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Writer's pictureKevin McKay

#2071 – GLASGOW UNDERGROUND: AMSTERDAM 2015


Our compilation to celebrate the Amsterdam Dance Event features 12 new and exclusive productions from the likes of Romanthony, Nice7, Illyus & Barrientos, Detlef, Metodi Hristov, Olivier Giacomotto, Piemont, Pavel Petrov, CJ Jeff, Loquace, Stefan Obermaier & myself, Kevin McKay.

Buy it at BEATPORT

I love ADE. However, when I first started putting records out in the 90s, the Winter Music Conference in Miami was THE place to network and party; it was a great place to meet like-minded producers and even give your promos to tastemakers like Masters At Work or Todd Terry.

As it got more and more popular, it became harder to connect with key people and became more like Ibiza – pretty much a pure party destination. So sometime around the mid noughties, ADE overtook it for me as the number 1 music business hangout. Whilst it was always great to go to Miami in March and get on one… ahem… sorry… do business in the sunshine, Amsterdam felt much more like home and the records I had been producing, signing & testing out in Glasgow or London felt more relevant there.

So whilst – for me – our Miami and Ibiza albums are about sitting in the studio and transporting myself back to the Space Terrace or the pool parties on Collins Avenue, our Amsterdam album is a darker, trippier affair, much more like the music that would work for me in Glasgow’s Sub Club or an underground party in Dalston.

Nice7 kick off this collection with their brilliantly acidic rework of Romanthony’s “Too Long”. Following that, Illyus & Barrientos let me loose on “Chase Your Trip” and I rework it into the kind of thing I’d play peak time in the venues I just mentioned.

Detlef is a producer who is bang on form and just like his recent killer reworks for Sabb and Hot Since 82 he turns Daniel Trim’s O Day into a razor sharp tribal journey – perfect for some 2am jacking business.

CJ Jeff is another beat-maker who’s star is on the rise. “What 2 Do” has the feel of Steve Poindexter’s “Computer Madness” but with a 2015 rolling tech house rhythm instead of 909 kicks & snares complimenting his spooky lead line.

My favourite thing about the Olivier Giacomotto remix of “Step Outside” is how closely it sticks to the original. Metodi’s hooks are all perfect in this track but it’s great to hear Giacomotto creating a full-on bass bump for the odd-ball vocals and weird piano stabs.

Our favourite German producers Piemont sent us the wonderfully spacey “Kingpin” and it works perfectly here, it’s progressive touches linking us to my mix of Stefan Obermaier’s “Sinaye”. One of my favourite producers is Joris Voorn and – inspired by his work – I’ve taken Stefan’s funky original and turned it into a driving, synth propelled tech house groove. The kind of thing I’d love to see in Joris’ playlist one day.

The Mat.Joe remix of “Freedom” adds a truly European flavour to the mix; cooked up in Athens & Verona and remixed in Berlin, this extra large house cut is one of the best sax-fuelled tracks I’ve heard in ages.

After all that heavy-weight material, comes Pavel Petrov’s “Defective Ego”, a deep’n’moody synthscape that wouldn’t sound out of place in the early stages of a Sasha set.

Following Pavel is something that’s been a bit of a secret weapon for me. Sent to me last year by French producer Loquace, this quite brilliant edit of Romanthony’s “Let Me Show You Love” takes Roman’s plaintive love song and turns it into a proper stomping techno groove. And if you think you might have heard it before, you’ve probably been listening to Marco Carola who’s been dropping it – amongst other places – here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2a-5IEs9cY0 and here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CmfXydlYnQ.

The early Sasha vibes of Andy MacDougall’s “Shaman” are up next. As well as being the studio technician behind some well known DJs’ music, Andy MacDougall is also the guy that Toolroom go to for that special mastering touch on all their releases.

Finally, Freestyle – a track I made with Andy – is inspired by an old Mood II Swing cut of the same name. I’ve been listening to a lot of techno recently and so there’s definitely some influences from people I like (Uto Karem, Kevin Over, Sam Paganini, Dosem) coming through but at the end of the day, this is still a house jam with a sweet emotional breakdown and a big-assed bottom end 😉

Kevin McKay, August 2015

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