Anthony Linell
Dissolution Process

Having previously celebrated the deep and colourful world of late ‘80s and early ‘80s Italian house via the popular Welcome To Paradise compilation series, Safe Trip has now turned its attention to the roots and formative years of trance music.Planet Love: Early Transmissions 1990-95 showcases the roots and formative years of trance via 13 loved-up, psychedelic, colourful, melodious and surprisingly varied dancefloor experiments from Europe, Australia and the United States.The compilation includes pioneering proto-trance and early trance tracks from the likes of Hawke (AKA influential San Francisco producer Gavin Hardkiss), Epilson 9, Spooky, Oliver Lieb, Holy Ghost Inc, Morgan Wild (an outfit whose members included early NYC techno titan Damon Wild), Mijk van Dijk, Glam and Paul van Dyk.Packed with must-have cuts, slept-on gems and sought-after rarities, Planet Love: Early Transmissions 1990-95 maintains the loved-up, listenable vibe of Welcome to Paradise while broadening its musical horizons. It is not a definitive history of trance music’s early years, but rather a colourful, life-affirming celebration of the varied strands that came together to create one of dance music’s most popular and enduring styles.

ITALIAN LIBRARY SONGBOOK VOL. 1 | Alessandro Alessandroni by Jessica Duncan, pAd, Alessandro Alessandroni

If-Only · Premiere: Pop Negatif Wastad – Pop Negatif Wastad [Musique Plastique]

Eros’ Go For It is a fearlessly original take on Paradise Garage disco, mixed in a way that feels equally Mad Professor and Walter Gibbons. The story of Eros begins in a high school in Vauxhall, New Jersey in the mid 70s when four kids began a friendship based around their mutual love of soul, funk, rock, disco, and bands like Earth, Wind & Fire and Funkadelic. Assanouan G’Bado, Fletcher Gaines, Bobby Jones and Mike Freeman started off jamming after school, playing occasional gigs in New York and honing in on an original sound. When the group graduated, Assanouan and Bobby went off to the service and Fletcher went to university. Eros reunited in the late 70’s and began taking things more seriously, producing a set of songs with the intention of getting a deal with Motown. The morning after recording a full album’s worth of material, the group flew to Detroit hoping to sign a record deal. The legendary label was interested in the songs, but made them an offer that didn’t feel right for the group. The songs were shelved and Fletcher and Bobby moved on to new ventures. Mike and Assanouan pursued a self-released single on their own DAP records, reinterpreting two of their Motown demos with drum machines and overdubs to fill in for their two missing bandmates. Go For It was their individual take on disco, and the new 1985 remake took the AOR-oriented demo version, and transformed it into a transcendent dance floor illusion, that, in an alternate universe, would have turned dancers at the Paradise Garage upside down. Similar to Stephen Encinas’ un-classic, the song mutates deftly at the half-way point, opening up into a stripped-down and dubbed-out denouement, adorned in cascading electronics and the soaring vocals of Barbara Green. Go For It is the first of two releases from Eros on Mixed Signals, and pairs the group’s expanded electronic remake with the original Motown version, rescued from the last surviving demo cassette. Stay tuned for the unreleased demo album Motown missed out on, slated to come out later this year.

Episode 8 in the Magic Carpet saga sees our intrepid explorers venture back in time in search of forgotten magic. Following a series of hare-brained escapades through the mid-90s they encounter the mighty DJ Fary. Once revived from his shock at modern day Discogs prices, Fary entrusts our travellers with the DAT tapes of his most original work. Two timeless tracks, brought back to the future and arranged back to back. Enjoy the ride!