Robi Insinna: 1990

Here we go again. Next in line on our “A Year in Music Mixtape” series, based on our co-drivers favourite year in music, is the mighty Zurich-based producer, DJ and visual artist Robi Insinna. The mighty Industria and Relish label owner helped forge the early 2000’s disco-punk aesthetic with tracks such as “It Rough”, “B.S.W.D.” and many top notch remixes under his Headman/Manhead alias.

Our beloved artist “drives through” his favourite year, 1990, and delivers a killer 62-minute mixtape full of classic tracks from that era as a tribute to the late Andrew Weatherall. From My Bloody Valentine to Primal Scream, and from Happy Mondays to James, Robi Insinna’s “1990” mixtape is a great ride from start and finish and it brings back so many good memories. Enjoy the ride.

TRACKLIST

01. Primal Scream – Loaded
02. No-Man – Colours
03. Happy Mondays – Hallelujah (Club Mix)
04. The Cure – Fascination Street (Extended Mix) (Headman Edit)
05. Bocca Juniors – Raise (63 Steps To Heaven) (Redskin Rock Mix)
06. Sheer Taft – Cascades (Hypnotone Mix)
07. The Farm – Stepping Stone (Ghost Dance Mix)
08. My Bloody Valentine – Soon (Andy Weatherall Mix)
09. Renegade Soundwave – Mash Up
10. The Blow Monkeys – La Passionara
11. James – Come Home (Andrew Weatherall Remix)
12. New Fast Automatic Daffodils – BIG (BAKA)
13. Nitzer Ebb – Fun To Be Had (George Clinton Edit)
14. Tricky Disco – Tricky Disco
15. DJ MINK – Hey! Hey! Can U Relate (Sunshine Dub Instrumental)
16. The Source feat. Candi Stanton – You Got The Love (Erens Bootleg Mix)

Robi Insinna writes about his “1990” Mixtape for LAGASTA: “So I decided to pick a selection from 1990, which is also the year that I started to discover another side of clubbing and music. I was reading about music and fashion, mostly in British magazines like I-D and the Face.

I had some older friends that i started hanging out when I was around 16, they were avid NME readers. Specially one friend used to always do mixtapes, he was a big influence on me musically. Although I was also always very interested in music and club culture.

It’s very hard to pick selection from the 90’s, when I started looking into the music that came out that year, I realized how much good music came out and how different it was and varied. There’s the baggy Manchester scene, hip-hop like De La Soul, Paris, Stereo MC’s and so on. Also Dee Lite’s ‘Groove Is In The Heart’ was a great club/dance record, or the Bristol scene with Massive Attack, Smith and Mighty, Carlton and Three Stripe Records. Then there’s the more proto-techno like Unique 3, LFO and various Warp releases. First I thought I have to do at least 3 mixes to show all the music I like from that year. I had to decide and restrict myself to this one 60 minutes mix.

So I decided to go for a more British vibe. As when Primal Scream’s ‘Screamadelica’ came out I got the record immediately. That’s when I first heard the name Andrew Weatherall. Shortly after they where touring and my friends, obsessed concert goers, told me, that they would play live with a support DJ called Andrew Weatherall. Unfortunately I could not go, but told my friend to please bring me a T-shirt. As that was the other big thing, trying to get as many Band T-shirts as possible. I actually was very picky on that, if I knew what craze this band T-shirt collecting would become, I would have bought way more. Anyway he brought me a red long-sleeved T-shirt with the Sun from the album cover on the frontside of the shirt.

I kind of see the mix as a tribute to Andrew, as I explicitly chose loads of his mixes or projects he was involved with. As what really strikes me from that period, is the fusion of dance music and indie guitars and other influences like Dub. I guess this is something I was still chasing when I started doing my Headman project.

I also tried to tell a bit of a story in the mix. It starts off with the obvious ‘Loaded’ and goes into Mondays, The Cure, The Farm to bands like Renegade Soundwave and ends off with a more break laden dance number by DJ Mink and the classic Balearic anthem ‘You Got The Love’. Some of the tracks I discovered later, when I was doing my club nites and parties in Zurich I was mainly playing older music. Balearic beat stuff, loads of Creation, and early hip-hop, new wave etc… or I discovered the right mixes of the Bands I might have seen video clips or heard the name of the Bands (I was obsessed with music video clips).

By the early 2K’s I was a bit bored with what came out as new music. There were some exceptions, of course, and the name Andrew Weatherall came up again when he released his Nine O’clock Drop compilation. Which was again very inspiring for this time and the style I wanted to produce in the studio. I guess what i always liked is a mix of genres.”

Artwork: Monoscopic