La Spezia

Most of my deep house records are Chicago, UK and French tracks from the mid/late 90’s. But as I’ve said before, the first time I encountered deep house was on a trip to Italy a few years earlier, when Elvis sunbathed in a leather waistcoat, we fought with a giant, and Pearly and I spent a few days in a weird house with a bunch of communists near Florence. After a trip that also included a collapsed tent in Belgium, autobahn races, a confrontation in a Swiss guesthouse over an ill-advised T-shirt, and police roadblocks in Italy, we ended up in a medieval castle on the west coast of Italy staying with a bunch of friends. Despite bringing a load of funk/hip hop cassettes, we instead listened to a La Spezia radio station for pretty much the whole two weeks. Every evening the DJ played these amazing house records for hours. It really opened my ears, as up to that point I’d pretty much hated house music, holding it responsible for the death of the London rare groove scene.

The only tune the DJ played I remember recognizing at the time was Gypsy Woman (heard here). Most of the records were more underground – I only ever had vague memories of a few melodies and riffs and never really knew anyone in that scene I could follow up with. In the years since though, I’ve picked up a bunch of stuff that reminds me of that time, almost certainly things that La Spezia DJ would have played given the timing. They’re mainly Italian records on labels like Hearbeat and Oversky (some of which are now shockingly expensive), but inevitably there are tracks from Detroit, New York and elsewhere, and there’s some techno in there too (we didn’t really distinguish the house and techno at the time). The mix below is an attempt to recreate that mood. It reminds me of a bunch of kids hanging out on a grass terrace looking out across the countryside, smoking Camels, and for some reason drinking chilled Portuguese red wine. Elvis was still in that waistcoat, Paul in Air Jordans as always.

The set starts with some visionary techno from Underground Resistance and a classic Strictly Rhythm track from Roger Sanchez that bears more than a little resemblance to Can You Feel it (heard here). Then we get into the Italian stuff with Alex Neri. There’s more Underground Resistance in there in amongst the Italian tunes and one out of Baltimore. Along the way Colonel Abrams gets yet another sample (you’ll hear him in another Italian track here), and Manchester even gets a look at the end with one of the other tracks from the first release of Pacific (heard here).

 

1. Hi-Tech Jazz – Galaxy 2 Galaxy
2. The Final Frontier (Acoustic Mix) – Logic
3. Got To Live Together (After Dark Mix) – Atelier
4. Sometimes I Fell Like – Nation 2 Nation
5. Night Clerk – Night Communication
6. To Yourself Be Free (Must Dub Mix) – M. C. J.
7. The Trap (House Mix) – Alkemy
8. Tonite – Those Guys
9. Disco State – 808 State

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~ by ricardosevere on 07/09/2023.