A year ago I posted a nice track by DJ Massive called “Fall Down”, which people sometimes mistake for another tune with the same sample.. well,this is that other tune. The Mad Ragga Jon version here is the more well known of those two and, dare, I say, a bit better (though the DJ Massive one is also nice for sure). Using the same Tramaine acapella as featured in plenty of other tracks like Force & Evolution “Fall Down on Me”, Mad Ragga Jon + Stetly “Fall Down On Me” also throws in some hammering amens, big sub bass, Sinnamon acapella bits (“let the freak..”), and a few twists and turns including some extended eerie timestretched breaks reminding me a bit of early Metalheads (the artist not the label). It’s definitely not a quick “get in, do one thing, get out” type track, but flows between a number of different parts, with the last section being extra stripped-down, moody, and ahead of its time.
Regarding the artists behind it: Mad Ragga Jon is best known for running the Mad House label as well as his wicked early Boogie Times releases. Supposedly he had a falling out with Sub Base early on, which possibly lead to the formation of his label or at least it pulling away from the Boogie Times family (I’m pretty confident this is documented somewhere and not just rumors, though I can’t remember where I read it now). The other artist on this track (Stetly) I only know for his wicked EP on Dance Bass with the Beat Mash Crew. It’s a shame these guys didn’t release many more tunes after this – M.R.J. did have a remix on a DJ Nut Nut EP, as well as engineering another record or two. There’s also a really choice unreleased track called “Crazy Daydreams” which may or may not be by him. I forget the latest in the search, but I think someone had reached out to him and he denied writing it, but other artists still claimed it was by him? Either way, there’s also an unreleased remix of “Fall Down On Me” supposedly (anyone got it? feel free to send it my way :)). Aside from those though, this EP is an serious must-have – not a bargain bin tune by any stretch, but not that expensive either and still cheaper than some new releases coming out on vinyl. Get to grabbing if you don’t have it!
Mad Ragga Jon & Stetly – Fall Down On Me
Nice tunage and superb production, just like that Crazy Daydreams that I obsessed over for years – dark as you like. Criminal it never got released.
This was the comment someone got from Mad Ragga Jon about the Day Dreams track:
“I’ve listened to the track but i don’t think it is one of mine. The drum edits, strings and the compression sound familiar but i dont recall the vocal. I’ll run it past some of my boys and see if they recognise it as it could possibly be an unreleased collaboration. Mrj”
Cool, sounds about right. BTW are you aware of any other unreleased MRJ tracks which are actually known 100% to be by him?
The unreleased Fall Down remix is by Peshay I believe – Bukem played it at Dreamscape 10 if I remember rightly. As usual its better than the original!
The Crazy Day Dreams track is a proper holy grail! Its very similar in parts to Mad Ragga Jon tune – Story of My Life (also unreleased)…..
So many lost tunes!
It was someone involved with Sweet FM, the pirate station Peshay used to play on, who said the Fall Down remix was a Peshay VIP. It’s not clear whether he meant Peshay remixed it or that it’s a remix they did specially for Peshay and Bukem.
Audio for the confirmed unreleased MRJ track:
DJ Hardliner & Mad Ragga Jon – The Story Of My Life
https://soundcloud.com/ethereal94/dj-hardliner-mad-ragga-jon-the
I love this tune so much – vastly underrated – never left my bag for a long time.