Utah Saints Old Skool Ibiza playlist special
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Synonymous with the UK rave scene that swept through the country during the late 80s and 90s, we’re excited to welcome old skool legends Utah Saints for a special playlist feature.
The duo were responsible for bringing the underground to the mainstream, gaining notable chart success with the now-timeless singles Something Good (later re-issued by Ministry of Sound in 2008) and What Can You Do For Me.
With the revival of rave house and all things rave culture in general, Utah Saints are as relevant as ever. They’re currently working on new music and a special 30th anniversary re-release of their original album, available as a limited-edition vinyl along with re-issues and re-masters of all the early Utah Saints remixes from fellow-legends such as C.J. Bolland and Todd Terry.
But first things first. Utah Saints are about to head off to join one of the biggest parties of the summer – Slip Back In Time Presents Old Skool Ibiza. This week-long rave holiday packs out various hotspots including Eden, Es Paradis, Ibiza Rocks and The Palm Star with club, boat and pool parties from 17 – 24 May. There are over 100 originators of UK rave on the bill including Slipmatt, Graeme Park, Nicky Blackmarket, Shades Of Rhythm, Alex P, Brandon Block, Mark Archer and so many more!
To mark the occasion, Utah Saints have put together a meaty selection of tracks that they’ll be sound tracking over the week. Turn it up, loud.
For tickets and hotel packages to Slip Back In Time Presents Old Skool Ibiza, see here.
Frankie Knuckles – Your Love
This record is timeless and an all-time classic. We still remember to this day getting the Trax records version on import back in 1987. Back then when it was played in DJ sets it was more of an early doors track for us, but we then remember going into Eastern Bloc in Manchester where we used to buy a lot of our records and getting the bootleg with the Candi Staton vocal on. It took the track to another level and crossed it over into the mainstream. There is still something special about this original version though.
Lil Louis & Josh Wink – How’s Your Evening So Far (Chris Lake Remix)
French Kiss has always been a favourite track of ours. It has in our opinion the ultimate groove. This version that we play out has taken the version that Josh Wink did with the new vocal and then this is a great re-work by Chris Lake where he has taken the essence of both versions and completely nailed the arrangement. This record, again, is timeless and never leaves our crate.
Crystal Waters – Gypsy Woman (DieMantle Rave Yard Mix)
DieMantle flips Crystal Waters ‘Gypsy Woman’ completely on its head and turns this classic into full on rave assault. This is a really clever version of this tune as the original was always a bit too mellow for a Utah Saints DJ set. This brings back great memories though as we played a gig in Copenhagen back in the day on New Year’s with Crystal, and it was a great time as we brought all our friends over for it and just had a big party.
Electric Choc – Shock The Beat (Piano Mix)
With 90’s piano and rave being so popular again right now and everything going full circle, this was one of the best piano tunes made in that era in our opinion and still sounds great today.
The original version is changing hands for high prices on eBay as the version on digital seems to be a re-recording and doesn’t have the same vibe. This reminds us of our days when we promoted a night in Leeds at a club called The Gallery and we did a night called Bliss, which was at the height of rave and was just a great time for music and to be going out.
Friends of Matthew – Out There
This was a seminal tune back in the day and we remember hearing it first on a cassette of Sasha DJing at Shelley’s in Stoke. Sampling the bassline from The Human League’s ‘The Lebanon’ and also ‘Automatic Lover’ by Dee.D Jackson. As a record, it was totally up our street. We were both big fans of the early Human League and the whole Sheffield sound. They were ground-breaking pioneers of electronic music.
A few years down the line, we ended up sampling them as well on our track ‘Believe in Me’ which took a line from ‘Love Action’ and also used a sample from Crown Heights Affair and Sylvester. We had a top 10 record with it.
U.S.U.R.A – Open Your Mind – (Sleeperhold’s Recall Booty)
This track originally came out on a label called Deconstruction back in the 90’s, but we play this version in our sets which came out as a cheeky free download in or around 2017. We have a strong connection with this track as it samples a track by Simple Minds called ‘New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84)’ which we also covered on our first album before we had heard this. This version has just taken the original track and re-worked it really well and made it sound current. Great arrangement and production that we drop in our sets quite a lot still to this day.
Donna Summer – I Feel Little Pills – (Super Disco Club Bootie)
This takes the groove from probably the greatest piece of electronic music ever made in our opinion and mixes it with Green Velvet’s ‘La La Land’ – this record just works. It never leaves our crate and is one of those records that as a DJ, you can always rely on if you need to bring the crowd right up. However, if you need to move your car parked outside the club during your set, then your best option is still the 15-minute Patrick Cowley version.
We have always tried to keep our DJ sets full of energy, dynamics, and eclectic across the different genres of dance. We make a lot of our own edits and re-works to still keep tracks relevant to different crowds. It’s really important to us as DJs which is what we both started out as first and foremost.
Orbital – Belfast (ANNA Techno Remix)
We have been friends and label mates with Orbital since 1991 and this track brings back so many memories. Tim toured with Orbital, Moby and Aphex Twin around the USA on the legendary tour called ’See The Light’ in 1993, which was one of the first touring rave line ups in the USA. This remix from ANNA keeps the essence of the original but takes it on a more 4/4 pounding techno journey; she has done an amazing job on this mix.
We were both signed to London records back in the day and it was Pete Tong who signed us after hearing ‘What Can You Do For Me’ and he was our A&R man. We still see the Orbital guys and keep in touch and are back on the same label again. Like them, we plan to re-release all of our early back catalogue and remixes for the first time as many of them have not yet been available on digital platforms.
Modeā – Shine
This is a favourite of ours but not a track we always get to drop in our sets. Modeā is from Donegal in Ireland and is making some awesome music at the moment. He is definitely a name to watch out for.
This track is simple yet genius and has so much soul and emotion to it. We have always had a massive soft spot for techno and love to throw tracks like this into our sets to switch things up.
Utah Saints – What Can You Do For Me
It’s only right that we put in one of our own. ‘What Can You Do For Me’ was the record that started everything for us, released in August 1991. We made this record in a bedroom in Leeds on an old Atari computer and Akai Sampler and pressed up a thousand copies on 12 inch and hoped we would sell them so that we could make another. We got in the car and took the record around all the shops in the north of England, and it blew up and ended up going Top 10 without any daytime radio support or big budgets behind it.
It sampled Annie Lennox and Gwen Guthrie and we have to give them both full props for clearing the samples on this track as it was in the early days of sampling and we never expected them to clear it.
Catch Utah Saints at Slip Back In Time Presents Old Skool Ibiza from 17 – 24 May. Grab tickets here.
