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Below are additional downloads and mix tape reviews:

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Welcome to our monthly exploration of the lost art of the mixtape! Bryan Balli, aka the DJ Bai-ee, reminds all of us what it was like growing up in the Midwestern 1990’s rave scene, the soundtracks that fueled it, and the tapes that meant (and mean) the most to him from that era.

The Mixtape Chronicles will aim to dig up the best sets of yore, and although there are many established and well-known mixtapes to acknowledge out there (most of which are readily available on archival sites), I’ll be attempting to showcase more obscure, harder-to-find tapes from my own collection that might have otherwise slipped through the cracks. These are the mixes that I’ve proclaimed as my own personal classics!

So sit back and hit that download button, the tapes I review here are among my favorite and continue to be extremely relevant in todays House Music Community!

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MTC002
Mark almaria “Sol”
Originally Released 1995

Download Links
Mark Almaria “Sol” Side A:
Mark Almaria “Sol” Side B:

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Sol is nothing like what generations of party people have come to expect out of Mark. This tape shows how his sound evolved dramatically over the years. Packed full of classy New York and Chicago Deep House music, this demo also brings back lasting memories of 4 am loft party environments (mmm my favorite).

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What up yo’s, back with my second installment of the Mix Tape Chronicle’s! OK, so here I present self proclaimed “classic” mix tapes from House Music’s past. I offer some back story on each mix and talk a bit about the atmosphere in Chicago around the time when I was first becoming exposed to each specific mix tape / Chicago’s unique brand of EDM (electronic dance music).

The mixes I present here are generally not available on the major archival boards. Most are ripped from tapes that have been sitting dormant in a shoe box over at my ma’s house for years. But I have also reached out to other Chicago locals to contribute to this column with their own self proclaimed classics. Which brings me to the back story about this month’s featured music mix.

Most of the Chicago peeps who were going to rave and LOFT parties back in the early to mid 90’s had a peer that clued them into what was hot. Obviously there were no e-flyers or myspace message boards to find out when the next jammy jam was going to be; so unless you picked up a flyer at the last event you were at you might have to travel to the local record store (usually Gramophone or Hot Jams), or hang out on Clark and Belmont (infamous Chicago street corner) ‘till you found a party flyer. That’s what I did ad least, I was also mentored in part by my good friend “Chip“…

Chip was a dancer, specifically a kick steppin’ fool (see rave dance) ha ha! Anywhere, anytime… no matter if he was workin’ the counter at Arby’s or hustling outside the Metro (hopelessly trying to get 16 year olds into a legitimate 18+ venue). Dude was always throwin’ down with the moves. I was NOT a dancer though, and actually spent a good amount of time clownin’ him for being such a hard core raver. But Chip knew what was up with House music and handed me down one of my very first mix tapes circa 1995, Mark Almaria’s ”Sol”.

Mark Almaria is a well known and respected dj around the states, mostly recognized for his high energy, peak hour disco house sets. Some of my fondest memories of Mark performing are from Asian American Association parties, and hearing LIVE for the first time certain CZR, Roule and Crydamore tracks. Though some probably don’t realize that before Mark was Disco House King, he might better be recognized for some truly inspiring deep(er) house.

Mark Almaria has gone through a few musical transitions, much like any dj has that has been around for as long as he’s been. If you started listening to Mark post 2000 you wouldn’t expect him to be dropping Dee-Lite, Jodeci and Little Louie Vega into the mix. If you DID hear Mark play around the time when Sol was released and into the late 90’s, then you might be surprised by what he’s known for as a dj today! (ahh the irony.)

Sol is nothing like what generations of party people have come to expect out of Mark. This tape shows how his sound evolved dramatically over the years. Packed full of classy New York and Chicago Deep House music, this demo also brings back lasting memories of 4 am loft party environments (mmm my favorite).

Originally mixed down in 1995, Sol was better known (in my circle), as the infamous “paper bag tape” (due to it’s original packaging). Banged out on a Gemini Scratch Master mixer with no eqs according to Mark’s brother Karl, the smooth transitions and programming show how Marks signature mixing style has always been well in place!

So I’m very excited to be able to make available this little known tape by the man himself (a starting point if you will). From the loft party vibe of Sol, too his somewhat pioneering Disco House sound in the late 90’s, to peak hour performances at Chicago rave parties circa 2006.

Mark’s dj sets over the years have influenced many people’s perspectives on House Music and hopefully “So” can continue to be a catalyst for the House Music movement, educating new generations about where we’ve been, and where we might go….

So without any further blah blah blah, lets take a rhythmic trip back to 1995!

-Bai-ee

MTC002
Mark almaria “Sol”
Originally Released 1995

Download Links
Mark Almaria “Sol” Side A
Mark Almarie “Sol” Side B

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MTC001
“Star Traxx”
Originally Released 1996

Download Link”
“Star Traxx”

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This tape brings back memories of hot & sweaty house parties, long car rides to random check-point raves, and grindin-ass fools makin’ shit twerk in south side barrios all over Chicagoland. This tape is a straight-up ghetto house banger, a sound that was especially huge in the Midwest (and is probably responsible for Daft Punk’s entire career) but is in no way tacky. Seminal Chicago ghetto house labels DanceMania and Relief Records make a dtrong showing all over this mix, along with early tunes from legendary producers Fast Eddie, Green Velvet, Paul Johnson and Dj Funk.

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Ah yes… the mix tape! Those outdated, scratched-up, unstable pieces of plastic that most folks have banished to a forgotten shoe box in their mother’s basement…

If you’re anything like me (or are driving a car that still has a tape deck), then maybe you’ve held on to a couple (dozen) of the cassettes that meant something to you. If you’re like the vast majority of people my age (that spent their high school years chasing down rave parties), you have long since lost that old box of tapes, or maybe wish you still had a copy of that one special tape that melted in the backseat of your car.  It’s also entirely conceivable that you’re young enough to have missed cassette culture entirely — in which case this monthly series will hopefully open your eyes to a whole series of mixes (and the culture that went along with them) that hail from a Time Before Digitalia.

Whatever the case may be, if you were part of that culture, then you almost certainly had a favorite mixtape. As an example, some of the tapes of my youth contain elements that continue to inspire me as a DJ 13 years later. The intent of this article — coming at you once a month — is to happily recognize, explore, and expose new (and old) listeners to some of the tapes that have had the biggest impact in my life as a house music enthusiast that grew up in Chicago in the 1990’s.

The Mixtape Chronicles will aim to dig up the best sets of yore, and although there are many established and well-known mixtapes to acknowledge out there (most of which are readily available on archival sites), I’ll be attempting to showcase more obscure, harder-to-find tapes from my own collection that might have otherwise slipped through the cracks. These are the mixes that I’ve proclaimed as my own personal classics! So without further ado, here’s the first.

As I was trying to decide what to kick this series off with, I bounced between a number of strong contenders. When it came down to it though, my first choice ended up being Star Trax, a personal favorite of mine that will hopefully encompass the essence of what this column is all about. My original copy was handed down to me in 1996 from a friend, and has since been in and out of my hands at least three times. I was finally just recently able to recover a copy after years of trying to track another one down, and to my delight it was just as good all these years later as it was back then.

This tape brings back memories of hot & sweaty house parties, long car rides to random check-point raves, and grindin-ass fools makin’ shit twerk in south side barrios all over Chicagoland. This tape is a straight-up ghetto house banger, a sound that was especially huge in the Midwest (and is probably responsible for Daft Punk’s entire career) but is in no way tacky. Seminal Chicago ghetto house labels DanceMania and Relief Records make a dtrong showing all over this mix, along with early tunes from legendary producers Fast Eddie, Green Velvet, Paul Johnson and Dj Funk.

The (still) unknown DJ who laid this mix down could have been plucked straight out of any house party at the time, and the mix contains tons of edits and reworks that I’m still trying to track down! The packaging (and side A) positively scream commercial studio mix, but I’m still pretty sure this was mixed live. The jock behind the decks is not at all afraid to abruptly cut tracks in (or quickly slap them out), and the tape captures a lot of the attitude and style I still hope to see from DJ’s when I’m out and about.

This mix remains a true mystery tape to me and my friends (we still have no idea who was responsible for it), but it was definitely professionally duplicated (printed in white across the side of a clear cassette case with nothing but a telephone number).

I always had fun hypothesizing what DJ was behind this (anybody out there with inside information, please pass it on)! What’s especially curious about this tape is that the first song on side A is “Cotton Eyed Joe”…. um, yeah we won’t go there (nor present that side to you here) but trust me, Side B to this day is where it’s at!

Thanks again to Brian S. from Wisconsin for taking the time to digitize his copy of this classic tape for me. This has given me the opportunity to share one of my favorite tapes of all time, Star Trax, with a whole new audience.

Of course ripped tapes aren’t going to be of the best audio quality, but after years of research and easy listening on the deephousepage archive, I’ve learned that inspiring content doesn’t always require perfect sound quality!

So, without any further hold-up, I present to you the infamous, ghetto-fabulous, yin to DJ Funk’s yang, inspirational, and (in my opinion) classic music mix that is Star Trax!

-Bai-ee

MTC001
“Star Traxx”
Originally Released 1996

Download Link”
“Star Traxx”

// April 1st, 2009 // Events