Just chopping up Kevin Energy’s My Freeform Journey Part 2 mix at the moment, and have filled out the tracklist properly for the rest of the tracks, but am stumped on the first tune, so I’ve uploaded it to Soundcloud.

It’s a hard trance track, apparently on Chris C’s Mind Over Matter label, and although I recognize it I can’t quite place it. I used to have quite a few tracks on MOM, but I’ve sold them off over the years, so these days I only have The Final Hurrah, Plymouth, and Tell Me What’s Wrong. Unfortunately, it’s not any of those, and I can’t quite place it (and YouTube, my usual first port of call in such matters, isn’t much help either).

If you know what it is, either leave a comment here or on Soundcloud, and I will loff you forever!

Updated, February 18, 2011: Cheers to Alex in the comments for identifying the tune as Monsoon by Madam Zu & The Doktor. Thanks Alex! If you want to grab the completed cue, it’s here.

A dying snowman … not that that has anything to do with Danny Rampling

A few days ago, someone on Banging Tunes asked for some old Danny Rampling comps, and I’m now very happy to provide two of his Love Groove Dance Party trance mixes from way back in the mid-90′s; unfortunately, I don’t have the house mixes, just the trance ones.

If you’re unfamiliar with Danny Rampling, he’s a bit of a dance music legend, the man responsible for Shoom, the legendary acid house party back in the halcyon days of 1988. He later went on to do a long-running show on BBC Radio 1 called Love Groove Dance Party, covering everything from house to trance, a range of stuff illustrated on the accompanying compilations that Metropole Music released, each of which had one cd of house and one cd of trance. These mixes are quite eclectic as far as trance goes, showcasing everything from banging acid trance to hands in the air Eurotrance to full-on herders of the moon goat Goa trance. Trance is one of those dance music sub-genres that has become sub-divided into innumerable micro-niches over the years, so it’s quite refreshing to listen to these old mixes and hear a totally different approach taken. I won’t lie, some of these tunes I don’t like, but it’s still quite a fun experience overall.

Obviously, the usual disclaimers apply to this, i.e. I’m only putting up these mixes to share as they have been out of print for a long loooong time and therefore I’m not taking away from any potential sales. However, if you are the rights holder (or even Mr Rampling himself) and don’t want them up, I can pull them down, just get in touch. Etc.

Enjoy!

Danny Rampling presents Love Groove Party Volumes 1 & 2

Click to download a rar file of the trance mix

Discogs link

Trance Mix Tracklisting:

201 Allium – M.O.T. Venture (Hold Your Pillow)
202 Yum Yum – Feel Me Now
203 Man With No Name – Lunar Cycle
204 U4EA – Sonar Eclipse
205 DJ Misjah & DJ Tim – Access
206 Dead Calm – Dancing Dolphin
207 Shimmon & Woolfson – Stomp “Stack The Galli” (Tony De Vit Mix)
208 Fahrenheit – The Awakening
209 Power Source – Goaway
210 Astral Projection Featuring DJ Jörg – Mahadeva
211 K90 – Genesis
212 L.S.G. – Hidden Sun Of Venus (Oliver Lieb Remix)
213 Solar Quest – Revelation
214 Robert Miles – Children

Danny Rampling presents Love Groove Party Volumes 3 & 4

Click to download a rar file of the trance mix

Discogs link

Spacey Trance Mix Tracklisting:
201. Leftfield – Space Shanty
202. Art Of Trance – Kaleidescope
203 Van Basten – Silver Bullet
204 David H – Passion (Pure Seduction Mix)
205 S-J – Fever (Tony De Vit Cub Mix)
206 Jon The Dentist – Jacobs Ladder
207 DJ Tom & Norman – Thundergod
208 X-Cabs – Neuro
209 Lochi – London Acid City
210 Pablo Gargano – We Promise You The Future
211 The Infinity Project – The Answer
212 Dimension 5 – Iron Sun
213 Union Jack – There Will Be No Armageddon
214 The Brain – I Will Find A Way (Jam El Mar Mix)
215 B.B.E. – Seven Days And One Week
216 Justine – All You Want Is Sex

Hi everyone, hope you had a great weekend!

Here’s a bit of good news – I’ve now posted M-Zone’s hard trance classics mix in the Old School Marathon mega-post. To grab it, click here. I’ve also posted a split version of Proteus’s amazing old skool mix, recorded live at Superstition in Helsinki. Tell your friends, neighbors, and grand-parents!

I’m very pleased to announce that I’ve now added even more mixes to the Old School Mix Marathon IV post: DJ Meke’s Happy New Yearave gabbafest and an awesome live old skool mix from the legendary Proteus. I’m still working on getting M-Zone’s mix. No tracklisting on the Proteus mix, so if you can help out, it would be greatly appreciated. Go get ‘em!

Girdler Synthetic presents The Acid Roundabout Volumes 1-3

Three mixes of banging London acid techno from Paul Girdler aka Girdler Synthetic aka half of Penguin Conspiracy

Happy Sunday! Hope you’re all having a good weekend so far.

For me, not so good, really, as I’ve been laid low with a cold (boo-hoo), which meant that yesterday I didn’t, as planned, re-record the third edition of my Morally Diminished series. I had a first go at it two weeks ago but after having listened to it for a bit I’ve decided that it could do with a slightly reshuffled tracklisting, because although the mixing was fine I thought the flow could be improved slightly. Since a gunked-up nose, a sore throat, and a fuzzy brain are not really conducive to chopping up funky techno, it’s been unavoidably delayed for at least another week or two.

Even so, I didn’t want to get through the weekend without offering up something cool, so, following on from the great feedback about his Weirdo tribute mix, I’m very happy to present all three volumes of Girdler Synthetic’s The Acid Roundabout series of London acid techno mixes. Since these mixes are available elsewhere as single mp3′s, I’ve put up links to them, but I’m hosting the zip packs of chopped tracks for your own audio pleasure, plus I’ve provided covers and cue files.

As with my own Squat Rocking mixes, these are unashamed tributes to the pop-pupilled madness of the London free party scene, pure firing 303 rave mayhem – definitely not the kind of music Simon Cowell will be featuring on his new dj talent show!

Which, of course, is a big part of what makes it so good – this is not music that makes compromises for mass appeal.

If you like these mixes, make sure you check out the new Penguin Conspiracy album, Machines of Love and Grace (right).

Enjoy!

Girdler Synthetic presents The Acid Roundabout Vol. 1

Mixed in 2008
(78:27, 71.83 MB, 128kbps MP3)

Style: Acid Techno

Single mp3 file (Download it at the Electronic Exposed site)
Zip file (split into separate tracks)
Cue file
Large cover

Tracklisting:

01. Kev’s E’Nut – The Weekend (Engage Remix) (Turtle Trax)
02. Tarball & Lungbutter – Sonic Erupter (Bionic Orange)
03. Dynamo City – Bomb In Your Ass (Stay Up Forever)
04. Chris Liberator & The Geezer – 303 Power (Smitten)
05. Audio Pancake – Detox (Smitten)
06. Geezer – The Long & Short Of It (Smitten)
07. Dirty Blonde – Son Of A Crack Whore (Havok)
08. Chris Liberator – Cat’s Eye (Prolekult)
09. Trip Hazard – Gottagetoutofit (Stay Up Forever)
10. Pile Driver – V.U. Meter (Cluster)
11. Rozzer’s Dog – The Pusher, The Pimp & The Panther (Stay Up Forever)
12. Secret Hero – Build Up The Pressure (Stay Up Forever)
13. Star Power – X-Ray OK (Stay Up Forever)
14. Dogs On Rope – Buzz Saw (Organgrinder)
15. Gizelle – PVC Perversion (Havok)

Girdler Synthetic presents The Acid Roundabout Vol. 2

Mixed in 2008
(79:24, 72.7 MB, 128kbps MP3)

Style: Acid Techno

Single mp3 file (Download it at the Electronica Exposed site)
Zip file (split into separate tracks)
Cue file
Large cover

Tracklisting:

01. Cosmic Trigger – The Oracle (Stay Up Forever)
02. Carbine – It’s Funky But It Ain’t House (Stay Up Forever)
03. Time Stretch Armstrong – Fuel For The Fire (Stay Up Forever)
04. Site Breakers – Hash Fudge Dave (Stay Up Forever)
05. Trip Hazard – One Drug (Stay Up Forever)
06. Thera – Balti (Boscaland)
07. Vibe Bar Rejects – Mardy Alan (Smitten)
08. The Weathermen – Pressure Cell (Boscaland)
09. A&E Dept – The Antidote (Cluster)
10. D.A.V.E. The Drummer – Barbed Wire 303 (Boscaland)
11. Lochi – London Acid City (Routemaster)
12. Rozzer’s Dog – Viagra Falls (Stay Up Forever)
13. Magnum Force – Unlucky Punk (Stay Up Forever)
14. Rozzer’s Dog – World War 303 (Stay Up Forever)
15. DDR & The Geezer – Spades (C.O.S.H.H.)
16. Well Paid Scientists – To The Batrave … Let’s Go! (C.O.S.H.H.)

Girdler Synthetic presents The Acid Roundabout Vol. 3

Mixed in 2011
(78:07, 178.82 MB, 320kbps MP3)

Style: Acid Techno

Single mp3 file (From Sendspace)
Zip file (split into separate tracks)
Cue file
Large cover

Tracklisting:

01. A&E Dept – Experiment 4 (Stay Up Forever)
02. Chris Liberator & Sterling Moss – Impact (Wah Wah)
03. D.A.V.E. The Drummer – Freedom Fighter (Smitten)
04. Kektex – Inner City Junkies (Routemaster)
05. Jamie C – Shitbag (Stay Up Forever Projects)
06. D.A.V.E. The Drummer & KN – Jack Me (Stay Up Forever)
07. DDR – F.U.N.K.
08. Chris Liberator, Sterling Moss & Maxx – Deadly Swine (Cluster)
09. Pig Snorter – My 909′s Got A Picture Of Chris Liberator On It (Routemaster)
10. Balloonheads – Balloonism (Smitten)
11. Syndrome – MFT (D.A.V.E. The Drummer Remix) (Scythe Squadron)
12. Temperature Drop – Mosquito’s Tweeter (Cluster)
13. Magnum Force – Blow The Bloody Doors Off (Stay Up Forever)
14. Acid Steve & DDR – Raves Like This (Avinit)
15. Tarball & Lungbutter – Out There (Smitten)
16. Well Paid Scientists – BuzzBomb (C.O.S.H.H.)
17. Captain Tinrib & Dynamic Intervention – Found What We’re Lookin’ 4 (D.A.V.E. The Drummer Remix) (Vicious Circle)
18. Chris Liberator & Sterling Moss – Acid Techno Wah Wah (Wah Wah)

Pearsall presents Rampage Turbo 9

right-click on the title and save as to download

Mixed on two Technics 1210′s and a Pioneer DJM-600 in London, December 2011
(62:52, 144 MB, 320 KBPS MP3)

Zip pack (cut into individual tracks)
Large cover
Cue file

Style: Classic UK Trancecore/Freeform Hardcore

Direct link to the mix:
http://sonicrampage.org/mixes/rt9/Pearsall-RampageTurbo9.mp3

Tracklisting:

01. Cortex – Movin’ On (xy2)
02. Air Bomb – Sonik Kiss (Electric Kingdom)
03. Hard Trance – Last Project (Evolution)
04. Jon Doe – Hoover (No Trix)
05. DJ Energy – Twisted Sanity (Nu Energy)
06. DJ Energy – Future Dimensions Part II (Nu Energy)
07. Bang The Future – Body Slam (GBT)
08. Stu J & UFO – Resin-8 (GBT)
09. Digital Maneuvers – Temporal Rift (Bonkers)
10. Lab 4 – Reformation II (Alien Trax)
11. DJ Fury – Desensitize 98 (Stompin’ Choonz)
12. DJ Energy – Acid Dawn (Nu Energy)
13. Helix & Teknodred – Mindless Pleasure (Stompin’ Choonz)
14. Shanty, Tazz & Loopy – Outbreak (Tazz Remix) (Digital Beats)
15. Tailbone – In My Mind (Helix Remix) (GBT)
16. Menace II Society – Nothing Ends (Digital Beats)
17. DJ Fury – Lemonade Raygun (Back Room Mix) (Stompin’ Choonz)
18. Supreme & UFO – Paradise (Man From Uncle)
19. Trixxy – See The Stars (Bonkers)

Enjoy this mix? Leave a comment!

Pearsall presents Rampage Turbo 9 by sonicrampage
Stream it if you like …

Ever since I did Rampage Turbo 8 I’ve been on a serious freeform kick, devouring freeform mixes from the likes of Plasma Dancer, Substanced (this was good too), Thumpa, Beezee, and more. It’s been awesome to reconnect with that genre, which I’d kind of stopped listening to for a while there, so when DJ Meke got in touch and asked if I would like to contribute a freeform/trancecore mix to DI.fm’s Old School Mix Marathon IV I didn’t need to think twice before saying yes.

In all honesty, this mix is not too dissimilar to Rampage Turbo 8 … not that that’s a bad thing! Again, it’s a selection of some of my favorite early freeform tunes, with an emphasis of covering the key labels and producers with a balance between anthems and more obscure tunes. I was pretty excited to contribute this mix, and get some of the sounds heard by a wider audience, so I even went out and bought a bunch of tunes specifically for this mix from Discogs, including a few from hardcore legend Billy Bunter, such as Resin-8, the In My Mind remix, and Paradise.

One of the exciting things about getting asked to participate in the Mix Marathon is having the opportunity to introduce myself as a dj to a new audience. For me, therefore, it was very important that the mix be a good representation of my style as a dj – that it encapsulate in an hour my approach to mixing and building a set. Which means that the tunes selected had to cover different facets of the genre, as well as showing a clear progression from start to finish, and the mixing had to be more dynamic than just a faded segue every six minutes or so, with lots of long, deep mixes with plenty of cuts along the way. This is not necessarily to everyone’s taste, I recognize, because from time to time I’ve had complaints that my mixes have too much chopping and changing, but mostly people seem to enjoy the style, and I know I do, so it’s what I’m sticking with.

In any case, consider this the first salvo in a year of freeform from myself. First up will be Rampage Turbo 10 in either February or March, which will be an all-vinyl two hour Finrg special in honor of the Finrg crew’s 10th anniversary; complete with pics and an essay about the two weeks I spent hanging out with them and getting drunk back in the summer of 2003. I’ve also been asked to contribute to the Freeformaniacs show on the online station Krafty Radio, and my first mix will appear on the 5th of April. Later in the year I’ve been asked to play a classic freeform set in the main room at a London-based hardcore party, but the guy who asked me hasn’t been in touch for a while, so I dunno what the status is of that … hopefully that will still happen!

It looks like it’s going to be an exciting year! And what a way to start it … enjoy the mix!

Old School Mix Marathon IV

Six mixes of old skool goodness from DI.fm’s Old School Electronica Channel

Update, February 1, 2012: I’m very proud to announce that I have now uploaded Proteus’ mix as well as DJ Meke’s Happy New Yearave gabba mix. Scroll down to the bottom of the page or click here to see them. I’m hoping to get the M-Zone mix as well, but can’t confirm yet as to whether that will be available. Enjoy!

Update 2, February 5, 2012: Even more good news! I now have M-Zone’s mix to download, click here to jump down the page and grab it. If you can help us build a tracklisting for M-Zone’s mix, please leave a comment. Also, I’ve now got a full tracklisting for the mix by Proteus, so I’ve stuck it up as a split track zip file as well.

A few months ago DJ Meke (whose Nostrumo appeared as a guest mix a few years back on Sonicrampage) got in touch with me and asked if I would be up for contributing a mix to an end of the year special that he was organizing for Digitally Imported’s Old School Electronica channel. The idea behind the Old School Mix Marathon IV (as it came to be known) was to create a series of old skool mixes from across a range of harder dance music styles, mixed by dj’s from across Europe, that would showcase the amazing music made in the 90′s to nostalgiacs and newcomers alike.

Having been asked to represent the UK, my answer can be summed up in two words: fuck and yes. Since most of the other dj’s were providing more European music, Meke asked me for a UK trancecore mix in a similar vein to Rampage Turbo 8. Since doing that mix, I’ve been on a real freeform kick anyways, so I happily said yes and went back to the lab and came up with … Rampage Turbo 9. Which turned out really nicely!

This post, however, isn’t about my mix (that’s a topic for a separate post), but instead about the other mixes from the series, which I am very proud to be giving a permanent home to here at Sonicrampage (with the exception of Mario Tekno’s mix, which I felt was not mixed to an acceptable standard). These six mixes cover a massive range of electronic music vibes, from ’91 piano screamers from Deck Jagger to twirling acid trance from Individual to Ciriliox’s bouncy makina and massive hardtrance from Ally Asylum and the German/Finnish showdown of Yoko and Mele to DJ Mindflash’s straight up, unfiltered gabba. Taken together, they offer an excellent primer to 90′s rave music.

Those who know me will not be surprised to find out that I love the Yoko/Meke and Ally Asylum mixes, both of which cover the kind of glorious old fast hardtrance that I featured on Heartcore, but what surprised me was how much I enjoyed Ciriliox’s makina mix. I’ve always been of the opinion that makina (the indigenous hardcore sound of Spain) is a big pile of stinky cheese, but I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this mix, and even recognised some of the tunes from back in the day. Needless to say, this opens up a new avenue for vinyl acquisition (not that my wife will like to hear that!). Overall, hearing all of the different mixes has been both fun and educational, turning me on to lots of tunes that I didn’t know before, as well as reminding me of some stone classics that I had forgotten over the years.

For easier navigation, click these links to take you straight to your mix of choice:

Yoko vs Meke – Hard Trance
Ally Asylum – Hard Trance
Ciriliox – Makina
DJ Mindflash – Gabba
Deck Jagger – Breakbeat Hardcore
Individual – Acid Trance
Proteus – Hard Trance
DJ Meke – Gabba
M-Zone – Hard Trance

Enjoy the mixes!

VS

Yoko vs Meke – Old School Hardtrancers II

Germany vs Finland Old Skool Battle

Mixed in December 2011
(79:58, 147 MB, 260 KBPS MP3)

Style: Old Skool European Hardtrance

Single mp3 file
Zip file (split into separate tracks)
Cue file
Large cover

Tracklisting:

DJ Yoko
01. Zenith DJ – Trance Communication (Remix) (White)
02. Nitre – Retro (Cenobite)
03. Gollum meets Manga – First Strike (EDM)
04. DJ Hixxy & Bananaman – Yes, Yes & Er Yes (Essential Platinum)
05. Mindtrust – Raver’s Groove (DJ Tails & Noizer Remix) (Pengo)
06. Ilsa Gold – Silke (Space Cube Remix) (Force Inc Music Works)
07. Critical Mass – Shake Your Stuff (ID&T)
08. Vector Mode – Secret World (Rave Mix) (Urban)
09. Neonrave – I Love You (BMG)
10. Shining Trance – Calculator (Hard Trance Version) (Magnetik)
11. Faxe Inc. – Something (Voodoo)
12. Mental Game – Celebryon (Discomagic)
13. Accuface – Sundown (Tunnel)
14. B-Voice – This Is Not A Game (Harem)
15. RMB – The Time Has Come (Low Spirit)
DJ Meke
16. Razzia – This Club Is Closed Forever (M. Mix) (Top Secret)
17. Re-Actor – Setup 1 (Uptide)
18. Retroflex – Family Nightmare (Influence)
19. Axis – Sunrise (Bonzai)
20. Wickee – Daisy’s Dream (Bull)
21. Abet – The Sweetest Song (Tunnel)
22. Para-Dizer – Song Of Liberation (Perplexer Remix) (Ultraphonic)
23. Apple Juice – Raving Together (Signal)
24. Rexanthony – Cocoacceleration (Sound Of The Bomb)
25. Droidnoise – Apocalypse (DRN)
26. Hanoi – Restricted Area (K.N.O.R.)
27. Cybex Factor II – The Essence Of Life (Boy)

Ally Asylum – Old Skool Mix Marathon IV

Mixed in December 2011
(67:18, 154 MB, 320 KBPS MP3)

Style: European Hardtrance/UK Trancecore

Single mp3 file
Zip file (split into separate tracks)
Cue file

Tracklisting:

01. Suburban Delay – All I Need (Jolly Roger Lite)
02. Scoopex – In My Dream (Circles)
03. The Syndicate – X-Mod (VooDoo Records)
04. Area 51 – On Course (Uprising Trance)
05. D’Acido Domingo – Shadows (Original By Robotnico) (Beatz Only Records)
06. Start Up – Uh! (165 BPM Mix) (DJ’s At Work)
07. Interstate – Human Beings (Mega ‘Lo Mania Remix) (Harem Records)
08. Q-Tex – Can’t Get Enough (Evolution Records)
09. L&B Project – Dreams Of Energy (Websters Rave Energy Mix) (Dos Or Die Recordings)
10. Charly Lownoise & Mental Theo – Childhood (Master Maximum Trance Traxx)
11. Tekkno By Pass – It’s Great Fun (Trance Mix) (Acceleration)
12. Rebel Bass – Rebel Bass (The Theme) (Stormtrooper Records)
13. Hydrophobia – Hydrophobia (DJ’s at Work)
14. Xpose – Virtual Crowded Techno (DJ’s At Work)
15. DJ Fury – Desensitize (Stompin Choonz)
16. Q-Tex – Trip to the Hyperdome (Evolution Records)
17. Stu J & UFO – Resin-8 (Great British Techno)
18. Plastic Enemy – Judges Law (EDM Records)
19. Reaction – Bass Hard (Boy Records)
20. Gary D Feat. Dr. Z – Living On Video (DJs Present)
21. DJ Gollum – Emergency (EDM Records)

Ciriliox presents A Pink Taste Of Makina

Mixed in December 2011
(58:45, 80.7 MB, 192 KBPS MP3)

Style: Spanish Hardtrance/Makina

Single mp3 file
Zip file (split into separate tracks)
Cue file

Tracklisting:

1 CEE – Rave (Pink)
2 Tambourines – Never Wild (Pink)
3 Alteration – Fresh (Pink)
4 DC 10 – Shake Up (Pink)
5 Radioactivity – FM Paradise (Pink)
6 Water Colours – Heaven (Pink)
7 Extra – Great Bass (Pink)
8 Speed Vinyl – Cosmic Object (Pink)
9 DJ Mask vs DJ Andres – Azid Music (Pink)
10 Televission – Space Ship (Pink)
11 Magicvision vs DJ Laura – Magic World (Pink)
12 Locomotion – Jam Is Here (Pink)
13 Javi Golo & Peke Albeza – Open the Sky (Pink)
14 New York – Crossfire (Pink)
15 Neptuno – Rave Go! (Pink)
16 Fumanchu – Occidentally Tic-Tac (Pink)
17 New York – I Give you More (Pink)
18 Televission – Now Freak (Pink)
19 Marmot Sound – Artichoke (Pink)
20 Javi Golo & Peke Albeza – The Stand (Pink)

DJ Mindflash – Old School Mix Marathon IV

Mixed in December 2011
(59:58, 110 MB, 260 KBPS MP3)

Style: Early Gabba/Dutch Hardcore

DJ Mindflash – Mix for Di.fm Oldschool Mix Marathon 2011 by DJ Mindflash
Zip file (split into separate tracks)
Cue file

Tracklisting:

01. Public Domain – The Puritan (The Voice Mix) (Bad Vibes)
02. T-Wisted – The Dawn Of New Millenium (ID&T)
03. The Raven vs Don Diablo – The Arrival (Re-Fuse)
04. Digital Boy – OK Alright! (Digital Boy ’96 Remix) (Italian Steel)
05. DJ Dione – Checkin’ The Cutz (ID&T)
06. Cixx vs. The Vinyl Junk – Fossil (D-Boy Black Label)
07. The Horrorist – In The Year Of 1999 (Earprotector)
08. Psylocke – Walls Of Mystery (Arcade)
09. Aacheron – The Gemini (Arcade)
10. Temper Tantrum – Still The Hardest (Arcade)
11. Simtec Power Squad – Infinite Power
12. DJ Promo – This Underground Sound (Arcade)
13. The Alternative Creators – The Beast (Stunned Guys Hardcore Mix) (Arcade)
14. Mike Oh Man & Bioforce – Open Your Mind (European Hardcore United)
15. Tom Ace – I Wanna Get High (Bonzai Jumps)
16. DJ Waxweazle – Hardcore Power 97 (Mouth Of Madness Mix) (Arcade)
17. Dr. Z-Vago – Motherfuckers (Megarave)
18. Sim, Bernd & Wax – Plain & Simple (Bad Vibes)
19. DJ Tails & Noizer – Throw Your Hands Up Feat. General Noise (Waxweazle)
20. The Prophet – Don’t Quit (Arcade)
21. DJ Jappo – Sensation Of The Mind (Coolman)

Deck Jagger presents Hit The Jaggers

Mixed in December 2011
(59:37, 136 MB, 320 KBPS MP3)

Style: Old Skool Breakbeat Hardcore

Single mp3 file
Zip file (split into separate tracks)
Cue file

Tracklisting:

01. Congress – 40 Miles (Inner Rhythm)
02. Awesome 3 – Don’t Go (Entity)
03. Altern-8 – Frequency (Network)
04. Bizarre Inc. – Playing With Knives (Quadrant Mix) (Vinyl Solution)
05. Cubic 22 – Night In Motion (XL)
06. Love Decade – So Real (Massive Mix) (All Around The World)
07. Anticappella – 2v231 (Mo’rytmo Mix) (PWL Continental)
08. Collapse – My Love (Ambient Drops) (City Beat)
09. Sonz Of A Loop Da Loop Era – Far Out (Suburban Base)
10. Shades of Rhythm – Extacy (ZTT)
11. Praga Khan – Injected With A Poison (Beat Box International)
12. Holy Noise – Father Forgive Them (Hithouse)
13. 4 Hero – Mr Kirk’s Nightmare (Reinforced)
14. The Prodigy – Pandemonium (XL)
15. Human Resource – Dominator (Beltram Mix) (R&S UK)
16. Messiah – There Is No Law (Kickin’)
17. Luna C Project – Edge of Madness (Sub Love Remix) (Kniteforce)

Individual – Old School Mix Marathon IV

Mixed in December 2011
(50:06, 114 MB, 320 KBPS MP3)

Style: Old Skool Acid Trance

Single mp3 file
Zip file (split into separate tracks)
Cue file

Tracklisting:

01. Marmion – Schöneberg (Man With No Name Remix) (Urban)
02. Jam & Spoon – Angel feat. Plavka (DJ Misjah Remix) (Jam!)
03. Code 35 – Getting Out Of Space (Leaving Earth Mix) (United Ravers)
04. Vandal Sound – Bombshell (Harthouse)
05. Skylab – Accident (Voodoo)
06. Jones & Stephenson – The Third Rebirth (Cortex Thrill Remix) (Bonzai)
07. Members Of Mayday – Day X (Jon The Dentist Remix) (Low Spirit)
08. DJ Scot Project – U (I Got A Feeling) (V-Mix) (Overdose)
09. DJ Crack – Mover (Full-E)

Update, February 1, 2012:

Proteus – Live at Superstition Club Helsinki

(43:13, 98.9 MB, 320 KBPS MP3)

Style: Old Skool Hard Trance & Rave

Single mp3 file
Zip file (split into separate tracks)
Cue file

I’m very pleased to feature this mix, as Proteus is one of the biggest names in hard music, and has appeared at countless clubs and raves over the years, made some great tunes, and won a stack of awards. Special thanks to Meke and Discogs user conradhart for sorting out the tracklisting. Cheers guys!

Proteus on Facebook
Official website

Tracklisting:

01 Rave Crusader – Agent Orange (Dance Opera)
02 Scooter – Unity Without Words Part I (Club Tools)
03 The Montini Experience – Astrosyn (Nitric)
04 Semisphere – Kosmos (Advanced) (Suck Me Plasma)
05 Odyssee – Pure Flow (Bloody Cow)
06 Para-Dizer – Song Of Liberation (Perplexer Remix) (Ultraphonic)
07 Cycle On Five – Lost Continent (Land Of Oz)
08 Ozaka Oz – Real Nightmare (3 Lanka)
09 NIP Collective – Moments Of Decision (Amorphous Mix) (Tranceplant)
10 DJ Franky Jones – Overwhelming Rain (Jones & Stephenson Mix) (Bonzai)
11 Al-Faris – Dschesiret El-Arab (Overdrive)
12 Jones & Stephenson – The First Rebirth (Bonzai)
13 Raver’s Nature – Return Of Fame (Fire)

DJ Meke – Happy New Yearave

Mixed in December 2011
(42:50, 78.4 MB, 256 KBPS MP3)

Style: Gabba

Single mp3 file
Zip file (split into separate tracks)
Cue file

Tracklisting:

01. Scarface – Let The Dope Get In Your Soul (Brrr)
02. Search & Destroy – Don’t Need Nobody (Mokum)
03. DJ Sim – Loud As Fuck (Bad Vibes)
04. Masoko Solo – Pessa Pessa (Buzz Fuzz Remix) (BZRK)
05. Prophet & Omar Santana – Power Pill (H2OH)
06. Tripax – What The Fuck Are You Laughing At? (TriPax)
07. T.N.T. – Kiss The Ground(Master Maximum)
08. DJ Primo – Shut Up, Don’t Speak (5th Gear)
09. Flippin’ Gee – C’mon Rock The Whole Town (5th Gear)
10. Smile – Everybody’s Free (Rave)
11. DJ Delirium – The Party Starter (Waxweazle)
12. Commotion – Stick It In (ID&T)
13. Sequential One – Happy Feelings (Rough Technology)
14. DJ Roy – Yeahuah (Maxm Relax Remix) (5th Gear)

M-Zone – Classics Mix

Mixed in December 2011
(75:17, 103 MB, 192 KBPS MP3)

Style: Old Skool Hard Trance

Single mp3 file

No tracklisting for the moment, so please help us build one!

T_! – “NOMINATED” – 4 decks by T_macabre

Happy Sunday!

Hope your weekend has been good – here’s a mix that was sent through to me yesterday that I’m very happy to post about. It’s called Nominated and it’s a massive 4-deck mix of all kinds of dubstep/grime goodies from T_! of Macabre Unit. I was a bit dubious when I first saw the tracklisting, as even though it has lots and lots and lots of good tunes, I thought that fitting that many tunes into 77 minutes would be overkill. I mean, sure I’m someone with a short attention span when it cames to mixing, but even I have my limits. Fortunately, I was wrong! He’s done an excellent job of weaving the massive number of tracks into the mix in a way that is subtle yet compelling, with the tracks floating in and out nicely.

It’s definitely not the OCD dropfest I halfway feared!

Another nice feature to the mix is that although it is mostly eyes down dubstep, he’s slipped in enough grime flourishes to freshen up the vibe periodically so it’s not all introspective gloom (although gloomy dungeon sound dubstep is of course something I love) – overall, the mix has a really good balance of vibes throughout. I also enjoyed the mixture of fresh dubs and venerable classics – too often with online mixes people just try to show off the fact that they have a lot of dubplates, which frankly I’ve never cared much about. After all, ‘new’ is not a synonym for ‘good’. I’d rather listen to old, good tunes intelligently put together than a bunch of new crap piled up thoughtlessly. As for the mixing, well, obviously it’s really fucking good – you have to have a lot of confidence in your mixing ability to try to pull off a four deck mix, and he’s definitely nailed it. I like it a lot. You will too. Promise.

Tracklisting:

Content- The Maori
Pheral & Occult- Unseen
Widowmaker- Forgotten Ruin
Anex- Delusion (Demon Remix)
Fused Forces- Space Empty
Mala- Blue Notes
Cyrus- Ears Lowered
Sleeper & Thelem- Untitled
TMSV & June Miller- Ghost Ship
Scratchy- Shangoolie
Dcult- A Choice Was Made
Afterdark- Change Me
Hatti Vatti- You (Phaeleh Remix)
Geeneus- Detroit
Demon- Paper Chase
LAXX- Warning
Compa- Antact
Tunnidge- Aftershock
Dj Madd- Imagination
V.I.V.E.K- Diablo
Terror Danjah- Frontline (D.O.K Remix)
Demon- Sgt. Slaughter
Wiley- What Do You Call It (Bass Mix)
Benga- Electro Music
Lurka- Skeptic
DCult- Inner Peace
Mala- Eyez VIP
Versa- Shadow Movements
LAS- Memories
Dj Madd & TMSV- Difference (J:Kenzo Remix)
Killawatt- Codex
Digital Mystikz- Neverland
Dj Madd- Futureless
Distance & Tunnidge- Blame
Benga- Zombie Jig
J:Kenzo- Engage
Coki- Earth a Run Red
Widowmaker- Heihachi
Skream- feat Trim- Tweedle Dum
Target- Runway
Teeza- The Set Up
Versa- Lucid VIP
Statik feat D Double E- Superdoop
Other Echoes- Further
LAXX- Self Destruct
Ed:It- Sphere (Eleven8 Remix)
Lurka- Refresher
Shotz- Creep
Compa- Sentence
Core- Wasteland
Fat Freddy’s Drop- Cays Crays (Digital Mystikz Remix)

If you want to check out some of his other mixes, his Soundcloud is here, plus there’s a whole Dubstepforum thread on his mixes worth checking as well. Also, if you like the kind of old skool grime stuff I put on Drop The Hammer 8, then you’ll definitely enjoy these original Macabre Unit tunes:

Crazily enough, I sold these tunes for a couple quid a few years ago when grime wasn’t much in demand … to buy them back today I’d have to spend way more. Argh, the lessons of life.

In other site news, tomorrow I’ll be posting the other mixes from the Old School Mix Marathon, followed by my own Rampage Turbo 9 on Tuesday/Wednesday, and yesterday I recorded Morally Diminished 3, a one-take funky techno throwdown that I’m quite pleased with.

See you tomorrow.

Widowmaker’s Winter Mix

click to download a zip file of the mix

Mixed in October 2011
(30:01, 42.3 MB, 192 KBPS MP3)

Large cover

Style: Dubstep (The Dungeon Sound)

Direct link to the mix:
http://sonicrampage.org/guestmixes/wdwmkr/Widowmaker%27sWinterMix.zip

Tracklisting:

01. Ben Verse – Dark Star (Wheel & Deal)
02. Breakage – Higher (Digital Soundboy)
03. Skream – Filth (Tempa)
04. J:Kenzo – Ruffhouse (feat. Rod Azlan) (Tempa)
05. Widowmaker – Operator (Dub)
06. Distance – Devastator (Chestplate)
07. Organics – Classified (Dub)
08. Surge – Leech ft Rox (Wheel & Deal Dub)
09. District – Notes (Dub)
10. Widowmaker & Teknian – Deadline (Dub)
11. Haze – Badness Ting (Dub)
12. District – Gutter (Dub)
13. Widowmaker – The Island (Dub)

Enjoy this mix? Leave a comment!

‘Winter Mix’ (DISTRICT, ORGANICS, J:KENZO, HAZE, SURGE etc.) by Widowmaker

Hello again, I hope you are all enjoying the start to your 2012!

2012 is kicking off with a bang here at Sonicrampage, with a whole stack of guest mixes to come in January (at least in theory), plus some new material from myself.

First up is Widowmaker’s Winter Mix, a rather excellent mix that I have offered to host because (1) I really enjoy it, and (2) it’s no longer available to download from Soundcloud. As good a reason as any, right?

This mix is a perfect summary of the deeper, darker strand of dubstep that I’ve really been enjoying over the last few months; if you liked Audio Addict’s Beneath mix back in August, then you’ll love this. People are calling it the dungeon sound, which to me seems a little silly (what next, Fritzlstep?), but I guess it suits the atmospheric, bass-heavy, rolling half-step sounds pretty well. In a way, it’s funny (well, funny peculiar, not funny ha ha) that this stuff actually needs to be given its own sub-genre name, given how in tune all of this stuff is with the archetypal DMZ dubstep sound.

I suppose the rationale is that so many people outside the scene now associate ‘dubstep’ with the aggressive yet cartoony mid-range wobble sound that has become so popular over the last year or two (particularly in America), therefore the producers/dj’s/fans/angry forum warriors on the deeper side of dubstep need it to distinguish themselves from the purveyors of ‘brostep’. Needless to say, as someone who made two Wobble City mixes, I’m not going to insult wobble, or the people who make it and like it, even though I’ve been listening to it a lot less recently and I’m not so keen on some of the noiser stuff from guys like Skrillex (not that I have anything against the guy personally, like so many people seem to). Having said that, I really liked Cotti’s recent(ish) mix for Mixmag, though, that had some excellent wobblers.

Generally speaking, my taste in music tends to run in cycles, so that at different points I am more interested in certain things than others – I can’t imagine being one of those people who fixates on one sound and then listens to nothing but that for years on end. In dubstep terms, therefore, that has meant that having gone through a phase of listening to tons of wobble, I then went through a period where I listened to a lot of deeper stuff, along the lines of what I put on my Summer Snapshop mix, before turning more recently to the kind of darker half-step stuff featured on this mix, as well as on a whole stack of other great mixes that I’ve grabbed in 2011 from people like Kryptic Minds, Benton, Cyrus, N-Type, Mala, and more.

As for Widowmaker himself, honestly I know nothing about the guy, beyond the fact that he is a dj and producer whose Progressions mix I hammered last spring. Since I enjoyed that mix so much, I eagerly snapped up his new winter mix (this one) when I saw it on Dubstep Forum. I downloaded, I enjoyed, and since the downloads on Soundcloud had run out, I happily offered to host it. Having said that, since I had already deleted the original single mp3 file (you know me, I always chop up mixes), it is only available as a zip file split into individual tracks. Which shouldn’t be a problem, I hope.

Anyways, enough waffling from me. Enjoy the mix!

The weather is terrible in London … so why not some stats?

Welcome to 2012!

It’s been a pretty cool year for me – I became a dad, I got a new job, I moved back to London, and I even had the time to do a few new mixes along the way.

Anyways, I thought it would be nice to put together a post looking back at the last year here on the Sonicrampage blog, because, well, I like numbers and statistics. If you don’t, feel free to skip this post.

All in all, it was quite a good year for the blog, especially considering that it wasn’t updated super-regularly, with almost 54,000 page views over the course of the year, an average of over 4,000 a month, which was very nice. Thanks to everyone who visited, and a special thanks to all the regular reader/listeners!

First up, here’s how those 54,000 page views break down:

• My mixes – 46%
• The home page – 18%
• The mix galleries – 17%
• Guest mixes – 12%
• Other stuff – 7%

Going deeper into the numbers to break down page views of my mixes by genre, I found what you see above, which is that, by page views, hard trance was easily the most popular genre on Sonicrampage this year, followed by drum n’ bass, hard house, and acid. It’s always good when you have hard facts to back up your instincts – I’ve always had the feeling that what people are really interested in from me is hard dance stuff, as opposed to some of the other mixes I put out there, and this confirms it (it’s also reflected in which galleries were most popular, the order there was acid, hard trance, hard house, and drum n’ bass). In my actual job at ITN I’ve used this kind of data to change our editorial focus on the ITN News YouTube channel to better reflect what people actually watch. However, Sonicrampage is not a business – it’s just my hobby! So no need to necessarily follow such a policy, because whenever I make a mix it’s primarily for my own enjoyment. Obviously I try to promote the mixes through various social media channels, and I love it when I get good feedback, but the main criteria for every new mix remains whether or not I want to listen to it myself.

Anyways, here’s to another year of Sonicrampage! Let me know in the comments if there is anything you’d like to see from me this year, I’m always open to requests. This coming week I’ll be posting Rampage Turbo 9, and I will also be hosting some of the Old School Mix Marathon IV mixes from the other dj’s. First up will be Yoko and Meke’s mix.

Here are the rest of the year’s key stats. Enjoy!

Top Ten Mixes by Pageviews:

1. Eurotrash 2 (3,113 views)
2. There Must Be A Future (1,452 views)
3. Urban Takedown (1,231 views)
4. Beyond The Valley Of The Acid Vixens (1,003 views)
5. Pearsall’s Acid Test (785 views)
6. Squat Rocking 1 (651 views)
7. A Tribute To Baby Doc (636 views)
8. Heartcore (618 views)
9. Rampage Turbo 8 (606 views)
10. Street Dreams (581 views)

Top 5 Guest Mixes:

1. Andy Farley’s Trade Memories (2,156 views)
2. Andy Farley’s Trade Memories 2 (1,001 views)
3. Tyssen presents Pendragon Tribute (717 views)
4. Karl Haze presents Check Your Blindspot (386 views)
5. Tyssen presents Jon Doe Tribute (375 views)

Top 5 Referrers:

1. Facebook
2. Bangingtunes
3. Discogs
4. Partyvibe
5. Squatjuice

Biggest Month: February (5,840 views)
Busiest Day: February 26, 2011 (437 views)
Slowest Month: July (3,584 views)

Top 10 Countries for Visitors:

1. United Kingdom
2. United States
3. Poland
4. Australia
5. Italy
6. Germany
7. Ireland
8. Canada
9. Netherlands
10. France