OK, I have to admit up front I know virtually nothing about the history of this tape. If it turns out to be something commercial and/or well-known, let me know so I can take it down. Essentially the only information I have on it is written on the front. It simply says ’69 DJs’ which, I am assuming, means it was mixed by either Martin or Wilba from Club 69 way the hell back in the mid nineties. I’m not even entirely sure of the date. It could be as early as 94 or as late as 97. Most likely it’s somewhere between them. All I know for sure is that is has been in my possession for about twenty years, and it’s a beast.
Club 69, then. Quite resolutely NOT a Glasgow club, but a Paisley one ( a town just south of Glasgow, for those not from these parts) it has long been based in Rocky’s Basement, a space underneath an Indian restaurant at the edge of the town centre, which required some effort and a bit of a trek for those of us hailing from Glasgow. That probably made it even better, though. After all, you get out what you put in.
It was the music, though, that was the draw. As it should be. In Glasgow techno nights were dominated by things like Slam; popular and big, they tended towards the enjoyable but fairly predictable end of the genre. At 69, though, you could always be assured of sonic mayhem, and an eclecticism that you would probably have had to go to Edinburgh’s Pure, or Aberdeen’s brilliant Pelican club to match. And what makes it even better than either of those is the fact it’s still going.
Anyway, here’s Side A. Sound quality is a wee bit squirrelly, but you should probably just regard the tape hiss as part of the overall vibe. As before it’s provided as is. It’s on Soundcloud for now, but I might move to Mixcloud or something since, judging by the stats, most people don’t seem overly bothered about downloading. We’ll see. I have a think and get Side B up soon.
As for the music. Hot damn. This really is 45 minutes of some of the finest techno I think I’ve ever heard and, more than that, goes a long way to actually defining what it is I think of as good techno – just like Club 69 did, in fact. There is no track list, of course. Some of the tunes are easy, others not so much. If anyone, ANYONE, knows what the hell the second track with the flutes is please, please let me know. It’s been doing my nut in for years. And like I said at the top, if anyone knows for a fact that this isn’t who I think it is then drop me a line and I’ll add the facts in.
Independent Electronics Commission 