Renaissance: The Mix Collection
Renaissance: The Mix Collection is an electronic dance music compilation album consisting of three CDs, each presented as a continuous DJ mix. The album, mixed by Sasha & John Digweed and released in October 1994, was the first in a series of mix albums released under the brand of the Renaissance nightclub. Containing music from the house, progressive house and trance genres, it was intended as a sampler of the kind of music played by the club. On the tenth anniversary of the album's release, a remastered version with a altered track listing was released; the album is considered by many to be amongst the greatest mix albums of all time. Resident Advisor said the album was a "landmark CD of its kind" and "the great Daddy of all DJ mix compilations – the cornerstone for all things progressive, a massive influence for legions of DJs to follow." The Quietus said the album marked the point of when the "second wave of dance music crossed over to a wider audience" and said the album was "arguably one of the first – and best - DJ mixes of its kind to be released on CD", referring to the album's "then upcoming talents of Sasha and John Digweed blended effortlessly a heady and hedonistic miasma of progressive house and early trance that included Leftfield and Age of Love to freeze in time forever the euphoric nights that would become days that would become euphoric nights again," featuring the album in their unordered 2015 list of their "Favourite DJ Mix Albums".
In 1996, Mixmag ranked the album at number 26 in its list of the "Best Dance Albums of All Time". In 1997, Q ranked the album in their list of "The 10 Best DJ Mix Albums... Ever!". DJ Mag included it on their list of "5 of the Best DJ Mixes of All Time". Presented inside an outer translucent tracing paper emblemed slip-sleeve, a card digipack case unfolds into four faces. Pictured on the front flap is a typical renaissance painting by Michelangelo, while a landscape portrait of a colleseum under a bright blue sky stretches inside the packaging; the CDs are arranged by colour. The story behind Renaissance, the club, between 1992 and 1994 is written on top of the CD flaps. Due to the case's heavy faces only being held by card, it is rare to find an original intact from damage to the seams, the outer slip-sleeve is missing. Renaissance: The Mix Collection is a mix of house, progressive house and trance house of the early 1990s; the songs chosen were supposed to give the listener "an idea of what Renaissance was all about".
As suggested by the album's name, it was given the title Renaissance for two reasons. Firstly, it reflected a surge of Italian piano/funky house, being mastered by the likes of Alexander Coe at the club "Renaissance" in Britain, but more Renaissance stands for'rebirth' or more freely,'a time of change, so with the dance music scene heavy on acid house up north, it gave the mature clubber a brighter and more beautiful outlook on what dance music'should be'. The album was mixed by Alexander Coe and John Digweed – both resident DJ's at Renaissance in 1994; each CD reflects a different style of music – CD 1 has a'Leftfield' sound to it. Tracks that mark the highlighted'high points' include the hit "Perfect Motion", a euphoric remix of Blade Runner's ending theme tune titled "Blade Runner"; this CD starts with a segue of three separate mixes of Leftfield's'Song For Life', which sets the tone for the first disc. The second CD has a funky theme to it, it can be said this is a house mix, though songs like "Not Over Yet" by Grace can be seen as trance.
This CD has been referred to as "what Italian house was all about in a psychedelic and fun way". A rare 12" mix included is Kym Mazelle's "Was That All It Was", covered many times over, but the remix included on this album has a house feel to it. Out of the 3 CDs, the second CD is arguably more varied in its mixing between songs than the other two; the Third CD has been called darker than previous discs, but at the same time a "more euphoric feel to it than the other 2 CDs, reflecting a typical club situation with a continuous build-up of tension until the end". In this case, the 2 DJ's progress to a moment in which an acclaimed point is met on "Age of Love". In 2004, to mark the 10th anniversary of its original release, Renaissance reissued the album in a remastered version featuring a altered track listing. Both M People tracks were removed from this release and replaced with other contemporaneous dance singles: "Renaissance" with "Stand Above Me" by OMD, "How Can I Love You More" with "I Can't Forget You" by Anthony White.
The changes were due to Copyright issues from the record labels. The re-issued album is not a whole new session. Though the original blend sequences remain the same, as do all the original elements and Digweed re-created the album using Apple G4 laptops to create, what they considered, a better quality version of the original mix, with recording techniques not available in 1994, as well as the advantage of crystal clear audio, spatial separation of frequencies within the song, making it sound more dynamic. In 1995, between the releases of Renaissance The Mix Collection and Northern Exposure, a second album was released, Renaissance: The Mix Collection Part 2; as Sasha had left the Renaissance club in 1994, the second album was mixed by John Digweed alone. Track listing as given on the sleeve: Leftfield – "Song o
Jimmy Van M
Jimmy Van Malleghem is a DJ of progressive house and downtempo music. He was a large part of the "Delta Heavy Tour" with Sasha & John Digweed, in addition to performing with many other DJs, such as James Zabiela and Lee Burridge, he has released a few singles as well as mix albums on Bedrock Records. He is more known for his warm up set than his peak time performances. Jimmy Van M was born in Belgium, but moved to Orlando, Florida in the United States at age 10. In 1995, he founded a DJ booking agency and record pool. In 2000, he released his first mix compilation Trance Nation America and followed this up with 2001's Bedrock: Compiled & Mixed album, his third album, Balance 010 of EQ / Stomp's Balance series, is a three disc compilation featuring a "downtempo" disc, a "midtempo" disc, an "uptempo" disc, with the tempo building throughout the three. The first disc starts at the third ends at 126 beats per minute. Official Website Jimmy Van M discography at Discogs
Trainspotting (film)
Trainspotting is a 1996 British black comedy drama film directed by Danny Boyle and starring Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd, Robert Carlyle, Kelly Macdonald in her debut. Based on the novel of the same name by Irvine Welsh, the film was released in the United Kingdom on 23 February 1996; the Academy Award-nominated screenplay by John Hodge follows a group of heroin addicts in an economically depressed area of Edinburgh and their passage through life. Beyond drug addiction, other themes in the film are exploration of the urban poverty and squalor in Edinburgh; the film has been ranked 10th by the British Film Institute in its list of Top 100 British films of the 20th century. In 2004 the film was voted the best Scottish film of all time in a general public poll. In 2017 a poll of 150 actors, writers and critics for Time Out magazine ranked it the 10th best British film ever. A sequel, T2 Trainspotting, was released in January 2017; the story follows the trials and tribulations of Mark Renton and his extended group of colourful friends as he tries to "choose life" away from heroin abuse.
Set in Edinburgh, Renton's closest friends are Simon "Sick Boy" Williamson – a charismatic hustler who knows a lot about Sean Connery – and Daniel "Spud" Murphy, though outwardly weak and hapless, is a confidence trickster. Other friends include the reliable and clean-living footballer Tommy MacKenzie and Francis "Franco" Begbie –, clean of heroin, but is an alcoholic and chain-smoking, intense psychopath with a flair for violence and embellishment. Renton has become weary of his life on heroin and looks to change his circumstances by giving up his addiction through withdrawal. After meticulous preparation, Renton decides. Limited by urgency and options, Renton must unwillingly deal with Mikey Forrester, a drug dealer of dubious repute, who can only supply opium suppositories. Faced with little choice, Renton decides to take them, only to be hit shortly after by a violent attack of diarrhoea, due to cessation of heroin. Having kicked his habit, Renton readjusts to the world and his friends in a state of sobriety.
After a night out clubbing, Renton spots a girl named Diane Coulston, with whom he becomes infatuated. Making a bold pass at her, Diane takes Renton home with her where they have sex in her bedroom, before Renton is abruptly made to sleep in the hallway. Over breakfast the next morning, Renton engages in conversation with a couple – who he thinks are Diane's flatmates, but are her parents. Diane emerges to Renton's horror in a full school uniform. Diane uses the encounter and her below age of consent as a threat against Renton to continue their relationship. Renton, Sick Boy and Spud relapse into heroin use, are joined by Tommy, who has since become depressed having been dumped by his girlfriend, due to the unknown earlier actions of Renton; the group are rocked by the death of Dawn, the infant daughter of Allison – a fellow user. Dawn appears to have experienced cot death without the group noticing due to being under the influence. Sick Boy is visibly more distraught than the others. Events continue to unravel further when Renton and Spud are arrested for shoplifting, while Sick Boy escapes undetected.
At their trial Spud receives a six-month custodial sentence, while Renton escapes on probation due to entering a drug rehabilitation programme, where he is given methadone, to coax him off heroin. Despite support from his friends and family, Renton is desperate for a more substantial high and escapes to the flat of trusted friend and drug dealer, Swanney. Taking heroin on top of his methadone replacement, Renton overdoses and dies. Swanney sends an unconscious Renton to hospital alone in a taxi and Renton is revived. Upon returning home, Renton's parents lock him in his childhood bedroom to force him through a withdrawal. Trapped, Renton suffers frightening hallucinations involving his friends and family, he is released upon condition. Despite years of sharing syringes with other addicts, Renton tests negative; some time he visits Tommy, whose own heroin addiction has spiralled out of control, leaving him addicted, HIV-positive and ill. Needing to escape, Renton moves to London for a fresh start and takes a job as a property letting agent.
He begins to enjoy his new life of sobriety and corresponds with Diane, who keeps him up to date with developments back home. However, to Renton's frustration, Begbie tracks him down and takes up refuge with him as Begbie is wanted for armed robbery back home, they are soon joined by Sick Boy, now a pimp and drug dealer, the three share Renton's small flat. The group are forced to return to Edinburgh, both for Tommy's funeral and to escape the police, as Begbie is wanted for assaulting two potential buyers when Renton puts him and Sick Boy in an impossible-to-sell apartment being leased by Renton's boss. Tommy died from AIDS-related toxoplasmosis and his body was left undiscovered for a number of weeks, they meet up with Spud, who has since been released from prison, together again Sick Boy reveals a lucrative proposition to the group. Sick Boy has learned that Mikey Forrester has come into possession of a two kilos of high-quality heroin and is eager to sell; the group, are short of the £4,000 asking price.
Unknown to Renton, Begbie had secretly seen Renton's bank statement, whilst staying in London, when Renton lies about his savings he is pressured into stumping up the remaining £2,000. At the insistence of Begbie, Renton is made to sample the heroin's purity; the four return to London to make the deal orchestrated b
Heaven (nightclub)
Heaven is a famous nightclub in Charing Cross, England. It has a long association with London's LGBT scene and is home to long-running gay night G-A-Y. Heaven was opened in December 1979 by Jeremy Norman in a former, run-down roller-disco called Global Village, housed in the arches beneath Charing Cross railway station, once part of Adelphi Arches, a large wine-cellar for the hotel above. Norman was chairman of Burke's Peerage, the publishers; the original hi-tech interior was designed by Derek Frost. Norman, an entrepreneur, had started an earlier club, The Embassy, in Old Bond Street in 1978; the Embassy proved to be successful and attracted a fashionable clientele. Norman used his knowledge and experience of establishing and running a nightclub to create an new kind of gay club on a larger scale. Heaven established itself as the centre of the gay London nightlife; until it opened, most gay clubs were small hidden pub discos. Heaven brought gay clubbing into the UK mainstream and gave London a club to rival New Yorks gay super club at the time, The Saint.
Heaven's first resident DJ was Ian Levine, credited with being one of the first DJ's in the UK of the now customary style of "beatmixing". His mix of Disco, Hi-NRG, early House music became what is known as the Original Heaven Sound. Under the direction of the club's original manager David Inches, Heaven sought DJs who would become exclusive to the club and were groundbreaking in terms of their music selection and style. Many Heaven DJs would go on to find greater acclaim in both the mainstream music industry. Original Heaven DJs include: Tony De Vit, Colin Holsgrove, Marc Andrews, Marc Monroe, George Mitchell, Ian D, Jon Dennis, Rich B & Wayne G. Heaven attracted legendary names from the United States such as House music pioneer Frankie Knuckles, who played at the Thursday night Delirium!. In 1982, Heaven was acquired from Norman by Richard Branson's Virgin Group. Branson was one of the first to identify the burgeoning'pink pound' and saw the club as an investment opportunity, Branson reported in his autobiography that the £500,000 used to purchase Heaven were financed by the brewery supplying drinks to the venue.
The club night Asylum started around the same time, with resident DJs Mark Moore, Evil Eddie Richards, Colin Faver. By 1985 this had become Pyramid and was one of the first clubs in the Country to play emerging House music from Chicago; as one of the first gay clubs in London, one of the first so in the world, Heaven courted controversy appearing in the tabloid press in the famous The Sun headlines about ecstasy use in the nightclub in 1989. In the late 1980s, Heaven would host two what would become legendary nights during the height of Acid House and Breakbeat Hardcore rave culture; the first was Spectrum promoted by Paul Oakenfold and Ian St Paul, which ran on Monday nights between April 1988 and 1990. and the other was Rage, a Thursday night running between October 1988 and 1993 which included DJs Fabio & Grooverider, Colin Faver, Trevor Fung. Replacing Rage on Thursday from October 1993 until 1996 was Megatripolis, with Mixmaster Morris and regular guests such as Mr. C and Alex Paterson.
In the mid 1990s, Wednesday night was Fruit Machine, hosted by Miss Kimberly with a strong Drag theme. Fridays were Garage playing Hardbag with DJs Blu Peter and Mrs Wood. Saturday nights were'Heaven is Saturday - Saturday is Heaven' which hosted a variety of parties and weekly changing themes. Soundshaft was a small club attached to Heaven. Between 1988 and 1990, this hosted the seminal Troll night and which launched the career of DJ Daz Saund, it is now called The Stage Bar. In 1998, the club was refurbished and relaunched as a more mainstream venue to challenge popular clubs such as Trade and The Fridge; as part of this broadening appeal, a new Monday Indie night called Room Two started alongside its more trademark night of Popcorn which started on a Monday. To ensure the club stayed relevant, it hosted nights from popular promoters such as Gatecrasher and Bedrock (on a Thursday night until 2005, with resident DJ John Digweed. At the beginning of the 2000s, Heaven adopted a more mainstream Tribal house and Disco-influenced sound, employing DJs, resident at other major gay London nightclubs such as Trade and Salvation, such as Billy Gonzalez.
In 2003, Virgin sold the club to a consortium which comprised Paul Savory, David Inches, Jeremy Millins. Towards the mid 2000s, the music policy of its main room became more underground-oriented, with Progressive and Deep House on a Saturday night from resident DJs Pagano and Nick Tcherniak. On 22 September 2008, Heaven was purchased by the MAMA Group through its jointly owned subsidiary company G-A-Y Ltd. G-A-Y was a popular and long-running gay night hosted for many years at the London Astoria, on Friday 3 October 2008, MAMA Group moved G-A-Y to Heaven. Little over a year MAMA Group itself was bought by music retailer HMVWhen HMV went into administration in 2013, Jeremy Joseph founder of G-A-Y acquired the outstanding shares in G-A-Y Ltd, with it Heaven. Heaven features live performances by notable artists; these have included: The Heaven name has been franchised over the years to ventures in Gran Canaria and Ibiza. Monday continues to play host to Popcorn, a student night which plays pop and funky house music.
It is a predominately gay event. Thursday plays host to Porn Idol, a strip competition for men and women held at the Astoria, with £25
House music
House music is a genre of electronic dance music created by club DJs and music producers in Chicago in the early 1980s. Early house music was characterized by repetitive 4/4 beats, rhythms provided by drum machines, off-beat hi-hat cymbals, synthesized basslines. While house displayed several characteristics similar to disco music, which preceded and influenced it, as both were DJ and record producer-created dance music, house was more electronic and minimalistic; the mechanical, repetitive rhythm of house was one of its main components. Many house compositions were instrumental, with no vocals. House music developed in Chicago's underground dance club culture in the early 1980s, as DJs from the subculture began altering the pop-like disco dance tracks to give them a more mechanical beat and deeper basslines; as well, these DJs began to mix synth pop, rap and jazz into their tracks. Latin music salsa clave rhythm, became a dominating riff of house music, it was pioneered by Chicago DJs such as Steve Hurley.
It was influenced by Chicago DJ and record producer Frankie Knuckles, the Chicago acid-house electronic music group Phuture, the Tennessee DJ/producer Mr. Fingers; the genre was associated with the Black American LGBT subculture but has since spread to the mainstream. From its beginnings in the Chicago club and local radio scene, the genre spread internationally to London to American cities such as New York City and Detroit, globally. Chicago house music acts from the early to mid-1980s found success on the US dance charts on various Chicago independent record labels that were more open to sign local house music artists; these same acts experienced some success in the United Kingdom, garnering hits in that country. Due to this success, by the late 1980s, Chicago house music acts found themselves being offered major label deals. House music proved to be a commercially successful genre and a more mainstream pop-based variation grew popular. Since the early to mid-1990s, house music has been infused into mainstream pop and dance music worldwide.
In the 2010s, the genre, while keeping several of its core elements, notably the prominent kick drum on most beats, varies in style and influence, ranging from soulful and atmospheric to the more minimalistic microhouse. House music has fused with several other genres creating fusion subgenres, such as euro house, tech house, electro house and jump house. One subgenre, acid house, was based around the squelchy, deep electronic tones created by Roland's TB-303 bass synthesizer. Major acts such as Madonna, Janet Jackson, Paula Abdul, Martha Wash, CeCe Peniston, Robin S. Steps, Kylie Minogue, Björk, C+C Music Factory were influenced by House music in the 1990s and beyond. After enjoying significant success which started in the late 1980s, house music grew larger during the second wave of progressive house; the genre has remained popular and fused into other popular subgenres, notably ghetto house, deep house, future house and tech house. As of today, house music remains popular on radio and in clubs while retaining a foothold on the underground scenes across the globe.
House music is created by DJs, record producers, music artists with contributions from other performers on synthesizer and other electronic instruments. The structure of house music songs involves an intro, a chorus, various verse sections, a midsection and an outro; some songs do not have a verse, repeating the same cycle. The drum beat is one of the more important elements within the genre and is always provided by an electronic drum machine Roland's TR-808 or TR-909, rather than by a live drummer; the drum beats of house are "four on the floor", with bass drums played on every beat and they feature off-beat drum machine hi-hat sounds. House music is based on bass-heavy loops or basslines produced by a synthesizer and/or from samples of disco or funk songs. One subgenre, acid house, was based around the squelchy, deep electronic tones created by Roland's TB-303 bass synthesizer; the tempo of most house songs is between 115 BPM and 132 BPM. Various disco songs incorporated sounds produced with synthesizers and electronic drum machines, some compositions were electronic.
As well, the audio mixing and editing techniques earlier explored by disco, garage music and post-disco DJs, record producers, audio engineers such as Walter Gibbons, Tom Moulton, Jim Burgess, Larry Levan, Ron Hardy, M & M, others was important. These artists produced longer, more repetitive, percussive arrangements of existing disco recordings. Early house producers such as Frankie Knuckles created similar compositions from scratch, using samplers, synthesizers and drum machines; the electronic instrumentation and minimal arrangement of Charanjit Singh's Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat, an album of Indian ragas performed in a disco style, anticipated the sounds of acid house music, but it is not known to have had any influence on the genre prior to the album's rediscovery in the 21st century. Rachel Cain, co-founder of influential dance label Trax Records, was involved in the burgeoning punk scene. Ca
Bedrock Records
Bedrock Records is an English record label for trance and techno started by Nick Muir and John Digweed. Its name comes from a nightclub in London, called Bedrock. Bedrock Records has released many singles from artists such as Astro & Glyde, Brancaccio & Aisher, Steve Lawler, Shmuel Flash, Steve Porter, Guy J, Henry Saiz, Stelios Vassiloudis, Electric Rescue, The Japanese Popstars and Jerry Bonham. Bedrock is the name that Digweed and Muir use as their production moniker. Bedrock in the past had different Sub-labels: B _ Rock and Black, it has Bedrock Digital and one called Lost & Found belonging to Guy J. List of record labels List of electronic music record labels Official site Bedrock Records at LabelsBase Bedrock Records discography at Discogs
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments and circuitry-based music technology. In general, a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means, that produced using electronics only. Electromechanical instruments include mechanical elements, such as strings, so on, electric elements, such as magnetic pickups, power amplifiers and loudspeakers. Examples of electromechanical sound producing devices include the telharmonium, Hammond organ, the electric guitar, which are made loud enough for performers and audiences to hear with an instrument amplifier and speaker cabinet. Pure electronic instruments do not have vibrating strings, hammers, or other sound-producing mechanisms. Devices such as the theremin and computer can produce electronic sounds; the first electronic devices for performing music were developed at the end of the 19th century, shortly afterward Italian futurists explored sounds that had not been considered musical.
During the 1920s and 1930s, electronic instruments were introduced and the first compositions for electronic instruments were made. By the 1940s, magnetic audio tape allowed musicians to tape sounds and modify them by changing the tape speed or direction, leading to the development of electroacoustic tape music in the 1940s, in Egypt and France. Musique concrète, created in Paris in 1948, was based on editing together recorded fragments of natural and industrial sounds. Music produced from electronic generators was first produced in Germany in 1953. Electronic music was created in Japan and the United States beginning in the 1950s. An important new development was the advent of computers to compose music. Algorithmic composition with computers was first demonstrated in the 1950s. In the 1960s, live electronics were pioneered in America and Europe, Japanese electronic musical instruments began influencing the music industry, Jamaican dub music emerged as a form of popular electronic music. In the early 1970s, the monophonic Minimoog synthesizer and Japanese drum machines helped popularize synthesized electronic music.
In the 1970s, electronic music began having a significant influence on popular music, with the adoption of polyphonic synthesizers, electronic drums, drum machines, turntables, through the emergence of genres such as disco, new wave, synth-pop, hip hop and EDM. In the 1980s, electronic music became more dominant in popular music, with a greater reliance on synthesizers, the adoption of programmable drum machines such as the Roland TR-808 and bass synthesizers such as the TB-303. In the early 1980s, digital technologies for synthesizers including digital synthesizers such as the Yamaha DX7 were popularized, a group of musicians and music merchants developed the Musical Instrument Digital Interface. Electronically produced music became prevalent in the popular domain by the 1990s, because of the advent of affordable music technology. Contemporary electronic music includes many varieties and ranges from experimental art music to popular forms such as electronic dance music. Today, pop electronic music is most recognizable in its 4/4 form and more connected with the mainstream culture as opposed to its preceding forms which were specialized to niche markets.
At the turn of the 20th century, experimentation with emerging electronics led to the first electronic musical instruments. These initial inventions were not sold, but were instead used in demonstrations and public performances; the audiences were presented with reproductions of existing music instead of new compositions for the instruments. While some were considered novelties and produced simple tones, the Telharmonium synthesized the sound of orchestral instruments, it achieved viable public interest and made commercial progress into streaming music through telephone networks. Critics of musical conventions at the time saw promise in these developments. Ferruccio Busoni encouraged the composition of microtonal music allowed for by electronic instruments, he predicted the use of machines in future music, writing the influential Sketch of a New Esthetic of Music. Futurists such as Francesco Balilla Pratella and Luigi Russolo began composing music with acoustic noise to evoke the sound of machinery.
They predicted expansions in timbre allowed for by electronics in the influential manifesto The Art of Noises. Developments of the vacuum tube led to electronic instruments that were smaller and more practical for performance. In particular, the theremin, ondes Martenot and trautonium were commercially produced by the early 1930s. From the late 1920s, the increased practicality of electronic instruments influenced composers such as Joseph Schillinger to adopt them, they were used within orchestras, most composers wrote parts for the theremin that could otherwise be performed with string instruments. Avant-garde composers criticized the predominant use of electronic instruments for conventional purposes; the instruments offered expansions in pitch resources that were exploited by advocates of microtonal music such as Charles Ives, Dimitrios Levidis, Olivier Messiaen and Edgard Varèse. Further, Percy Grainger used the theremin to abandon fixed tonation while Russian composers such as Gavriil Popov treated it as a source of noise in otherwise-acoustic noise music.
Developments in early recording technology paralleled that of electronic instruments. The first means of recording and reproducing audio was invented in the late 19th century with the mechanical phonograph. Record players became a common household item, by the 1920s comp
