On Saturday I had the opportunity of listening to a DJ set by Paul Oakenfold, the former DJ superstar of the 90's and 00's. The feeling of nostalgia was intense, hearing again classic tunes (even in bastardized versions for my taste) and remembering a forgotten era. During the event I recalled somehow the DJ set by the late Andrew Weatherall, performed in Athens in 2019, one year before his unfortunate death from pulmonary embolism. His set was very eclectic, consisting of playful tracks with the beat constraint under 122 bpm.
It is strange how two Englishmen that started in the same period but followed extremely different paths (Greg Wilson's article describes this matter way better than I could ever articulate) influenced my taste for electronic music throughout the years.
I familiarized myself with the iconic Essential Mixes of Paul Oakenfold at the start of the new century, the time at which he reached the ultimate stardom. My brother had even bought the seminal Global Underground 007: New York CD; while the mixing can not be considered smooth, the diverse track selection is superb. For several years, Paul Oakenfold was my favorite DJ, blending tracks from ambient and drum & based to progressive house & goa trance.
Ten years later, I was deeply disillussioned with the direction of electronic music. As a former trance-head, I was not interested at all in the new genres that emerged and the marketeering approach of popular DJs. Luckily for me, I came across with the ALFOS sessions performed by Andrew Weatherall and Sean Johnston. Surely, I was aware of Sir Andrew's early work (incl. Primal Scream, Sabres Of Paradise, etc.), but to be honest, I never performed a deep dive to go into details. Adopting an "it's never too late" mindset, I started listening more to his early & more contemporary works and I appreciated his approach on music production & mixing. Furthermore, I started liking other genres such as leftfield, nu-disco & indie dance, which were seamlessy interchanged in his sets.
Back to 2019, after the completion of his DJ set in Athens, I approached Mr. Weatherall and shook his hand, congratulating him for the quirky set. He was very kind to thank me for my feedback, giving me the impression of a simple and humble man, despite his enormous contribution to electronic music. I performed the same gesture to his partner in crime, Sean Johnston, when he played an ALFOS set in a mini club at the centre of Athens in 2022. I am sure that Sir Andrew would be very proud that Sean Johnson preserves the atmosphere of the sets when they performed together.
Fast forward to today, I did not have to chance to interact with Paul Oakenfold after the set (I left earlier prior the completion of the event), but I assume that it could be not possible due to his stardom persona (and frankly I was not interested in it).
After many years of listening to electronic music, I am certain that these two figures were essential for crafting and evolving my taste in music. Paul Oakenfold (although irrelevant for me today) would introduce me to dance tunes that would be club mega-hits at the time and Andrew Weatherall would broaden my mind to explore different styles and appreciate more tunes that are not necessarily club-oriented. For the above reasons, I thank them both!
I will conclude with the obvious co-production:
HAPPY MONDAYS - HALLELUJAH (CLUB MIX)
