The word pioneer may get thrown around a little to casually these days but in this case its the only word to use. Kasey Taylor is a true pioneer of the Australian music industry. His work as a DJ, producer and record label head helped pave the way for for many, in this country and around the world. 

It really is an honour for us to be involved in releasing this three hour retrospective mix. Firstly because we know how much it means to Kacey, and secondly because its historically significant to the Australian electronic music industry and community. Kasey and Vapour really did help put this city and country of ours on the map. For that we thank you!!

Some words from Kacey... 

In 1997 I had a dream that i wanted to start my own record label. The music i was writing at that particular moment wasn’t suited to Mushroom records, which is who i was signed up with at the time. I was signed to Paul Oakenfold’s Perfecto records in the UK though Mushroom records, but that wasn’t enough for me. I couldn’t have the creative control that i personally wanted. The idea behind it was simply to have an outlet to release my own records on and nothing more. I didn’t care about the money, I would’ve just been happy to break even on a vinyl release as long as i could keep putting out the tunes i believed in. I just wanted that piece of vinyl in my hand that had my name on it, my tunes, my style, my vibe. I believed in myself and what i was writing at the time and i had good connections in the industry worldwide, so i thought fuck it, lets give this a crack and see what happens. Can only fall on my arse after 2 releases right?

Vapour Recordings was born with the help of John Course and Andy Van at Vicious Vinyl - Two people i can’t thank enough for this opportunity. They had an established label already set up and were pressing vinyl, so this made the process easier to for me to get started. I hit up my best mate who’s not with us anymore in the UK - Andy Jarrod. He was working at Unique Distribution and i asked him if he would be up for distributing my label. We came to an agreement and we launched the label and started getting vinyl in the right hands - John Digweed, Sasha, Hernan Cattaneo, Dave Seaman and so on - All the big guns. Before i knew it the label was getting worldwide traction in a flash. It was quite overwhelming but so exciting. I had demos coming in from all angles and before i knew it the label had blown up globally.

Today i sit here and I’m honoured to be able to say that i had the pleasure of working with the who’s who of the music industry on my label, and i’m thankful to have had thousands of people support the label and myself worldwide. I have had some fantastic artists on the label that all brought their A game for every release, be it an original or a remix. I can’t thank each and everyone of them enough for their continued support, but most importantly all the fans of the label that supported it and enabled it to become the label that it did. 137 releases later and that brings us up to today.

I’ve had a break from the label and making music for 2/3 years now and have been audio engineering and working in the background helping some of the younger crew reach their goals, but we are currently under going a branding upgrade and will kick things off again from the middle of 2018, so stay tuned.

This mix is a hand picked retrospective of some of the best releases that did it for me on dance floors all over the world over the past 21 years.

Music has a very short shelf life these days. I barely remember any of the tunes i played a month ago. There’s a few that sneak through but nothing like what it was back in the day. Making this mix was fun, nostalgic and it reminded me of the days where i felt a lot of love went into music and made it memorable. Music that you remember the next week, the next month, or years later….

#030 Kasey Taylor (Vapour Recordings 21st Year Anniversary - Retrospective Mix)

Sound curated by  @Karl-pilbrow 
Visual Art by @JemBray

The Wildwood Podcast series is a Melbourne based electronic music channel. 

Released weekly, the podcast showcases Australian and international artists  that specialise in Melodic house, Techno, Progressive House and Deep House.

The podcast has featured world renowned artists like Patrice Baumel, Roger Martinez, D-Nox, Miss Milera, Blancah, Bebetta, Matan Caspi, Nhar, Ran Salman, Muui, Alex Banks, Jobe, Secret Cinema, Darin Epsilon, Donatello, David Granha, Audio Junkies, Jelly for the Babies, Ron Flatter, Drumcomplex, Jamie Stevens and many more.. 

Please check out Wildwood's other other social media pages and our resident DJs via the links below.

#030 Kasey Taylor (Vapour Recordings 21st Year Anniversary - Retrospective Mix)

Wildwood Podcast Series