The name Global Underground originally refers to a series of electronic musiccompilation albums which reflect the performances of various DJs in venues around the world. The Global Underground series was released by a record label formerly known as Boxed which featured several sister series such as Nubreed and Electric Calm. Boxed closed in 2001 and was superseded by Global Underground Ltd. Since its first release in 1996, the series was well received and became a hallmark in the progressive house world.[citation needed] The dance music style featured is mostly progressive house, but there is some house, trance house, hard house, techno and breakbeat included in the releases. The first five installments were live recorded from respective clubs, while the rest are mixed and recorded in a studio.
Background
Each issue in the series is based on the idea that Global Underground would take DJs to play a party in one of the most unusual, exotic clubbing locations on Earth. The set is then released in a 2CD format that is formatted to capture the night of the party and the overall feel of the DJ visit in music, contemporary photography by photographer Dean Belcher and extensive sleeve notes.
There are consistent characteristics in almost every album in the series including:
The song list is edited from the complete set based on a retrospective view of the performance.
Photography by Dean Belcher
International recognition
Billboard has recognized Global Underground as the first DJ mix compilation to place high-quality photographs of DJs on the album covers. This, it further asserted, played a part in turning DJs into superstar figures within the culture of electronic dance music.[1]
Thrive Records was the U.S. distributor for some of the early Global Underground releases. Global Underground albums had an alternate numbering sequence and had different artwork, but were otherwise the same.
Catalogue
This is the complete listing of available albums in the Global Underground main series which includes the sequential number of the album in the series, the performing DJ/producer, the location in which the performance took place and the official release date. The listed catalog numbers are for the British releases. The numbers on the albums distributed by Thrive in the United States are shown in parentheses - those without such labels do not have a differing release number. Global Underground also has several "sub-series" entitled Nubreed, Prototype, 24:7, Electric Calm, Afterhours, and most recently Global Underground DJ.
GU official
This map shows the countries which have been featured in the GU series through GU043.
GU Sampler series releases
GUSAM001 The Forth, Departures, release date: 27 October 1998
GUSAM002 The Forth, Arrivals, release date: 1999
GUSAM003 The Forth, Destinations, release date: 29 January 2001
GUSAM004 The Forth, Locations, release date: 2001
GUSAMUS001 The Forth, Passport, release date: 2001
GUSAM005 The Forth, Exposures, release date: 2004
GUSAM006 The Forth, Synchronised, release date: October 2005
GUSAM007 Dubfunk, Synchronised 2, release date: 6 November 2007
Anniversary compilations
GUXCD GU10 10th anniversary compilation release date: 15 May 2006
GU DJ
GUDJ001 Nic Fanciulli, release date: 27 April 2009
PRO:002 Seb Fontaine, release date: 2 November 1999
PRO:003 Seb Fontaine, release date: 18 April 2000
PRO:004 Seb Fontaine, release date: 29 May 2001
24:7
24:7 is a series where DJs are asked to put together a set of two notably contrasting halves, based on the conceptual opposites of 'day' and 'night'.
24:7 series releases
GU247001 Danny Howells, release date: 21 July 2003
GU247002 Lee Burridge, release date: 15 September 2003
Chill out compilations
Electric Calm is a series in the chill or "calm" side of electronica while Afterhours is similar to the Back to Mine series. Both Afterhours and Electric Calm, along with GU "Sampler" CDs, were compiled and mixed by Global Underground themselves.
Electric Calm series releases
GUEC001 The Forth, release date: 30 September 2002
GUEC002 The Forth, release date: 25 August 2003
GUEC003 The Forth, release date: 13 February 2006
GUEC004 Dubfunk, release date: 1 October 2007
GUEC005 Trafik, release date: 7 December 2009
GUEC006 Trafik, release date: 21 August 2015
GUEC007 Trafik, release date: 19 May 2017
Afterhours series releases
GUAF001 The Forth, release date: 11 November 2002
GUAF002 Trafik, release date: 21 February 2005
GUAF003 Trafik, release date: 29 January 2007
GUAF004 Trafik, release date: 16 July 2007
GUAF005 Unknown, release date: 30 March 2008
GUAF006 Unknown, release date: 28 July 2008
GUAF007 Unknown, release date: 22 April 2016
GUAF008 Unknown, release date: 20 April 2018
Lights Out
In 2002, former NuBreed DJ Steve Lawler was given his own imprint on the Global Underground label that he titled "Lights Out". The concept of the series of mixed CDs was to bring the darker, grittier side of the dancefloor into the spotlight.
Lights Out series releases
GULO001 Steve Lawler, release date: 24 June 2002
GULO002 Steve Lawler, release date: 27 October 2003
GULO003 Steve Lawler, release date: 3 October 2005
In 2003, the Global Underground franchise began their "GU Music" imprint. Up until this time, they were strictly a label that dealt in DJ compiled and mixed CDs. GU Music allowed Global Underground to get into full length artist albums and Vinyl/CD/MP3 single releases. The GU Music team commented: "Having nurtured some of the worlds finest DJs we have applied this expertise to original music, cherry picking the coolest future talent from across the globe..." They have featured releases from such artists as UNKLE, Lostep, and Trafik. In 2007, it expanded with the release of the compilation GU Mixed which started a series of the same name that consisted of music sought from GU Music.[citation needed]
GU Music album releases
GUMU001 Pako & Frederik - Atlantic Breakers, release date: 20 October 2003
GUMU002 Trafik - Bullet, release date: 4 October 2004
GUMU003 Lostep - Because We Can, release date: 17 April 2006
GUMU004 The Remote - Too Low to Miss, release date: 26 June 2006
GUMU005 Sissy - All Under, release date: 2006
GUMU006 Dark Globe - Nostalgia for the Future, release date: 2006
GUMU007 Trafik - Club Trafikana, release date: 6 August 2007
GUMU008 Roland Klinkenberg - Mexico Can Wait, release date: 20 August 2007
GUMU010 Pako & Frederik - The Alert, release date: 5 November 2007
GUMU011 Rogue Audio - Haphazard, release date: 21 April 2008
GUMU012 Alex Dolby - Psiko Garden, release date: 17 June 2008
GUMU013 The Last Atlant - A Cloudburst of Colors, release date: 25 August 2008
GUMU014 Anil Chawla & Dale Anderson - Roadhouse, release date: 23 February 2009
GUMU015 Trafik - None But the Brave, release date: 21 June 2010
GU Mixed Releases
GUMIX1CD CD1, CD2, CD3 In mixed and unmixed formats, release date: 21 May 2007
GUMIX1CDX CD1, CD2, CD3, CD4 Limited Edition in mixed and unmixed formats, release date: 21 May 2007
GUMIX2CD CD1, CD2, CD3 In mixed and unmixed formats, release date: 3 September 2007
GUMIX2CDX CD1, CD2, CD3, CD4 Limited Edition in mixed and unmixed formats, release date: 3 September 2007
GUMIX3CD CD1, CD2, CD3 In mixed and unmixed formats, release date: 16 June 2008
GUMIX3CDX CD1, CD2, CD3, CD4 Limited Edition in mixed and unmixed formats, release date: 16 June 2008
GUMIX4CD CD1, CD2, CD3 In mixed format, release date: 25 May 2009
GU002
In Boxed's UK releases, GU002 was the never released second installment in the Global Underground series (in Thrive's US re-numbered releases, Paul Oakenfold's New York mix was released as GU002). Global Underground jumped directly from GU001: Tony De Vit - Live In Tel Aviv to GU003: Nick Warren - Prague, which resulted in a lot of controversy and rumours[citation needed] on the nature of GU002. However, GU002 does exist in form of the tape pack of Tony De Vit's Tel Aviv CD as the actual catalogue number of the release is GU002T. When Boxed started the GU series in 1996, they did not have a clear vision about the numbering scheme (later to become part of their image), which resulted in the "missing" release.[15]
References
^See #GU002
^Numbered 001 in the US release.
^Numbered 002 in the US release.
^Numbered 003 in the US release.
^Numbered 004 in the US release.
^Numbered 005 in the US release.
^UK Dance Albums chart positions prior to 2005 were not counted. This album re-entered the chart in 2007.
^UK Dance Albums chart positions prior to 2005 were not counted. This album re-entered the chart in 2007.
^UK Dance Albums chart positions prior to 2005 were not counted. This album re-entered the chart in 2007.
^Mason, Kerri (17 June 2006), "BeatBox: Wink with a Nod to Compilations", Billboard, vol. 118, no. 24, p. 62, ISSN 0006-2510
^
"Chart Log UK | Various Artists". Zobbel. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
^"Patrice Bäumel - Berlin #GU42". Retrieved 24 May 2019.
^"Joris Voorn drops new melodic tech-house record 'Nea Skioni': Listen". We Rave You. 23 October 2020. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
^"Amelie Lens – Antwerp #GU44". Retrieved 13 December 2022.
^"Danny Tenaglia – Brooklyn #GU45". Retrieved 8 August 2023.
^"ANNA - Lisbon #GU46". Retrieved 26 April 2024.
^Cheah, Jason. "Pulling out all the stops for a night of EDM fun". The Star Online. Star Media Group Berhad. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
^"FEATURE INTERVIEW: Andy Horsfield - My vision for Global Underground was always to make it something really special and to spend a lot of time and money to make that vision a reality, we work the very best in the world be it DJ's, photographers or writers, I'm glad to say there's no such thing as second best at GUHQ". 4 October 2015.
