DJ Basilisk - Transmissions From Arcadia

dj-basilisk-transmissions-from-arcadia

Basilisk revisits the turn of the millennium with Transmissions From Arcadia, a 4-hour odyssey into deep and progressive forms of house, techno, and trance embedded within a hazy cocoon of broken beats, IDM, downtempo, and ambient. This exercise in genre-fluid nostalgia emphasizes rhythm over melody, avoiding monotony by rotating between diverse yet complimentary sounds intended for the dirty warehouse, summer festival, upscale club, or smoke-filled lounge.

Rave nostalgia is alive and well these days, but most people lavish their attention on the primordial aesthetics and waveforms of the early 1990s. Far less critical attention has been directed on the diversifying sounds of the early 2000s, when digital workstations transformed electronic music production and new movements proliferated throughout global dance culture. This mix aims to connect some of the dots, bridging gaps between contemporaneous scenes that might not have seen much crossover when this music was gleaming and new.

Track Listing

  1. 01 Monolake feat. Wieland Samolak - Mass Transit Railway Chain Reaction, 1997
  2. 02 Ambre - Vertige Ant-Zen, 1998
  3. 03 Edge of Motion - Dream Sequence 100% Pure, 1996
  4. 04 Spacetime Continuum - Voice of the Earth Astralwerks, 1994
  5. 05 The Young Gods - Kissing the Sun (Orange Mix) Play It Again Sam Records, 1995
  6. 06 Ruxpin - Locoas Elektrolux, 2000
  7. 07 Jeswa - Bloodshot Schematic, 1998
  8. 08 Architect - Electronic Moods Hymen Records, 1998
  9. 09 Plateau - Grasshopper Sub-Conscious Communications / Nettwerk America, 1997
  10. 10 Double X - Renounce Kanzleramt, 2003
  11. 11 Swayzak - Fukumachi Swayzak Recordings, 1997
  12. 12 Aril Brikha - Aqua Transmat, 2001
  13. 13 Mr. James Barth & A.D. - It's All James Svek, 1998
  14. 14 Paul Mac - The Very Thought Primate Recordings, 2003
  15. 15 Didier Sinclair - Lovely Flight (Dirt Dog Dub) Eukahouse, 2001
  16. 16 Katakana - The Lights In Music Ltd, 2003
  17. 17 DATAR - B (Christian Smith & John Selway Remix) Hooj Choons, 2000
  18. 18 Trancefeld - Schwarze Schraube (Ohrsten Nors 80-2000 Mix) Plastic Park Records, 2002
  19. 19 The Scumfrog vs David Bowie - This is Not America Virgin / New State, 2002
  20. 20 Victor Calderone - Deep Dark Jungle Statrax, 2003
  21. 21 Marco Carola - Ascent Zenit, 2001
  22. 22 Elektrochemie LK - Schall (Pascal F.E.O.S. Remix) Confused Recordings, 2000
  23. 23 Amphasis - Addicted Plastik Park Records, 2001
  24. 24 SBK - Rubbaworm Avalanche Records, 2004
  25. 25 DJ Nukem vs Chab - Shaïva Cyber Records, 2000
  26. 26 New Disco Science Alliance - Twisted Psychedelic Freedomfighters Baluns Records, 2001
  27. 27 Phony Orphants - Global Wonderground Iboga Records, 2003
  28. 28 Astrix & Atomic Pulse - Valirus (Sub6 Remix) TIP.World, 2001
  29. 29 FREq - Carbon Based Lifeform Iboga Records, 2004
  30. 30 Atmos - Scent of a Tunnel Spiral Trax, 2004
  31. 31 Vibrasphere - Newport (Son Kite Remix) Digital Structures, 2003
  32. 32 S>Range - Boom (Limousine Mix) ACDC, 2002
  33. 33 L.S.G. - Deep Blue (Vinyl Mix) Superstition, 1998
  34. 34 Saafi Brothers - Internal Code Error (X-Dream Remix) Blue Room Released, 1997
  35. 35 Zen Lemonade - Juicy Science Dragonfly Records, 2002
  36. 36 Moons - Nimbus Dragonfly Records, 2003
  37. 37 Art of Trance - Killamanjaro Platipus, 2001
  38. 38 Oszilla - Liquid Skunk (Prototyp Remix) Insolation / Zoomshot Media Entertainment, 2003
  39. 39 Genetic - Electric Showdown Dragonfly Records, 2000
  40. 40 Shpongle - Divine Moments of Truth (Remix) Twisted Records, 2000
  41. 41 Avus - Real (Nathan Fake Remix) Border Community, 2004
  42. 42 Alexander Kowalski - Truck Volume (Turn It Up To 10) Cocoon Recordings, 2002
  43. 43 Tilt - Seduction of Orpheus (Tarrantella vs Redanka Remix) Hooj Choons, 2000
  44. 44 Sander Kleinenberg - Slipper Sleaze Combined Forces, 2000
  45. 45 Steiger - Postcard From The Edge Bedrock Records, 2003
  46. 46 Man With No Name - Cocoon Dragonfly Records, 2003
  47. 47 Dr. DNA - Die Theunissen Konstante MEDIUM Records, 2001
  48. 48 Johannes Heil - 20.000 Leagues Under The Skin Pt. 06 Kanzleramt, 2003
  49. 49 Duplex - Sunbeam Frantic Flowers, 2005
  50. 50 Fortunato & Montresor - Imagine (Pascal F.E.O.S. & Peter Haubfleisch's Phono Elements Treatment) Elektrolux, 2002
  51. 51 Baramundi - Pot Pink Flying Rhino Records, 2001
  52. 52 True To Nature - Breeze Iboga Brasil / Undercover Records, 2003
  53. 53 Private Taste - First (Ashtrax Remix) Automatic Records, 2001
  54. 54 Krüger & Coyle - Beach Spliff ACDC, 2004
  55. 55 Oxia - Intuition GoodLife, 2004
  56. 56 Mikael Delta - Lovestorm Klik Records, 2004
  57. 57 The Timewriter - The Guiding Light Plastic City, 2002
  58. 58 GusGus - VIP (François K. Dub) 4AD, 1999
  59. 59 The Persuader - Bottle Up! Svek, 1997
  60. 60 Thievery Corporation - Air Batucada 4AD / Eighteenth Street Lounge Music, 2000
  61. 61 Telefuzz - Isolationists OM Records, 2001
  62. 62 Pako & Fredrik - Nasty Youth Global Underground, 2003
  63. 63 Alexandroid - Open Space K2 O Records, 2003
  64. 64 Abfahrt Hinwil - Sonic Surface Toytronic, 2002
  65. 65 dZihan & Kamien - Carta De Condução Couch Records, 2000
  66. 66 The Sushi Club - Hamaguri Elektrolux, 2003
  67. 67 Enigma - Voyageur (Chillout Mix) Virgin / EMI, 2003
  68. 68 Adham Shaikh - Dubfire Sonicturtle Records / Dakini Records, 2004
  69. 69 Kenji Williams - Zero Point Magnetic Presence, 2004

Notes

  • Conceived, arranged, mixed, and mastered by DJ Basilisk in Taipei, Taiwan, June 2022.
  • Recorded on three decks using Traktor 3 and a Korg Nanokontrol.
  • Mastered in Ableton Live using TDR Nova and LoudMax; wave surgery conducted with Audacity.
  • Several custom edits were made exclusively for this mix. Some of the source material is pretty old or poorly produced so in some cases I did some light remastering to make everything fit.
  • Cover image: Thomas Cole’s The Arcadian or Pastoral State, 1834.
  • The introductory samples were recorded in Hong Kong in 1996, immediately prior to the handover. Naturally this is a bit of a nod to my current environs here in East Asia.
  • This mix accreted around Plateau’s obscure Grasshopper, which segues from atmospheric downbeat to dreamy techno, providing an anchor for that long broken beat introduction.
  • Mixing Marco Carola into Victor Calderone means the sample “this… is house music” plays right before slamming techno beats take over.
  • Sander Kleinenberg’s Slipper Sleaze was only released on promo CDs, and the only copy I was able to procure appears to be a transcode (whereas other tracks on the same CD are not). I wanted to use this track so much I cleaned up a vinyl rip to maintain the lossless audio standard.
  • From what I can tell there are no copies of The Sushi Club’s Hamaguri released without noticeable clicks, so I cleaned it up myself for this mix.
  • Dedicated to Praktik Swayze; I think you’ll like this one.

Time Periods

2 Comments

Write a Comment

Markdown and HTML enabled in comments.
Your email address will not be published; required fields are marked