I guess it started over a year and a half ago when James Murphy and I were talking prior to his DJ set at Vinyl. We were talking about the rise of disco and he mentioned a mix he was doing where he blended Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” and Josh Wink’s 1996 rave anthem “Higher State Of Consciousness.” James and went on to discuss “Higher State” and he talked about how the track later in part inspired LCD Soundsystem’s “Yeah.”
It’s a bit weird going back listening to “Higher State” all these years later after first hearing it when Clay Ivey played it in Athens, Georgia. The simplicity in the production seems to have aged a bit over time. It’s just a drum track, two 303’s, and a time stretched sample. However, rather than being boggled over the technical aspects of the production… you can actually feel the tweaking of the knobs in realtime during recording. However, the main 303 202 (thanks Clay for the correction) riff still carrries every bit as much power and energy when it kicks in as it did before.
Months later I found an mp3 of the remake I was looking for, “Up To No Good” by Porn Kings. This track takes the raw power of Wink’s iconic 202 line and charges it up four times over with high pitched vocal chants and a pounding house beat. All emphasis is put into breakdowns and build-ups. I played this track at the end of my set in LA and last week at DSC, and in both instances people went crazy on cue when the 202 blares over the speakers. Most of the people screaming have no idea that they’re listening to a song that is over a decade old.
It was an anthem among the first ravers and is an anthem again among the neu-ravers. It’s a bit surreal having been there for both instances where people heard the song for the first time.
Josh Wink – Higher State Of Consciousness
Porn Kings – Up To No Good
Josh Wink – Higher State Of Consciousness (TV Rock & Dirty South Mix 2007)
nice vintage wink… its kind of crazy to think that techno was once such an analog-centric enterprise.. you can’t get that kind of crispiness out of a microkorg….. there’s another great wink track that follows this formula.. i think its called “are you there?” i remember it was on the “mtv amp” compilation and helped introduce me to electronic music back in the day… anyway.. good post.
superfreak is another fucking killer classic from wink. also: anything LFO and robbie rivera’s ‘rock it’ (dinsdale mix) work into this theme pretty beautifully. PRESTON, THIS SHIT BROUGHT US TOGETHER (higher state) -notes n’ notes n’ notes- oh man, i love it when the sound starts to challenge the listener.
FYI, Wink didn’t use a 303 on “Higher State”. It was in fact a different keyboard highly filtered and processed (which shall remain nameless, primarily because I’ve been wanting one since 96 and don’t want to drive the used prices up by train spotting it on records, ah la the stupid 303 prices). Interestingly, the cut that everyone remembers (and that everyone played) was the inside cut on the B side, the “tweakin’ acid funk” mix. Which now of course is referred to as “the original tweakin’ acid funk mix” completely misleading anyone that didn’t own the original 12″.
Ah… Clay, you’re right. I made an assumption and then after doing a quick search realized it is indeed a Roland MC-202. It’s easy to mix things up when you start talking about the SH-101, MC-202, TB-303. But now that I think about it… you’re right… it doesn’t sound quite like a 303.
As far as the title… I didn’t include the entire title of the track in the link text because it was so long… but it’s in the id3 tag.
Of course… I’d bet the majority of my readers don’t even know what I was talking about when I referenced the 303.
Nope. The 202 was what he sequenced with, the actual sound came from a different keyboard all together.
Having re-read the original post I’d also disagree with it being an anthem among the “original ravers”. Atlanta had already experienced the first wave of “Rave” by then. It had come and gone with the Dizzy World party series and quite a few others(100 Monkeys comes to mind). My favorite was “Unity 2″ in 1992 at what is now Park Tavern and was Bunny’s first appearance in full costume in Atlanta, pre RITM.
Clubs like Plastic, Velvet, Weekends/Mad House/688/Name Du Jour were also driving the scene; and as much as everyone loves to hate Masquerade, they also were doing a house night in the late 80s. Yep, they were in it from the “start”.
It died down a bit as the clubs and promoters started fighting each other and cops/fire marshals/licensing were being called and cans of mace were being set of on dance floors… and then it started to come back, just like it always has.
All of that was prior to my move to Athens in 93, so you’re looking at the first wave in Atlanta in the late 80s and Early 90s a couple years prior to the release of “Higher state”.
If I only knew then what I know now…
oh to be young again.
When it comes to the general audience of this blog… the term original ravers is relative.
Most people weren’t around for the end of the last raves… much less the beginning in the late 80’s / early 90’s. In fact, most of them were only a year or two old.
Really, if you want to get down to it, the original ravers were Maenads. They were the followers of Dionysus, Greek God of wine and intoxication. Their name literally translates as “raving ones”.
‘Original raver’ is a very loose term here, I’m guessing. In the UK, the majority of ‘original ravers’ were hanging up their dancing shoes and popping out sprogs by the time ‘96 rolled around. If you were to talk about French Kiss or Voodoo Ray you’d be more on the money. But then, I’m talking about the UK, of course. When did rave make it back over the pond…? 96, I guessing… Although, of course, the original ‘ravers’ in the US were Jacking the Bass and tweaking the knobs back in ‘87 (DJ Pierre and Phuture in the House!).
ACEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED!