(10.14.06) Retrospection is an interesting concept. To delve into the past, to search
for links with today, to compare and contrast the now and the then. In
music, reflection can show how the digital has overcome the analog. MP3’s are
the new norm. But, is it the digital overcoming the analog, or the two
merging? MP3’s have multiplied the audience of electronic music immensely.
Yet, the 12″ slab of vinyl is as alive as it ever was. One medium of
expression that has always been associated with the world of waves, and not
0’s and 1’s, is mixing. Mixing, despite the invention of CD and MP3 mixers,
is still centered around the 1210’s. But, the mix tape is no more – the
digital age ate up the mix tape, like so many cassette decks did, and
recreated it in a 5″ digital form. An excellent move. Across the board of
electronic music, mixing is back in a big way. No longer is mixing seen as a
dire mish mash of dirty hardcore tracks, not it is seen as a showcasing of
excellent music from today and yesterday. One mix that has gone down in
electro history and helped breath new life into the DJ was I-F’s
inspirational All Mixed Up in the Hague CD – a musical medley spanning
modern electro, italo disco, electronica and much more. Alongside I-F,
DJ-bots across the globe were turning on their mixers again and spinning the
wax, such as the talent displayed on the Cybernetic Broadcasting System. One
DJ/artist also responsible for the second coming of the DJ is Serge, the
founder of Clone. For years now, Serge has been DJ’ing across the disco globe
injecting legendary dance beats into the bodies of men and women. After all
this time, Serge has finally released a mix CD – Vintage Future.
Vintage Future is a blueprint release, a map of how DJ’ing should be done.
The CD does not adhere to how too many modern DJ’s play, simply tracks of
the latest drivel belched out through the speakers. Serge has thumbed
through his well stocked record bag and pulled out some gems that he loves
for the ears of the electronic populace. The mix is not just a one genre
horse town either. Serge cross fades an impressive blend of dance music,
from disco to electro, house to acid tweakings, with a generous smattering
of some italo and Clone favorites, not to mention some unreleased numbers.
Some of the records in this mix are over twenty years old, but they play as
fresh today as when the vinyl was still warm out of the press.
The CD opens with a new track by Photocall, “Silverclouds.” The track is
upbeat with sharp beats and a sick robo voice. Serge merges it seamlessly
with the Egyptian Lover’s “Freak-a-holic,” a super cool, sexy track – like
so many of Greg Broussard’s pieces. Serge starts this mix with firstly
unreleased, then better known and moves onto unheard of electronic tracks.
The third installment in the mix is aged disco piece, that still sounds as
fresh as ever, by Dharma and “Plastic Doll.” If there is one thing the Dutch
know how to do it’s find classic long lost disco tracks. The 12″ was
originally released on the US based label JDC in 1982 later finding its way
to ZYX Music. “Plastic Doll” is a sick, synth driven wonderland. Heady female
vocals sigh, droop and rise throw deep synthesizer chords. Despite being
over twenty years old, the track is as fresh now as it was then! Clone are
repressing this amazing track for the modern day disco lover on their new
sub label, Clone Classic Cuts. Dharma is beautifully mixed into another long
lost, yet reclaimed, italo number: Crazy Gang’s “Every Sunday.” Crazy Gang
were group of talented italo creators who came together in the early 1980s
to release a one time LP on the Bubble imprint called We Are The Crazy
Gang. Over twenty years later the Belgian shop and label, Flexx, have
brought the incredible “Every Sunday” back to the eardrums of the global
italo audience.
The mix begins to recede into darker territory with an exclusive from Black
Devil Disco Club that merges into a track by one of Clone’s latest signings:
The Hasbeens. An electro shadow begins to loom over the mix, slowly
spreading but pausing for Alden Tyrell’s energetic “Rendez Vous at Rimini.”
Serge blends dark electro into Tyrell’s upbeat number flawlessly, and
continues down this happy electro trail with Todd Terje’s excellent mix of
Lindstrom’s “Another Station.” But the Clone founder only maintains this
upbeat mood for a short time before submerging his composition into a
squalid liquor of old school acid in the form of Mike Dunn and the evil
‘Face the Nation’, another record to soon appear on Clone’s Classic Cuts.
Serge’s mix once more descends into the murky depths of darkness, as black
electro numbers by Legowelt, as Venom 18, Hollywood and Passarani are
expertly blended together. The mix chops and chooses it’s genres, moving
from electro, to house in the form of Reggie the Movemaker, and back to acid
with Mike Dunn. Serge ends his epic mix in a pool of filthy house with House
to House featuring Kim Mazelle and the sickly sex number “Taste my Love,” a
classic to round off a classic mix.
Vintage Future is a musical work that exemplifies the vast quantity of
quality electronic music that has been created. The mix is as much a homage
to past musicians, as it is a showcasing of present ones. This album
demonstrates what mixing is all about, not just playing the latest releases
but reminding people of past music. The CD illustrates that a mix does not
have to go one way, that a mix does not have to be bogged down in only
techno or house tracks, but is a free flowing entity; that it is the DJ
that controls the mix and not the other way round. Serge blends music of
varied genres to make a collage of electronic sound, mixing italo with
electro, acid with house and then back again. This is a CD that shows people
do not have to dry their eyes out searching the net for obscure italo
releases, that this music is being reissued to all and available to all.
Just like I-F’s infamous mix, Serge’s Vintage Future is a timeless mix of
dance music that will surely be enjoyed in twenty years time as much as this
reviewer enjoyed it today.
Vintage Future is out soon on Clone.
