The year was 2002, and by this time, the HipHop takeover was in full swing. The hey days of the rave scene and the global house music movement had seemed to peak, at least in terms of its’ mainstream appeal. But, there were still many of us trying to keep it viable in a crossover nightclub environment. 

Back then, the glory days of Utopia were gone, with venues like The Drink, and the brand new Rain at the Palms taking over. The struggling C2K nightclub in the Venetian was primed for a takeover, and that’s exactly what we set out to do. My Aussie friend Adam Ward and I laid out plans to transform the space into a haven for those of us still craving to have house music properly represented in a large Vegas venue, and we named the night “Carbon.” Yeah, we were trying to get fancy and philosophical, because Carbon is the common element found in all known life forms, so we thought it would be a good name that had layers of meaning behind it.

By this time, progressive house was beginning to take a darker and more minimal stance, and you could say that this movement was ultimately represented by Sasha & Digweed’s “Delta Heavy” tour, which, for those of you who were around back then, had a stop in Vegas, at the very same venue… C2K.

Personally, I loved this sound, but as underground dance music often does, it had evolved into a backlash against what was happening in the mainstream music environment at the time, and proved to be too much of a stretch, and unpalatable for the casual underground dance music fan.

So, we tried to come up with a blend of mainstreamy and underground dance music that would appeal to a wide audience, playing crossover house music, discohouse, and remixes, while going deeper into progressive as the night went on. We even incorporated live performance acts, like a guy doing Tai-Chi on stage! But, alas, timing is everything. The landscape and conditions just weren’t right. The musical zeitgeist had moved on, at least in terms of hosting a dance music only night in a large space.

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So, here we go with my flashback mix, Carbon Crossover 001, recorded from vinyl on May 15th, 2002, featuring Full Intention, Modjo, Deep Swing, remixes of No Dobut and Garbage, plus an awesome Lighthouse cover from the 80’s that I had forgotten about, “Hey Little Girl”
Up first, it’s AB Boulevard’s “Point of View” followed by Moony’s “Dove”, right here, on the feel sessions.

As always, I hope you find some joy and inspiration, and especially now, a sonic escape.

Enjoy.

AB Boulevard - Point of View
Moony - Dove
Full Intention - I’ll Be Waiting
Solaris - Sunshine
Usher - You Don’t Have To Call
Modjo - Lady
C-Mos - Calling All Cars
Gerardo - Americana
Deep Swing - In The Music
Greenhouse - Caravan
Mathias Ware - Hey Little Girl
No Doubt - Hella Good
Garbage - Cherry Lips