Here it is folks, live recording from last weekend’s potted history of Acid House, featuring some (but by no means all !) of the things which had a big influence on me and were my early road map to House music . Whether pumping out of those 23rd hand tapes from Chicago clubs, or my strobelit, Acid fuelled nights at various dingy warehouses & Occasions in Sheffield, or Graeme Park’s impeccable selections at Steamer, Kool Kat and The Hacienda.

Trainspotters will no doubt note some glaring omissions, and a couple of more modern things thrown in (albeit heavily sampling or influenced by this era) . Plus there were alot of weird European electronic records which I later found out made up the component parts of much of what I liked in early House, but time was an issue and it wasn’t a sit down history lesson !

Might well do a ‘Chapter Two’ at some point, for all the ones I missed !

Anyways, hope you enjoy…what we’re gonna do right here is go back

Chris Duckenfield_History Of Acid House@Zutekh_Manchester02-07-2010 by Chris Duckenfield

Click for tracklisting:

Off for a spot of sun and sand, but thought I’d let you know about a few gigs which are coming up before I go…

Apparently my 20 odd years on the job have made me something of an Acid House veteran !
Probably more to do with a welcome return to rawer, and less polished music working the floors again than anything else, but I’m more than happy to oblige, join a few dots and keep the spirit alive : ]

Look forward to seeing you at one of these soon

Oh, by the way Electric Elephant Festival pressure is building up nicely, I’m sure I’ve blathered on about it lots already, but it really is well worth a visit…
Here’s a little promo mix for the after dark activities, enjoy.

ONE NIGHT IN BARBARELLA’S_ELECTRIC ELEPHANT PROMO by Chris Duckenfield

OK, NOT a charity event for washed up geriatric DJ’s (although that surely can’t be far off !) The fantastic Last Night A DJ Saved My Life event peoples are throwing this huge double header down in London this weekend. Kicking off on Saturday at Corsica Studios, and for once I’ll probably be the youngest DJ there !

Pure old school tracklist from me, I’m playing the last bit – 4-6am, ripping tracks right now, and hurtling down memory lane, all for a very good cause.

Come and show your support !

This Friday folks !
Myself and the unstoppable Leo Zero alongside grand wizard of web warbling and supreme selector Bill Brewster – Expect Disco of all shapes and sizes, House music and Lost Classics ’til dawn. This is as good a warm up gig for the Electric Elephant as you’re gonna get, so come on down !

THE POPULAR PEOPLES FRONT_LIVE_JAN09 by PPF LIVE MIX

http://www.allears.uk.com/ALLEARS/IMAGES/PPFTBAR_web.jpg

Been bursting to blab about this one, and now the first wave of line-up’s has been announced I can let the, er, elephant out of the bag : ]

Not sure in what capacity my services will be required as yet, but more detailed info on times and dates will be posted here as soon as I have ‘em

It really is an awesome festival, if you want to know a little more, check in HERE

While I’m here, would just like to say a big, big thanks to everyone who made it down to The Room in Madrid last Friday, and Back To Basics on Saturday. Both nights are well into their teens now, and have had their share of ups and downs, but it’s fair to say a solid team behind the scenes and a dedicated crowd continue to make them the wonderful events they are – much, much fun !

New mixes posted soon, had a few studio setbacks which have gotten in the way of all audio activity, but should be back up and running by next week

As luck would have it though, I just did a ‘Morning After The Night Before’ mix for those lovely peoples at the FEEL UP Blog…

Hope you all enjoy the Easter break this weekend, I’ll be doing a little something HERE It’s free too, so come say hello if you’re in the area !

OK, OK, hands up…base camp Duck has been slightly neglected of late, my continued apologies
BUT, I have been busy doing lots of things I’m sure you’ll be interested in, so pop the kettle on, pull up a chair and check this little lot out…

• It’s been an action packed January in the studio, previews of all the forthcoming stuff in the post below !
• My Myspace page has had a major overhaul, including a full Discography & Remixography, mix links, chart & updated biog – so now there are two online options for staying tuned in, check it out HERE
• All new 2010 Chart action can be perused on the CHARTS PAGE
• Gigs are coming in thick and fast for the first half of the year, I’ll be continuing with my residency at SAWA in Sheffield (see previous post) and also dropping in this Saturday (Feb 6th) at the awesome FREAKIN in York.

• Finally, a mixed bag of tricks on the DJ Mix front for you this time around, with the long overdue posting (sorry !) of a bit of my l o n g set at Mad Racket’s 11th birthday in Sydney from back in October, plus (amazingly) a good chunk of the Sunday day time session the day after !

LIVE RECORDING FROM MAD RACKET’S 11th BIRTHDAY PARTY_SYDNEY_OCT ‘09:
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LIVE RECORDING FROM B SIDES @ The Beresford (the day after !)
Right after the Racket session, we bedded in for an all-dayer at the lovely Beresford boozer @ Lorna Clarkson’s ace B Sides party, here’s a slab of that Gin & Guinness soaked Sunday set:
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BONUS !
Here’s a more Discoid style session recorded live at my debut ALL EARS night:
LIVE @ ALL EARS_SHEFFIELD DEC ‘09

And I’ll sign off with more glorious Disco flavours from the latest installment in the Discolated Hip series !
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So the annual January hiatus has been far more productive than expected !
Here’s a sneaky peek at some forthcoming Duckbeats related tracks and remixes:

I was absolutely over the moon to be asked to get involved in a Heaven 17 Remix project, co-ordinated by the excellent Mixed In Sheffield crew.

Fascist Groove Thing was a chart topper way back in 1981, in the midst of the hideous Thatcher years, which I remember clearly, if not fondly. Sadly the same themes which undoubtedly inspired the original seem to be topical again, racist bigots like the BNP winning political seats and a chinless brigade of privately educated and out of touch idiots about to take over at number 10, some things never change.

It’s always a tall order tampering with such well-loved music, but I think I managed to strip this 150 bpm synth-pop classic back to it’s steely Sheffield core.

HEAVEN 17_FASCIST GROOVE THING_DUCKBEATS SO-YO DUB

Next up we have the debut release on a new label venture from my good friends over in Croatia, Burek will kick off soon with a sterling release from the ever on-form Kink

KINK_YAKO_DUCKBEATS DUB

Another timely Acid drenched number from the legendary Back To Basics resident Buckley & studio partner Jon Woodall, soon to be released on the revived Basics label, aciiieedddd !

BUCKWOOD_HALF INCH JACK REWIRE

Last, but by no means least our new & decidedly epic Extended Play release is almost ready to go, it’s another collaborative affair with my label partners The Jet Project and sounds a little bit like this:

JP & DB_ASCENSION (DUCKBEATS DUB)

JP & DB_ASCENSION (JET PROJECT VERSION)

Well, it’s been quite a few years since my last steel city residency at the celebrated SCUBA night !

So, it’s with no small amount of excitement that I commence a long overdue monthly slot in the city’s newest, most bijou and certainly loudest venue – SAWA.

The mission to provide the perfect Saturday night soundtrack for Sheffield’s underground freaks starts here…
Live recordings from the monthly will be posted on the ALL EARS @ SAWA Facebook page & of course here, for your ‘listen again’ pleasure – Amen

So a few years back, myself and Swag partner in crime Richard Brown rustled up 3 EP’s of scandalously pilfered late 80’s Chicago style Jack Trax called HALF INCH JACK. We kept it kinda quiet at the time, pressed up a few of each one and just let them do their work, and work they did !
Anyway, much like the music which inspired them, they’ve aged remarkably well…so I thought it was high time this hat-trick of Acid Housery was available digitally, and thanks to those nice people / fiendish peddlars of mediocrity (delete as appropriate) at Beatport, you can now pick up all three EP’s and do all kinds of fun things with them, click below

TAKE ME TO THE HALF INCH JACK TRACKS ALREADY !

‘And jack had a groove, and from this groove came the groove of all grooves….’