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Music

DB's No School Like the Old Skool: Adam X

Vintage photos and a 1993 NASA DJ mix from hard techno legend Adam X.

DJ DB has been a fixture in dance music through every renaissance the style has experienced. His archive of DJ mixes and flyers from the '90s rave era are a time capsule of electronic music's first worldwide explosion, and in NO SCHOOL LIKE THE OLD SKOOL he shares some of these treasures. Get out your notepads…

AdamX  (aka Adam Mitchell aka ADMX-71 aka Mass-X-Odus aka Traversable Wormhole) part of the Storm Raves in Brooklyn in the late '80's and an integral part of the same crew as Frankie Bones—in fact, he's Frankie's little brother and a famous graffiti writer named VEN (you can see his work in the book Spray Can Art as well as nearly 20 other tomes about NYC subway art). However, it wasn't that which got him a reputation badass DJ. Rather, it was his love of and skill at playing insanely hard acid techno.

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A young Adam X.

Adam and Frankie were also partners with DJ Heather Heart (who was responsible for the amazing Under One Sky zine) in creating the legendary techno retail place of worship, Sonic Groove Records (1990-2004). Sadly, the digital age killed the physical Sonic Groove record store just like it did mine and Dara's Breakbeat Science shop, but at the time both stores were considered among the best in the world for their specialties (techno and drum & bass, respectively).

Sonic Groove still exists online at http://www.sonicgroove.com

This insane DJ mix actually comes from my own party NASA, recorded in May 1993 while I was playing/hiding in the chillout room.

Some great NYC rave flyers from the early '90s…

Thanks to Wendy (from Watts) for this amazing photo nicked from her FB! An incredibly young Adam in the front with Frankie behind him. In Bones' own words, "These were the people responsible for bringing you the first wave of techno in the 1990s."

Discography: http://www.discogs.com/artist/Adam+X
Connect with Adam on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AdamXsonicgroove