TIM  Add Friend
Home Page: http://www.myspace.com/timhumphrey_djculture
Member Since: Feb 13, 2002
Rank: 5573
Average Vote Received: Correct (3.75, 4 votes)
Rated 5049 releases, average: 3.95
Location: aquasphere
Profile: a little bit about me__

i was always the one to rather stay in than go out. if anyone coined the phrase 'staying in is the new going out' it had to be me. my hobby has always been listening to music, since i was 4-5 years old. I can remember having 2 records, i had blondie's heart of glass and a queen record(does it matter which one?). i quickly took off my brothers records off the fisher price turntable and played them. now in retrospect, from that moment, from those two distinct different sounds, my path in electronic music was set on a long and enjoyable journey, i just didn't know how important that decision was till a few years later yet like one of those childhood moments i remember it like it was yesterday. various things influenced that early spark from when i was 6-8 years old, from my grandmother playing some gospel organ music while i fell asleep(i still fall asleep to music most of the time) to watching the lights on my dad's digital amplifier to see if at any certain point if it would ever get to the next LED light. those are just some examples of what music means to me. i was lucky to be the youngest of 4 children and at any certain time in the day i could walk around the house and hear all kinds of new sounds. My oldest sister got me into Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode and the Cure but also was well rounded with stuff like The Who, Afrika Bambaataa, U2, The Smiths and plenty of new wave music. By the time i was 9 i got my first walkman and bought my first cassette with my own my money. I heard 'Opportunities' by PSB at my sisters talent show/lip sync in the fall of 1985 and I first heard the power of a dance track on a PA system in her high school gym. 1985-1987 i started to listen to my first hip hop. Beastie Boys, Run DMC, LL Cool J, Too Short, NWA, Fat Boys and others struck a nerve with my rebelious urban side. Others like suicidial tendencies, tsol, fishbone, red hot chili peppers and alot of other urban street los angeles music influenced my tastes for anything out of the normal during our skateboard thrash sessions. an early example of the proper place for a certain style of music and how i would always be obsessed with having the perfect music to set the perfect mood for any given setting. also during this period i could not escape the latin influences that were everywhere in l.a. from Trinere, Zapp, Madonna, Debbbie Deb, to Shannon and later Expose' and others it would always entertain the dance pop side of my tastes.

by 1987 at the age of 11 I started to get really into dance mixes of my favorite new wave songs. that coupled with by 1988 i got my first boombox featuring 2 cassette player and i also got a outboard cd player, I started to edit them into extended and dub remixes and make mix tapes and give them to my siblings, friends and my father who always supported my music tastes which for a few years he entertained my wants being my fan base for a weekly top 20 and music playing sessions while i would radio dj.
my brother influenced my tastes alot during 1988-1990. he introduced me to skinny puppy, front 242, siousxie and the banshees, bauhaus and many other influential bands.
many days of school would be skipped while i found my mixing sessions much more enjoyable. from 1988-1991 my mix cassette collection would grow giving birth to my hobby as being a physical collector. from early on studying music, reading liner notes, remembering names, labels, pictures and even fonts was the original way pre-internet that i discovered most of my tastes as radio stations and other media avenues were not giving me what i wanted to hear. during those years a few radio stations did round out my tastes for finding music, KROQ 106.7, MarsFM and 91X but I was still wanting something new.

by 1991 i started to see techno compilations in my local record stores. the obscurity of the artists attracted me. techno and electronic music seemed as for a music medium ,all about art and substance over image. as new wave music was on the decline, rock music(grunge around then) i inheritantly didn't like and rap moving away from party and towards gangster/money, electronic music was just what i needed and just at the right time. everything about it was perfect for me, i stopped editing tracks into instrumentals because with electronic music i didn't have to! i began looking for the perfect beat. i began looking for the perfect synth and the perfect mood.

i could on and on about artists and labels that influenced me from 1991 till now but when you have over 6000 pieces of vinyl, cd and cassettes it's just too hard to single out some to mention specifically.

my favorite music style and periods/countries are:

ambient: UK/NY/west coast/Belgium/Germany 1993-1994
ambient techno: UK/Belgium/USA/Netherlands/Detroit/Germany 1991-1995
deep house USA/UK etc 1988-now
rave UK/Belgium/Netherlands/Germany/US etc 1990-1993
trance UK/Netherlands/Belgium 1993-1995
new wave UK 1981-1988
minimal techno uk/germany/detroit/scandanavia 1992-now
industrial 1984-1993

right now currently digging stuff that was not distributed much to the united states or more, los angeles area in the days of pre-internet; ambient house 1990-1993 and italo house songs that are either more downtempo and lush or more catchy and somewhat upbeat but still non cheesy in the days just before house verged on some of the rave sounds.


Seller Rating: 100.0% positive (29 ratings)

Buyer Rating: 98.7% positive (76 ratings)

TIM's groups (21)

 Reviews:

Moby - Bring Back My Happiness - 06-Oct-09 12:31 PM
The Para Los Discos version has this Wild Pitch sort of early MK thing going on mixed with this New York club style. Infectious stuff. Josh Winks all over this song with his mad acid remix. Josh Wink takes the vocal sample and riff and he goes to work making a very Dont Laugh acid techno track version. The underground mix adds another peak rave remix to this 12". Some solid club fodder here. Nothing outstanding but nostalgic if anything for the evil dj moby or josh wink fans.

Boxsaga - Positive Sweat - 06-Oct-09 12:12 PM
A record that proves how fun crate digging is when you find abstract releases like this. Lets start on side C for Robot Blues which has a Carl Craig Detroit mood to it and thats definitely a good thing. The tempo does go a bit into trance but because of the original shuffle in the beat and solid rhythms it still keeps the good feeling going. Title track Positive Sweat brings it down a notch with a drummed out dub house track that is the weakest of the 4 tracks on here but it can serve as a nice in between track in a house or jazz set because there is some solid drum work to be mixed and is complimented by the 45 rpm on each side that gives each track a decent club sonic quality even if the production could have been better but still its good considering its from 2000 and from a virtually unknown label and electronic act. Atata is the gem on here that I always go back to. The melody reminds me of Eternal E Mind Odyssey on Warp records from 1992. Very spacey track but its got a great vibe to it and it stands out but I cant exactly state the reason why. Its ups and downs are magical and there is plenty of them. Such a good track. Beautiful techno. Audiotok completes this double 12" very nicely with another dubbed out jazz house vibe. Cover art is pencil drawing of some young urban kids jamming out and getting down on a dancefloor and it really goes good with the overall feel of this record as music not taken seriously but just good electronic music.

Aquarhythms - Heart Sequences - 06-Oct-09 11:38 AM
Aquarhythms Heart Sequences is a typical 1997 trance sounding track but set apart thanks to the vocal and the mixes found on this 12". Lunasol also known as RITM version sounds a bit like Flooorida which they later came out with. Slightly breakbeat muted version and toned down thankfully saving it from sounding as aged as the song is settling for a nice memory of the sounds of those days. The better ones in trance that is. Never a fan of Deep Dish they do a pretty decent dubbed out version sounding like Single Cell Orchestra a bit although it does get tiresome. RITM version brings what the Lunasol version hinted at and that isnt a good thing because its pretty full on trance breakbeat. Very United States rave of the day. Now you had the chill version, the dub version and the trance version but now we have the techno version thanks to Carl Craig. As it plays I remembered why I bought this record. Carl Craig is the mad wizard and what doesnt he touch that isnt turned to gold?! Nothing short here as he works the vocal to a brilliant and danceable deep house pace accenting his excellent track re-work. Carl Craig reminds of Francois Kevorkian as remixers because they made all together different tracks that were really remixes and not just extended version. Carl Craigs less is more approach made him stand the test of time.

Martin Landsky - Spy On Summer - 06-Oct-09 11:11 AM
Martin Landskys seminal Spy on Summer track here. Something always makes me describe Martins period of 1999-2003 Poker Flat music as music for a haunted ballroom dancefloor. Theres always this eerie tech house vibe which is endearing as well as romantic and classy. Martins work on Poker Flat is genuine and original and my most favorite on the label. Daniel Bell does an excellent remix on the flip that adds a bounce and continues the eerie and haunting theme with plenty of bleeps that hes well known for. B2 brings A Slight Breeze which is off the full length release In Between also on Poker Flat Records. Its a real fun track to mix in and really should have been a single all in itself because its that infectious. Solid 12" release here and one of my favorite on Poker Flat.

Johannes Heil - Future Primitive - 03-Oct-09 01:23 PM
Johannes Heils 2000 release Future Primitive showcases Johannes detail and talent at making much more than his more well known hard driving techno tracks. Intro is especially exciting and a great sci-fi opening track for any dj set. Children of the Night is hard to catagorize in a genre so lets not and just call it a very, very catchy song. Johannes tracks are so German they hurt. But he just does them so well you cant fault him as they ooze such brilliance. Check Play out. I am a bit partial to his stuff though I admit. Granted not every time of day is the time to listen to his works but when the time is right, Johannes is right on track. Cherubim is of thee most emotional techno tracks I have ever heard. Its amazing. Cool gatefold double vinyl with excellent artwork. A tour de force techno album covering everything to love in techno.

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