The Future’s blog

Vinyl vs Digital - The vinyl days are gone

 Downlaoding…Be Careful - A view of downloading digital content legal or not?

My History Of House…… - A view of how it all began from me, myself and I

Tribute To AWOL – The ledgendary AWOL

Jucee Djs Ibiza 2012 - Jucee Djs getting set for 2012

A Tribute to Acid House - Acid house is 23 years old!!

May 09 Sexy House Mix Part 1 + 2 - A mix for your earz

April 09 Housn Mix – Anew mix to bump and grind to

Network Records Label Mix – The Shiefield base bleep label mix

Warp Records Mix - The classic label that everyone knows

April Drum & Bass Mix 2011 - Liquid Brilliant Records mix By Tony Future

Vinyl vs Digital

Vinyl vs Digital

As the digital age gets more and more natural to all of us there are some people who just refuse to accept that 2000 tunes can fit on something the size of your fingernail.

I must be getting old because although I regrettably moved in to the digital age I do not like it. I still prefer my vinyl in all aspects but I have to move with the times and get on with it. I miss the vinyl because it’s all I ever new and still do really. Every Thursday I used to go to my local record shop and just listen to music being played, see the usual faces and just hang out. When I heard a good tune I would have it and by the end of the day I had a tidy bag of new tunes. I used to really enjoy that and some of my pals used to do the same and they miss it too. You can’t do that anymore mainly because if you were to hang out in HMV all day you would find yourself down the nick for loitering or casing the place to rob it. In those days we knew the people who owned the shops and became friends with them. They used to say hello and know your name. They knew what music you liked and would save you tunes they thought you would like. Admittedly they were selling records but it was nice because it was personal. You used to catch up with other Dj’s and see what was going on, like a Dj’s pub with instead of beer it was records.

With today everyone just sits in there in their chairs and listens to music online in the digital shops and to me, I think it is so anti-social. Music is about sharing and experiencing together and with the record shops gone it just doesn’t happen anymore. As people buy tunes with no identification expect the sound it makes all the tunes apply the same attributes. Some records back in the day were because of the cover, the tunes were rubbish but the cover art or design was wicked. Picture discs were collectables and the music was rubbish but the point of a collectable picture disc was a buzz. How do you get a picture disc download?

When you used to play with records and some of us still do, you would know the record, see the breaks in the grooves and know the label and what side to play and what track. Even if you did not know who it was by you still knew what to play because the tunes had identity. Today they are all the same. Digital files with names that could be wrong and you would never know. The files you play look the same and feel the same because they are not physical so they don’t feel of anything or look of anything with any substance.

Digital music and downloads do have upsides though. You can store them easier and back them up (If it was records you would have to buy 2 of everything). It’s not fully illegal to back your tunes up in a digital source but it is if you move them to another person, property or existence so be careful. If you buy a record none of that applies….Still, you can search for a tune much easier. When you have thousands of records and want to find one it might take you weeks to find it but with digital you can search on many parameters. It makes it much easier and quicker. Another upside to digital music is the amount to can carry from one place to another with ease. To carry 2000 tunes would break your back and your friends and your friends’ friends back but in digital you can carry all those tunes on something the size of a pen.

Although with vinyl some people are funny about lending them to others, digital sort of combats that because you don’t really lend them out but rather give them away. You can upload or burn them to CD to ‘experience’ with friends and then you don’t care if you get them back because they are not missed for one and the other is you had no intention of getting them back in the first place. Although it is technically illegal to do that so was recording records but millions of people still did it and to go with the saying ‘home taping is killing music’ it was just ignored.

Some sites offer a digital download vault; this is very handy indeed because if you lose your tunes and you have paid for them properly you can re-download them which are great. If that was the case with vinyl it would be wicked because I am sure we have all lost our vinyl from time to time or it has got damaged. That treasure record getting damaged is the worst thing ever at the time and you would do anything to get it back but with the digital you just jump on your PC while the kettle is on and get it again! Vola!

There are some downsides to this vault and getting the tunes again though, or at least there was when the DRM was about. DRM is a Digital Rights Management that sort of stops tunes being moved about from one person to another. There was a major flaw in it though because when you download a tune and play it, it checks to see if there is a right to play it electronically and if not will not play it. So if you borrow some tunes from another person and this check fails then you can’t play them. The major flaw was that if the DRM servers went offline, as they did for Itunes and MSN because millions of people bought tunes legal and when they wanted to play them no license servers were found as they crashed leaving millions with tunes they could not play. It was a disastrous idea of trying to police the digital music world. Look for DRM disaster on Google and you will get the picture.

As long as the people who have brainwaves leave the music as it is then I think we will be OK. If they come up with idiotic ideas to try and police it all then it will go wrong. We have already given up the record shops, the physical format and the tradition of music so just leave it all alone and allow people to enjoy music because after all that is what it is there for – to enjoy.

Downlaoding…Be Careful

Downloading….Who is?

There has recently been a new law passed about internet users downloading music and media or any copyrighted material will be banned from using the internet. What do you think of this and how it is constructed?

Well…..I don’t know too much about it but I do know the basics. The government are going to suspend anyone who is downloading illegal or what they call illegal content. Well that is a big area of debate and I personally have a few views on it. They claim that the music industry and the film industry is getting ripped off; Well I agree with that 100%, but who exactly is ripping off the music industry?  The government has go the miseries because they are not getting their pretty 20% VAT as per usual. I personally think that the digital media distributers are for a start. Not all of them but most.  HMV Digital are selling (at the time of writing this) Now music 78 for £10.99 and you do not get the CD or the CD case or anything but the digital songs, that are by the way 1/4 of the quality of a CD. A vinyl is 1440kb/s and a CD is 128kb/s digital. You get a 320 kb/s but from a digital source and not analogue so its flatter. As with all distributers they sell the digital downloads at a 100% profit price and give you nothing in return except a lower quality version. There is no human interaction, no delivery and nothing to return if it doesn’t work properly. As we all know companies charge us for administration on everything, so why are we not getting a discount as there is NO administration. There is no posting and no delivery.

Other download sources are the same and if the companies can charge what they want why should the public put up with it. I have spent my money in the music business by paying for 15,000 12″ singles and then I am told I cannot record them into my computer to use on my Serato because its illegal so I have to buy them all again! Yeah Right, as if that is going to happen. For one you can’t get half the stuff and when I bought them they were around £4 per EP so if a 4 track is going to cost me more and I don’t get the plastic because some twat says you can’t then they need to think again. Half of what some people download or record in via vinyl is because they want the authentic sound of vinyl. Because the people that make these rules have never bought a vinyl in their lives they would not understand that!

Dj’s and vinyl junkies like me are going to try and get a vinyl, a digital recording from vinyl or whatever it may be but as near to vinyl as possible in any way they can. There are so many producers about today how the hell are they going to tell what’s copyrighted and what is not? As if your going get some old git knowing if a white label from 1992 hardcore scene is copyrighted! Not going to happen is it?

Some sites that do offer legal downloads and are supposed to have a good reputation are not so honest themselves. I know a few produces that have found their tracks on sites and have not given permission for them to be on their because they did not get asked in the first place but although when contacted they paid their dues but how many producers tracks are being sold without them knowing – Are the government going to check all them as well?

The digital side of things on a whole for distribution is much cheaper. In the beginning of the CD rage there were high prices and this was blamed on the production, then it came to light that the production of a CD is about 4p and the total was about 70p including the print and distribution. We how much is it for the digital distribution because deals can be agreed over the digital channels and then selling can begin immediately. So, with all this ease where is the administration costs gone? They have not come off the sale of the product so have they gone to the artist? I doubt it very much. See none of us mind paying for good music, but who are we paying? How much goes to the artist and before some would be to the business of distribution for workers to pick the product, package it and post it – not anymore – all those workers don’t exist anymore unless they are in the form of Neo because the internet does it. So is downloading illegal? No it is not. Is downloading illegal stuff illegal? Yes but what is illegal? In my eyes its illegal when the originator does not get what they deserve and in the case of digital downloads unless the artist has the deal set themselves then they will not get what they deserve – that’s illegal because if you go to work you want paying, properly. It would in fact be illegal to pay you under the minimum age – well if they are going to charge for digital downloads they all should be the same per track, the artist should get the same per track and everyone knows where they are. If a track is registered copyrighted then its illegal to get it without paying but somewhere someone’s got to check before they accuse and this will not happen. The government accuse then ask later if they bother at all.

I personal think it is an invasion of privacy, it’s like someone saying “I want to come and look at your whole record collection and anything that is a white label or has a sample not authorized, we are going to take away or fine you for getting it” emmmmm no you’re not! Well that is what it is like. You get caught downloading a film or something fair enough and if you get caught downloading a Robbie Williams CD fair enough because it’s obvious it’s is illegal but how and who is going to say what is illegal and what is not in the world of music where there is so much and no one really knows who owns what and who has asked for samples in the correct manner or not.

You can’t get fines or told off for downloading something that has not really been legal in the first place because it should not exist and in terms of some music it has broken certain laws just be samples it’s used.

As usual the government are trying to police something else as if they are experts in the field or something and they just will not do it because they are to behind and to arrogant to realize that probably the reason most people are downloading is because they can’t afford to go anywhere because the government are taking all our money! if they ban people from using the internet the ISP’s will collapse because why do you need a 40MB internet line if you can’t download? You don’t. An average family may use 2-3GB a month for normal emails, internet surfing and the odd legal download. A 2mb or 1mb line for £6 a month will do so why pay £40? The point is that illegal downloading is bad full stop but when the likes of the government start to rule the internet it will go wrong like everything else they manager to mess up. They just should stay away from things and this is most certainly one of them. If they really want to help do what China did and put in a national firewall. Job done! They won’t because they look at everything to gain money and not put money in like the Chinese.

BT and Talk Talk did act against it but they know it was useless but never the less they will lose out massively because big internet packages will not be required as you won’t need them because you can’t do anything. Illegal downloading in its own way allows people to try before they buy as there lot of people who prefer the actual CD or DVD or Blu-Ray disc but they simply cannot afford to try it out on the hope they like it so they will download it first. Some artists know this and support it but now its not up to them anymore or at least they have no say.

I am not saying illegal downloading is right by any means but there seems to be a whole grey area as normal concerning what is deemed illegal and what is not. You do get the people who just download everything and anything and maybe make money out of it but there are people like me as well that have paid thousands into the industry and because the people who makes the rules have no idea about the whole story of things they just go on what the normal (in thier small minds) would do. So they think that anyone who buys a CD a month is now downloading it and they should be banned from the internet forever but if you download pictures that are NOT of copyright material its ok??? As normal they have got all the perspectives wrong and rushed in like a bull in a china shop throwing threats about that will actually achieve……well…..NOTHING!

We will wait and see what happens but if they think I am buying 15,000 EPs again because they say so then they need to think again, seriously think again! It took me 30 years to get the much and I’m not spending another 30 years looking for them again but if I am not allowed to record them in where else are they going to come from?

Tony Future

My History Of House……

Tony Future – My View of the house history >>
It all started way back in 86/7 for me when I used to listen to Jazzy M on the Jacking Zone on a radio station, from then came acid music. In 88 acid music was breaking out in an underground way and little illeagle parties started to happen in tiny storage houses and small wharehoueses. All they consisted of was an loud sound system, a strobe with the odd light here and there and DJ’s. you paid some huge bloke on the door a fiver and you wa in, no search and they didn’t care – not like today! The music was acid through and through, Phuture acid tracks and Laurant x machines belted out and tripped everyone out and because it was all new as well it was even better – a new concept of clubs, raw and urban was born. Originators from the very beginning of house like ChipE and Farley Jackmaster funk was also still making the house sound and Trax from Chicago was taking most of the credit along side DJ International. Tyree, Bam Bam (The Party Boy) and DJ pierre (Pierres Phantasy Club) were also smashing it with Wheres your child, The twighlight Zone, Acid tracks, We are phuture and The Creater.
88 was the year of acid and as it became apparent the smiley faces started to appear everywhere and people shouting the Gary Hashim’s “aaccciieeeedd”. Dj’s were Dj’s like Danny Ramplig who at the time was doing shroom and Darren Emerson.

From the little raves in the acid days of 88 the music started to become more of an understanding instead of a hypnotic state for 8 hours and as we progressed to 1989 the music became more house and rhythm. I was playing at the Berwick Manor in Essex, UK at this time and still playing acid tracks as they were still the sound of the moment. Hip house started to hit big with Fast Eddie and Tyree and probably the biggest well known tune in the hip house era of 89 was Doug Lazy – Let it roll. The music in 1989 was full of everything, Garage, House, Hip House, Acid, Breaks and Hard driven house tracks. Many classics started in this year like Raze – Break for love and Soul II Soul – keep on movin. Other classics more known in the house scene are LNR-work it to the bone, Charles B-Lack of love, Da Posse-Searching Hard, Phase II-reachin. There were also others that were still classics and are today but were a bit more underground like Rengade Soundwave -The Phantom, Frankie Bones-Call it techno, 2 in a room-somebody in the house say yeah, Pink Noise-give me energy. Ultimate classics are tracks like Beloved-sun rising, Dionne-come get my lovin and EZ Posse-Everything starts with an E. The ultimate 89 classic has got to be Frankie Knuckles and Jamie Principle – Your Love

The raves started to get bigger and bigger with more attractions. Gone were the days of the pitch black sweat boxes and in came the super raves! The raves in the fields with light shows, fairgrounds, 100k sound systems, live acts and 20,000 people all doing the same thing in a field half way up the country without a care – what a time!! Sunrise, Energy and Biology were a few to name and they had raves that had never been seen with this type of music before – sure there were music gatherings before but not with a full laser show and a 100,000 watt sound system. The Dj’s like Carl Cox and Evil Eddies Richards were at most raves. Paul ‘Trouble’ Anderson was also a regular guest at the the raves. Rave culture was loving it and like veerything else the goverment didn’t like it so they made it harder and harder to organise the raves. The goverment forced the music back into the clubs although this did take some time. Big raves were stuill happening in 1990 and 1991 although ravers did finally get bored with travelling so many miles to find a copper standing there telling you they have shut it down! I remember from the raves it wa into the underground clubs like Dungeons in Lea Bridge Road and Labrynth whilst at this time the big raves were starting to get legal and in the more civilised manner should we say like having events at the Rocket in London and ESP/Dreamscape, Fantazia thowing big events around the country.

The music was changing along with other things to, the clubland was appearing again but with real dance music and as all the ravers wanted somewhere to go the clubs and events were following suit of the super sound systems and super light shows. Astoria in London was massive in terms of the building so it was an Ideal candidate for a wicked light show. The music was going more into the euro sound like Frank De Wolf and Joey Beltram. R & S was smashing it in 1991 and many european – Dutch/German labels were putting out some good vynal. Labels like Hithouse and GoBang! were just a couple. Tracks became accepted with a harder edge to them like Quadrophonia, Enter the darkness, D-shake-Yaaahhhh. Although they were classics in the building they were harder tracks and ravers liked it. Tracks on D-Zone on the other hand were a bit lighter like Greed, Easy Mo, Techno 2 and DJ’s mixed it all up together. THis doesn’t seem to happen anymore because all the music types are so different. The music types today, because there are so many of them are more selected than accepted. In the days of 88-92 the music was as one and that is what you listen to, all night and loved it. Tracks were also mixed in with a lighter note but extreme classics like Alison Lmerick-Where love lives – this track has to be the all time classic. In 1992 the clubland and in-side rave culture was hitting a boom, promoters everywhere and events poping up more than you could imagine. The music was in full swing with hardcore coming into action from Movin Shadow as one to mention. The music was still in mixed mode but was swaying to the hardcore and the garage. Tracks like Nebula II and most tracks on labels like Reinforced type lables were making their own paths for the music scene and on the other hand you had Todd Terry, MK and the USA crews making the garage sound – Different speads and totaly different sounds. The Hardcore became the main rooms in the raves and the garage and house became the chill out areas. This made a split at the raves and gave club goers/Raves a choice. with this happening people was starting to hear different type of music that they probably thought was all the same. In 1992/3 the split became so definitive the two different music types started a split amongst many of the music types today. they are all linked with garage being like house and house like hardhouse, hardhouse like trance and trance like techno, techno like acid and so on.

The only one I don’t understand is UK Garage – where does that fit in and where did it come from?

Into 1993 the hardcore sound really started to take off and DJ’s were still playing the mixture of music, in different rooms maybe but all the music was still being played. I was playing A.W.O.L at the paradise club at this time and the house and garage room was havin it in its own way, different to the main room but still havin it. Classic tracks.

from this time in the house scene was due much to producers like Todd Terry, Victor Simonelli with artists like Cathy Brown, Dajee. Cleveland city blasted onto the scene with some class tracks and put a bit of a thump into house, uk house was taking a good turn and the uk house sound like Nice n Ripe was starting to hit the house and garage scene. The most favourable of the garage house scene would have to be 4th Measure men, Nightcrawlers and the release project series from Todd Terry. Todd Terry has been around for years since 88 with to the batmobile and Weekend. From then with ‘this will be mine’ ep and from then to the classic jumpin. There are hundreds of tunes he has produced, remixed and learly turned into classics. On the Hardcore front of 93 the drum and bass sound started to emerge and the production was getting more crisp. In the early times of hardcore everyone who knew how to use a sampler bascly did and made records depsite the quality. This was now startting to filter out and the good productions were coming from the likes of the Ruffage Crew, DJ Recordings and Lucky spin. The whites were gradually disapearing and the business side of the scene started to become more professional. The music in 1993 on the hardcore front was now so different from the house and garage scene it was strange that two music types had emerged from one although both as good as the other. 1994 saw the turn for more of a house crowd and the garage became the more house, garage was always there but the softer more american house was now being replaced with the house and more dominating pumping sound. Uplifting house is what people wanted and this was nicknamed handbag, hands in the air house!! The havin it of house included tracks like Taiko-Echo drop, Ken Doh-Nagasaki and lots of uk house on Cheeky, Fresh, Effective and many uk whites were appearing with good quality production. I was Dj-ing in Italy at this time and the italian DJ’s were all very interested in the uk sound. Big events were still happening but they were more now in the first stages of the superclub. Events that held a few thousand people were every week and soon became a choice of where to go as well as the small clubs. Dj’s were coming out of the woodwork and it seemed to be the best job in the world that everyone wanted to do.

1995 the house side of things went into a real house sound and the Grarage house sound started to hit off. More chilled rooms and events started to split even more. One room for the house and another room to for the lighter stuff. Hard house – trance was creeping into the main rooms over powering the handbag – uplifting house and soon to completley to take out the uplifting piano handbag. The garage rooms was playing real smooth garage with lots of US influences. Hard house by the beginning of 96 was hitting the big events in the main rooms and the big events would have drum and bass with hardhouse/trance as the main room and garage as the chillout rooms. The drum and bass was also in two halfs, one with the harder darker hard hitting from lables like Penny Black, and the other with the mellow smooth jazzy sounds from LTJ Bukem and Intense from labels like Manix, Good Looking and Basement. The lighter side of the drum and bass was acting well with the garage rooms as it gave a mellow feel all round. I Played at lots of places by this time like World Dance, Peach, Desire and DJ Raps birthday at the Ministry of Sound and many other events and it was usual to see the difference in the rooms according to the music. The sound systems were in control by the regulations that the goverment had put in as they wanted control. It took a few years but the goverment controled the scenece into what you could do and what you could not – as it is today. In 88 you did what you want because they was not involved. Big lights and better controlled venues allowed bigger events and the events started to emerge outside again in the better weather. 1997 saw events like Pleasure Dome, Hysteria, Helter Skelter and Energy.

From 1997 the music has levelled it self out and new labels emerge all the time. Current labels like Defected, Subliminal and most of the drum and bass lables keep the scene alive. With all the DJ’s around the world the scene can only get better and it will.
Quality labels like Strictly Rhythm, Good Looking, Movin Shadow, React, Freeze, MAW, Champion, Trax, Cutting and producers like Goldie, MAW, Todd Terry, Rob Playford, Omni Trio, Paul Okenfold, Dj Pierre and DJ’s like Paul ‘Trouble’ Anderson, Colin Favour, Frankie Knuckles, Frankie Bones, Danny Rampling, Carl Cox, Mickey Finn, Sasha are all the key players in the scene to where it is today. The over the years the music has split in so many different ways and split the listening audience up into many but think of it in this way, it is all from the one music that started in America – a music called wharehouse music from inovators like Frankie Knuckles, ChipE, Jamie Principle, DJ Pierre and Farley Jackmaster Funk. The music they created has spread accross the world and entertained thousands and millions and it has become a culture of the new generation and its here to stay!!

Written by Tony Future

Tribute To AWOL

I have decided to do a tribute to AWOL as it was such a wicked place and still is with regards to promotions. The orginal DJ’s are all still going strong from the upstairs where the jungle wa splayed to the downstairs where the house was played. AWOL made its mark because of it sound systems, the buzz in there and the fact that it was open to 1PM on the Sunday.

When I used to play there I loved it and I think most of the dj’s did as well. I came a bit later as I am not sure when it started but I started ther ein 92. I used to flicker between the rooms as I like the house and the jungle and the sound was just awsome. I have a few fond memories of AWOl as I am sure the Djs do as well as the ravers. Most of the time it was dripping with sweat and hundreds of mad ravers just lapping up the sounds and atmosphere. Overall it wasn’t that big but it used to packed people in and soon enough not long after it opened every Saturday it was packed and then if that was not enough when all the other clubs closed at 6AM the queues would start again where ravers just wanted to carry on and without a care in the world realise it was Sunday.

The place was rocking. Simple as that. Sounds provided by the top dj’s on the circuit and once the cre had been astablished it was solidified as A Way Of Life. With Micky Finn, Darren Jay, Dr S Gachet, Randall and GQ running the show every week the sounds just could not get any better or upfront. They rocked it every week.

Downstairs there were other top dj’s playing the most upfront tunes in house and thesde came from the likes of Mathew B, Richie Fingers, Tony Trax, Tommy Cockles, Dominic Spead Love, guets and myself. One of the wicked Dj’s in the early 90′s that was on the circuit and especialy AWOL and WORLD DANCE was Frankie ‘Shag’ Bones, he was a top DJ and was there from the beginning.
Each week we would play to the crowd who loved the house as much as the jungle. I was normaly playing from 12-2 so I would more or less warm it up and it worked well. From then Richie would go on, then Tony Trax and rocking it until the early light with Tommy Cockles and other would be guests. Come to think of it in the beginning there were flyers but then as it grew it didn’t really need them because the name carries it with its reputation more than any other club I knew at the time. Everyone knew AWOL or it by The Paradise Club because it was tops well know for the jungle. Although the house was on one level of music because it was all garage and house and lots of US style the DJ’s were theones who created the journey of hype and repreive. The music today can more or less bring you toa  level and then take it somewhere else jsut by the tunes you are playing but in those days you controled the buzz, the journey by how you played the tunes. The buzz was off the crowd and how they interacted with the tunes because in AWOL, dowenstairs it had a low ceiling and the DJ was very close to the crowd so you were more or less interacting with them. I think that is what made it so special because you were right up in the air away from the crowd or a tiny dot in the middle of a stage.

Upstairs was similar although the dj was higher than the crowd below but again the DJ had a view of hovering above the crowd but close enough to feel the interaction of the buzz. The way it was back then was of appreciation of why you were there – either as a dj or a raver – same buzz same level.

The MC’s made it uniqu as well with the one and only GQ. Making it special and only at AWOL GQ made the junglism of AWOL so unique it made ravers want for more and correct me if I am wrong but that desire is still there today. Old skool ravers who remember AWOL are still going to the AWOl today because the oroginal crew are there. Randall, Micky Finn, Darren Jay, Dr S Gachet, Kenny Ken, they are all doing it still and it is still as unique as it was then.

I have collated a few mixes for you to listen to and although I will start with the house sound and although some of these are not from actual AWOL they are at the time the same. I will be adding the jungle ones later so for now enjoy.