Crate Diggin’: D’Julz picks his top late-90s London records

For house and techno in Paris, few have been as integral to the scene as Julien Veniel, the producer and DJ better known as D’Julz. For the last 20 years he’s helmed Bass Culture, the acclaimed record label and Rex Club residency. It's been the heart of Veniel's musical world since the 90s, but recently he’s branched into new ventures: this year will see him launch JV, a vinyl-only label launched in collaboration with everyone’s favourite Paris record store, Yoyaku. While Veniel will probably always be affiliated with the French capital’s underground scene, his taste in classy tech house was originally inspired by London. He showed us this with a list of classic UK tech house weapons ahead of his Room One appearance this Saturday, explaining: “A special thanks to all of these producers for inspiring me and feeding my DJ sets all these years. Although they are not mentioned in this playlist, I would also like to give a shout-out to other UK artists such as Eddie Richards, Mr. C, Nathan Coles, Asad Rizvi, Marc Ambrose, Steve O’Sullivan, Nail, Charles Webster, Chris Simmonds, Herbert, Swag Records and many others.”

Hannah's Dub – Terry Francis [Pagan America]

I first came across Terry via this record and his amazing Architecture compilations on the same label. Not long after, I booked him at one of my first Bass Culture parties at the Rex Club in Paris, and his set blew everyone away. He introduced the Paris crowd to this new London sound that evening almost 20 years ago. It’s a very fond memory of mine and was the start a great friendship and love for each other’s home scene.

The Time Is Now! – Pure Science [Pure Science Communications]

A few months after Terry’s visit I invited Phil, also known as Pure Science, for his debut in France. I still remember when he dropped this track, which didn’t come out until almost two years later. It was hard to wait that long to get a copy!

Come On – Gideon Jackson [Eye 4 Sound]

In the original tech house galaxy, Gideon has always been one of my favourites. This track came out on one of Terry’s labels and I first heard it when my late friend Kenny Hawkes dropped it on the night we played together at fabric for my birthday. An amazing memory to say the least.

11 – Bushwacka! [Sound As A Pound]

Before tech house even had its name. Mathew B was one of the most prolific producers around, mixing house, techno and breaks together. All three releases that came out of this small label blew me away because they sounded so different from anything else that was coming out at the time. Later on other labels like Plank and Oblong became very important in this scene.

Other Forms – Aubrey [Textures]

I still play this track very often today. It’s definitely one of my favourite productions from Aubrey. A very emotional, Detroit-inspired track, with such a funky bassline. It’s great to see amazing artists like Aubrey coming back today. We need more music like this.

Changeling – Tan-Ru [Trelik]

Trelik is one of my favourite labels and represents Baby Ford in his genius period. In my opinion this slightly older classic paved the way of what would become the London’s house and techno hybrid sound.

G’s Strings – Mr G [Duty Free]

Impossible to talk about this sound without mentioning one of my heroes and friends, Colin McBean. The hardest part is always choosing one track amongst the amount of records of his that I own. I chose this one, which was the highlight of my D’Julz Boxes compilation from 2001. It showed how much I was inspired by this UK sound. Photo credit: Vito Fernicola