Review: Hyperdrive's label debut was a biggie that brought together old and new-school techno on one fizzing EP. The follow-up comes soon after and this time makes no bones about being a Rave Revival. Anthrophia's 'The Voice' kicks off with what is a hefty breakbeat cut with edgy rave stabs and slamming bass. Dimension 23 - 'Fascination' (Seb G mix) then takes a more stripped-back approach with turbocharged synths layered up over silky drums. Centuras brings plenty of bright, euphoric prog energy to the urgent drum funk of 'Jizz' and last of all Dimension 23's 'The Eagle' then kicks out more dusty old-school breaks with machine gun synth fire. A potent EP, make no mistake.
Review: Roffa than ruff! Netherlands craftsman Mike Redman (AKA Deformer) unites local MCs Bigman Scep, Swift and Dart for this big singalong skank-out. Tailored for festivals, it pays homage to the roots with big party energy. Meanwhile on the remix front we're bombarded with an all-star cast as UK OGs Bizzy B and Ed Rush both get stuck in alongside Mike under his Deformer alias. Bizzy is all about the modern rave twist while Ed Rush gets an old Bad Company style and Deformer goes all-out breakcore. Elsewhere on this double 12" opus we see Mackadena get the breaks on, Rotterdam Terror Corps go full hardcore and Akira teasing us with a little twist of gabber. High grade Dutch business.
Review: This new one on Aphrodite Recordings offers a rare chance to own some previously unreleased hardcore history. Crafted by Urban Shakedown founders Aphrodite and Kaukuta, these two unreleased Moonwalk tracks date back to 1993. ever since they were made back then at the height of hardcore's popularity, though, they have remained forgotten on a DAT tape. After being recently rediscovered, they have been pressed up to this 12" with 'Meditation' offering a blitz of pulsating drums and funky bass, thrilling breaks and sci-fi melodies that reagin down the face of the track, while 'Outer Space' is more raw and direct with a menacing low end and plenty of kinetic drum programming.
Review: The superb Kniteforce label takes no prisoners once more with a blistering new EP from The Rood Project that is a perfect time-warp back to the heyday of 90s rave. The Crack Of Dawn 12" actually dropped in 1993 and is an experimental jungle techno mash up for peak time listening. It's dark, energising and packed with great samples about being high. And that's just the title track - 'Scary' is like a rollercoaster that breaks free of its rails and 'Crimestretch' is a cacophony of dark, brutal breaks and drilling bass.
Review: First released as a six-track, digital-only EP in the summer of 2023, Jay Glass Dubs' DJ Humble makes its bow on CD in freshly expanded form. The release was considered quite unusual on its initial release, moving away from the fractured electronica and opaque experimental dub recordings of his earlier years towards a more intense and energetic sound inspired by the formative years of breakbeat hardcore and jungle. Of course, the sometime Berceuse Heroique artist's experimental instincts still hold sway, leading to such dystopian - but admittedly thrilling moments as 'Seconds Away', where hectic beats are smothered in layers of melodic electronics and weird noises, the fiendishly avant-garde d&b insanity of 'Packing Someone Else's Fire', and the hallucinatory jungle-IDM fusion of 'Wing It'.
Review: The whole history of UK music is contained within these potent two tunes, from early rave to jungle, gabba to breakbeat, dub to techno and even indie house. It is a hugely sought after tune from Baraka that comes hot on the heels of his 'Nutty Bass/I'll Be There' release. 'A Million & One' (feat Cinderella has crashing breaks, Happy Mondays samples, euphoric chords, ragga vocals and techno drums as its flips through moods, grooves, styles and tempos with ease. On the flip is a slightly more heady version with heavy studio effects as well as the bruising beats.
Review: Turbo Breaks by name, Turbo Breaks by nature. Diplomat and Beagle are reunited on this powerful new offering with some new tunes and an update of one of their old classics. 'Temple Of Boom' kicks off with fixing, brain-frying synths over relentless drum precision. It's a naggy track to shake up the floor. 'Out Of Control' is another fierce and fast-paced new school workout while the title track mixes up meticulous drum programming with funky brass, slamming bass and melodic patterns that bring the rave. The remix of 'Equatorial Bass' is a mix of floating breakdowns and revved-up drum & bass madness.
Review: Snapping necks, frying minds, taking names - Thuggy Widdz is on an absolute roll this year thanks to his recent album on Western Lore, his release on Hooversound and now this massive four piece on the burgeoning Badlands imprint. You should know the vibe by now; brazen breakbeat choppage and high energy rave flavours across the spectrum. Highlights here include the walloping emotion of 'Whale Song' and pure venom of 'Archetypical'. Savage.
Review: Seminal business: DJ Rap's 1995 anthem 'Intelligent Woman' remains one of the most relevant and iconic jungle tracks to this day and still demands a reload 27 years later. Fully backed up by a harder, more D&B-focused 2020 re-lick, Kniteforce pay respect to Rap and her influence on the drum & bass game with this long-awaited repress. Grab it and invest in a slice of serious history.
Review: When it comes to UK hardcore/jungle schematics, they don't come much more authoritative than Q Project's 'Champion Sound'. That growing hoover sound and iconic vocal stab and those mercenary breaks... Like Total Science's Q himself, this still tears up dancefloors almost 30 years later. As does the often overlooked B-side 'Night Moves'. Bumping and rolling in the shadow of the anthem on the a-side, this wonderfully minimalistic track highlights the power of that essential stripped back dynamic of breaks and big bulging subs - the only ingredients any good D&B track truly needs.
Review: It was way back in 1992 that militant free party mavericks Spiral Tribe finally made it into the studio for the first time. The result was the Forward The Revolution EP, which has finally been given a reissue in honour of its 30th birthday, with all sales royalties going to organisations offering free legal support for free party soundsystem operators in Europe. The four-tracker remains a perfect distillation of the crew's no-holds-barred approach to techno, with highlights including the acid-fired, breakbeat-driven, didgeridoo-sporting title track, with its Woodrow Wyatt speech samples and ragga vocals; the ragga-rave weightiness of 'Ragga Boom', and the breathless, sub-heavy techno psychedelia of 'Track 13 (Criminal Drug)'.
Review: Explosive rave flavours! X-Plode strikes Amen Brother again with more high energy pieces. 'Space Piano' says it all - a lavish twist of detuned rave stabs and high vibe keys wrapped tightly around each other to squeeze as many positive vibes out of the situation. The feels remain high throughout the rest of the EP: 'In The House' is all about that rolling jungle techno 4x4, 'We Run Tings' nods towards the bleep side of the foundation and that aggy, tense Prodigy Experience vibe before 'Sonic Tonic' closes with a big hoover riff that drops into the most euphoric element of the EP. X-Plode: putting the bang into bangers each and every.
Review: Those interested in the roots of UK bass music have been well-served of late, with a number of books and compilations focusing on the first wave of British dance music in the late 80s and early 90s. Soul Jazz's latest compilation is a superb addition to this growing list. It showcases music made in the post-bleep and early breakbeat hardcore period, where basslines got bigger, drum breaks faster, and ragga influences started to come to the fore. The selections are on-point throughout from the dub-wise rave rush of Babylon Timewarp's "Durban Poison" and the bleep-and-breaks-meets-proto-jungle shuffle of DJ Dubplate's "Tings A Go On", to the rave-rap goodness of The Freaky's "Time & Age" and the heavily edited darkcore/early jungle insanity that is Krome & Time's terrific "Ganja Man". In a word: essential.
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