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Pearsall presents Beyond Ecstatic (Hardcore Goes Jungle) [The 780 Project Part 10]

Jungle meets hardcore! Jungle from hardcore producers, jungle from hardcore labels, jungle remixes of hardcore tunes … total ecstasy!

Beyond Ecstatic

Pearsall presents Beyond Ecstatic

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Mixed in Berlin, March 2016
(46:04, 105 MB, 320 kbps MP3)

Cue file
Big cover
Zip file

Style: Jungle

Direct link to the mix:
http://sonicrampage.org/mixes/ecstatic/Pearsall-BeyondEcstatic.mp3

Tracklisting:

01. Bass Selective – Blow Out Pt IV (Shy FX Jungle VIP Mix) (4WO)
02. Bass Influence – All Massive (Impact)
03. Ratty – Bells Of Dawn (Jumping Jack Frost Remix) (Formation)
04. Vibes & Wishdokta – Guns n’ Bass (Impact)
05. The House Crew – Super Hero (My Knight) (Production House)
06. Marc Smith – Centripital (Notorious Vinyl)
07. Essence Of Aura – Can I Dream (The Final Chapter VIP Mix) (Sublogic)
08. Hackney Hardcore – Dinomania (Hear It In A Rave Mix) (Strictly Underground)
09. Slipmatt – Breaking Free (Awesome)
10. DJ Seduction – Everybody (Impact)
11. DJ Ham – Rollem (Selector)
12. Pooch & Hursee – Baby Baby (Cut & Run)
13. The Trip – Special Toke (The ‘Erb Remix 3) (Kniteforce)
14. Unknown & Temptation – Feel It (Hyper On Experience Remix) (Homegrown)
15. Vibes & Wishdokta – Midsummer Mist (Asylum)

cover image: me at the Augenklinik having unpleasant tests done to my eyes … they had to make my pupils comically larger though, hence the pic

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First things first, I’m playing an old skool jungle set on Friday at Fischladen in Friedrichshain. I’m playing 11-1 … come down!

Here’s the link in bold so you don’t miss it

This is a mix that I have had on my mind for a while – the idea is that I wanted to look at jungle from a hardcore perspective, so basically all of these records are 1994/1995 jungle tracks with a hardcore connection. Jungle from hardcore producers, jungle released on hardcore labels, jungle remixes of hardcore tunes … basically it’s a lot of fun! The limitation was that I didn’t want to include tracks from labels or producers that started in hardcore and then went on to be jungle/drum n’ bass oriented, unless it was a remix of a hardcore tune.

Sure, it’s a bit of an esoteric theme, but tune-wise it’s a great laugh, and it actually holds together very nicely as a mix.

Here’s a quick summary of the tracks featured, and an explanation of why I included them:

Bass Selective – Blow Out Pt IV (Shy FX Jungle VIP Mix) (4WO) – I had to open with this one because it kicks off with that piano line. This tune is an interesting rarity, a jungle remix of a big hardcore classic. You would think there would be more of them, but I guess by 1994 the jungle scene was more or less done and dusted with the big hands in the air rave tune, so there was no desire to revisit the anthems of the previous couple of years, even though the sound had changed so much in the intervening period. In fact, it’s not until the millennium that dnb producers started re-incorporating classic rave sounds into their production arsenals.

Bass Influence – All Massive (Impact) & DJ Seduction – Everybody (Impact) – I’m grouping these two together, because they are both productions by the legendary DJ Seduction, one of the original hardcore heroes. He had a long and illustrious career in the hardcore scene, making classics like Sub Dub and DJ’s Unite Vol. 1, but he also released some killer jungle tunes on his label Impact in 1994. These two tunes (as well as Guns n’ Bass) are great examples of the hardcore take on jungle that I’ve tried to catch here – smashing breakbeats, heavy sub bass, and a bit of melody and vocals to sweeten the whole package.

ratty_bells_of_dawn_remix

Ratty – Bells Of Dawn (Jumping Jack Frost Remix) (Formation) – Here’s another remix of a hardcore tune; in this case it’s legendary dj Jumping Jack Frost having his way with Ratty’s 1993 darkside anthem. It’s a pretty cool example of something that should have been more common in 1994: taking the atmospherics of a hardcore tune, dispensing with the more toytown rave elements, removing all 4/4 kicks, and then updating the beats to reflect the advances in breakbeat science that had already occurred.

Vibes & Wishdokta – Guns n’ Bass (Impact) & Vibes & Wishdokta – Midsummer Mist (Asylum) – I just had to include two tunes by these guys. In my opinion, Vibes & Wishdokta were the best hardcore production duo of them all. They made so many amazing hardcore tunes over the years that it’s hard to know where to begin when it comes to recommendations (here’s a great tribute mix to get you started, or check Destiny from my mix What Is Happiness?), but they also made some excellent jungle tunes, two of which I’ve featured here. Later on Wishdokta went on to become one of the early heroes of the UK Garage scene under his real name, Grant Nelson, while Vibes has stayed with the hardcore scene all the way to today. In the late 90’s he released some of the cheesiest music ever to touch the ears of mankind, so maybe it’s best to ignore that …

The House Crew – Super Hero (My Knight) (Production House) – The House Crew were responsible for some of the biggest hardcore records of them all, with Euphoria, Keep The Fire Burning and We Are Hardcore still staples in old skool sets today. This 1994 tune of theirs isn’t quite as famous, but it is still a killer tune, with a great vocal and some tearing breaks. Awesome.

Marc Smith – Centripital (Notorious Vinyl) – This is one of the odder tunes in the mix, since it is a jungle tune by Scottish hardcore dj/producer Marc Smith that doesn’t quite follow the normal rules of jungle music. For one thing, the bass isn’t really all that central, and there’s also a very distinctly gabber-esque main riff. Even so, it’s a solid tune and I can’t like it as something that stands out a bit. It’s certainly a departure from the Tartan techno that he was more famous for at the time!

Essence Of Aura – Can I Dream (The Final Chapter VIP Mix) (Sublogic) – Essence Of Aura started in hardcore and then went on to make smooth, mellow drum n’ bass, like So This Is Love, which I used on Lost In Love. Along the way they made tunes like this, which was a 1994 dubplate only special which took one of their classic hardcore bangers and updated it for the new era of jungle. This was never released at the time but finally saw the light of day a few years back due to the hard work of Will Irvine’s Sublogic label, which has specialized in bringing out many lost tracks from the golden era.

essence_of_aura_sublogic

Hackney Hardcore – Dinomania (Hear It In A Rave Mix) (Strictly Underground) – Alright, this one is maybe cheating, because Mark Ryder did make the transition from hardcore to jungle as a producer, and his label Strictly Underground did too (as well as the awesome sub-label Jungle Mania, which has sadly now become insanely expensive to collect), but he’s mostly known for hardcore, and this tune kicks, so I thought I would just let that one slide …

Slipmatt – Breaking Free (Awesome) – Biggest anthem on the mix. Easy. Slipmatt is the original hardcore don, and this is probably the biggest crossover hardcore/jungle tune of them all. An absolute bomb. Pretty much a guaranteed floorfiller and hands-in-the-air moment. In fact I will almost certainly play it on Friday. Not much more needs to be said about this one. All time classic.

DJ Ham – Rollem (Selector) – DJ Ham is now actually a full-time drum n’ bass producer/dj, known as Hamilton and part of the Ram Records crew. My feeling about what he’s doing is pretty similar to my opinion of much of Ram’s modern output: not really my thing. This is a wicked tune, though – it was only released on cd, in Belgium (random!), but it’s an excellent dark roller. Not flashy, but it does the job.

Pooch & Hursee – Baby Baby (Cut & Run) – This is a super tune from Pooch, who was mostly known as a hardcore dj, but who also did a few jungle tunes along the way, including this one from his own label. In fact, I recently bought my copy off the man himself! Nice breaks, GREAT bassline, good vocal sample, plus it also uses the same old skool house riff that LTJ Bukem used on Atlantis … what’s not to love?

The Trip - Special Toke

The Trip – Special Toke (The ‘Erb Remix 3) (Kniteforce) – Most of the tunes featured on this mix have had at least a passing similarity to happy hardcore tropes, whether in the use of pianos, vocals, or uplifting riffs, but this one from the Kniteforce crew is just straight-up rough as fuck ragga jungle, featuring a healthy dose of Top Cat’s manic dancehall vocals and some thundering breakbeat action. Love this one.

Unknown & Temptation – Feel It (Hyper On Experience Remix) (Homegrown) – And if you wanted an encapsulation of the vibe of this mix in one tune, well, here you go. Pianos! Amen breaks! Vocals! Enough bass to stun an elephant at twenty paces!