The Rest of Your Life (v4)

AKA “The 30th Mix”

For those that don’t know, I turned 30 last week. So I thought I’d use the opportunity to start a new semi-regular feature called the “Royale Friday Night Mix”. Basically, it’s a podcast of DJ Mixes by yours truly, to get you in the mood and start the party on a Friday night

Now because it was my 30th, I thought I’d made the first of these a bit of a (semi-chronological) retrospective, featuring some of the artists and/or songs that have had particular impact on me over the last decade and a half, since I started ‘seriously’ listening to music way back in high school at the tender age of 15 or thereabouts.

You can check out the podcast here:

http://3z3r0.net/podcasts/2007/04/20/royale-friday-night-mix-1/

Here’s a bit of insight into the track selections.

(1) Welcome to the Jungle – Guns N Roses

The Gunners were the first ever band I really got into. They’ve long since ‘lost it’, with Axl Rose the only original band member left. Back in ’88 though, they were still ‘the shit’, and this is arguably one of the best tracks off their massively successful “Appetite For Destruction” album. Talk about Westie roots, eh ? 😉

(2) Enter Sandman – Metallica

Metallica were the first band I ever saw live in concert, back when I was a 16 year old, long-haired ‘metal-head’. It was the tour to promote “Black”, the album which this breakthrough single helped to shift so many copies of.

(3) Alive – Pearl Jam

My fave single from Pearl Jam’s seminal “Ten” album, this song (and this band) played a huge part in defining what would become known as ‘The Seattle Sound’. Started listening to them, the Ramones & Sonic Youth around the same time, while hanging with our school’s ‘skater’ crowd.

(4) Smells Like Teen Spirit – Nirvana

The song to define a generation, if I ever heard one From “Nevermind”, this one is also a fave from my ‘skater’ period. We skipped many classes at school, to go smoke cones while listening to Nirvana and the Smashing Pumpkins on my poxxy little walkman (complete with inbuilt speaker) behind the art block buildings.

(5) Take The Power Back – RATM

Rage Against the Machine were a great political / angry band, with funky guitar/bass action, and insightful lyrics. Basically, they were doing the ‘rap/metal’ combo, way before Limp Bizkit. This is probably my fave track from their debut album.

(6) Power – Ice-T

Before Tracy Morrow became a regular on Law & Order: SVU, he was one of the original West Coast ‘gangsta’ rappers. At the same time I was listing to G’N’R & Metallica, I was also mainlining some of this man’s ‘dope beats’, such as this gem from the album of the same name.

(7) Shake Your Rump – The Beastie Boys

Remember when the Beastie Boys weren’t ‘cool’ ? Well, at least not at my school ! I remember listening to tracks like this from “Paul’s Boutique” (still by far their BEST album, in my opinion) on the bus, and having the other guys hassle me for listening to ‘weird shit’. Guess the joke’s on you now, mofos !

(8) 3 AM Eternal – The KLF

‘Stadium techno’, courtesy of those Scottish pranksters Bill Drummond & Jimmy Cautey. Taken off their “White Room” album, this is one of the ‘defining’ acts which helped push ‘sampling’ and ‘dance’ into the mainstream in the 90’s. ‘Curiously’, I dug it, along with various obscure European ‘acid-house’ acts I’d pick up on the cheap on tape when flying through Asia to visit my dad overseas.

(9) Head Like a Hole (Opal) – Nine Inch Nails

“Pretty Hate Machine” was the album playing in the background when I first “stayed the night” with a girl (if you get my drift), a few months after starting uni. ‘Nuff said !

(10) Can U Dig It – Pop Will Eat Itself

This anarchic, ‘alternative’ band from the UK were big on the ‘underground’ Sydney club scene when I started venturing out to places like Rollercoaster & Club 77 in the mid 90’s, and quickly became a fave. The unique brand-identity forged for them by The Designers Republic for albums such as “This Is The Day, This Is The Hour … This Is This” (which this track comes from) no doubt helped in the endearment, as did their use of cheeky samples !

(11) Beers, Steers & Queers – Revolting Cocks

F*ck me, wasn’t this a good club song ? A side project from the lads of Ministry, I first heard this track on JJJ at some point around 1 a.m. when ‘dial-surfing’ on my radio-walkman after listening to Dr.Feelgood’s “Pillow Talk” on 2-Day FM. From the album of the same name, this was a great example of the humour & social satire (mixed with hard beats) this band are known for.

(12) Yesterday’s Void – My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult

‘America’s Most Dangerous Band’ (by their own PR), I have to admit I loooooove these guys ! They’ve been at it for 25 years now I believe, and their sound has certainly changed over the years. Taken from “A Crime for All Seasons”, this track is a great example of their mid – late 90’s direction, and one of my (many) faves of theirs.

(13) Sex Game Sucker – Def-FX

My first girlfriend got me on to this Aussie cross-over band. Still think the best gig I’ve ever seen would have to be when Def-Fx played support for Infectious Grooves (& Syko Miko) @ Blackmarket in Sydney. Fiona Horne seriously ROCKED as the pagan, feminist front-woman, exuding a mixture of anger & sensuality, the guitars & drumming were great, and Sean Lowrey’s uncoventional vocals + keyboard playing rounded out one of the most ‘original’ (for my money) bands to come out of this country, especially during that period. It’s SUCH a shame they broke up !

(14) Chant – The Merry Thoughts

Going through my ‘goth’ period, it was inevitable I guess that I’d get into The Sisters of Mercy at some point. This is a song by The Merry Thoughts though, from “Psychocult”. So what gives ? This is one of those rare ‘clone’ bands that sound more like the original than the original, if you know what I mean. Having seen Sisters perform live at the Arvika festival in Sweden in ’98, I have to say Andrew Eldritch has lost much of what made them such a fantastic band in their hey-day. The Merry Thoughts evoke the ‘original’ Sisters sound, and with ‘friendlier’ song-lengths of around 3 1/2 minutes, as opposed to the latter’s average of at least 5 minutes, their inclusion on this 2 hour ‘time limited’ podcast was a no-brainer, really. My fave song of theirs.

(15) Trap – The Cure

My absolutely favourite band of all time I do believe, even more so than TKK ! There are so many good songs to pick from, and so many memories associated with them. A band for the good times (perfect make out music), and the bad times (perfect “I hate everyone, and no-one understands me” music). My first girlfriend got me into them, and looking back I think they’ve been a bit of a yardstick for all my relationships and ‘flings’ since. If a girl doesn’t like the Cure – it’s never going to be more than a fling. If she does, then and only then is there potential for more. Thankfully, my wife is a Cure fan also This track is my fave off their “Wild Mood Swings” album.

(16) Stripped – Rammstein VS Depeche Mode

This is actually a remix I did back in ’99 while I was living in Melbourne, and trying to land a DJ gig at a goth club. I first got into Rammstein in ’97, thanks to one of my best mates in Sweden being German. So about a year before everyone else back in Australia had discovered them thanks to JJJ and the Lost Highway soundtrack, basically. I’d been into Depeche Mode for a long time, so when I found the original Rammstein cover of Stripped (a DM song from “Black Celebration”) on a DM tribute album, the inspiration for this ‘unholy’ melding of the two via remix arrived.

(17) Just One Fix – Ministry

I had my first kiss to one of the ‘filler’ songs off the end of Ministry’s excellent “Psalm 69” album, during my second week of university. Where are you now I wonder, Jo Schaeffer 😉 Between that and the girl who played NIN (see Track 9) while we “did” it for (my) first time, I think it’s no wonder I ended up going ‘goth’ for nigh on ten years hehe. This is a far better song off Psalm 69 though, and I used to go off to it big-time at the clubs !

(18) Biggest & The Best – Clawfinger

Despite the seppo accents, this is actually a Swedish band from Stockholm. I discovered them when I was living in Uppsala between ’97-’98, and they played a pretty awesome gig at (one) of my local pubs (Sten Sturr). A great mix of rap vocals, ‘metal’ guitars, synth hooks and attitude, I’m surprised they still don’t seem to have been ‘discovered’ much outside of Europe. This track off their self-titled second album DID get some heavy airplay on MTV Europe at the time, but I guess sometimes the good bands just don’t make it out to our ‘arse end’ of the world.

(19) Oxyacetylene – Cubanate

A lot of the student places in Sweden only played ‘mainstream’ dance, and since I was going out drinking and clubbing pretty much 7 nights a week during the year I lived there, it was inevitable I’d be spending a lot of time listening to it. So it was good that when I got back to Oz, I had ‘crossover’ bands like Cubanate & Sheep on Drugs to listen to, which mixed ‘dance’ beats and the ‘harder industrial’ sound I was used to from earlier days of clubbing. Cubanate seemed to be a particular dance floor fave in all the clubs I used to go to when I moved to Melbourne between ’99 – 2001, and this track off their “Cyberia” album is probably my personal favourite of theirs.

(20) Jukejoint Jezebel (Metropolis) – KMFDM

Another band that’s been around for 20 years, mixing up genres on the ‘harder’ end of the spectrum. A club favourite of mine from way back, nonetheless by the late 90’s they’d also brought in definite ‘dance’ elements, as this remix of the track originally from their Nihil album shows. Whose the remix by ? Giorgio Moroder – the producer of pop classics like Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love”, the theme from “Never Ending Story”, and the “Electric Dreams” soundtrack, among others.

(20) El Phantasmo & The Chicken Run Blast-O-Rama – White Zombie

White Zombie is another one of those bands who use samples from B-Grade horror and exploitation movies, which I love. Rob Zombie also provided really unique vocals, and their lyric content was always “out there” (even if you had to read the liner notes to decipher what the lyrics were hehe). This track from their “Supersexy Swingin Sounds” remix album is another great example of the industrial/dance cross-over head-space I was in by the start of the ‘noughties’.

(21) High Energy Protons – Juno Reactor

Taken from their album “Bible of Dreams”, this is a band I got into because of a number of reasons. For starters, one of their other songs off this album (“God is God”) was an occasional club player at some of the ‘alternative/crossover clubs’ in the late 90’s / start of the noughties. For another thing, they’d collaborated with Traci Lords on her (under-rated, but I love it) debut album “1000 Fires”. Finally, their music reminded me of some of those ‘acid house’ tapes I used to get from Asia. It’s nice to know I got into them way before all the anime geeks ‘discovered’ them thanks to the “Animatrix” soundtrack too

(22) Hardgroove 2001 – Resin Dogs

Thanks to this Aussie band, and their album “Grand Theft Audio” being JJJ’s ‘feature album’ one particular week, I started to get back in touch with my love of hip-hop, around the same time being on the dole really started to bite hard, and I started realising I really would have to move back to Sydney. 1200 Techniques really did it for me after these guys, but this track from the aforementioned “Grand Theft Audio” album is here with kudos for starting the ball rolling.

(23) Too Much Brandy – The Streets

I’ve always loved the English, and do a pretty good cockney myself. Cockney rap though … brilliantly original, as far as I was concerned ! Mike Skinner writes great lyrics too, and delivers them with a style that (at the time) was all his own. This is one of my fave tracks off his debut album, “Original Pirate Material”.

(24) Jindi Mahi – Panjabi MC

Living in North Parrammatta, and dating (my second) Indian girl, I started getting in touch with my past, having grown up for 6 years in Pakistan. So I went through a bit of a ‘Desi’ phase. Panjabi MC is a great example of the Bollywood / Electronica / Rap combination that particularly tickled my fancy at the time. This track comes from his self-titled debut.

(25) Twist – Goldfrapp

Your typical ‘Cockle Bay’ dance club material, which is also where I started going with the aforementioned Indian girl while we were dating, people from work, and later by myself, when the girl and I had broken up. Taken from “Black Cherry”, this track is a good example of the Goldfrapp sound, with it’s high production values, and kick-arse synths. Alison Goldfrapps voice is pretty unique too, of course !

(26) Ra – Ebony Dubsters

Got into Drum and Bass a bit in Sweden, and still loving it, especially now with the stronger UK connection via The Streets (and others). This is a great example, and has a nod to my old ‘Goth’ + ‘Eastern’ influences thrown in with the whole Egyptian reference (i.e. Ra). My fave track from the “Drum & Bass Arena” compilation.

(26) Addicted to Bass – Josh Abrahams

This track takes us to where we’re at now, really Danceable, relatively current (this is actually a remix off the “Maximum Bass” compilation from 2006, not off the original album), the sort of thing you’d hear at Tank or Chinese Laundry. Frightfully non-‘alternative’, I know. I love it anyway