blog to the oldskool

Killersound – What Is A Ragga Twin

Pete — Wed, 22 May 2013 20:22:22 +0000

First tune back, this EP is a definite longtime obscurity / second-hand bargain. According to a friend, “Ravin 2 Heaven” used to get played a lot, but my favorite here is the first track “What is a Ragga Twin”. Featuring a few super catchy ragga vocal bits (I assume at least one of which is from the Ragga Twins), solid looping amens, deep subby bass and quite catchy melodies, it’s a memorable slice of hardcore/jungle. If the Discogs date is right, it’s also pretty ahead of its time – combining all the elements of what came to be more formally full-blown-jungle 2 years or so later.

Killersound – What Is A Ragga Twin

…Back in Action!!

Pete — Wed, 22 May 2013 20:05:57 +0000

Well, that was a nice vacation!!! I took 2 weeks off from posting on here due to work commitments plus a few music things in Boston (organizing a crazy show that involved a DJ in France live streaming an A/V set in high-def to the party, plus played a mega b2b2b 3 hour set at another party a few friends). Starting back up posting though, I’m going to try to post 7 tunes over the next 7 days… be sure to keep checking back or add the Facebook Page or Twitter page to be notified when tracks are posted.

Hyper-On Experience official facebook page / soundcloud

Pete — Wed, 01 May 2013 21:50:56 +0000

I was really excited to see today that Alex Banks of E-Z Rollers has set up an official HYPER-ON EXPERIENCE facebook page, which already has some great stories about the history of the group. There’s also an official soundcloud page now too!

If go check the earliest posts on this blog, you know these guys were 100% my favorite oldskool act ever no questions asked. I remember finding a copy of the “Lords of the Null Lines” remix 10″ around ’99/2000, and being totally blown away (obviously everyone knows and loves the the FP remix, the kaotic chemistry remix is top as well though!). Seriously don’t try to even talk to me about this group unless you want to hear the insane jabberings of a sad nerd because I will go on and on and on. Instead, just check these links:

HYPER-ON EXPERIENCE FACEBOOK PAGE

HYPER-ON EXPERIENCE SOUNDCLOUD PAGE

DJ B + EZM – Shocking to the Break of Dawn

Pete — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 17:25:29 +0000

Here’s another track I played on the 92 show but never posted the set from, so here it is in ripped form… it’s a really cool whitelabel release of solid hardcore from back in the day, which Vinyl Connection reissued about 10 years ago. Back before Discogs became such a force in second-hand online record buying, Vinyl Connection was a great place where I bought a LOT of vinyl online. I still end up buying some of their stock which is listed on discogs on occasion. In addition to reselling vinyl, they also released a bunch of must-own own stuff in the form of reissues and presses of never released hardcore/jungle tunes. A lot of these reissues were focused on Nookie’s output, and are definitely worth owning. But the two which AREN’T are two of my favorites on the label: this EP and Anthill Mob – Penelope’s Theme. As it stands, it seems the original of this has gone down in price to the point where it’s almost as cheap as the repress, but the repress sounds great as well (presumably done from the original master DAT) so really either version is worth owning.

DJ B & EZM – Shocking to the Break of Dawn

NTT – BadBoy Spirit

Pete — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 16:22:52 +0000

So I did a 1992 special on the Blog to the Oldskool Jungletrain.net radio show 2 weeks ago, but there were some issues with the stream which also affected the recording. Shame, since I played some nice less obvious 92 tunes including this one. Most of the Biology releases are a combination of stabby hardcore elements and heavy dancehall sampling, and this is no exception. We get nice uplifting pianos with the classic “Tell me something” ragga vocal bit plus some similarly familiar diva vocals, chopped to say “let your spirit… move your body!!”. Definitely a nice solid combo that makes for good prime time 92 ragga hardcore tuneage.

Unfortunately, it’s a bit confusing tracking this one down since there were all sorts of misspresses of it.
On one hand, there’s this version, which has “badboy spirit” but is labelled as NOT having that tune on it. This is actually the version I have, which I ripped and am posting here. Then there’s this other version which claims to have badboy spirit on the label, but (according to a discogs comment at least), contains another track entirely. Finally, there’s the original “says it has the track, actually has the track” version, which thankfully is a bit easier to find than my copy.

Now I just hope nobody replies saying that that official version has a different copy of the track than the one I ripped and am posting… fingers crossed….

NTT – Badboy Spirit

DJ D-Lux – Taking Me Higher

Pete — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 00:28:44 +0000

Here’s a nice choppy amen tune by Deja Vu FM Don DJ D-Lux. Not much to say about this one, though it’s produced and written by DJ D-Lux, it’s on a Brain Records related sublabel and definitely has that brain studio drum production. I remember finding this one when buying records at Bizzy B’s studio years ago, and being really impressed by the melodic timstretched drums in the beginning plus the break chopping in general – really nice enjoyable stuff, coupled with a super simple but effecitve diva vocal line. Big respect to DJ D-Lux for this, he also did a number of other good releases on Brain (plus a 95 one called “Mr Bond” which I’ve got and like a lot).

DJ D-Lux – Taking Me Higher

Abreaction – The Mind

Pete — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 12:36:17 +0000

Something a bit different here… I remember this tune being listed on some website a few years ago as “experimental hardcore.. for the deeper heads!” or something to that extent. Listening to the tune then I thought “I don’t get it, these beats are pretty straightforward/not that choppy? sounds pretty normal to me”. I guess I was so focused on the standard loop-y beats I didn’t notice all the bleeps, squawks and buzzing sounds throughout the tracks themselves… pretty cool and different sounding from your typical 93 track for sure. Even though I normally only post one track per release, I’m posting 2 out of the 4 on this EP because

it’s been over a weeek since I posted anything

I’m betting fans of classic mixtapes might far prefer mix #2 since Bukem used it in one of his best Yaman mixes (which can be downloaded from hardscore.com here).

Mix #2 is more stripped down with more of a melodic component, still pretty unique sounding though.

I’m not sure who Abreaction was, my copy has the same basic info stamped on it as in the discogs photo. Great tunes regardless!

Abreaction – The Mind
Abreaction – The Mind (Mix 2)

Sound Corp – Regen-Time (Mix 2)

Pete — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 21:51:54 +0000

Here’s a gem I found in my collection while pulling tracks for yesterday’s radio show… Most people probably know Sound Corp for their dark anthem “Dream Finder”, probably not as much for this tune (or if so, possibly for a different mix of it – there’s at least 2 others). This mix of Regen-Time is pretty simple, but every single element in it is excellent: a classic Public Enemy vocal sample (repeated over and over to great effect before being pitched up and down), a frantic sixteenth note melody, stompy drums alternating with a super-heavy breakbeat, and some darker synths which enter the track via a breakdown. At a little over 4 minutes, it’s over before it has a chance to get boring. Definitely one worth checking, and worth picking up as (along with most Tone Def stuff) it’s still pretty easy to come by.

Sound Corp – Regen-Time (Mix 2)

Sky Joose – X-Redskin

Pete — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 16:33:14 +0000

Here’s some tasty 95 ragga jungle from Sky Joose. Not much info available on this release, if you check the audio though you can hear that the beats in the other b-side tune sound quite similar to “Tales of Darkness”, so it’s most likely him. The elements here are pretty standard jungle – pads, dancehall samples, chopped breaks and a weighty sub, but they all play together really nicely in this tune… no idea why it’s so rare but definitely one keeping an eye out for!

Sky Joose – X-Redskin

Dev/Null – I Can’t Believe How Dark It Is (Fright Night Radio set March 21st 2013)

Pete — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 14:40:30 +0000

Here’s my set from the Fright Night radio show a few weeks ago. It took a while to post since I wanted to either rerecord it or at least cut out a few dodgey parts (record skips etc less than stellar transitions). I ended up doing the latter, so this is the exact set from then minus just a couple minutes of “errr, ummm, cut to a commercial break!” This show was supposed to be about playing “the darkest, most underground jungle/hardcore you own”, so rather than more well known darkside classics, I focused on a lot of the good dark tracks I’ve posted on this blog, including:

Nemisis – Self Induced Trance

Edcase – Ed’s Venture

Mega City 2 – Darker Side of Evil

Man from Formation – Darken You With My Presence

Dextrous – Something Out There/a>

Biobreaks – Move

In addition tho tracks from the blog, I played a bunch of the other more beardy obscurities I could find in my collection – so it was pretty surprising when people recognized a lot of them! Ironically, with everyone trying to out-dark each other, a lot of the biggest darkside classics didn’t even get played during the broadcast, or got played much later in the show (presumably since everyone assumed everyone else would play them first…)

Warning: This is one of the more grungy/dark/weird mixes I’ve posted… no feel good tunes here. Enter at your own risk

Alternate download link:
Dev/Null – I Can’t Believe How Dark It Is (Fright Night Radio Set March 21st 2013)

DJ Senator & The Bagman – Tranqued

Pete — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 00:24:08 +0000

Here’s an interesting EP which took me a while to get fully into – it sounded promising when I heard it years ago, but when I finally got around to buying a copy, none of the tracks really resonated much and it kind of sat in the back of my collection. I just found it recently though when pulling records for a darkside special (which I’ll post soon), and I’m definitely more into it now. The tunes are pretty weird and unique sounding, maybe not the most hard hitting but with lots of samples and parts coming seemingly out of nowhere. In general this focuses more on the dark side of things, though it’s far from a typical “darkcore” release.
The EP was actually released on a sublabel of the classic metal label Earache, who despite focusing more on grindcore and hardcore tried to feature a fair bit of electronic oriented stuff back then (partnering with Industrial Strength for a while, etc). Possibly since it’s on such a decent sized label, the full sleeve artwork is actually pretty nice, reminiscent of something you’d see on a rave flyer.

DJ Senator And The Bagman – Tranqued

Nightclubbing at Metalheadz – RBMA Article

Pete — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 17:06:43 +0000

I don’t usually repost much stuff from other sites, but this is a must-read….I never got to go to this classic Metalheadz night, though I went to some other night they did a few years after this (can’t remember the club / lineup, though I remember Loxy playing and possibly a Reinforced related DJ headlining). While that was great, it doesn’t come close to the insane atmosphere described here… sounds like pure music-nerd heaven, and listening to the music it’s clear what effect it had in moving sounds forward rapidly. In a way this kind of rapid progression still happens, except the music landscape has changed so much it’s usually for the worse now / “de-volving” music – new ideas/memes/influences pop up and get rapidly reduced to the most linear, loud, populist incarnation imaginable.Ah well, enough griping, READ THIS:

Nightclubbing: Metalheadz at Blue Note

Wraggy and The Riggler – I’ll Give My Love To You

Pete — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 19:24:15 +0000

Here’s a fun early breakbeat happy hardcore track from 94 – if it was written in 92 or 93 it would have just been considered a normal oldskool track. But since it came out in 94, at which point the split into jungle and hhc was much more palpable, it’s clear which side of that divide this track falls on. Despite the relentlessly happy vocals and melody though, the 4 beat is far from pronounced and it still seems like it could be a fun track to play with earlier oldskool stuff.

Wraggy and Riggler – Ill Give My Love To You

Super obscure proto-intelligent gem just for April 1st

Pete — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 15:30:03 +0000

Black Widow – The Stalk

Pete — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 15:42:02 +0000

Here’s a weird EP I don’t see mentioned much… it’s on the New York label “Death Records” which otherwise focused on 4/4 hardcore and techno stuff (ala Industrial Strength). In fact, this EP is probably more “breakbeat techno” than it is breakbeat hardcore style – there’s breakbeats in it but the structure is much more technoey, without the typical changeups of a UK Tune. There’s also a harsh filtered techno synth line throughout. Still, gotta love that bass part, which sounds a lot like the first breakdown in “Tek Track” but is looped throughout the tune. The other side is also good but a lot longer, this tune kind of gets in and out in under 4 minutes.

Black Widow – The Stalk

French Jungle Documentary

Pete — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 04:06:36 +0000

Don’t think I’ve ever seen this before… in French but since it’s filmed in the UK most of the dialogue is spoken in English with subtitles.

March 2012 mix reposted on Soundcloud

Pete — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 20:35:15 +0000

In case anyone didn’t check the mix I did around this time last year, it’s been rehosted on Soundcloud thanks to Soundcloud’s newer more generous “unlimited” audio accounts. The mix features 91-93 stuff, with some nerdy obscurities but nothing obscure-for-the-sake-of-obscure.

Tracklisting:
01. Pum Pum Brigade – Tuffer than Words (Torso Dance)
02. Unity – Fireball (Boogie Times)
03. Zone – Ghosties B2 (whitelabel)
04. Lloyd Crucial + Peter Ranks – Passing through (Kiss My Nortty Nortty Mix) (Lap One)
05. Tronik House – Spark Plug (KMS)
06. Stevie Hyper D & Tigger Max – Hear The Vibes (Sonic Stealth)
07. Sub Love – Drum & Bass Program (Earth)
08. Fozbee & Cooz – Free Your Mind (Another Planet)
09. Eat Life – Digital Fish (Plastic Surgery)
10. The Reece Project – Spirit come Down (Liquid Wax)
11. Cool House – Rock This Party Right (Fast Eddie’s Raw Mix) @45 (Underground)
12. DJ SS – Don’t Come No Ruffer (Formation)
13. DJ Dove – Bird of Prey (White label)
14. Cloud 9 – Ruff (Remix) (Moving Shadow)
15. Njoi – Drumstruck (Deconstruction)
16. Deceptive Jon – The Confession (Overlord Mix) (Deceptive RecordS)
17. DJ Spice – The Groove (Soapbar)
18. The Moog – Jungle Muffin (Delirious)
19. Trance & Roughcut – Vol 1 side A (IR)
20. JAS – Keri (Red Alert mix) (Adrenaline)
21. DJ Rap & Aston – Vertigo (Suburban Base)
22. Yolk – Sick Squid (Ruffbeat)
23. Wishdokta – Whine You Bottom (Kickin)
24. Naughty Naughty – Volume Six side A (Naughty Naughty)

Blog to the Oldskool Radio March 24th, 2013

Pete — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 19:42:35 +0000

Here’s Sunday’s show… I had to rerecord it because there were more server hickups (or possibly issues with my connection) that caused 3-4 dropouts. I definitely need to sort the problems out before next show, it kind of killed the flow over an otherwise smooth running set.

For this show, I mostly played records I had picked for a set opening for DJ Dara a few nights prior, with a few tracks changed out. It’s mostly focused on atmospheric jungle moving into ragga stuff, with a few diversions into darker/weirder tunes to keep things interesting. Probably one of the more listenable blog to the oldskool radio shows in a while, not too obscure and beardy selection-wise (though there’s a number of mad choppy moments).

Next show is on April 7th, 2013.

Dev/Null – Blog to the Oldskool Radio March 24th 2013

Tracklisting:
Jodeci – Feenin (LTJ Bukem Remix)
PFM – One and Only
Wild Orkid – Magic in You
Fast Floor – Sweat Shop
Klute – Right or Wrong
Rhymeside – Friends (Brown Remix)
Renegade – Something I Feel
Intelligent Minds – Forever Real
Ruff with the Smooth – Twisted Girl
Dom & Roland – Wax Musical
System X – Mindgames
Hyper-On Experience – Thundergrip (Kaotic Chemistry Remix)
Hopa and Bones Feat Oasys – Mystical Horns
T Power – Triangle
DR S Gachet – The Dreamer (Nookie Remix)
Siege – Deep (Part 1)
On Remand – Controllin (Tango Remix)
Atomic Dog – Cosmic Jam
Da Dogz – Non Stop
Fallen Angels – Oh Yeah (Back 2 Basics Remix)
Unknown – Brandy Jungle remix
Baraka & Master Laquar – Million and One
Marc Caro – Sling Wide
Gappa G & Hypa Hyper – Roach is Burning
The Outlaw – OG Call
General Degree- Papa Lover
Unknown – Odysee
Break of Dawn – Untitled
Kemet Crew – The Box Re-opens
DJ Scoobie – Wait for the Bass
DJ Panik – Untitled
The Dominion – Fusion (Cool Like this Remix)
Mafia – Black Hand Volume 1
Alladin – So Good (Heavy Remix)

Persian Prince – Desertism

Pete — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 16:54:48 +0000

Here’s a nice track I nabbed recently by Persian Prince, which I actually bought from Persian Prince (he has a number of his old releases for sale on discogs in unplayed condition no less). It’s always great to be able to buy copies of a record from the original artist, knowing the cash is going to the creator rather than a secondhand collector. In case any of you want to nab one too, here’s his discogs sales page. A couple years ago I posted something off his Don Gorgon EP, and this doesn’t fall too far from that EP style-wise. This track is probably my favorite of the two, with the standout being the Middle Eastern singing and music, something which you rarely hear in oldskool. Since I was in touch with him buying these records, I asked him about the samples and got this info back:

The vocal is an Iranian modern singer called ‘Sharhrom Solatti’, singing about his journeys as he travels. The other main sample is the ‘Ney’ flute, which is very traditional still in Iranian culture, old & new….the Whirling Dervishes consider it a spiritual instrument.
The film sample voice is ‘Jefferey Hunter’ playing ‘Attila the Hun’ from a 1950-1960 hollywood movie.
And, yeah – thats my voice being timestreched at the beginning…hahaha!!

Aside from the samples mentioned above, the breaks are nice and gritty, well chopped and reminiscent of the stuff Bizzy B was producing around 91/92. According to PP, these tracks were written and released in 1992, not 1994 as Discogs says. It seems reasonable to me, though they definitely sound like they could have been made at any time during that range.

Persian Prince – Desertism

Since doing these tracks, PP has also done a bunch of newer style tunes some garage tracks, some dnb, etc. Here’s a recent set from Kool FM featuring a lot of his tunes, including the one posted above:

Also, here’s a new DNB EP he did which just came out a month or two ago, available on Phonica, Beatport, etc.

Blog to the Oldskool Radio March 10th, 2013

Pete — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 12:49:44 +0000

Here’s a re-recorded version of last Sunday’s Blog to the Oldskool Radio show on http://jungletrain.net. It was originally 2 hours long, but due to some server issues, the stream cut out a bunch of times. Rather than trying to stitch together a bunch of partial sets including random spinbacks / track startovers, I decided to take the records I had left over from the stream and rerecord a set with them. I ended up leaving out a few tracks I had originally played (mostly jungle stuff that didn’t really fit, plus that weird Icons “stop-go-celebrate” track below), but the best tunes are still there in basically the same order.
Overall I’m happy with this mix – 35 tracks / 73 minutes, continuing with the lots of house, electro (and even early hardcore) at 45 alongside a decently varied selection of 93-94 tunes… mostly centered around a Basement Records kind of sound, without having many obvious tunes from that label and with some definite diversions.

Tracklisting ?? - ?? Delusions of Grandeur - Touch Me in the Night (@45) Static Substance - Ghetto People (Remix) Orca - Back to the Jungle Musto + Bones - Dangerous on the Dancefloor (@45) Ramos & Supreme - The Journey Pt 1 Awesome 3 - Possessed (Pin Down) (@45) Foul Play - Open Your Mind DJ Phantasy - Yeah, Roll Da Beats EZE OZO - How to Stay Alive (@45) Jack N’ Phil - Don’t Beg For Love Eddie - Intelligent Drummer (Steve Gurley Remix) Micky Finn - Reality KCC - Future III (@45) Safari Sounds - The Change Aux 88 - Exile (@45) Jumpin Jack Frost - Osmosis FX - Twilight (Part 1) Smooth But Hazardous - Help Me Corky & Yaka - Living Love Urban Shakedown - Take Me Up (A-Zone Remix) The Frank Denato EP - … Why? (@45) Van Cleef - Life Began Changing ?? - ?? Parallel World - Tear Into I Aeon Flux - Reality Love Dove Jay - Nitro ?? - ?? ?? - ?? (@45) Doughboy SLB + Flatliner - Visions of Darkness Hedgehog Affair 5 - The Pipe Ionosphere - Hypertension EP The Brother’s Grimm - Sign of the Times Edge of Darkness - Fantastic Voyage FX - Terrible Things (@33)
Dev/Null – Blog to the Oldskool Radio March 10th, 2013

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