Hear the mix
This was a tape I did for Ferrite Love Connection, where people from the Dissensus Music Forum swap mixtapes with each other.
This is side B of mine, focussing on underrated tunes and B-sides of the Hardcore Continuum. Largely unmixed, it's just a selection of tracks that span three decades and (mostly) come from London.
Do you remember when magazines gave away free CD's they would have the DJ talk through the set track by track? I always thought that was more interesting than the actual reviews sections so I'm going to revive the tradition here.
1. Julian Jonah- Jealousy & Lies- Cooltempo 1988
This was a recent purchase so it was staring out at me when I was trying my hardest to think of a 1980's track that would kick off the London/ Hardcore Continuum vibe. Jealousy & Lies continues the 80's 'deep' House theme of Side A (I'll upload that as soon as I work out how to deal with Soundcloud's disobedience). Julian Jonah is probably best known for making up one half of (alongside Danny Harrison) Garage powerhouse 187 Lockdown/ Gant/ Nu Birth, etc. I never knew he was a singer until I spotted this record for a quid in Belfast's local flea market earlier on in the year. Music production hardware must be painstakingly hard to learn at the best of times, so it's weird to think that by 1988 Julian Jonah and the likes of Mark Moore were skilled enough to be releasing professional sounding tracks that aimed- and sometimes actually managed- to the bother the charts. Even more impressive when you consider A Guy Called Gerald produced Voodoo Ray two years before this was released. Where did these people even get the money for all those expensive 303's, 808's etc? Honestly- I suspect Julian's background as a vocalist meant he had access to label studios (and maybe even a manager & marketing budget) that a lot of people wouldn't have had back then.
2. Mount Rushmore- The Vybe (That's Flowing) (Kevin Yost's Jungle Jim Jam) i! Records 1997
This tape is meant to get a lot more London sounding as it progresses, but I use this American track as a nice bridge between Julian Jonah's sing-along House and the more rough sounds of Jungle & Garage. Most people reading this will recognise it as the b-side to a Todd Edwards release, but every so often some of the other remixers for 'the God' stand out. Kevin Yost pioneered a style of Deep House that I don't particularly like, but this laid back take on ambient Jungle/ D&B from the wrong side of the Atlantic is one I've reminisced about over the last decade of owning it. Here's one of the rare occasions I've actually dusted it off.
3. Blame & Justice- Anthemia (Heaven) Moving Shadow 1994
I wouldn't have been old enough to remember Moving Shadow in the 2 Bad Mice era but they've done a better job than most of repressing classic stuff when I was of a 12" single buying age. I would've never heard of this if it wasn't on the same slab as one of their more popular re-releases, like Foul Play or Ray Keith's Terrorist. I really didn't think a ruffneck Ragga jungle track would fit right on this tape, and given that that's what makes up my small collection of old Jungle, that limited my choices to something that as far away as possible from the Dead Dred bassline. Is this a B-side, maybe not. But it is underrated.
4. Kahil El'Zabar- Our Time is now (IG Culture Mix)- Deeper Soul 2005
And you can't get more underrated than this- and from a largely forgotten genre too. I heard this once on Benji B's show roundabout 2004/5. Thought it was good then completely forgot about it. Then months later in Jean Claude's If Music shop off Brewer Street (the most boutique record shop in Soho, if not the world) this was one of about a thousand records he gave me to listen to. And all of a sudden I realised this was that track I'd completely forgotten about and it's only one of the best bloody broken beat tunes ever. IG Culture and the scat singing vocalist deserve a years salary for collaborating on this, trust me.
5. DJ Dee Kline & Pixie- Crimestoppers/ Darren- Rat Records 1999
Like Timo Mass with Doom's Night, Mr Oizo was one of those Europeans who although they'd never heard a Garage record before they somehow managed to make a tune that fit perfectly into the 2-step scene. But it came full circle when proper Garridge producers Deekline & Donna Dee did a blatant rip off of Flat Beat with added comedy value. Never has snitching on your mates been so humorous. "That's right, flat five".
6. Re-Animator- Return to E (Horsepower Productions mix) Vertical Drop 2001
I think this was the first Horsepower track I ever heard, on Flashback FM no less. I bought their first album when it came out but up until then the few times I had been in Black Market (with either a very young Youngsta or his very attractive female predecessor behind the counter) there were no Tempa singles to be had, nor were there any in Big Apple Records the one time I bothered to travel as far South as Croydon (Hatcha was jumping around like an over-excited chav). This is a good refix of the hardcore original, one of the few tunes of the rave era (like Who's the Badman) that Garage DJ's regularly kept/ keep in their record box.
7. Es-G- Get Dirty- Shelf Life 2001
This tape wasn't meant to have any mixing but spontaneously I decided to draw for this, 'the best El-B tune that wasn't produced by El-B- ever'. I wouldn't be surprised if I heard this once when it came out but I can't be sure. All I know is I went to FWD at Plastic People for the first (and only) time in February 2007 and Benny ill was playing warm up dub reggae to an audience of twelve people- I wasn't getting it at all. Then he turned the volume up and played this 2001 release pitched down. It was the moment when I realised that when people said that Plastic People had London's best sound system (or even that the quality of a sound system actually mattered), it was true. So naturally I spent the next year or two wondering what the fuck is that haunting El-B track. Turns out it's his label mate Es-G. If only this C90 did it as much justice as the Plastic People speakers did.
8. Wizzbit/ Geeneus- Jam Hot (played at 33)- Dumpvalve 2003
I loved what Dumpvalve were doing back then, they really pushed things forward especialy with stuff like What. Jam Hot is one of Geeneus's best productions but it also works surprisingly well played at the wrong speed.
9. Lone Catalysts- Let it Soak (Instrumental)- B.U.K.A. Entertainment 1999
By this stage of the cassette I knew I was running out of time and probably didn't have enough room to fit in another UK track. I thought if I play another Lone Catalysts beat it would bookend nicely with the start to Side A. In any case it looked like there was still some room left on the tape so I moved onto...
10. Theo Parrish- Dreamers Blues- Sound Signature 2005
This was the era of me listening to Benji B, Gilles Peterson & Patrick Forge on my DAB radio. I probably wouldn't have heard learned about Theo Parrish, the fact that R&B could be 'good', or a lot of deep house producers if it wasn't for these shows. In a years time Dubstep would blow up and I wouldn't have the spare time to listen to this sort of stuff. This might not be the best Parrish track of the year (Capritarious #7 fits the bill) but it's a relaxed tune fort the fag end of the mixtape.
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