Month: October 2008

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Garage Tape 2000

I’ve been promising this for ages. Now the Devotional Dubz mix is finally out – thank god, took forever! – I can start clearing out some of the backlog of other, less vital mixes. First up is my first ever 2step mix, even predating the Abstract 2Step mix. It’s from – as you can tell from the pic of the sleeve of the tape – August 2000, so it’s from when most of the classics had come out and the scene was turning very 4×4 (as chronicled on the 4×4 Heaven mix) and very aggy, as the police shut off all the garage raves, and scene turned into grime, and later, dubstep. Oh and house as well, with brilliant DJs such as DJ Roo going house, never to return – wonder if he’s bought Do You Mind yet…

So, this is a live mix, off tape – dubbed to my Mac via my lovely new toy, a mint condition Nakamichi CD2 tape deck, which I have plans for! – and therefore done all in one take, live, no edits. In fact I had to turn the tape over half way through, irritatingly in the middle of It’s a New Dawn. So that’s actually one edit then – I wasn’t going to leave a gap was I? So the mix isn’t perfect, there’s a couple of clatters, and the sequencing isn’t as neat as I would have liked, but it’s still a massively vibey little piece. And there’s some tunes in there that I’ve never really heard anywhere else – they’re all probably old news to someone like Ben UFO, but In the Air Tonight (yes a cover of the Phil Collins song and Belaeric classic!), Rinse Out and Bad Acid weren’t big on radio at the time and don’t seem particularly canonical. Sadly I don’t have access to most of these tunes since they’re all in storage for the next few months, so I can’t redo the mix, but I think you’ll really, really enjoy this little thing. In fact, this tape has been a car journey favourite for me and my wife for the last eight years and surely there’s no higher recommendation than that.

Get it HERE. 170Mb 320.

Tough 2Step Mix August 2000

DJ Chubbstarr & A. Fernandes feat MC Preshus: Rinse Out (1999)

Same People: Dangerous (1998)

Missy Elliott: She’s a Bitch (1999)

M Dubs feat Lady Saw: Bump’n’Grind (1999)

Ramsey & Fen: Love Bug (1997)

The Bomb Squad: Bad Acid (1999)

DJ Zinc: Super Sharp Shooter

Carlito’s Revenge: Real Man

DJ Zinc: 138 Trek (1997)

Carlito’s Revenge: Jump Up

Section 13: Freak the Funk (2000)

<can’t remember> It’s a New Dawn (Feelin’ Good) remix

Sevi G / Groove Chronicles: In the Air Tonight (1998)

Dem 2: Baby You’re So Sexy (Big Time Scary Dub Mix) (1999)

<can’t remember>: Let it roll

Two Ton Bad Boy: Worries In The Dance (1999)

Basement Jaxx: Jump’n’Shout (Dem 2 Remix) (2000)

Artful Dodger: Woman Trouble (1999)

If anyone can fill in some of the blanks I’d be grateful…

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Devotional Dubz Mix Volume One

The first Devotional Dubz mix is now up on the FACT Magazine site. Do please check it out. It’s probably the best thing I’ve ever done. Here’s some backstory.

In the summer, I put out Lady Dub, the first of the Devotional Dubz series of dubstep / dark garage refixes of r’n’b tunes, which was the counterpart to the harder ragga techno styles on the double album, Belief is the Enemy, that was released at solstice. Lady Dub is a refix of D’Angelo’s nu-soul classic Lady, or rather of DJ Premier’s remix of it; it turned out to be fairly popular, helping to propel the garage revival that we’ve seen this year. It also offered a different vision of dubstep, one that reaffirmed the form’s original tolerance for sweetness and vocals while offering the biggest booming 808 sine waves I could manage.

Each Devotional Dubz release will have a DJ mix that acts as a kind of sonic manifesto; therefore the first one focuses on the other side of dubstep, the landslide, horsepower, mala side that traces a lineage back to soul and dancehall and broken beat, just as jungle traced a lineage back to r’n’b as much as to bashment. It includes exclusive refixes and blends of r’n’b tunes, alongside unreleased Grievous Angel garage tracks that have previously only been heard on Blackdown’s Rinse show, and some special edits of dark garage classics. It’s lush, it’s spacey, it’s skippy, and at the end it’s unremittingly heavy, but all the way it’s pure garage flavour.

Turn it up and feel the sunshine. Volume two will be out in a few months when I’ve got some funky stuff out of the way.

00:00: Jill Scott: Slowly Surely (Grievous Angel’s Erzulie Edit)

02.20: Craig Mack: Brand New Flava (Grievous Angel’s Iron River Edit)

05:19: Grievous Angel: Lady Dub

08:07: Jill Scott: Watching Me

09:30: Vaccine: Wishful Thinking (VIP Mix)

12:03: DJ Abstract: Touch

15:18: Jill Scott: Crown Royal (Grievous Angel’s Fucking In Sunshine Edit)

17:07: Jill Scott: My Love (Grievous Angel’s Deeper, Tighter Edit)

19:29: HorsePower Productions: Gorgon Sound

21:56: Grievous Angel: Lady Dub (2Step Remix)

25:10: Groove Chronicles: Be Happy

28:09: Grievous Angel: What We Had

31:47: El B: Bison

31:58: Groove Chronicles: Faith In You

34:13: Dru Hill: Freak Like Me (El B Remix)

39:11: El B: Two Thousand

40:34: Our Lady of Rage: Afro Puffs

42:00: Grievous Angel: I Love Dem

49:13: Ends

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Blogariddims Terminus

Droid’s a bad man.

That’s pretty much all you need to know, but let me expand.

I don’t believe  in the great man theory of history, or the great man theory of management for that matter, but it is a fact that key people are nodes in the network and make cultural life happen. Sarah at Tempa is the classic example, tirelessly promoting a multiplicity if post-ardkore scenes. I had the privelege of bigging her up in person at the wonderful Beyond night a couple of weeks back. And it is no exaggeration to speak of Droid in the same breath. He is a man who links the dancehall diaspora with European electronica, arthouse with rough house, and text with sound.There are few like him and it has been a wonderful experience working with him on Woofah. Similarly, it has been a wonderful experience working with him on the Blogariddims series. Where else can you find such a high-quality series of podcasts that are both diverse yet connected, constantly stimulating yet not falling into the trap of mere electicism? Almost nowhere – there’s been nothing like it, and a vast reservoir of musical inspiration has been opened up by the series.

Now, after a monumental 50 episodes, the series is coming to an end, and it’s a special edition with contributions from a load of the regulars.

There’s a delightful circle-jerk across all the contributors going on; our predecessor is Paul Autonomic, John’s is up here (I’ve no idea what he’s going to write about, probably denounce the whole project!), while our successor is Leeds reggae supremo Matt B. Naturally me and John decided to do a Woofah-style instrumental grime mix. It’s only short – obviously – but pretty heavy, with the main cut being Big$shot’s massive Glitch, which is, this week, my favourite record of all time! The other guys are going to have to work hard to drop anything better!

Anyway. Big up droid. Droid’s a bad man!

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dubstep forum dies

Check it: http://www.dubstepforum.com/

If this is for real, this is absolutely fantastic and very, very funny!

Big up Dubway and everyone else involved for having the balls to do it!

Long live jungle, garage, grime, dubstep and funky!