Random Various

Exploring the history of music one various artist compilation or DJ mix at a time, from the ~50s and on. Any & all genres & scenes, but a loose focus is given to electronic music. Free from any algorithm 😎. Posting album art and playlists too. substack youtube spotify instagram Follow sister account @dankalbumart for daily posts of cool album covers.

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Digging so friggin deep into the trenches of AllMusic that I'm finding entries for albums that don't even exist 🧐 👻

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Today's compilation:

MTV Buzz Bin: Volume 1 1996 Alternative Rock / Grunge / Heavy Metal

Took a sweet trip back to the early to mid-90s today to relive some of those good ol' MTV glory days, back when a cable network had the power to shape culture and still be perceived as cool and rebellious despite having massive corporate backing and overall ubiquitousness. Here, we get a grip of tunes that the channel helped pump up to levels of über popularity by way of their 'Buzz Bin' designation, which later became known as 'Buzzworthy.' Hard to say how many of these tracks would've smashed without MTV's own showcasing influence, but the correlation between the 'Buzz Bin' selection and a bump in record sales is pretty clear. Looking at this track list, you basically have some of the biggest rock hits of the first half of the decade, including Stone Temple Pilots' “Plush,” the cranberries' “Zombie,” Gin Blossoms' “Hey Jealousy,” Blind Melon's “No Rain,” and Radiohead's “Creep.” What made something 'buzzy' wasn't always so apparent, but nevertheless, the 90s would've obviously been entirely different had MTV not thrown the music videos for a bunch of these songs into heavy rotation.

Key highlight:

Us3 - "Cantaloop"

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Soon, as in a couple hours 👀

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Lowfish - "Igloo Mux" Assorted Pieces 1999 IDM / Electro / Chiptune

Toronto native Lowfish's name is a portmanteau of "lo-fi" and "ish." He is particularly known for crossing IDM and electro with one another, and here he pours on the warm and digitally dubby nostalgia with an uptempo and diy, chiptuney, button-punching beaut that's lent some further emotional depth with ethereally cosmic ambient pads that come to undergird and complement his lovely and pumping computer music. "Igloo Mux" appeared exclusively on local label Suction Records' Assorted Pieces comp at the tail-end of '99. Such a thoroughly underappreciated wonder if you ask me 😊.

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Today's compilation:

Eterne: Never Be the Same 2000 Christian Contemporary / Christian Pop / Pop-Rock / Worship Music

"I Will Never Be the Same" is a tune that probably would've appeared on a bunch of those awesome, slightly underground chillout-adjacent comps that flooded the market at the turn of the millennium had its lyrics not been so clearly about Christ. And at the same time, frontwoman Adie Liesching's voice could've maybe slotted in among the intimate Lilith Fair female singer-songwriter crop back then too. The production here is lush, intricate, nuanced, flowy, and melty, and Adie melds herself wonderfully to it, leading an exemplary tune that shows that the secular-religious barrier in the music industry really should be torn down, because as a secular atheist myself, I'm regretting having never heard of this group, while the CCM crowd got to have them all to themselves.

Key highlight:

The Benjamin Gate - "I Will Never Be the Same"

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Summit - "Aeriel Desert" East Westercism 1997 Downtempo / Asian Underground

Tremendous piece of hazy, engrossing, psychedelically dubby, eastern downtempo from mid-to-late 90s UK trio Summit, who floated this one as an exclusive for boutique label Law & Auder's East Westercism comp in 1997, a release whose goal was to serve up a collection of cutting-edge tunes that pitted eastern sounds within western electronic music frameworks. A lot of times, Law & Auder's own conceptual comps have been too avantgarde and experimental for my own tastes, but this tune's such a mass pleaser that far more people should be aware of. Its eastern strings resonate so profoundly on its chorus, and while in a just world, it would have millions of streams online for being such an unmitigated Asian Underground classic, you can't even find it on YouTube. Such a shame, but at least now *you* know about it, right?

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The Other Side - "You Do Something I Don't Do Nothing" Spike's Choice: The Desco Funk 45' Collection Song released in 1996. Compilation released in 1998. Funk / Funk Revival

How's about a gloriously gnarly and saxy funk b-side from 1996 that sounds like it was recorded three decades prior instead and also includes a disruptive whistle on it? Is that what you want? Well, fine, here it is then. The Other Side appears to have been an anonymous group, and this tune was first included on their debut single. Two years later, they'd drop their lone album, and then we'd never hear from them again. This was a terrific one from them, though, released on New York's now-defunct Desco label, a company that was fixated on sounding exactly how 60s funk records used to, with this song serving as a prime example of their essence. What a track.

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Today's compilation:

Goofy Greats 1992 Novelty / Rock & Roll / Pop / Doo Wop

Perhaps I’m far out of my depth here, because I really don’t pay much attention at all to the current goings on in the land of contemporary pop music anymore, but doesn’t it seem like novelty/silly songs have become a bit of a lost art? I feel like the last big one we really had was that “Planet of the Bass” 90s Eurodance parody from a few summers ago, and even that felt like an anomaly at the time. Maybe it’s because the content of pop music has changed since the novelty’s own heyday, and although pop’s biggest consumers have always been and are still kids, there aren’t songs that are really directly geared towards them anymore. Moreover, most songs seem to deal with themes that don’t relate specifically to them at all, and most musicians and their labels/management think putting out a silly song is, well, a silly non-starter of an idea on its face.

Key highlight:

Ray Stevens - "Gitarzan"

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Beanfield - "The Season (Swag's Vocal Mix)" United DJs of America - Volume 15 by David Alvarado Song released in 1999. Mix released in 2000. Broken Beat / Downtempo

Such a lovely nexus that formed between the worlds of downtempo, future jazz, and broken beat towards the turn of the millennium, where Germany, of all places, became such a particularly vital hub for it, as Berlin served as home to Jazzanova, and Munich was where a label called Compost Records resided. Here we have a Compost act by the name of Beanfield being remixed by UK duo Swag, on a tune called "The Season," which features both the spoken word and singing of a woman by the name of Bajka Pluwatsch, who sounds something like the fabulous Ursula Rucker. A soulfully feelgood and sublime chillout record to sink yourself deeply in to, as the track is lined with the intimate sound of bongos, a dubby bassline, and melty keys; appeared on a very underrated mix from the great David Alvarado in 2000 too, called United DJs of America - Volume 15, that you should definitely check out.

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Just learning that the animatronic band from my local childhood arcade had their own discography

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Today's mix:

2001-02-03 - Sunny D. @ QlimaxUSC De Boelelaan, Amsterdam Early Hardstyle / Hardcore / Hard Trance / Techno / Euro Trance

OK, folks, we're unlocking a completely new abyss with this blog of mine today. Ever since I started building this collection of v/a comps and mixes from scratch over nine years ago and finding all sorts of cool music that most people don't seem to have the faintest idea about, my sole focus has been on material that was once put up for commercial sale, but now, added to my list of resources to continuously plumb is a massive trove called mixesdb, which is the #1 music website in the world for documenting recorded DJ sets, radio shows, and podcasts. Sites like Discogs, MusicBrainz, AllMusic, and Rate Your Music are all handy databases that I use quite a lot for finding all kinds of v/a comps and mixes, but one of the things that they all seem to mostly have in common is that their own limit is usually the concept of the release itself. The advantage of something like mixesdb is that it's about presenting recorded moments in time, in which the actual physical or digital releasing of the music is wholly irrelevant. If someone performed a DJ set somewhere at any point in time—officially released or unreleased—mixesdb is determined to find it and document it, and hopefully have a recording of it too 🤞.

Key highlight:

Visit Original Link

***Read this full post on Substack, where if you’re one of my mutuals here on tumblr, you can get a free lifetime subscription. All you have to do is message me***

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Today's mix:

2001-02-03 - Sunny D. @ QlimaxUSC De Boelelaan, Amsterdam Early Hardstyle / Hardcore / Hard Trance / Techno / Euro Trance

OK, folks, we're unlocking a completely new abyss with this blog of mine today. Ever since I started building this collection of v/a comps and mixes from scratch over nine years ago and finding all sorts of cool music that most people don't seem to have the faintest idea about, my sole focus has been on material that was once put up for commercial sale, but now, added to my list of resources to continuously plumb is a massive trove called mixesdb, which is the #1 music website in the world for documenting recorded DJ sets, radio shows, and podcasts. Sites like Discogs, MusicBrainz, AllMusic, and Rate Your Music are all handy databases that I use quite a lot for finding all kinds of v/a comps and mixes, but one of the things that they all seem to mostly have in common is that their own limit is usually the concept of the release itself. The advantage of something like mixesdb is that it's about presenting recorded moments in time, in which the actual physical or digital releasing of the music is wholly irrelevant. If someone performed a DJ set somewhere at any point in time—officially released or unreleased—mixesdb is determined to find it and document it, and hopefully have a recording of it too 🤞.

Key highlight:

Visit Original Link

***Read this full post on Substack, where if you’re one of my mutuals here on tumblr, you can get a free lifetime subscription. All you have to do is message me***

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Transa - "Enervate" Northern Exposure 2 by Sasha & John Digweed 1997 Trance

Classic from the Aberdeen, Scotland-based duo of Transa here. "Enervate" was their most commercially popular single, going on to reach #42 on the UK singles chart in February of '98, and its inclusion on Sasha & Digweed's Northern Exposure 2 mix from '97 played a role in raising that profile, eventually leading to Paul Oakenfold's Perfecto Fluoro sublabel to re-release it, upon which "Enervate" then peaked. Good one to place in the middle of a set when progressing towards something bigger, as it builds up with a simple and stringy melody that sharpens and soars as it intensifies, and just when you think the song might be about to hit a drop, it teasingly climbs up to another unexpected level instead. There's never a full release of tension, though, which is why it's probably best to follow it up with something that's more explosive. A quality and steady mover that you can unleash once you've got the dancefloor oiled up and ready for more.

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Techno: Germany

German Techno Playlist [YouTube]

Listen to it here on YouTube Music too.

Very busy this weekend, but the playlist posts must flow, so this week, I made one small addition to my growing German techno playlist: the Gee Shock remix of Humate's "Choose Life.” If you're into any of those dark, deep, simmeringly moody, and hypnotically transcendent vocal progressive house jams that really started taking hold in the late 90s, then the original version of this tune is an absolute all-time must listen for you. However, when Oldenburg's Gerret Frerichs first made that beautiful cut back in 2000, he also knew that he should probably make a techno version of it too, so here it is, stripped down, raw, and instrumental, in which he makes one of those patented techno moves under his Gee Shock moniker that I myself am such a big ol' sucker for: the crowning injection of the jingling hi-hat. You drop that onto a track and it's what I imagine surfing in the tube of a wave must feel like: total Zen; it's like sprinkling magical fairy dust on something, with just about every piece of techno that’s utilized it having been enhanced by its presence, and here, Gerret pours a steady stream of it on to his package of a smacking kick and burbling, crawling and dubby, little acid darts. Killer tune that legendary techno DJ Carl Cox included on his own commercially released Mixed Live: Crobar Nightclub, Chicago mix that same year too.

Humate - “Choose Life (Gee Shock Remix)”

Like what you hear? Follow me on Spotify and YouTube for more cool playlists and uploads 😎.

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Web design peaked in the early 2000s, exhibit a billion: