Having blogged about Joey Beltram's 'Mentasm' being sampled endlessly in the days of rave and jungle, here's another thrilling use of it, from early days of Goldie's Rufige Kru.
Rufige Kru: Terminator 2
Currently putting together a 15 years of Metalheadz piece for ATM which is proving fascinating - as well as chatting to Goldie about 'Memoirs of an Afterlife', his new album under the Kru moniker. Given that Goldie' previous collaborators under the name have been Doc Scott, Dillinja, Optical and Rob Playfor of 2 Bad Mice/Moving Shadow fame, there's a certain amount to live up to for relative newbie Heist.
Heist: Quake
But he lives up to it here, their second album together, closer in spirit to the claustrophic, ever phasing and shifting soundscapes and warped, disorientating rhythmic violence of RK's early days than the smoother last album 'Malice In Wonderland'.
Check this clip from the LP for further evidence.
Rufige Kru: Sometime Sad Day
Incidentally, Storm from the Headz camp told me something I'd never previously heard, namely that Goldie was heavily inspired by Japan after she introduced them to him. I'd forgotten another of his early singles for Reinforced was called 'Ghosts of my Life'. It's remixed by Fabio on the flipside of the very first Metalheadz release, Doc Scott's 'Drumz VIP'
Japan: Ghosts
Rufige Kru: Ghosts of my Life
And blow me down if that isn't another mentasm.
Sunday, 31 May 2009
Saturday, 30 May 2009
REVIEW - JAKES: THE JAKES PROJECT
Format: CD/ 4 separate 12"s
Released: Now
label: DSR
There's a reason I've waited a while, after trying to tempt you with a few snippets of Jakes' prodigious talents a while back, to bring you the full skinny on 'The Jakes Project'. In short, it's because I've been wondering if this might be the album of the year.
Here is Jakes talking about it.
There are plenty of people straddling drum & bass and dubstep at the moment, but Bristol-based Jakes is unique in that he makes dubstep and MCs on drum & bass tunes by the likes of TC, Distorted Minds and others.
Some of these tunes have been floating around for a while, but collected here on CD for the first time they make up a serious body of work. The pace, switching from the slo-mo likes of vintage Def Jam sample orgy 'Rock Tha Bells' back up to the speedier thrills of Distorted Minds' remix of 'Warface' and back again, means it feels like a hefty but varied album.
You can even forgive 'Swerve', a mellower but still strident d&b tune, its slight similarity with a certain fictional web wizard's bedtime mantra, what with all that 'swerving the curve' business.
It's still way cool...
The link between the two styles is obvious - they're both gritty, booming, rooted in hip-hop and electro as much as sound system reggae and rave culture. But the cream is his highly distinctive voice - a lilting, toasting style (in contrast to other MCs' incessant ranting), with a unique line in sometimes funny, sometimes tough lyrics.
Yeah, album of the year so far, at least. The mass of clips and hitherto undiscovered gems out there mean this blog is sometimes happy to wallow in the past, but if you're after a true slice of 2009, this is it.
Released: Now
label: DSR
There's a reason I've waited a while, after trying to tempt you with a few snippets of Jakes' prodigious talents a while back, to bring you the full skinny on 'The Jakes Project'. In short, it's because I've been wondering if this might be the album of the year.
Here is Jakes talking about it.
There are plenty of people straddling drum & bass and dubstep at the moment, but Bristol-based Jakes is unique in that he makes dubstep and MCs on drum & bass tunes by the likes of TC, Distorted Minds and others.
Some of these tunes have been floating around for a while, but collected here on CD for the first time they make up a serious body of work. The pace, switching from the slo-mo likes of vintage Def Jam sample orgy 'Rock Tha Bells' back up to the speedier thrills of Distorted Minds' remix of 'Warface' and back again, means it feels like a hefty but varied album.
You can even forgive 'Swerve', a mellower but still strident d&b tune, its slight similarity with a certain fictional web wizard's bedtime mantra, what with all that 'swerving the curve' business.
It's still way cool...
The link between the two styles is obvious - they're both gritty, booming, rooted in hip-hop and electro as much as sound system reggae and rave culture. But the cream is his highly distinctive voice - a lilting, toasting style (in contrast to other MCs' incessant ranting), with a unique line in sometimes funny, sometimes tough lyrics.
Yeah, album of the year so far, at least. The mass of clips and hitherto undiscovered gems out there mean this blog is sometimes happy to wallow in the past, but if you're after a true slice of 2009, this is it.
REVIEW - BIZZY B: RETROSPECTIVE
Format: CD /3xLP / Digital
Label: Planet Mu
Released: July 13
Before I tell you what a fine collection of jungle tunes from Bizzy B 'Retrospective' is, ponder this thought. If you were born in the year these records first came out thne you'll be able to buy fags legally by now.
What's happened since 1992/3 you might well ask? Well, not a lot, according to the 14 tracks here. Productions have got slicker, producers have found other beats apart from the raging Amen break, but basically this is the same music we drum & bass fans have been listening to ever since, and here it is in its glorious original form.
Tracks like 'Slow Jam', with its mindboggling, record-yanked-back rewind worked into the intro groove and the spiralling sonic swirtls of 'Twisted Mentazm', an early outing for the heavily used Joey Beltram synth sample of almost the same name,
are everything that's great about jungle - rough but complex, unrestrained and lunatic and invariably made from multiple musical genres all mixed up into one.
There's also a collaboration with Peshay, bringing his trademark spacey ambience to the otherwise vicious hardcore rave flailing of 'Merderstyle', and people with names like Pugwash, Equinox, Technochild (see clip above) and D Lux all join him at other points. But the tone is consistent throughout - a violent flurry of foghorns, spinbacks, double speed breakbeat madness, reggae basslines remade at sub-human depths and piercing electronics. Bring it on.
5/5
Label: Planet Mu
Released: July 13
Before I tell you what a fine collection of jungle tunes from Bizzy B 'Retrospective' is, ponder this thought. If you were born in the year these records first came out thne you'll be able to buy fags legally by now.
What's happened since 1992/3 you might well ask? Well, not a lot, according to the 14 tracks here. Productions have got slicker, producers have found other beats apart from the raging Amen break, but basically this is the same music we drum & bass fans have been listening to ever since, and here it is in its glorious original form.
Tracks like 'Slow Jam', with its mindboggling, record-yanked-back rewind worked into the intro groove and the spiralling sonic swirtls of 'Twisted Mentazm', an early outing for the heavily used Joey Beltram synth sample of almost the same name,
are everything that's great about jungle - rough but complex, unrestrained and lunatic and invariably made from multiple musical genres all mixed up into one.
There's also a collaboration with Peshay, bringing his trademark spacey ambience to the otherwise vicious hardcore rave flailing of 'Merderstyle', and people with names like Pugwash, Equinox, Technochild (see clip above) and D Lux all join him at other points. But the tone is consistent throughout - a violent flurry of foghorns, spinbacks, double speed breakbeat madness, reggae basslines remade at sub-human depths and piercing electronics. Bring it on.
5/5
Saturday, 16 May 2009
REVIEW - DANNY BREAKS / SIGMA
Format: 12" single
Label: Hospital
Released: June 1
DANNY BREAKS: VOLUME ONE (LOGISTICS REMIX)
One of Danny's early 90s jungle era classics - whose role in the development of d&b is often overlooked - revisited by Hospital's Cambridge-based hero Logistics. It's full of energy, as Amen breaks crash like waves on a stormy night and Photek-style ambient dreaminess drifts in and out of focus, but although this rework definitely makes it playable circa 2009 (without a drastic change in atmosphere), it really begs the question 'will Danny ever make another d&b tune?' Given that he's most recently been making hip-hop beats the answer's probably no, but this is more encouragement to live in hope.
3/5
SIGMA: PAINT IT BLACK
More in the vein of labelmates High Contrast, London Elektricity and Influx Datum, this has all the hallmarks of a big Hospital roller. It's oozing melodies that more big band than jazzy, boasts that euphoric 'coming up on E' vibe that the label's best tunes have and comes topped off with a soaring female vocal that's employed sparingly but at just the right time.
4/5
Label: Hospital
Released: June 1
DANNY BREAKS: VOLUME ONE (LOGISTICS REMIX)
One of Danny's early 90s jungle era classics - whose role in the development of d&b is often overlooked - revisited by Hospital's Cambridge-based hero Logistics. It's full of energy, as Amen breaks crash like waves on a stormy night and Photek-style ambient dreaminess drifts in and out of focus, but although this rework definitely makes it playable circa 2009 (without a drastic change in atmosphere), it really begs the question 'will Danny ever make another d&b tune?' Given that he's most recently been making hip-hop beats the answer's probably no, but this is more encouragement to live in hope.
3/5
SIGMA: PAINT IT BLACK
More in the vein of labelmates High Contrast, London Elektricity and Influx Datum, this has all the hallmarks of a big Hospital roller. It's oozing melodies that more big band than jazzy, boasts that euphoric 'coming up on E' vibe that the label's best tunes have and comes topped off with a soaring female vocal that's employed sparingly but at just the right time.
4/5
REVIEW - DJ T: THE INNER JUKEBOX
Format: CD
Label: Get Physical
Release: June 26
Ruthlessly efficient rhythmic technofunk to bring a tear to the eye of those who remember the time when (during the mid-90s) the US techno of Richie Hawtin, Carl Craig, Juan Atkins, Jeff Mills and Drexciya ruled the dancefloor. There's a clear house element evident in terms of the additional flavours, like the samba vocals and percussion on 'Bateria' or 'Mr Piano Hands' retro handclaps, but the basic foundation here is universally one of infectious, four-to-the-floor tribalisms and Motor City machine funk. If you thought -like me - that this formula was all played out, allow yourself to be pleasantly surprised.
4/5
Label: Get Physical
Release: June 26
Ruthlessly efficient rhythmic technofunk to bring a tear to the eye of those who remember the time when (during the mid-90s) the US techno of Richie Hawtin, Carl Craig, Juan Atkins, Jeff Mills and Drexciya ruled the dancefloor. There's a clear house element evident in terms of the additional flavours, like the samba vocals and percussion on 'Bateria' or 'Mr Piano Hands' retro handclaps, but the basic foundation here is universally one of infectious, four-to-the-floor tribalisms and Motor City machine funk. If you thought -like me - that this formula was all played out, allow yourself to be pleasantly surprised.
4/5
Saturday, 2 May 2009
Grandmixer D.ST
He features in the hip-hop film 'Wildstyle' and scratched with Herbie Hancock in Headhunters II as well as constructing this later, jaw dropping megamix of HH's best electro-era moments. Clearly another case of first-on-the-spot innovator not receiving his dues...
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