Happy birthday hardcore Jungle!

Posted by homoludo on March 23rd, 2008 filed in old school, radio shows, writing

Dj C noticed this recently.
Had been feelin’ the stuff recently (see earlier) so thought I’d do a show and a post. All the tracks below are from 93 which makes this year its 15th birthday. A good chunk of them are from Hardleaders III on Kickin’.

This style kind of suits cheesy compilations and to my knowledge this is the best one. It’s at the point where hardcore and rave are becoming jungle proper, so I’m mixing up the whole album for y’all.Followed by more tunes from the period.
It’s my favourite time in the music, it’s lost the frivolousness of rave, but the rules and patterns that eventually became so predictable and boring have yet to set. Anything goes – four fours, bagpipes, processed euphoric vocals reaching to other skies – as long as it’s in the service of a serious dance. It still feels futuristic, a potential future I’m nostalgic for.

From the back sleeve – The sound of Urban Jungle of the 90’s is now firmly set in a complex mixture of breakbeats, atmospheric keyboards and ethnic/tribal samples. UK ‘rave’ music has reached a level of sophistication that puts it on a par with the most advanced sounds. Every drumbeat is designed to fire the pleasure transmitters of the brain, providing the disillusioned youth of today with relief from the drudgery of everyday life in the urban wasteland.

1. Bay-b-kane – Hello Darkness(rmx)
2. Andy c – Something new pt 2
3. Rhythm for reasons – Music in search of light
4. Dj distroi & boykz – Darkside
5. Tango – Timebomb
6. Dj solo – Darkage
7. Dj Hype – Weird energy (hells bells mix)
8. Q bass -hype the funk (dj hype rmx)
9. Tango and ratty – Final conflict
10. Bay-b-kane – Bagpipes in effect
11. Acen – Window in the Sky
12. Omni Trio – Mainline (techno mix)
13. 4Hero – The element(highnoon)
14. Skanna – The greatest thing
15. 4Hero – The power
16. The FBD project- The core
17. 4Hero – In the shadow(sunrise remix)
18. Rude Boyz – Paragone (rmx)
19. The Undergraduates- into the future
20. Omni tiro – Renegade snares
21. Bash street kids – Fuzzy felt
22. N.r.g – He never lost his hardcore
23. Bash street kids – power of darkness
24. Subsonic legacy – revolution (bring the noise)
25. Midas – Imperial march (stars wars mix)

26. J-sweet – Kerb
27. 2562 -Circulate

[audio:/PCPRadio_la_Breithe_hardcore_20_3_08.mp3]

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Dispatch from the hardcore continuum(link)

It’s kind of the birthday of my dj’ing also.
This was around the time rave went over ground in Ireland (outside Sides and the Assylum). Multi media was a new buzz word (the Ormond multi media centre anybody?). Everybody who hadn’t already, was discovering being ‘on one’. Cyber lit. and systems ideas were currency, and their associated images were common.
example;I had a bee in my bonnet at time about the word ‘buzz’, swarm theory and hive behaviour; dance as communication etc.

The previous year I was playing a mid week night downstairs in Fibber McGees called RadioCrush(in aid of radioactive with Crudden, Krossie and others), it was impossible not to notice that when I departed from the hip hop, punk, industrial and indie and dropped house and rave tunes the place went mental. Within a few weeks the set was all dance(all my dole and club wages going on dance wax). The crowd was full of dole punks and refugees from the weekend clubs looking to keep the buzz going. Open minded,they would go for a set starting with hip hop into Italian trance into house then techno up-to jungle, finishing with fast proto tekno. That was my first taste of ‘baleric’, as in playing anything to keep the energy going. The punk nature of it appealed to me- diy music in small runs by anonymous producers with an a communal, euphoric and anti system ethos. This felt completely new and some how right on the beat to somebody immersed in William Gibson, K. Dick etc. This experience made me decide that dj’ing was for me. As did the night when, shy kid that I was, I mistook the whoops, cheers and pointing of the crowd; I looked behind me, thinking ‘where’s the fire?’, turning back around and thinking ‘oh’ was a good feeling.
The night became two nights, but this open mindedness did not last and within a couple years playing a set like that was impossible as people chose styles to match their trainers and developed firm opinions about what music they liked. The splits were pronounced, even techno had sub genres where the crowds were mostly exclusive: Detroit, acid,idm, techhouse etc etc. I spent the next few years often getting into trouble playing the wrong music. It was serious business – house heads didn’t want any techno(‘cept flash) ruining their buzz and the same went for every crew. It was hard to resist the temptation to drop something other- for me the fun and challenge was always in the creative, even incongruous mix. But fair enough, most people had spent a lot of money and effort on their buzz and didn’t want it messed with, no matter how creatively(and it must be admitted my skills didn’t always match my ambition and that kind of thing must be done right). Also, half the time, I did it just to f**k things up a bit;) [This was why Dj’s like Irish dj Rowen and Rupture were such a breath. They kind of legitamised that style, while raising it a couple of levels. The decrease in the popularity of dance a few years ago was good, in that in allowed a return to shitty clubs and open minds as exemplified by !Kaboogie in dublin and crews around the country].

Anyway the euphoria died off, dj’s became superstars and history ended with the Third way as the disappointing permanent future(this is why I’m building a time machine out of broken 78 records).

What I took from it all is that dj’ing and the music is a process. Something you do for the moment, the feeling and the dance. Notions of success in the culture industry miss the point . Not that I’ve anything against playing the game, but the real game is just to keep getting better and to keep doing it. Fire. Mos Def.