UK - 15TH MAY
US - 20TH JUNE
CANADA - 6TH JUNE
REST OF WORLD - 22ND MAY
CAT NO: GUXCD / GUXCDX / GUXVIN
GU10
“I could feel the passion. I felt a connection with GU. Ultimately they allowed me to be myself.” Danny Tenaglia, DJ.
No label encapsulates dance music’s international explosion and restless creativity quite like Global Underground. Set up by two Geordie clubbers who literally bounced off the dance-floor and into the record business, this resolutely independent label quickly established an untouchable reputation for cutting edge dance music of the very highest quality, which continues to this day. Ten years later, Global Underground presents GU10: the anniversary album that demonstrates just how deserved that reputation is.
“They were the first people to put the photograph of the DJ on the cover, and really push with huge poster campaigns. They took an underground culture of mix tapes and really made it look real and made the music industry sit up and take notice.” Sasha, DJ.
This 3CD set is a collection of tracks that will take you back over the years. The first two CD’s feature tracks that appeared on the GU albums over the years while the third CD is dedicated to music from the early 90s period. Slam’s shivery ‘Eterna’ and Andronicus’s ravishingly ‘Make U Whole’ are just two of classics included here. Two forgotten Italian gems are Double FM’s sexy, atmospheric ‘Sound Of Amnesia’ and De Melero’s sassy disco romp ‘Night Moves’. It’s an artfully selected mix of tracks which captures an optimistic, golden age of British and European house – one that heavily influenced both Global Underground and DJs like Sasha.
The other two CDs in this set cherry-pick some of the finest tracks to have appeared on Global Underground albums and at GU parties around the world. There’s a decade’s worth of great music here. On CD1 Underworld’s Two Months Off is a breeze of euphoric melodies. Jark Prongo appeared on Sasha’s San Francisco album with the stentorian ‘Movin’ Thru Your System’. Alex Dolby’s ‘Psiko Garden’ is a pastoral swirl of melodies.
On CD2 ‘Break My World’ from new Global signings Dark Globe is a hard-nosed breakbeat ballad. Lustral’s ‘Every Time’ (Nalin and Kane mix) sets a mesmerising vocal to a quivering pace. KC Flight vs Funky Junction’s ‘Voices’ – here in its Pete Heller mix – is a mesmerising concoction of gospel vocals and twittering acid lines. And the tumbling breakbeats of LoStep’s The Roots, with its quavering Middle Eastern vocal, are an evocative reminder of the trip to Melbourne with Dave Seaman.
Global Underground launched in 1996 with a Tony de Vit album based on a visit to Tel Aviv. They haven’t looked back since. Over ten years it has expanded from a world-famous series of defining DJ mix CDs into all areas of cutting edge dance music - from artist albums with acts like James Lavelle’s UNKLE to providing music for CSI, one of the world’s most popular TV shows, and some of PlayStation’s biggest selling games, to staging fantastic parties in some of the most exotic locations in the world. Along the way, the label has built a huge loyal, international army of fans and sold over three million CDs.
“Everywhere I play, all around the world, somebody always comes up to me with a GU CD and asks me to sign it.” Nick Warren, DJ.
The original idea was simple. Global Underground would take DJs to play a party in one of the most unusual, exotic clubbing locations on Earth. The two CD-set would capture the night and the visit in music, beautiful photography and detailed liner notes. Small wonder the biggest DJs in the world clamoured for a place on the roster. Sasha, Paul Oakenfold, John Digweed, Danny Tenaglia, Nick Warren, Dave Seaman, and Darren Emerson are just some of the names that have graced those distinctive covers. And along the way, Global Underground has become more than an internationally renowned dance music label. It’s become a way of life.
This is an impressive legacy – especially for an independent label based in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in the North of England. Even more so if you consider that Andy Horsfield and James Todd, who set up the label, were just a couple of dance music lovers who’d had the genius idea of taking Tony de Vit to Tel Aviv and doing a mix album. Why Tel Aviv? Why not? They thought it might intrigue people. It did.
James had been a musician and a new romantic. Andy a professional photographer shooting rock bands. Together they were the wise-cracking ‘Fat Lads’ and quickly became famous in international dance music for their no-nonsense approach, easy-going warmth and piss-taking party lifestyle. As encompassed by the slogans they put on every album. “Don’t Take Life Too Seriously,” declared one. “Travelling The World At The Speed Of Sound", advised another.
Perhaps if they’d known just what was involved in setting up a successful, international record company, they might not have bothered. They didn’t though, which is perhaps why they succeeded. Tony de Vit was resident at London’s infamous late-night techno club Trade, and the Birmingham DJ inspired a fierce loyalty amongst clubbers. His Tel Aviv album immediately caught the imagination and Andy and James found themselves cajoling a gang of Geordie mates into frantically packing CDs and delivering them to London in their decrepit estate car to meet the release date.
The style was set. Unexpected locations, stunning photography, a sense that these were mix albums being put together by people who really cared what they were doing. And most importantly of all, at a time when compilations of stapled-together club hits were flooding the market, mixes selected and put together by the DJs alone. DJs loved the idea.
“The global underground is alive in many places, countries and within so many different cultures.” Carolyn Ionita, Global Underground fan, Washington DC, USA
Global Underground also pioneered some of the world’s best new talent. Launched in 1999, the Nu-Breed series showcased up and coming DJs like Amsterdam’s Sander Kleinenberg Melbourne's Anthony Pappa and the UK’s Steve Lawler. Lawler moved on to Lights Out, a three-album series focussed on the darker, sleazier side of nightlife. “They were the first people to give the DJ complete control over the album. That was very exciting,” Lawler says now.
Global also launched GU Music to promote original work from original talent - artists like Holland’s Pako and Frederik, Australia's Lostep and the UK’s Traffik. Next to come is Top 40 act Dark Globe, whose sleek vocal breakbeat expands the label’s roster into new musical territory. Their debut album is due this year.
In 2004 GU Music also took over the release of the Never Never Land album from James Lavelle’s famed UNKLE project with Richard File. The single Reign - which featured a storming vocal from former Stone Roses singer and solo star Ian Brown, along with a spectacular, explosive video – blasted into the UK’s Top 40. Lavelle has also brought a new dimension to Global Underground with broad-stroke DJ mixes from Barcelona and Romania.
In 1999 Andy Horsfield and James Todd were profiled for the UK’s Sky TV show Apocalypse Tube. In 2000 a one-hour documentary on the UK’s Channel 4 network, entitled Getting Away With It, was screened, which followed the Fat Lads to Budapest, Buenos Aires, Ibiza, Uruguay and Newcastle, and featured GU DJs Sasha, Dave Seaman, Darren Emerson, Anthony Pappa and Nick Warren. The documentary was also shown in Israel, Slovenia, Eire, New Zealand, Australia and on the USA’s Showtime and is now one of two Global Underground Transmission DVDs. That same year, the UK’s ITV network showed Global Underground taking Danny Tenaglia and a crowd of international clubbers on a float through the Berlin Love Parade.
Washington DC’s DJ/producer duo Deep Dish have DJ’d for Madonna and won a Grammy. They joined Global Underground in 2001 with a memorable trip to Moscow where they were interviewed by Russian Vogue and photographed in Red Square. In May 2003, their second Global Underground album, from Toronto, was the label’s first Billboard Number One.
Sasha, one of the world’s most magical and best-loved DJs, has had a relationship with Global Underground since his first San Francisco mix in 1998. His 1999 Ibiza set is regarded as a classic dance album. In 2004 Sasha launched his Involver series - remaking and reworking tracks before weaving them into a stunningly varied mix. In June 2004 this became Global Underground’s second Billboard Number One.
It’s been a rollercoaster ten years spent on the frontiers of international dance music. And on the way a series of international parties have been staged in some of the most unusual locations on Earth – beside the Great Wall of China, by the Pyramids in Egypt; in Kazakhstan.
GU has also moved into television and movie soundtracks and now supplies music for America’s CSI – a show that with a vast global audience is one of the most seen TV shows on Earth. The label has also diversified into game soundtracks – providing music for PlayStations huge-selling SSX Tricky and top game developers like EA Sports.
Now, as GU10 celebrates a decade of cutting edge music and innovation, there are friends and fans all over the world – from Pakistan to Slovenia, Venezuala to Montreal. Global Underground captured the cultural explosion of clubbing in music, words and pictures, and has become the focus for an international network of underground dance music aficionados. A real ‘global underground’, celebrated in each album and on the phenomenally popular website to this day.
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Pre order GU10 here:
Recordstore
iTunes
DJ Download
Beatport
Amazon.co.uk
Play.com
MP3 PREVIEWS
CD1 Planisphere - Deep Blue Dream
CD1 Felix Da House cat - Silver Screen
CD1 Ian Brown - F.E.A.R
CD2 Lustral - Everytime
CD2 Cass & Slide - Perception
CD2 Hybrid - Theme From Wide Angle
CD3 Slam - Eterna
CD3 Mental Cube - Q
CD3 PKA - Temperatures Rising
LIMITED EDITION 4 X CD
STANDARD 3XCD EDITION
TRACKLISTING
CD1 - ‘96-‘06 MIX
01. UNDERWORLD -TWO MONTHS OFF
02. LAURENT GARNIER - MAN WITH THE RED FACE (JAN DRIVER MIX)
03. FATBOY SLIM - SUNSET (BIRD OF PREY)
04. PASCAL FEOS - I CAN FEEL THAT
05. JARK PRONGO - MOVIN’ THRU YOUR SYSTEM
06. ALEX DOLBY - PSIKO GARDEN
07. ALBION - AIR
08. LIBRA PRESENTS TAYLOR - ANOMALY (CALLING YOUR NAME)
09. POLAROID - SO DAMN BEAUTIFUL (AMETHYST MIX)
10. PAKO & FREDERIK - STEEL BLUE (GUX 2006 RE-EDIT)
11. GYPSY - I TRANCE YOU (PAPPA AND GILBEY MIX)
12. PLANISPHERE - DEEP BLUE DREAM
13. PQM - YOU ARE SLEEPING (ACAPELLA / PQM MEETS LUKE CHABLE VOCAL PASS)
14. PRIVATE PRODUCTIONS - SEXDRIVE (M & B'S INSTRUCTOR MIX)
15. CHABLE & BONNICI - RIDE (MASHTRONIC REMIX)
16. FELIX DA HOUSECAT - SILVER SCREEN SHOWER SCENE (THIN WHITE DUKE REMIX)
17. STEVE LAWLER - RISE ‘IN (ORIGINAL VOCAL MIX)
18. BILLIE RAY MARTIN - HONEY (DEEP DISH HOOJEE DUB)
19. LAYO & BUSHWACKA! - LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL
20. IAN BROWN - F.E.A.R. (UNKLE REMIX)
CD2 - ‘96-‘06 MIX
01. DARK GLOBE - BREAK MY WORLD
02. LUSTRAL - EVERYTIME (NALIN AND KANE REMIX)
03. SANDER KLEINENBERG – SACRED (DUB MIX)
04. ALCATRAZ - GIVE ME LUV (THAT KID CHRIS TRIBUTE MIX)
05. BREEDER – SPUTNIK (NEW YORK FM MIX)
06. CASS & SLIDE - PERCEPTION
07. SPACE MANOEUVRES - STAGE ONE (PARIAH REMIX / TOTAL SEPERATION MIX)
08. LOSTEP - THE ROOTS FEAT LIOR ATTAR
09. FORTH – REALITY DETACHED (K ROXX ’06 SEPERATION MIX)
10. MISS KITTIN & THE HACKER - FRANK SINATRA
11. MOONFACE - OVERACTIVE
12. KC FLIGHTT VS FUNKY JUNCTION - VOICES (PETE HELLER MIX)
13. PETE LAZONBY - SACRED CYCLES (JENS MAHLSTEDT / QUIVVER / ORIGINAL MIX)
14. TALISMAN & HUDSON - LEAVING PLANET EARTH (GUX 2006 RE-EDIT)
15. DANNY TENAGLIA FEAT. LIZ TORRES - TURN ME ON (JOHN DIGWEED & NICK MUIR'S BEDROCK MIX)
16. TILT - I DREAM (RESURRECTION / CASA DE ANGELES MIX)
17. HYBRID - THEME FROM WIDE ANGLE
CD3 - ‘87-‘95 MIX
01. SLAM - ETERNA
02. THE BELOVED - YOUR LOVE TAKES ME HIGHER (CHILLUM WILLUM MIX)
03. UNCLE BOB - UNCLE BOB’S BURLY HOUSE
04. 280 WEST - SCATTERED DREAMS (BOOM CHOCKA-BOOM MIX)
05. REESE PROJECT - COLOUR OF LOVE (DEEP REESE MIX)
06. DE MELERO - NIGHT MOVES (EN EL CALOR DE LA NOCHE MIX / DE MELERO'S GROOVE / MONICAPELLA)
07. THE SOUND OF AMNESIA (AMNESIA MIX)
08. ANDRONICUS - MAKE YOU WHOLE (FRESHLY SQUEEZED MIX)
09. ALFREDO – INSPIRATION (0224 MIX)
10. FURRY PHREAKS - GONNA FIND A WAY (MAJOR DUDE MIX)
11. THE GOOD MEN - MAKE UP YOUR MIND
12. COCO STEEL AND LOVEBOMB - FEEL IT
13. BAND IN A BOX - GET DYNAMITE
14. EGMA - LET THE BASS KICK
15. MENTAL CUBE - Q (SANTA MONICA MIX)
16. REESE AND SANTONIO - ROCK TO THE BEAT
17. RALPHI ROSARIO - YOU USED TO HOLD ME
18. REJUVINATION - I.B.O.
19. CASPAR POUND FEAT PLAVKA - FEVER CALLED LOVE (AMBIENT MIX)
20. LFO – LFO (THE LEEDS WAREHOUSE MIX)
21. SAS - AMBER GROOVE (TOXIC HIJACK REMIX)
22. SUBLIME - THE THEME
23. S.S.R. - TO BE HOUSE
24. PLAY BOYS - MIND GAMES (YOU KEEP PLAYING GUITAR)
25. SALT CITY ORCHESTRA – THE BOOK (BOOKIN’ DA BEATS)
26. SLACKER – SCARED (THE LONELY TRAVELLER)
27. PKA - TEMPERATURES RISING (MUSIC FOR THE MASSES)
28. SASHA & MARIA - BE AS ONE
CD4 ‘GUMusic10’ (Limited Edition only)
1. J&S; PROJECT FEAT. SPINELESS – GONE DAYS GONE
2. SWAIN & COLLINGWOOD – NEVER BE THE SAME (THE FUNK TEMPLE MIX)
3. THE REMOTE – LIKE YOU
4. DARK GLOBE – FAR LEYS (ATTIC WINDOW REMIX)
5. SISSY – ALL UNDER
6. TRAFIK – SALT IN NYC
7. DARK GLOBE – FEED (MYLO MIX)
8. THE REMOTE – PLEASE CHANGE YOUR MIND (ASHLEY CASSELLE AND ASAD RIZVI'S SEASIDE TOWN INSTRUMENTAL VERSION)
9. SISSY – I SEE YOU (MICAH'S ONLY WHEN I'M VISIBLE DUB)
10. TRAFIK – SMOKE & ANSWERS
VINYL (3X12”)
1A1 FORTH – REALITY DETACHED (K ROXX ’06 SEPERATION MIX)
1A2 SLAM – ETERNA
1B1 LIBRA PRESENTS TAYLOR - ANOMALY (CALLING YOUR NAME)
1B2 LFO – LFO (THE LEEDS WAREHOUSE MIX)
2A1 REESE PROJECT – COLOUR OF LOVE (DEEP REESE MIX)
2A2 PKA - TEMPERATURES RISING (MUSIC FOR THE MASSES)
2B1 HYBRID - THEME FROM WIDE ANGLE
2B2 280 WEST - SCATTERED DREAMS (BOOM CHOCKA-BOOM MIX)
3A1 TALISMAN & HUDSON - LEAVING PLANET EARTH (GUX 2006 RE-EDIT)
3A2 PLAY BOYS - MIND GAMES (YOU KEEP PLAYING GUITAR)
3B1 DANNY TENAGLIA FEAT. LIZ TORRES - TURN ME ON (JOHN DIGWEED & NICK MUIR'S BEDROCK MIX)
3B2 MENTAL CUBE - Q (SANTA MONICA MIX) |
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