後にNovaMuteやDragonfly、TIPといったレーベルで活躍することとなるDoofことNick Barberによる90年代初期の秘蔵音源が初ヴァイナル化！まだジャンルが曖昧だった頃ならではのテクノ、ハウス、トランス、レイヴ、アンビエント等のクロスオーヴァー感が最高！

Nick Barberによる初期プロジェクト、Doof名義の幻の音源『The Love Mixes』が、Mysticismsから遂に公式リリース。
『Love Dub So』EPに続き、90〜91年に録音されたこの音源は、のちにNovamuteからのデビューへとつながる原点の記録だ。

Pink FloydやHawkwind、Psychic TVといったサイケデリック・ロックの影響を背景に、Barberは1989年のインドとタイへの旅で出会った電子音楽の熱狂を自らの中で再構築していく。帰国後、The Shamen主宰の“Progeny”パーティや、Mixmaster Morris、Orbitalらが交差するロンドン・アンダーグラウンドの渦の中で、やがて新しいトランス・サウンドの胎動と出会った。

このカセット音源は、当時ケンブリッジで哲学を学びながら、限られた機材――Akaiサンプラー、Rolandモノシンセ、Yamahaディレイ、Atariシーケンサー、Tascam 8トラック――で生み出されたもの。機材の制約を逆手にとった素朴なエネルギーが、黎明期のトランスの自由な息吹を鮮やかに伝える。

もともと非公開の宅録として友人に配られた十数本のカセットから、偶然Mute Recordsに届いた一本が彼のキャリアを開くきっかけとなった。そこからGift Of The GodsやThe Nagualの再構成版が生まれ、TIP RecordsやDragonflyへと続く世界的活動の扉が開いた。

リマスターによって蘇った本作は、アンビエント、ハウス、テクノが交わりながら、トランスがまだ“発明”されつつあった時代の息遣いをそのまま封じ込めている。30年を経てもなお、原石の輝きを放つ記録だ。

A1. Gifts Of The Gods
B1. Physical Matter
B2. Everything’s Alright (Edit)

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Following the success of his ‘Love Dub So’ EP, Nick Barber’s Doof project returns to Mysticisms, delving back to his earliest recordings of his ground-breaking Trance project, presenting tracks from his previously cassette only release ‘The Love Mixes’.  

A youth that had captured the psychedelia of Pink Floyd, Gong, Hawkwind and on to Psychic TV, as a self-taught guitarist, his first trip to India and Thailand in 1989 and witnessing the early electronic dance music at the Full Moon parties, had seemed rudimentary in nature compared to musicality of psychedelic rock.  

Returning to England, the electronic / rock crossover of The Shamen’s ‘Progeny’ parties – featuring DJs like Paul Oakenfold and Mixmaster Morris with the live acts of Orbital and Ramjac Corporation – offered something new that turned his head, before finally finding his crew in the legendary squat / underground Pagan parties.   There, residents Lol and Yaz first played the new electronic Trance sound, introducing Barber to the music of Eye-Q, Dance To Trance and the hugely influential Pete Namlook.  

Recorded between 1990 – 1991, while living in Cambridge to study Philosophy, these are the first versions of tracks that formed the basis of his debut EP on Novamute, in 1993.  Working with minimal equipment – an Akai sampler, Roland monosynth, Yamaha delay pedal, all sequenced on an Atari black and white PC and single MIDI output and then recorded straight to an 8-track Tascam cassette multitrack – the exuberance and rawness of the music are full of the excitement and naivety of youth.

Never intended for public release or initially even as a demo, Barber would play the music off the Tascam multitrack for friends at after parties.  Dubbing a handful of cassettes himself and personally drawing the covers, around a dozen cassettes were handed out to mates. Eventually one copy found its way to Mute Records, who were looking to launch their dance offshoot, Novamute.  Re-edited mixes of Gift Of The Gods and The Nagual appeared on his debut EP and history was made, before Doof went on to release for luminaries like TIP Records and Dragonfly and a career touring the globe was launched.  

Remastered from the original tapes, this EP offers a snapshot of that time, the energy and joy of these early recordings is clear and overwhelming.  Where Ambient, House and Techno met the birth of electronic Trance that truly stand up some 30 years later as originals then and now.  

Trance The Mystery.