DJ mixes and mixtapes from one of the most vital and distinctive regional dance music scenes in America, digitized and restored from original cassette tape and CD recordings. Los Angeles had a homegrown rave scene that was both unique and a central part of the global dance music explosion, and when it comes to the process of turning raves into something bigger, that started right here. Events like Gilligan's Island on Catalina Island in 1991 gave the scene an early platform, and by March 1992 promoters CPU101 were selling out the Shrine Auditorium with 6,000 people. The scene was diverse in every sense - a thriving Latinx party circuit ran across East and South LA, Orange County, and the surrounding valleys, laying the foundations for an influential but oft-overlooked subculture that gave early exposure to DJs like Doc Martin and Drumcell. Meanwhile, every full moon, hundreds of ravers ventured deep into the desert for the phenomenon known as Moontribe, and the Bud Brothers' Monday Social at Louis XIV became a legendary weekly institution, drawing the likes of BT, DJ Dan, Donald Glaude, and the Crystal Method to an intimate club setting. This playlist collects mixes that originated from Los Angeles and the surrounding region - recordings that document a scene that was enormous in its time and has never quite gotten the historical recognition it deserves. Restored from analog sources and archived here for the people who lived it, and anyone curious enough to dig in.
