THE DARKSIDE OF RAVE

Top Buzz - Living In Darkness (1992)

Loads of hardcore rave turning into darkside jungle tunes used the word dark in the title: Hello Darkness, Tales From The Darkside, The Dark Stranger, Darkage, Dark Angel, Trip II The Moon (The Darkside), Darkrider, The Dark Crystl, Darker Side Of Evil, Darker Than I Should Be, Dark Horse In Full Effect, Shot In The Dark, The Dark Sheep, Darkman, String Of Darkness, Second Dark Child, In Complete Darkness, Dark Secrets, Give A Little Darkness, Darkcore etc. 

I can't remember who used it first but it was ubiquitous by 1992 so maybe it was Top Buzz? I dunno. Or did someone pre-empt the dark vibe in 1991? The brisk drummage here is noice, as is the (barely audible here) bass drop but it really kicks off at 1.23 when the massive hardcore riff comes in. The darkness is piled on with the atmospheric synth then there's a choice reprise bass breakdown at 4.23. Triumphant.

*Listening to jungle on youtube is not ideal as you lose so much bass even when it's bluetoothed through a good sound system. 

Noise Factory - Be Free (1992)

Total Banger!

I know the young folk have appropriated the word banger and now use it to describe tv shows, food, tik tok videos and whatever else they think is good but I'm using it here in its original context. 

Be Free starts out of the gate with a bunch of dub reggae samples taken from Scientist V Prince Jammy's Big Showdown LP and they continue throughout. Then at 1.00 it becomes an absolute Amen smasher with massive rave riffs and the iconic "No" sample. 

DJ Trace & Ed Rush - Clean Gun (1993)

It feels like Clean Gun starts at least four times. At the start. Next at the 0.21 mark when the backwards drummage intermingled with martial snares enters. Then at 1.27 when a new beat kicks in on top of the old one. Then again at 1.52 when another rhythm comes in over the top of the other two. This new rhythm really gets rolling though but the other two beats continue along with some tasty snatches of dancehall MCs. By the time of the wicked bass drop at 3.16 maybe even another monster beat has taken over, it's all so crazy it's hard to tell! Soon we've got hands in the air synth ambience to take us to the finish. A top notch journey into rhythmic psychedelia. 

Johnny Jungle - Flammable (1993)

Is what it says on the tin! Flammable is smeared in darkness from the get go but the frantic Amen choppage passes through the echo chamber to burst out. Every element here seems to have been time-stretched for maximum euphoric dancefloor delight. Flamin' tune.

Johnny Jungle - The Devoted Drummer (1993)

Insane beat science on this one. The rhythm here is time stretched to the limit. My brain feels deliriously devoted to the drummer after this trip into the jungle of contorted rhythmic madness.