Sonicrampage

… make sure you listen to this incredible Congo Natty tribute by Uncle Dugs. All junglist crew!

Tracklisting:

01. Rebel MC Feat Tenor Fly – Comin On Strong
02. Rebel MC Feat Tenor Fly – The Wickedest Sound (Don Gorgon Mix)
03. Rebel MC Feat Little T – Rich Ah Getting Richer (B-Line Ruffneck Mix)
04. Rebel MC Feat Tenor Fly & Barrington Levy – Tribal Base (Foundation Mix)
05. Rebel MC + Prince Lincoln Thompson – Humanity (Bass Till Your Head Buss Mix)
06. Rebel MC + Prince Lincoln Thompson – I Can’t Get No Sleep (Jungle Fever Mix)
07. X Project – Walking In The Air (Mix A1)
08. X Project – Inah Sound
09. Conquering Lion – Phenomenon 1 (Catch The Fever Mix)
10. X Project – Dub Plate Special (Ruff Cut)
11. Conquering Lion – Code Red (Wild Apache Mix)
12. Blackstar – Kunte Kinte
13. Blackstar Feat Top Cat – Champion Dj (Blueprint Mix)
14. Conquering Lion – Stamina
15. Rebel MC Feat Junior Reid – Banana Boat Man (Original Mix)
16. X Project – Jah Sunshine
17. Barrington Levy & Beenie Man – Under Me Sensi (Jungle Spliff) (X Project Remix)
18. Conquering Lion Feat Beenie Man – Rastaman (Original Dubplate Version)
19. Blackstar Feat Sweetie Irie – Get Wild (Knowledge & Wisdom Mix)
20. Tribe Of Issachar Feat Peter Bouncer – Junglist Pt2
21. Conquering Lion Feat Beenie Man – Code Black (Remix)
22. Tribe Of Issachar Feat Peter Bouncer – Fever (The Revolution Has Now Begun)
23. Lion Of Judah Feat Bounty Hunter – Emporer Selassie I (King Of Kings)
24. Tribe Of Issachar – Wardance Millennium (Original Dubplate)
25. Tribe Of Issachar Feat Top Cat – His Imperial Majesty (Original Dubplate)
26. Congo Natty Feat Top Cat – Original Sess (Police In Helicopter)

VINYL PIMP – VPVS 2013 from JPFRANCISCO on Vimeo.

I thought this timelapse video of a mural being painted at the Vinyl Pimp shop in Hackney, East London, was pretty cool.

What are you doing right now?

Well, whatever it is, stop it. Right. This. Second.

And go listen to the new Lab 4 tribute by Girdler Synthetic, the Soundcloud player of which I have helpfully embedded above. It’s two hours of wall-to-wall amazing tunes from Lab 4, who were pretty much my favorite hard trance act of all time. I first encountered Lab 4, aged 17, at the Pendragon Summer Solstice rave in Brixton Academy, and I was absolutely blown away by the power of tunes like ‘XL6′, ‘Genetik Response’, and ‘Reformation’ (to be fair, there was a little, um, assistance in the process ), and I must have seen them at least a dozen more times over the years after that, at places like The Drome, Heaven, The Astoria, The Fridge, Camden Palace, etc, and every single time they rocked it good, and they rocked it hard, the intensity and the tempo building and building into a crescendo of fist-pumping, teeth-clenching madness. Somehow their genius transcended normal scene boundaries, with their sets destroying crusties, Antipodeans, and northern furry-booted donkmeisters with equal efficiency.

Damn, they were good.

In fact, I love them so much I was planning on doing my own tribute, but I suppose I don’t have to now!

I’ve also made a cue file, for anyone else who wants to split up this mix, which you can grab here.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

See the original image

Tomorrow on the Freeformaniacs show … Jerome and Endemic! Make sure to tune in at KraftyRadio.com …

Oh, and let me know which of my 2013 mix concepts you want to hear!

Here is a selection of some of the recent episodes:

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s Saturday! Here are a few mixes that I’ve enjoyed recently on Soundcloud (imo, Soundcloud is now hands-down the best music service on the net):

First up, is Fact Mix 362, Special Request’s mix for the Fact mix series, which charts a course through rave sounds, from old to new. Special Request is a new(ish) alias of long-time house producer Paul Woolford, covering some fresh house interpretations of the old skool hardcore sound. Good fun!

Next up is ‘Amenarchy’, an absolutely blazing new skool jungle mix from San Diego’s DJ Rebellion; I found this on the always excellent RaggaJungle.biz site. Some absolutely murderous breaks and basslines on this – I really really enjoyed this mix, and you will too.

Elijah and Skilliam from Butterz have been enthusiastically driving the grime renaissance over the last few years through their label, blogs, radio shows, and club gigs, and, of course, their mixes. Their latest one, a Valentines special for the Special Request mix series, showcases the more romantic side of grime (well, everything is relative) … featuring tracks from Ruff Sqwad, Wiley, Dizzee Rascal, and many more. I thought it was great – an excellent selection of quality tunes, both old and new. If you liked my Drop The Hammer 8 then you’ll dig this.

Staying on a grimey tip, off the back of a recommendation from Mark Jenkins of Fried My Little Brain I discovered this excellent mix by Slackk. Slackk has a unique style, mashing together grime sounds with house rhythms to make a unique London dance sound, all clicks, squawks, and icy cold blasts of Eskibass.

Last but very much not least is this live recording of Luke Vibert’s set at Vinyl Pimp’s Hackney shop last Saturday night in conjunction with Discogs. I’ve been good friends with Man Hon Luk, the Vinyl Pimp himself, for over ten years and it’s really really cool to see his business doing new and exciting things. Sadly I wasn’t able to make it to the party last weekend because my little girl was sick, but just listen to this set – listen to it! A thing of true beauty. If you’re on Facebook you can see an album of photos of the night right here.

Oh yeah, and if you’re a vinyl junkie and you have a Discogs wants list, click here to see what the Vinyl Pimp has in stock for you!

The one and only Girdler Synthetic is back with a bang, kicking off his 2013 sets with a tribute to minor trance deity Nüw Idol, aka Michel Spiegel. This has only just gotten uploaded to the Penguin Conspiracy Soundcloud page, so it’s fresh, fresh, fresh!

Nuw Idol was one of my favorite trance producers back in the late 90′s/early 00′s. I loved his style of driving, hypnotic dance music – real trance music, not the arpeggiated candyfloss bullshit greedy schlockmeisters were churning out by the bucket load and, in the process, ruining the good name of trance.

5 minute breakdowns? Fuck that, Nuw Idol was there to get you dancing! His WellWicked Records pretty much always came up with the goods, which is why it’s so nice to have all of his finest tunes smooshed together in one cd’s worth of hard, euphoric joy. Of course, as ever with Girdler Synthetic’s mixes, this is a suitable tribute, expertly mixed and beautifully programmed.

Grab it, grab it now.

Or, um, stream it, stream it now …

Tracklisting:

01. Nüw Idol – Wicca – WellWicked
02. Nüw Idol – The Embrace – WellWicked
03. Nüw Idol – Touch The Lazer – WellWicked
04. Nüw Idol – Polly’s Pharmacy – WellWicked
05. Nüw Idol & Oberon – Point Of Entry – WellWicked
06. Nüw Idol – Sin – WellWicked
07. Nüw Idol – WOW – WellWicked
08. Nüw Idol & Gianni – The Gates Of Time – WellWicked
09. Nüw Idol – Satann – WellWicked
10. Nüw Idol – Kick Drum Domination – WellWicked
11. Nüw Idol – My Liberation – WellWicked
12. Nüw Idol – Life Is The Poison – WellWicked
13. Nüw Idol – The Quickening – WellWicked
14. Nüw Idol & Oberon – Bag Of Trix – WellWicked

Absolutely, utterly banging. No more needs to be said.

(Oh, and don’t forget to download Yoko’s mix from last year’s Old School Mix Marathon IV)

Via Thank You For The Horse, I found out yesterday that Japanese freeform producer Kaoru Kimura, aka Betwixt & Between, recently passed away, due to as yet unknown causes:

Betwixt & Between (Kaoru Kimura) has tragically passed away at the age of 28. As the news is now public knowledge, Guld has invited condolences/messages of support to be posted on Kaoru’s Facebook page wall, Twitter account, or mailed directly to Guld (NRG_JAPAN [at] hotmail.com), who will then forward them to Kaoru’s family.

Having only recently heard of his passing, I am still at a loss for words. A fantastically intelligent, thoughtful and kind young man, he will be missed by everyone who met him, and also by members of the wider scene who knew him through his emotional, influential music.

I feel very fortunate to have counted Kaoru as a friend for the past five years, and will miss him dearly. I’m sure everyone here will join me in offering condolences to all of his family.

I didn’t know him personally, but as a fan of his music I would like to extend my condolences to his family and friends in this time of their loss. It’s a big loss to the worldwide freeform scene, but fortunately his music is that good that it will live on forever.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with his tunes, they are, well, really fucking good. I haven’t actually used any on any of my freeform mixes, but that’s just because none have come out on vinyl – I’m a dinosaur. I only really started getting into his stuff over the last year, after Rampage Turbo 8 got me right back into freeform. Over the last year I have been devouring a lot of the newer freeform that I missed out on over the last couple years, and among the new crop of producers to have emerged over the last few years, Betwixt & Between was, for me, one of the absolute standouts, alongsideh Finland’s Substanced. His death is a big loss for the scene as a whole.

If you want to check out some of his tunes, Beezee’s Sonicrampage guest mix The Canticle of the Monomyth features his tune Phase 6, and PlasmaDancer’s two mixes for the Munted! Monthly! mix series also feature a lot of his material:

Finally, you should definitely check Betwixt & Between’s own mix for Munted! Monthly!

Betwixt & Between with Takashi Shinto – Out of Blue
Betwixt & Between – Wandering of Tankobuhesotaro
Vice Tek Heavy Industry – 3m3sys 3
Betwixt & Between – Ultra World 6
Betwixt & Between – Point of No Return
Betwixt & Between – So Sweet Bitter Days
Betwixt & Between – Zusammengehorigkeit
RANK 1 – Airwave (Betwixt & Between’s Hard Re:Boot)
Betwixt & Between – Tout est Bien (Sein zum Tode)
Betwixt & Between – Hydra (Long)
Betwixt & Between with Yukacco – Nothing Compares 2 You

RIP Kaoru Kimura

the view from my train home, in between Waterloo and Vauxhall

Happy Friday!

Hope you are enjoying the most recent fruits of my mixing labors: Eurotrash 4 (shout to the mighty Watchtower for featuring it yesterday!) and my acid mix for 7D The Seven Dimensions of Euphoria (split versions going live today).

As it’s Friday, I thought that I would catch up with new projects from three of the previous guest dj’s on Sonicrampage: Flip, Mejle, and Meke.

First up is Flip, whose 2005 Mentasm mix was featured back in early 2011 (and was subsequently highly praised by Plasmadancer on his invaluable Thank You For The Horse blog). Recently Eryk Orpheus uploaded his collaboration with Flip, The Gatekeeper, to his Soundcloud, and, well, it’s pretty epic stuff, if you like mental freeform hardcore. Ave it!

Next, on a (very) different note, is Denmark’s Mejle, the most recent guest dj to grace this illustrious collection of pixels that I call my blog. His guest mix last month was an excellent journey through many flavors of bass music, and this month he is back with another sweet selection, bashing through techno, electro, and dubstep with tunes from producers like Boddika, Mala, Icicle, and Trevino (amongst others).

Finally, Finland’s DJ Meke has returned with In Melody We Trust, a hard trance collaboration with Helsinki’s DJ Neon. Mining that early 00′s hard trance sound, if you love sharp melodies and hard kicks, it’s for you. Meke, has, of course, already appeared three times on Sonicrampage, with his mixes Nostrum tribute Nostrumo, his Old School Hardtrancers II mix in collaboration with Hamburg’s DJ Yoko, and his cheesey-yet-awesome old skool gabba mix Happy New Yearave.

Also, Meke’s collaboration with Sam Hard recently appeared on the (FREE!) Freeformatted compilation album. Go grab it!

So there you go, loads to listen to over the weekend! Have a good one …

Here’s something interesting to watch: a 1997 Channel 4 documentary about Trade, the infamous gay after-hours club night that used to run from 4am to mid-day (and beyond!) at Turnmills in Clerkenwell. As far as the development of the UK’s hard dance scene goes, Trade was probably one of the most important clubs, if not the most important – it’s dj resident roster, including Steve Thomas, Ian M, Pete Wardman, and, of course, the almighty Tony de Vit, was pretty much a who’s who of crucial figures in the development of hard house. I never went personally (I’m straight and at the time I was into the acid/hard trance sound being pioneered at nights like Pendragon and Escape From Samsara), but Trade’s musical influence is hard to overstate. So from that perspective this is a fascinating look behind the scenes of one of London’s most important ever clubs, as well as being an interesting time capsule to 15 years ago, which, although it doesn’t really seem that long ago, kind of is.

In particular it’s quite amazing to think how quickly the popular acceptance of homosexuality has advanced over that time!

The documentary of course covers the scenes at Turnmills, but also shows the Trade tent at Gay Pride, as well as Trade’s tour events in South Africa and Mallorca. Plus the documentary also includes interviews with Trade clubbers, such as the gay fireman who celebrates his marriage to his (straight, female) best friend with a night out at Trade, and a couple hoping that the New Labour government would give the South African half the right to stay in the country, plus a few younger guys, including a teenage boy from working-class Braintree, Essex, who is struggling to come to terms with being gay. Needless to say, the documentary also features some vintage killer tunes, including ‘Underrave’ by The Disciples and ‘Let’s Rock’ by E-Trax. How often have tunes like that gotten an airing on British television?!?

A must watch!

Other Trade stuff to check out if you’re interested in finding out more:

Andy Farley talks Trade – An interview with legendary Brummie hard house dj Andy Farley about his memories of Trade as a punter and dj
Andy Farley’s Trade Memories and Andy Farley’s Trade Memories 2 – Two amazing sets of tribute mixes to Trade by Andy Farley, each containing eight (!) full-length mixes, building from funky US house through to pounding nu-nrg. Over 16 hours of incredible music. Don’t miss out!
Us Boys Together Clinging: One Night in a Gay Club – 1994 feature about Trade from Gay Times, reproduced on the DJHistory.com site. An excellent read!