Posts Tagged ‘suburban base’

Sonz of a Loop Da Loop Era – Far Out (Mike Wertheim’s “Even Further Out” remix)

Friday, February 12th, 2010

Here’s a remix that I remember was discussed a lot on B2VOS years back, it was some white label remix of Sonz of a Loop Da Loop Era’s “Far Out” which mashed up the original with Zero B’s “lock up”. As it turns out, the original source of this tune is one of those US re-edit comps which were released in the early 90′s. I’ve posted a few of these type of edits before, [here] and [here] While most of these compilations are a bit of a crapshoot given the variety of the tunes, this “Twitch Volume 6″ is quality – tons of classics ever-so-slightly revamped, including “Flatliners”, “Fires Burning” “Nightmare Walking”, etc. Re-edits like this might not be so interesting to newer fans, but for people who have listened to these tunes hundreds and hundreds of times, they sometimes can breathe new life into well-worn tracks.


Sonz of a Loop DA Loop Era – Far Out (Mike Wertheim’s Even Further Out remix)

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Also, if I haven’t mentioned it recently, GO BUY SOME SUBURBAN BASE MP3s or original vinyl… Because their releases were pressed in huge quanities, most of their EPs can be found for bare cheap these days barring a few classics (which have cheap vinyl represses available anyway).

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GBH – Reach The Sky

Monday, July 13th, 2009

Here’s a single I bought years ago and forgot about until recently. In all that time, I don’t think I’ve ever really listened to the B side. Instead I stuck to the (admittedly strong) A side tune “Back to the Grave”, which combines an MC Duke vocal line, an assortment of heavy breakbeats (including the “give it up + turn it loose” and the “apache”), and a nice skank part.
Recently, someone suggested I check out the B side, and they were right – it’s an equally good tune. which starts full-force and doesn’t let up until the end of hte track. Sample-wise, “Reach the Sky” features the Tongue N Cheek “Nobody” acapella as used in Acen Trip 2 the Moon (“take me higher”), plus the oft-used (in tracks by DJ Junk, Search + Destroy and many others) “we’ll keep climbing, till we reach the sky!” acapella line. There’s also a bit that sounds like more MC Duke in there as well.

As for who did this EP, I’ve got no idea – discogs claims it was released on a Boogie Times sublabel, and DJ Odi confirmed that he has a very similar looking sublabel release on Boogie Times, so it may indeed be from them. That still leaves the question open which artist produced the track though.

GBH – Reach the Sky

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Nice documentary clip on Sub Base / the Prodigy

Wednesday, May 27th, 2009

I haven’t gone hunting for rave videos on youtube in a bit, but someone on b2vos just posted this documentary which is pretty nice. I still can’t believe how young all these producers were when they made these tunes!

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Suburban Base: Sound of the Phuture MegaMix

Monday, February 9th, 2009

Suburban Base is one of my favorite labels ever, but you’ll rarely see stuff on this site from that label. This is for two reasons :

  1. Anybody who knows anything about oldskool knows this label and their releases, thus there’s no reason for me to spend time trying to talk about them
  2. All their releases are posted for sale on breakbeat.co.uk, which means I’ll never post full quality mp3s on here

However, I recently bought a record containing a nice megamix of their first 12-14 or so releases. Whoever made the megamix did a nice job incorporating elements from all the tracks throughout the mix, not just blindly jumping from tune to tune. It makes for for both an excellent introduction to the label’s earlier tracks, as well as something fun for people who already know the tunes well.

v/a – Suburban Base: Sound of the Future (Megamix by the Berzerker)

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Here’s a listing of tracks contained in this mix, not ordered. It might be difficult to order them since they’re pretty mashed up, individual sounds from tracks continue being used long after the melody has switched.

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MC Duke

Thursday, October 2nd, 2008


Plenty of oldschool hardcore producers started off as b-boys, hip-hop DJs, and even some as MC’s. Of those, few if any were as accomplished in hip-hop as MC Duke (real name Anthony Hillaire), who produced plenty of wicked jungle/hardcore alongside his DJ, DJ Leader 1.

One of the greatest things about MC Duke is that his hip hop tracks played a part in influencing the hardcore/jungle scene which he then stuck around for. Specifically, his track “I’m Riffin’” is one of the more heavily sampled hiphop tracks in hardcore/jungle (and that’s saying a lot). The drums in this track were produced by Simon Haris for Music Of Life productions, which was responsible for many of the more heavily sampled breakbeats in jungle/hardcore. While not as famous by name as the amen or think break, the “i’m riffin” break is easily recognizable to anybody who has heard a decent amount of 92-94 tracks.

MC Duke – I’m Riffin (Smokin Beats)

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wav edit from 101′s breakbeat collection:
MC Duke – I’m Riffin – Smokin Beats (wav excerpt)

Not only were the beats in “I’m Riffin”, heavily sampled, but the acapella was as well. Duke had a great low voice which pitched up nicely to hardcore speed, and there were plenty of sampleable lines.
MC Duke – I’m Riffin (Acapella)

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For Jungle tunes, he produced under several aliases – E.K.U.D.C.M. (which is just MC Duke spelled backwards), Double H Productions, E. Kude, Konspiracy, etc.

One of his best known jungle tracks is “How dark it is”, which includes a sample of Duke saying “I can’t believe how dark it is!”. For some reason, most of the vocals in his jungle tunes are pitched up, even though he could have easily recorded them at the right tempo for the track.




E.K.U.D.C.M. – How Dark It Is (Remix)

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Another quality EP, where the “how dark it is” track originated:



Double H Productions – Noise Level 1

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Under the name E.Kude, he did several wicked singles on Boogie Times (pre-Suburban Base label). “Never Let Go” is the only one I own, though I probably prefer “Don’t Be Afraid”. The vocal at the beginning of “Never Let Go” is used in other tracks, including Yolk’s “music for the people”.




E. Kude – Never Let Go

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Finally, here’s a record credited to E.Kude on Discogs, though there’s nothing on my copy of it to indicate it’s by them. Pretty nice EP sampling a few big tracks from the time, including “feel real good”:
DJ’s Experience -Side A

MC Duke also produced an LP of samples for Suburban Base’s sublabel “Bluntly Speaking”. This might have been because he was sick of being endlessly sampled and not getting cash for it (the Double H Productions record even had “sample this and get smoked!” printed on the label). Despite sounding like a dream for subbase / oldschool fans, most of the samples don’t have anything to do with jungle/hardcore, and instead are straightforward sample CD fodder like 808 and 909 hits. Granted, that stuff was probably indispensible to producers back then, but for a Suburban Base sample record, I would have much rather heard some Rachel Wallace acapellas or some signature sounds from the sub base studio.

The only standouts in my opinion are a few good vocal samples from the Duke himself:


gettingbusygonna.wav
listen to the beat go boom.wav

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