Bang up to date!

Right, I'm back

This time some fresh Drum & Bass Bisness,
I mixed this one this morning after breakfast, between about 9 and 10am. the first time I've been able to do that for several years!! We were just fresh back from holiday the afternoon before (caravanning in Yorkshire if you must know), and with 2 days to chill and sort things out before work, I just stepped up to the decks and based on the handful of new tune I had arrived before we went away, I just got onto the groove.

So, the tracklisting is:

Heist - Sprout (Breakage Remix)
Blu Mar Ten - Beyond words
J Majik & Wickaman - Crazy World (Afterlife Dancing At Sunset Remix)
J Majik & Wickaman - Crazy World (?Brookes Brothers Remix)
Shinichi Osawa - Star Guitar (Brookes Brothers Remix)
Hatiras - Spaced Invader (High Contrast Mix)
Lomax - Mercia
Sub Focus - Follow The Light
Jonny L - Microdaze
Spor - Aztec
(TC - Raise The Roof)
Sub Focus - Rock It
Jakes - Warface (D*Minds Remix)

So, what's it all about? Well, I was looking for a "Warm-up" vibe, and I had some new tunes knocking about, plus of course access to recent and old classics from my pile!

To start off I went mellow, but with a deep dubsteppy vibe - the Heist track turned up on a K-Mag (Knowledge) cover-disc a few months back and stood out a mile. Breakage's stuff usually does! Bought it from the labels parent website, Horizons music.

Blu Mar Ten, well there's a name I remember from back in the day, compilation appearances on Good Looking meant they were on the radar for me over a decade ago, although that sound was never core to my D+B interests back then. Anyway, my friend Adam came round for a mix session a little while back and brought this tune with him. To his surprise, this was the highlight of his box for me. The A-Side is a decent enough tune but this B-side just blew me away. If B12 and Derrick May were making Drum-n-Bass today, I'd like to think this is what it would sound like.

To ease me up to dancefloor tempos, I used J Majik / Wickaman, but starting with this CD-Only mix by Afterlife, who has mixed countless trance and house tunes into Ibiza beach friendly format (ref: many Chilled Euphoria mix CDs!). Building into the Brookes Brothers remix, we are now moving up a gear!

More from the Brookes Brothers, there glistening disco-tinged D&B a hit with me over recent months, this time a remix of "Star Guitar, a cover version of the Chemical Brothers tune, by Japanese artist Shinichi Osawa. To be frank, while I love the Chems' version (particularly for its hypnotic railway video!) I haven't heard his original version, but I caught this D&B version on the radio and had to get hold of it. By the way, listen to this song again, if you don't understand the lyrics, just imagine it from a clubber's perspective: "you should feel what I feel, you should take what I take", what could it mean!!??

Hatiras' "Spaced Invader" is a classic,on both house and D&B dancefloors, the latter for the J Majik remix, but on this occasion I though I would go for the more obscure High Contrast Mix, simply because it was a less obvious choice.

Moving on from there, I wanted to get some more of my newer tunes in the mix, and Lomax' "Mercia" was a good fit, with its Liquid intro and tougher insides!

This led me towards where I wanted to be for the end of the mix - the B-side of the new 12" from Sub Focus. this particular version of "follow the light" is from the picture disc and has vocals. It also tangentially lent its name to the mix "photon chaser" - geddit?

Something else that caught my ear on a recent Radio 1 show, was some new material from Jonny L , an artist who consistently breaks boundaries in D&B, primarily because he doesn't listen to the work of his contemporaries very much, he locks himself in the studio and gets on with it. This time he has come up with two old-skool inspired tracks and launched a new label, Munk.

Now we are building to the peak, and time to hand over from the warm-up DJ to the first big-name,. by playing the big tunes that everyone knows, but which the white-label-fed A- and B-list DJs are already ignoring, first up:

Spor - Aztec, and absolutely massive tune that was no.1 for several weeks in the D&B charts, and its ravey intro goes lovely over the Jonny L tune.

Next, the current big D&B tune across the land, from Radio 1's D&B show up to daytime play! It's Sub Focus again, with Rock It. By the way, that little vocoder vocal that says "Jump on it", is sampled from "Give the DJ a break" by Dynamix II, a classic piece of Miami Bass electro from about 1986.

I couldn't resist dropping a little bit of TC - Raise the Roof in at this point, as there is something about the Sub Focus track that reminds me of it.

To round things off I dropped Jakes' "Warface" (D*Minds Remix). This is a hilarious track with OTT marching beats dropped over a vocal sample from the movie Full Metal Jacket, to devastating effect. I spiced it up with an extra sample at the end just to finish off the mix with a little extra.

So, enjoy the mix, which is uploaded at this link

Dubstep Lives!

Great news.

Thanks to the excellent service provided by dubstepdownloads.com , some of my mixes are now becoming available again.

Check out the link in the right hand links bar for my profile, or try these direct links:

Jah Frequency (my first ever dubstep mix and first post on this blog)

Dubstep Chill (a new mix, tracklisting to be posted soon!)

Third Choice (from Nov 2008)

about time!

Clarity

Just in case its not clear from my last post, none of the previously listed mixes are currently available. Sorry about that.

This is the fault of PIPEX and Pipex alone.

I will post again as soon as anything is available elsewhere.

Reset (aka the Pipex saga continues)

Well, following my last entry, things got worse. My entire web page on Pipex disappeared, clean off the face of cyberspace. When I rang support all they could do was reinstate my page with none of my data. No excuses, no apologies, no explanation other than that this was as a result of a move to new Tiscali servers. Presumably the batch job to move the data couldn't cope with my 7Gb of mixes.

In spite of having had no notification of a change of conditions of service, my previously unlimited webspace is now limited to 100Mb. If Tiscali do one more thing to annoy me (last year I got my broadband cut off for a fortnight when I moved my phone service away from them), they will lose my custom entirely.

Still, there are various services out there, although file size limits such as 50Mb per file on Microsoft are a little restrictive.

My next step will be some uploads to dubstepdownloads.com , obviously only my dubstep mixes will appear on here.

Work-in progress, watch this space

ISP changes T&Cs and shafts mix upload project

Well, following from the last post. there is good news and there is bad news.

First the bad news:

I fianlly managed to get in touch with Pipex, my ISP, at a time when they weren't "upgrading" their systems and thus unable to access my customer details. I informed the foreign girl on the phone that I was unable to upload to my webspace. She indicated that I am limited to "one hundred embee" in her far-eastern accent. So the unlimited webspace I had when Pipex was still really Pipex, is now 100Mb under the new Tiscali regime. Arse.

So now the good news:

With about 7Gig already uploaded there I think I have done quite well. In addition to all the mixes that are already listed on the page (see my links list), there are about 30 more mixes already uploaded and each one of them needs linking, so will become a subject of a future blog posting!

hiatus

Just a quick note to apologise for the long delay since my last post.

Recently I've been very busy with work and home/family commitments, but in spite of Christmas, birthdays, caravan holidays and now upcoming Easter, plus a change of project at work and associated additional travel; in spite of all that, several new mixes have come out of the production line all the same.

But I currently cannot upload to my webspace and every time I ring my ISP they are in the middle of upgrading their system and are unable to access my account. (I don't know whether its the same upgrade lasting several weeks or whether I've just been very unlucky, but they are such imbeciles that nothing will let them strat from their scripted processes.

So, I shall return, but it may yet be a few weeks...

Drum & Bass - Two Worlds Collide

This mix is unavailable at present (please read my other posts for an explanation)

OK, time for the first D&B mix on this Blog. there will be a lot more to come I can promise you. Just check the "My Mixes" link to the right for a whole load of older ones.
This is one of my most recent constructions, from just a few weeks ago - 7th November. Based around my favourite recent tunes, with a few older ones thrown in for a bit of variety, this is an unashamedly commercial, populist mix that nevertheless keeps it underground. I like to think this mix keeps the musicality of the tunes running together; there is some key-matching in the first half of the mix that I was pleasantly surprised about, and while the harder tunes come in towards the end, I think there is still plenty of fun in the mix.

Here's the tracklist:

Quivver- Chasin A Feeling (Skanna Mix) [BozBoz]
Adele - Hometown Glory (High Contrast Mix) [XL]
Eric Prydz - Pjanoo (High Contrast Mix) [Data]
Shinichi Osawa - Star Guitar (Brookes Brothers Remix) [Data]
J Majik & Wickaman - Crazy World [Brookes Brothers Mix) [Data]
Chase & Status - Hurt U [Ram]
Blame - Stay Forever [Charge]
John B - Blue Eyeshadow [Nu Electro]
JB - The Smurf [Back2Basics]
Benny Page - Crazy Bal'headz
LAOS - Panda Style [Hospital]
Chase & Status - Brazil [Ram]
DJ Hazard - Mr Happy [Playaz]
The Choice - Kist [Cutterz Choice Graff Series]
Rhythm Beater - Babylon [Cutterz Choice]

track 1 "Chasin a Feelin" is a choice tune that I suspect has been a bit ignored on the D&B scene. Quivver is John Graham, who cut his teeth producing hardcore as Skanna back in the day, but has spent most of his career making prog/trance. This tune draws the two threads back together, and I love its eclectic yet commercial feel. In all honesty I find the drum patterns a bit basic, to me reflecting the fact that the producer has not beein immersing himself in Drum & Bass. It is worth noting that when accomplished D&B producers put there hand to other forms, such as house, breakbeat, or more recently dubstep, the results are almost always impeccable. It seems that the skills required to produce D&B are more than sufficient to create quality funky house, hip hop, trip hop etc. Back to the drift - I would say this tune could do with a light-touch makeover from the likes of High Contrast just to give it the edge and make it appeal more to D&B DJ's. I understand that Sasha has been ending his sets with this tune, so I like to think I am taking over where Sasha leaves off :-) ! It is worth noting that I pitched it up a fair bit too, it is just a tad too slow for mainstream D&B, again probably to make it appeal more to the house/trance crew.

Strangely, when pitched up, it is exactly in key with High Contrast's amazing mix of Adele's "hometown glory". this tune has been massive on the D&B scene and charts, and quite deservedly so. In spite of Adele's odd diction and pronunciation, I love this song, and it keeps going round my head. This mix is just so joyous and perfect, it is a real lift. High Contrast seems to have made a niche for himself in remixing tunes from other genres into top-notch crossover hits, while at the same time not losing any of his credibility within the scene.

So more from HC with his remix of Eric Prydz' "Pjanoo". Many probably though Prydz was another one-hit-wonder / one-trick pony after "Call On Me", but he is not! First Floyd, then this, all three tracks completely different. And he keeps it underground, producing huge quantities of stuff under several aliases. This is the key I think for producers who hit the big time - do not get sucked into producing exclusively commercially-led material, stay true to your roots and let the good stuff come naturally. this is what the major labels have traditionally got so wrong - they want "more of the same" and pressurise the musicians into producing it, usually with disappointing results. I think the scene is now mature enough that this lesson has, largely, been learnt, and both High Contrast and Eric Prydz are shining examples.

As I played "Pjanoo" in the mix, I could just hear this remix of Shinichi Osawa's cover of the Chemical Bros' "Star Guitar" in my head. Yes, they are in the same key. I think I have developed some kind of perfect pitch in the last year or two. I don't know what key I am in but I can spot more often not correctly that a tune I am hearing will match another tune in my head. So all I need is a set of reference points ("tune A" is in G Minor" for instance), and I may be able to have truly perfect pitch! I'm not expecting any miracles, but from a personal point of view this is a very interesting development, considering I have been musically trained from about the age of 7, and mixing on the decks now for nearly 20 years, yet this ability is only now manifesting itself at the ripe old age of 40! Anyway, Star Guitar is one of those tunes that works its way into your consciousness. The original Chemical Brothers tune is a classic, and has a great video to match, who can forget the trippy repetitive train journey that always has elements of scenery matching components of the music - a truly original multimedia composition that hits all the right buttons for me - I just LOVE it when visual and audible elements are co-ordinated and it is so very very rarely done well, if at all, even in electronic music videos where the opportunity presents itself in spades.

Moving on, "Crazy World" is another recent D&~B classic that hit the big time, and the link here is Brookes Brothers, another outfit with a devastatingly commercial and hooky take on the D&B theme, that again has not alienated the D&B massive in the way that say, Pendulum did, to judge by the success of the more recent "Tears You Down" is anything to go by. The pitch-corrected vocals that they added to this tune really work for me, in spite of some reservations I had when I first heard it. The original remains a classic, and J Majik is one of those artists with a very long back catalogue that is worth investigating, remember he remixed Hatiras' "Spaced Invader to dancefloor-melting effect, and also produced the stunning "Love Is Not A Game" that was a big hit back in 2001.

Chase and Status follow, with "Hurt U" a big vocal tune that can be found on, but originally precedes, their recetn "More Than Alot" long-player. These boys have been smashing it all over the D&B Scene and one of the most refreshing things has been the variety in their tunes. I cannot receommend the album enough to anyone who needs to hear what the current D&B scene can offer.

Another artist with a heck of a heritage (ref: J Majik above) is Blame. His remix of 2 Bad Mice's "Music Takes You" is an all-time hardcore / proto-jungle classic, and he produced a string of big tunes throughout the 90s and 00s, following his own path of lush strings, chilled vibes and rich production even when the rest of the D&B scene went dark and raw to the exclusion of almost all else. There is still a tough edge in the sound though, as "Stay Forever" exemplifies.

These two tunes have a similar vibe, but I wanted to move along, and I think I managed the transition OK with help from one of the scene's maverick's , John B. "Blue Eyeshadow" is an awesome trance/electro styled D&B monster with more than a hint of "Blue Monday" about it. I first heard this tune on the "Trance'n'Bass" cover-mount CD that mixmag presented back in late 2002, and I think it still sounds fresh today.

Taking a slightly different slant on the retro electro theme is "The Smurf" from Jason Ball's JB. Jason used be head honcho of a mini-D&B empire in Birmingham, with Dead Dred/Dred Bass his baby, he had Back2Basics and other smaller labels ,plus the Music First record shop and club night, and strong ties with the Kool FM Midlands pirate station. Back in the late 90s early 00s I was living in Brum, checking Kool each weekend, and buying tunes from the hands of JB himself and a young DJ Hazard down at Music First. The tune itself samples an all-time classic of the same title byt Tyrone Brunson, an electro tune that takes me right back to the school disco in 1982, where it was something of a theme tune at my school!

Once that tune gets into its heavy B-line, it's time to get headz down for some serious dancefloor action. Benny Page's Crazy Bal'headz is just a nutty bange that has an irresistible hook. It is a very fast tune but I pitched it down just a tiny bit to keep it in this mix.

LAOS "Panda Style" is a real wacky one - take a listen. But while it might put a smile on your face, the tune absolutely kicks form its jazzy stabs toa ruff bassline. Chase & Status return with "Brazil", an EP tune from earlier in the year, that has a similar feel. This tune was Huuuuge and deservedly so.

DJ Hazard''s "Mr Happy" is an in-your-face jump-up tune that should need no introduction. Personally I prefer the earlier "Busted", but I think this one was bigger, and anyway that one is in an older mix...

the last 2 tunes are from Cutterz Choive. Rhythm Beater's "Babylon" uses a good old sample that will be familiar to old-skool junglists. I hear this tune on a pair of consecutive cover discs from Knowledge/kmag from last summer 2007, And I just had to track it down. On checking the label's web site I found the tune available to download, so I checked a few more tunes for purchase, including "Kist" and the earlier Benny Page tune. "Babylon" just has such a sweet rolling vibe with a ruff bassline and a subtle skank, that I think I could keep this one "in my box" for years.

I think I have rambled on enough now, so enjoy the mix!