Swayzak – Groovetechnology v1.3

The Convextion track is getting a repress so if you plan to buy this album for that track alone, save your money. Great compilation by the way. The smooth transition from Son.Sine to Round Four is a historic minimal moment.

Great track selection but if you want impeccable mixing this is not the compilation for you. Not sure why the transtions are so basic on this, studio DJ mixes by 2002 were usually pretty slick.

Swayzak were commissioned by Studio !K7 after they heard (basically) the same mix of tracks that appears on this Groovetechnology v1.3 compilation on their mix ‘Swayzak, Set 3 of 3, Groovetech.com Radio, 2001’ rereleased in 2011 on Swayzak’s SoundCloud. Although there were a few extra tracks on Swayzak’s Groovetech.com Radio mix, that did not make it onto the Groovetechnology v1.3 compilation. There is a full tracklist on the MixesDB website.

Music being made and released around the 1999–2003 era, and on this compilation has not faded so fast or been rivalled. 20 years later, the tracks are still going strong and are being rereleased on vinyl: ‘Back To The Start by Matthew Herbert’ on Accidental in 2012, ‘Upekah by Son.sine’ on Delsin in 2013, and ‘Monolith by Bitstream’ on Vinyl Underground in 2019, are classic examples.

There are some obvious characteristics of the Groovetechnology v1.3 compilation and Swayzak’s Groovetech.com Radio mixes from this era:

1. The tracks played are all really good, there are no okay tracks or tracks you do not really take notice of. It takes know-how about how to even find, select and play good tracks.

2. The way they played tracks, to me anyway, certainly does not sound random, or that they just pulled records out of the box in any old order, just hoping for the best. They played tracks that work off each other, the next track seems to fit to or work off the previous one, or indeed there is some kind of meaningful difference and change in momentum in the sequence of tracks, working in a very effective way.

3. Their mixes had a life to them, an atmosphere, an environment, it is hard to describe, even travelling through 4kbps modems in the early 2000s. There was a feeling of a beginning, middle and an end, a story. They really took the listener on a journey…

4. They played a wide variety of music styles and genres (deep minimal, spoken word, reggae, electro, all sorts of electronic music). They did not play in one particular style and they were not scared to play different things.

When you add together these 4 simple aspects, it might not sound like much, or even that this is what everyone does or is trying to do, that this is normal, and is what DJs do anyway by default… Maybe it even sounds easy, or people even think it is easy. When these 4 simple aspects are done well, and as Swayzak did them, it elevates music from something of average quality, to a musical experience on the highest level.

(2022 update): for more information on the ‘2000-era deep minimal’ music they used to play on their Groovetech.com Radio mixes, search for ‘Swayzak vs. Theorem – 020100’ on Discogs released in 2002, then scroll to my comment towards the end of the webpage.

The perfect and ideal compilation, the best of early 2000, like "Immer" from Michael Mayer!

A definitive set of what could be described as "emerging minimal sound" of early 2000s. It's not overly consistent though, but some parts of this set are truly amazing, such as Bitstream's and Michael Mayer's songs, and of course Ricardo Villalobos' undying "808 The Bass Queen (Queen Of Bass Mix)". It's a great, definitive peace of work. One should learn history of minimal music by early 2000s pieces like this.

This 2 cd compilation is totally awsome if you're not looking for a perfect mixing. Each track in this one is beautiful and high quality. They chose the best tracks of Ellen Allien and Bergheim 34, put Basic Channel's one rare track then they play dark but superp Crawling & Hungry by Convextion instead of playing Convextion like some other artists put their mix compilations. Goes and goes...Definitally worth to have it. Today minimal music is still trying to be stood alive but they aren't worth listening or collection or even followin between next to the ones from that period.

I first bought this release expecting a more electro, electro-pop oriented music and was at first disappointed. But a second listen gave me a crash course in minimal and I was hooked. This is minimal at its best with a healthy dose of funky and groovy additives. The mixing is nothing special - actually the tracks merely overlap for a few seconds. But the track selection is second to none. Terrific. 9/10. (I also strongly recomend Craig Richards' "Fabric 15" and with some reservations Akufen's "Fabric 16" release.)