50/Fifty Coming Up: #38 and #37
This pair includes a prog trance monster, a pure club classic if you will, (to steal from another blog) from Sasha and a tune by Spooky most of you will have forgotten or never heard of.
At #38 is Alexander Coe, better known as Sasha, who produced his monster track Xpander in 1999. I’d never had a great fondness for his work and decreasingly so as in the later 90s he became a hugely successful trance DJ (more here). But this track transcended genre boundaries with its trance chords and cracking drums. Still quite breathtaking.
Best bit: the way the high keyboard line comes in at 1.57.
This rework by the sainted Max Cooper is pretty good as well:
At #37, Spooky (Charlie May and Duncan Forbes – more here) who remain one of the most famous production outfits of the mid-1990’s progressive house scene. Their classics include their anthem “Little Bullet” and their debut LP “Gargantuan“. D recommends “Spooky – Schmoo (Underworld Mix) – personal favourite, very personal, Emerson in fine form, lovely break in the middle, quite splendid. Or, coming in at a very close second, Little Bullet (Extended Mix)”. Both are indeed great tracks but this 1995 track is after they left Guerilla and is my personal favourite. Stereo mixes a great bassy hammond organ line with a clattering of drums, quite out of step with anything else being produced at the time.
Best bit: the way the track builds without drums all the way to 1.23.
And here’s a version of Little Bullet
Buy: http://www.djdownload.com/mp3-detail/Spooky/Stereo+EP/Spooky+UK/2598963
More great picks, Ted. Always felt that Sasha was far better as a DJ than a producer until “Xpander” – brilliant single that one, thanks largely to May and Forbes. Probably put it in my top 10. Cheers.