Happy Halloween!
Mystical Units – Positively Evil (Original Mix)
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Speaking of “overlooked tunes on well-rinsed EPs”, here’s an oft-missed song by Terrorize. Their tune “It’s just a Feeling” was a huge huge track that was basically a 92 mix of “Playing with Knives”:
It was released numerous times on different labels (Hamster, Hardcore Noise Records, KMS). That actually makes this track extra easy to miss, since it only appeared on one of those pressings on one of those labels (the Hardcore Noise one, which was a bit smaller of a press than the Hamster pressing if I remember correctly)… It might not have the universal appeal of “just a feeling”, but it’s a fun REALLY rushy track reminiscent of Prodigy’s fairground remix of “everybody in the place”.
Terrorize – Clap Your Hands
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Despite getting back into buying vinyl pretty heavily the past month or so, I haven’t been that excited to post any particular track(s) as of late. This tune changed my mind though – since it’s a great example of a slept-on B side on an otherwise well known release.
So, I’m guessing most people know the following tune, right?
Orca was a project by Darren Beale (Decoder) which I think included at least one other person at some point. I don’t see a mention of it on discogs, but am pretty sure I’ve heard that it wasn’t just Darren at some points. Regardless, he/they did some good anthemy tracks such as the tune above and “Get on One”, along with plenty of more jungley bits which are also worth tracking down. “4 AM” was an absolutely huge tune, remixed and rereleased a number of times including one repress just a couple years back. However, the represses focused on the track “4am” and its various mixes, when in fact there were several other tunes on the original press of the EP which never appeared anywhere else. “Jungle Vibes” is one of those tunes. This track checks off a lot of “good oldskool track” checkboxes for me – scratch samples, choppy breaks, changeups, etc. The fact that it’s on another EP with another so widely known track makes it even more fun, and hopefully not that hard to track down.
Orca – Jungle Vibes
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Also, I should point out that there’s a smattering of other Lucky Spin tracks for sale legally on various dance music mp3 sites now, including the above tune “4am” in various mixes:
Lucky Spin Mp3s For Sale
[BEATPORT] [Dogs On Acid Mp3 Store] [TRACK IT DOWN]
Though it’s unfortunately a small selection of tracks for sale now, pretty much every track which has been posted is a “must have”, so check them out and nab em if you don’t have the vinyl (or even if you do and want a click+pop free version)
OK feeling a bit better, so let me try this writeup again… here’s another good release on Kinetix, the label which did the Outrageous – Tech Kore” EP I already posted. Most releases on kinetix were more technoey, however these two had their own catalog numbers (KX versus KINT), so maybe they were meant to stick out somehow? Either by the same producers, or to differentiate them stylistically. Either way these two are definitely my favorites on the label and pretty underrated/cheap. No real surprises here, just some enjoyable chugging hardcore stuff!
Industrial – Renegade (Remix)
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Diverging from the obscurities for a bit of a classic here, though one a bit less known by name than your average Sub Base / Shadow hits M.A.N.I.C. did some great 91-93 singles, including earlier slower material like the “concept ep”, through the great “feel it / dreamer” EP which has got to be one of the great cheap underrated 92/93 EPs. This has got to be their biggest track though, an absolute piano stormer. I’m posting the 92 rerelease which is what I have this on, though it came out originally in 1991.
MANIC – I’m Coming Hardcore
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There were also several later remixes of this track, including this Peter Paul one….
I’ve probably watched that video a dozen times since it was posted a few years ago, and still grin like an idiot every time I see the crowd absolutely lose it 30 seconds in!
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Here’s a track to contrast “In Complete Darkness” which I posted a few days ago… not much in the way of big catchy melodies here, just great mad choppy breaks and sparse samples dropped on top. The scratching bit should sound familiar, as it’s the intro to Tango’s absolutely massive / essential / massively essential “Grand National” remix, which consists of someone scratching with the Hijack “Badman is Robbin” acapella.
Engineering duties on this track are by the great Julian Hellfish/Secret Squirrel/Undercover Elephant, who I’m still waiting on some interview answers from. I had actually forgotten I even owned this until I heard someone spin it recently… I think it was maybe DJ Foo? Whoever it was, thanks for the reminder, as this EP is back out in my “to play” crates now 
The Beat Mash Crew – Favorite Cuts
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I’ve had this for a while and still get a chuckle whenever I come across the title – given how prolific certain producers were BITD, I wish other producers had been as straightforward as on this EP and put out singles named like this. It’d be funny to come across loads of records with titles like “Cool Hand Flex’s Mate”, “Dave Charlesworth’s Mate”, “”Bizzy B’s Mate” (that one would be about 8000 records deep), etc. Still, this is a great little white label, loads of samples crammed in, etc. Not much more to say about this since I know nothing about the artist, aside from the fact that he was mates with DJ Phantasy.
DJ Phantasy’s Mate – Edit Vol 1 side A
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“In complete Darkness” is such a classic track, it’s a bit deflating when you hear all the original samples and realize all the music is sampled wholesale (except for the bassline probably). I mean, we all know that most of those classic piano and synth parts in hardcore tunes were sampled from some marginally earlier piano house or techno track…. still, this track has got to take the cake amongst hardcore tracks for being a really straight ahead combination of a few component pieces! Regardless of this, it’s an absolute classic + really fun tune that ends up better than those source samples somehow.
Fat Controller – In Complete Darkness
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As for those “ingredients”:
Melodies:
Breakbeat:
(I assume you all know where the amen is from 
)
Vocal:
Here’s a record I’ve actually had in my sell/trade pile for 3 years or more… heard it recently in a mix and thought “oh yeah, I’ve got that!” I can still understand why I put this EP aside to sell, as it’s far more stripped down and simple than I prefer oldschool tracks to be – a few sounds, nothing too emotional or extreme sounding, just a laid back vibey track. Also, I think my expectations were set high by the track name – “Escape from the Planet of the Zombie Droids” sounds like it’d be some crazy hardcore stuff, no? Still, I’ve had some fun spinning this lately, so out of the sell pile and onto the blog it goes.
This track was released on a London vs Frankfurt single put out by Rising High sublabel Sapho. The Frankfurt side is some OK breakbeat techno stuff, nothing which stood out to me. The side posted here says it’s by “Darkman”, which is not to be confused with the Darkman on Formation (which was an DJ SS / EQ alias).
Darkman – Escape From the Planet of the Zombie Droids
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