1998 has been a good year for myself and music. First of all, I found many new friends all over the world feeling the same vibe I do. Unfortunately, I haven't had the chance to meet you but I hope to meet some of you in the near future. I plan to come to NYC in september or october (I haven't been there for years and I really miss it). Also London is on my list to be visited. I've never been there but I definetely have to check this out (but no date is set so far).
And with some of my new friends, I trade records. It's not easy getting all the rare promos and limited releases when living here in Switzerland but with your help, I managed to get hold of many hard to get items. Thanks a lot for your help throughout the year, and let's keep up the good work!
Also let me thank the people at the record stores for hooking me up with the latest releases: Rolf Graf and his posse at Panthera Records Zuerich, Urs Diethelm and Mike Levan at DJ Service Zuerich, Balz at Get Records Zuerich, Jemal, Ben and the rest of the posse at Dance Tracks NYC, Charlie Grappone and his posse at Vinylmania Records NYC.
Talking about music, I have to admit that it has been a great year overall with lot of new acts, producers ans labels coming up with many great releases. Sadly, the major labels (especially in the US) did not support our music at all (with some exceptions, of course). Just let us remember the story of "Go deep" by Janet Jackson: how long did it take Virgin Records to put out some promos in the US? But there was no lack of good music at all with the many great independent labels around all over the world (just think of Spiritual Life Music, Ibadan, NuPhonic, People Records, Clairaudience Records, Guidance Records, Large Records, OM Records to name but a few).
Also, some alrady forgotten people like Kerri Chandler and Francois Kevorkian returned back in the scene with lots of quality productions and releases. Not be forgotten should all the newcomers concentrating on producing quality music. Names like Jephte Guillaume, Ashley Beedle, Joe Claussell, Ron Trent, Mateo & Matos, Blaze and many, many more (to many to be named here) stand for the new generation. Ok, some of them are in the business for many years, but they haven't got the recognition they deserve so far.
It seems like most music is coming either from the USA or from the UK, but we should not forget the rest of the world. What an impact did the funky music from France have with Bob Sinclair, Dimitri from Paris, Daft Punk and so on produced releases and remixes. Germany has a two very strong labels, ClubTools Records (by Edel Music) and Peppermint Jam Records, and many well known DJs and producers like Boris Dlugosch and Mousse T. Italy hasn't played that big roll they had in the past, but they will be back for sure. And lots of influences from all over the world had been used for creating new styles of music.
One of the best moments in 1998 was doing the interview with Louie Vega (together with my friend George Grubenmann). This was one of the rare moments I was sitting next to someone really living for music. So let me thank again JoAnn Vega for giving me the opportunity.
Much more words could be written about 1998, but instead of remembering the past, we should look forward to another (hopefully) great year in music.
This page last updated December 28, 1998