trouser enthusiasts August 8, 2007

 

i used to be really into clubbing. when i first moved to london i took the opportunity to abandon the cheesy townie clubs of my hometown. after several years of rectangular bouncers, snakebite and black and guest appearances by aussie soap stars desperately seeking that panto contract, london’s thriving 1994 club scene was an eye opener.

no carpeted walls to be found, these clubs were either impossibly cool in a hacienda, minimalist fashion or impossibly glitzy, like malibu stacey. then there was megatripolis.

as students forever seeking a bargain night out, we would arrive at heaven on a thursday and enter a different planet. megatripolis was not so much a club as an experience. you could use the internet, which was a revelation in 1994.

i have absolutely no idea which dj’s i heard there, it was all you could do to find the dancefloor via the labyrinth of chillout rooms, bars and market stalls. megatripolis was more than a club - there were fortune tellers, poets and the soundtrack was early trance.

early trance was nothing like the genre most people love to hate, gatecrasher-style hands-perpetually-in-the-air trance. it wasn’t too fast, too cheesy or too produced,  it was minimal, rhythmic and experimental. i loved early trance but i remember danny rampling playing a trance set in 1996 at the leisure lounge that killed the vibe and it was all over for me beyond that point. it had become a wall of noise, a characteristic of the music I loathe, such as rock and metal. 

him indoors loves all trance, he doesn’t seem to mind (or realise) that he can’t dance to it cos its too fast, and forgives the cheesy ‘i’m an angel, flying higher’ lyrics and tiresome 80s covers. so I made him this mix to remind him of the good old days sucking on lollipops and buying complicated bongs down under the arches…

proper trance – download here

slam  – eterna

gipsy – i trance you

leftfield – song of life

gat decor – passion

hardfloor – acperience

rising high collective – fever called love – hardfloor mix

robert armani – circus bells – hardfloor mix

bedrock – for what you dream of

klatsch – god save the queer

mory kante – yeke yeke – hardfloor mix

jaydee- plastic dreams

leftfield – open up

robotman -do da doo

felix – don’t you want me – mars plastic remix

ramirez – hablando

poltergeist – vicious circles

age of love – age of love

jam and spoon - stella

grace – not over yet

man with no name – paint a picture

dance 2 trance – power of american natives

quench – dreams

pete lazonby – sacred cycles

jam and spoon – follow me

art of trance – prana

westbam – wizards of the sonic

pete lazonby – sacred cycles

jens – loops and tings