Memorable Mixtapes for My Girlfriend from 1998

I’ve always been into music since I was a little boy. I grew up with the vinyl collection of my oldest brother which means I listened to Pink Floyd and Fleetwood Mac at the age of about 4 or 5. At our home, it was always Open Home. Friends of my brother were there all day, relatives came very often to visit us, and my mother took care of kids from the village of the formerly so called “Gastarbeiter” (immigrant workers). So if I wanted to be by myself, my brother allowed me to stay in his room and listen to his records. And so I did. I got to know a lot of music back in the days when cars only had cassette decks. That´s why I got a proud collection of many many mixtapes through the all years. Let me tell you about a one from 1998.

I don’t know how many of you still listen to mixtapes as cassette decks are a rarity. (I do but it’s down in the basement.) I listen to them very often as last year, my girlfriend and I bought my most desired car since I now have the permission to drive. And we bought it from a really old man so everything was original including the radio with a cassette player.

So all I had to do was go down to the basement and get me some old mixtapes I made for myself or one of those I made for my girlfriend when we were getting to know each other. And I did many of them to impress her with my taste in music.

This one was dated May 1998. Here is the partial tracklist with some comments:

Side A:

1. Bentley´s Gonna Sort You Out - Bentley Rhythm Ace

I can´t remember how I got to know this great band. Must have been through a mag when I was studying and working for the radio channel of my University and running the music editorial. I listened to this record and loved it immediately. A few years later the song became a little bit famous when used as music for a TV-spot advertising for a deodorant.

2. Rude Boy Rock - Lionrock

I didn´t know this band but saw them performing live at a little sidestage at a big festival. It blew me. Back home I went straight to my beloved record store and ordered the debutalbum. This track is from there second longplayer and I used it as Wake-Up-Song for quite some time to start the day in a good mood.

3. Jus´ Reach + 4. Prince of Peace – Galliano

Galliano or better Acid Jazz was very popular among my friends back then. Mainly because the radio channel of the University I was working for had a so called “Musikfarbe” at that was Jazz & Funk. So I got hand on a lot of records of this genre as record companies didn´t sell too many of them and were very happy to have them played on a radio channel.

5. Let the hustlers play – Pulse & Tango

This is a Drum&Bass track from one great sampler of a record label. A guy who was into electronic music brought this record to a party one day and played one track at really high volume. The bassline was so incredible that my trousers began to vibrate.

6. Czerkinsky – Czerkinsky

Got a promo-disc of this track and liked it. But only for several weeks. It got boring quick.

7. Satzkiller – Samba

A band from Germany which I still like. This track is from their debutalbum and I still listen to the record from time to time. Great songs with nice lyrics.

9. Distant God - Talvin Singh feat. Leone

“Wow!!!” That must have been my coment first listening to this track. It is from a sampler of Drum&Bass from India named “Soundz of the Asian Underground”. Amazing sounds on it and my girlfriend liked TripHop which was dominated by female singers so she liked this one very much.

Side B:

1. Brimful of Asha – Cornershop

I guess most of you have listened to this track already. There are other cool track on this record like “Good to Be on the Road Back Home Again” and “Sleep on the Left Side” but it was like a One-Hit-Wonder here in Germany.

2. Twist and Crawl – Death in Vegas

I could tell about this band for hours I guess. You probably don´t know this band at all but I if you like movies you might know one of their tracks very well: the song Girls from the movie Lost in Translation.
Well, iirc i got hand on a promo-disc and fell in love with the band forever. This band is one of my favourites of all time! The track is from their debutalbum and I listened to it for months and still love it. My girlfriend liked it, too and if you listen to their records you might get the impression that they make electronic music but if you have the opportunity to go to a concert – and they only play a few gigs this year – you´ll see an awesome live band. My girlfriend an me went to a concert of their Scorpio Rising Tour in a small club here in Berlin. And even though I have been to many many punkmusic concerts this was the most punk gig I ever saw. They started with the song “Leather” and there were two guys on stage: one doing the sounds and music and one playing guitar. But the song has an amazing guitar sound and suddenly there was another guy coming on stage and plugging in his guitar. And another one. And another one. And another one. And another one. And finally another one. Seven guys on stage playing incredible loud guitar. It made me smile the whole concert I guess. Best track ever of this band is the 11min. song “Help Yourself” with guest singer Hope Sandoval some of you might know from Mazzy Star, several other projects she did or her solo records.

3. Crazy Horse – Stereo Total

A very famous band in Germany back then with the french chanseuse Francoise Cactus – singing in german with a nice french accent – and the sound-wizard Brezel Göring who builds his guitars by himself. I once made an interview with them and had a lot of fun with them.

4. I am fresh – Monkey Mafia

Spending hours in record stores made me chose records only by title or cover. This is one them. Can´t tell why but the name Monkey Mafia got my attention and I thought I´d give it a try. And it was worth it. A great song which I still like to listen to.

5. Liquid Metal – Bomb the Bass

6. Track: What a Life – Rockers Hi-Fi

They were really big in Germany end of the 90s. And I still like the old records today. Everyone in among my friends loved them.

7. + 8. are from a sampler of electronic music I once found in a secondhand record store. Can´t say a single word about the bands/musicians.

9. Kasparovs Revenge - Lo Fidelity Allstars

Another one of the records I only chose by name. I really liked this track.

This is a typical mixtape I made crossing one music genre to another. Can´t remember why I made this one. Often there was a reason for making mixtapes but I can´t tell in this case. By the way, in Berlin there was a little gallery or club with mixtapes all over. I have never been there and I don´t know if it still exists. So I can´t really tell how it worked but I think you could step-in leave a mixtape and get another one. Maybe someone else knows.

Thanks for reading! I should go down to the basement and have a look at my bag full of tapes and maybe write another 30 articles. I remember one tape that I got from a friend of mine and who is more into chansons and special edition records. Here he is dancing with my girlfriend. Oh and there is one done by another friend of mine with Neue Deutsche Welle tracks. A great one, too.

Thanks for reading.

written by bloomchen on 2012-03-08 #lifestyle #tape-music-mixtape-concert-electronic-soundtrack-movie-ost-galliano-cornershop-stereo-total-india-talvin-singh-lionrock-peace-festival-life-fresh-bass-live-twist-crawl