Enough with the definitions already, let’s insert the first tape in the mix.
In order to preserve the integrity of the original recordings all of the mp3s we’re going to showcase have not been edited in any fashion. As a result the music may jump around, contain static and/or other strange (but wonderful) sound bites – all of which apply to this first tape.
It’s quite fitting that we kick off our mixtape to mp3 series with this one since this it’s one of the first tapes I got my hands on and ran around Toronto jamming it in to any tape deck within close proximity. But it’s the accidental intro on the tape that solidified the decision for it to premiere our series of audio.
Whom ever first recorded this tape (I’m pretty certain it was Captain B. Mental) scans through Toronto radio stations on a Saturday evening in 1991 hunting for CKLN 88.1.After hearing several genres of music (and making a few questionable pauses ie Ooh It’s Kinda Crazy by Soul Decision) it becomes quite obvious he’s reached his destination when Hurricane by Sykosis 451 starts pumping through the speakers.
03/08/2010 – At least, that’s what I believed was the explanation for the radio intro until one of our readers pointed out that Soul Decision recorded Ooh It’s Kinda Crazy in 1998. Then I realized that the Stone Temple Pilots song played briefly was released years after 1991. Explanation? Aside from a radio that tunes in to music of the future? I have two versions of this tape, I opted to showcase the version donated by Ben F., because the intro had a novelty aspect to it. Ben must be the culprit behind recording the radio scanning snippet over top of one of his old tapes. Shame on you Ben. Thankfully his mistake was short lived, he realized was he was doing and pressed stop to get us back to ’91.
We’re jolted around for the remainder of the tape. This is the result of Captain B. Mental’s habit of combining tapes and making his own mixes. He was actually quite masterful with a tape deck and could seamlessly stop and start recordings and replace sections of a tape he didn’t favor. Captain even had a nifty mixing tape deck that was capable of audibly playing two tapes at once – whereas most double decks, like my own, sadly, had a “feature” to prevent this.
The next anthem is K Groove’s The Future which features samples from 80s tune How to be a Millionaire by ABC. And speaking of 80s samples Keep the Fire Burning by The House Crew features a little Annie Lennox, which I clearly remember echoing through 23 Hop and then my mind for many days after the event.
By this time you’re probably thinking, this sounds really groovy, could you play some more, like, right now? “Sure” says the Electropeople with Technoboy.
Then we’re treated to some classic Canadian content with Nick Holder’s Frantic and M1’s Feel The Drums. Back off C.R.T.C. our mixed tape CanCon quota has been met. Nicolette make’s a cameo with The Dove Song and eventually we hear a quick bite of the Radio 1 FM’s Essential Selection with none other than Pete Tong who is still going strong.
Enjoy.
June 1st, 2009 at 1:50 pm
makes sense that alan ‘dubbed’ his own mixes….
some of the sets sold in xstatic sounded a bit off…one great example is the prodigy live tape they used to sell..
June 1st, 2009 at 2:18 pm
I don’t think he was messing with those tapes, just the ones he made for himself and buddies pre X-Static. The X-Static ones were probably off because of being bootlegs that had been re-dubbed 10 times previously and then mass recorded on the least expensive blanks in existence. Ya still gotta love ’em though!
June 20th, 2009 at 8:40 pm
how do i hear these mixes?
June 20th, 2009 at 8:50 pm
Right under the tape there’s a mini player that expands once you hit the play button.
July 24th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
Just a little note on the tapes. These where done on broadcast decks not 1’s and 2’s I was in the studio many times and it was a real bitch to mix on those decks and console. Just thought of that wile enjoying carry on.
August 26th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
Absolutely wicked site! still have a few communic8r’s at home in the vault shoebox. Thanks for taking the time to do this. There were the days!!
March 22nd, 2011 at 9:53 am
I used to help Dr No (Neil), DJ Jungle Phd (Neville) and his brother (Richard), and their buddy rick produce Jungle tracks back in the early\mid 90’s. We would spend so much time in my production studio making some sick tracks! Good times!
February 27th, 2015 at 8:35 pm
would love a tracklisting for this! this is epic and a huge part of history for me as i started raving just a few yrs after the golden age.
June 25th, 2015 at 1:59 pm
Thanks so much for this! I am from buffalo and fondly remember listening to Canadian radio from ’91 on.. And it tided me over until I could finally start going to raves in ’95. Thanks so much!!
March 11th, 2016 at 10:54 pm
Hi – great stuff…! If I’m not mistaken, there’s cell phone signal noise at 35:38 – can happen when the cell phone is too close to the audio source when capturing from tape to computer, or doing any recording, even if you are not talking on the phone. It sounds like this is a “seeking” signal to me, that cell phones put out every 15 minutes or so to “talk” to the towers.