Global Underground

Global Underground is a music label founded in 1996 by Andy Horsfield and James Todd. The label symbolised the international explosion of dance music during the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s and first manifesto for high-end DJs such as Tony De Vit, Sasha, Paul Oakenfold, John Digweed, Danny Tenaglia, Nick Warren, Dave Seaman, Darren Emerson, James Lavelle, Carl Cox, and Solomun.

Global Underground
Founded1996
FounderAndy Horsfield
GenreTrance, Progressive House, Trance House
Country of originUnited Kingdom
LocationLondon
Official websitewww.globalunderground.co.uk

Background

Global Underground refers to a series of electronic music compilation albums which reflect the performances of various DJs in venues around the world. The Global Underground series was released by a record label formerly known as Boxed which featured several sister series such as Nubreed and Electric Calm. Boxed closed in 2001 and was superseded by Global Underground Ltd. Since its first release in 1996, the series was well received and became a hallmark in the progressive house world. The dance music style featured is mostly Progressive House, but there is some House, Trance House, and Breakbeat included in the releases. The first five installments were live recorded from respective clubs, while the rest are mixed and recorded in a studio.

Conceptual development

Each issue in the series is based on the idea that Global Underground would take DJs to play a party in one of the most unusual, exotic clubbing locations on Earth. The set is then released in a 2CD format that is formatted to capture the night of the party and the overall feel of the DJ visit in music, contemporary photography by photographer Dean Belcher and extensive sleeve notes.

Features

There are consistent characteristics in almost every album in the series including:

  • Each album being mixed by a globe-trotting DJ.
  • The prominent influence of the location on the music and packaging.
  • Extensive sleeve notes describing local clubbing scene and/or venue often written by Mixmag Editor Dom Phillips.
  • Each album consisting of two discs.
  • The song list is edited from the complete set based on a retrospective view of the performance.
  • Photography by Dean Belcher

International recognition

Billboard has recognized Global Underground as the first DJ mix compilation to place high-quality photographs of DJs on the album covers. This, it further asserted, played a part in turning DJs into superstar figures within the culture of electronic dance music.[1]

Thrive releases

Thrive Records was the U.S. distributor for some of the early Global Underground releases. Global Underground albums had an alternate numbering sequence and had different artwork, but were otherwise the same.

Catalogue

This is the complete listing of available albums in the Global Underground main series which includes the sequential number of the album in the series, the performing DJ/producer, the location in which the performance took place and the official release date. The listed catalog numbers are for the British releases. The numbers on the albums distributed by Thrive in the United States are shown in parentheses - those without such labels do not have a differing release number. Global Underground also has several "sub-series" entitled Nubreed, Prototype, 24:7, Electric Calm, Afterhours, and most recently Global Underground DJ.


GU official
This map shows the countries which have been featured in the GU series through GU038.
GU Sampler series releases
  • GUSAM001 The Forth, Departures, release date: 27 October 1998
  • GUSAM002 The Forth, Arrivals, release date: 1999
  • GUSAM003 The Forth, Destinations, release date: 29 January 2001
  • GUSAM004 The Forth, Locations, release date: 2001
  • GUSAMUS001 The Forth, Passport, release date: 2001
  • GUSAM005 The Forth, Exposures, release date: 2004
  • GUSAM006 The Forth, Synchronised, release date: October 2005
  • GUSAM007 Dubfunk, Synchronised 2, release date: 6 November 2007
Anniversary compilations
  • GUXCD GU10 10th anniversary compilation release date: 15 May 2006

GU DJ
  • GUDJ001 Nic Fanciulli, release date: 27 April 2009
  • GUDJ002 Plump DJs, release date: 12 October 2009
  • GUDJ003 Wally Lopez, release date: 27 April 2009
  • GUDJ004 Tom Novy, release date: 15 November 2010

Nubreed

Nubreed features mix albums from what Boxed considers "up-and-coming DJs", though it has featured experienced DJs such as Satoshi Tomiie.

NuBreed series releases

Prototype
  • PRO:001 Seb Fontaine, release date: 29 April 1999
  • PRO:002 Seb Fontaine, release date: 2 November 1999
  • PRO:003 Seb Fontaine, release date: 18 April 2000
  • PRO:004 Seb Fontaine, release date: 29 May 2001

24:7

24:7 is a series where DJs are asked to put together a set of two notably contrasting halves, based on the conceptual opposites of 'day' and 'night'.

24:7 series releases
  • GU247001 Danny Howells, release date: 21 July 2003
  • GU247002 Lee Burridge, release date: 15 September 2003

Chill out compilations

Electric Calm is a series in the chill or "calm" side of electronica while Afterhours is similar to the Back to Mine series. Both Afterhours and Electric Calm, along with GU "Sampler" CDs, were compiled and mixed by Global Underground themselves.

Electric Calm series releases
  • GUEC001 The Forth, release date: 30 September 2002
  • GUEC002 The Forth, release date: 25 August 2003
  • GUEC003 The Forth, release date: 13 February 2006
  • GUEC004 Dubfunk, release date: 1 October 2007
  • GUEC005 Trafik, release date: 7 December 2009
  • GUEC006 Trafik, release date: 21 August 2015
  • GUEC007 Trafik, release date: 19 May 2017
Afterhours series releases
  • GUAF001 The Forth, release date: 11 November 2002
  • GUAF002 Trafik, release date: 21 February 2005
  • GUAF003 Trafik, release date: 29 January 2007
  • GUAF004 Trafik, release date: 16 July 2007
  • GUAF005 Unknown, release date: 30 March 2008
  • GUAF006 Unknown, release date: 28 July 2008
  • GUAF007 Unknown, release date: 22 April 2016
  • GUAF008 Unknown, release date: 20 April 2018

Lights Out

In 2002, former NuBreed DJ Steve Lawler was given his own imprint on the Global Underground label that he titled "Lights Out". The concept of the series of mixed CDs was to bring the darker, grittier side of the dancefloor into the spotlight. Steve Lawler was allowed to dive into what were considered new territories of time including remixing tracks for his compilations. He also included music and methodology that had never been used on studio mixed CDs before.

Lights Out series releases
  • GULO001 Steve Lawler, release date: 24 June 2002
  • GULO002 Steve Lawler, release date: 27 October 2003
  • GULO003 Steve Lawler, release date: 3 October 2005

Fundacion
Fundacion series releases

GU Music

In 2003, the Global Underground franchise began their "GU Music" imprint. Up until this time, they were strictly a label that dealt in DJ compiled and mixed CDs. GU Music allowed Global Underground to get into full length artist albums and Vinyl/CD/MP3 single releases. The GU Music team commented: "Having nurtured some of the worlds finest DJs we have applied this expertise to original music, cherry picking the coolest future talent from across the globe..." They have featured releases from such artists as UNKLE, Lostep, and Trafik. In 2007, it expanded with the release of the compilation GU Mixed which started a series of the same name that consisted of music sought from GU Music.

GU Music album releases
  • GUMU001 Pako & Frederik - Atlantic Breakers, release date: 20 October 2003
  • GUMU002 Trafik - Bullet, release date: 4 October 2004
  • GUMU003 Lostep - Because We Can, release date: 17 April 2006
  • GUMU004 The Remote - Too Low to Miss, release date: 26 June 2006
  • GUMU005 Sissy - All Under, release date: 2006
  • GUMU006 Dark Globe - Nostalgia for the Future, release date: 2006
  • GUMU007 Trafik - Club Trafikana, release date: 6 August 2007
  • GUMU008 Roland Klinkenberg - Mexico Can Wait, release date: 20 August 2007
  • GUMU009 Eelke Kleijn - Naturally Artificial, release date: 2 October 2007
  • GUMU010 Pako & Frederik - The Alert, release date: 5 November 2007
  • GUMU011 Rogue Audio - Haphazard, release date: 21 April 2008
  • GUMU012 Alex Dolby - Psiko Garden, release date: 17 June 2008
  • GUMU013 The Last Atlant - A Cloudburst of Colors, release date: 25 August 2008
  • GUMU014 Anil Chawla & Dale Anderson - Roadhouse, release date: 23 February 2009
  • GUMU015 Trafik - None But the Brave, release date: 21 June 2010
GU Mixed Releases
  • GUMIX1CD CD1, CD2, CD3 In mixed and unmixed formats, release date: 21 May 2007
  • GUMIX1CDX CD1, CD2, CD3, CD4 Limited Edition in mixed and unmixed formats, release date: 21 May 2007
  • GUMIX2CD CD1, CD2, CD3 In mixed and unmixed formats, release date: 3 September 2007
  • GUMIX2CDX CD1, CD2, CD3, CD4 Limited Edition in mixed and unmixed formats, release date: 3 September 2007
  • GUMIX3CD CD1, CD2, CD3 In mixed and unmixed formats, release date: 16 June 2008
  • GUMIX3CDX CD1, CD2, CD3, CD4 Limited Edition in mixed and unmixed formats, release date: 16 June 2008
  • GUMIX4CD CD1, CD2, CD3 In mixed format, release date: 25 May 2009

GU002

In Boxed's UK releases, GU002 was the never released second installment in the Global Underground series (in Thrive's US re-numbered releases, Paul Oakenfold's New York mix was released as GU002). Global Underground jumped directly from GU001: Tony De Vit - Live In Tel Aviv to GU003: Nick Warren - Prague, which resulted in a lot of controversy and rumours on the nature of GU002. However, GU002 does exist in form of the tape pack of Tony De Vit's Tel Aviv CD as the actual catalogue number of the release is GU002T. When Boxed started the GU series in 1996, they did not have a clear vision about the numbering scheme (later to become part of their image), which resulted in the "missing" release.[45]

References
  1. Mason, Kerri (17 June 2006), "BeatBox: Wink with a Nod to Compilations", Billboard, 118 (24), p. 62, ISSN 0006-2510
  2. "Tony de Vit - Global Underground 005: Tokyo". Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  3. "John Digweed - Global Underground 006: Sydney". Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  4. "Paul Oakenfold - Global Underground 007: New York". Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  5. GU008: Nick Warren - Brazil is set in São Paulo even though it was released as Brazil.
  6. "Nick Warren - Global Underground 008: Brazil". Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  7. "Sasha - Global Underground 009: San Francisco". Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  8. "Danny Tenaglia - Global Underground 010: Athens". Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  9. "Nick Warren - Global Underground 011: Budapest". Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  10. "Dave Seaman - Global Underground 012: Buenos Aires". Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  11. "Sasha - Global Underground 013: Ibiza". Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  12. "John Digweed - Global Underground 014: Hong Kong". Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  13. "Darren Emerson - Global Underground 015: Uruguay". discogs.com. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  14. GU015: Darren Emerson - Uruguay is set in Punta del Este even though it was released as Uruguay.
  15. "Dave Seaman - Global Underground 016: Cape Town". Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  16. "Danny Tenaglia - Global Underground 017: London". discogs.com. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  17. "Nick Warren - Global Underground 018: Amsterdam". Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  18. "John Digweed - Global Underground 019: Los Angeles". Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  19. "Darren Emerson - Global Underground 020: Singapore". Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  20. "Deep Dish - Global Underground 021: Moscow". Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  21. "Dave Seaman - Global Underground 022: Melbourne". Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  22. "James Lavelle - Barcelona #023". Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  23. "Nick Warren - Reykjavik #024". Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  24. "Deep Dish - Toronto #025". Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  25. GU026: James Lavelle - Romania is set in Bucharest even though it was released as Romania.
  26. "James Lavelle - Romania #026". Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  27. "Danny Howells - Miami #027". Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  28. "Nick Warren - Shanghai #028". Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  29. "Sharam* - Dubai GU29". Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  30. "Nick Warren - Paris GU30". Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  31. "Dubfire - Taipei: GU31". Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  32. "Adam Freeland - Mexico City: GU32". Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  33. "Layo & Bushwacka! - GU33: Rio". Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  34. "Felix da Housecat - GU34 Milan". Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  35. "Nick Warren - Lima: GU35". Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  36. "Darren Emerson - Bogotá GU36". Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  37. "James Lavelle - GU37: Bangkok". Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  38. "Carl Cox - GU38 Black Rock Desert". Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  39. GU039: Dave Seaman - Lithuania is set in Palanga even though it was released as Lithuania.
  40. "Dave Seaman - Lithuania : GU39". Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  41. "Solomun - #GU40 Hamburg". Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  42. "Patrice Bäumel - Berlin #GU42". Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  43. "Joris Voorn drops new melodic tech-house record 'Nea Skioni': Listen". We Rave You. 23 October 2020. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  44. Cheah, Jason. "Pulling out all the stops for a night of EDM fun". The Star Online. Star Media Group Berhad. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
  45. https://www.decodedmagazine.com/andy-horsfield-gu-interview/
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