Music
Don those rose-tinted glasses and enjoy some pre-2005 Aussie dance floor classics.
2016 was an excellent year for homegrown dance music, but that's nothing new. While the past 12 months brought us standout albums from the likes of Flume, RÜFÜS, The Avalanches, Paces and more local heroes, Australia's electronic pedigree goes way back. So with another whirlwind year of music discovery ahead of us, let’s first indulge in a little nostalgia.
Of course, Australia's contribution to the wider world of dance music didn't just start with the electro boom that birthed the likes of The Presets, Cut Copy and Midnight Juggernauts. From the rave days of the late '80s into the '90s, to the progressive house phenomenon of the early 2000s, to the explosion of breaks, our isolation hasn't stifled a steady stream of world-class music.
For this list, we donned the rose-tinted glasses and picked out 12 brilliant tracks from Australia's dancefloor past. It's impossible to cover the whole history in a quick-fire list, so consider this a starting point to dig deeper. Our very unscientific selection process favoured tracks released before 2005, while avoiding novelty singles, dance-pop chart hits or remixes. We reckon all 12 of these locally-made classics still stand up today.
**NB: Sorry there are no Kylie Minogue songs in this list. But she looks pretty good in that pic with The Presets, huh?
12. Poxy Music - Our Break
Australia had a lot of love for breaks in the mid-2000s, welcoming the likes of Drumattic Twins, Krafty Kuts, Plump DJs and Rennie Pilgrem a couple of times a year. Holding its own amongst the UK imports was a crew of local producers making club-ready tracks, including the duo Poxy Music.
The now-retired project of Ken Cloud (from Sydney's Mad Racket crew) and studio authority Sameer Sengupta, Poxy Music released ‘Our Break’ on 12-inch back in 2005. While it's definitely less widely known than other tracks on this list, it's a killer snapshot of a boom time in homegrown dance music. You get five minutes of speaker-shaking fun, as a cartoonish voice walks us through the elements of breakbeat. Just try holding back a grin when they introduce the 303 "acid machine" to the mix.
11. Sonic Animation - Love Lies Bleeding
If you watched a lot of the ABC music video show 'Rage' in 1999, you probably remember Sonic Animation as the 'Theophilus Thistler' guys. For that single's video, the tongue-in-cheek rave outfit introduced the mascots that would become a feature of their live show. It was the kind of silly tune that stuck in your head, whether you liked it or not.
Before their exercise in vowels, though, Sonic Animation hit the ARIA Singles Chart with a very different beast called ‘Love Lies Bleeding’. The track stretches across seven minutes, with Adrian Cartwright essentially reciting a love letter to illicit substances. It's a great example of what Sonic Animation could do when they weren't entirely kidding around. You might be a little sweaty palmed and over-stimulated after this one.
10. Friendly - Some Kind of Love Song
Of all the tracks listed here, this is probably the one least likely to light up a dancefloor. The clue is in the title: this isn't, after all, some kind of rave song.
Friendly, aka Australia’s own Andrew Kornweibel, made his name internationally during the mid-2000s crest of nu-skool breaks. During that time, he aligned with the UK's Fat! Records, capturing the sound of the moment on his 'Chew The Fat! Presents...' mix-CD. Before all that, though, he made 'Some Kind of Love Song', which featured the little-known voice of an Adelaide singer called Sia. (You’ve probably heard of her by now?) While she was uncredited on the initial release, Sia drives the emotion of this warped, off-kilter, yet strangely seductive track. It's what you might call a covert classic.
9. Pnau - Need Your Lovin' Baby
Nick Littlemore and Peter Mayes have lived an unexpected life as Pnau. While the duo's sound has been increasingly hard to pin down over the years, Pnau started out as a reasonably straightforward 4/4 act.
Mayes and Littlemore’s debut album ‘Sambanova’ had a rocky start, with the original version pulled from record stores due to uncleared samples, but its re-release luckily included 'Need Your Lovin' Baby'. Listening to this warm, feelgood jam (think Groove Armada mingling with US house), it's hard to believe it comes from the same guys who later went all DayGlo with 'Baby' and 'Wild Strawberries'.
8. Pendulum - Spiral
Before Pendulum came tearing out of the gates with their debut album 'Hold Your Colour', we got 'Spiral'. The track shared a double-single release with 'Ulterior Motive' on Concord Dawn's Uprising Records, and both tracks are a fascinating snapshot of the Perth crew's early sound.
'Spiral' now enjoys a cult following among Pendulum diehards, and it's not hard to see why. While the band eventually dipped into rock and metal territory (before founding members Gareth McGrillen and Rob Swire went all mainstage EDM with Knife Party), 'Spiral' is drum & bass through and through. With Swire's distinctive vocals floating above the propulsive bassline, this one's a telling trip back to simpler times.
7. NuBreed and Luke Chable - One Day
Things were really popping off for Australia's prog flag-bearers in the early 2000s. With the likes of Phil K, Anthony Pappa, Luke Chable, Danny Bonnici and Ivan Gough all garnering international attention, DJs were looking down under for their next secret weapon.
Out of this fertile period came Bonnici's group NuBreed, whose progressive breaks sound found a home on the UK's Mob Records. The NuBreed track with arguably the most soaring impact was 'One Day', which landed with both a vocal and instrumental mix assisted by Chable. Its rolling bassline, dark sonics and dramatic male vocal is a perfect snapshot of 2004. In the right club context, you could still make this work.
6. Infusion - Love and Imitation
While Infusion no longer makes music together, the group delivered some killer tracks over their decade-long run. Emerging on local label Thunk with ‘Spike’, the trio of talented musicians had a distinctive sound and a killer live show.
While they had more commercially successful singles, it's hard to look past 'Love and Imitation' as Infusion's classic. Unfurling over seven minutes, it pairs a progressive house build with the crunch and exuberance of their live sets. 'Love and Imitation' arrived during a golden era in Australia's prog and breakbeat scene, and it's no surprise Bedrock Records favourite Guy J eagerly jumped on remix duties.
5. Lostep - Burma
For many of us, 'Burma' is forever tied to Sasha's seminal mix-CD 'Involver'. The progressive house don tinkered with all the tracks on the mix, and the appearance of 'Burma' towards the end makes for a powerful ten-plus minutes. Sasha's treatment is genius, but he was working from a very special blueprint.
'Burma' is the work of Melbourne greats Phil K and Luke Chable, aka Lostep, and it still stands up over a decade after it was made. The original, first released in 2004 on Global Underground’s GU Music, is a masterclass in building mood, with its crisp drums, heady melody and ethereal vocal grabs. Jump into the original below, then follow it up with the glory of Sasha's update.
4. DJ HMC - Phreakin'
Carmelo Bianchetti is quietly one of Australia's most impressive producers. While he keeps a relatively low profile, the Adelaide producer has been heard on dancefloors all over the world, whether it's via the disco and house edits he makes as Late Nite Tuff Guy or his raw, jacking alter ego DJ HMC.
If you were a techno head in the ‘90s, you probably owned a few HMC records - and 'Phreakin'' might just be the crown jewel. Don't expect the breezy fun of Late Nite Tuff Guy on this one: it's a rough and ready slab of '90s goodness, built for warehouses. With its charging bassline and relentless kicks, this arguably bangs harder than any other track here.
3. The Presets - Girl and the Sea
'Girl and the Sea' arrived at an interesting moment for Australian dance music. As mentioned elsewhere in this list, 2004 was a boom time for nu-skool breaks (think Q45, Poxy Music, Bass Kleph, etc.), while the Melbourne-led progressive house movement was still going strong.
Into this heady mix came a very different kind of act: electro-pop upstarts The Presets. Julian Hamilton and Kim Moyes released their scuzzy, irreverent debut EP 'Blow Up' in 2003, which was followed the next year by 'Girl and the Sea'. That EP's title track showcased a promising side to The Presets: dark, synthy and tinged with melancholy. Released on Sydney's Modular Records, it ushered in a new Australian sound that ballooned with the likes of Cut Copy, Van She and Bag Raiders.
2. Itch-E & Scratch-E - Sweetness and Light
Even though it's over two decades old, 'Sweetness and Light' has lost none of its tingly potency. The defining single from Australian electronic duo Itch-E & Scratch-E was far from an instant hit upon its release in 1994, but its cult status steadily grew. Last year, an industry panel assembled by inthemix voted 'Sweetness & Light' the greatest Australian dance track ever made, and that resounding win came as no surprise.
The Itch-E & Scratch-E team of Paul Mac and Andy Rantzen had contrasting sensibilities as producers, and that push and pull created studio magic. With its reach-for-the-sky melody and beguiling vocal from Miriam Williamson, 'Sweetness and Light' is both a throwback to the halcyon days of rave and a song that refuses to show its age. Paul Mac infamously thanked Sydney's ecstasy dealers when the track won the first-ever Best Dance Release award at the Arias, but 'Sweetness and Light' is its own kind of drug.
1. Quench - Dreams
Seconds after hitting play on 'Dreams', you're inside a heaving warehouse party in the early '90s, surrounded by thousands of ravers wearing smiley t-shirts and phat pants. This towering record from Quench - the genre-crossing project headed by Melbourne producer C.J. Dolan - is just that evocative.
The influence of 'Dreams' stretched far beyond Australia, with a host of DJs keeping it alive and kicking over the decades. The original version is stacked with perfectly '90s elements, including a charging bassline, ominous vocal refrain, powerhouse central riff and of course those bells.
While the likes of Luke Chable, Sébastien Léger and UK hard house icon Tony De Vit all made remixes, the genuine product remains unparalleled. It sold a crazy number of copies overseas, went to No. 2 on the UK dance charts, and soundtracked many a transcendent dancefloor moment. In short, ‘Dreams’ did us proud.
