Nocturnal 100

Neil Corcoran (Tantric Dex)

Updated (14 October 15:40 GMT) Bit of a milestone, as it's the 100th episode, I guess I should probably share a few thoughts, with you the listener. Dance music was my first love, the first type of music that I took seriously. Prior to that I would have been your typical kid who listened to pop music. We lived in a house where someone always had music on, be it the radio in the kitchen that my mother was listening to or emanating from all the rooms simultaneously upstairs. That all changed in 1988 during what was dubbed "The Second Summer of Love". There was a real air of optimism about. Life was changing and the music we were gravitating towards was reflecting this. It all felt new and exciting as a bona fide revolution in youth culture was taking place. It was rebellious and as a pre-pubescent I wanted a part of the action. The Cul-de-sac we lived in formed a natural congregation point for the kids in my neighbourhood and someone always had a stereo on as we played in "the square" as it was referred to. I decided to take up the mantle one afternoon and got my first taste of playing music selector to an audience. Naturally I was hooked. I was initially drawn to the sample based, 'Cut 'n' Paste' style of acts like Bomb The Bass, S'Express and Coldcut and anything I could hear via radio on Simon Young's Dance Show on 2FM and later Pete Tong's Essential selection on BBC Radio 1. I'd tape the shows and listen to them all week trying to track down the records I was hearing. This of course was pre-internet so what followed was a lot of humming in record shops to bemused staff. We had one of those old style record players in our house that could go down to 16 rpm and up to 78 rpm, on top of the usual 33 and 45 and my first foray into concocting mixes was making pause button tapes, messing about with the speeds of the various records in my collection and whatever else we had around the house. Which included my sister's Madonna, Janet Jackson and Gloria Estefan LP's along with a cache of vinyl, which my dad won playing poker, I was later informed. The collection he acquired included a lot of music that was alien to me at the time such as The Band and Pretty Purdie who had a song called 'Funky Donkey' that I developed a fondness for solely because of how absurd a song title it was. I investigated each record in the haul in the same manner that I still do today and put to one side the one's that stood out for me adding them to my stock. I also learned something valuable that day and that was; that, sometimes, it's worth going off the beaten track to discover music for yourself, as it can be extremely rewarding. In 1992 I started working part time, after school, saved up and got my first set of proper turntables. This was back in a time when Ireland's licensing laws were a bit lax and I started sneaking into nightclubs. This opened me up to a whole other world of music and I forged friendships that still hold strong to this day. I was well and truly bitten by the bug and decided that DJ'ng was the profession for me and by 1995 I was gigging regularly and making a living from something that started out as a passion. It's a passion that has never waned. Music still excites me as much now as it did then and I enjoy seeking out and listening to as much new music as I can. Everyday I hear something that blows my mind. So to the mix itself. I decided to take a look back at the history of dance music from the first nightclubs in Paris in the 1950's, to the Sound System culture of Jamaica in the 60's, on to the Discotheques and Block Parties of New York in the 70's, the House music of Chicago, Techno in Detroit, the Balearic Beat of Ibiza, the UK Rave scene in the 80's and beyond to what is now a global phenomenon. It's been fascinating for me to see how dance music evolved from disco to house to techno to drum n bass and mutated into 100's of sub genres and come full circle. History shows us how it's all cyclical and connected like one big organism. Dance music has had many names but only one purpose and that's to get you moving. Dancing is an inherent part of our DNA. It's primal, it unites and truly breaks down barriers. Nightclubs can be magical places transporting us to another dimension, away from the mundane and allows us forget about our troubles, even if only for a night. For this mix I've selected some of my four to the floor favourites. Cramming in as much as I could. There's nods here to seminal tracks and key figures in the evolution of it all. I've had many memorable moments to all these songs, they remind me of different points, places and people. They're tracks that will always hold a special place in my heart for a variety of reasons and in most cases are the best examples, for me, of the many flavours of club music. Thank you as always for lending me your ears, it's greatly appreciated. Right, let's have a party, shall we? 00:00 Friendly Fires/Au Revoir Simone- Paris (Aeroplane remix) 07:07 Daft Punk- da funk 10:52 Björk- big time sensuality (Justin Robertson remix) 18:08 The Crusaders- street life (Opolopo rebounce) 26:49 Jamiroquai- space cowboy (David Morales remix) 34:13 The Chemical Brothers- swoon (Lindstrøm/Prins Thomas remix) 41:50 The Beloved- deliver me (Robodisco dub) 48:10 Todd Terje- inspector norse 54:05 K-Klass- rhythm is a mystery 58:50 Lykke Li- I follow rivers (The Magician remix) 01:02:54 Alan Braxe/Fred Falke- running/intro 01:05:15 Groove Armada/Sunshine Anderson- easy 01:10:32 Gusto- disco's revenge (Mole Hole dirty mix) 01:14:33 Moloko- sing it back (Boris Dlugosch musical mix) 01:19:44 Luther Vandross- are you using me (Masters At Work 12' mix) 01:27:31 Kings of Tomorrow- finally (Dance Ritual mix) 01:35:03 Kim English- nite life (Bump classic mix) 01:40:16 Hercules & Love Affair- Blind (Frankie Knuckles remix) 01:47:28 Basement Jaxx- raindrops 01:50:52 Shakedown- at night 01:53:42 Cut La Roc- freeze 01:57:24 Armand Van Helden/Duane Harden- you don't know me 02:05:02 Jackie Moore- this time baby 02:08:24 Sub Sub/Melanie Williams- ain't no love (ain't no use) 02:13:28 Donna Summer- I feel love 02:18:45 Laurent Garnier- crispy bacon 02:23:40 Bedrock/KYO- for what you dream of(Full On Renaissance) 02:32:58 Rollo Goes Mystic- love,love,love (here I come)(Big mix) 02:40:15 Yeah Yeah Yeah's- heads will roll (A-Trak remix) 02:43:35 Liquid- sweet harmony 02:45:43 Rolando,The Aztec Mystic- knights of the jaguar 02:50:08 Underworld- cowgirl 02:57:48 Westbam- wizards of the sonic (Red Jerry remix) 03:04:34 DJ Misjah/DJ Tim- access 03:07:07 Cygnus X- the orange theme 03:10:35 The Prodigy- no good (start the dance) 03:16:46 Jungle Brothers- jungle brother (Urban Takeover remix) 03:20:11 DJ Zinc- ready or not 03:22:02 Natural Born Chillers- rock the funky beat 03:24:22 Ain't Armand 03:29:41 Fatboy Slim- right here, right now 03:35:11 Sister Sledge- lost in music (Dimitri from Paris remix) 03:42:34 The Streets- weak become heroes 03:47:52 Pet Shop Boys- left to my own devices 03:52:35 Fleetwood Mac- everywhere (Psychemagik edit)