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Force Mass Motion – Jack of Diamonds

I can’t believe I’ve gone this long without posting anything on Rabbit City, as it’s a choice label run by Gordon Edge (of “Compnded” fame) and Colin Faver of Kiss FM. Aside from putting out a bunch of FMM EPs, Rabbit City also released the Digital Domain EP (that “I need relief” track, bound to be familiar to any oldskool fans), one of the first Aphex Twin records, and Blow “Cutter”. Unlike labels which transitioned towards jungle, after hardcore’s heyday Rabbit City moved more towards hard techno/trance, which makes sense since their early releases also had a strong techno vibe.

As for Force Mass Motion, their first 4 or so EPs on Rabbit City are all excellent and pretty essential, stompin technoey stuff jumping between serious hardcore and some great proto-happy hardcore bits. This track is exemplary of that, managing to (somewhat uncomfortably) position what is perhaps one of THE most extreme/”end-of-the-world” style rave riffs ever next to a much more melodic/happy section. I’ve definitely heard a different version of this track with an extended intro using the “jack of diamonds” sample, a sample which I can’t definitively place but which I think maybe be from either Scanners or Ghostbusters? Either way it’s some sort of ESP test scene using
playing cards.

Force Mass Motion – Jack of Diamonds

22 Replies to “Force Mass Motion – Jack of Diamonds”

  1. i have 2 of the FMM records… might be worth noting that the guy’s name is Michael Wells but it’s not the guy from GTO

  2. Yeah, the samples from Evil dead 1 in the cottage when the woman is trying to guess the cards that are being held up to her.

  3. Rabbit City is an incredible label. The first 10 releases are all classics of old skool madness.

    #1 and #3, even though they are more mashups by today’s standards, are still two of my all-time favorites.

  4. Can someone tell me if it was a Force Mass Motion track that had the lyrics ‘Pick em up eat em up pick em up eat em up pick em up picklehead pick em up pickee ‘ ? Around 92 I think.

  5. Nope, that’s from an Ultramagnetic MC’s song “poppa large”, sampled in a bunch of different oldskool tracks. Can’t remember a force mass motion track with the sample right now but could be…

  6. Pete tell me more…i thought Ultramagnetic had sampled it from the original, what old skool tracks do you know that it’s on ? I have to find this tune and my memories are slightly hazy !!!!!! All I do remember was that it was a male kind of synthesized voice….

  7. would really like to find a copy of the extended intro version of jack of diamonds. any help????

  8. Im trying to find the “pick em picklehead” song too… It was a hardcore sounding song, around ’92 is when I heard it. My brother loved that song so much he ruined the tape from rewinding it. That was the last time I heard it…

  9. Still looking for the damn picklehead song. If anyone remembers a hardcore song from around 92 that had a squeeky sample of that pick em up picklehead line, PLEASE leave it on here, thanks.

  10. sorry still haven’t thought of it, it’s weird because there’s definitely at least a few other tracks that used that sample, I’ve got it sampled on my hard drive with some kind of beatboxing behind it but can’t recall what record I sampled it from (sample is 7 years old now). Have you tried asking on tuneid.com? there’s some crazy wizards on there that far surpass my knowledge, def worth giving it a shot if you register + post on the “hardcore” subforum.

  11. The pick em up picklehead song your looking for is by Intellect and it’s called “pick em up” the rotterdam is my personal favorite

  12. Chris, you’re a legend. I noticed nobody else said thank you so, four years later.. thanks!

  13. “pick em up – em eat up…..” back from the past.
    Oh MY!! YOU guyS R awesome… I found It at last!!! Thank you Chris. 😉

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