Mystic Bill, real name Bill Torres, has been responsible for a long list of Chicago house classics since his emergence as a producer more than two decades ago. Glaswegian DJ/producer Scott Fraser is a longtime fan and has now added Torres to the roster of he and Tim Fairplay's own Crimes of the Future label with The Lost Cassette Trax Vol.1 EP. Here he picks out five vital Mystic Bill tracks.
I was introduced to Bill over the phone through his great friend and collaborator Traxx in London a few years ago, and finally met Bill in person in Miami last year. Traxx let me hear an unreleased track by Bill called The Ship is Sinking, which he said he was looking for an outlet for. He called Bill in the States right then and we hit it off straight away. Bill subsequently did a remix for me on the last 12-inch on my DX Recordings label in 2015, and I’ve now returned the favour on The Lost Cassette Trax EP with my take on Frequency 9. He is a great guy, and it’s a real pleasure as a label to get these tracks on to vinyl and out to a wider audience.
Billy Nightmare – Malfunktion
I think it’s fairly pertinent to choose this track from the Dirty Criminals Organised Confusion LP on International Deejay Gigolo Records from 2004 first. This is under his Billy Nightmare alias and he recorded it along with Traxx as Dirty House Posse. It is a dark jacking house track with touches of Belgian new beat. A killer peak-time energy track that lights up the floor every time you play it
Late Night At The Music Box
From 1997, this features Bill on one of my all-time favourite labels, Relief Records from Chicago. This is a fantastic DJ tool in the right hands
Untitled
This one is a bit of a secret weapon from 1996 and features on a compilation sampler for Trax Records. Cut-up vocals and slamming drums create a very hypnotic vibe
U Won’t C Me
Coming via the Snuff Trax crew in Germany, this is just a classic slice of emotive deep house
Scott Fraser - No Word Of Truth (Mystic Bill Remix)
Finally, this one is on my own label, DX Recordings – Bill’s remix of my track No Word Of Truth. Here Bill takes my original down a notch into very deep territory, creating loads of tension and a wicked vibe for early-evening warm up sessions. Listen here.
Mystic Bill’s The Lost Cassette Trax Vol.1 is out now on Crimes of the Future. Clips of the release are here, and a full stream of Scott Fraser’s remix of Frequency 9 can be found here
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here