Loud, UK) > Chronic II: Round 2 (Chronic) > Renegade: Imprint (Renegade Hardware) > DJ Krust: Future Unknown (Talkin' Loud, UK) > Renegade: Dark Soldier (Dread) > Renegade: Constant (Rising High, UK) > IQ Collective: Mode One (Trouble) > Omni Trio: Soul of Darkness (Moving Shadow, UK) > ???: Ain't Armand (UK white label) > Shimon & Andy C: Night Flight (RAM) > Basement Jaxx: Fly Nite (MultiFly) > Jay-Z: Can't Knock the Hustle (NWS) > DJ Rap: No Return (Low Key) > Origin Unknown: Valley of Shadows (RAM)
mixJ.08) Mike Parker: Hardcore Trance 1 (1997) (90m. (a) cassette-only for now, but do-able on cd if you want: just ask)
mixJ.09) Mike Parker: Hardcore Trance 2: Electro (1998) (90m. (a) cassette-only for now, but do-able on cd if you want: just ask)