Radioshow Dusk Dubs
DD0620 Dusk Dubs - Conor Kenny

[ Conor Kenny ]

Podcast: Dusk Dubs
Artist: Conor Kenny
Title: DD0620
Style: House, Techno, Dub Techno, Breaks
Time: 95 Minutes
Date: 2020-02-16

Dusk Dubs returns with another incredible journey through sounds. As always, our guest provides us with music that has a special place in their memories and in their souls. Music that moves them, that invokes images of sunrises, sunsets, good times and good people. We then play each record, in full, giving it breathing space and allowing it to shine.

This week we welcome back Conor Kenny.

“Belfast is essentially a house and techno city…” This DuskDubs session delves into the electronic scene of the early to mid-1990s Belfast. A scene where I lived and breathed every day by surrounding myself with like-minded, musical souls. I spent all of my free time and loose change in many of the independent record stores dotted around the city centre. Immersing myself in the music, conversation and love of what it had to offer. The dancefloor destinations were often hand-picked depending on who was on the flyer or if some of the local guys were setting up a new night.

This session is inspired by the sounds that came from those hardy local DJs and record stores in the city, from guest DJs who frequently came at a time when Belfast was not a safe destination or from friends who, like myself, were purchasing music like there was no tomorrow. This in turn created some wonderful house and after-club parties. Belfast, at this time, was a volatile city. It wasn’t a safe place to venture out at night. Regular shootings and infrequent bombings were a common occurrence. However the burgeoning electronic scene was ripening fast and its ever growing participants were more than receptive to whatever it had to provide. A glorious alternative to the dark, murky societal problems that was blighting this wonderful city. The club was a safe haven, reaching all corners of a paralysed and parallel society. Whilst ‘peace’ walls were being erected across the city’s interface areas to keep communities apart, clubs were breaking them down and bringing them together.

This is personal insight into the musical influences that I experienced during this time. I’ve tried to capture that one-off night experience with the tempo ranging from slow beat-less burners, gradually increasing the tension on the dancefloor with steady house and techno builders before bringing the climatic night back down towards the end. The inspiration for the selections come from the regular guest DJ slots. People like Paul Daley, Andrew Weatherall, Laurent Garnier and the many visitors from Detroit helped to mould and nurture the local scene with their own craft and knowledge. The local electronic scene is forever indebted to the sweat and toil of the city’s very own talisman, David Holmes, who pioneered both an individual sound as a producer and created some of the most magical nights on the city’s dancefloors as a DJ. The house and techno scene often paid homage to the pioneering sound that came from those Detroit and Chicago magicians whilst at the same time allowing room for those European influences to grow and be loved at the same time. There was always space in any set for those electronic influences from the UK, whether it was guys from Slam & Soma Records in Glasgow or the tribal house and early techno movers.

I hope you enjoy this session” [[ Conor ]]

Tracklisting

1) Leftfield - ‘Melt’
2) Sabres of Paradise – ‘Smokebelch II’ (Beatless Mix)
3) Global Communication – ‘Incidental Harmony’
4) Spooky – ‘Little Bullet’ (Dum Dum Mix)
5) Disco Evangelists – ‘De Niro’ (Spaceflight Mix)
6) Underground Sound of Lisbon – ‘So Get Up’ (Danny’s In Light We Sleep Mix)
7) Basic Channel – ‘Q1.1’
8) Frank De Wulf – ‘Drums In A Grip’
9) LA Synthesis – ‘Agraphobia’ (Kenny Larkin Mix)
10) Chaser – ‘Destination Unknown’
11) Red Planet – ‘Star Dancer’
12).Innerzone Orchestra – ‘Bug In The Bassbin’
13) Speedy J – ‘Symmetry’