Pearsall's Tunes

Or, a guide to the varieties of hard dance.

Dan (and my head) at Absolution, The Soundshaft, London, Jan. 30th, 2004

Dan Durnin - BT Classics Vol. 2 (right-click, save as)

01. Defective Audio - Turn the Heat Up [Wasa-B]
02. OD404 - Ram Raid [Tripoli Trax]
03. Paul Glazby - Kick It [Vicious Circle]
04. Captain Tinrib & Steve Thomas - Get Down [Tinrib]
05. Phil Reynolds - Ballistic [Aztec]
06. Weirdo - Whiplash [Tinrib]
07. Justin Bourne & Lee Jeffries - Drop the Dime [Kaktai]
08. Equinox - Get Up [Tonka Trax]
09. BK & Andy Farley - Khemical Imbalance [Nukleuz]
10. Kevin Energy & Lee Techtonic - Mentazm [Dynamix]
11. Casper - Wallop [Passion]
12. Dynamic Intervention - Bigger Kicks [Cannon]
13. Tickle & Choci - Flute Remix [VCR]
14. Xavi Escolano - D.A.F.Y.K [DJ Tools]
15. M-Zone - Slave to the Rave [UK44]

Dan and me playing Pachinko in Tokyo, March 2002

This is a mix from my good friend Dan Durnin. Dan and I met at school when we were 17 and we've been good friends ever since. When we met he was actually the bassist in Durango 95 with a bunch of other friends of mine, but after going off to university and getting heavily into clubbing he decided to get into dj-ing after hearing me play an absolutely epic six and half hour set at the Millennium New Year's party we threw at his friend Mike's flat. I taught him what I could and he picked it up very quickly. He's not played out that much since starting because, like me, he can't really be bothered to deal with all the politics and ass-kissing you have to do if you want to be dj-ing regularly. But he is really good, and he's managed to play some really cool gigs, especially when he was living in Tokyo for a year teaching English.

Dan did this mix for Banging Tunes, a message board that we've both been using for about four or so years now. I've already explained my feelings for hard banging music, and this is very much in the same vein, except that this is more of a UK take on that whole piledriver sound, whereas the Rampage Archives mixes I linked to before were mostly composed of stuff from continental Europe. It's very much the sort of tunes that we used to go out and dance to every weekend, stomping like madmen for hours on end with sweat pouring off us. Maybe I am a sick man, but I can listen to this music in any circumstances, sitting at home, on the train, wherever, but it's unquestionably true that, like most dance music, it's best heard LOUD in a club. The bass and kick is the foil that you move to while your hands carve out crazed geometric shapes to the riffs that fire out of the speakers like controlled lightning. It's also fast music, and I love fast music. I never liked going to house clubs and sedately waltzing around the floor to 130 bpm discoey vocals; I wanted hard, fast, totally immediate music - a sonic roller coaster with little breathers before the snare roll brought the beat back and off you went again, jumping around like your limbs were made of gelatin.

This mix doesn't really mess around, it starts quite hard and fast and winds its way through hard house, nu-nrg, hard trance, and acid trance before ending with full-on mid-90's terminal velocity European mayhem. I love it. Makes me all misty for the past.

Dan and me at Vicious Circle First Birthday, Sheffield, September 2002