Djax-Up-Beats 1990-2005: Volume 1 - The Acid Trip

Delsin is pleased to announce an extensive compilation series combing through the catalogue of landmark Dutch techno label Djax-Up-Beats. The series, curated by Rush Hour co-founder Christiaan Macdonald, launches with a look at the label's legacy in the development of acid music through the 90s.

In total, this first entry in the Djax-Up-Beats 1990-2005 series comprises 20 tracks, presented as a main triple-vinyl album plus two additional 12" EPs. The compilation also features all-new illustrations from Alan Oldham, the Detroit-rooted visual artist who gave Djax-Up-Beats a distinctive visual identity from very early on, and design by Lost Communication. Each volume of the series also features liner notes from music journalist Oli Warwick. Crucially, every track featured on the series has been carefully mastered by Johanz Westerman, bringing the best out of tracks that often had very little post-production treatment before they were originally pressed to wax.

Volume 1 - The Acid Trip focuses on an area the label is best known for - acid house and techno. After the pioneering breakthroughs Chicago-based producers made with the Roland TB-303 in the late 1980s, acid music creation was starting to become more widespread when Djax-Up started in late 1990. The rebellious, rave-ready sound was an instant draw for label founder Miss Djax, and so her label ended up reflecting the development of acid as it spread from the Chicago roots across the world. Volume 1 - The Acid Trip looks at the diverse approaches to acid taken by artists on Djax-Up. Tracks on the compilation include an early outing from Ludovic 'St Germain' Navarre and Bjørn Torske's Ismistik alias, as well as Dutch pioneers such as Edge Of Motion, Spasms, Random XS and Acid Junkies, and Chicago heavyweights Mike Dearborn and Gene Hunt.

Djax-Up-Beats was one of the most prolific, proudly underground techno labels to emerge in Europe directly in the wake of the transatlantic house and techno boom. Founded in 1990 by Saskia Slegers, aka Miss Djax, the Eindhoven-based label featured artists from all over the Netherlands, Europe, and Chicago and Detroit. Rejecting trends and the developing commercialisation of dance music, Djax-Up was focused on releasing artists creating impactful, non-conformist electronic music. The label's legacy is tipped towards harder sounds, but the sheer volume of music Miss Djax signed and released ensured there was a great variety across releases as now-celebrated career artists and one-off dabblers alike put their ideas out there.

The label's peak in the 90s and early 00s is the area of focus for Delsin's new, in-depth compilation series. Spread across six volumes, Djax-Up-Beats 1990-2005 will explore different stylistic and geographical themes to pull out some of the most visionary, daring and unusual music from the label's mammoth catalogue. Macdonald's curation of the series offers a particular perspective on one of the great bodies of work of 90s techno. It is not intended to be exhaustive, but rather an expert's guide to some of the striking quality contained within the Djax-Up archives.

With five more, equally extensive, volumes to come in this series, Djax-Up-Beats 1990-2005 is a thorough exploration of a true totem of techno culture — a renegade label that operated on its own terms and carried surprises and slammers in equal measure.