Harold’s Fave Italian House – Long Relationships Mixes Vol II
To go with the publication of my book, I’ve done a series of DJ mixes that tie in with various chapters – this one covers some of the gorgeous house music of early 90s Italy.
Some of my earliest rave audio memories are of Italian house. Perhaps it’s the high melodic content, all those chord progressions and vocal hooks that made them more memorable than the more faceless acid or tracky US stuff, but for whatever reason, it was often a sleek Italian piano line that was stuck in my head on the way home from a rave. Italian house in the very early 90s was the Rolls Royce of the house genres – smooth, glistening, classy, effortlessly gliding into the mix and out across the dance floor.
This mix is made up of a few of my faves from the very early 90s. Italian house is perhaps best known for piano-anthems such as the oeuvre of the FPI Project (‘Risky’, ‘Everybody All Over The World’, ‘Rich In Paradise’ etc.) but could also be fabulously smooth and dreamy. I’ve gone for a mix of both extremes here, including Double Dee featuring Dany’s unashamedly euphoric ‘Found Love’ – a record that has managed to encode pure joy in its grooves – as well as stylish streamlined jams like Dreamatic’s ‘Audio Trip’. Speaking of the FPI Project I actually forgot to include one of their bangers, but luckily they still sneak in under their ‘TC’ pseudonym with their 1991 stormer ‘Berry’.
Italian house tunes would get thrown in at raves along with US house, Belgian techno, and fledging UK hardcore, providing a sophisticated musical balance to the emerging ‘mentalism’. They influenced the UK progressive house movement and in fact you can still feel the influence of their keyboard-based euphoria today. Best of all, Italian house regularly served up countless moments of dancefloor ecstasy and togetherness. As a genre, at its peak, Italian house was the boss.
So here’s a brief trip back to the early 90s for an audio feast of glowing chord sequences, stylish layers of keys, pads and synths, plenty of 909s, a few dodgy vocal samples (“Are we getting funky?!” – thank you Jinny, if indeed that is your real name) and a general aura of bewitching Mediterranean finesse.
Here’s the track list:
Audio Trip – Dreamatic
Time Unlimited – High Tide
Everything… – Montego Bay
Keep Warm – Jinny
Antares – Omniverse
Found Love – Double Dee feat. Dany –
Bring It On Down – D-Rail
Move Your Body To The Sound – Korda
What U Need – Soft House Company
Last Rhythm – Last Rhythm
Parfume (1) – Riviera Traxx
Berry – TC1991
