two decks, a dodgy mixer and a twelve year old tape recorder helps to create that ‘authentic’ sound
this isn’t a hip mix, but simply a few tunes I like, done for a friend.
commence...
dj krust- ‘true stories’ this is krust’s major label debut as far as I know (via talkin’ loud). its from the period when d’n’b producers were attempting to be seen as ‘serious artists’ who were ‘painting pictures and telling stories’- goldie’s ‘saturn returnz’ and grooverider’s ‘mysteries of funk’ spring to mind. on the whole, when a producer starts pontificating about such things, its time to walk away: its dance music and it ain’t supposed to be clever its supposed to get you sweaty.
anyway, this was released after the mighty ‘warhead’ and is certainly an attempt to appeal to more than just the dancefloor- 11 or so minutes long, menacing atmospheres, and tight production (he doesn’t simply sequence the generic ‘boom-tic’ drum pattern and press ‘play’). ideal for rolling mixes, especially into stuff like…
ed rush and optical- ‘funktion’ which along with the aforementioned warhead (both released on v recordings) were the most caned tunes of 1998 in the drum’n’bass clubs i attended. eery and distorted loops abound but as the title suggests, funky (well as funky as techstep can get).
tango- ‘war for 94’ better known alongside his mate ratty. a really nice horn refrain intro before the drop. paul meme has discussed how the drums in jungle were considerably ‘toughened up’ between 1994-95 and this is shown by the difference between this tune and the next few. time to break out an amen…
dj krome & mr time- ‘ganja man’ / remarc- ‘menace’ / dj krome & mr time- ‘the license’ / dj krome & mr time- ‘the license (rmx)’ / dj krome & mr time- ‘studio one lik’ no, they are not the rarest - tearin’ vinyl have re-released the k&t tracks more than once on their ‘classics’ imprint, they turn up on compilations such as this and the remarc tune is on his ‘soundmurderer’ comp from last year on planet mu.
tangent alert- its this sort of stuff that makes me wonder a)why the drill’n’bass/ ‘IDM’ crew think they invented mad drum programming- these were released before any of the plug 12”s and b) why the drum’n’bass massive were so scathing towards squarepusher etc - I remember getting monumentally slagged by some staff in nottingham’s selectadisc for liking both ‘proper’ d’n’b and drill’n‘bass.
but, boy these tunes still rule; amens chopped to fuck, huge bass, gangsta samples (particularly remarc’s, where a voice states that we’ve chosen “the wrong nigga to fuck with” while his mate threatens all and sundry- “i’m going to my car, get my other gun and shoot everybody’s ass”, much like old s.o.u.r./shy fx tunes).
when we saw remarc in london last christmas, it was a timely reminder of the power of this stuff when heard LOUD. I hadn’t danced so hard for years. when christine told her friend about this, she replyed “well it shows how empty their lives are”. thanks for that, lucy.
‘studio one lik’ has, turns the heat down a little (but only a little) with a nice reggae sample from the late sir coxsone, as does…
kemet crew- ‘soul pill’ sampling the ‘run run’ rhythm, another classic old-school jungle outfit/ label who released an lp of unreleased tunes called ‘amen heaven’ last year (sums it up) from which this is taken: classic ragga jungle a cut above the likes of ‘incredible’ etc. incidently, can anyone else remember when general levy was cast-out by the self proclaimed jungle arbiters of taste for that release? I was particularly impressed by the official sounding name they gave themselves, something like ‘the association of british drum’n’bass producers’.
unknown- ‘my dub is your dub’ this is a white label bought 2nd hand from the excellent (though expensive) avit records in oxford. sampling whitney houston this is a wicked hard-step tune although it doesn’t do a lot once it's started. much like modern d’n’b where the addition of an extra cymbol half way through is supposed to excite (“you’ll love this tune mate, there’s a wicked cowbell after the second drop”)
din-s.t- ‘she’s my number 1’ this guy produced the something j & dj maxximus ode to consumerism ‘versace armani vs. mercedes bentley’ and has nuff releases on, amongst others ambush. this is quite mild in comparison to breakcore’s normal fare though (I’m not sure mansfield’s ready for dj scud): it starts with lots of shouting (“mash up”, “brace yourselves” pianos, rave stabs and bass drops before starting proper, a nice stylistic link to:
hrvatski- ‘vatstep dsp’ drill’n’bass classic from the man once known to play shows dressed as a chicken and who now records ‘serious’ music as keith fullerton whitman. supposedly, hrvatski had a bit of an obsession with the amen break at one point and it shows on this. cats squeel. a speak and spell chanter, sleng teng mash up madness. this was the only reason to buy kid 606’s ‘down with the scene’ cd (it’s a remix of one of the kid’s songs and I think mike patton insisted it was on the release) until it was included on ‘swarm and dither’ (planet mu) - a fine record.
aphex twin- a track from ‘s.a.w. vol 2’ the one with what sounds like children voices moaning and groaning. like a beatless boards of canada. I guessed a rest was in order after all the drum carnage.
then to finish- dj hype- ‘you must think first (original mix)’ i’ve mentioned this before, so I won’t again.
this isn’t a hip mix, but simply a few tunes I like, done for a friend.
commence...
dj krust- ‘true stories’ this is krust’s major label debut as far as I know (via talkin’ loud). its from the period when d’n’b producers were attempting to be seen as ‘serious artists’ who were ‘painting pictures and telling stories’- goldie’s ‘saturn returnz’ and grooverider’s ‘mysteries of funk’ spring to mind. on the whole, when a producer starts pontificating about such things, its time to walk away: its dance music and it ain’t supposed to be clever its supposed to get you sweaty.
anyway, this was released after the mighty ‘warhead’ and is certainly an attempt to appeal to more than just the dancefloor- 11 or so minutes long, menacing atmospheres, and tight production (he doesn’t simply sequence the generic ‘boom-tic’ drum pattern and press ‘play’). ideal for rolling mixes, especially into stuff like…
ed rush and optical- ‘funktion’ which along with the aforementioned warhead (both released on v recordings) were the most caned tunes of 1998 in the drum’n’bass clubs i attended. eery and distorted loops abound but as the title suggests, funky (well as funky as techstep can get).
tango- ‘war for 94’ better known alongside his mate ratty. a really nice horn refrain intro before the drop. paul meme has discussed how the drums in jungle were considerably ‘toughened up’ between 1994-95 and this is shown by the difference between this tune and the next few. time to break out an amen…
dj krome & mr time- ‘ganja man’ / remarc- ‘menace’ / dj krome & mr time- ‘the license’ / dj krome & mr time- ‘the license (rmx)’ / dj krome & mr time- ‘studio one lik’ no, they are not the rarest - tearin’ vinyl have re-released the k&t tracks more than once on their ‘classics’ imprint, they turn up on compilations such as this and the remarc tune is on his ‘soundmurderer’ comp from last year on planet mu.
tangent alert- its this sort of stuff that makes me wonder a)why the drill’n’bass/ ‘IDM’ crew think they invented mad drum programming- these were released before any of the plug 12”s and b) why the drum’n’bass massive were so scathing towards squarepusher etc - I remember getting monumentally slagged by some staff in nottingham’s selectadisc for liking both ‘proper’ d’n’b and drill’n‘bass.
but, boy these tunes still rule; amens chopped to fuck, huge bass, gangsta samples (particularly remarc’s, where a voice states that we’ve chosen “the wrong nigga to fuck with” while his mate threatens all and sundry- “i’m going to my car, get my other gun and shoot everybody’s ass”, much like old s.o.u.r./shy fx tunes).
when we saw remarc in london last christmas, it was a timely reminder of the power of this stuff when heard LOUD. I hadn’t danced so hard for years. when christine told her friend about this, she replyed “well it shows how empty their lives are”. thanks for that, lucy.
‘studio one lik’ has, turns the heat down a little (but only a little) with a nice reggae sample from the late sir coxsone, as does…
kemet crew- ‘soul pill’ sampling the ‘run run’ rhythm, another classic old-school jungle outfit/ label who released an lp of unreleased tunes called ‘amen heaven’ last year (sums it up) from which this is taken: classic ragga jungle a cut above the likes of ‘incredible’ etc. incidently, can anyone else remember when general levy was cast-out by the self proclaimed jungle arbiters of taste for that release? I was particularly impressed by the official sounding name they gave themselves, something like ‘the association of british drum’n’bass producers’.
unknown- ‘my dub is your dub’ this is a white label bought 2nd hand from the excellent (though expensive) avit records in oxford. sampling whitney houston this is a wicked hard-step tune although it doesn’t do a lot once it's started. much like modern d’n’b where the addition of an extra cymbol half way through is supposed to excite (“you’ll love this tune mate, there’s a wicked cowbell after the second drop”)
din-s.t- ‘she’s my number 1’ this guy produced the something j & dj maxximus ode to consumerism ‘versace armani vs. mercedes bentley’ and has nuff releases on, amongst others ambush. this is quite mild in comparison to breakcore’s normal fare though (I’m not sure mansfield’s ready for dj scud): it starts with lots of shouting (“mash up”, “brace yourselves” pianos, rave stabs and bass drops before starting proper, a nice stylistic link to:
hrvatski- ‘vatstep dsp’ drill’n’bass classic from the man once known to play shows dressed as a chicken and who now records ‘serious’ music as keith fullerton whitman. supposedly, hrvatski had a bit of an obsession with the amen break at one point and it shows on this. cats squeel. a speak and spell chanter, sleng teng mash up madness. this was the only reason to buy kid 606’s ‘down with the scene’ cd (it’s a remix of one of the kid’s songs and I think mike patton insisted it was on the release) until it was included on ‘swarm and dither’ (planet mu) - a fine record.
aphex twin- a track from ‘s.a.w. vol 2’ the one with what sounds like children voices moaning and groaning. like a beatless boards of canada. I guessed a rest was in order after all the drum carnage.
then to finish- dj hype- ‘you must think first (original mix)’ i’ve mentioned this before, so I won’t again.
