Alex Moschopoulos

Another one of those “gray area” tunes from 1991:

Title: Move Any Mountain (12″ Remix)
Artist: The Shamen
Label: Epic

Genre(s): House, Techno
Year released: 1991

While “Hyperreal” was the initial single released by The Shamen from the album, “Move Any Mountain” put the group on the map, partially thanks to remixing from The Beatmasters. For those who don’t know, The Shamen were a Scottish electronic music group formed in the late 80s who brought that “gray area” sound to rave culture, combining elements of house, techno, and new wave into their own unique sound. I’ve always seen them as the inspiration for much of the newer music that grew in the 90s out of the classic sounds of house and acid. The Shamen was also the big start for progressive house giant Mr C.

The funny thing I remember about “Move Any Mountain” was in how many releases of remixes that popped up after the initial single release. Most of us played the 12″ Remix I posted, but they had loads of remixes made, even at one point releasing a 4-vinyl set which actually even contained the sound samples they used to make the original. We’d know them now as “stems”.

Nice to have you back. Your Moby embed doesn’t play here in the US. Here’s one for us Americans to hear:

Leave it to John Askew to take things up a notch, breaking away from the typical synthy sounds of trance:

Title: Access (John Askew Remix)
Artist: DJ Misjah & DJ Tim
Label: Perfecto
Genre(s): Trance

Ruben, thank you for posting. I actually like the Tristam & Braken tune. Yeah it has elements of the usual “EDM” sound, but applied to DnB it just works, and it makes the sound more accessible to the masses.

Is “Monstercat” your thing? If so, I give kudos on the nice visuals and branding, while keeping solid credit to the artists.

Here’s what I have for this week:

Title: If Only I Could (Boston Bun Remix)
Artist: Fusion Groove Orchestra featuring Steve Lucas
Label: Strictly Rhythm
Genre(s): House, Deep, Smooth, Soulful

Let’s start off with a little tranquility from Phil’s home town:

Title: Lift
Artist: 808 State
Label: ZTT Records

Genre(s): House, Techno, Early Chill
Year released: 1991

I’ll always remember Lift for the days when I started college in 1991, and it was part of my soundtrack as I commuted from home every day. While most here in Chicago knew 808 State for Cubik and Pacific, I liked the strings and tranquility of Lift, and still keep it in rotation on my phone/MP3 player to this day.

I’ve talked about 808 State before here, but for those who did not know, they were an electronic music group started in the late 80s in Manchester, England. Most interesting is their full on rave/electronic sound while many groups in the area were melding rock with dance music in the whole “Madchester” sound. 808 State stood the test of time, and thus had much life beyond that era.

Here’s one from Matt Knight (not Mark Knight) I picked up months ago, but have been waiting for some proper means to share it with you all…

Title: Ain’t Nothing
Artist: Matt Knight
Label: Reelhouse
Genre(s): House, Deep, Disco

Changing it up to flow with Gerd’s Disco vibe…

Title: Clap Your Hands
Artist: DJ Pierre AKA The Don
Label: Strictly Rhythm

Genre(s): House, Disco House
Year released: 2000

It’s funny how I missed this tune when it came out originally, but caught it when the infamous documentary “Pump Up The Volume” aired. I ended up getting a copy from Beatport since, but I honestly liked the flow of this cut, even though it’s a simple sampling of Chic. In many ways, I felt it was an ideal “goodbye” to the 90s sound of house, and moving on into the 00s.