Dave Clarke

by John Bush
One of the most respected (and idiosyncratic) techno DJs and producers in the 90s, Dave Clarke began his music career as a hip-hop DJ in the mid-80s, shifting to acid house and later rave near the end of the decade. He began recording for Stress (as Pig City) in the early 90s and also appeared on R&S, XL, and his own Magnetic North Records. By the mid-90s, he had gradually shifted away from rave to a brand of straight-ahead techno with the ferocity of hardcore yet the sublime feelings of classic Detroit techno. A series of three singles named Red gained fame during 1995-1996 (the last went Top 40 in the U.K.), as did his ferocious DJ sets. Demagnitized, a compilation of his earlier material on Magnetic North (with additional tracks from Cristian Vogel, DJ Hell, and others), was released in 1995. Clarkes phenomenal album debut, Archive One, appeared in a year later on Deconstruction. Clarke also mixed two volumes of the crucial electro compilation series Electro Boogie for Studio !K7. A handful of other mixes followed, including two volumes of World Service, which were issued before and after the 2003 studio album Devils Advocate. The two-disc compilation Remixes and Rarities: 1992-2005 came out in early 2007.