14 Long Years

I had just turned 16 and was starting the 6th Form of my Secondary School. 1994 was the year and i was just starting my love affair with dance music and hardcore/drum and bass in particular. Back in them days money was tight and i couldn't afford to buy records so like many teenager of the time i bought tape packs from the big raves of the day. Id already bought in the summer the Dreamscape 11 pack from July?? and the World Dance pack from the same month so it was in September?? that i travelled to Richard Records in Canterbury and purchased the brand new Helter Skelter tape pack. At this point in my life i was into both the happy hardcore and jungle sounds which this tape pack perfectly catered for. I remember playing each tape one after each other and soaking up the new exclusive tunes that each DJ was playing. For the next few months until the next tape pack came out these tapes got a constant battering. While happy hardcore was starting to evolve into the 4/4 stompy beat sound and jungle was splintering into intelligent and jump up styles i started to make it my mission to track these records i was hearing down. Back then with having no real contacts that were DJ's and barely having stepped into an independent record shop things were tough. I started by Mixmag magazine but its jungle reviews section was poor so moved onto Eternity magazine which really followed the underground sounds. I pieced together information on the main records i wanted and a few months in 1995 i started buying records at a rate of 1 every couple of weeks.

Fast forward 5 years. My knowledge had grown exponentially and i was making regular visits to London snapping up cheap tunes by the bagful. I was in contact with other people with similar love for the classic days of hardcore and jungle and the list of unknown records on the tapes that i knew and loved was diminishing rapidly. However there was one tune on the Dr S Gachet tape from the Helter Skelter tape pack that was eluding me. A simple amen tearer with a lush string break and the classic "I love the way you hold me" sample. Surely someone must know this i thought as i ripped a small clip directly from the tape and uploaded it to some web space a friend had let me use.

Fast forward on another 8 years to the end of January 2009. I was trawling YouTube to look for clips of records that might make me part with my (not so) hard earned. A record on the Strictly Underground label from 1995 caught my eye. This label had been massive in 1991 and 1992 but had lost its way in 1993 and 1994 and its later releases were quite hard to get hold of especially in South East Kent. The clip started and the amen beat reared its head (yawn) for the 2 millionth time for this era of drum and bass. I was about to click onto another record but i moved the track on a bit and straight into the string break id been searching for 14 years for. I literally couldn't believe my ears but i gathered my composure and within 2 minutes had found the record on discogs and ordered a mint copy for £8.50 (leaving 4 other cheaper copies that weren't in as good condition).

Well whats all the fuss about? Its a great solid example of 1994 drum and bass. Nothing truly groundbreaking or amazing but the 14 year gap had built it up to near mythical status with me. Now the initial joy is over and i have the record in my hand i am calm and eagerly awaiting solving the next long standing unknown. I can draw parallels to completing a difficult puzzle like a Rubiks cube for example. When the initial buzz is over you need that next challenge. Bring it on!!

Drum + Bass - FB1 (Sub Kick Mix)

Vile Charity Shop Harridans - Pt 5

Here's a quick update on the local digging i've been doing in my local charity spots which have been bountiful if not in quality but in quantity in recent weeks.

Ive been back to both shops where i had the opportunity to look through all their records with a view to getting rid of the crap they will never be able to sell. In Ramsgate i've spent about 4 hours over 2 separate days and approximately 95% of what i saw needed to be chucked. Unfortunately the area manager of the shop got involved and instead of skipping the records they are now going to be taken to other branches. Note to self - avoid these branches at all cost!! I pulled a couple of things out for myself but they were very run of the mill so nothing to get excited about. I'm still waiting to see what he has in storage so i have my fingers crossed.

In Cliftonville i went through the other shop and again 95% are due to be skipped. Unfortunately they don't have anymore records contrary to what i was told in December so that avenue is exhausted for the time being.

Other shops have been kinder and last weekend i bought approximately 40 records back from my days trip. Nothing amazing but 21 mint records of various styles from a shop in Margate for £7.00 and 14 unplayed dance promo double packs from a shop in Broadstairs for a pound each.

I even had a chance to venture to the mean streets of Herne Bay which has a serious amount of charity shops. Unfortunately this time the pickings were very slim but i have it marked for a future journey in a few months time.

Fancy Robots - Robo-Friend

Finnish electro i hear you demand! Well ok then since you asked so nicely here is a quite obscure Finnish release from Jori Hulkkonen and Tuomas Salmela on the excellent Keys Of Life label based in Helsinki.

Released in 2001 to date this is their only release under the Fancy Robot alias of the duo's normal Step Time Orchestra partnership. I first heard this when my friend brought back a white label promo from a trip to London and all we had to go by was the Step Time Orchestra name written on one side. Every time he played it i would always ask him what it was but it wasn't until discogs had really started expanding i could use the search function to track down the actual record. I remember (and this is a good trick for all you record diggers out there) finding no copies for sale but there was a website address for the Keys Of Life label so after a bit of searching managed to order an unplayed copy direct from them for a minimal price.

There are a couple of uptempo fast electro tracks on the B side but the track i want you to hear is Robo-Friend, a slow electro synth driven number telling the story of a human and his robot friend in the year 2020 via vocoded and tweeked speech. Its unlike any track i've ever heard to this day and is stunningly simple.

Fancy Robots - Robo-Friend

Davina - Dont' You Want It

One of my favourite vocal house records of all time and the vocals don't start until halfway through the track. But the wait is worth it as Davina Bussey sweeps in from behind some piano work with a voice that oozes sexual desire. When she sings "Don't You Want It, Don't You Want It, Don't You Want It" i think any man or woman on the planet would be hard pushed to say no.

Behind the vocals Mad Mike from Underground Resistance builds the backing track up gradually hi-hat by hi-hat using 2 great riffs before easing the piano and strings in to proceedings which lead up to the midway point when Davina can take over. Veering between breathless whispering and the more insistent nature of asking if we want her love she masterfully manages not to overpower the music and become too diva like.

Released in 1992 on Underground Resistance sub label Happy Records i first heard this in 1996/7 when my friend managed to track down a copy of the reissue on Soul City which he had bought after hearing Laurent Garniers classic Mixmag DJ mix from 1994. The reissue now goes for £20.00+ in mint condition and the original £25.00+ but luckily is was repressed in 2002 and even bootlegged in 2007 so it is not hard to track down these days.

Davina - Don't You Want It

Drexciya - Aqua Worm Hole

cult   [kuhlt]

–noun .

2. an instance of great veneration of a person, ideal, or thing, esp. as manifested by a body of admirers.

Today i'm here to expose you to two things that are considered cult in the world of electronic music:

1) Drexciya - The artist

2) Underground Resistance - The label

Conceived in 1989 but not having a release on vinyl until 1992, Drexciya are revered as one of Detroit techno and electro's shining lights. I was going to say were but changed my mind. Unfortunately due to the death of former member James Stinson in 2002 and Gerald Donald's decision to concentrate on his other pseudonyms Drexciya are defunct. Nonetheless Drexciya's legacy continues on and people still avidly search out their music meaning prices are high for the majority of their releases.

Their first release Deep Sea Dweller appeared on Detroit label Shockwave Records in 1992 and immediately the concept of a personal mythology behind their music began to take shape. The story was that "Drexciya" were a race of underwater dwellers descended from pregnant slave women thrown overboard during trans-Atlantic deportation and the track titles and E.P's names all followed this aquatic based theme. James and Gerald perpetuated this belief by not stepping out into the media for the majority of the groups existence giving Drexciya maximum appeal to the already cult like followers of their main label Underground Resistance. More about UR in a later entry as they have much more to offer with releases from Suburban Knight, Galaxy To Galaxy and DJ Rolando.

The release i want you to hear today is Drexciya's debut on UR - Drexciya 2 - Bubble Metropolis. Released in 1993 this is probably my favourite of their releases containing a varied selection of electro at different tempos. I've plumped for the A1 track which is a mid paced melancholic journey through the ocean depths. I picked it up for a pound a few years back from a collection i have been buying from an guy who worked in a local record shop but it has been out of print for many years and now you'll struggle to get a good condition copy for less than about £25.00. This is the same with the limited edition coloured represses that were released after James Stinson's death which immediately sold out.

Drexciya - Aqua Worm Hole

St. Cal - Losing Ground

Marcus Kaye's (aka Marcus Intalex) Soul:r record label has since its inception in 2001 been unleashing classic after classic onto the world of drum and bass. Following on from his classic releases as Da Intalex in the mid 90's with Soul:r and its sister label Revolve:r he in my eyes captured the soul of those early years and updated it to the 170bpm of the current drum and bass scene.

Drum and bass was my first love and it was a sad day that in the late 90's i stopped buying it as i couldn't find anything i really liked anymore. Its was either jump up rubbish or dark 2 step styles which did nothing for me. I thank it now as it allowed me to concentrate on other styles of music and broaden my horizons but at the time i was pissed off. But around 2004 after being played some of the new drum and bass records my friend was currently buying i started to get back into the scene. Labels like Bassbin and Exit Recordings were sidestepping all the cheese and faux darkness and releasing classic beats with soulful music. Id bought a couple of the early Soul:r releases at the time when i saw them cheap on my travels but hadn't been buying new releases. When i started back up it was a joy to go into a record shop and snap up such releases as Marcus Intalex - Zumbar / Temperance, Calibre - Hypnotise / The Water Carrier and D.Bridge - Without Answers / Love's Ugly Child. It made me feel like it was 1995 again and id got my pocket money and was headed to Primal Vinyl in Canterbury (upstairs of Third Eye) to buy the newest Metalheadz release. I was buying regularly from shops and the Internet and each week there was something new that demanded that it be in my collection. It also got me back into mixing after a few years of being slack and i knocked about a good dozen mixes of all my new records as soon as i had enough for a new set.

St. Cal is the collaboration between Lee Davenport (ST Files) and Dominick Martin (Calibre) and has to date produced 2 12" singles and double 12" pack and 2 appearances on Calibres Signature Records label via an E.P and an LP. The track i want you to hear - Losing Ground was the second of the 12" singles and is a classic double A side. The B side Henshaw Dub is a nice dubby roller of a tune but the A side is my pick.

The beats starts softly in the mix before the main riff makes an early appearance and the male vocal begins its mantra throughout the track. The bassline mirrors the main riff before everything drops out leaving just the riff and vocals before the groove starts again. Its a real 4 am kind of tune very deep and the epitome of what is termed liquid drum and bass.

St. Cal - Losing Ground

Mad Professor & Pato Banton - My Opinion

One of the classic reggae LP's of the 80's was not produced in its spiritual home of Jamaica but crafted by one of the UK's most prolific dub producers - Neil Frazer aka Mad Professor in the suburb of Peckham in London. Featuring the almighty vocal talents of a young Pato Banton well before he released dross like Baby Come Back with UB40 this 6 track mini LP was released in 1985 on the Ariwa imprint.

There really isn't a duff track and Pato's fast and slow lyrical style coupled with social insights into life in the mid 80's and his vocals often changing between a Jamaican style and a distinctive London accent was a revelation to me when i first discovered this LP in the late 90's in the collection of one of my friends. The Mad Professor tweaks out the second half of most songs with breathtaking electronic trickery but takes nothing away from Pato's delivery.

It took me over 8 years to track down a copy in really nice condition but i believe the album has been repressed recently so isn't that hard to find now. Get hunting!

Mad Professor & Pato Banton - My Opinion