Seb Chan: Director's Cut/s – Everybody Needs a 303

ACMI Director and CEO Seb Chan, returns to his previous life in the 1990s and 00s as a Sydney-based music critic; as an Australian electronic music DJ/performer with his duo Sub Bass Snarl who performed at hundreds of raves, festivals and clubs; as founder and publisher of Cyclic Defrost Magazine; as founder of the decade long Frigid weekly club nights; and as a longtime community radio presenter on 2SER; with a special three-part series of daytime Listening Room sessions.

When Japanese company Roland released the TB-303 in 1981 as a bassline synthesiser it was a commercial flop and was discontinued in 1984. In the years after it was discontinued it founds its way into the secondhand market and was picked up by young producers in Chicago becoming the backbone of underground house music. From 1986 onwards, its unique squelchy sounds became the unmistakable mark of acid house, rave, and even found its way into R&B and dancehall. This listening session will feature classic acid tracks along with some deeper cuts. No, we probably won’t actually play Everybody Needs A 303.