Track 13 – Nightmare – Brainbug (Sinister Strings Mix) (1997)

You may have noticed or I have already alluded to, I like early 80s and 90s house/trance music. Much of this stems from a tape I purloined off my brother of a rave by Paul Oakenfold with him MC’ing over the top and requesting over the mic that settings and monitors are turned up or down. It was pretty low quality. This led to a love of dance music and Oakenfold and in the mid/late 90s took me to the superclub Cream were Oakenfold was a resident and Nightmare was one of the defining tunes of that time and space.

Superclub is a misleading term in respect to the building that Cream resided in. It was (it got demolished in 2016) a myriad of ramshackle buildings joined together. Oakenfold played in The Annex, the smallest and darkest room with a ceiling you could almost touch by raising your arms. Nightmare was the perfect tune for the Annex.

The track starts with a slow build, the kick comes in (great for running), then the cymbal. The break is a long draw out screech, which I love in a club as you can hear the crowd. The strings come in that will have you picking up the pace, then the drop, where you will likely be a full tilt.

One of my treasured memories from my clubbing days and a brilliant track to run to.

I found a version of a live recording  from Resident. 2 years of Oakenfold at Cream with added crowd noise. Check it out below –