Old Skool Rave Piano House 1991-94
Discussion
bookmarked.
I started going clubbing around the time that piano house was at its heyday and still love older house and rave tracks made before the process was digitalised. That is not to say I don't like the new stuff, there has been a resurgence in house music in the past few years and loads of great tracks, sadly rarely available on vinyl (still have my technics 1200s).
Burns-Talamanca is a good modern piano driven tune, as is High Contrast- Rhythm is Changing, both fairly recent releases.
I started going clubbing around the time that piano house was at its heyday and still love older house and rave tracks made before the process was digitalised. That is not to say I don't like the new stuff, there has been a resurgence in house music in the past few years and loads of great tracks, sadly rarely available on vinyl (still have my technics 1200s).
Burns-Talamanca is a good modern piano driven tune, as is High Contrast- Rhythm is Changing, both fairly recent releases.
Stussy said:
I started going to raves early 92, and mixed old hardcore, jungle, d&b in clubs from 92-98, it was an awesome era! 
Yeah, so many great tracks. Lots of variety in that era from rave/hardcore at the beginning right through hard house emerging at the end and trance becoming more mainstream. Jungle/D&B blossomed in that time as you say, you'd got the birth of superclubs, lots of great hip hop (mostly US though) and even things like trip hop.It was an incredible time being in the scene and loving the twists and turns in the music that sometimes seemed to change styles weekly as new styles and techniques of production were discovered.
Being at the forefront of it all as the unique U.K. hardcore sound appeared in late 91 and mutated into dark side, jungle and then d&b was such a good era.
I remember in 92/3 it was near impossible keeping up with buying everything on vinyl as it was released, literally dozens of tunes every single week. The amount of amazing tunes being written so quickly was crazy, and all being done by fellow ravers and DJs, their bedrooms on Atari ST and Amiga A500. Often released on self funded labels with literally local distribution to their closest record shops.
Because of this, midlands hardcore was different to south, and only the bigger tunes and labels went national.
I could talk about this stuff for ever, my head is a huge encyclopaedia of tunes and labels from the era
I won’t ramble on, so here’s one of Andy C’s first ever releases, which was one of the first proper U.K. hardcore tunes that got me into mixing, and of course has a big piano!
Being at the forefront of it all as the unique U.K. hardcore sound appeared in late 91 and mutated into dark side, jungle and then d&b was such a good era.
I remember in 92/3 it was near impossible keeping up with buying everything on vinyl as it was released, literally dozens of tunes every single week. The amount of amazing tunes being written so quickly was crazy, and all being done by fellow ravers and DJs, their bedrooms on Atari ST and Amiga A500. Often released on self funded labels with literally local distribution to their closest record shops.
Because of this, midlands hardcore was different to south, and only the bigger tunes and labels went national.
I could talk about this stuff for ever, my head is a huge encyclopaedia of tunes and labels from the era
I won’t ramble on, so here’s one of Andy C’s first ever releases, which was one of the first proper U.K. hardcore tunes that got me into mixing, and of course has a big piano!
All brilliant tunes and recollections I’ve added all of the suggestions I didn’t already have to my YouTube lists so thanks for all of those.
What I loved about the rave and early underground dance music scene was how friendly and inclusive it was, everyone was everyone’s friend, largely down to pills, but most people were there for the music as well. I don’t remember any hatred towards anyone, no racism or nationalism or homophobia in that scene, everyone was there to have a good time. There was an anti authoritarian streak, but that was a result of the Criminal Justice Act and some heavy handed police behaviour. Most of us took drugs but we were a happy positive subculture, plus most of us worked hard all week to enjoy that Friday night release.
Incidentally I used to work Saturdays in a supermarket back when I was 17, my direct manager knew all her staff were off their face the night before but we did a lot more work and were more reliable than the lads who got s
tfaced every Friday so she didn’t seem to care.
What I loved about the rave and early underground dance music scene was how friendly and inclusive it was, everyone was everyone’s friend, largely down to pills, but most people were there for the music as well. I don’t remember any hatred towards anyone, no racism or nationalism or homophobia in that scene, everyone was there to have a good time. There was an anti authoritarian streak, but that was a result of the Criminal Justice Act and some heavy handed police behaviour. Most of us took drugs but we were a happy positive subculture, plus most of us worked hard all week to enjoy that Friday night release.
Incidentally I used to work Saturdays in a supermarket back when I was 17, my direct manager knew all her staff were off their face the night before but we did a lot more work and were more reliable than the lads who got s
tfaced every Friday so she didn’t seem to care.Totally agree! Everyone was there for the music and a good time.
It didn’t matter what you wore, or how you danced.
Everyone spoke to each other, shared a bit of water or a laugh in general.
No one was worried about accidentally stepping on someone’s designer trainer and getting attitude for it.
No one was there to show off or trying to portray themselves in an intimidating way like some feel the need to these days.
Funny you mention work on a Saturday, my weekend for years consisted of work on Friday 6am-2pm and then home for food and a shower.
Get to the club (I was resident at Milwaukees (Equinox) near Bedford for years (where Dreamscape and Helter Skelter first started their nights) at 9pm to help get the lights and system warmed up. I’d play a set later and do the lights, cover for any late Djs etc, and then leave at 6am after waiting to get paid.
Then I’d go straight from the club to work for a 7am start!
Work till noon, home for a change and shower then record shopping all afternoon.
Saturday evening would be either going to another event or djing at one, roll in as it got light Sunday morning and chill out for the day mixing at home, mega drive/SNES or amiga on TV and everyone round for a laugh.
The club finished at 6, but had a licence until 7am, and if the last DJ was in the mood they could carry on. I’d be sat there thinking come on, I’ve got to get to work!
Most of the time it was Ray Keith that would play on, that said, all of the big names loved playing there and it was great chatting to them every week, often getting test presses of their tunes and labels ages before they got anywhere near promo!
Absolutely amazing era.
It didn’t matter what you wore, or how you danced.
Everyone spoke to each other, shared a bit of water or a laugh in general.
No one was worried about accidentally stepping on someone’s designer trainer and getting attitude for it.
No one was there to show off or trying to portray themselves in an intimidating way like some feel the need to these days.
Funny you mention work on a Saturday, my weekend for years consisted of work on Friday 6am-2pm and then home for food and a shower.
Get to the club (I was resident at Milwaukees (Equinox) near Bedford for years (where Dreamscape and Helter Skelter first started their nights) at 9pm to help get the lights and system warmed up. I’d play a set later and do the lights, cover for any late Djs etc, and then leave at 6am after waiting to get paid.
Then I’d go straight from the club to work for a 7am start!
Work till noon, home for a change and shower then record shopping all afternoon.
Saturday evening would be either going to another event or djing at one, roll in as it got light Sunday morning and chill out for the day mixing at home, mega drive/SNES or amiga on TV and everyone round for a laugh.
The club finished at 6, but had a licence until 7am, and if the last DJ was in the mood they could carry on. I’d be sat there thinking come on, I’ve got to get to work!
Most of the time it was Ray Keith that would play on, that said, all of the big names loved playing there and it was great chatting to them every week, often getting test presses of their tunes and labels ages before they got anywhere near promo!
Absolutely amazing era.
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