the>music:factory years 1991-94

At 9.30pm on November 23rd 1991 I played the first ever record at back to basics club in Leeds, UK.  I had no idea it was going to last to be possibly the longest running weekly house music club in the world.  Over the coming months I will be mixing my favourite musical memories from the club exclusively for this blog and hoping to build the definitive story of the club through features on the key players and characters as well as hopefully comments and content from yourselves.  

So let's start with the music.  I have completed the first mix which goes some way to documenting the start of the club at Rockshots (later re-named the>music:factory).  Of course the mixes are not an accurate representation of a mix from a night in 1991.  For a start we could hardly mix back then!  Secondly, the selection covers the time period we spent at each venue, not each night. It was actually a pleasure to re-visit these records with the DJ skills and technology I now have.  I could never hope to give you a definitive work in any one mix so I decided to do mixes where I just chose the next track from the box and followed where it took me.  

At the>music:factory from 1992 onwards I played two sets.  I would start the night at 9pm (changed from it's original opening time of 9.30pm to allow for people to get in quicker) and play until the guest came on at 11pm.  I would then take over for the last hour to make sure everyone went home happy (hopefully).  This led to me developing differently from most DJs as I learnt two very different skills; warming up a club and closing a club.  Part One of the Music Factory mix represents what I would do from 9-11pm.  I got a little excited though and carried on longer so it is around 2.5 hours long.  You can find the tracklisting and label artwork in sleevenotes. And here it is...

The Music Factory Years 91-94 part one by ralphlawson