Cybersex - 23 years later
I got into my car this morning and decided I wanted to listen to something I mixed a long time ago. I don't tend to listen to my old mixes often but from time to time I will get a urge to listen to one of them. I decided to listen to the original Cybersex mix that I did in the late summer summer/early fall of 1993.
Electronic music was really evolving around that time. In 1992 I was getting into Aphex Twin and some of what could be more of the less straight forward techno music of the time. Also in 1992, a compilation called "Artificial Intelligence" by seminal label Warp came out and influenced me quite a bit. I found myself gravitating towards artists like, Black Dog Productions, Autechre, Seefeel, Beaumont Hannant, Locust and others. While I got myself more into this sound, I did find it difficult to play this style of music at raves. Although I did, it wasn't the stereotypical rave sound of that day. The mixtape was the key though, it allowed DJ's to not think solely of the dancefloor when compiling a mix. Cybersex for me was when I really started to think about programming and flow of a set rather than just slamming records together as that was the style of rave mixing that was pretty popular in the early 90's.
This compilation highly influenced my musical tastes in the early 90s
Cybersex was really me getting a chance to mix the records that I wanted to without worrying about where I was placed on a lineup or the energy of the room. I just wanted to play the music I thought was cool and although I didn't know it then, was timeless. The mixtapes I created previous to this were merely promotional items that were meant to showcase my DJing skills. I took to making this tape as something different, it was a showcase of my musical taste rather then just DJ skills. This changed the way I took to mixtapes. I could play music I don't ever play out, I could just create sonic scenes that didn't have to relate to a dancefloor.
Listening to this in my car this morning I was surprised that this did not sound dated to me. I mean I could easily reference a time to this because I was there, but I think if played to new ears, one wouldn't think early 90's per se. It still sounded fresh to me. Side A was some great early tracks from Ken Ishii, Aphex Twin (under his Polygon Window name) as well as others. Side B was bit more straight-forward. I was also getting into progressive house and trance during that time and Side B was dedicated to that sound that would later lead into other tapes in the Cybersex Series.
This mix came out in October of 1993. I was 19 years old. That to me is pretty crazy in itself. To me it was one of the best moments for Electronic Music. Genres were breaking out, creating new sub genres that could become larger than the genre that spawned it. All of a sudden there were different styles being played in a night. For such a long time, it was pretty much House or Techno and now the variations and the stylistic lines were becoming more distinct. Looking back at it now, this tape shaped me as a DJ. It allowed me to be less rigid with genres which is a stance I still approach to DJing today. Good music is good music....