September 26: hOOkUp

I started this edition of the HHDG with Mary Jane's Ghost Runner mixed compilation that came out earlier this year. This is set a set that reflects what she has been playing in the past year, and she puts her sets together in a way that any progressive DJ would say, "She definitely knows what she is doing!" Every track builds with energy like steps towards top of a building. The music goes from different subgenres of house like tech, tribal and progressive until we get to the top floor where she ends with a nice pogressive breaks cut. Her mixing proves to be of a veteran's. The thing that some DJs do not realize sometimes is that it is all about the journey. You may have the best music to play, but it is all about the journey. This is where she stands apart from the others in the DJ pool. I enjoyed sharing Mary Jane's Ghost Runner with you and when she gives me the track list, I will post it.

The second part of the evening featured a live set by Justin Hand recorded on September 4, 1999, in The Underworld at The Apocalypse.
01 I'm Lonely
02 DJ Tomcraft - Unicom
03 Freaky Chakra - Done
04 Deepsky - Stargazer
05 ? - ?
06 Timo Maas - Killing Me
Justin is a veteran to this scene as well, and hosted hOOkUp at The Full Moon Club in Zinnie's East. I figured it would be appropriate to debut this mix to demonstrate how long and well he has been spinning in Memphis. I used to frequently support his club residencies and want to continue to support such awe-inspiring talent and skill. As Kevin Tucker wrote on September 27, 2009:
"They say Memphis is a “house” town…I have deep appreciation for the soul and the blues that bubble up like perpetual crude in our city. But for me it is techno that truly transports me to another plane, and last night’s “LFO Hookup” was the finest techno performance I have seen this side of the Underworld live in Denver.
LFO founder and front-man Justin Hand throws events the way a flamethrower shoots fire – and he always hits his mark. There was a five dollar cover – I went ahead and paid ten because I knew that the show was going to be worth every penny. The event went down at the Full Moon club, a dark, cozy dive above Zinnie’s East. Slowly up the creaking wooden stairs and narrow hallway, I followed the sounds of electronica, growing louder as I approached. The lights and sound were superb – five-foot amps pumped a crystal clear audio…LED’s glittered, green circles flickered.

The night began with Mary Jane concocting her wickedly addictive grooves and hard, sharp beats that cut like a knife. The crowd was sparse at first, but all were finding it difficult to keep from moving. Too bad I didn’t have my camera – at the end of her set, Mary was kneeling down behind the decks with a ¼” line between her lips, like a cool dog. Definitely a Kodak moment.
Next the notorious DJ Porter brought his richly-layered electro breaks that dropped back into deep seas of driving rhythms…the dance floor was filling up at this point – there were zombies, pirates, and jedis with glow-stick light sabers, all gyrating like the cast of the “Thriller”video. Folks from all walks of life were joining together and having an awesome time…
And then Justin hand took the helm, and the party took off into outer space, as it usually does…at this point, having several two-dollar shots of “901” Justin Timberlake tequila in my pie-hole, I let go of any inhibitions I had been fostering and let the rhythm move me around, relishing the almost tribal rapture of pounding my feet against the floor to the beat. I vaguely remember some sinister-sounding sample “the witch doctor”, interspersed with electronic beeps and whirs and a killer beat…towards the end of his stellar set he laid down the bare bones of an Underworld track – “is this dark train?” I asked myself dizzily, trying to avoid stamping my stocking feet into the puddle of vomit and ice and cigarette butts by the bar (Christ, what was that guy eating?) – it was the Underworld all right – “downpipe”, a track that has been snaking around the internet – “I’m gonna make – I’m gonna make your hands shake”…Justin made an entire dance floor’s collective ass shake.

Next up was Dirty, another personal fave….his tranced-out techno works on me like an Indian snake charmer – my eyes close and my body becomes a puppet, moving in ways I never knew it could…between my half-closed lids, amid the flashing candy-colored lights and the carousel whirling of arms and legs, it brought me deep bliss to see that he has the same effect on everyone else! Dirty’s tunes touch a special pleasure center in one’s brain…

I think there was a brief period where Dirty and Hand were swapping back and forth, filling in time while they waited for the arrival of N8, who magically appeared and took over so seamlessly that I had been dancing when I looked up and suddenly, there was N8 at the turntables, head cocked down onto an earphone, making his magic happen…
What an incredible night…I didn’t stop dancing from 10:30 till 3:30…I truly believe in the experience of rapture at such events…I am reminded of those churches where the organ plays, the choir sings, and the folks in the pews get out into the aisles and sing and shout and twist and dance… techno is the religion, and we were all worshiping at the altar of LFO Radio. Thanks again guys, for an experience that will keep me warm inside for weeks to come.

Time to wash the black full moon funk from the bottom of my bare feet…"
-Kevin M Tucker

Appropriately, I ended this edition of the HHDG with N8's "Passages vol.1." Like Mary Jane's "Ghost Runner," the set is a demo that was released without a track list. When N8 goes back and identifies the tracks, I will post it here. This is the second time I played this progressive journey and I got a lot of gr8 responses again! Excellent N8!!