Label Realm: Evoking music mEmoriEs

Another letter with a few labels to mention...

If you are familiar with the Balance series, then EQ Recordings should ring a bell. The Aussie label was set-up at the start of this century to release electronic dance music of international DJs. The legendary series was released on this label from 2001 until 2010, initially featuring DJs mainly from Australia (Sean Quin, Kasey Taylor, Phil K, Anthony Pappa) and expanding to others from all over the world. The fifth installment has been already mentioned twice in the blog, since it is considered the quintessential DJ mix by progressive house fans. The series continued to be released from 2010 until today by Balance Music.

Eternell is a small imprint of Swedish producer Ludvig Cimbrelius, set up to release his own works and collaborations. His two albums as Purl (Deep Ground & Stillpoint) are superb dub techno albums and they are a fine reason to reference the label!

What a legendary label Eye Q Records is! It was established in 1990 by Sven Väth, Matthias Hoffmann & Heinz Roth. The label encapsulates the true essence of old school trance: hypnotic, trippy and ethereal. The production trio of Ralf Hildenbeutel, Matthias Hoffman and Steffen Britzke produced a ton of classics under the label, such as
- Sven Väth - L' Esperanza
- Zyon - No Fate
- Cygnus X ‎– The Orange Theme
- Barbarella ‎– My Name Is Barbarella
and many more!
Even the seminal Energy 52 - Cafe Del Mar was originally featured in 1992 behind the Eye!

The history of label was basically over in 1997, since the parent German company went bankrupt in August of the same year due to financial problems by the American division Eye Q USA. The UK division continued for two more years, but the label has changed its musical style dramatically, resembling no more its contribution to trance music...

Happy 2020 to all!

Tune #83: Quench - Dreams

One of the most interesting waves that appeared in electronic music was the Aussie progressive breaks sound that blossomed during the first half of the '00s. This post however will NOT refer to this scene (ok, not the most conventional way for an introduction!), but to one of the tracks that defined the Australian electronic music of the '90s and set the path for new artists and genres. MUSIC MINER presents:

QUENCH - DREAMS (ORIGINAL MIX)


Quench was a project created by producer CJ Dolan and DJ Sean Quinn (with the occasional assistance of Kasey Taylor). The first release of the group was Feel My Love (1993), a plain house tune released by Melbourne-based label Vicious Vinyl. The minor success of the track changed the plans of CJ & Sean, leading them to the production of the hard monster track Dreams in the same year.

In 1995, Quench was continued as a solo project of CJ (until 2000), as Sean formed a new partnership with Kasey Taylor, in order to form Our House (until 2004). The popularity of Dreams had undoubtedly influenced the inspiration of the three guys. Their future releases for the first 5 years focused on harder compositions, accompanied by the peak of the prog movement:
·         Narcotik - Blue (a collab between CJ Dolan & Gab Olivier)
·         Chrome - Chromium (same line-up)
·         Our House ‎– Floor Space

In a seven-year-period, Quench released two studio albums (Sequenchial in 1994 & Conse-Quench-Ial in 2000) and a bunch of EPs. However, Dreams had already set the bar too high, so no other release reached a point of adequate success.

Dreams was originally featured in a sampler by Sirius Music in 1993. It is amazing how a primitive track compared to the today's productions has stood well the test of time. The atmospheric intro leads to a fat-nearly-to-explode bassline with the presence of ethereal bells (welcome to the Church of Quench!). The track creates a build-up, in order to release an anthemic synth riff that will certainly melt the dance floor at any given time!

Although it achieved great success with various releases, it became more popular in its rip-off format, titled Gamemaster by Lost Tribe (Matt Darey) and released by Hooj Choons in 1997.

LOST TRIBE - GAMEMASTER (ORIGINAL MIX)


Fueled by their success, several emerging artists followed their path, resulting to the Melbourne sound and especially to the Australian breaks scene. Most notable examples include Phil Krokidis (the master of breaks), Luke Chable (mostly remembered for the remix of PQM - Your Are Sleeping), Ivan Gough and Andy Page.

Which are the whereabouts of each guy today? CJ Dolan seems to have given up music production (no recent entry in Discogs) for a regular job in insurance industry. Kasey Taylor is a music label owner (the defunct Vapour Recordings & the new Lo-Fi-45) and occasional DJ. Last but not least, Sean Quinn continues his long-running tenure as a touring DJ.

P.S. Sean Quinn & Kasey Taylor, who had mastered the art of DJing, were honored to compile the first two installments of the legendary Balance series, which continues to this day!