This is an album inspired by a couple friends who were always listening to Pink Floyd and Wu Tang. A homie said one day, someone should make "The Dark Side Of The Wu". You are now in tune!!!

-This and the instrumentals are available for purchase at https://piztrumentals.bandcamp.com

The Dark Side Of The Wu "Pink Floyd Meets The Wu-Tang Clan"

System Upgrade was my 4th and final mix CD release for Moonshine back in 2000. I was on a roll at this point, given that my last CD “Soldier’s Story” had been released only one year before. I was super motivated by the freedom that I had finally been given to select all of the music in my mixes, and this tracklist reflects a truly diverse selection of really great drum and bass from that era. Being able to kick things off with the remix of “Mindscan” by the legends Ed Rush and Optical was truly an honor for me. At that time stateside artists and DJs were still struggling with garnering respect from the UK. I feel that this mix was sort of a transition for building trans-Atlantic relationships during that unfortunately tense era. Dillinja came through with a beast of a remix for American super producer Hive with “Ultrasonic Sound”. Decoder did serious justice to his remix of my tune “The Descent”. And E-Sassin was one of my favorite artists at the time and straight killed it with tracks like “Symptom”. A true American DNB classic. The rest of the mix was filled out with plenty of great music from the likes of Bad Company (the first time they licensed a tune for the American market), Kemal and Rob Data AKA Konflict and of course Dom + Roland, Tech Itch, etc. Was always super happy with the tunes I was able to get for this one. And yes, this was another mix I did in my pajamas sitting on the floor of my living room in my apartment in Philadelphia. Very classy! The artwork was handled by Justin Fines, otherwise known as Demo Design. I discovered his work on a flier at a rave in Detroit back in the 90s. He was way beyond most flier designers at that point in time. Currently he is killing it in the world of TV commercials here in NYC. Was very lucky to have him on board for this project. The concept of the mix was elevating consciousness through music. This theme played out through the title of the mix, the graphics, the liner notes, and the intro (which was a collaboration between myself and a Mr Justin Geller). Here is a fun story. The rainforest environment FX in the intro were recorded in binaural sound (that means in headphones they should sound like they are in true 3D audio). We also used a sample from one of my favorite new age / synth artists at the time named Steve Roach. Outside of the new age music scene I didn’t think he was well known. Buuut…Moonshine ended up getting contacted by his lawyers for my illegal sampling of his track. I had to forfeit all of my income from the CD to pay Steve Roach back for using his music in my intro without clearance. To this day I am still not sure how he found about it. Long story short, “System Upgrade” is a mix that reflected the vibe of drum and bass at the time and it was a very important stepping stone between what I had previously been doing before mix wise and what I would go on to do with the “6ixth Session” and future mixes. And, to this day, people still tell me that it is their favorite mix. I don’t disagree. I feel like this was an important moment in the progression of the  US drum and bass scene.

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TRACKLIST

Dieselboy - Loading Program
Ram Trilogy - Mindscan (Ed Rush + Optical Remix)
E-Sassin - Symptom
Hive - Ultrasonic Sound (Dillinja Remix)
Biostacis - Brain Hack
Dom + Roland - Can’t Punish Me
Decoder - Road Rage
Future Cut - Overload
Kemal + Rob Data - Konspiracy VIP
Stakka + Skynet - Side Effects
Dieselboy - The Descent (Decoder Remix)
Jonny L - Selecta
Decoder - Dumb
Facs + B-Key - Antics
Technical Itch - Deadline
Bad Company - Sentient 
Absolute Zero - The Code (Usual Suspects VIP)

System Upgrade

****UPDATE****DOWNLOAD MAX REACHED****

****Big thanks to my brother Tony Rodriguez (Brothers Vibe, LUV4WAX)for the DAT player loan and the surgery on the DAT tape when it SNAPPED when we first tried to play it. You saved a piece of early TECHNO history!****

Thanks for all the comments everyone! If I was wrong on the date, I apologize, I honestly didn't think I was still going to the Limelight after 1993 and thats why I dated it earlier. 

Yes the sound quality isn't the best but like I said I snuck in a Sony portable DAT recorder and recorded it straight from the crowd from the floor level right below the DJ booth. 
While I was outside on line, the security guard frisked me at the door and was like "what the hell is that? You can't bring that in here!" I told him its just a walkman and he let me go in with it. I'm lucky to even have this bad recording to be honest.
While we were waiting for his set, Richard James walked by me and this kid I was with and the kid stopped him and asked "hey my friend snuck in a DAT recorder, can we record right from your mixer??? RDJ just laughed in his face, said NO! and walked away. Haha.

Thanks for the track IDs, that was very helpful!
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Back in the early 1990s when techno was just starting to explode in NYC, I snuck a portable DAT recorder into the Limelight nightclub when Richard James, The Aphex Twin was DJing a very rare live set. I recorded his entire 1hr set from the crowd and then put the DAT away for 25+ years. The other day with the help of my friend Tony Rodriquez (LUV4WAX)and his DAT machine, we finally made a digital copy of the set and finally uploaded it for all to hear. As far as I can remember, RDJ did only 2 live performances (one performance blew out the power to the entire club and left the place pitch black and silent for a few minutes!) and 1 DJ set at the Limelight during that time. I have never heard a live set from RDJ from the Limelight so this might be the only recording of this set (please correct me if I'm wrong, thanks!) The recording is loud and noisy just like 90s techno but I think its clear enough to enjoy. If you can ID any tracks to create a track list, feel free to post it in the comments! 

Enjoy -
Lofidelic Records

LOFIDELIC.COM
LUV4WAX.COM
BELMARSOL.COM

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