DJ Rousseau - Afterhours Top 10

Afterhours Reunion Show Dec. 29th, 2008 with DJs Steve Brown, Ben Thomas and Rob Rousseau.

Since this was a reunion show I thought it would be fitting to record my "Best of Afterhours" according to me and by picking out my favorite tracks for each year sequencially during the decade of the 1990s starting with 1990. For each track, I list the year the track was released, the artist, the song and remix if applicable. The Discogs link after that is the particular vinyl album that I own and used to record with.

After that is a few of my notes on why I chose that track. Bear in mind that normally I would probably not mix all these songs together because they vary so much from each other. Plus my 3 year old son was sleeping in the bedroom next door so I wasn't blasting out the monitor when I was mixing to my half-deaf ears.

Also, in the spirit of WKNC-FM Afterhours, we were always playing a wide variety of electronica, some of it due to being in rotation at the station...which was good! It gave us exposure to the many channels that electronica created. And that in turn, we spun for you our listeners.

1. 1990 - Orbital - Chime (Recorded Live At The V96 Festival Chelmsford)
http://www.discogs.com/release/45245
I was fortunate enough to see Orbital live in Miami during the summer of '96. They were simply awesome. So to start this Decade of Music, I pay my homage with Orbital. From Discogs, "One of techno's most celebrated and accomplished partnerships, the brothers Paul and Phil Hartnoll trace their beginnings as Orbital back to the late 1980's, when their first single, "Chime" was released on Oh-Zone/FFRR and cracked the
British Top 20 in the spring of 1990."
2. 1991 - Altern-8 - Infiltrate 202 (The Altern 8 vs. Astrix And Space Remix)
http://www.discogs.com/release/18062
Always a fan of Altern-8, they represented to me the DIY attitude and anonymity that raves seemed to foster at the time. From Discogs, "One of their best known stunts was to pull up outside Shelleys night club in Stafford (england), in an articulated truck and do a 30 minute set of all their tunes, whilst filming for one of their videos."
3. 1992 - Prodigy - Your Love (Remix)
http://www.discogs.com/release/26193?ev=rr
Prodigy was without a doubt a constant cornerstone in hearing their tracks when I went out to the Fallout Shelter between 1992-1994.
4. 1993 - Me and Jack - Viva House (Original Mix)
http://www.discogs.com/release/49240
This track just spoke volumes to me and was always my top favorites. About this time the breakbeat and hardcore started evolving into jungle and drum and bass, which I will not attempt to document here. But sufficient to say that it was most wonderful to have that additional spin on the whole "electronic" music scene. My path took me down the house and trance vein for God only knows why.
5. 1994 - Underworld - Rez
http://www.discogs.com/release/11758
Underworld seemed to go stellar with their hit Born Slippy from the 1996 cult classic Trainspotting, but I was turned on to them from their album Dubnobasswithmyheadman and I'd say that Trance was really starting to take off on it's own at this time. To me, this was the classic age of trance.
6. 1995 - Faithless - Insomnia (Monster Mix)
http://www.discogs.com/release/21573
All I know is that for whatever no particular reason, I played the hell out of this record constantly on WKNC. I don't know why, it was just a favorite that I spun a LOT.
It would be a sin if I didn't include this record.
7. 1996 - Daft Punk - Revolution 909 (Original Mix)
http://www.discogs.com/release/8085
Daft Punk exploded on to the American scene mostly with their album Homework, but I give a nod to the 909 with this track. Daft Punk represented all the house music that I spun out and is just the tip of the ice berg.
8. 1997 - Binary Finary - 1998 (Paul Van Dyk Mix)
http://www.discogs.com/release/28020
1998 actually came out in 1997, but was of course played heavily in 1998. This represented the trance in me. Normally I played the original mix, but I enjoyed Paul Van Dyk a bunch, so I picked his remix of this venerable track.
9. 1998 - ATB - 9pm (Till I Come)
http://www.discogs.com/release/4713
When I was DJing out in clubs & parties, I usually played this one a lot as a transition track between the house I started off spinning and the trance that I usually ended with.
10. 1999 - Sasha - Xpander
http://www.discogs.com/release/58337
Sasha & Digweed were music staples throughout the 90's for me and friends and many roadtrips. The fact that Afterhours used this as the background music for a liner seems to speak volumes for the music at the close of the decade. The music always represented to me a forward look into the future.
11. 1993 - Grace - Not Over Yet (Perfecto Mix)
http://www.discogs.com/release/142235
Since the CD spilled over an hour, I thought this track was appropriate as the conclusion and is probably in my top favorite three, if not number one. The music keeps coming on and on and never really leaves us.
Since 1999, spinning out in various clubs I did spin a lot of house and funky house and am probably known for that when I DJ. So picking out these "best of" for each year in the 90's was very difficult and I could probably do another one just for all the house I spun... Maybe I'll do another one for the decade of the 2000s.

-Rob Rousseau, 12/31/2008