Pearsall presents There & Back 001: January, Rolling Drum n’ Bass 1994-1996
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Recorded in Berlin, January 2024
100% Vinyl
(67:16, 154 MB, 320 KBPS MP3)
Direct link to the file:
http://sonicrampage.org/mixes/thereandback/Pearsall-ThereAndBack001_January_RollingDNB1994-1996.mp3
Tracklisting:
- Roni Size – Fashion [V Recordings]
- P-Funk – Return of the Funksta [Frontline]
- Kolective 4 – His Majesty [No Sell Out]
- DJ Solo – Deal Wid It [Production House]
- Adam F – The Bible [Section 5]
- Cool Hand Flex – Step to It [De Underground]
- DJ Nut Nut – Message from Jah [Deep Jungle]
- Undercover Agent – Dubplate Circles (Remix) [Juice]
- DJ Zinc – So Damn Fresh [Ganja]
- Just Jungle – Listen Tune [Trouble on Vinyl]
- Aladdin – Warm & Easy [Aladdin]
- Hardware – Dreamin of You [Frontline]
- Essence of Aura – Northern Lights [Moving Shadow]
- Hidden Agenda – Is It Love? [Metalheadz]
- Lemon D – Urban Style Music [Metalheadz]
- Shogun – Just for You [Renegade]
- DJ Solo & DJ Aura – Wreckin Shit [Mo Wax Excursions]
- Frank de Wulf – Drums in a Grip (Wax Doctor Remix) [Harthouse}
- Soundman & Don Lloydie – Greater Love ft Elizabeth Troy (Grooverider Hardstep Mix) [WEA]
- Mental & Dangerous – Send Me [Soundclash]
- DJ Krust – Future Talk [Full Cycle]
- Skool of Hard Knocks – Wid Da B-Boyz [Grand Larceny]
- Maldini – Rap Season [Trouble on Vinyl]
- DJ Rap – Switch [Proper Talent]
- DJ Dextrous – Moonlight [AKO Arcade]
Welcome to 2024!
I’m excited to launch a new monthly mix project for 2024 called There & Back.
I work several days a week from a co-working space near Rathaus Schoeneberg, which is about a half hour walk from our home, so the concept of the series is to make a new mix each month that would cover the journey there and back (geddit?). As a dj, I think of myself mainly as a kind of archivist, building mixes that explore different aspects of electronic music. I’m not ever going to be a big name dj or whatever, but I can and do and will share my passion for music with people.
Therefore, with each mix in this series I’m going to try to come up with a different theme or idea to make connections and to draw together ideas by digging through my (amply-stocked) shelves.
Each monthly edition will also have a cover featuring an image shot on my walk, which will also show the evolving seasons. Why not?
For this first mix, I’ve decided to indulge my love of rolling drum n’ bass with a selection of rollers that were produced from 1994 to 1996; I’ve also tried to make it a little bit different from my typical fairly strict sub-genre mixes by mixing together stuff that I would normally keep separate, so that this mix has everything from Bukem-style atmospheric rollers to funky drum n’ bass to ragga-inflected 1994 stuff to rap-sampling jump-up, and more. It’s a pretty cool selection, in my opinion!
The genesis of this mix is a bit of a funny (and embarrassing) story – in December I was due to play at a Thursday night Parallax party at Lauschangriff in Friedrichshain. I’d agreed with Vali that I would play first, since I had to work the next day and I was tired. It was all cool, I would play at 22:00, play two hours, then go home. All good. The only problem was that Vali was sick so wouldn’t be there.
Anyways, it was 20:30 and I was putting my son to bed, was just about to head to my office and sort through my records and head off to the club, when I checked my phone, and saw a message from Vali from a half hour before, asking if I was all set up and good to go.
So I replied that everything was cool, I was just about to finish getting ready and would head out.
He replied almost immediately that I was already supposed to be playing for a half hour.
Gulp.
I double-checked the flyer and sure enough, it was starting at 20:00, I’d agreed with Vali to play then, but somehow in my mind I’d shifted it two hours later.
Not good!
So in a blind panic I went to my office and just grabbed the top layer of records off the pile I’d made on the floor, dumped it in a backpack, and ran out the door to a cab. Not ideal since the party was in Friedrichshain, which is far from where I live in south-west Berlin!
In the end I showed up 90 minutes late for my set (argh!) and found that Chromz and Justie had already started playing back-to-back while they waited for me to show up. They were very nice and shuffled their own times to let me play for an hour, so I stepped up and just threw a set together using what I had in my bag.
And, strangely enough, the set was really fun to play and turned out well! I had a bit of a random selection of tunes, but surprisingly it worked well mixing between different styles of drum n’ bass, and I had some really nice feedback after the set. This was a real lightbulb moment, and led to me putting together this mix.
I’m quite happy with the mix, it’s not 100% technically perfect, but I like the vibe of it, and there are some great tunes on here.
I hope you enjoy it as well!
Here’s a little clip from the party, featuring DJ Chromz:
Next month: modern UK techno