Suburban Base Vinyl & CDs

Review: Suburban Base Records opens the archives with a heavyweight double release from DJ Rap & Aston, spotlighting some key moments in drum & bass history. 'More Time - Boomshaka Dubplate Versions' brings the original 1993 track back into focus, complete with unreleased dubplate and demo cuts that have taken on near-mythical status among jungle enthusiasts. These versions don't just resurrect the past; they bottle that raw, frenetic 90s energy and let it loose once more. There's something visceral about these tracksian unfiltered sound that defined a scene, now repressed for those who live and breathe the genre's legacy.

Review: Suburban Base honours their brother MC Duke, Kashif Adham, a true legend in the music scene and the alleged godfather of UK rap. This incredible limited edition tribute vinyl picture disc celebrates MC Duke's legacy. After becoming the most prolific artist on the Suburban Base sister imprint, Boogie Times, before establishing his own label Hard Disk, this picture disc features some of his rarest releases from the latter imprint which have never been reissued since their original pressings in the 90s. Meticulously re-compiled and remastered shortly before Duke's passing, the likes of 'My Sound' and 'Journey' bring raunchy amens and breakneck variations to an otherwise make-do bank of samples: yet what Duke crafts out of them is truly impressive.

Review: Essex rave pioneers and indeed, instituion, Suburban Base plunges into its 90s archive with the new Subbase Sampler, at first a CD-only compilation from 1997. Coming at an evolutionary moment in jungle and drum & bass, we hear the figureheads of said insurgency - Remarc, Dream Team (Bizzy B & Pugwash), Pascal, Mampi Swift, and Marcus Intalex presents The X (Mark XTC) - spread their audio ambits over two tracks per side. While 'Hardstep' by D'Cruze and Remarc's 'In The Hood (Shy FX Remix)' are omitted from the vinyl due to space, they're included in the digital package and available on other recent Suburban Base reissues. Most of the tracks featured here haven't been repressed since the 90s; and aren't 'Raw Dogs', 'One Style' and 'New Dawn (VIP Mix)' true soulful stars among them?