blog to the oldskool

It’s been a while since I’ve posted a US obscurity, so here’s a nice tune that I don’t think many people know about. “Break You Down” is one of those super simple tracks that just combines a couple of critical elements of other tracks, but to very nice effect. Here we get the breaks from Two Bad Mice “Bombscare” originally from Kariya – Let Me Love You (Rebuilt), synth stabs from a Ragga Twins track (I forget which one, but it’s a huge one…), and the classic “break you down and get your head into the groove” sample as used in a number of classic house and hardcore tracks. This tune is definitely more of a DJ’ing rather than home listening tune, in fact for all I know this could even border on Florida breaks rather than being a hardcore tune… but it’s a seriously good track in my mind, and I wanted to rip it for someone, so here you go! If anyone has an idea about a release date / more info, it would be much appreciated…

Schedule 3 – Break U Down

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I’ve been meaning to save this EP for an article on early US breakbeat hardcore/rave, but it’s been a while since I posted any domestic obscurities. Despite a number of DJs playing oldskool here, very little bonafide 92/93 style tunes got released in the US, with most of the hardcore being more of the rave/techno variety . Once 1995 hit things took off more, most notably with the well known Liquid Sky/Jungle Sky label and Dieselboy putting out a track on Tech Itch Recordings. However there wasn’t that much more before that in the states which actually made it to wax, with a few notable exceptions (Jamie Myerson, Josh Kay/Global).
Considering that, here’s a cool little 92 style EP released in Ohio of all places, way back in 1993. The tunes on this might not be super polished top uk label level anthems, but the sequencing is solid and there’s plenty of good samples/changeups, reminding me a bit of lesser known De Underground + related label stuff from 92. This EP is also definitely one for the obscurity hunters to consider, as only three people “have” it on discogs as I’m writing this. The guy behind this EP (Stephen Hindman) went on to do some tracks on Jungle Sky as well as Rawkus’ short lived dnb label Raw Kuts, and the executive producer (Mike Filly) is considered one of the most well respected veterans of the Ohio club scene. In general, it’s pretty cool to see how something like this could have been released thousands of miles from the UK with no involvement at all from the scene there..

Kingsize – Perfect Combination

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Also, here’s a poor cameraphone shot of the promo sheet that came with the release…aside from the great graphics (Sub Zero wins!), the text shows how the smaller scene size in the US resulted in labels and producers at the time here producing across a wider variety of genres and not being able to focus in so much on the hardcore/jungle sound (since there wasn’t much of a scene for it in of itself here, at least not compared to the UK).

This is seriously one of the biggest tunes I’ve posted in recent time… lush breakbeat techno jam by Joey Beltram under his Code 6 alias. According to a comment I read on discogs, this alias was for his more experimental idm / early warp sounding stuff. I’m not sure how true that is, but it’s definitely more laidback, introspective and melodic than his other material. I’ve got it here pitched up at +8, as this is how I usually mix it with hardcore (maybe not what it was intended for, but oh well… my blog my rules ). It’s a shame it came out in 93, as I’m sure it would have been been appreciated in more of a hardcore context if it had come out in 91 (as it stands it probably does sit nicely with 93 warp idm stuff). However you listen to it though, it’s just a great, GREAT, tune.

Code 6 – Third Aura (+8%)

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It’s been quite a while since I posted a us digital remix of a known oldskool track from one of those early 90′s compilations.. in the past, I’ve posted some of these promo-only remixes for tracks like Sonz of a Loop Da Loop – Far Out, Acen – Close Your Eyes, X-Static – Ready 2 Go, and Kaotic Chemistry – LSD/Spacecakes. For more information on what these tracks were / how they were made, feel free to check this comment on the “Far Out” remix, or the Josh Kay interview I did. To be honest, I got a bit tired of tracking them down since it was such a crapshoot whether they’d be that different from the originals. Here’s one I found for 50 cents during a recent California trip though, which turned out to be worth a listen.

This remix of “Deepa” is by Chris Cox, who did many of the edits released on labels like Razormaid and Hot Tracks (who put out the Roadkill! series this is on). In this remix, Bits of NRG’s original remix of Q-Bass “Deepa” get combined with new breaks (a bit too repettive and loopy for my taste, but not bad), a few lines from Barrington Levy “Under Mi Sensi”, a new bassline (I think?) and some electric “zap” sound. Quite a lot of editing for one of these tunes, but still a bit nondescript and losing a lot of the best melodic elements of the NRG remix in my opinion.
One thing which does make the edit stand out though, and which made me want to post it here, is the breakdown at 3:10… such a simple idea but works really well. The original of “Deepa” has something similar using timestretching, but the simple pitchdown here makes it sound a bit less technical, and maybe more crowd pleasing at least to less informed crowdds (sounds less alien, closer to hiphop to my ears)

QBass – Deepa (Digital Remix by Chris Cox & Michael Eng)

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Finally, even though it should be obvious, just to be clear… if you like this edit then by all means grab the original NRG Remix mp3 for sale on dnb arena. That remix and the original track are both two utter classic slices of hardcore, along with most of those early sub base releases. Sub Base are one of the few labels who actually put their tunes up for sale digitally, so find a solid mp3 store with them and buy away!

Sorry for lack of posts, away in LA + SF this past week… getting back in a few days and will have some tasty treats to post then!! (some decent scores on this trip)
In the meantime, here’s a mini post… a track I ripped which meant to play in SF if I got booked for a DJ set (being that it was released in SF 20 years ago), but I only got booked for a live PA so, uhh, guess you guys can have it. Classic RAVE track with the T99 stab, a simple breakbeat, 2 vocal samples and that’s it… not sure if others will appreciate this, lately I’ve been kind of into earlier tunes like this that are so agonizingly repetitive they can’t help but get stuck in your head…LETTHERHYTHMLETTTHERHYTHLETTHERHYTHMTAKEYOU!!

lsdj-e – let the rhythm take you

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It’s been a while since I posted a US track, so here’s a lesser known one – a random 95 jungle remix hidden on a house single. In this case, the original track features some vocals from Darryl Pandy, from the classic “Love Can’t Turn Around”

The remix is some nice solid choppy amen work, with that little “ah!” sample as used in Renegade “Terrorist”… nothing too shocking but a cool little bargain bin find! Sorry for the grungy sounding rip, gonna buy some new needles tomorrow…..also it’s a $3 record so just grab a copy if you like it and want a super clean version!

To Kool Chris & Kool Rock Steady – I Love The Way You Do It (Jungle Mix)

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Here’s a real obscurity I doubt almost any oldskool fans have had a chance to hear. I’m always on the hunt for weird/out there sounding stuff, and during some recent “obscurity mining” I stumbled on a copy of this record:

Odyssey – Joy Of Joy
It’s a hardcore EP from 1993 featuring really off kilter sounding drums and melodies plus that Ren and Stimpy sample. Not my favorite single ever, but it definitely piqued my interest and made wonder about the artist(s) behind it.
Doing some web searching, I discovered that a couple of the tracks on that EP had also been released digitally on this album:


Despite being released in 2006, almost all the tracks on the album sound like straight up oldskool hardcore/jungle… no updated beats or brand new elements to speak of. The mixdowns sound a bit more recent, but all the track elements are classic and there’s some decent tunes on there for sure: “Get Down to the Sound”, “Set Your Soul On Fire”, “This Generation” and “Hardcore Vibes” being four of the strongest.

After buying a copy of this on Juno, I tracked down one of the artists behind the release(s), named Victor Imbres. This is what he had to say about them:

Joy of Joy was released on white label in 1993. All the tunes were written in 1992 and 1993. We wrote some other hardcore/jungle tunes but lost the masters to those records. I DJed a little back in 1991 and 1992. I am mostly known for co-writting Fragma Toca’s Miracle and writting and producing the Alcatraz Giv Me Luv records. I also worked with Deep Dish and BT from 1993 to 1996.

So, there you have it… not posting the usual 320 rip(s) since this can be bought from most major mp3 stores (juno,trackitdown,emusic). Definitely check out the clips above though and nab it if you like it!

I can’t help it, I’m totally hooked on these US edits of oldskool tracks. Even when they don’t add much to the originals, these edits still seem to revive tunes which I’ve listened to far too many times. They also seem to be an interesting choice for DJ’ing live, since you basically get to play big anthems while still leaving something for the nerds (like me) to trainspot.

Today’s edit comes from the Rampage! vol 1 vinyl, an EP released by Ultimix (one of those big remix companies like Razormaid etc). The record pressing and packaging is actually really nice – two marbled black vinyl records in a color picture sleeve. Often DJ promo edits like this come in simple packaging with track names and little else, so it’s nice to have a proper release with artwork etc.

Aside from the Kaotic Chemistry edit, there’s also several more promising looking oldskool edits on this: a Prodigy “In the Jungle / Out of Space” edit, and one of D’Cruze “World Within a World”. Unfortunately, those other two edits don’t really deliver in my opinion. The Prodigy one uses vocals from a live version of a tune, but doesn’t manage to combine the two songs in an interesting way. You basically just get some parts from each of the tracks plus the aforementioned vocals. In comparison, the D’Cruze edit sounds fine and more coherent, but on closer listen it’s basically just the Criminal Minds remix with a few parts jostled around… no extra samples or anything interesting going on. I literally had to play the edit and the cm remix at the same time, crossfading between each other to identify differences. Also, the d’cruze edit seems a bit more repetitive than the Criminal Minds remix, which makes it good for DJ’ing purposes but not as interesting for home listening (and hence not something I’m ripping & posting here).

This Kaotic Chemistry LSD/Spacecakes edit is the winRAR of the EP – Contrary to the track title, it actually combines Kaotic Chemistry’s “Drum Trip 2″ with “Illegal Subs”, which makes sense since those two are on the opposite side of the LSD EP (guessing the remixer read the label wrong on that EP). This edit also layers in extra Jungle Brothers vocals and the synth from Bombscare Remix. Definitely an interesting little edit in my opinion!

Kaotic Chemistry – LSD / Spacecakes (Rammpage! 1 edit)

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