At some point in late 1993 or early 1994 I returned home to Santa Cruz for a visit. During this trip I went to a rave in San Francisco that Dante was playing at; I’m pretty sure it was an event thrown by Wicked. The venue was an indoor/outdoor space under a freeway overpass in central San Francisco. If I had to guess, I’d guess it was somewhere around Division/13th Street or in SOMA between Harrison and Bryant. There was at least one sound system in what I recall was a two-story night club but the main stage was outside in the parking lot. With the subterfuge required to throw parties on the East Coast I was amazed that the city allowed this kind of event in such a central location.
None of the sets from this party stand out in my memory, but I do remember bringing baby powder to the dance floor and it being a foreign concept for the crowd around me. This was a common thing on East Coast dance floors at the time; baby powder made the floor slippery and enabled more expressive dance styles (those that involved moving your feet).
While at the party I had a chance to say hello to Dante and he gave me this tape. My friends and I listened to it that morning driving back to Santa Cruz along Pacific Coast Highway 1. It was bright, clear, and sunny and we couldn’t have had a better soundtrack; it was a blissful experience I hope I never forget.
The mix has no title but later my Boston friends and I all referred to it in a certain way, though I can’t remember what we called it; “Dante Ambient”, possibly. It’s more of a chill mix, actually; downtempo tribal beats interspersed with purely ambient sections. The mix provides a wonderful journey of moods ranging from peaceful meditation to bursting ecstasy.
Trainspotters, if you recognize something please leave the timestamp, artist, and title (with remix title, as applicable) as a comment. I’ve always wanted to know what the last song is (begins 1:21:04, vocal “It’s a brand new day…”). (Thanks, Patrick)
Tracklist
1:24:04 Praise “Brand New Day”
25:00 – KLF Chill Out – will get back with the track.
I think the KLF track is “Six Hours To Louisiana, Black Coffee Going Cold”
This blog is becoming a great source for some classic stuff, that’s for sure…
I beleive that mix is entitled Dante- “Tribal”
thank you thank you thank you thank you ….. keep postin… you rule da skool!
I still own a copy of this and it's still in my car. Thanks Shalako! I enjoy playing it while taking long rides or chill'n at the beach. But most of all it lifts me when I'm down! Also Shalako try the music finder ap on your cell phone. You let it listen to a track and it tells you what it is! I was surprised how well it worked with a few selections I picked from a mix cd/ in the middle of the mix and it got it right! WOW!! Let us know!
while it was probably a little more banging i remember dante’s set at grin april ’93 as having a lot of the same style and sounds.
@Jason At Grin Dante opened his set with a track from Peter Gabriel’s “Passion”. I believe another track from that album is on this tape.
Dante was one of my favorites way back when, I particularly loved his work with Markus the electric violinist.
Aha…So Dante played at Grin…that was my first rave party ever, had no idea what to expect going into it… and it completely changed my life for the better…. It’s amazing knowing what I know about the history of dance music now, and what we were all living back then… such sacred times!
The last track that you like so much is “Brand New Day” by “Praise”. I only recognized it from the vocals that is very obviously Miriam Stockley. You might remember her voice from”Easy Way Out” by Praise in 92 which had those fantastic Roger S remixes. I discogged the Praise album from 1992 and it is an album track on there ;^)
Thank you!! Amazing, “Easy Way Out” (The Most Excellent Mix) is one of my fav old breakbeat jams. I had no idea about their other work, much less that this superb jam was by them. So cool.