Anyone well into their oldskool should know about Rhythm Section – they were a rave group featured Rennie Pilgrim (now better known for his breaks work and Thursday Club label), Ellis Dee, Nicholas Scott (aka Newton), and Richie T (aka MK13, who I posted a great track by a while ago). Between them, they did quite a few big EPs on their label Rhythm Section recordings. Most of those were catchy, melodic and pretty upfront /dancefloor friendly 91-92 tunes. This EP is the one exception – a promo-only release supposedly limited to 350 copies. The tunes on here are dark, fast and noisy, a far cry from earlier releases like “The Midsummer Madness EP”. The A side wins for me – featuring nasty synths and the “Assembly Line” break, possibly ripped from Eric B & Rakim’s “let the rhythm hit em” which layered an extra grunt on the 4th beat of the break + was sampled in Acen’s TTM3.
DJ SS churned out a fair number of darker tunes between 92 and 94, but this is one of his best – the sinister pitch shifted beats layered with the Blowfly – Sesame Street break (as used in “Helicopter Tune”) and a 4/4 kick make this track choppy but solid, great for mixing or home listening. Add some simple but effective pads and you’ve got a nasty slice of ‘93 darkside. In fact, this whole remix EP is great, as is is the original – it was tough to pick just one track to post from these, but this remix is a personal favorite. International Rude Boyz – Paragone Remix
Here’s a tune that’s pretty much the opposite of what I posted on Wednesday, and not my typical favorite type of tune. However, this track has wormed itself into my head and just won’t leave! It’s a straightforward housey hardcore track from late 91/early 92, male vocals and all.. nothing crazy going on but solid music, big bass, and there’s been at least few times this week where the “Rushinnnnnn!!!!” or “the music changed” lines have popped into my head.
I’m not sure about the artist behind this – Discogs says “Masquerade”, and backs it up with a separate EP with a similarly named track (indicating this might be a 92 remix of the original on that EP).. I can’t find sound for that EP to verify that, just nabbed a copy for a few euros on discogs though so I’ll find out in a week or two. My copy of the EP has a sticker on it which says “hope & dave – rushing (HD001)”. It looks like a pretty old sticker, so it could be the actual record info from BITD…. OR it could be a sticker put on by a previous record shop based on them guessing what record it is. Either way, it’s a great catchy & obscure hardcore tune.
Here’s a well known favorite that I still play regularly in non-oldskool sets… in fact I just spun this out last Sunday at a club down the street. Nebula II were probably best known for this track and “Atheama”, and while “Atheama” is great, this is my favorite – massive low fi descending synth line, a great slow down/speed up breakdown, solid breakbeats (not many early tunes I can think of used the Funky Nassau break other than Sonz of a Loop Da Loop “Far Out”), good vocal drops (”Let’s Do it” , “The Dreamer” etc )… in general it’s just a mad, energetic, awesome hardcore tune. The remix is good as well, especially with the ridiculously over the top bass which drops about 3 minutes in, distorting and squashing down the drums more than in any other oldskool track I’ve heard. I was going to post that as well, but I think I’ll save it for another day. Nebula II – Flatliners
Also, while I’m posting Nebula II stuff, here’s a remix of “Atheama” done by me and a friend a couple of years ago as part of the “back2you” remix competition. I’ve tried to steer clear of posting any of my own music on here since this site is meant to be about classic tunes, but I think after 300+ posts, I can post one track. Nebula II – Atheama (Ravetasm Posse remix)
I used to think of Wishdokta more for his techno hardcore tracks like “Evil Surrounds Us” or his happy hardcore, but he also did some absolutely mental, absolutely essential 92-93 hardcore/jungle. This whole EP is great, but “Rush Hour” in particular checks all the boxes for me – fast and frantic, cut up and layered breaks, loads of samples including a dodgy one that I maybe wasn’t so sure about the first time I heard the track, but which grew on me over time. In this case, aforementioned sample is from Tamsin Archer’s “Sleeping Satellite”, which was also sampled more thoroughly in Smooth and Energy’s “Did We Fly To The Moon Too Soon”. I’ll probably get around to posting that Smooth and Energy EP at some point, but this Wishdokta is a real favorite and deserves to be grabbed if you can find a vinyl copy.
Alec Empire just posted up a track off the “Bass Terror” EP for Free DL on soundcloud… it’s a great EP, a must for both oldskool and breakcore fans… most accounts on there are limited to 100 downloads so grab it quick! Easygroove used to play a few tracks from this, and I finally nabbed a copy on vinyl when I was in Berlin last year. Bass Terror
WARNING: THIS TUNE MAY GET A GENESIS SONG STUCK IN YOUR HEAD. PROCEED WITH CAUTION!! Mental Babies was a project by Steve of Noise Overload (have I posted anything by them yet? If not I will) as well as a few other people. As the name implies, “Land of Confusion” rips the the song “Land of Confusion” by Genesis, plus the “Confusion!” vocal from A Homeboy a Hippie and Funky Dread “Total Confusion” and beats from Nebula II “Atheama”, which also used the “confusion” sample from HHFD. This tune is the perfect example of a cheap, fast, dirty hardcore track swiping a pop hook and combining it with a few other samples to great effect…. . A triumph of energy and vibe over skill and subtlety. When both melodies in the track are layered together you get one of those awkward “outsider music” hardcore moments which are either mildly endearing or total rubbish depending on your personal taste and how much of a stickler for basic music theory you are. Mental Babies – Land of Confusion
Here’s a rare and in demand EP… It’s good, but to be honest I think this record’s scarcity surpasses the actual quality of the music itself. Still, 4 quality tracks and a killer discogs want/have ratio = worthy of posting… I’ll get back to the bare cheap stuff you all should be buying soon enough
Someone was asking about this recently so here it is… a pretty overlooked darkside track from 1993. The break production lets this track down a bit but the music is wicked, definitely something I’ve thrown in mixes before and would play again. I’m not sure who Raw From China was but all their releases were on Reel 2 Reel which also did A-Sides “Burn Cali Weed” and Subterra – “Sweat”. My pick of the Raw From China releases is probably Raw From China 2, as posted previously on here Raw From China – Raw From China !!! Remix (The Omen)
Here’s something a little different… a 91 techno track by several German producers including Mike Ink. Maybe not congruent with what I normally post but who cares… “this is acid… I’m gonna give you acid!!”
Attn labels/artists featured on this blog: I run this because I love your music and want more people to know about it. If you want your track(s) removed, just email me at and I will remove them right away.
and I will remove them right away. 
