Scott Hardkiss Live at Even Furthur

There will be plenty of reunions and people coming from far and wide, but there will also be a void, a lot of excused absences from Even Furthur, the legendary Midwestern electronic music festival that returns this year after a forever-and-a-day hiatus.

One absence that will be felt by probably every veteran of the festival is Scott Hardkiss. The late co-founder of Hardkiss Music and Brother Number One in the collective was a fixture of the festival back when Daft Punk were still two weird French guys starstruck by seeing their Rust Belt “teachers” in the flesh.

At least for people who experienced Furthur in the first three years, it’s hard to imagine cleaning mud out of your hair and every crease of your skin without thinking of “Raincry” and the God Within. (In fairness, though, Hardkiss is still represented at the show by Wade Randolph Hampton according to the latest Even Furthur 2016 line-up).

With that in mind, I thought I’d start uploading from a pretty huge collection of Scott Hardkiss sets I jam whenever the mood feels appropriate (and grimy, muggy weather in Chicago this week feels so very “appropriate”) and start with this. I’m not sure how rare any of these are but this one in particular has circulated like sweaty stripper dollars for a good long while, for a damned good reason. Enjoy Scott Hardkiss at Even Furthur:

Note that some claim this is from Even Furthur 1995, some from Even Furthur 1996 (and just for good measure, ravearchive.com lists two different versions of the same mix as being from both Even Furthur 1995 and Even Furthur 1996.) I honestly can’t cut through the fog to remember which year this set is from. If anyone can look through their cassette tapes and set us straight, leave us a note below.

About a dozen more sets from Scott coming up in the coming days…

Photo courtesy of Robbie Hardkiss.