Author: swipez

My DJ Debut 1996

I often think back of my official DJ debut at an event called Chaos at the Circus club in Moseley, Birmingham in 1996 (known as “The Fallout Night” by the promotors) and wonder if I could have done any better.

A fellow DJ said my record collection let me down – this coming from a bloke who refused to cue up his vinyl and didn’t get any gigs, instead hanging around DJ booths clutching a record bag hoping one of the DJs wouldn’t turn up – and maybe he was right, but I wouldn’t change a goddamn thing. Yeah, I played months old releases, neglecting white labels from underneath MC Lenni’s counter that very afternoon and a couple of mixes were atrocious, even by my standards.

One of the promotors, Warp/Harvey from PCM (now a professor of music don’t you know), rang my landline one evening to discuss my demo cassette tape to give me the green light and on the night was at the controls of the lighting desk during my set; something I didn’t know at the time and he said he enjoyed it. That’ll do for me. Plus Fallout remembered me from that night and came from behind the decks to kiss me on the cheek at Flashback a couple of years later.

I got paid in Red Stripe lager and a £20 note for taxi fare plus a guest list. Sublime. To top it all off I was twenty years old with earrings, longish hair and wearing probably the worst checked polo shirt in history. I remember all that? Bloody right I do. I can’t remember the exact set but we’re not far off. I know I played Special K’s Chopsticks last because when the piano intro came in, a bloke on the dancefloor raised his arms in absolute dismay. I moaned to my then-girlfriend that Kenny Ken had dropped the same tune in his own set the week before and the punters were screaming for rewinds. I got logically told, “yeah, but you’re not Kenny Ken”.

During this mix, I turned off the notorious beat sync to do justice for myself because at the time of late 1995 I noticed snare, kick and hat patterns were getting more prominent and sharper rather than being drowned out by sampled amens so your mixing had to be absolutely spot-on. My selection back then was a mix of amen tearers, jump up and tech-step that I’m well pleased about all these years later.

During that night on the ones & twos, I remember taking a deep breath for my first mix and was surprised I wasn’t nervous about it: this was my hour, man.

2025, present day: 29 years on, I managed to get an original flyer for the night and I’ve framed it. Turned 50 and mixed the same set.

Google Drive download/stream (73Mb)

TRACKLIST

  • DJ Krust – Angles (Original 12″)
  • Sense Of Direction – Simplicity
  • Babylonian – Beeside
  • Maldini – Kosmo
  • Krust – Set Speed (DJ SS Remix)
  • Promo #3 – Untitled A
  • Firefox – Buck Rogers
  • DJ Phantasy – 44 Mag (Ray Keith Mix)
  • Rude Bwoy Monty – Warp Ten (Heavyweight Mix)
  • DJ Sappo – Dark & Dirty
  • Positive Mental Attitude – Damaja
  • The Dream Team – Lion
  • Insync II – Phunk Not Funk
  • Lemon D – I Can’t Stop
  • The Dream Team – Watch Out
  • Special K & Ruff Cut – Chopsticks (Original Mix)

My Thirty Year Old Slammers

Haven’t been feeling the oldskool lately due to the phenomenal output of the newer Jungle but – as always – I know and respect my ravin’ roots.

I had a virtual folder of all the digital versions of the vinyl I owned but it’s been lost in the ether and I simply cannot be arsed to trawl through it all again relying on my older and inconsistent memory.

I did however, have a tune pop into my head which was mentioned on one of the first blogs: the wicked white label Marx & Triple A – Space + Time. This was known only as QC 002 for over a decade until someone shared that a test pressing had the artist/title written on it. Me – I called it the motorbike tune after the late, great GE Real labelled the belittling title as I spun it back in the day.

I wondered if I would ever use it as a set opener due to the opening Reese bass riff but I thought, why not? It’s raw, it’s simplistic and it would set the tone for a ‘95 set… that I had on vinyl. Oooooh yeah! I thought, at the time, that this was the peak of my beloved Jungle which I was aware of was now being called “drum ‘n bass” and I didn’t want it to evolve.

The beard strokers will hear that beat sync is OFF and if you carry on stroking, will note that Lemon D’s I Can’t Stop and Origin Unknown’s remix of Truly One was actually released in ‘96; thus negating the title of this blog. Well, I’ve been rinsing this particular set for neeeaaarly 30 years, so I really don’t give a shit.

This particular blog & mix goes out to my longstanding mate Ian who also appreciated that true ’95 sound and had a bloody good memory for remembering my vinyl!

Google download & stream for your pleasure (94 Mb)

Tracklist

  • Marx & Triple A – Space + Time
  • The Dream Team – Yeah Man (VIP Remix)
  • Insync II – Phunk Not Funk
  • Lemon D – I Can’t Stop
  • Phyzix + Tricks – Meridan
  • Fallen Angels – Frequency (Tango Remix)
  • DJ SS – Rollidge (Bonus Track)
  • Flytronix – Shine A Rewind (DJ Harmony Remix)
  • Liftin’ Spirits – Cup-A-Cha
  • Concept 2 – Soon Come
  • Origin Unknown – Truly One (’96 Mix)
  • The Dream Team – Lion
  • Unknown Artist – Never Felt
  • Soundcraft – Ruff Ride
  • The Gambino Family – B
  • Natural Forces – The Bassline Tune
  • The Urban Dread – Top Priority

Logistics – Tjuun In 2006

In 2006, I was kind of in a limbo with music – I’d given up on DnB because during the turn of the century there were some absolute stunners released and, quite frankly, I was of the opinion that they couldn’t be bettered.

I was on holiday abroad in the worst hotel ever and needed a day on the beach away from watered-down beer and crap food so I rented a hammock, got my big-ass mp3 player and earbuds out and listened to Logistics’ Tjuun In mix that I’d downloaded months earlier and had forgotten about; it was the first time I ever heard his Krusty Bass Rinser and the opening deep strings on the intro Standing Room Only will haunt me forever. Swan Cake amused me, I loved the vibe of Money Train and the penultimate tune was listed as ???[unreleased]??? for years and I found it last week, on Bandcamp of all places, for less than the price of an energy drink. I’ve been rinsing the Solaris VIP for the last 15 years and forgot I actually first heard it in this set.

I loved the set that much, I listened to it again straight after and promptly got sunburnt. Returning home, I fell in love again with DnB and some great tunes were released that year which is ironically in another blog post!

It’s a great, timeless set and I went to download it recently and couldn’t find it anywhere on the web so thought, “stuff it, I’ll mix it myself”.

I turned beat sync OFF when I mixed it and thought what an amazing set it was considering it’s nearly two decades old. It’s weird because I distinctly remember thinking on that beach that it’d be ace if I had the independent tracks as mp3s and could somehow mix them on some futuristic kind of digital turntables; I knew about software that could mix it but the idea of a controller to use it on was like something out of Star Trek… shows that patience is a virtue.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Google download & stream (69Mb)

TRACKLIST

  • Hive, Gridlok, dBridge, Silent Witness & Break – Standing Room Only [Violence]
  • Chris.SU – Solaris Theme (VIP) [Subtitles]
  • Martyn – I Wonder Why [Revolve:r]
  • Logistics – Never Ending Story [Hospital]
  • Logistics – Release The Pressure [Hospital]
  • Cyantific & Logistics – Flashback [Hospital]
  • Logistics – Blinding Light [Hospital]
  • Logistics – Girl From Mars [Hospital]
  • Break – Extreme Moments [Subtitles]
  • Logistics – Krusty Bass Rinser [Hospital]
  • Twisted Individual – Swan Cake [Grid]
  • Bungle – Too Late [Critical]
  • State Of Mind – Money Train [Subtitles]
  • Agent Alvin – Maggot Pack (VIP) [Commercial Suicide]
  • DJ Marky & XRS Feat. Vikter Duplaix – Moments Of Lust (Makoto Remix) [Innerground]

Haste – An Interview

HASTE WEBSITE

DJ, producer, label owner, founder of Rolldabeats and a thoroughly lovely chap, check out this riveting interview Haste has kindly done with me.

I discovered Haste as a post suggestion on Instagram, of all things; his ‘Spotlights’ are worth a look and very interesting. Ironically, just as I started following him, he released the first in his Twilight series and – wow! He writes tunes with this kind of energy that ticks all my boxes and Hold Me on Twilight 003 was my favorite track of 2024 (followed closely by my other pal Galvatron’s You) – note the intro for this minimix.

The mix is short (just over half an hour) and amen-focused, even though Haste is more versatile with his styles and I must urge you to listen to his snares – I can’t quite think of the correct musical terminology but basically: they just slap you in your face.

You can catch him here at this muh-hassive event: Calling The Hadrcore 30th August 2025

The interview…

First gig in club?

I can’t remember the first time I played in a proper club but it would have been sometime around 1997, I think. I remember being booked to play a night at the Blue Note around the time when Metlaheadz was still there (and I was heading down every now and then), which felt like a big deal. 

Obviously I wasn’t getting booked for Headz but playing the same venue was significant. I have no memory of what the gig was like, I imagine average at best 😅

Back then I was playing more on pirates than clubs. I got a tryout on Rude FM in around 1998, I think. I’d been listening to jungle and D&B on FM stations for years and after getting into mixing and wanted to try and play on one of them. 

I remember just randomly calling up the studio while they were broadcasting to ask how to get a show. They told me to send a tape in and then they got in touch and told me to turn up to some random estate in Edmonton to play some tunes. It seemed strangely easy, I’d assumed that it was almost impossible to go from a listener to someone who might actually DJ on the radio.

I remember being there completely on my own on a Saturday afternoon and not knowing what I was supposed to be doing. I didn’t realise until way too late that the mobile phone was out of range so wasn’t getting any calls and no one could get in touch. I played for way longer than I was supposed to as I couldn’t hear the next DJ trying to get in. Trial by fire, I think they call it, but I loved it and would carry on playing on pirates for years after this.

Shortly after Rude split in two and I carried on playing on Ruud Awakening 104.3 run by Chillem (RIP) and Syras. I have no idea what timeslot I first had but ended up doing Sunday nights with Eksman and Herbz for a couple of years. It was wicked fun and I really enjoyed the raw experience of DJing in some random person’s kitchen with terrible decks, awful speakers, MCs up way too loud and a haze of smoke filling the room. You had to get pretty good at mixing or it was clang central every week. I chuckle when I see people’s DJ riders these days, on radio you just had to deal with what you had and what you had was rarely fully functional.

I really miss the vibe of those shows and the people I met as part of playing in an actual station. Me and a few DJs who used to hang out together after meeting on radio used to run little club nights (that barely anyone came to) and would regularly pop along to free parties in deepest, darkest Hackney (long before it became cool) to DJ to rooms that stank of serious chemicals and all manor of madness going on. 

I still see some of these guys but, sadly, most of the people who I used to know from radio days are long gone from my social circles now. It’s good to see some of them still producing and DJing!

Best gig?

My memory’s terrible so I’ve forgotten most of them. I do remember the first time I went out to Estonia to play their festival, which I think was called something like Sundance. It was me and two others who were headlining the show and the only UK guests. In the following years it got much bigger and they booked some massive DJs.

We had a wicked time: free drinks all weekend, awesome vibes and a lovely bunch of people hosting us who’d we’d made connections with online. We partied hard on Saturday and it was my turn to headline the Sunday night still feeling rough from a huge hangover. I was playing oldskool jungle and started out with an empty tent then, after a couple of tunes, looked up to see loads of people in the place all vibing to ‘94 sounds. I tend to dig quite deep when I play old sets but was playing bigger tunes as I assumed most people wouldn’t know much about jungle at this event. 

I vividly remember playing Dred Bass, a tune that I’d never usually play, and seeing the crowd goes absolutely bananas for it. It’s nice to see why certain tunes deserve the anthem status they have, even if you’re a bit sick of hearing them.

Worst gig?

Haha, so many! I spent a lot of time driving up and down the UK to play to almost no one in small venues. It’s part of the reason for knocking things on the head in the early 2000s. 

I was out on my own doing this and not even getting paid while my mates were in the pub back home having a lovely time. I knew that I was unlikely to become the next Andy C (or whoever was biggest then) so you reach a point where you start to lose the love of this stuff.

I’ve had all the classic things happen. Requests for ABBA or “something a bit slower” when you’re cranking out some darkside D&B, people spilling their beers all over your tunes, some random dude spouting absolute nonsense on the mic. The list is almost endless, really. You gotta laugh about it, I always did at the time. It’s all a part of the mad experience of being someone DJing at a different level to the people that we see in the normal clubs. There’s probably a book in those stories somewhere.

Weirdest thing you’ve seen in a club?

I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything weird in a jungle / D&B club but I’ve been to Berghain a couple of times and that place is definitely an eye opener. I’ve never been to anywhere that had such an open policy for behaviour that wouldn’t be accepted anywhere else but also felt incredibly safe and friendly. 

Heroes you’ve met?

On the whole I stick with the policy of not trying to meet your heroes and just chatting to people who seem nice and friendly. Over the years I’ve been lucky to meet lots of people involved in various types of music whose tunes I really respect.

A timely one but I bumped into Dextrous the other day at the Run Out record fair, who I’ve spoken to online loads in the past but never met in person. Obviously, I’m a huge fan of his music and it turns out he’s an absolutely lovely fella. Always refreshing to meet someone devoid of ego who you get on easily with. 

Outside of hardcore and jungle I’m into so many different types of music and am secretly (or not so secretly if you ask anyone who actually knows me) a huge metal fan. I happened to meet one of my guitar idols a couple of years back – Bill Steer, guitarist with death metal / grindcore legends Carcass – and it’s probably one of the only times ever I’ve actually been a bit of a fanboy. He was also really lovely but probably wanted to just hang out. 

Explain your passion for music?

I’ve been massively into music for as long as I can remember. My family has musical people in it and me and my sister were encouraged to learn instruments when we were young. We had a piano in the house and I had lessons while I was in primary school, which I hated, but it was a good intro to actually playing and learning about music properly. 

We also had an old acoustic guitar lying around, which, looking back, was weird because no one in the house could play it. I strummed around with that and picked up some incredibly basic skills which I used to form band after band with mates from school.

Even back then, I must have been 10 or something, I drew us artwork for our “albums” and attempted to write songs. I guess the DIY approach has always been something that I was into from an early age, which is what I still do to this day.

My cousin, who’s 7 years older than me, came to live with us when I was about 11 or 12. We lived in an area of London called Herne Hill which is right next to Brixton and Peckham, two areas with massive Caribbean communities and music scenes to match. She used to go to see Soul II Soul at The Fridge and introduced me to hip hop/house and dance music from the time. I used to watch Dance Energy all the time and suppose that this might have been where I first heard music that would become hardcore and jungle. 

It’s mad to think about the way in which people my age were able to get into this underground music through shows like Dance Energy, pirate radio and the music press or even just the record shops we had in London. This is so different to how it works now but was also miles ahead of anywhere else in the world. I was really quite lucky to have been exposed to any of this at such a young age and found a passion for it. 

Did you ever expect Rolldabeats to be this big, popular and last this long?

It’s funny, as I got involved a long time ago just through my love for the music and inherent nerdiness. I remember being a part of the community on tarzan.spoox.org which is what RDB started out as.

The guy who ran it, Thijs (AKA Tarzan), had coded a site to store details of his collection, from what I remember, and then started building it out with more releases. I helped contribute loads of info and fix lots of the incorrect stuff on there. We got chatting and decided to team up. I don’t really remember why it came about but we decided to completely rewrite everything and relaunch with a new name.

I should point out that I’m a designer and ex-developer by trade so have always had a massive interest in tech, particularly on the web. I guess RDB became something that I saw as a way to hone those skills but also something that I could launch with Thijs and try and grow. I don’t think we ever had money on our minds but I definitely knew that there was a good community around it and there was a chance to make something bigger and better. 

We launched RDB in the early 2000s with a forum and started building out more and more features as well as adding in more releases over the years. Discogs was around back then and I was always frustrated by the incorrect info on there so we saw RDB as a more trustworthy source of niche info. 

Not that there was ever a battle in my mind but Discogs has gone on to do all the things that I wanted to do with RDB – launch a shop, build out other genres, bring in contributions from non-admins. We just never had the time and resources to do all this stuff. With my limited coding skills and lack of regular development support from anyone else (who could blame them, it’s a lot of work for no money) things just slowed down over time and it became hard to do anything new with the site. 

After a bit Thijs stepped back to focus on work and family life. We’d had an absolutely awesome time running the site together and he’s such a lovely guy and we became great friends. He used to travel over to London for work from time to time and we’d always have a great time hanging out. I’ve not chatted to him in years, which is a shame!

As RDB grew we brought on a load of people to help manage the forums, add in more content and generally expand on the info that we had in place. Those guys have amazing knowledge and have really kept the forums alive over the years, continually adding in mind blowing amounts of info that I know people have been using for years now. 

From 2008 we also started doing parties around London. I think the idea stemmed from the frustration of going to events that claimed to play oldskool music and then hearing the same old anthems again and again and again. I had guessed that we had enough of a following and respect in the scene to fill a room with people who wanted to hear more than just the same old tunes all night. We also had a few connections to wicked DJs who we could get down to play. The main one to call out is Equinox who was our resident alongside me and smashed every single party we put on. I’m eternally thankful to him for doing them! It’s really heartwarming.

The nights were loads of fun and we had some amazing people down to play – Tango and Ratty was a highlight. I loved what we were able to do and to create a night where people really dug deep into the shelves to play vinyl sets of quality old skool music. There are recordings of a lot of the events that I’ll be releasing to SoundCloud later this year. Many of the nights I’ve been to in recent years have really impressed me. Obviously people like Distant Planet are killing it with vinyl focused events with DJs drawing from all styles and eras and a crowd who are bang up for all of it. When the site went down for a bit recently (and some of it still remains down!) I had loads and loads of messages from people reaching out saying how much the site meant to them and how useful they found it. Honestly, I had no idea that some of this was that important to people – it turns out the tracklist part of the forum is used way more than I ever knew. As with anything you’ve spent countless hours of your time working on It’s always heartwarming to know that people actually value it and have got lots of use out it over the years.

It’s always been a huge team effort, far from just me doing this stuff, so it would also be a good time to shout out all the others involved. Rob Phokus, my right hand man in all things RDB, as well as DJ eXtreme for giving me a big kick up the bum recently to get things back online and Rich, our recent technical saviour who made getting it online again all possible. Of course the forum crew can’t be forgotten, they all know who they are, but these are the guys who’ve added all that amazing content and kept the community going for all these years. They’re all superstars.

Thoughts on Dwarde, Reaper, Harmony etc. reinventing the scene and is it bigger?

I think the new generation of producers and DJs are amazing. Dwarde and Tim Reaper are obviously a big part of this and, while you can’t attribute everything to them at all, in my mind they’ve been a huge part of bringing this music back into people’s minds.

I also want to say a personal big thanks to them both. They’ve been massively helpful with me getting my label out there and are genuinely lovely blokes. I had Dwarde down at the last Twilight Sessions event

At the same time it’s really cool to see people who’ve been out of the picture for a long time come back and release music again, some to massive success like Harmony.

I don’t think jungle is anywhere near as big as it was in its heyday but that was a totally different time and music’s changed so much since then in terms of how we consume it and how much there is for people to listen and dance to. 

In terms of sales, we’re nowhere near what things were a couple of decades back. Strong sales these days are in the high hundreds for a vinyl release, back in the 90s these would have been in the thousands, or tens of thousands for massive tunes. 

From a global perspective then it’s probably further reaching, even if crowds are probably smaller than they once were. Hardcore and jungle are definitely niche interest things in London these days, whereas they were big club fillers at one point.

While it doesn’t really affect me, I’m just a guy making music for a hobby and releasing a bit of it here and there, it’s very difficult to carve out a decent living from music these days. It’s mad to think how many units used to get sold of very average music while some of the best stuff out there struggles to even see a vinyl release these days. 

Outside interests?

My two kids and family take up a lot of my time these days. As a designer by trade I’m big into art and design as well as fashion. My day job keeps me busy so juggling family and music doesn’t leave a whole lot of time for much else. Can’t complain though, it’s nice to be busy and have plenty to do.

With my background in tech and design I’ve launched multiple side projects over the years, most of which haven’t had much effort put into them for ages. One that’s always been quite fun and I need to bring back into action is my vinyl blog, 12 Inch. It shows the mad places my record collection goes to and the massive variety of music that me and my pals listen to.

​​http://12in.ch/ 

What does the future hold for Haste?

Twilight

There’ll be loads more music coming on my label Twilight as well as some tunes on others. It’s been really fun getting back into production after such a long gap (20+ years!). I’ve got the next three releases planned already, and at some point would like to start putting out music that isn’t just mine or collabs I’m doing with other people. 

Nation

I’ve been working with a longtime mate of mine – Craggz from Craggz & Parallel (Valve / Product) and Battery (Headz / Dispatch etc.) – on a new project called Nation that we’re really excited about. We’re currently shipping a few tunes around it looks like we’ll have our first EP out in the next few months, more details to come on that. Loads more to come on that front and awesome to be working with someone who I go way back with.

RollDaBeats

We’re bringing back the RDB nights in the next few months. Expect old skool, vinyl focused nights with some top quality DJs digging deep. I’m really hoping the rest of the site comes back at some point as well as just the forums.

Tha mix…

Google Drive stream/download (50Mb)

Tracklist

  • Haste & Dertie Bassett – Hold Me
  • Ben Kei – Break A Sweat (Haste Remix)
  • Drowncast & Haste – Celestial Plain
  • Haste – Forever
  • Haste – Gotta Live
  • Paul Renegade – Multiverse (Haste Remix)
  • Haste & Dertie Bassett – Out There
  • Haste – Selec
  • Tursio & Haste – Wanna Be

That mix with the film samples

Sounds a bit of an easy (or lame) blog/post mix but there are thousands of tunes that sample films and I simply sat in the pub one evening and thought, off the top of my head, tunes that had film samples in. Most of them are obvious, others not. The Man From Formation A2 track on the Darken You With My Presence EP still eludes me, but I’ve asked t’interweb for help. Apparently it’s called the “Rachel Scream”?

My good longstanding friend Ian noticed a couple that I had on vinyl 30 years ago so eternal thanks for that one me old mucka.

Incidentally, when I was spinning Crystl’s Warpdrive, I just stood there shaking my head as it is just, proper, proper Jungle. I vividly remember hearing this tear up the dance floors in 1993 and the flip side Meditation is also on that same level.

The swing of drums varies greatly, from Hardcore to Jungle and ends up somehow as absolutely militant tearout – all good fun in the end.

If, like me, you’re a nerd (and if you’re reading this blog then you definitely are) you’ll find all the films they’re sampled from next to the tune in the tracklist.

Spaced by Mark Vega

Google d/l or stream (80Mb)

TRACKLIST

  • NRG – Unity [Terminator 2: Judgement Day]
  • The Man From Formation – Darken You With My Presence EP (A2) [???]
  • International Rude Boyz – Drum Programme (Remix) [The Exorcist]
  • Johnny Jungle – Johnny ’94 (Origin Unknown Remix) [Marked For Death]
  • Intense – The Dreamer [Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory]
  • Wardance – Jammin [Poltergeist]
  • DJ Crystl – Warpdrive [The Dark Crystal]
  • Hyper On Experience – Lords of the Null-Lines [Predator 2]
  • Intense – Para Time Continuem (VIP Dubplate Mix) [Army Of Darkness]
  • Sync Dynamix – Into The Unknown [Raiders Of The Lost Ark]
  • Mr Anderson – LV 426 [Alien]
  • DJ Ande – Hulk (DJ Peshay Remix) [Hulk TV series]
  • DJ Skitzophrenic – Beware The Moon [An American Werewolf In London]
  • Murphy’s Law – 20 Seconds (Dred Bass Remix) [Robocop]
  • Zenith – Immortal [Interview With A Vampire]
  • DJ Flash – Pulp Fact [Pulp Fiction]
  • Jon Tetly & Swipez – Vengeance [2022 Firestarter, The Batman, A Cure For Wellness]
  • Jon Tetly – Murphy’s Butcher Shop [Robocop]

The 4-Beat One

I’ll be the first to admit that I love the technicality and appreciate the programming of a tearout amen as much as the next person but the shift in direction recently with the newer Jungle releases has gone backwards toward a more late ’92/early 93 ‘stomp’ sound when the producers over thirty years ago really wanted to progress the Hardcore sound and get it rolling, ironically with a standard four-on-the-floor kick drum.

The set has been sitting on my desktop for a fortnight as I don’t like what I’ve done with it – I played the tunes in the wrong order which lost the energy of it all and I still mix like I’m in 1993. Also, I was smashed out of my face 🤩

Our usual suspects of Tim Reaper and his friends are here – which is no bad thing, aight – but also my buddy Arkyn, stand by for a very exclusive blog post on him soon..

To be honest, considering I preach the ‘amen-must-be-chopped!’ rule like some kind of drunk with kebab-withdrawal, these style of tunes were quite easy to find in my files and it takes me back to those heady times at Fibre Optic and Quest when I didn’t have to worry about ear or nose hair. The tunes are obviously better manufactured now and have more versatility in them but by God there are some flippin’ belters here.

Now say it with me: Bowm-bowm-bowm-bowm chk-chk-chee chk-a-chk-chee

“Lobotomized” by Blight_Nox

Google Drive stream/download (64Mb)

Tracklist

  • Dwarde & Tim Reaper – 013
  • BufoBufo – Catch Wreck (DJH Remix)
  • Arkyn – Move It
  • Eusebeia & Aisatsaana – Unknown Future
  • Moakz – Dark Future
  • onacide – First Glance
  • Percussive P – Enter The Dragon
  • Dave Skywalker – Out Of The Darkness Came Light
  • Peter Darker – Read-E-2-Go
  • FFF – No Holds Barred (FX Remix)
  • Liquid Silk – Bells of Arptazia (Tim Reaper Remix)
  • Trident – Detonator
  • Pill & Dread – Dreamchange (Peter Darkers Powerdream Remix)
  • Open Courts – TJT
  • Arkyn – Lost City
  • Underworld – Born Slippy (Kupa Born Choppy Bootleg)

LTJ Bukem Ice

I read a few years back Mixcloud’s bio on Bukem, describing his music as “icy”. Summed it up perfectly for me. I have a strong opinion on Bukem but there’s no denying his dreamy pads and tight beats. Taking inspiration from the Essential Mix in 1996 and the famous Distillery @ Leipzig exactly a decade later with some other favourite bits and bobs thrown in, I got quite emotional listening to Soul Patrol and didn’t really want to mix it out – RIP MC Conrad 🙏

Anyway, my usual moan of how R:Kive’s remix of Noise Factory’s Breakage#4 was never released onto Bukem’s label; it’s still an absolute travesty.

This was meant to be a personal mix that wasn’t to be shared but I’ve delayed a few upcoming mixes for the blog lately along with a couple of awesome interviews. I did lament last week when I did a mix of June ’24’s releases including the subliminal You by my good friend Galvatron… and forgot to press record.

I goddamn miss the olden days when you had to press PHYSICAL buttons to record your sets onto cassette!

GoogleDrive download (68Mb)

Tracklist

  • Noise Factory – Breakage 4 (RKive Remix)
  • LTJ Bukem – Rain Fall
  • LTJ Bukem – Atmospherical Jubilancy
  • The Funky Technicians & PHD – Above & Beyond
  • Blu Mar Ten – Future Proof
  • Shogun – Nautilus
  • LTJ Bukem – Atlantis (Marky & S.P.Y. Rework)
  • Makoto & DJ Inza – Eastern Dub (DJ Marky Remix)
  • Makoto – Golden Girl feat. MC Conrad Lenzman VIP
  • Physics – Invisible Spaces
  • The Outfit – Changes
  • Total Science – Soul Patrol (ft.Conrad) (Marky & S.P.Y Super Jungle VIP)
  • LTJ Bukem – Horizons (Komatic Rework) [Unreleased]

Fallout: Quest & Fibre Optic Easter Special 9th April 1993 (Swipez Re-Take)

After seeing my good mate Rick having his photo took with DJ Ratty recently, I was envious on two counts: one, I’ve never had my photo took with Ratty (although I did shake his hand once whilst he was in the middle of a mix) and two, there’s no way I’d go to an event now.

So I typed in Tango Ratty Fallout Fibre Optic into Google and one of the top results on the legendary RollDaBeats was Fallout’s set list from More Than Just A Good Friday from 9th April 1993. Over thirty one goddamn years ago. For the newer Junglists, Fallout was one of the first female DJs headlining hardcore jungle events and she’s still spinning now. She was among only a handful of women DJs & MCs on the scene in the early nineties and is an inspiration to the plethora of female artists now quite rightly tearing up dance floors with their mixing.

The tracks interested me as it’s a dark, crunchy, stompy 155 bpm epic that epitomises that era beautifully: the ‘split’ from happy before it became the true rolling and rumbling Jungle. At the time I thought it was just a Midlands sound due to the fact that the above mentioned trio churned out a lot of releases in this vein and in my tunnel-visioned teenage world only Pandemonium, Quest and Fibre Optic existed – but it turns out our friends in Manchester and London were into the darkcore too, and in a big way.

I’ve had a look and can’t find this particular set’s audio on t’interweb so I mixed it myself and it’s nice to put a bit of oldskool on the blog again. Coincidentally, I saw an Instagram post a few weeks back of a video in a club from about ‘93 where there were a lot of centre-parted curtains, crop-tops, big grins and dilated pupils. The caption? “Our parents clubbing in the 1990s lol”. Yeah… annnnnnd?

Big shout out to Fallout herself for her kind permission in re-mixing this set!

Artwork “Time” by TRiN AI

Google download/stream (85Mb)

Tracklist

  • Tango And Ratty – Tales From The Darkside
  • Force Mass Motion – Esthisis
  • Liquid Aliens – Are You Sure I’ll Be Ok
  • Scott & Keith – Deranged Part 2
  • Tom & Jerry – Papillon Love Song
  • Two Bad Boys – Bunker Jungle (West-Side Bogle)
  • Bay-B-Kane – Def Meanin’ Life
  • Smooth But Hazzardous – Push Up The Levels
  • Tango & Fallout – Intrigue
  • Delirium – Days Of Our Lives (2 Bad Mice Mix)
  • Tango – Future Followers
  • Crimewatch Project – Boomzabang
  • Essence of Aura – Can I Dream
  • Tango & Dom – My Mind Is Going
  • DJ Red Alert & Mike Slammer – In Effect
  • Tango – Timebomb
  • Tango & Fallout – Further Intrigue (Mix 2)
  • The Prodigy – Weather Experience (Top Buzz Remix)
  • Wax Doctor & Jack Smooth – New Direction

CatchUp

After the last blog post was published, I went on holiday and upon my return moved house. Trust me; my controller, PC and (almost) vintage sound system was the first thing I set up in our new home. Thing is, I feel really liberated with my mixing lately in my new environment and haven’t bothered to record any sets. Gone are my mixing cue points, virtual crates with sub-folders flowering off in all genres and years, no longer carefully keeping mixes within Technics 1210 8% bpm pitch range. Structure is gone… and I’m really enjoying it.

So, here’s a kind of catch up for the last 6 months of releases. I must mention Tim Reaper’s label since has had a phase with a slight shift in direction toward early ‘93 bouncy darkcore and in everyone’s opinion, it’s a genius masterstroke. It’s very tempting to do an all Reaper/Dwarde or Future Retro London label-only mix. I did do a Tim Reaper-only set about 3 years ago and had his permission to publish it but I thought everyone else would be doing it so I did the Globex Corp mix instead with Dev/Null & Tim’s blessing.

Anyhoo, because I’m less meticulous (okay then, anal) with the assembly of my sets lately, I’ve kicked off with the bizarre choice of London Grammar’s Orchestral Lord It’s A Feeling. Bear with me on this – it works, somehow – and singer Hannah Reid has got a right potty mouth on her.

All future set artwork will be of a dark, slightly disturbing tone courtesy of Death by Hibachi on X.

Google Drive stream/download (76Mb)

Artwork by God Of AI

Tracklist

  • London Grammar – Lord It’s a Feeling (Orchestral Version – Live at Abbey Road)
  • Trident – Far Away Dreams (VIP)
  • FFF – No Holds Barred (FX Remix)
  • Coco Bryce – One Hundred
  • Microcosm – Chocky’s Children
  • Dub & Wheel & Tim Reaper – The Firmament (Mix Two)
  • Peter Darker – Singing Amen
  • Submerse – Subspace Highway
  • DJ Kos – The Drop
  • Dwarde & Tim Reaper – Don’t Go Away
  • Outrigger – Ripples: Reflections (Code of Silence Remix)
  • Jon Tetly – Clubs And Headaches
  • Ricky Force – Brainwave
  • Phineus II – Jungle Boat
  • ShaY – My Soul Is Nice
  • Jon Tetly – Spoopy
  • Morri – Moving Objects
  • Sensimo – Terrorist Attack

Halloween Darkbollox

I’m a bit bored of the usual Darkside being pulled out this time every year; yes, there were some wonderfully seedy tunes out there and for us old ‘uns they were great, fantastic times but I’ve published myself alone at least a dozen Darkside mixes on the internet.

So I dipped into the archives (I like to think I’m cool by saying that, like Doctor Strange or Neo but in fact I probably sound like a librarian in Miss Marple) for roughly a decade ago and the flavour I came up with was, well, Baltic is the only thing I can think of. There was a lot of Drumfunk that I don’t like mixing any longer so the set was halved and a couple of recent remixes popped in to bulk it out to 16 tunes for hopefully a slightly different dark Jungle mix…

Google Download/Stream/Boogy/Boogeyman

Tracklist

  • Rumbleton – Vice & Virtue
  • The Invisible Man – Twisted (Mr Sensi Remix)
  • The Truper – Untitled B
  • DJ Fav – Darkness Into Light
  • Tim Reaper – Bring In The Chuck Beats
  • Msymiakos – Monkey Mind
  • Dom-Unique – Beyond Our Time
  • Dark Nightmare? – Master Mash
  • Intense – Time Space Continuem (Ricky Force Remix)
  • Acid Lab – Conquering
  • Tactical Aspect – New Recruits
  • Skru – Elder Jedi
  • Flow Steremov – Hoodscapes
  • Combined Operations – Dark Curse
  • Dub-One – Poison Art
  • Apeonix – Amen From An Alternate Dimension