The Glimmers – DJ-Kicks

Possibly one of my favourite mix cd's. Eclectic in sounds but still familiar with a small club or intimate group in mind. This was a huge time in clubs and festivals, they were at a peak capacity like never before. The scene had a feeling that maybe electronic music and rock might have a future together. Lots of musical cross-overs existed in the charts from all parts of spectrum you had Hip Hop sampling weird 80's synth lines, Breaks DJ's like Krafty Kuts, Adam Freeland, Stanton Warriors Funkin up Dance floors again then in Drum and Bass artists like Pendulum being influenced by some of the Glam Rock/ Metal lead guitar riffs. Glastonbury line up was full of these types of DJ's and It was really only deep minimal Techno that was Underground still and that was fine for the anorak society but for most of the big European Techno DJ's they had decided to become more progressive. The USA DJ's were more like early UK Super Club DJ's now. All to get their "Brand" main stage at these big festivals and top billing at Ibiza being the ultimate goal of the summer.
It was becoming harder to find a decent night to go to due to the size of the scene and being so saturated in commercialism or the "go large or go home" crowd attitude dictating the tempo. DJ's like The Glimmer's dropping some credible classic stuff like Chicago - Im A Man, Human League - Things That Dreams Are Made Of. Whilst others getting it all wrong with White Stripes and Nirvana bootlegs. In the more credible nights around the globe you would hear lots of Acid House tracks squeezed between killer Disco bassline's and percussion that would never end, paving the way for live instruments to be played again in tracks. Making it a little harder for vinyl DJ's to mix these tracks they would opt the more old school approach to mixing by letting the record do the work. The more daring or obscure the track the bigger the chance of it being played all the way through. Which would open the door again for tempo changes, dubs, drum solo's and hearing the original the way the artist intended it to be heard. This cd would be a possible peak behind the curtain of what was to hopefully come. (Im still waiting....)
This is/was nothing new, it was just refreshing to hear at the time and to be honest will probably out last most of the other mix cd's that were on offer at the time from big labels.

C1 is a re-edit of Chicago - I'm A Man by Rub N' Tug, as in the 12": Thomas And Eric - Disco Theatre Of Manhattan Presents Rub N Tug (RPR99, Rong Music, 2004).