DJ Crystl: Dee Jay Recordings 1993

To me Dj Crystl is one of the great sound designers of the jungle era. Perhaps Pete Parsons aka Voyager, his engineer and right hand man deserves some credit here too. The tunes below display a producer at the peak of his powers going from strength to strength like Omni Trio, Foul Play, 4Hero and Goldie all were at roughly the same time. While Dj Crystl's 1993 was brilliant choon-wize and his 1994 was also pretty good, it was the following year things just did not blow up for him how they were supposed to as jungle ballooned into Drum & Bass. Crystl somehow missed the momentum and it felt like his potential was never fully realised. Like is there several albums worth of material that never got released? What happened? While that's probably an interesting story (that I don't actually know) I just want to point out here what a stellar set of releases DJ Crystl issued in 1993 on Dee Jay Recordings. 

Dj Crystl's three 12"s on Dee Jay Recordings and one 12" on Force Ten Records in 1993 make up one of Jungle's most sublime winning runs. If Crystlize, Deep Space, Meditation, Warp Drive, Sweet Dreamz, Your Destiny, The Dark Crystl and Inna Year 3000 were all put on one cd it would have been one of the top jungle albums of all time along with The Deepest Cut, Parallel Universe etc. Actually I can't believe somebody didn't have the foresight or hindsight to compile that (?). 

I suppose Dj Crystl was one of the original ambient jungle producers. I always think he's got a vague shoegaze vibe too with his walls of synth sound, drones and ethereal vocal science scattered amongst the jungle elements. I wonder if Kevin Shields or Seefeel were fans? or vice versa? Anyway his sides are a lot crisper than you might imagine or remember. They are immaculately put together with all sorts of microscopic detail. I imagine Dj Crystl spent a lot of time meticulously crafting each second of his tuneage while never losing sight of the big picture. The sound while fastidious however never appears to be too fussy, often quite the opposite and that balancing act is where his potency lies. Like Omni Trio there is an aura of splendid excitement, elegance and generosity in Dj Crystl's jungle.  

DJ Crystl - Crystlize

Swirls of synths, shapeshifting walls of sound, time-stretched drum opulence, alluring dark tunnels, ethereal vocal science and an uncanny rattling clang accompany the endlessly chopped snares into the Crystlized echo chamber.

DJ Crystl - Deep Space

Frantic intricate choppage that is somehow mellifluous. Those melodic snares are cushioned perfectly amongst the atmospheres of enchanting darkness. 

DJ Crystl - Meditation

Oceanic pools of sound and waves of delicate vocal science eventually make room for exquisite rhythm-ology. At  5.10 a dramatic halt to proceedings occurs to allow sonic waves back in before the beat momentum effortlessly picks up again. In the remaining couple of minutes it moves into mesmerising sparkling ambient snares. Peak ambient jungle.

DJ Crystl - Warpdrive

Dj Crystl's most in yer face moment in 1993. This is a deluge of chopped and stretched breaks that go euphorically haywire amongst ominous drones. Don't forget that gloriously dark synth at 3.12. while the breaks continue go more and more insane. The Best. 

DJ Crystl - Sweet Dreamz

Idyllic sounds of the seaside with heaven bound synths, a woman's soothing meditative voice and a beat much less frantic than most jungle. Sweet Dreamz is all space age tropical vibes of calm tinged with disorientation and darkness. Pretty psychedelic.

DJ Crystl - Your Destiny

Waves of miniature ambient delirium and disorienting backwards abstractions where the spirit of MBV circa Glider lurks. The rhythm stop starts until 2.53 when it gets fully rolling as the darkness encroaches with a spectral presence coming in and out of focus. Choice dubby bleeps add to the subtle elusive charms of Your Destiny. 

  

THE DARKSIDE OF RAVE II

Mega City 2 - Dark Child (1993)

From a 1992 dubplate that was eventually released commercially a year later on the Demon By Daylight EP.  A haunting girls choir sing hymn-like melodies, occult-y percussion, dialogue from Children Of The Corn, backwards beats, a Japanese flute, rave riffs, needle scratches and rattling breaks make this one spellbinding journey into darkness.

Jim Polo - Voyager (1993)

Insidious chopped divas, record scratching, brittle infected beat science, eerie stretched ring modulators, horror dialogue and pitch-shifted bells all blend into this darkness. Further dark points are added as Voyager was issued on Dark Horse Records, an imprint run by Jimi & his 2 Sinister bandmate Neil Vass. Dark Horse started in 1993, released just 7 records and by 1994 the label was done and dusted. 

The Invisible Man - The End...(Drug Induced Psychosis Mix) (1993)

An uneasy vibe is followed by sinister tones then whooshes of darkness while the riddim fades in as the creaky gloom continues, further tension is added with Goblin-esque horror soundtrack soundz, at 3.09 a wobbly hoover drone blasts in, then we're informed it's the beginning of the end as we head into oblivion. 

D.O.P.E. - When I Was Young (1993)

This starts out of the gate with Amen breaks, then a sub bass drop at 0.13. Just as you're thinking this is gonna be a nice lil' toe tapper the creepiness starts to take over and before long you are enveloped in exquisite darkness. That malignant pitch-shifted Supertramp Logical Song sample is so sneakily inserted into the track that you barely even notice it's there until the tune is over and it has seeped into your brain.

Rufige Kru - Manslaughter (Part 1 Runners Edge) (1993)

Goldie is probably the only jungle celebrity on the planet but don't expect this tune to conform to any kind of commercial or dancefloor standards. This is twisted abstract dark ambient jungle except it's knackered and the malfunctioning beat just won't get up off the floor to get you on the floor. This is impeccable sound design for song blueprints for the future. The time for Manslaughter (Part 1 Runners Edge) still has not yet arrived and possibly never will. This is beyond! 

ANDY C

Double Vision - Easy Does It (1993)

Double Vision is an Andy C alias. Easy Does it is a surge that goes so hard(core) it totally rocks da house! 

Desired State - Beyond Bass (1993)

Desired State is Andy C & Ant Miles from Concept 2, Elevation & Higher Sense. The vocal hook here is a sample from Humanoid's Cry Baby which is turned into an urgent skittering blur. Add Amen breaks that smash their way through the dark atmosphere and blissful ambience to create quite a buzzin' tune.  

Andy C - Bass Constructor (1993)

We get mental chopped up hardcore chipmunk vocals amongst the insane drum choppage, whooshing keys, atmospheric bleeps and a classic bass drop at 0.58. Dark, intense and sinister. Bass! 

Andy C - Something New Part 1 (1993)

Includes babbling speedy chipmunks, hands in the air ambience, racing rave riffage, delirious backwards drumz and a deep bubbling bass drop at 1.25. Something New is a stampede in one hell of a rush.

Desired State - Killer Beat (1993)

Killer Beat starts out with ominous bells, disorienting synth smears then vocal snatches rush by in a blur as a deep wobbling bass enters amongst all sorts of frantic alarming sounds to rattle your brain.   

Randall & Andy C - Sound Control (1994)

An Amen smasher with mucho time-stretched and frantic choppage along with sirens, bleeps and horror soundtrack vibez. 

Randall & Andy C - Feel It (1994)

Sometimes hardcore jungle tunes can resemble arty audio collage music. Amidst rave sirens, crazy hardcore breaks and deep dub bass we get a slew of vocal snippets featuring jungalist and movie dialogue. As the comments say this wasn't played out very often but it's a booming track to lose your mind to. Bubblin psycho-delic RAMology.

Origin Unknown - Valley Of The Shadows (1993)

Now let's finish with the Andy C track that everyone knows because it's probably the most unforgettable jungle tune ever and definitely one of the best. This particular Valley Of The Shadows yt clip has been watched over 1.4 million times. Andy C is joined in Origin Unknown by his RAM Records co-founder Ant Miles. This Darkside Jungle masterpiece never gets old. It was whipped up in just four hours with most of the musical elements coming from a sample cd given away with the February 1993 issue of Future Music magazine. Apollo 11's 1969 lunar module landing countdown from NASA's Jack King provides the "31 seconds" dialogue snippet. The haunting "Felt that I was in a long dark tunnel" dialogue sample comes from a BBC documentary about near death experiences. The delightfully eerie atmosphere created here makes this one of the most memorable jungle tunes of all time. Perfection. 

Moving Shadow: The History of Jungle 1990-95

This mix is all killer no filler. These are the biggest tunes from 1990 to 1995 on the MOVING SHADOW label. I couldn't think of a better introduction to this mighty label. It covers hardcore turning into darkside turning into jungle. One glorious game-changing masterpiece after another. Uh...the vibe! If you are hearing any of these trax for the first time you are a lucky duck and in for a treat. I gotta say 30 years later it's still a joy to hear these fresher than ever cuts. Omni Trio and Foul Play are still giving me the goose bumps, sending me back to the euphoric future 90s.  

Hardcore!

 

Jungle! 

Check out the sheer quality in this playlist.

1 Blame– Music Takes You (2 Bad Mice Remix)Remix – 2 Bad Mice 

2 2 Bad Mice – Waremouse 

3 Hyper On Experience – The Frightner 

4 Kaotic Chemistry – Spacecakes 

5 2 Bad Mice – Mass Confusion 6 Hyper On Experience – Lords Of The Null-Lines (Foul Play Remix) Remix – Foul Play 

7 Foul Play – Open Your Mind 

8 Omni Trio –Feel Good (Remix) 

9 Foul Play – The Finest 

10 Omni Trio – Renegade Snares (Foul Play Remix) Remix – Foul Play 

11 Cloud Nine* – You Got Me Burnin 

12 DJ Trax – Hightime 

13 JMJ & Richie – Case Closed 14 Deep Blue – The Helicopter Tune 15 Omni Trio – Thru The Vibe 16 Renegade – Terrorist 17 Cloud Nine* – The Pedge 18 E-Z Rollers – Believe

19 Blame & Justice – Anthemia 

20 Omni Trio - Living For The Future 21 DJ Pulse – So Fine (Remix) 22 Essence Of Aura – Northern Lights

23 Higher Sense – Cold Fresh Air
24 Foul Play – Being With You 

25 Dead Dred – Dred Bass

Cold Fresh Air was the only track I couldn't i-d although it's familiar. Higher Sense are Ant Miles & David Thomas. Ant Miles was also in Jungle legends Origin Unknown and Desired State. It's a good day if I discover a cracking jungle tune from 28 years ago. I love that wasted vibe on the time-stretched vocal bit. 

*The remix of Cold Fresh Air was released by Moving Shadow but this original was on Ant's own label Liftin' Spirit. Which in turn was a sub label of RAM Records which was co-owned by Ant & another jungle luminary Andy C. Phew!...got it?

4HERO

 

4HERO - Make Yah See Spiders On The Wall (1991)

A paranoid Cabaret Voltaire-esque electronic frequency kicks this off and the darkness continues despite the twinkly xylophone motifs throughout. The bass drop at 0.34 is massive, fucking heavy and enthralling. The "You Should Do Some Voodoo" sample is a catchy but creepy nursery rhyme. The atmospheric horror soundtrack synths and menacing groans all add to this exquisite nightmare of a tune. Hearing this on the dancefloor under the influence of ecstasy could have sent you on a delirious downward spiral.  Nobody ever says this is one of the best tunes of the 90s but Make Yah See Spiders On The Wall IS definitely one of the best tunes of the 90s!

4HERO - Cookin UP Yah Brain (1992)

The beat science on this is magic. The drum choppage is all backwards then forwards top which bedlamises your mind. These unfathomable rhythms are what became so exciting about JUNGLE the emerging genre here, although I guess this is really a hardcore classic. 

 

4HERO - Students OF The Future (1993)

Gloomy drones, apocalyptic dialogue, funky drumming veering off the rails, punishing icy cold synth stabs amongst a plethora of weird atmospheric samples from unknown sources make this one hell of an illusive tune. A brain melting darkside masterpiece. 

4HERO - Journey From The Light (1993)

Spiralling concussive synth and percussion, luscious strings, bleeps, chipmunk vocals, acid squelches like bubbling cauldrons, otherworldly contorted drummage, noisey jolts and soul divas wailing into the future bring this sonic jigsaw to life. 4HERO's innovative quantum leaps in a period of less than 2 years is astonishing. Marc Mac & Dego, 4HEROs masterminds, covered so much territory by pushing into new zones it's amazing that they also had an slew of aliases creating an abundance of great music too. 

 

4HERO - The Power (1993)

Amazing. Some of the sounds here are so abstract it's hard to tell what their original source was. Putting your finger on swirly synths, mentastic stabs, skittering beats and an array bleeps is one thing but what the hell are these other elements that make up the rest of The Power's sonic collage. This shit was so visionary. That I'm saying this 30 years later is a testament to 4HERO's inspiring innovation.

In the midst of a purple patch that really began in 1991 4HERO seemed to hit another creative pinnacle on 1993's JOURNEY FROM THE LIGHT EP. The duo's ingenuity smashed through into another dimension. In the context of today these tunes are overwhelming in their stature. The amount of good ideas, inventiveness and the fact these ideas coalesce crabwise into masterpieces is still fucking thrilling.

4HERO - The Element (High Noon) (1993)

Still just freakily exhilarating in 2022. Really strange. Odd musical structures. Undeniably accessible though.

They do a thing here that's like the opposite of time-stretching, where it feels they they've squished too much sonic information into a space where it doesn't quite fit because there's not enough time/room but it does end up fitting somehow. This outcome is something akin to jump-cut edits in Nouvelle Vague. That in turn creates a weird discombobulating affect - compressed/folding into itself/disappearing spiral staircase/dream logic sort of thing. Maybe Simon Reynolds or Kodwo Eshun had a word for it, I can't remember.

It's hard to believe that 4HERO were, if I remember correctly, pretty straight edge. These insanely bedazzled trax with elation & paranoia smeared all over them seem designed to take maximum affect whilst under the influence of psychoactive substances. You would think inside knowledge of ecstasy, acid, speed, marijuana & coke's mind altering properties would have to be a requirement to make such successful psychedelic music but....

 

4HERO - In The Shadow (Sundown) (1993)

All backwards drumz, psychedelic mentasm scratches and an esoteric sequence of brutal abstract sci-fi keys that just seem to hang in the murky air make this a disorientating excursion into darkness like no other in hardcore jungle. A necromantic black hole of a tune.

On the UK Garridge Tip

& A Bit Of Ye Olde Jungle

Found this choice UK garage mix today. It treads that fine line between classy, trashy, rootsy and poppy. The rhythms and sonic innovations are undeniable though. It's got classic faves Find The Path, It's a London Thing, RIP Groove etc. Maybe I haven't heard or don't remember half of these tunes which is refreshing. There are some revelations here like Don't Stop (Deeper Mix) from Ruff Driverz, Spend The Night (H-Mans Groove Dub) by Danny J Lewis and Jhelisa's very commercial Friendly Pressure (Midnight Mix), which I can only assume was a big hit in the UK. I think this gear stays really fresh because I wasn't into the scene at the time and only came to appreciate the music much later. It's not like 'ardcore/darkside/jungle where I've heard, you know, Mr Kirk's Nightmare, Bombscare, Finest Illusion, Terminator, Here Come The Drumz, Renegade Snares et al. 1000 times. Anyway this was a really spot on mix until the final three tunes which didn't seem to fit, starting with that Tori Amos track which was more like funky house. So I'd fade out the mix at around the 1 hour 12 minute mark.

Double 99's speed garridge gem RIP Groove from 1997 led me to the above mix. I'm pretty sure this is the original 6 min track.

DJ Gunshot's 1994 jungle tune Wheel 'N' Deal was sampled on RIP Groove was it not?

Wheel 'N' Deal put me in mind of this all time classic jungle Amen smasher Drum N' Bass Wise from Remarc. Wow this still sounds fucking remarkable (pun intended) and current and future... It's from bloody 1994. That's ages ago! I don't even wanna say the amount of years that is. Is 94 when the future died?

This whole sonic journey started here with Grant Nelson's classic Step 2 Me because this tune was posted at Energy Flash several hours ago.

*Some previous posts on UK Garridge:
Proto Dubstep, Speed Garage & Recreations.
UK Garridge With Simon Reynolds.
UK Garridge 101 Part 1.
UK Garridge 101 Part 2.
Uk Garridge 101 Part 3.

Jungle Mix

Pearsall from sonicrampage never lets you down with his jungle mixes. This one's called Rolled In The Jungle (Summer Ready Jungle Mix) All Killer No Filler. Just in time for a beautiful & unseasonably warm day in the North-West of Victoria down here in the Antipodes. Loving it...ooh that segue from DJ Krust's Poison to Origin Unknown's Mission Control, nice. Many a mid 90s legend here ie. Goldie, Foul Play, Babylon Timewarp, Tom & Jerry, Dillinja, Run Tings, Roni Size etc. Pearsall presents an Amen-free zone full of rugged soul, ambient drum'n'bass and tough breaks. He's mixing it up with some big tunes and a sprinkling of lesser known trax, all choice cuts. As the brief states Rolled In Sunshine is pretty much all rollers in that exquisite transitional zone before jungle splintered and either got too smooth, too harsh or too boring.

Big ups to Pearsall!

A sweet spot for me is when the jungle gets dubby and Poison certainly does that with a choice bit of sampled(?) reggae.  

The unmistakable sounds of Origin Unknown. Mission Control is pretty minimal and dubby too. A sumptuous trip into a long dark tunnel, know what I mean? 

What's On The Hi-Fi Part $?

DJ Extreme - 1994 Jungle Volume 10
I can't seem to get out of 90s zones. This is a cracker of a mix. I've been working my way through DJ Extreme's mixes at Hardscore. Listened to all his 92 and 93 hardcore mixes and now I've reached Volume 10 of his 94 Jungle mixes. This is a fabulous trip into the 90s. We've got funky drummers, half-time bass lines, divas, ragga muffins, chipmunk traces, r&b dudes, sinister synth stabs, washes of ambience, drum splatters and just plain mental bass. This mix is worth it for the array of bass lines alone. You tend to forget that in amongst the euphoria of 90s hardcore a darkness lurked just as much. This mix contains big names like Dillinja, Ed Rush, Doc Scott and DJ Phantasy as well as 2nd and 3rd level playaz. Jungle was so good in 94 the B, C & D grade artists are fucking great too. The quality went deep and the beat science rewards were endless. Volume 10 isn't relentless with the beats, space has it's place here as well. Sometimes you think the darkness is going to envelope the whole set and the drums are going to conk out. That never happens though until the end, I guess. Big Ups to the Extreme.

DJ Extreme - 1994 Jungle Volume 9
Here's another DJ Extreme mix which is a bewdy too. This mix starts out with gold ie. DJ Dextrous & Rapid's Rapid. The House Crew, Tango, Marvellous Cain, Dillinja and D'Cruze all pop their heads up in this ace mix. I can't get enough of this shit and let me tell you there is a bounty of it at Hardscore. Time-stretching, remnants of hip hop, traces of 70s reggae, Ragga, Rave sirens, Amens, House, ethereal lulls, elastic booming bass, dubbed out divas, cymbal splashes, bleeps, mini ponds of euphoria, occasional swells of thick bass goo that leap into the drum n bass future and much more feature here. What's amazing is how different Volume 9 is from Volume 10 which is a testament to the genre's flexibility and breadth of vision and probably why the Hardcore Continuum would continue on for another decade before running out of steam. "They played that bloody Jungle music all night!" And why wouldn't you with choice tracks such as these.

The Church - Hologram Of Baal
Ever since Reynolds posted those Go-Betweens & Church film clips a week or two ago it has been hard to get out of these Aussie zones. You might have noticed I was/am quite the Church fan. I seem to have lost 1996's Magician Among The Spirits so I gave this another listen and wow what an underrated little gem this is. By 1998 they had probably lost at least half of their 80s fan base but that didn't mean they weren't still making legendary music. By this stage of the game we'd all ditched the paisley shirts and pointy shoes long ago but The Church continued on their merry way making druggy journeys into sound. I guess their only contemporaries at the time were Mercury Rev (a friend once described Yerself Is Steam as The Church meets Butthole Surfers), The Flaming Lips and Spiritualized. The Kranky label had been releasing psychedelic space rock for a while too by this stage but the Church weren't following trends. They just did what they did best and made one of their best LPs while they were at it. Hologram Of Baal is The Churchiest of 90s Church LPs. It solidified their 90s experimentalism while containing all of what made them great in the 80s making this an album of consolidation for the band. This LP is like a Church progress report of where they had come from, where they had been and where they were going. More gold.

BRICC BABY SHITRO - NASTY DEALER
Now this is a state of the art rap mixtape 2015 style. With most mixtapes you can usually tell which region of America it's coming from ie. Drill & Bop (Chicago), Ratchet (California) trap/weird (Atlanta/The South) etc. but Bricc Baby Shitro throws them all onto this mixtape making it hard to tell where he's emanated from. It makes sense then that he's from LA but now hanging out in Atlanta. Even though Bricc Baby's got a handful of producers here, the mixtape remains pretty cohesive. Having Young Thug on your mixtape is a blessing and a curse. Thugga will give your recording a higher profile but he's most certainly going to upstage you no matter who you are. That puts the starpower of Young Thug into perspective ie. no one in the rap game can come close to him and this has been the case since his 2013 classic 1017 Thug. Anyway this is a genre mixtape that considers the state of where hip hop is in 2015. You may not like having this plethora of rap sounds all in one place but it's almost definitive of the year or at least the decade in which it was made.

Jungle Gold

Tear Down - Dillinger (This tune went missing off the youtubes so I'm not sure if the re-upped version is the one I was talking about or not)

This is a bunch of jungle tunes I've only come across this year or at least ID'ed anyway. The jungle music jungle is vast indeed. I had a severe migraine earlier today so I was drugged to the eyeballs. After many hours the pain abated. I was still in a drug haze when I decided to listen to a mix I'd made earlier this year, before my computer crashed. I had found a stash of choice jungle tunes on the interweb I hadn't come across before but now I can't recall how or where I found them. Anyway it was a great decision to listen to this mix while I sunk into the bed finally feeling better and able to enjoy a snippet of life. The quality goes deep on these tunes. One thing I loved about hardcore and jungle was the amount of different sections to a song there were. If one bit wasn't doing it for ya it didn't matter because a new section would have probably arrived before you even realised. Tear Down is a bewdy. Total drum and bass science. These artists were so damn crafty, you have to admire their commitment and dedication. 

You Must Think First - DJ Hype

This is great mental jungle. Fucking crazy bass, kung fu samples, beats to die for, killer synth stabs and a lovely reggae vocal loop. What more do you need? You Must Think First is relentless.

?????
Tune missing. It was obviously Dubb Hustlers but which bloody tune?

This really sounds like music from a Jungle at the start. Then the beats roll in, followed by a diva, then killer bass and breaks. The drums on this are incredible. This was a culture on a high and Dubb Hustlers were bringing their A game because you had to otherwise you'd be fucked as everyone else was raising the bar as well. Shit two sport analogies in the same sentence, I think I need to have another lie down.

??????

Tune missing. It was Junglist Soldier by Chris Jay but not the 95 lick version. Whatever version it was, it's no longer on youtube!

There's something comforting about the sirens in this tune. Junglist Soldier has passed both tests ie. the bike one and the bed one. The beatz are amazing on this and that 80s Prince-esque synth is fabulous and unusual. Perhaps amongst the choppage here is a Prince drum sample. I think I'm hearing Devo drums as well. Maybe they're just the same drum machines. I don't know. When you think all is said and done an unexpected mental bassline kicks in at the 4 and a half minute mark which is pure gold. You could say that bass was proto-dubstep but that would kind of cheapen it I reckon. This is prime jungle, dubstep doesn't come anywhere near this shit man. 

Set It - X-Project

Lets face it music sounds better on drugs. Lets face it everything's better with drugs. Why do you think its such a massive worldwide industry. This sounds good when you're straight too. Its just that the last time I heard it (an hour and a half ago) I was off me head. Hoover soundz along with sweet soul vocals is a great combo as is bit of a chipmunk vocal, great keyboards, synth strings and a reggae sample. 

On The Hi-Fi Part 40

When I can get Luca Brasi 2 by Kevin Gates off the stereo I listen to some other stuff. This one is a snappy little 37 minute mix from Pearsall over at Sonicrampage. These are drum'n'bass tunes from 95 & 96. There's even one from 99 which is way past my usual cut off point of rarely venturing into or past 96/97. Anyway this is a little rollin' bewdy featuring just 4 different artists - Roni Size, DJ Krust, Bill Riley & DJ Die. The later 2 I'm not particularly sure I'm aware of. Most of these tunes are new to me. I love the little covers Pearsall makes and this one's no exception. Get 90s man.

Geez Mr Nick Edwards is one prolific musician. I think I may have missed a couple of Ekoplekz releases since Influkz. Entropic is just two long trax. Entropy Flash (neat title huh?) which runs at 13 minutes and Entropy Symphony that's around 16 minutes. This EP is more along the lines of his last mini album Influkz ie. it's a more subdued and subtle affair compared to his last two LPs. Then again that's a little deceptive because if you have it at low volume it seems quite nice but with the volume cranked it becomes quite intense and a little sinister. This is music from post-apocalyptic zones or is it outer space? Or perhaps its the landscape/headspace of Ekoplekz right now? Entropy Flash is repetitive almost funky technoid gear that occasionally has flourishes of melody amongst the darker drones and its damn fine as usual. How does he keep up the quality with so much quantity? Entropy Symphony is the swirliest swirly tune ever. It swirls and swirls until it swirls off into a vortex of epic oblivion. This has got to be one of the best Ekoplekz tracks ever. Me like a very lot.

I cannot recall how I came across this mix by Slimzee at Soundcloud All it says in my i-tunes is Truancy Vol. 111: Slimezee. Anyway its more jungle, this time more your 94/95 variety before it became drum'n'bass. Many a classic on here such as Hitman, Babylon and a very well worn copy of The Dark Stranger, why wouldn't it be? It's such a gem. An hour of jungle gold. This is some awesome DJing right here. Not loving that faux faded bollocks look of the virtual cover though. This guy was in Pay As You Go Cartel and pretty much invented Grime, I think. There you go, you learn something every day.

More good stuff from Pearsall. Not The Future We Were Promised... is more of your prime 94/95 jungle. He crams them in here. Thirty Five tunes in just over an hour and a half. It's one hell of a ride. Some classics and some lesser known classics whizz by so hold onto your hats. I guess at this stage you're either into it or you're not. This wouldn't be a bad introduction to jungle though. It would be hard not to be seduced by the 'rhythmic psychedelia' on display here as its soo darn great. This is when it was pretty much just jungle like the above Slimzee mix, post hardcore/darkside and pre drum'n'bass/tech-step/garridge. Huh, the future, it kinda went sideways then nowhere.

Last but not least is 10 Wanted Men's Wanted: Dead Or Alive which is Memphis Rap 1995 stylee. This features Memphis legends Tommy Wright III, Womack Da Omen and Princess Loco. Women in 90s Memphis rap are so fucking cool. They just really suit the vibe of this creepin shyt. Still getting my head around this one but fuck it sounds good so far. This is the real rap underground on absurdly lo-fi tapes. This ain't no backpacker shit! (RE: This article at FACT) Whatever the fuck that is? I have a feeling it means shite rap ie. rap that couldn't make the charts because it was shite so they tried to then pretend they were like indie or something, but in reality they were just a laughing stock. Obviously some people got sucked into their shtick though.

UK Garridge 101 - Part 2

This one is from 94 and is a gem. My files have disappeared and my computer is dead till I get someone to look at. I'm not hopeful though. I'm using the Mrs computer. I don't think I had this as an mp3 track, it was definitely on a mix though. So this is a Ray Keith alias and there is some Foul Play connection as well. I think they did something on the flipside. I don't know if Ray went onto garage or continued on with drum'n'bass.

Now this is Wookie from 99 and it's garridge gold. I don't think I knew this one at all. That organ sound plus the drums and bass seem so simple and that's what makes this so great. Then there's that cool serene outro, nice.... I guess it reminds me a little of some of those early hardcore trax that were really minimal like 2 Bad Mice but Wookie does it in garridge form.

Ha, now we're back to Steve Gurley who may or may not have had anything to do with that Renegade B-side at the top. I think I'm lovin the dub (below) even more than the vocal mix. Gurley did both of these versions. Gee he had a knack for this shit. The way he seamlessly went from hardcore to jungle to garridge is something to behold. Nobody probably did it better as far as I know (future topic perhaps?) He was born to do it......er...... wonder what the original is like?

 

Part of a discussion with Simon Reynolds, author of Energy Flash & Retromania, and me lifted from the comments box.

Simon

heard lenny fontana 'spirit of the sun (steve gurley remix)"? also tuuuuuuuuuuuuuune.

Tim

I found the 'Full Vocal Mix' on this mix at Soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/stevegurleyselectedvinyls/steve-gurley-selected-vinyls

This is a pretty cool mix from Revealomaniac, no relation.

The 'Full Vocal Mix' & 'Ballistic Beatz Dub' are not on i-tunes or Beatport. I don't get these guys and the way they treat their own archives?

Simon

yes the mix in that Soundcloud thing (which i downloaded last year now i recall) that is the same as the one described as 'Renegade Business Mix' - so i wasn't wrong all along after all. phew!

i suppose it's not an archival culture really, as much as there are fanboys clustered around all different stages of the hardcore continuum who track stuff like who engineered which jungle or hardcore tune and auteur trajectories of producers etc - the actual core of the culture is not archivally conscious. all these great tunes we fetishise were done as fast-money music, it was about getting the track out for the weeks or few months it was blazing on the pirates and making quite a lot of quick money for the label and the producer. they weren't thinking that far ahead and many would have gone out of business. i mean is the label that put out the gurley rmx even in existence any more? is there anyone with an active financial interest maintaining the archive? probably not. but you would think that the artist would want to keep their work out there in some form. however i got the sense that Gurley was burned in his business dealings, that's the story i heard from somewhere, that he was locked into something iniquitous. so perhaps the whole period something he wants to put behind him, or even doesn't own that music. i mean a remix is usually a flat fee payment for a service, the remix is owned by the original artist / label no matter how different the track is at the end of the process.

Tim

Lenny Fontana has Hundreds of trax on Beatport and Gurley even has a few. They're just not the one's I want. Maybe there are some issues like you say with certain tunes. Steve Gurley did acknowledge and recommend that Soundcloud mix though. It's a funny old world innit?

***Both Victor Romeo's Inside You and Lenny Fontana's Spirit Of The Sun were issued on Public Demand Records which I don't think has a current release schedule. Probably shutting up shop in the mid 00s by the looks after 2-Step and UKG were superseded by Grime and Dubstep. In 2013 there was some archival (I think?) audio file release activity from the label. They do have a twitter account.

Dolphin Tune - Aquarius

I'd heard this back in the day but didn't realise it was called Dolphin Tune. Is it really? Is this where the term Dolphin Jungle comes from? Is that even a term or do I just think it is? Or did it already exist so he was just taking the piss out of himself. I was a sucker for this stuff back then, the good tunes anyway, still am i suppose. This is a bewdy, I reckon. Perfect for my current headspace. It just seemed an unlikely hybrid that juxtaposition of ambient/new age and jungle beatz/choppage. Did someone say ambient jungle? The flip is fucking wicked too probably even better, especially if you get a couple of versions going at once like 40 seconds apart. When I first heard jungle I guess some time in 92 on RRR or PBS in Melbourne on a show called Roots, Ragga & Dub where they started having like monthly jungle specials, which I used to tape but those tapes are long gone, dammit! Anyway that's what I reckon they were doing playing the same track out of sync with at least two records possibly even more or other tunes entirely. It was like music being beamed into my crappy East Brunswick bedroom from a planet inhabited some super hyper spazzoid aliens. Don't let the fact that this is a Photek alias put you off. This isn't as methodical or detached as some his other material.

Forever grateful to the Professor of 'The Hardcore Continuum' Simon Reynolds who adds another contribution to my blog in the comments box:

"probably does come from that tune, but also Bukem was doing things like "Atlantis" and the whole sound of Good Looking / Looking Good is just aqueous isn't it?

there was 93 track by Nebula II on Reinforced called "Eye Memory' that actually has dolphin noises on it! The title is based on that idea that if a dolphin looks you in the eye, it'll never forget you."

I remember Atlantis but not sure I'm familiar with Eye Memory. Funds back in the day went mainly on gettin wasted so it was radio, tapes or clubs where you heard the music. Import 12"s were bloody expensive as were styluses. Loved those Nebula II trax on those Reinforced comps though.

Come Easy - Run Tings & Liftin' Spirits

Didn't Know this track until I bought that excellent Suburban Base Compilation last year. It just came up whilst I was on me pushy today. Gee there's some great choppage happening in there. Then you've got those strings which are just lovely and that quintessential female voice. Mmm.....me like a lot. Don't know anything about them except they, Run Tings, had a run of 5 or 6 records on Suburban Base. This did lift my spirits today. I don't know if it's like a split single deal or a collaboration. So I checked out the flipside (below) Invincible which is more your pure dolphin jungle but that's not a bad thing with me. I quite like it. There's a nice dark bit in the middle. It's hard not to resist that drummage, no matter how absurd and fusion e it is.

Steve Gurley/Foul Play

This one's is from 93. An all time classic no doubt. 4 horsemen was a Foul Play pseudonym. There's an unmistakable 4 Hero sample in there from Mr Kirk's Nightmare. The flipside We Are The Future is just as stunning.

This one from 92 co written and produced by Gurley and 2 High. Actually the other version Dub In U might even be better than this, might dig that out to compare.

Steve Gurley had a lot to do with 'ardcore and Jungle before he went Garridge. I'm pretty sure this was just him on the remix of Omni Trio's Renegade Snares (Foul Play remix). God I love Omni Trio. I never tire of them. They are a gift. What was it Kodwo Eshun said about Omni Trio? Something about them 'being so kind'. He's right they have been kind to me for creating such great music and giving me so much pleasure through the years.

UK Garage With Simon Reynolds

*
"Double 99 and Gant are just pure classic speed garridge. Deekline is sort of 2step turning into breakstep (breakstep really not a good development in my opinion, with a few exceptions - although he liked to call it Nu Rave, Deekline - sort of starts to merge into the nu skool breaks scene which you may nor may not recall - Rennie Pilgrem and others that my memory fails to dredge up. Stanton Warriors were the big breakstep act as I recall. But all of it -- speed garage, 2step, breakstep, proto-dubstep like Horsepower Productions, proto-grime like Pay As U Go Kartel, Oxide & Neutrino, and So Solid Crew - could be subsumed under the rubric "UK garage". Which runs from about 1996 in its earliest stirrings through to 2003-4 when grime and dubstep broke off as separate entities - so that's like an eight year period of great music and ferment in the UK dance underground, but also spilling into the charts. "I Don't Smoke" was a hit single."

*This was left by Simon Reynolds in the comments box of the previous post. Seeing as nobody clicks on the comments box I've put it here, hope you don't mind Simon.

As I've said, this is around the time I got off the Hardcore Continuum. I Don't Smoke went to number 11 in the UK chart for DJ Dee Kline in 2000, the year after it's original release. Horsepower Productions feature prominently in that J Rolla Proto Dubstep Mix with 3 tunes. Nu Rave & Nu Skool Breaks are familiar terms as I would have tuned into radio shows playing this music at the time but obviously got turned off by it. This is also around the time (99) I stopped going to clubs. I gave 2step a go but I just couldn't get into it. As far as Grime went I didn't hate it but I didn't love it (like I loved jungle) either, I guess that's indifference or at least tolerance, if it was within earshot. Having said all that it seems I'm open to reappraisals as some Speed Garage, 2step & Breakstep are now seeping into my consciousness in a very good way.

Oh Boy - Fabulous Baker Boys
This is a beauty from 97.

Destiny - Dem 2
Also from 97 and heading into 2step
.

187 Lockdown - Gunman (Original Mix)
This is a "Tune" from 97 as well.

Crunk Gabba & What (ever else)

DJ Snake & Lil Jon - Turn Down For What (via Energy Flash). I always like it when any kind of rave, hardcore or electronic vibe turns up in rap. Do these people even acknowledge Gabba, PCP, Cold Rush, Belgium etc. I know years back Timbaland being very cagey about his influences. Many people at the time were thinking it had to be comin from jungle, drum n bass etc. IE the UK. I don't think he ever owned up to it though. It's like Americans can't stand having to acknowledge anything European influenced. Like it's un-American or in some way or weakens their art. Funny considering Afrika Bambaataa's Planet Rock sampled Krafwerk in the very early days of hip hop (1982). DJ Snake is French though, I think, so he's kinda bringin the Euro vibe like Gesaffelstein did with Kanye last year.

Anyway I was thinking with one of the brands of Lean off the market now, (haven't done the research to see if there are still other brands still making it) what affect is that gonna have on the whole Ratchet/DJ Mustard scene. I guess the track above is one direction, kind of like a noise made for Meth-Heads. The pummel with surely appeal to people mixing alcohol & Meth & whatever else. Ecstasy and pot ain't goin nowhere though. Perhaps the downer euphoria will dwindle a little. Stay tuned.

RE: Interstellar Martians

Kowalski liked both types of speed.

*When I said in that previous post that Jungle "was for hopped up martians going interstellar!" I meant that's who it sounded like it was for. The reality was it was for druggy young urban jungle dwellers going nowhere except oblivion in their brains. This thought reminds of the film Vanishing Point and its subtext of a need for acceleration, to pioneer, to hunt etc. So Kowalski has all this instinctual energy but nowhere for it to go. The worlds been mapped out, we've even gone into space, all our food is at the supermarket etc. Did any women make Jungle? So Kowalski fills his desires with the speed (meth & going fast) and chaos of the road and being chased across America by the authorities. He makes the road his home. With jungle, the makers of and their followers wander a similar path. They enjoy the endless horizon that awaits in the music and their minds (usually drug addled ones) to escape the urban jungle's drudgery of daily life at least for a little while.....er.....discuss. Have your essays on my desk by Friday kids.

 

 

Two more classics from the Reinforced label for speeding into endless chaotic wide open vistas and dark futures. Having said all that stuff above it is interesting to note 4Hero were as straight edge as Fugazi's Ian Mackaye. Weird huh?