I’ve returned from holiday with a lovely ear infection so can’t hear anything in my cans which would undoubtedly make my mixing a whole lot better. I listened to most of my blog mixes mid-January pool/beach side (had to get that in there) and am largely unhappy with the mixing, especially Happy Hardcore Daze which is so bad to the point where I don’t think I even beat-mixed the whole set for some reason (probably distracted by alcohol/toastie-making/clothes laundering/purchasing goods off Amazon) so I will redo it in the near future. So here’s Molten Beatz 2 that I did a week before Xmas and has been sitting on my hard drive since. It was the third attempt at mixing this particular set and only one tune ‘survived’ from the initial one; I haven’t posted it because it’s a little uninspiring but it’ll do to fill in the hiatus… promise that when the weather turns for the better, the finale Molten Beatz 3 will be an absolute belter!
Now we’ve all settled into 2020, I can tell you that the notes for this mix were typed up as a draft at the end of summer ’19 – and it was to be my very last post as I thought that I couldn’t think up of any more subject matter relating to genre or ‘faves’ posts that could be done. There’s still loads more things to blather on about and clang together so don’t worry about that for the foreseeable future (with a roll of your eyes): These are a few tunes off the top of my head that I had the majority of on vinyl that were my favourite tunes, spanning over a four year period from 1994 to 1998ish. Indeed, I have a virtual folder labelled “Stu’s Vinyl” of all the tunes I ever physically owned; it’s a long slog remembering them, but I’m nearly there after about a decade of trawling the internet to jog my memory and some of the wax I had no information on have miraculously been identified by perseverance or chance – the one tune I was looking for that I owned but could only see the colour of the label in my mind’s eye was found on Discogs after I applied about 6 filters and still had to scroll through about 2,000 releases (it was this one, by the way… and yeah that’s my upload too on YouTube). Still a few to go but the following tracks are, in my humble opinion, absolute killers and I’m proud to have owned (most of) these. Admittedly I didn’t have them all at the time of release and there’s a couple that I never had the privilege of spinning, I had to go rummaging through the crates at Old Skool Daze in Birmingham in the early 2000s where I met Jimmy & Mistress Mo, the Flashback promoters. I eventually sold all my vinyl to that shop, so I know it went to a good home. Still, 17 years on, I’m still devastated by my decision which is my excuse for that virtual folder, kinda like clinging on to my younger years with my long dyed blonde hair, two thick gold hoops in the same left earlobe, trendy sleek spectacles and flat stomach. Rose tinted glasses maybe, but these tunes always transport me back:
I still find the intro to this slightly unnerving: really dark, low strings with a Krays (1990) sample where Jack The Hat is begging for his life, then a Dance Hall MC leads into the mashed up breaks with very tight stabs on the sub bass hits. Halfway through, there’s even a Predator 2 sample – that creepy Voodoo lord.
First heard this on a Grooverider tape and it took me ages to ID as I kept getting it mixed up with this tune release. When someone did reveal to me the artist, I was told it was just called Chapter 1 and was hugely disappointed to find the same vocal and tune structure with an old automated BT incorrect call message intro (I remember that, though!). Then I thought about trying a Chapter 2, and there it was, on the B side. It’s them strings 2:13 in though – brilliant sampling with a reverbed reverse cymbal underlaying it, then a chopped up Hot Pants break, followed by the sliced amen. Ace track. Coincidentally, Ron Tom went on to form the Sugababes & All Saints. Yeah, I’m still confused too.
God damn, for me at the time this tune ruled all, I couldn’t get enough of it. More creepy strings as an intro, a Hellraiser sample, then that reverse bassline with a slow sinister piano breaking up the track in the middle, I remember the Rider dropping this in his all-reverse bassline set at Mr. B’s where the dancefloor literally erupted.
More bad ass dark business, I’m still of the opinion that these artists were the first to use the reverse sub bassline in the scene way back in ’93 with this release, but this track refines it a little more. This track is just plain scary, and that manic laugh that just chops in from nowhere… flippin’ heck. When I think of the word ‘Jungle’, the second phase of this track runs through my head. It’s minimalistic yet has a heavy vibe to it too, all down to very good production. Fabio used to play this last in his sets. Says it all really.
Turns out we’re in Selfy’s motor about 6 months ago and he’s got an SS mixtape on and this tune drops. I rewind it and listen to it again, make a note of the event, roughly date it, rolldabeat.com out of it, and find the tune almost immediately. Some mad MC screaming, “Sehhhhh-lectah!” and then the sub bass pitch-slid notes scatter over the amen that is chopped up to buggery on the Mix 2 side, rather than the simpler rolling famous break on the reverse. Fantastic release from Mr. Ben Settle.
Out of all the vinyl I had stolen, I’m still screwing this was nicked from my record bag. What made it worse is that around a decade later I couldn’t remember the artist and just incorrectly remembered the E.P’s title Chronicles Of Darkness when in fact it was Chronicles of Intense. I also knew it was on Rugged Vinyl yet couldn’t for the life of me remember the label name (yet I could visualise the decor, equally frustrating) and due to the infancy of YouTube, i.e. nobody had uploaded oldskool Jungle videos back then, it took me about another year to ID this, and probably another two to own it digitally from someone’s kind share of a vinyl rip as I’ve always had a big No-No for YouTube rips – gah! Anyway, some lovely deep (aaaaand yet again, dark) strings with a non-cheesy air raid siren that brings in the amen-split break beautifully. Still wish I’d bought that lockable record box, but I was too tight to pay the £40 back in ’95.
Criminal that I didn’t get this or the original on wax. The breathy low pads on the intro just sum up the dark era of 94/95 to a tee. Add on top of that more Dub War horns it’s shady as you like… then, “Hey, someone tek it personal, send for the new gun!” and that filtered kick drum melody (first heard in Johnny Jungle’s Flammable which me and my mates labelled “that pipe tune”) which I absolutely adore along with teasing cymbal staccato rolls before eventually rolling into the smooth amen break.
I actually didn’t own this… Anyhoo, before I go all misty-eyed, the tune in question starts off with the Sesame Street break and considerably poor FX before it all kicks off with some mad fluid flowing reverse bassline and thundering triggered amens that are mental. I looked into it on ‘Cogs and found that the brains behind it was unsurprisingly Bizzy B.
Ratty liked playing this fifth release from the Joker stable, and I liked it too. It took me some time though, as it was relatively a new sound for the scene and completely chaotic. Again, chopped up Sesame Street break with a crappy looped pad hit but then everything else is different – the opening break is so cut up it’s actually 4 kick drums and a snare in quick succession that lowers in volume and you realise it’s like the opposite of a roll build up. Then there’s more cut up triggered amen madness and while you’re scratching your head wondering if this is the proper beat some kind of weird sub sub bass hits you right up your jacksie. It’s all absolute carnage and as I had it on vinyl I played it to death and found it rather dull after 6 months; nearly 25 years later and I’m listening to it from start to finish, it’s an amazing production with what I count 6 separate phases of the track to keep you interested. You won’t be surprised either to find that half of The Dream Team is, again, Bizzy B.
Quite simply, some sublime drum editing that make this a personal amen tear-out fave of mine from MC/DJ/Producer Ian ‘Shock C’ who worked at the legendary Don Christie’s record shop. I miss Don Christie’s terribly – “Rave” section downstairs – with all the flyers on the wall, the smell of tea tree oil, lovely people working there (including Ellis The Menace) and local DJs just randomly dropping in to say hello, like the time Ned Ryder brought in a white label of his releaseLift Off that had just been pressed and gave it to Shock C. I still remember stammering that I’d like to buy a copy and Ned Ryder going, “I don’t think so, son”. A lot of Saturdays I went in there harassing Ian for a tune ID from the Friday night before at the ‘Tute, sometimes whistling it, describing a film sample that was in it or, as I once described Q Project’s Champion Sound, the “nyow-nyow-nyow tune”. Ian was super-polite and used to smile as he had no idea what I was on about and usually answered me with, “it’s still on dubplate, mate”. Sometimes I used to ring ahead to save a copy of a release but back in the 90s I had to hope I still had the yellow & white carrier bag (‘Don Christie’s – The Black Music Specialist’ printed on it) from the week’s previous purchase to get the phone number as I could never find them in that mythical yet real phone book. A simple landline phone call to the shop was an ordeal in itself: you got through to the main reggae section at the top where you’d ask to speak to “downstairs” and you’d hear the recipient of the phone call screaming, “Ian, Ian, Ian!/Ellis, Ellis, Ellis!” through the intercom (millennials please Google) to connect the call as the music was so loud from both levels it’s a wonder the shop never disintegrated from the vibrations. On another note, the aforementioned Dread & The Baldhead released another tune on Slam! that DJ Selfy told me last night in the boozer about the time that he tried to buy it on vinyl in Don Christie’s… and he had his parents with him. Legend. Alas, the powers that be eventually tore the Bullring down after 800 years of operating as an outdoor market and Don Christie’s with it, regenerating the city centre to something quite decent now but I’d do anything to have one more trip into that shop. Oh yeah, Shock C personally sent me this digital copy as I’m still badgering him after 27 years.
One of the latter vinyls I bought before I stopped purchasing DnB again for another good 3 years, the Tech Step is obviously prominent in this but I loved the Sci-Fi eeriness of it all, plus the amen drop in the last phase of the track is something to behold, absolutely mind blowing along with top notch production.
I borrowed this awesome 4 x 12″ from Nicky Quick Fingers but in reality I just wanted to listen to the remix of Truly One all day long. The hats, the (what I originally thought was Neil Armstrong) President Nixon phone call to the moon sample, bad boy B-line and amen just make this an epic tune for me, the only word I can lamely think to describe it as full of zip; I still mix this in with modern DnB, a testament to Origin Unknown’s flawless production techniques.
Cool crystal clear tops feeding into a chunky 2-step rhythm with some floating stringy pads that evolve into sinister synths, the heavily edited amen that is spliced to death is a welcome surprise before the track settles into a standard Tech-Step tune but with a double-timed kick drum that keeps things fresh. You want some mash-up? Very fierce release.
Interesting one, this: without trying to sound cocky, I know that the title of this is incorrect; TDK & Bizzy B are in fact The Dream Team, as proved in the ‘Cogs link. However, this was a blind download on Soulseek and I’ve kept the original title as downloaded because I can’t find this anywhere as a release, yet I’ve trawled through all of Bizzy B’s unreleased dubplate albums. A refreshing take on the original keeping the rude boy vibe but with some enhancing pads about halfway through that lead to more break juggling madness with a modern DnB twist.
Bought on white label, I didn’t know what this was until about 5 years ago. My mate DJ Presha Lock/Andi is more or less family to me so felt comfortable in telling me that the cheesy piano sounded like a scene composed on-the-fly in Neighbours when somebody dies. It’s actually George Michael’s Cowboys & Angels (don’t know if that’s worse or not) but his face changed when that monstrous beat kicked in, a triggered mix of kick drum, snare and cymbal from an amen riff. Remixed by the JB himself on his own label, this is a fitting finale to the mix, albeit played in the wrong key for half the track as I was pissing about but I reckon it kinda adds an alternative (note – read alternative as “shit”) element to the track.
Here’s a little 20 minute mix to get you going for a shiny new decade – some electrifying breakbeat pressure that has got continental Europe written all over it (not literally, use your ears). During the no-mans-land between Christmas & New Year I was sorting and tagging through my Hardcore collection (not gentlemens’ relaxers or pixelated videos) and I found an unsorted folder with some stuff by Alec Empire. I’ve only played Bass Terror on rare occasion because I don’t know what set to plonk it into so knew it could be a little bit manic. Man, was I in for a surprise! I found mixing his stuff exciting with what I thought at the time were Dutch & Belgian Techno influences (obviously German after I looked him up) which caught me out here and there with Liam Howlett-style beats kicking in half a bar early but I loved chopping ’em just as much. It was a weird set, with the opener release being at 137 bpm while the outro is 173; I sorta went down the middle for 165 bpm keeping everything in its original key. A lot of the tracks are short but I don’t know if I had some kind of dodgy downloaded edited albums or they were intentionally made like that… not too bothered to explore further tbh, I have about another 4,000 tracks to sift through. Anyway, here we go for another decade but it’s the usual drill: Download & tracklisting below. I’d advise not to listen to this with a New Year’s hangover, save it for when you know you’re going to get another one the night before. Hope you all have a spiffing 2020!
So, final post of the year, decade, etc. yaaaawn. I finally did a random Jungle folder mix, sorta enjoying it as some of the tunes were exceptional (and admittedly I hadn’t heard a handful of them for over ten years) while others disappointed and caught me out which I suppose is all part of the fun. I’m certainly not trying to impress you (consider yourself a listener of my waffle and experience) and I know my mixing capabilities, regardless of hard or soft-ware. I was especially bemused with the set opener, Total Control and the final tune, Wah Do Dem which I thought were weak. Shows that I haven’t been through this folder with a fine tooth-comb like I thought I had, unlike my (preferred) DnB folder which I was brutal with and stripped from over 2,000 tracks to a mere 300. Anyway, here’s the mix, the order slightly altered from the original Notepad++ document (randomised with a Python script plugin) due to my virtual folders not remembering the order the tunes were dragged in as it always sorts them in some fashion, alphabetically, last played, chronological, this actual set fastest BPM to slowest. Christ, nerd alert – sorry. Have a good Xmas y’all!
After mixing a ‘Classic Jungle’ set for my mate at work recently that was just like a Ministry Of Sound compilation (and just as boring too) I sort of lost my ‘lectronic music mojo but persevered, mixed Molten Beatz 2 & Blog #5 Mix, listened back to them after I uploaded them to Mediafire, scowled… and deleted them, along with the blog posts relevant to them. I needed something fresh and new so went in the direction of Scientific Wax, then it’s sub label, found the perfectly decent amenage and wispy pads a tad monotonous, realised there was a B-Key release on there, which eventually got me onto the Biotic label and the artists on it: B-Key, Facs and Dylan. When I bought a 10″ white label at the turn of the century with some kind of weird animal skull printed on it, I thought the ‘XXX’ on it meant it was some kind of exclusive (!), not the name of Biotic’s sub label. The AA side Dimension X, a stringy, spooky sci-fi atmospheric suddenly turning into an amen smasher made me actually shout, “Woah!” when the beat kicked in. I ended up buying at least four from this stable, as well as a few from it’s parent. While hearing that sneaky Darth Vader sample on Facs’ Capture, I understood that DnB had changed to the point where amen sampling wasn’t a priority any longer (although it’s still present in some of these artists’ releases) and the original Tech Step sound would be here for a long time, albeit with cleaner tops, more articulate kick drums that actually boom rather than a drumloop afterthought and chunky snares that – by these artists at least – make you shit your pants. Add on better, cleverer production and this kind of futuristic beat music lurked amid the scene for another decade until another generation of artists came through; although I will say that releases from these certain three artists always had a mean, sinister undercurrent to their style that I absolutely love. Add on the fact that they just don’t tweak the bassline with filters, they mutate the piss out of it to create actual melodies. Ian & Pauline, last tune’s for you pair. So, you want some hard, dark coldness? You’ve been warned.
After listening back to the Ram Records mixes of the previous post and half-enjoying them (tutting and rolling my eyes and swearing under my breath at the mixing whilst listening to it in the car or at work), I declare that I am all DnB & Jungled out. I tried listening to a bit of Hardcore but not even my “roots” can satisfy me at the moment. Searching in my folders I found Liquid DnB, something I only naively play in the warmer months as I find the whole soul/jazz thang uplifting and sunshinery (I’m liking this trend of making up new words for the blog). So I’ve had a mix of the tunes I always go back to and I realised that I did something very similar about 6 years ago and posted it on Soundcloud calling it “Funkinell” with some artwork of two ladies with headphones on… in the act of, erm, osculation. It was only a twenty minute mix and I told my mate Ian (no nickname, he’s always been known as just ‘Ian’ yet is a very interesting dude) that there was lots more to follow as he liked the faster-paced amen more than me; this never happened. I get pissed off doing volumes, parts, chapters, etc. as there’s an ambiguity about them and they are either infinite or just stop dead so I’ve decided that these Liquid bizniss sets will be a Trilogy. No sequels, prequels, spin-offs, TV series or merchandise. Three separate sets crafted in my bedroom the studio by just me with dodgy mixing and probably my missus walking in asking me if I want garlic bread with my lunch/tea (there is actual evidence of this on a short video on a WhatsApp group).
Ian, otherwise known as Ian
Anyway, here’s the mix without too much info on the tunes except that I must say that it’s been mentioned that Grooverider cried the first time that he heard GoldenGirl; I kinda get that… I cried the first time I ever heard InLove. Meh, what? WHAT?!
There was another totally different themed post for today’s blog, but the mix for it was that awful I’ve deleted the whole lot and it will be redone again at a later date. I dunno, it was one of those days where nothing went right (mainly Apple products and it’s software, truth be told) and a couple of afternoon refreshments down the pub didn’t exactly get me focused for standing over my ‘decks’ for an hour or two. What made up for it though is that the day before, my mate DJ Presha Lock (the best DJ name in the world, by the way) asked for an all Ram Records set. He also reminded me of when I bought the Titan EP and we didn’t do any mixing for three days as we just sat and listened to the tracks from start to finish, an emphasis on just how mind blowing the production of the tracks were. I informed him (as said before in this blog) that it had been done to death and that I wouldn’t be doing one, although I have been guilty of doing an all GLR set once or twice and I don’t like doing all label-only sets. I’ve never really looked into an all Ram set as I heard an excellent one on the DnB Arena forum around 2008 and decided I couldn’t better it; however a decade on and with yet more tracks released I decided to give it a try and simply typed in ‘Ram Records’ into my PC and nearly 60 results came up (for non-regular readers of this blog, I’ve never been one to download whole labels). I then filtered them into years, and they roughly divided equal into this and last century, so Phase One was mixed from chronologically 1993 to 1999 for the O’Briens, my original raving crew mates, and Phase Two from 2000 to 2017 for my latter day boogieing buddies, the Hills… who are all related as cousins. The latter set had to be quite precise as Andy C & co are guilty of pretty much using the same snare (although it is a lovely one) and the DnB I can’t seem to chop as much. The first set I had a lot more fun with as you can tell by the intro, a very well crafted piano version of Valley Of The Shadows produced by my mate Galvatron; this was originally released as a 140bpm track, but out of courtesy to the master beat masher I kept it in the same key with his approval but I dropped in the wrong mix of Truly One (I wanted to use the ’96 remix), criminal in my mind and still doing my head in, although there’s plenty more future mixes for it to be played I suppose. For the nerds out there, you’ll also point out that Woo Hah! was released on Elektra, not Ram. Pfffft, whatever – it’s my blog, man.
So, to contradict an earlier post that you’ll never get an all-Ram set from me, here’s two of the buggers and Andi – this one’s for you mate (secret Villa fan):
As promised, here’s another selection of Hardcore styl-ee. These are personal faves of mine and halfway through the set it dawned on me in a melancholy way how lucky and privileged I am to own tracks like these. If you’re not into the whole DJing thang you could say and be quite correct in that it’s just a bunch of mp3s of old vinyl rips from nearly 30 years ago but for me, to have at least 5,000 tunes at my fingertips ready to mix is a pure dream and to be more lame I have a digital set up that is frowned upon by many; I like the idea of less storage, the ability to clean up tracks and manipulate/loop them and add FX to the point where you can “remix on the fly” which is territory I don’t venture into a lot, but that’s my defence for it. On the other hand, my ideal set up would be a ‘half & half’: Serato on a Mac with time-coded vinyl on a pair of Technics 1210s… this isn’t happening any time soon though!
Anyhoo, these tracks speak for themselves; some are anthems, others aren’t, but I loved mixing these tracks. I was actually dancing as I was mixing them (and missed my cue points a couple of times) and I don’t do dancing – like I said in a previous post, I’m a moody head-nodder at the bar but that’s just the Junglist in me. So, step into my DeLorean as we head back to 1992…
Acen – Trip II The Moon
An all time classic, the first time I heard this I was astounded by Acen’s crisp production and liberal use of a reverbed kick drum in his loops; I thought he was years ahead of his time. I played Part 1 as I prefer the You Only Live Twice James Bond sample over the Part 2 one because Robbie Williams murdered the latter. RenegadeGenius stated that early copies of this synthesized the 007 sample but it didn’t fit, so the original sample was used. He also tinkered with it himself using another James Bond sample which I adore.
New Decade – Get The Message
I still can’t get how mental it sounded; again kick drum heavy and a beautiful techno-ey phase that’s verging on flipping gabber. Add robotic voice samples, timeless rave off key pianos and you have a track that would still tear up the dance floors in 2019.
Q Project – Champion Sound
Man, this tune. Okay, it’s basic: A crunchy clap intro with some tops and a simple hot pants break but then that ultra-dark pad hits to make it one of my all time favourites. I’ve been listening to it weekly since 1993 and have worked out that the synth is a slowed down trumpet or trombone. On paper it sounds awful with a poorly looped weird vocal too which I’ve kindly reversed in this mix to actually show that it’s an old Hindi sample – proof that they sampled anything and everything back in the day. It all comes together though and has been remixed eleven squintillion times (probably closer to a dozen actually), the Alliance remix is probably the most well known with sharper production, extra brass section and that infamous needle scratch before the beat drops back in again. I was ill when this was released on vinyl so my mate kindly picked it up for me from Don Christie’s and wrote on the label sleeve in blue biro, “DJ Mus fave sound”. I’ll never forgive him for that.
Essence Of Aura – Destiny
My mate at college had this on vinyl and we couldn’t get enough of it on a mad hi-fi system in his room. You want fast paced? Go get busy with the tempo.
Mystery Man – DJ Business
A delight to mix in (“what is a DJ if he can’t scratch?”) with a rolling break to boot and a wicked sample, “is that a DJ on two turntables?” Absolutely superb. Add in that piano and you’re already reaching for the skyyyyyyyyyy.
Egyptian Empire – The Horn Track (Foghorn Mix)
I love the original mix as to me it’s almost pure but I’ve been playing the Foghorn mix lately as it’s nicer to mix in and is slightly remixed with an added vocal and different structure. I want this played at my funeral.
Mystery Man – Love E (Remix)
Tune. Famously played by Grooverider in the summer of ’92, my mate Elusive re-released this (the original was mis-pressed on another label I think). That 80’s sample is doing my swede in (Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark???) but it works so well and makes the track stand out for me.
Nebula II – Flatliners
I love Nebula II’s work – simple hardcore that is full of energy and well catchy. I rinse this every week.
Tango & Ratty – Tales From the Darkside
I still remember listening to this walking to work in the rain off a Ratty mix on my Walkman and it actually gave me goosebumps on my arms, I loved it that much. The sped-up kick a hole in the speaker, pull the plug and I checksample before the beat kicks in is still amazing. Add those uplifting yet dark strings in halfway through the track and you’re on fire.
NRG – Feel the Fury (Piano Remix)
I borrowed the original silver EP of this and found it sample heavy (especially Promised Land with it’s Charlie & The Chocolate Factory snippets) but love the Terminator-themed Unity. This remix however is more elegant and uplifting, hence it was dropped in the mix.
Liquid Crystal – You Got Me
An earlier incarnation of NRG, I used to rinse the remix but the intro is a little convoluted to mix in so preferred this one, still a banger. The remix does have some more high intense strings added though with some sharper snares.
Aurora – Shaun’s Revenge
Considering this was produced in 1992 and is a shade under 150 beats per minute, the ferocity of this amen smasher with tight rolls in it is awesome. High energy stuff that doesn’t let you come up for air, I’m lovin’ the cut up Listen To The Rhythm Flow vocal sample.
DJ Fokus – Disengaged
God I hate mixing this one in, quite simply it’s a bastard but it just had to go in the mix man. Nicking the break from The Prodigy’s Fire Genaside II Remix (but I don’t know where Liam nicked it from) this is just madness. Add the addictive B-Line too, this has Fokus’s tightness all about it.
Fourth Dimension – Infection
Mental. My second favourite Hardcore tune of all time. You want in yer face Hardcore stabs, a stomp-fest of utter bangingness (I should be copyrighting these words I make up for the blog, man) and a cool uplifting piano acapella that allows you to breathe after two minutes before submerging you into a musical frenzy again? Here you go.
To counter what I stated at the very beginning of this blog, I do constantly add more tracks to my Jungle folder as there’s always something to find, but it’s just not as frenzied. There may be weeks, sometimes even months when nothing new is added; I’m not specifically looking for anything. However, sometimes I can be scrolling through social media or something that catches my eye on YouTube (I don’t drudge through Soundcloud any longer, it’s too overwhelming) and there’s a tune that is right up my street. Last weekend, I hit the jackpot with a label I’d disappointingly never heard of and which I’m ashamed to admit can’t recall – Deep Jungle. In my defence, they only released about four releases mid-ninetiesish, but started up again in 2017 for unreleased stuff by famous artists from the same period. There’s some corkers on there, tracks that have been screamed for to get a release since 1993 and I’m pleased with my recent additions. I also found some other Jungle newbies too, all described in the following mix:
PFM/Tayla – Submarine Tune
Couldn’t find this anywhere on ‘Cogs and found out it was unreleased. Very reminiscent of the PFM atmospheric-heavy period 1994/5 with their signature amen drum programming and prolonged spiritual pads. Always a good set opener.
Pascal – Fear of the Unknown
Man, I remember this one from me white glove & whistle days! Completely forgot about it which is a good thing in hindsight – it only got re-released this year. A Bukem favourite, with a simple yet pacy amen and some odd although familiar synth stabs with that infamous sample. Blinder of a tune.
Babylon Cru – Press Up (Unreleased Amen Mix)
Mixing a lot of tear-out 94-95 Jungle lately, it’s starting to get on my tits a tad of how much the Sesame Street break was used as an intro to these kind of tunes. Great track though as there’s some lovely reverse sub bassline. The ragga vocals also grate slightly, but that’s down to my preference of having limited vocals from this era and sub genre.
Sonar’s Ghost – Soundless Fusion
Some very Rupert Parkes-esque (Photek) break editing from Sonar’s Ghost again, this man’s skills are never ending. From the Ode 2 E.P.
Adam F – Rushin’
Not exactly my cup of tea, but you can distinguish Adam F’s legendary talent for string arrangement in this earlier release. Excuse the pun, but this is definitely on the more ‘Deep Jungle’ side of things that I do switch to on occasion.
Harmony & Xtreme – X Amount
This was an original general release that I overlooked which I should be kicking my own ass for as I love DJ Harmony, and especially admire the Harmony & Xtreme sound.
The Undergraduates – Bass Face 94
Saw this on Soulseek, knew that The Undergraduates is an alias for The Invisible Man/Graham Mew but had never heard of it. This is because it’s been released on the excellent KVA label back in 2016.
Sonar’s Ghost – Unimaginable Powers
Flipside to the earlier tune Soundless Fusion – a simply storming tune, surely a nod to Crystl’s Meditation?
Dillinja – One For The Trouble
Obvious Dillinja bad-bwoy bizniss with those decayed end-of bar breaks and groin-rumbling bass that’s quite compelling.
Red Light (4) – Turn Off The Lights
A truly off-key (as in different, not badly produced) track that I love, it’s got an excellent sample that I’m unsure of where it’s from but it’s basically some dude screaming for them to “turn off the lights!” with a creepy lullaby + child singing combination that kicks off the main amen reverbed break with a deadly bassline. Some good stuff from another alias of Shut Up & Dance, the guilty party behind that Raving I’m Raving.
T.I.C – Promo #10 (AA)
Released on the elusive Back 2 Basics sub label, Promo Recordings (if you’re reading this Galvababy, I’m still after #5 🙂 ), this was Technical Itch’s side project and is just relentless. A little bit ‘out there’ but this has always been Tech Itch’s niche in manipulating breaks and putting absurd filters on them which always prove to be dance floor smashers.
T.I.C – Promo #10 (A)
The obvious flip to the previous track, more of the same really with a touch more Sesame Street break to add an extra snare effect – clever.
DJ Ruffkutt – London Massive
I thing Ruffkutt is great, ever since he did that dark take on Nookie’s Give A Little Love on one of his first releases, Dubwhite. Splendid sliced amens with a bad boy vibe that get you frantically nodding your head.
DJ Ruffkutt – Newcleus
A more ethereal approach to the flip of the previous release on Deep Jungle, this is what I call, a run-to-the-dancefloor-when-I’m-peaking tune, if you get my meaning.
Tech Itch – Death Trip ’95
Some more endless amen choppage from Tech Itch but I like the snare in this that gives a it a little bit more of a twist than the usual amen tear-out offerings.
Tech Itch – A Far Place
Also the flip to the previous track, some nice triggers on the loop editing that got your parents scratching their heads back in the day shouting up the stairs, “it sounds like a load of dustbin lids being clanged together!” or, as my Dad once said that has now gone down in legend: “Hark at it!”
T.I.C – Promo #8 (A)
Another banger from Tech Itch with obligatory 90’s West Coast gangster film samples, this tune sort of sums up the whole sound of this label, the aforementioned Promo Recordings to me.
I could probably have ended my last few mixes a little more subtly, this one is no exception in the way it just cuts off abruptly. Never mind, first world problems and all that:
I always struggled with Happy Hardcore; during the halcyon days of 1993-95 I wasn’t too sure about it as I was desperately trying to drive forward my DJing with the dark, murderous Jungle but I always embraced the HH scene for personal and musical reasons: First off, Pandemonium left The Institute and went to Mr. B’s (formerly J-Jay’s) in Willenhall which was in the back of beyond of the West Midlands with the worst car park in the world – at least it had one. The true Junglists (moi) stuck with the ‘Tute as Obsession took over as the promoters and I liked – briefly – the reverse bassline sound and tearing amens coming into fruition but Jesus Christ, Obsession was moody. There was a new crowd, or, thinking back on it now two and half decades later, a new generation and although I don’t claim to be one of the ‘original ravers’, the vibe had definitely changed for the worse and I missed the same old faces week after week. Turned out they’d followed Mark Chamberlain and his crew to Willenhall to this so-called crappy little club so we decided to try it. The club was OK, a good well laid out comfortable venue with a tiny dance floor and the weirdest DJ booth I have ever seen: An enclosed-in booth where the dance floor ravers (by this time I was a proper prick, choosing to lean up the bar criticising the mixes and tunes until my bezzie Pauline informed me after a few weeks that I was being a cocky twat and I should just get my arse on the dance floor) could smell the DJ’s breath, yet you could fit only 2 people in there (MC & DJ) and the two Technics were next to each other with the mixer at a right angle to the wheels of steel. I remember a quite well known DJ entering that booth for the first time and the look on his face of pure bewilderment; suffice to say he played one of the best sets I’ve ever heard there. This brings me onto the point that the vibe was much better here, even with the chipmunk vocals and arpeggioed-to-death pianos with a 4-beat stomp that fell out of fashion of my particular preference about 3 years previous. Mind you, back then in my yoot, I thought dark, rolling Jungle was the only sound to take seriously and I really wasn’t interested in anything else. No denying though, some of my best raving nights were at Mr. B’s and the Happy Hardcore scene influenced that a great deal.
As for the music, I used to snigger at the amens layered over the Techno hats and Gabber kick drums with uplifting pianos, sped up RnB vocals and rave stabs that were soooo 1991. Sniggered so much that I looked in my vinyl collection one day and found that I had at least 50 HH tunes on the black wax. I loved the simplicity of it, how captivating it was and indeed I found myself bopping more to it than when I was spinning the Jungle.
Looking back, it’s just great then & now to simply just bounce around to it rather than stroke my chin with Jungle, thinking about how the tops are filtered in and how the vocal is deliberately half a bar out to coincide with the Reese bassline with a snare over the top which is a really a kick drum with the piss filtered out of it and… Oh God!!! Bore off, you get the gist. Happy Hardcore always has been, like, here’s the tune, ‘ave it!
So, in the mix, my fave tunes from that era. By God, I can still smell the 20/20 behind the upper bar at Mr. B’s now…
DJ Vibes – Obsession (Musics So Wonderful)
Slipmat – SMD#2AA
Ramos & Supreme – Crowd Control
Krome & Time – The Slammer
Ramos & Supreme – The Journey
Fat Controller – In Complete Darkness
DJ Red Alert & Mike Slammer – Walking on Sunshine
DJ Red Alert & Mike Slammer – Fuckin’ Hardcore
Future Primitive – Lift Me Up (Slammin Vinyl Remix)
Ravers Choice 1 – A
DJ Vibes – Keep Rushin
DJ Vibes – When Your Having Fun
J.D.S. – Classified E.P. B
DJ Vibes & Wishdokta – U Dream Of Heaven
Jimmy J & Cru-L-T – Take Me Away (Slipmatt Remix)
N-ZO & DJ Invincible – Funky Sensation
Freestyle & DJR – Ten 44
Naughty Naughty Volume 09 – A (Aretha Frankln Deeper Love & Nookie Gonna Be Alright)
DJ Red Alert & Mike Slammer – DJ Seduction – So In Love (Vibes & Wishdokta Remix)
Moby – Feeling So Real (Original Mix)
DJ Red Alert & Mike Slammer – In Effect
Ravers Choice 1 – B (Some VIP mix???)
Higher Level – Everybody Can Be
GBT Inc. – Burn Mutha Fukka
DJ Hixxy & Sharkey – Toy Town (Noddy & Bigears Mix)
Jungle Forever 