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Pearsall – Squat Rocking EP (Plus My Self-Interview!)

I’ve got some very exciting news! After 25 years of being purely a dj, I’m super super excited to present my debut EP. It’s a very special thing to mark 25 years in the game, and it’s now available to buy on vinyl and digital via Bandcamp and Discogs.

Pearsall · Pearsall – Squat Rocking EP [OUT NOW ON VINYL & DIGITAL!]

If you want the short version of what’s going on here, this is it – if you want the long version, I’ve written an interview with myself (lol) below that where I really get into the detail of what’s going on here.

Short version: I’ve been a dj for 25 years and I wanted to make an EP. The stars aligned late last year and I had the opportunity to work remotely with UK freeform producer A.B – in two weeks of remote work we made the four tracks on this EP. The general idea behind it is that I wanted to dig into my record collection to come up with four super sample-heavy techno tracks that really captured the vibe and essence of the London squat party scene, especially from the late 90’s to early 2000’s when I used to go out on it. I’ve since commissioned a cover by Berlin-based Scottish artist Nick Cocozza and gotten it pressed to vinyl. Holding my own record in my hands was truly a special moment for me!

These are the four tracks:

  1. Underground Sound (140 bpm) – A thumping techno banger that takes many twists and turns, drawing as it does on samples from a wide range of electronic music styles
  2. Pendulum (140 bpm) – Acid techno meets ’93 hardcore in a full-on euphoric rave face-melter
  3. Undertow (145 bpm) – Vintage acid trance sounds layered over a stomping modern techno beat
  4. Crossbones (150 bpm) – Hard techno meets gabba meets dark drum n’ bass meets your brain blasting out of your ears

So that’s the short version!

Here’s the long version – as a bit of a laugh I decided to interview myself, the better to tell the story of this EP. It’s kind of ridiculous, but why not, eh?

Randall Helms: So what’s going on here? Why’d you make an EP?

Pearsall: I’ve been a dj since I was 16 and, as of today, I’m 41 (gulp) and, frankly, as someone who has been a vinyl junkie for decades, I’ve always wanted to hold my ‘own’ record in my hands. Over the last few years I’ve been thinking about it a bit more and finally the stars aligned to make it possible. And here we are!

And I’ve kind of joked about this record as some kind of midlife crisis activity – like saying on the back cover notes that it’s cheaper than buying a sports car – but that’s not what this is about.

Really this is about doing something creative that I’ve always wanted to do, and actually following through when the opportunity presented itself. As I said before the stars aligned unexpectedly – suddenly I had the time, I had the means, and I had the idea – and I made it happen!

RH: Can you elaborate on what you mean by having the the time, the means and the idea?

P: Sure, but before I do I want to give some context about where this is all coming from.

I’ve been a dj for so many years and music has always played a key role in my life. I love music, especially electronic music, and it’s been by far the most durable interest that I’ve had, starting from when I was barely into double digits. I’m not really a religious or spiritual person, so I suppose music has been how I’ve experienced transcendant / emotional feelings. It’s deeply meaningful to me.

Music has been something that has been and still is deeply woven into the fabric of my life. I’m constantly buying music, listening to music, thinking about music – every day of my life involves music in one way, shape or form. If I’m working, I’m always listening to music with at least one earphone in, unless I’m in a meeting and can’t! If I’m taking a long walk, I’m listening to music. If I’m cooking, music. On the train, music. It’s always there.

So with that in mind the one gap, the one thing missing, has always been making my own music. It’s something I’ve always been halfway interested in, but never to the degree that I wanted to make the effort required to learn how. It’s always seemed like a very steep learning curve! Learning how to produce electronic music myself has always seemed like something that would require a solid amount of money, time, and effort, and I don’t think there’s ever been a point in my adult life where I had the right combination of all three.

When I was younger, I had the time but I didn’t really have the money to buy lots of synths, and I didn’t want to forgo buying records to get the equipment needed to make tracks. I spent some time messing around making tracks with my friend Jamie at his home studio in Barnet, but we never really managed to get the tracks we made to a very high standard. Nor did I really want to make the effort to learn, especially because in the early 00’s there weren’t anywhere near as many resources available to learn how to produce. There were magazines and internet forums, but nothing like the vast array of podcasts and YouTube tutorials that a budding producer can call on in 2021.

Today, production has become much more affordable, in that you don’t need to buy racks and racks of synths, but can simply install a bunch of soft syths on a laptop, but I simply don’t have the time to learn. Between having a pretty demanding job and a family, I just do not have the time for experimentation and exploration that I need (or at least I think you need) to learn how to produce electronic music.

RH: So, um, it sounds like the one common thing is that you’ve never wanted to make the effort to learn.

P: Yeah, that’s fair. I’m lazy, I guess – at least on this topic.

RH: So you could have just said you never wanted to make the effort! And you didn’t even answer the question I asked you, about having the means, the time, and the idea.

P: OK OK OK – I was getting there!

So the story of this EP, what I mean by the stars aligning, is that it’s really a byproduct of the Covid-19 crisis.

Firstly, one blessing is that I’m at a point in my career where I can make a small investment into a creative project like this where the goal is purely personal fulfillment. That’s pretty sweet!

The next point is about having the time; this is huge, because usually I don’t have much free time for myself. Without getting into too much of the backstory, I realized in late August 2020 that I would not be able to go to the US in October for my sister’s wedding, of course due to Covid, and this meant that I suddenly had two weeks of vacation booked in October with nothing planned.

By what I think was some kind of incredible luck or serendipity, I was scrolling my Facebook feed around this time and saw that I saw that UK trance / freeform hardcore producer Alex Bailey (aka A.B) was offering remote studio sessions from his studio in Kent, SE England. Years before I’d spent a day at his studio in Bromley making the track ‘Dreaming of Berlin’, which had been released digitally on a Freeformaniacs compilation, but that had involved me taking the train to his studio. Now I could do this without ever leaving Berlin … I had the means to do it!

Here, suddenly, was the confluence of time and opportunity that I needed to make not just a single track but a full EP!

RH: That’s cool and all, but you mentioned an idea – what was the idea?

P: I was getting there!

RH: Not very quickly …

P: OK, fair, I do tend to ramble a bit …

So the idea was one I had had for a while, without really knowing how to turn it into reality.

The basic idea can be summed up as ‘SMD goes to a late 90’s squat party’. Are you familiar with SMD?

RH: Um, yes. I am you, after all.

P: True true.

So for those who don’t know, SMD was a side project of rave legend Slipmatt – it stands for ‘Slipmatt Dubs’, and it was used as the artist and label name for a series of quasi-bootlegs that he released starting in 1993. These are some of the most famous old skool hardcore tracks of all time; think samples piled giddily on top of each other to generate a fully bonkers hands-in-the-air rave meltdown. Along with Dave Charlesworth’s similar Energizer series, each of is a ravetastic audio rollercoaster, with the listener experiencing a kind of whiplash as riffs constantly enter and exit.

These tracks are particular examples, but more generally I’ve always been fascinated by sampling in general, by the idea of repurposing bits of music in a new context, and especially by the work of people like DJ Shadow, who built their careers out of layering up samples from all kinds of disparate sources into a new and cohesive whole.

Separately, I’ve always been very interested in the world of the London squat party scene, which I first entered at a party in an abandoned warehouse in Kennington, south London in June 1998. This is no secret – I’ve been recording my Squat Rocking series of mixes for close to 15 years now and I’ve written extensively about squat parties, not just in terms of my own experiences, but also via my interview with Chris Liberator and via Marc Mewshaw’s guest essay that I posted a few years back.

My Squat Rocking mix series has been about trying to capture the range of sounds that I would hear at a typical squat party – acid techno, of course, but also hard trance, hard techno, drum n’ bass, gabba, and beyond. Over the course of the ten mixes in the series, I’ve tried to explore these sounds from different angles, covering different genres, running tributes, and so on. It’s a pretty long-running project at this point, and it constitutes a body of work that I’m quite proud of, and as such I’m always thinking of new angles to explore, which is where the idea came from a few years ago to make a mix of new music that would fit in the ethos of the series.

This, obviously, leads to the question of ‘what new music would fit?’ This then led to the thought of ‘maybe I could make some myself?’ Then at this point a lightbulb went off in my head that maybe, just maybe, something that could be cool to do would be to make an SMD-style sample frenzy, but with the kind of sounds I would hear at a squat party back in the day.

I thought this was a pretty cool idea (I still do …) but I wasn’t sure what to do with it, so it kind of sat there in my mind marinating slowly, with the occasional half-hearted effort at contacting engineers my only work towards making it a reality … basically until I saw Alex’s Facebook message.

Luck or fate? You decide!

RH: What is it about the free party scene that you find so interesting?

P: Well, I guess that it’s a little weird that squat parties have had such an impact on my life, since I only went for maybe three years or so. It’s not like this is something I’m still doing! It’s probably around twenty years since I’ve even been to one …

I guess the key thing is that even though this wasn’t a long period of my life, squat parties were nevertheless quite seminal experiences. These parties were intense and different and contradictory – they could be incredibly euphoric and life-affirming, but also sinister and even scary. I saw moments of incredible beauty as well as things that were simply dark, but above all I guess what was so powerful about them was that they seemed to exist outside of the normal structures of life. As someone from what is in many respects a very conservative family, this was a doorway into an alternate world where things functioned differently. These parties were temporary autonomous zones outside of the normal realm of legality and as such you could observe how people would behave in a situation that was free, really free. Sometimes the results weren’t pretty! But it was definitely free in a way that a ‘normal’ club with a strict closing time and bouncers and jacked-up prices at the bar are not free.

And this doesn’t just pertain to drugs – drugs were more openly available and consumed at squat parties than in legal clubs, sure, but this was for the most part just a cosmetic difference. When I reference ‘freedom’ here, it’s really a whole package of things beyond just climbing staircases lined with dealers yelling ‘PILLS BASE KETAMINE ACID! PILL BASE KETAMINE ACID!’. You could go where you wanted, do what you want, and really the only things to stop you would be your own inhibitions or if you impinged on other people. In a typical club you might have one or two dancefloors and a chillout room, whereas in squat parties you would often have massive spaces to explore, rooms and rooms to wander through. You would also meet a massive range of people at these parties, from your stereotypical crusties to teenagers from around London, to random people who just showed up for a good time. I remember meeting rich girls from Chelsea, teens from care homes, homeless people, Kiwi builders, Italian waiters, randoms with ordinary white-collar jobs in stuff like insurance, people who had dropped out of normal society, artists, travelers, old hippies, and beyond. It was a good way to get to really understand human nature and who we are when the normal rules are suspended.

Honestly, it’s kind of amazing that I experienced this at such a young age – sorry Mom and Dad, I know you weren’t aware that I was doing this! I’m not sure that I was so well equipped to understand and process all this at 17, but I sure thought I was.

RH: It was all much better back in the day, wasn’t it? Young people today don’t know what they missed!

P: I dunno … I see people talking like this on some Facebook groups I’m part of, like Lockdown Legends, and I’m a bit baffled by this. I think if you’re 18 and you’ve just started going out to raves you’re probably having a fucking amazing time, and who am I to claim that I had more fun than you? Or that my experience was somehow better or purer? Like how could you even objectively measure that I had more fun dancing to Chris Liberator in 1999 than someone of a similar age today is enjoying dancing to say Dax J? It just seems like generational narcissism to claim that young people today are so different from the way we were … human nature doesn’t change that much.

Shout out to the young ravers!

Have a great time and ignore the old people who put you down. Shit I remember going to raves in the late 90’s and talking to people and being like “isn’t this awesome?” and they’d respond “nah mate, you missed out on 1998 / 1992 / 1995”. Nothing changes!

RH: So when you contacted Alex Bailey about the remote studio session how far along was the concept? Did you already have a very clear idea in your mind about what you wanted to do?

P: Actually by that time the concept was pretty far along, since I’d been slowly thinking about it and adding layers and layers on to the concept for at least a year.

I knew that I wanted to make a four track techno EP where each track would be named after a particular squat party crew from the days when I would actually go to squat parties. I knew that I wanted to press the outcome to vinyl, although I had no clue about the process. I knew I wanted the tracks to be very sample-heavy and that I wanted to pull the samples from my very ample record collection.

I wanted the tracks to capture some of the sounds and textures and emotions that were featured in the Squat Rocking mix series, and I wanted each track to be reminiscent of the particular sounds of each crew – so hard techno from Underground Sound, hard trance from Undertow, hardcore from Crossbones, and acid techno from Pendulum. Unlike the SMD series, I wasn’t too bothered about featuring really obvious ‘anthemic’ samples, instead I wanted to really do some digging and come up with interesting samples from across my record collection, so not just techno and trance samples, but from all kinds of other genres.

Having said that, at the point where I contacted Alex I only had the concepts, without a clear vision about how to turn each track into a reality.

RH: What happened next?

P: So the first step was to set up an introductory phone call where I explained the idea that I had and gave him a rough outline of how it would work, he asked some questions, and we then agreed to work together. Fortunately, I was booking enough in advance that I was able to book eight four hour sessions over the two weeks of my holiday – enough time to make an entire four track EP!

Over the next month before starting, we then fired messages back and forth where he probed, asked questions, and asked me to provide him with some tracks for inspiration, so he could start preparing himself.

Separately I began building up an arsenal of samples from my record collection, recording riffs, percussion loops, vocals and various other snippets on to my computer and then sharing them with Alex via Google Drive. Over that time period I also started to really drill into the concept of each track and flesh it out. Like I had the idea that ‘Pendulum’ was going to be an acid track, but what did that mean in practice? I decided that it would be cool to cross acid techno with old skool hardcore, so I started digging into my collection to pull out some cool samples that I thought could work in the track.

Similarly, with ‘Crossbones’, I knew I wanted it to be dark and to have some gabba samples, but what else could I add to it? I decided that it would be cool to also add in some samples from techstep drum n’ bass – the other great ‘dark’ music of the 90’s.

With ‘Undertow’ it was clear that I wanted to make acid trance, so it was just about pulling together a selection of samples that could do justice to a track named after my favorite ever London hard trance crew. Whereas with ‘Underground Sound’ I wanted to make proper hard techno, but I also wanted to incorporate some samples from one of my other great musical obsessions – grime!

RH: How did the remote studio sessions actually work in the end?

P: The process that Alex has for the remote studio sessions is actually pretty amazing! It’s a real testament to how technology has advanced, and how it has enabled us to do really interesting things that simply weren’t possible 10-15 years ago. I was sitting in my home office / mancave in Berlin and he was sitting in his home studio just outside London. We were about one thousand kilometers apart from each other, and yet we were able to put together all of these tracks exactly in the time we had agreed.

How did it work exactly? So for each session Alex shared two links with me – one Zoom link and one Audio Movers link. The Zoom link had a screen share from his Logic console, and we would chat via Zoom, and the Audio Movers link was a browser link that allowed him to stream high definition audio direct from Logic, so that I could hear in crystal clear quality what he was working on. This worked remarkably well, so that we could be chatting via Zoom and discussing what to do, while I was able to listen to the track in high quality via my browser. Every now and then he would have to mute himself so that I could hear a bit more clearly, but in general the process worked very well.

RH: How did you build the tracks?

P: The first track we did was Crossbones, and that set the working pattern for the sessions – we would work for two and a half hours in the morning, have a lunch break, and then do an hour and a half in the afternoon before wrapping up. Since this is quite an intense process, Alex reckoned that four hours per day was about the limit, and I think he was right.

So with Crossbones, as with the following tracks, we started by dragging into the Logic project all of the samples that I had already sent to him, then we would start by working on the kickdrum and other percussion, building up a groove to work with, then we would discuss what riffs to use, and then what kind of breakdowns we wanted to have. As I wanted to have these tracks go through a lot of changes, we spent a lot of time building distinct sections of the tracks and then discussing how to connect them.

RH: What roles did each of you play in building the tracks?

P: Well, everything was happening on his computer! Of course, this is a pretty normal scenario in dance music, where a producer works with an engineer who does most of the sound work. Sometimes that literally just means the ‘producer’ is skinning up in the back of the room while the engineer does everything, but this was not that case our work … anyways neither of us was consuming anything stronger than cups of tea!

My role was kind of like a director in a movie – I provided the big picture concepts, obviously, but beyond that I was intimately involved in the arrangement of the track, suggesting which samples go where, as well as how they should be sliced, as well as organizing the percussion, i.e. ‘take the kick out for this last bar of the phrase and use a spinback in its place’.

Alex was working not just to turn my ideas into reality, but also feeding off of them, considering them, and bouncing back with his own ideas for arrangements and structures. He also massively helped out by making sure that everything was in key, including replaying samples to make sure they weren’t clashing, which is 100% not something I have a clue about. Not everything was sampled, of course, so there was a certain amount of time spent with him cycling through percussion kits with me going, ‘no, no, no, yes, yes, maybe, no, yes’ and then dragging them into the track and trying out different things.

There was a lot of healthy discussion about what could go where and how it could all work!

One major advantage of this remote setup was that I was sitting in my home office, with my decks and my records right beside me, which meant that when we would get a bit stuck in terms of finding the right sound I could do some quick digging, pull some records out, sample little bits, and just drag and drop them into the Zoom chat. Alex would drag them into the project and suddenly we would have some new options to work with!

This was a really neat way to work – under more normal circumstances I would have been limited by whatever samples I had already sent to Alex, or maybe at best with any records I had brought with me, so to be able to dive into my record collection to grab samples and try out new ideas in real time was just incredibly fun and liberating!

One other thing to mention about this process was that the working process became a lot smoother over the course of the eight sessions, as I started to understand better how everything worked, and I was able to offer clearer suggestions than “uh, maybe it could sound a bit tougher there”, but be able to be more specific about what I was looking for, like “ok let’s put a low pass filter on this riff four bars before we take it out completely”. I think you can hear this when you compare ‘Crossbones’, which is the first track we worked on, with ‘Pendulum’, which is the last.

RH: What samples did you use in the end?

P: I’m not saying! We used over 50 samples across the four tracks, and I’d like to leave this as a fun thing for the spotters to figure out what samples I used.

Have at it! 🙂

RH: Were you happy with the outcome of these tracks? Did they match your vision?

P: Yes, I was delighted! The concept I had been pondering for so long had come to life – not 100%, of course, because there were some samples I really wanted to use that we just couldn’t get to work, but in general I was really happy with how the tracks turned out.

I still am!

RH: OK, so this was last October, one year ago … why are these tracks only getting released now?

P: Um, procrastination? That’s the honest answer.

Even after we finished our studio sessions, there were a few details to sort out on some of the tracks, so once I got back into my normal work mode, I just didn’t get around to doing it that quickly. Sorry Alex! It took a while to really finish the tracks, and then I still needed to deal with mastering, artwork, and getting them pressed. Alex recommended the mastering services of Jon Doe, long-time UK hard house / hard trance / hardcore legend, so I was quite happy to use his services, but again that took me some time to get around to. More procrastination!

RH: What about the artwork? It’s pretty incredible!

P: Yeah, it’s amazing!

Originally I wanted my friend Vali NME Click to do it, but he was so busy with preparing the artwork for his massive Message from the Parazone compilation project that he simply didn’t have time to do it. In the end I actually chose Berlin-based Scottish artist Nick Cocozza, an artist who I found via Instagram. He’s been doing artwork for Berlin techno crew Ismus and I just really liked his style, and I thought it could work for the idea I had in my head. Funnily enough once I got in touch I discovered that we had a mutual friend in common – DJ Typewriter from the Begrime crew. Small world, eh?

RH: What was the inspiration for the artwork and how did it come about?

P: Well, above all I wanted the artwork to capture that grimy, sweaty, rugged squat party vibe, but the specific inspiration for the artwork was a, how shall I put it, experience that I had at a Brick Lane squat party in the spring of 1999. What it was exactly I won’t say for now, but it was pretty weird! So to help Nick with the visual inspiration not only did I share with him some of my writings and thoughts, I also shared with him videos and photos from the free party scene, just to give him a sense of the desired aesthetic. I also wanted to incorporate a nod to my all-time favorite comic, Warren Ellis’ Transmetropolitan,’ so I asked Nick to make some of the dancers look almost translucent, a nod to the ‘blur suits’ worn by assasins in Transmetropolitan.

There was quite a bit of back and forth about this, in that I had a vague idea in my head but no clear image, and I think it was at times somewhat difficult for Nick to deal with my sheer amateurism! Like I could not often give a really clear outline of exactly what I wanted, just ‘hey, here’s some ideas, just make it look cool’. Sorry Nick!

Actually I met him in person for the first time two weeks ago and he said that it was one of the most challenging briefs he’s ever had to work on, but that it also pushed him out of his comfort zone, and he’s really proud of the result.

RH: Cool guy, though!

P: Yeah, great dude for sure. I felt a little bad that I wasn’t the best client, not because I was intentionally trying to be difficult, but more because I was just clueless about what you should and should not do when you’re commissioning an illustrator to do something for you.

The final result was really worth it, though. When he sent me the final version I just stared and stared at it. I love all the detail, and how it all hangs together. It’s just amazing in my eyes.

RH: So you had the tracks and you had the art, how did you get it pressed to vinyl?

P: I was really lucky because my buddy Vali made the intro to Handle with Care, and they dealt with everything from there on out with the utmost professionalism. I’ve heard some horror stories about vinyl pressing delays at the moment, but this wasn’t as bad as I was expecting – it probably took four months from initially contacting them to getting the final records in my hands, which seems … fine? I guess in the past things might have been quicker, but there’s more demand for vinyl and fewer plants to service that demand than in the past.

RH: Now you have to sell it.

P: Yes.

RH: And do you have a plan for how to do so?

P: Lol no, of course not. I haven’t done any pre-orders or anything, no promo, nothing like that. I didn’t contact any record stores. I didn’t do any kind of promo campaign to get people to play it. Basically nothing has happened so far on that side. Starting today (October 5th) I’m going to release it myself on Bandcamp and Discogs and put it up for streaming on YouTube and Soundcloud and I’m just going to see what happens.

RH: Why? This does not seem like the normal course of action, to be honest.

P: Sure, no question.

I guess there are three things going on here. First, simply, there was the cost of production. Getting a color cover on nice material with color labels – basically having a really nice looking final product – was quite expensive at a per unit cost, given the small pressing I wanted to do. Again this is affected by the fact that vinyl costs have gone up a lot in recent years – material costs are up, and I’m not a regular customer who could qualify for any discounts. Even selling it direct at 12 EUR a pop my profit margin on each item is not exactly massive.

Secondly, from speaking to my friend Mejle about selling via shops or via distributors, it seemed like it would be hard to recoup much of the production costs going via that route, especially since they typically don’t pay you upfront and you have to chase them to get paid. I already have enough going on in my life between work and family – I don’t want to deal with calling and mailing record stores to ask for money. There’s no major time pressures from my end, so I want to start out by seeing how it goes to sell direct. Maybe later this will change!

Finally, there’s also a quasi-philosophical point here. One thing I really liked about the squat party scene back in the day compared to, say, the drum n’ bass scene, was that the tracks were available. There was no secret boys’ club of dubplates that circulated among the big names for months and months until release, at which point only losers would still be playing it. If you were at a squat party and you were listening to an acid techno dj play, the records they were playing were generally things that you yourself could then go to Kinetec or Dragon Disc or wherever a few days later and buy for yourself. I liked that! Maybe you might hear the odd thing on promo before release, but for the most part these weren’t secret records. Everyone could get them! I always found that pretty cool and democratic.

So for my own release I decided to just put it out there and make it available to everyone at the same time. If a modern big name dj wants to pick it up and play it out, that’s great, I would love that, but they don’t get any special privilege of having it in advance over a hobbyist dj … like me!

RH: So after 25 years of toiling in obscurity as a dj, is this all just a belated effort to break through and get some traction?

P: I prefer to say that I’ve spent 25 years enjoying music and working, growing, developing, and expressing myself creatively as a dj. 🙂

I mean, sure, there’s no question that I’m obscure in the wider scheme of things, but that’s really because for a long time I’ve not been interested in becoming a big name dj, nor have I done any of the kinds of things that are prerequisites for success. I’ve flitted between too many genres, I’ve not networked enough, frankly I’ve just not wanted it. As long as I get to play out a couple times a year that’s enough for me – especially with my work and family commitments now I would really struggle to play out even as much as once per month! Also, to be fair, I’ve had a lot of positive feedback about my mixes over the years – it’s a great feeling to know that your creative work has brightened up someone else’s day.

RH: So what do you hope for from this release?

P: Above all, I want these tracks to be played on loud soundsystems and for people to dance to them! That’s the number one goal. Everything else is secondary.

These tracks are my love letter to the rave scene, and really I want them to be experienced loud in a dark room strafed by lasers and flashing lights … in a rave!

Like ideally I would like to sell the stock of records and make a modest profit, but I will live with it if that doesn’t happen, but I really want people to enjoy the record and for the tracks to make people dance. If that can happen, then I’ve contributed in a small way to the happiness of the world, and that’s great. That’s me satisfied. I think the saddest outcome, by far, would be if none of these tracks ever get played out.

I guess I’m just happy with them and I want to share them with other people!

If I could personally be on a dancefloor and hear some other dj play one of the tracks and experience people dancing to it and enjoying it … that would be the ultimate experience! I hope I will get to experience that some day.

Categories
Mixes

Vykhod Sily Podcast – Pearsall GuestMix (2) aka Stepper’s Delight [Old Skool Techstep Set]

Vykhod Sily Podcast – Pearsall GuestMix

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Vykhod Sily/????? ???? · Vykhod Sily Podcast – Pearsall GuestMix (2)

Mixed in Berlin, August 2021
100% Vinyl
(63:25, 145 MB, 320 kbps mp3)

Bigger Cover
Cue File

Direct link to the mix:
http://sonicrampage.org/mixes/vykhodsily/Pearsall-SteppersDelight(VykhodSilyGuestMix).mp3

Tracklisting:

  1. Dom & Roland – Tears in Rain [Dubs from the Dungeon]
  2. Decoder – Nosis [Ruffneck Ting]
  3. Digital – Reaction [Creative Source]
  4. J Majik – Lightsabre [Infrared]
  5. Photek – The Lightning (Digital Remix) [Science]
  6. DJ Krust – Soul in Motion [Full Cycle]
  7. Decoder – Life [Tech Itch]
  8. Grooverider – Charade (Dub Mix) [Deep Jungle]
  9. Technical Itch – Beings [Moving Shadow]
  10. Genotype – Spiritual Objects [Rawkuts]
  11. Goldie – Digital (Boymerang Remix) [ffRR]
  12. Bad Company – The Nine [Bad Company]
  13. Capone – Paradise [Hardleaders]
  14. Concept 2 – Lucid Dreams [Liftin Spirit]
  15. Optical – What’s the Difference? [Virus]
  16. World’s End – Human Affairs [Underfire]
  17. Dom & Roland – Timeframe (Matrix Remix) [Moving Shadow]
  18. Research – Research [Saigon]
  19. DJ Kane & Future Forces Inc – Morpheus [Renegade Hardware]
  20. Inta Warriors – Inta (Special Forces Remix) [Prototype]
  21. Cybotron feat. Dillinja – Threshold [Prototype]
  22. Makai – Overfiend [Nu Black]

Did a little mix for the Russian dnb crew Vykhod Sily. Was originally thinking of doing a 1995 jungle mix but when the moment came I decided to switch direction and do a mix of mid to late 90’s techstep rollers. To be honest, it’s pretty close to a mix I did a few years back called Steps in the Night, but I’ve always loved this sound, so why not another mix along the same lines?

Don’t have too much to say about this one – I just caught a little vibe and put it together. I’ve been enjoying listening to it over the last few weeks since I made it.

Categories
Mixes

Pearsall presents Once Were Pirates [Old Skool Grime Vinyl Mix for Begrime Radio]

Pearsall presents Once Were Pirates

right-click, save as to download this free mp3 mix

Pearsall · Once Were Pirates [All vinyl old skool Grime mix for Begrime]

Mixed in Berlin, August 2021
100% Vinyl
(61:16, 140 MB, 320 kbps mp3)

Bigger Cover
Cue File

Direct link to the mix:
http://sonicrampage.org/mixes/begrime/Pearsall-OnceWerePirates.mp3

Tracklisting:

  1. Ruff Sqwad – R U Double F [Prince Rapid]
  2. Ruff Sqwad – Koco (Instrumental) [Ruff Sqwad]
  3. Mr Keaz – Swift [Southside]
  4. Qualifide – Badman (Skream Remix) [Qualifide]
  5. Geeneus – You Know [Dump Valve]
  6. Jammer – Set It Off [Jahmektheworld]
  7. Wiley – Ground Zero [Wiley Kat]
  8. Magnum Force – The Force [After Shock]
  9. Wizzbit – Breakdown VIP [Bingo Beats]
  10. Low Deep – Straight Flush [Colourful State]
  11. Scratchy – Shangooli [Dump Valve]
  12. DJ Dread D – Jagged Edge (Remix) [Black Ops]
  13. Plasticman – The Lift [Road]
  14. Wiley – So Amazing [Southside]
  15. Agent X – Killahertz (Alias Remix) [Heatseeker]
  16. Cluekid – Shamrock [4N Format]
  17. Dexplicit – Victory [DXP Recordings]
  18. Youngstar – Metalhead [DDJS]
  19. DJ Charmzy – Banger [Black Ops]
  20. Dizzee Rascal – Go 3 [White Label]
  21. Macabre Unit – Tensor Jam [Terrorhythm]
  22. Tubby – Turbo Shandy [Soulja]
  23. Treble Clef – Ghetto Kyote (Deverlish Remix) [White Label]
  24. Davinche – High Voltage [Paperchase]
  25. Mr. Slash – Love And War [A.R.M.Y. Bullet]
  26. Crazy Titch – Gully ft Keisha [White Label]
  27. Youngstar – Pulse Xtra [DDJS]
  28. Lewi White – Ice Cream Sundae [DVS]
  29. Ruff Sqwad – Scrambled Eggs [Ruff Sqwad]
  30. Young Guns – Back Your Talk (Instrumental) [Young Guns]
  31. Mr Wong – Orchestra [White Label]
  32. Wiley – Colder Remix [Eskiboy]
  33. Ruff Sqwad – Sidewinder ft Roll Deep [Ruff Sqwad]

Cover by DJ Typewriter

me behind the decks at Yaam

This is a little mix that I did last month after feeling quite inspired by having played for Begrime at the YAAM outdoor beach bar (ok ‘beach’ is relative), by the banks of the River Spree in Friedrichshain.

If you’re not familiar with Yaam, it’s a sprawling riverside club/bar complex dedicated to being a home for black music and culture in Berlin – it’s probably most famous for hosting reggae and dancehall events, but really it has played home to all kinds of musical styles from across the African diaspora – from American hip-hop, soul, and funk to the various styles of the Caribbean to the many many many different flavors of African music. There’s a bar by the river, various food stalls selling food from across the African diaspora (I had an ersatz Jamaican jerk chicken and rice and it was pretty bad so don’t go to that stall!), basketball and volleyball courts, and all kinds of nooks and crannies that I never even explored.

Anyways, so Craig (aka Typewriter) set it up and asked me to come along and it was really fun! I played first, just playing a bunch of old grime records to a very disinterested beach crowd ( 😀 ) but it was nice to hear these tunes on a loud(ish) system,

After my set I hung around, met some people, had some (very mediocre) food, chatted, had a drink or two, wandered around, and then returned to the stage for the last hour when myself, Typewriter, and Bwoi went back to back, with Typewriter on Serato, Boi on CDJs, and myself on vinyl, with my ancient raw tunes matched up against their more modern stuff. It was an interesting clash and a lot of fun!

Unfortunately, due to the neighbors, the outdoor venue has a strict closing time of 10pm, so we could only go to 10, but it was a very refreshing experience to hear these old bangers played loud. They still sound raw as fuck!

A little clip from the B2B session at the end

So that was the inspiration for this mix – I made it a few days later because I was still really feeling the vibe. A lot of the tunes in this mix were tunes I played during my set. To be completely honest, it’s not really that dissimilar from last year’s That Pirate Energy, but I loved that mix and have listened to it tons of times, so I thought it would be a lot of fun to do a follow-up.

I know this mix won’t get too many listens, but I’m really proud of it, as I think it encapsulates that special X factor that early grime had – it’s maybe the weirdest, most off-kilter quote-unquote ‘urban’ music ever. The tunes on this mix are turns aggressive, enchanting, melodic, abrasive, banging, surprisingly soft, and sometimes just flat-out bizarre. Early grime was simply a period of unbelievable creative fertility!

Since this put me in the mood for thinking about early grime, I have decided to republish an old blog post of mine about the classic Ruff Sqwad mixtape, Guns & Roses Volume 1.

Yeah, I know this has been out for ages. But, well, so what?

Starting out absurdly young (they were all about 14-16 when their first big tunes came out) over the last couple of years Ruff Sqwad have put a constant stream of huge tunes. A full list would take some time, but they’ve dropped tunes like ‘Misty Cold’ ‘R U Double F’, ‘Lethal Injection’, ‘Ur Love Feels’ and ‘Tings in Boots’, amongst others. In that time they have become, in my humble opinion, one of London’s finest grime crews. This is their first mixtape. And it’s awesome.

Their producers, Dirty Danger and Rapid, have a lot to do with this. They love big sounds, like squawking guitars, massive horn fanfares, thunderous bass and clouds of synth noise, and they draw all these elements together into an ocean deep sonic stew, that is totally fresh and unique. Like Slicks said on ‘Practice Hours’, when you hear a Ruff Sqwad tune, you know who it is. Their mc’s are less universally loved, but I think they are great. Lyrically, the stuff on this mixtape is, I guess, pretty standard (girls, hustling, we are the best, our beats are the best, we’re gunmen, etc.) but they’ve got style and they work well with the music. Plus they have really unique voices, which I guess is down to them being (mostly) from African not West Indian backgrounds, and awe-inspiringly cool names like Tinchy Stryder and Shifty Rydoz. One of the things I like about them as mc’s is that they are so serious, so composed. They have a unique style. They don’t get hysterical like other crews tend to, they just keep on in an unruffled style, like they know they are on a long mission.

All the highlights on this are their own tunes, and I’ll get to those in a minute. The lowlights are all freestyles over American rap beats. I know I have a bug up my ass about this (‘bring me my exotic furrin music!’) but I don’t see the point of including some of the stuff they’ve included when I think about all the frankly incredible productions in their back catalogue they could have used for fresh freestyles. I mean, when you listen to, say, ‘Future’ with it’s deep sea bass, horn explosions, and tinkling synths n’ strings and then flick forward to the freestyle over Black Rob’s ‘Whoah!’ (which is a pretty standard hip-hop beat) there is no comparison between the two. ‘Lean Back’ was a good beat, and Stryder is a good mc, but does anyone really need to hear it again? When you’ve made tracks like ‘Muskateers’ or ‘Anna’ or ‘R U Double F’ (none of which appear on here) why bother with stuff like Ludacris’s ‘Splash Waterfalls’? I know people want to appear versatile, but really, have some faith in your own talents, boys.

Don’t get me wrong though, because even these are only relative lowlights. None of the American beats they used are really bad, they’re listenable, they’re just not on the same level as their own productions. Happily, though, the good moments are far more numerous than the bad ones. Like the whistles, weird kazoo-like noise, collapsing beat, and squealing bass that form the backbone of Dirty Danger’s sex tales on ‘Dirty’. Or the aforementioned ‘Future’ which is easily my favorite tune on the whole mixtape. Then there’s the Sinogrime of ‘Jampie’, which features some delicate Chinese-y plinks and plonks, and also features Stamina Boy from Mucky Wolfpack and the godlike Trim from Roll Deep, who turns up and does his deep voiced word-twisting thing. Or the horn explosions and shoutouts to half the neighborhoods in London of the intro. Another favorite is ‘Wide Awake’ where Rapid lays out his plans for the future over an eerie piano-crusted hip-hop tempo beat. The Grimefather Wiley turns up as well, dropping a freestyle to warn off the haters, as well as allowing Ruff Sqwad to use his ‘Morgue’ and ‘Ice Cream Man’ beats.

All in all, this is a really really good mixtape. Obviously I have my reservations about some of the American rap beats they used, but there is a huge amount of good stuff on here. On the basis of this, the album which is (apparently) due sometime later this year should be absolutely huge. Well worth a purchase.

Categories
Mixes

Pearsall presents Bass is the Teacher [Deep, Pulsating Dubstep Mix]

Pearsall presents Bass is the Teacher

right-click, save as to download this free mp3 mix

Pearsall · Bass is the Teacher

Mixed in Berlin, June 2021
100% Vinyl
(75:31, 172 MB, 320 kbps mp3)

Bigger Cover
Cue File

Direct link to the mix:
http://sonicrampage.org/mixes/bass_teacher/Pearsall-BassIsTheTeacher.mp3

Tracklisting:

  1. Om Unit – The Lake (Samba Remix) [Cosmic Bridge]
  2. De-Tu – Stay Low [Innamind]
  3. Sir Hiss – Anatolian Heartland [Wych]
  4. Boofy – Climb Out Of Your Hiding Place [System]
  5. Kahn & Neek – Chronic Despair [Bandulu]
  6. Von D – Chestlick [Deep Medi Musik]
  7. Sibla & Teffa – I Wonder Why [Foundation Audio]
  8. Vivek – Where Were You [Blacklist]
  9. Leftlow – Still Dre [Burst]
  10. Headland – Mod Sod [Innamind]
  11. Ishan Sound – We A Talk Remix ft Dread MC & Rider Shafique [Deep Medi Musik]
  12. RDG – Slumber Dub [Bay Sine]
  13. J:Kenzo – Ruffhouse VIP 1 [White]
  14. Bukkha – Badda Den Dem ft Killa P [Infernal Sounds]
  15. Mystic State – Tomahawk [Artikal]
  16. TMSV – Mountain (Wait Here) [Bun The Grid]
  17. Jamakabi – Hot It Up (Kahn & Neek Remix) [Bandulu]
  18. Von D – Goat [Artikal]
  19. Amit – Acid Trip (J:Kenzo Remix) [Amar]
  20. J:Kenzo – Hoodwinked [Artikal]
  21. J:Kenzo – Nal Hutta [Amar]
  22. Youngsta – Progress ft Killa P & Long Range [Sentry]
  23. Compa – In Check [CPA]
  24. Drone – Back & Forth [1985 Music]
  25. Pinch – Swish (Kromestar Remix) [Tectonic]
  26. Kromestar – Culprits [Dream Eater]
  27. Venom – Hijinx [Navy Cut]
  28. Causa – Hiss [ZamZam Sounds]
  29. Kromestar – Dancehall [Mean Streets]
  30. Kromestar – Karma [Dream Eater]
  31. Coki – Winter Is Coming [Don’t Get It Twisted]
  32. Goth-Trad – Apes [Deep Medi Musik]

Time for a new mix.

Right?

So this mix is a selection of some recent(ish) dubstep bits that I’ve picked up on vinyl over the last couple years – basically it’s pretty similar in spirit to last year’s Lockdown Sounds. While it’s true that my mixes often have some kind of a concept or theme behind them, with this specific one, well, I just pulled out some records I liked and mixed them together … nothing more complex than that.

The story behind this mix, to the extent that there is any kind of story, is that I wanted to make a new mix to take with me when I went to visit my parents in the US in July (having not seen them for eighteen months), and I wanted something that was relaxing. Well, to the extent that any of my mixes can be described as relaxing. This is the result.

So … yeah. Kind of self-explanatory, right?

Still, though, I will write a few words to describe the mix.

As I mentioned before, I often go with some kind of theme when I create a new mix. Not in this case. Something else that I often do, specifically with mixes of four to the floor genres like acid or hard trance, is to gradually (or sometimes rapidly) increase the intensity of the music through the course of the mix, which I usually achieve by ramping up the tempo. This is something that I’ve done probably dozens of times, and I always enjoy it! It’s a system that works, that sounds good (in my opinion, of course), and that other people seem to enjoy as well.

Is it so creative to keep using the same broad framework? Possibly not, but I generally try to infuse creativity in other ways, whether through the theme of the mix or how I approach the programming.

However, I don’t follow this ‘just pitch that shit up!’ strategy when I am working with bass music genres like drum n’ bass, dubstep, breaks, grime or electro. My general feeling is that you don’t get the same payoff by just cranking the tempo – it ends up sounding weird, so I generally avoid it.

This is really apparent with dubstep specifically, at least for me. Honestly, this style of music sounds ridiculous pitched way up. The whole sense of it is gone when you jack the bpms up, therefore I generally try to go no higher than about 144 bpm (which would be about +3 on a normal Technics turntable for a 140 bpm record).

Even so I still want to take the listeners (and myself) on a ‘journey’, to use the dreaded cliche – but how? So since just relentlessly ramping up the bpm’s is out, instead I focus on the sonic textures of my selected tracks and try to organize them in such a way that the outcome is a coherent sonic narrative.

So how did I do that with this mix?

Well, let’s go through it!

The first five tracks are deep and dark and kind of weird, and, honestly, not really all that dance-ey. I mean I suppose you could dance to them, but they aren’t exactly ‘go nuts and pour a can of beer over your head’ danceable.

At track 6, Von D’s ‘Chestlick’ signals a slight switch in emphasis to a short section of sturdy, bass-heavy steppers that briefly segues into a couple of West Coast hip-hop influenced tracks before switching again to a more extended selection of classic dancefloor dubstep, brooding bass underpinning breezeblock beats laced with a heavy dancehall influence.

In the middle of this section I drop two of J:Kenzo’s acid dubstep tracks (you know I love acid!) but then after that I switch things back to the more classic dubstep sound, all halfstep chonk and bass thwomp.

The last section of the mix starts at about track 23 as I shift the intensity up to some tracks that are at first a bit more grime-adjacent and then suddenly noisier, more abrasive, and just simply more aggressive. Well, until the last track, which is all cavernous reverb and rifling tribal drums … I just wanted to end things on a slightly less belligerent note.

I hope you enjoyed the mix – more music and some big news soon!

Categories
Features Interviews Mixes

Vali NME Click Interview + Pearsall presents Memories of the Parazone [Parallax Album Promo Mix] + Vali NME Click’s Message from the Parazone Promo Mix

Pearsall presents Memories of the Parazone

No download on this one!

Pearsall · Memories of the Parazone [Parallax Album Promo Mix]

Mixed in Berlin, June 2021
100% Vinyl
(54:48, 125 MB, 320 kbps mp3)

Tracklisting:

  1. Freshtrax & HMS – Do It [Parallax / Keeping Vinyl Alive]
  2. Phyzikal Flex – Energy Blast [Parallax / Chakra Doom]
  3. Innercore – Turbo Sound [Parallax]
  4. Headware – Around Ya [Parallax]
  5. Techno Brewster & DJ Iceman – Put You In A Trance [Parallax]
  6. On 1 Crew – Bad Dreams (Lost and Found Mix) [Parallax / Keeping Vinyl Alive]
  7. On 1 Crew – Bad Dreams (Tim Reaper Remix) [Parallax]
  8. FX – Dark Shadows [Parallax]
  9. Techno Brewster & DJ Iceman – Jungle Junkie [Parallax]
  10. DJ Lewi & Chopper – You Better Run (Dubplate Version) [Parallax]
  11. Fine Feline – Weekend [Parallax]
  12. Total Dark – Tenement Yard Jungle VIP [Parallax]
  13. Fine Feline – Just For U (Kid Lib Remix) [Parallax]
  14. Total Dark – Jamaica [Parallax]
  15. Tim Reaper – Dope Break [Parallax]
  16. Tim Reaper – Mental Atmosphere [Parallax]
  17. Tim Reaper – Journey to the Moon [Parallax]
  18. Tim Reaper – Energy Sphere [Parallax]]

Pearsall’s note:

My good friend Vali NME Click is the man behind the essential Berlin-based hardcore and jungle label Parallax Recordings, which is just about to celebrate five years of releasing records with its biggest release yet: the incredible Message from the Parazone, a five (!) vinyl album featuring some of the absolute finest new skool darkside hardcore / jungle from some of the scene’s finest figures. As a little promo for the release I’ve done this label tribute mix, pulled together from every release so far. Vali also kindly agreed to answer some questions, so please read on to find out more.

Also, duh, make sure you pre-order the album at either BigCartel or Bandcamp!

Parallax Recordings · Vali NMEClick – Message From The Parazone [Continuous DJ Mix]

Vali’s promo mix:

  1. ? – ? [forthcoming Parallax]
  2. Jack Smooth – How We Do [PARA 10 – Message From The Parazone]
  3. DJ Mindhunter – Bass Roll [PARA 11 – Body Journey]
  4. InnerCore – Turbo Sound [2 copies of PARA 10S1 – Departure To The Parazone]
  5. Pete Cannon – Dream Again [PARA 10 – Message From The Parazone]
  6. DJ Mindhunter – Prisoners Of Xtasee [PARA 11 – Body Journey]
  7. Brute Force – Secrets [PARA 10 – Message From The Parazone]
  8. Worldwide Epidemic – Face Melt [PARA 10 – Message From The Parazone]
  9. Theory – What’s Going On [PARA 10 – Message From The Parazone]
  10. Dwarde & Tim Reaper- London Stomp [PARA 10 – Message From The Parazone]
  11. ? – ? [forthcoming Parallax]
  12. ? – ? [forthcoming Parallax]
  13. DJ Mindhunter – Mind Trip [PARA 11 – Body Journey]
  14. FFF – Bandulu [PARA 10 – Message From The Parazone]
  15. ? – ? [forthcoming Parallax]
  16. Coco Bryce – Pirates Of The Pancreas [PARA 10 – Message From The Parazone]
  17. Ant To Be – So Strange [PARA 10 – Message From The Parazone]
  18. Dev/Null – DarkPhase [PARA 10 – Message From The Parazone]
  19. DJ Mindhunter – Mind Full Of Stars [PARA 10 – Message From The Parazone]
  20. Justice & Necrotype – Refried [PARA 10 – Message From The Parazone]
  21. Champa B – Let´s Go Message From The ParazoneMessage From The Parazone]
  22. FX – Dark Shadows [PARA 10S1 – Departure To The Parazone]
  23. Tim Reaper- Dead And Buried [FX Remix] [PARA 10 – Message From The Parazone]
  24. ? – ? [forthcoming Parallax]
  25. ? – ? [forthcoming Parallax]
  26. ? – ? [forthcoming Parallax]
  27. DJ Mindhunter – Dreamin [PARA 11 – Body Journey]
  28. Yorobi & Tim Reaper – Rhodiola [Dead Man’s Chest Remix] [PARA 10S1 – Departure To The Parazone]
  29. Sonar’s Ghost – Future Shock [Double 0 VIP] [PARA 10 – Message From The Parazone]
  30. ScanOne – Horizons [PARA 10S1 – Departure To The Parazone]
  31. ? – ? [forthcoming Parallax]
  32. ? – ? [forthcoming Parallax]
  33. ? – ? [forthcoming Parallax]
  34. ? – ? [forthcoming Parallax]
  35. K Super – Being With You VIP [PARA 10 – Message From The Parazone]
  36. Hornchurch Hardcore – Labyrinth [PARA 10 – Message From The Parazone]
  37. ? – ? [forthcoming Parallax]
  38. ? – ? [forthcoming Parallax]

For those who don’t know you, who is Vali NME Click? 

I grew up in a musical household in Ulm, South-Germany. Both my parents are classical solo singers and multi-instrumentalists, so there has always been music and instruments around me, my father even self-built a Cembalo. I remember regularly falling asleep on the sofa to jam sessions that my parents and befriended musicians did in our place.

In 1994 together with my mate Önder I bought two crates of 92/93 Hardcore and Jungle from a local DJ and we started DJing and founded the NME Click. We went on and did radio, wrote for magazines, put on events (and even did live broadcasts from there), we even did an outdoor festival.

Things kicked off in 1997 really when Ikomowsa and MC Marvellous  joined and completed the crew. We established a quite big scene in our little city and were on the road constantly every weekend for the best part of the next 10 years, also having residency clubs and radiostations in other cities and booked popular Drum and Bass artists from all over the world regularly, especially from the UK. We had records out on labels such as DSCI4, Basswerk, Blue Saphire, Shadybrain and played at stages all over Europe, such as Sun&Bass, Fields Of Joy, Lightbox, Fusion, Splash, SonneMondSterne, Kings Of The Jungle and Breakzone.

In around 1997 I started the side-project Studioline, which was a mix of the music we grew up with and were influenced by. Nowadays you would call it “Mash-Up”, but we did it all on the fly, with records, playing all across the board, cutting and scratching and with that we attracted a wider audience and with those events financed the Drum and Bass parties in return. When I got tired of that around 2010 I re-found my love for the music that it all started with –  Hardcore and Jungle. I always had a soft spot for the era and basically never stopped collecting tunes from the early 90ies. 

So, while all this went on I didn’t really do such a good job of making a career outside of the music thing for myself. I quit school at around the age of 16 without any degree, just hustling, doing graffiti jobs, djing and selling illegal substances. But I soon figured out I needed to do something. So I went back to school, did one degree after another, did an apprenticeship at the local music magazine – all to be able to study digital media, only to have arguments with the lecturers and drop out. So there I was in Hamburg in 2009, in a traineeship as part of my studies, with everything seemingly lost.

So I decided to play the wildcard and just apply for jobs at random agencies without any degree. Luckily I found a job as a web designer in Berlin. The agency itself was a bit grim, but I stayed there for 5 years and learned the trade and in 2015 I went freelance, specialising in web- and print-design and illustrations, with a focus on clients in the NGO field and more socially-oriented companies. Through my past in the music business I also did a lot of artwork for labels and artists such as Metalheadz, CIA, Dispatch, Basement/ Precious Materials, InnerCore, DJ Seduction, Total Science, FD and the likes. 

What’s the story behind Parallax Recordings?

In Berlin I started putting on the ‘Parallax’ events in a small, illegal location around 2013, doing parties about once a year. I invited the people around Germany that had the same passion for Oldskool and a record collection. These events got a lot of love although I put little effort/ possibilities in promoting them. And they’ve been tons of fun!

Being an avid record collector I remember always hassling Dave Elusive from 92  Retro and Will Irvine from Sublogic/KVA to see if they could repress this or that and link them to the producers. One day Will said: ‘You know what? You just did the hardest part – finding the producers. Let’s do this together as a joint release’ and asked what I would call my label. I didn’t think too much and just took the name from my parties, thinking this would be a one-off experience. But so, Parallax Recordings was born. Soon after I found the guys from Technosaurus and decided to put their ‘Best Of Invention’ out on my own, just to see if I could do it all alone (though Will helped me heaps and forwarded me all his contacts, so thanks again, Will!).

My girlfriend was pregnant with my now 3-year old daughter and I somehow thought I had to do this “before it’s all over” and I’m a dad. Well, I did and caught the bug, and fast forward, here I am releasing the 5-piece album ‘Message From The Parazone’.

What’s the process behind re-releasing old tunes? How do you find the artists and get the rights? Some of the stuff has been extremely rare!

The process of finding the artists is always the hardest. Sometimes it takes me years and I always keep my cards close, especially now that repressing is a thing and so many others do it.

I also fell out of love with it a bit. Personally, I think it got too much and too much average stuff has been put out and I sometimes miss the love and the attention to detail.

But it also has to be said that there are some people in the ‘business’ that do an absolutely tremendous job and do everything right and I also feel the most important things got reissues in the last few years.

So it has become harder and harder to find something that’s worth it. My ethos has always been to only re-release music that’s not just expensive, but hard to get hold of. The tunes that never come up, even if you are dedicated and look for months. I don’t see much sense in re-releasing something that is widely available on the second hand market, even if a bit pricier. If you really want a tune and are dedicated to get it, you will pay a bit above the average to get it.

It’s a choice how you live your life and how you put your priorities. People often state that a remaster will sound better. But if a tune never sounded bad in comparison to others from the time I don’t see the need for that either. I still buy a lot of the represses myself, even if I have the originals. For one, to support other labels in the same field (although I don’t see many other label owners doing that .. ), and of course to have a mint copy for a tenner myself haha. 

Are there any tracks that you’ve really wanted to release that you haven’t been able to secure the rights to?

Of course! The Intense and Skanna releases on Will’s Sublogic were the stuff dreams are made of! I would’ve LOVED to put out the Liquid Crystal stuff by NRG (big ups Luna C and the Knite Force crew), also Chalke – Resurrection, X-Plode – First Of Many, Phantasy – The Atmosphere and Silver Fox – Dread By Dawn (big ups Brent Aquasky @ Vinyl Fanatiks). Then there was this track by Redlight – “How Many” that I tried to get for Parallax. I got a reply from Smiley of Shut Up And Dance, he said I should wait as they will do it themselves. It ended up coming on another label but it got shelved at the Testpress stage and I didn’t even get my hands on one of the few pressings boohoo. 

Others than that I tried several times to get in touch with Ed Rush about his Selekta track (it came out on Jetstar, and since I already put out Total Dark’s and Lewi’s Jetstar stuff it would’ve made sense to have it on Parallax) and also tried to get Pascal to speak to me about his track ‘The Process’ that he wrote as “the Full S.P. I just love this tune, it only came out on the “Faces Of the Future” album alongside two other tracks on a side and I would love to do a 12” with it. No replies from either of them, though, sadly.

Another label is in touch with Pascal though, I hope it will happen through them. I tried to get DJ Hype to talk to me about his “Jungle Fever” dubplate from 1994, but again to no avail. 

And I mention it here again: If somebody is in touch with DJ Mastersafe – I would love to talk to him. There are masters he thought were lost and we would love to put them out.

And if somebody has a dubplate of ‘Defender – Workstation’ – please reach out 🙂

Over time you’ve gone from re-releasing old and obscure hardcore and jungle to also releasing new music from artists like Tim Reaper, Kid Lib, Innercore and more – what led to this decision?

As said, I fell a bit out of love with the repressing game. There are certain key players that started doing it that weren’t around when I started. They are well connected and can make things happen that I simply can’t. They have a name for themselves and the original artists know them from back then, trust them and therefore will prefer to work with them. Basically, 8 out of 10 times, my efforts lead to nothing. And artists can be slow, it’s not seldom that a release takes two years in the making. I also had all sorts of drama: from artists that weren’t happy about an etching that I put into a runout groove, so I had to scratch it out, to original graff artists that weren’t happy with my new artwork and slagged me off online to lawyers of silent partners that came threatening me while deals were signed and records were at the pressing plant. 

I started to play more of the new stuff that I was buying regularly. I am quite communicative, so getting in touch with my favourite artists came natural to me. One thing led to another and I ended up signing the Dead & Buried EP by Tim Reaper. I am still extremely proud to have that on the label. Even going back to it now, it’s 4 unreal tunes, each one could be the highlight of any EP. Ed is unreal too, he gave me around 20 tunes to choose from and all were great! Although I never met him in person he is a great guy, always ready to help, be it with optimising a mixdown or being of help with his knowledge, so big up Ed for always taking time out for me! I never really made a conscious decision to release new music, the next thing were the remixes to the Fine Feline EP, just to make it more than a straight repress. Key is that the music sounds authentic to what was made back then. I think what really led to Parallax releasing new music was the album that sort of formed itself and through that I found so much great music, the future for Parallax looks bright!

How important is art and design to the whole Parallax project?

A lot of effort goes into that! I do all the artwork myself.

I grew up drawing and bombing, even doing graffiti jobs as a youth. It took  a few years until I started to get my head around graphic design programs like Photoshop and Illustrator, but when I did I started to do all the NME Click promotional stuff myself, from about the mid-2000s onward (although some of it is pretty cringeworthy when I look at it now). I always put a lot of effort in, sometimes I have worked on a flyer for two weeks (tbh I was still learning and was horribly slow, you couldn’t tell if you look at the artwork now). But I was always disappointed that the artwork was dead and forgotten after the party was over. Nobody seemed to pay attention and as an artist, you naturally crave recognition. So having your artwork on a physical, timeless music release is pretty perfect, people go back to it from time to time and look at the cover and all the details while listening to it. Having your design on merchandise is even greater, there’s nothing better than being at a club and somebody wears your artwork 🙂

But I also feel I owe it to the music. If an artist decides to trust me and put his music out, I want to do the best job I can. I sometimes spend weeks thinking of the right motive, trying out different stuff. 

The look of Parallax came naturally, it now is basically three fonts I work with and a strict 1c attitude – black and white. No gimmicks, no sprinkled or coloured vinyl. Black is beautiful and if you can strip something down to the essence that’s always best. No collector’s edition, the products are all limited anyways.

What’s the story of the album?

I wish I could say that there was a big concept from the start, but there wasn’t.

I think originally I wanted to do a 4-tracker with a mix of artists I adored at the time, this was around when I signed Dead & Buried.

I reached out to InnerCore and FX and they gave me the two tunes that were on the ‘Departure’ sampler. That was around January 2019.

As mentioned, I’m quite communicative, so one thing led to another and I collected more tracks. By then I wanted to do a 2×12”, but it just went on and on, and by the time that I realized I had material for 5 records I thought nobody would buy that. That’s when I decided to do at least the 12” advance sampler (Departure) so its at least only a 4×12”.

All in all, it was a great experience and a great learning curve – getting in touch with the artists, collecting all the tracks, getting changes done to some of the arrangements or mixdowns, getting the masters (re-)done etc. It all took a lot of patience, a lot of sweat and a lot of time.

In the end I had the testpresses of the whole album done and held up the project myself, having sort of a writer’s block with the artwork. The graffic in the gatefold sleeve took me forever, from finding the idea to getting it down. I literally forced myself to get it done just before I went on vacation in May, so the record was not held up any longer.

I am glad I did, because after that I went straight into knee surgery, I doubt I would’ve finished it by now if I hadn’t done it then. The artwork itself was tons of work and to be honest I’m not fully happy with it. That said, I never did an illustration that big and it also was only the second time I worked with a pencil, drawing it in Procreate (the first time was the sampler), before that – believe it or not – I did everything by mouse. So it looks a bit grittier than the stuff I usually do, but I hope people still like it 🙂

What have been your goals with this album?

First and foremost I hope this album gives an oversight about our small contemporary Hardcore/ Jungle scene, showing the great talent that is out there. And it also gives the DJs tons of great fodder to choose from.

Although unplanned, this has turned into a great concept that wasn’t done before – a snapshot of who’s current in our scene. There were some artists that I couldn’t get aboard, maybe because they were working on albums and had no time to contribute, or for other reasons. So the picture will never be complete, but it’s still a good summary I like to think.

It’s also a good showcase for those who will be doing more on Parallax in the future hopefully, you can take it as the introduction of a roster. It’s giving Parallax an identity and its own sound and hopefully putting it more on the map. I often have the feeling that people tend to oversee/ forget about the label. Be it due to not being based in the UK and only knowing everyone online, so being “out of the cloud” or due to it being just me, doing this on the side while having a job and family, so not having as much output as other labels. But I’d love to establish it as a label the DJs check for, being a regular in the DJ’s playlists. 

What have been the biggest challenges that you have faced when putting this album together?

Getting the artists to trust me and giving me good tunes in the first place, communicating to artists why it takes so long and keeping everyone happy, getting tunes to sound right, demanding changes on some tunes, coming up with the right concept how to promote it, having names or titles misspelled, using the wrong ink on the testpresses (don’t put them near water!), deciding when a master is good, it never ends. There was so much going on behind the scenes, but everyone involved was great and patient with me.

Also Brexit. It keeps on giving me headaches and I have to get my head around things I’m not really inspired to learn. The crappy side of the business. Unnecessary costs in production. Unhappy customers due to records sitting in customs, records arriving damaged or being lost. An absolute nightmare. 

And the pandemic. I can’t do any release party or tour for the album, which would’ve made total sense so I can meet the artists I work with in person. Also I was making some money through DJing and promoting, that’s all missing now. Not just the money but I need DJing and promoting to function, it’s in my DNA, so it’s really been pressing on my mind. Besides that, the graphic design jobs slowed down a lot as well, which has left me in a bad financial state, forcing me to eventually reinvent myself if things don’t brighten up, so that I can make enough money to live off of. Right now I’m on crutches, when I’m back on my feet and the album is out that’s when I need to take a step back and take a closer look at it all. 

How has Brexit affected the label?

I am still trying to find how to deal with certain things and have no solution. For the moment I work with a fulfilment partner in UK, solely for the UK and I still deal with the rest of the world. I thought about pressing in UK too, but I was always pretty happy with Optimal Media, which is where I press right now, and after calculating, it won’t save me money or time really, altogether its just more expensive. Pressing costs rose, but they did everywhere. And to get the records into UK I have to pay taxes and customs, but also the carrier costs are more, as they drive with only my records and return empty. All in all, it’s more expensive and less fun, I hope the underground can take it. It certainly won’t stop the majors to block the pressing plants for their endless represses for Record Store Day. Personally, as a record buyer myself, I don’t see how I will be able to afford buying vinyl from the UK from 1st July onwards when everything will be going through customs. When a record was around 25 Euros including shipping it now will be 30 Euros upwards, that’s madness and out of balance!

Where next for Parallax after this album drops?

There’s more than the ‘Message To The Parazone’: I have nearly completed the collection of music for a sequel, another 4×12”. I’m not sure if it will simply be Part 2 or two 2×12”, sort of samplers that come after the album (hence the catalogue number PARA 10S1 on the Departure – “S1” standing for “Sampler 1”, so there could be “Sampler 2”, “..3” and so on). Those of you that followed the livestreams in the last months will have heard a lot of the tunes forthcoming on Parallax. 

Then there’s the ‘Body Journey EP’ by DJ Mindhunter (an alias of a very well known face in the Jungle world, nuff said) coming later this year after the album. I’ve been playing these tunes everywhere (=in mixes and streams lol) and they are absolutely great, 4 bombs in the same vein as the Parazone tunes! 

There’s also 3-5 other EPs in the works that aren’t fully finished, so I won’t talk about them yet. 

And there are at least 1-2 represses, one pretty much secured, the other I’m still fighting for and hoping that the artists let me do it, that would make me very proud.

Also, keep checking for new merch. Besides the regular shirts I would love to get jackets and recordbags with embroideries done. There will also be new Hoodies for the winter hopefully and more caps. Watch this space!

Regarding the Parallax nights: Although I’ve been in touch with all the people in the UK and could’ve done crazy line-ups, sadly there never was a budget to get the artists over. I still struggle to find the right club with the right conditions to be honest, as there is only so much promotion you can do for a location that’s illegal. I am in touch with a Munich based promoter and if the “pilot” goes well we might do regular Parallax nights there. The basement club is very well known and has an absolutely heavy PA. And I would be damned to get an artist flown into Germany and not get them to Berlin the day before or after to fill up the weekend, so it’s only a case of finding the right location with a fair deal in Berlin. Oh yes, and a team to do the street promotion. No way I would find time anymore to do that myself.

But that’s all in the future: enjoy the album when it drops!

Categories
Mixes

Pearsall presents Drum Machines and Post-Industrial Dreams (American Techno in the 90’s)

Pearsall presents Drum Machines and Post-Industrial Dreams (American Techno in the 90’s)

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Pearsall · Drum Machines & Post-Industrial Dreams (American Techno in the 90's)

Mixed in Berlin, May 2021
100% Vinyl
(113:41, 260 MB, 320 kbps mp3)

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Cue File

Direct link to the mix:
http://sonicrampage.org/mixes/usatechno/Pearsall-DrumMachinesAndPostIndustrialDreams.mp3

Tracklisting:

  1. Mark the 909 King – Acid Rain [Sex Trax]
  2. Moby – Bring Back My Happiness (Wink’s Acid Interpretation) [Elektra]
  3. Mike Dearborn – An Acid Memory [Djax-Up-Beats]
  4. DJ Funk – Knock Knock [Cosmic]
  5. Joey Beltram – 252 [Trax]
  6. Green Velvet – Land of the Lost [Relief]
  7. DJ Deeon – House-O-Matic [Dance Mania]
  8. Robert Armani – Ghost [Dance Mania]
  9. Adam X – 600 Volts [Scandinavian]
  10. Jeff Mills – Medusa [React]
  11. DJ Rolando – Aztec Mystic [Underground Resistance]
  12. Ausgang – Robotics [Synewave]
  13. Frankie Bones – In The Eyes of a Child (Tripp 4 Daze Mix) [Groove World]
  14. Jeff Mills – Kat Race [Axis]
  15. Vice – Damn [Black Nation]
  16. Mike Wade – Mercy [High Octane]
  17. Joey Beltram – Caliber [Warp]
  18. Voltage 9 – Candema [Synewave]
  19. Tim Taylor & Dan Zamani – Acid Over Manhattan [Planet of Drums]
  20. Wink – Liquid Summer [Ovum]
  21. DJ Rolando – Ascesion [Underground Resistance]
  22. DJ Skull – Serial Killer [Djax-Up-Beats]
  23. DJ Funk – Run (UK Extended Mix) [Pro-Jex]
  24. Mike Dearborn – Gaschamber [Djax-Up-Beats]
  25. Jeff MIlls – DNA [Tresor]
  26. Stare 5 – Bloodloop 2 [Clashbackk]
  27. Cracked – Strobot (Joey Beltram’s Remix) [The Spacefrogs]
  28. Morgan Wild – Phat Man [Music Man]
  29. The Rising Sons – Afghan Acid (Toxic 2 Remix) [Extortion]
  30. The Pump Panel – Ego Acid (Original Mix) [Synewave]
  31. The Blunted Boy Wonder – Circuit Sex [NovaMute]
  32. Nico – Alpha [IST]
  33. DJ Skull – Acid Wiss L [Djax-Up-Beats]
  34. Millsart – Step to Enchantment (Stringent) [Axis]
  35. Underground Resistance – Message to the Majors [Underground Resistance]
Categories
Mixes

Pearsall presents Don’t Give Up (Modern Breakbeat Mix)

Pearsall presents Don’t Give Up

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Pearsall · Don’t Give Up [Modern Breakbeat Mix]

Mixed in Berlin, April 2021
100% Vinyl
(93:08, 213 MB, 320 kbps mp3)

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Cue File

Direct link to the mix:
https://sonicrampage.org/mixes/giveup/Pearsall-Don’tGiveUp.mp3

Tracklisting:

  1. DJ Clouds – United Booty [Dr Banana]
  2. Dawl & Sween – Rise of the Humanoids [Klasse Wrecks]
  3. Luca Lozano & Mr. Ho – Visions of Rhythm [Klasse Wrecks]
  4. Luca Lozano & DJ Fett Burger – Signalrod [Klasse Wrecks]
  5. DJ Normal 4 – 0% Purity [Klasse Wrecks]
  6. Escape Earth – Gravity Well [Ritual Poison]
  7. Luca Lozano – The Path of Most Resistance [Super Rhythm Trax]
  8. Dawl – Tune In Space [Libertine]
  9. Phyzikal Flex – My Gunz [Parallax / Chakra Doom]
  10. Mark Mackenzie – Terrafirma [Kouncil Kuts]
  11. Special Request – Peak Dub [XL Recordings]
  12. Anz – Loos in Twos (NRG) [Hessle Audio]
  13. Soundbwoy Killah – Love Stealing [Warehouse Rave]
  14. Mella Dee – Trellick [Lobster Boy]
  15. Oddkut – Ravesteps [Rotpot]
  16. FFF – Forever [Ruff Cutz]
  17. DJ Jedi – Can’t Get Enough [Rave Radio]
  18. Viers – 1 Megabyte of Rave Juice [Steel City Dance Discs]
  19. Dexorcist – Rage Signal [Ecstasy Garage Disco]
  20. Eusebeia – Full Circle [Earthtrax]
  21. Dylan Forbes – Evolution [Echocentric]
  22. Fiesta Soundsystem – Away With the Fairies [Warehouse Rave]
  23. Mani Festo – Continuum [E-Beamz]
  24. Denham Audio – Top Buzz [Sneaker Social Club]
  25. DJ Detox – Ounces To Pounds [R.A.N.D. Muzik]
  26. Jerome Hill – If It Ain’t Ruff [Hornsey Hardcore]
  27. Denham Audio – Feel the Panic [Lobster Theremin]
  28. Borai – Dub Fi Dub [THEM]
  29. Thugwidow & Bruised Skies – Requiem for a Sesh [Astral Black]
  30. Jamakabi – Wickedest Ting ft D Double E (Ghosty Amen Mix) [Rhythm Rollers Limited]
Categories
Mixes

Pearsall presents Accelerate Into Limbo [An Exploration of Modern Drum n’ Bass]

Pearsall presents Accelerate Into Limbo

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Pearsall · Accelerate Into Limbo [A 50 Track Journey Across Modern Drum n' Bass / Jungle]

Mixed in Berlin, March 2021
100% Vinyl
(138:39, 318 MB, 320 kbps mp3)

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Cue File

Direct link to the mix:
http://sonicrampage.org/mixes/limbo/Pearsall-AccelerateIntoLimbo.mp3

Tracklisting:

  1. Riya – Seems Like [Autonomic]
  2. Instra:Mental & DBridge – White Snares [Nonplus]
  3. Law & Wheeler – Intersect [Repertoire]
  4. Kid Drama – In Mind [Exit]
  5. Quartz – Into The Mist [Samurai]
  6. The Untouchables – Pon A Dread [Rupture LDN]
  7. Amit – 1370 Taylor Dub [Amar]
  8. Amit – Knuckle Duster [Metalheadz]
  9. Moresounds – We A Tribe [Dub-Stuy]
  10. TMSV – Junglis [Perfect]
  11. Ruff Sqwad – Tings in Boots (RDG Remix) [Circle Vision]
  12. Sully – Blue [Keysound]
  13. Ricky Force – Two Minds [Pressin Hard]
  14. Mani Festo – Awake [Rupture LDN]
  15. Sully – Run [Uncertain Hour]
  16. Overlook – Distant Blues [31 Recordings]
  17. Hoover1 – Hoover 1-4 (Side B) [Hoover]
  18. Worldwide Epidemic – Found [Criterion]
  19. Digital, Spirit & Q Project – To Meeeeee [Function]
  20. Madcap – Mind Control [Myriad]
  21. Enjoy – Don’t You Know [AKO10]
  22. Dub-One – Uncertain Love (ft. Blatant) [Scientific Wax]
  23. Shay – Badboy [AKO Arcade]
  24. Law & Kola Nut – Your Love Is So … [Meditator Music]
  25. Nebula – Cosmic Blue [Scientific Wax Retro]
  26. Fracture – Black Pearl [Exit]
  27. Specialist X – Mind Signs [AKO10]
  28. Chimpo – Bedspring Riddim [Exit]
  29. TMSV – Ritalin Jam [Bun the Grid]
  30. Moresounds – Open Your Mind [Kiosk]
  31. Sun People – Work [Through These Eyes]
  32. Om Unit – Patterning [Submerged]
  33. Addison Groove – Redeye [Astrophonica]
  34. Philip D Kick – Work That [Astrophonica]
  35. Richie Brains – The Nine Two Three [Exit]
  36. Philip D Kick – 160909313 [Astrophonica]
  37. Fracture – Turbo Toms [Exit]
  38. Double 99 – RIP Groove (Fixate Refix) [Ice Cream]
  39. Chimpo x Sam Binga – Ready Mngo [YBLC]
  40. J:Kenzo – Vice [31 Recordings]
  41. SB81 – Drone Zone [Droogs]
  42. Forest Drive West – Set Free [Rupture LDN]
  43. Detboi – Secret Venom [Metalheadz]
  44. Om Unit – Parallel [Metalheadz]
  45. B-Key – Dirt for Dirt Sake [Scientific Wax]
  46. Double O – Martian Soil [Rupture LDN]
  47. Abyss – Near Death Experience [Kniteforce]
  48. Tim Reaper – MFG [Phat Bubba]
  49. Sonar’s Ghost – Soundless Fusion [Criterion]
  50. Vocoda – Way Back When [Amenology]

Weird couple of months.

As I mentioned in the post to accompany Electro Beats for Murky Streets, one thing that I managed to achieve in 2020 was to finally hit my (totally arbitrary, sure) goal of getting 60,000 listens on Soundcloud. This was a goal that I had had in mind for a few years and at last I achieved it.

Yay me!

But then, what next?

I guess I could have kept going and tried to up the stakes again this year but honestly having hit that goal did actually leave me feeling a bit sated in terms of the ego boost component of getting people to listen to my stuff. Thus from that angle there was a temporary deflation in the compulsive need to churn out mixes. On the other side it’s also been an intense few months from a personal and professional perspective; here in Germany the schools and kitas (daycare) have been closed since mid-January and are only just reopening, so I’ve had to spend a lot of time helping out with the kids, and on the other front my work has been super busy and at times quite stressful, so basically at night I just have not had the mental energy or time to focus on making new mixes.

Hence an unusually fallow period by my standards. I’ve been pretty productive over the last few years!

But this has not been ideal because I always like having new mixes to listen to, so since we are now in March (omg!) I decided enough with the excuses … it’s time to do a proper mix! Sure, I did a mini-mix for Begrime last month, but that’s not enough.

Clearly, it was time to go big.

50 tracks big.

Why so many tunes? Well, I have a lot of records that have never made it on to any of my mixes, and I wanted to listen to them in an easier, more practical, and more fun way. This is especially the case with my collection of modern (post-2010, but even more so post-2015) drum n’ bass / jungle … I have tons of the stuff and have only done a few mixes with it, and none at all for Sonicrampage since Get It 003: Get Ruff, Tuff, Dangerous two years ago. Obviously, the moment was ripe for a nice leisurely dig through my shelves to find a bunch of cool tunes to weld together.

When I started thinking about doing a mix of new drum n’ bass / jungle, one of my key criteria was to do something a bit different from last year’s focus: themes. As I discussed in my blog post to accompany Super Rhythmic Facts my plan for 2020 was to focus (mostly!) on doing tribute mixes of various types, whether that meant focusing on labels, artists, clubs, or concepts. This was fun and quite creatively fulfilling, but the flipside of having such a focus meant that I was working with certain self-imposed restrictions when I made each mix; or at least that was the case for most of the mixes.

Therefore when it came time to start putting this one together, one thing that was quite clear to me was that the mix should provide a broad representation of the kind of stuff that I’ve been enjoying in the world of 160-170 bpm music in recent years. The result is not definitive, sure, but it’s a pretty good go.

It’s one thing to say that I want to make a mix that properly represents the diversity of this part of my record collection, but actually putting such a mix together is another thing, hence my approach was to use a concept that I’ve been playing with over the last couple years. Basically, instead of thinking that I am making ‘a mix’, I approach it like I am making a series of small(er) mixes that are coherent mixes in and of themselves, which are connected to each other at certain logical switch points. Sonic Lego, basically!

I have previously written about the thought process involved in such mixes in the posts to accompany Fake Berghain in My Spare Room and Get It 010: Get Everything, but in this specific case I started from the idea that there were certain sounds that I wanted to represent: dubby halftime, soulful rollers, frenetic juke-influenced stuff, chrome-plated hardsteppers, and Amen tearouts. With this in mind I pulled out a huge stack of records and then set about separating them into the relevant piles.

What this meant in practice is that I did not need to make a single 50 track mix, but instead I made six smaller mixes that I snapped together in the aforementioned sonic Lego stylee, with the goal being that the connections not be too jarring, or at least if they were a bit unexpected then they were also kind of fun.

I guess you can be the judge of how well I’ve succeeded – I know there are one or two slightly wonky moments in the mix, but given the time constraints that I live with at the moment, where I rarely have much time for my hobbies, I decided that I can live with them and I would not do more than one take. Overall, though, I think this is a pretty sick mix, it’s definitely not upfront or whatever, but I think there’s a lot of great music in here, and I really enjoy the way that the sounds and vibe switches throughout the mix.

So, yeah, that’s it!

Now that I have the taste again, I’m hoping to start dropping mixes more regularly throughout 2021.

Categories
Mixes

Pearsall presents Electro Beats for Murky Streets (High-Speed Bass Mayhem!)

Pearsall presents Electro Beats for Murky Streets

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Pearsall · Electro Beats for Murky Streets [Fast-Paced Bassy Business]

Mixed in Berlin, December 2020
100% Vinyl
(71:40, 164 MB, 320 kbps mp3)

Bigger Cover
Cue File

Direct link to the mix:
http://sonicrampage.org/mixes/bassy/Pearsall-ElectroBeatsForMurkyStreets.mp3

Trackisting:

  1. Zolaa – 0783.1505 [FTP]
  2. Anthony Rother – Hyperbolic [Psi49net]
  3. Client_03 – Interest Reset [Astrophonica]
  4. No Moon – Exoplanet Vibe Cult [Craigie Knowes]
  5. Baby T – I Wish [Central Processing Unit]
  6. Interviews – Throat [Bitterfeld]
  7. Ecotone – Envy [Dame Music]
  8. Cestrian – Lard (Obergman & Eargoggle Remix) [E-Beamz]
  9. DJ Boneyard – I Need An Explanation [Dance Trax]
  10. Jensen Interceptor & Assembler Code – Day 1 [Mechatronica]
  11. Nite Fleit – Pippa Arrives [Steel City Dance Discs]
  12. Shedbug – Sibelle [10 Pills Mate]
  13. Zeta Reticula – Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons [Mechatronica]
  14. Assembler Code – Outer Trace [Dance Trax]
  15. Thizone – Locusts [Sweaty]
  16. Matthew Brown – Psygnosis [FTP]
  17. 90 Process – Strange Feeling [Lobster Theremin]]
  18. Textasy – Oakleys (Hydraulic Bass Dub) [E-Beamz]
  19. Luz1e – U Said I Couldn’t Do It [International Chrome]
  20. D.I.E. – No Future In Detroit [Clone West Coast Series]
  21. DJ Overdose – Time Compensator [Lunar Orbiter Program]
  22. Luz1e – Ridin [Shall Not Fade]
  23. Steffi & Stingray – Explanatory Power [Klakson]
  24. DJ Stingray – Solitude [Unknown to the Unknown]
  25. Jensen Interceptor – Elektro [Craigie Knowes]

Whew!

That was quite a year, huh?

I guess there’s not much point in rehashing what a crazy and turbulent year this was for pretty much everyone on the planet – you lived through it too, you know what it was like.

So with this being my final mix of the year (I think!) I thought I would instead drop something a little bit fun and not too serious.

Goal achieved

One of the goals I set for myself for this year was to hit 60,000 listens on Soundcloud for the year … and I hit that goal last weekend (see above)!

So that was nice!

Why 60k, though?

In practical terms this is, of course, totally pointless. It’s meaningless internet points in one sense. It doesn’t make any real difference to my life or to my family.

But it’s fun to set yourself a goal and try to hit it. Plus 60 is a nice round number (also meaning an average of 5k listens per month) and I hadn’t hit it yet – the highest I had previously gone was 2018 when I got 59k, and last year when I got 57k.

So just a fun little thing, but it’s cool that I achieved it.

Also, I had a lot of fun making mixes this year – as time has gone on I’ve refined the process so that I can be even quicker and more productive when putting together mixes. Since I just don’t have anywhere near as much free time as I used to, I’ve totally abandoned doing mixes over and over and over again until I am close to 100% happy with them. If I can do it once and I am reasonably happy, then we’re good to go.

So this has meant that, really against all the odds, this has ended up being a really musically productive year for me!

Pearsall · Pearsall’s 2020 Mixes

I’ve now recorded a pretty damn impressive 17 mixes so far this year – 14 for Sonicrampage and three guest mixes for various music platforms (including one for a Berlin-based techno podcast that’s not been released yet).

Actually that’s another thing that’s been nice this year, that more and more people have been asking me for guest mixes, and they’ve been such different people asking for such different styles – so far this year I did techno, hard dance, and drum n’ bass mixes (plus was asked to join the grime crew Begrime), and I still have to do a jungle mix and a breakbeat hardcore mix for some other people who have asked me; should have those ready sometime early 2021. It’s nice that people are interested in and enjoying my mixes!

Broken down by genre I’ve done the following mixes this year:

It’s a very varied selection!

Which one am I most proud of?

Unquestionably Fake Berghain in My Spare Room. It’s four hours long, and putting it together was an incredible undertaking. I really poured a ton of thought and effort into making it an interesting and cohesive listening experience, including getting an awesome cover made for it, as well as writing what I think of as one of my best essays that I’ve done for this blog – part photo essay, part musical discussion, part travelogue, and part love letter to Berlin. It’s not been my most popular mix this year, but it is undoubtedly the one that I am happiest with, and I am so proud of it.

As I mentioned when I did the first mix of the year, Super Rhythmic Facts, the plan for 2020 was to focus on tribute mixes – tributes to artists, to labels, to events, to clubs, and so on.

This was the path that I mostly followed – eleven of the year’s mixes were tributes of one type or another – but it wasn’t an ironclad rule. Along the way I also took the opportunity to step outside the tribute plan and just do a mix that I was interested in doing, of tunes that I wanted to listen to more closely and more often.

Like with this mix!

What’s going on here?

Nothing much really … just that I’ve been enjoying electro quite a bit again over the last few years, and I started buying new tunes on vinyl (which is both a good and a bad idea), and I wanted to throw some into a mix together. I mean, I already did my Mechatronica mix a few months ago, and there was an electro section in Fake Berghain in My Spare Room, but clearly that wasn’t enough.

I’ve got the itch, and it needs to be scratched.

With electro.

Which my daughter describes as ‘farting robots fighting music’. Which is a good description, no?

So this is that mix. Anyone who has been listening to my mixes for a while knows that I like fast music, and always have, and I’ve been enjoying the revival of properly fast, ravetastic electro over the last few years. High speed bassy beats are and always have been my jam. Therefore, last weekend I pulled out a stack of electro records, flipped through them to find only the ones that could be pitched up to at least 142 bpm, hit record and just improvised my way through 25 tracks of high-intensity pumpers, cranking it up all the way to 155 bpm by the end.

It’s a rump-shaking apocalypse!

I hope you enjoy it.

This is also the first mix where I really tried to master it after recording, by adjusting the levels so that the tracks are roughly equal (I mean I always try to do this while recording but it’s not always so easy), plus I also tweaked the bass up. Let me know if it sounds ok.

So that’s it for 2020! I hope you enjoyed the mixes.

What’s coming up next year?

Plenty more mixes and, just to mention this, I’ve made a four track EP and will be getting it pressed to vinyl in 2021. Really! Will drop some previews in a couple months.

Categories
Mixes

Pearsall presents Voodoo Bass Chronicles (A Loefah Tribute)

Pearsall presents Voodoo Bass Chronicles (A Loefah Tribute)

right-click, save as to download this free mp3 mix

Pearsall · Voodoo Bass Chronicles (A Loefah Tribute)

Mixed in Berlin, November 2020
100% Vinyl
(51:36, 118 MB, 320 kbps mp3)

Bigger Cover
Cue File

Direct link to the mix:
http://sonicrampage.org/mixes/loefah/Pearsall-VoodooBassChronicles(ALoefahTribute).mp3

Tracklisting:

  1. Loefah – The Goat Stare (DMZ)
  2. Loefah – Midnight (Berceuse Heroique)
  3. Loefah – System (Tectonic)
  4. Matty G – 50,000 Watts (Loefah Remix) (Argon)
  5. Loefah – It’s Yours (Ringo)
  6. Loefah – Ruffage (DMZ)
  7. Loefah – Natural Charge (Version)
  8. Loefah – Sukkah (Texture)
  9. Skream – Monsoon (Loefah Remix) (Tempa)
  10. Search & Destroy – Candyfloss (Loefah Remix) (Hotflush)
  11. Pinch – Punisher (Loefah’s SE25 Remix) (Planet Mu)
  12. Loefah – Disko Rekah (Deep Medi Musik)
  13. All Soundbwoy Out – Dog Money (Lovemix) (Tectonic)
  14. Pinch & Loefah – Broken (Tectonic)
  15. Loefah – Mud (DMZ)
  16. Loefah & Skream – Fearless (Tectonic)
  17. Loefah – Truly Dread (Tempa)
  18. Loefah – Fire Elements (Rephlex)
  19. D1 – Crack Bong (Loefah Remix) (Version)
  20. The Bug – Jah War ft Flowdan (Loefah Remix) (Ninja Tune)

London is bass.

Vast warm caverns of bass emanating from a dub soundystem in a South London community center. 1980’s.

Half-time depth charges underlying frantically spiraling jungle breakbeats in a crowded room, horns blaring and lighters flaring. Mid 90’s.

The soulful sounds of US house music reconstructed, sped up, toughened up, and underlaid with sticky webs of bass. Late 90’s.

Rough-hewn beats overlaid with frantic lyrics, underpinned with spiky, angular shocks of bass. Beamed from tower block antennas to bedrooms and car radios across London. Mid-00’s.

Twirling, swirling 808 slides riding under mournful chords and raw tales of London life, exploding on to the world stage via YouTube. Today.

And, of course, there was dubstep, which was and is purely about bass. Vast shockwaves of sub-bass. Giant ice sculptures of bass. Jagged cliffs of mid-range noise underpinned by oceans deep bass.

Perhaps the premium exponent of dubstep in its purest form is Loefah (or Peter Livingston to his parents) from Croydon, South London. One of the scene’s original creators, part of the legendary DMZ crew, his sound is simple, but effective.

  • Massive breezeblock beats
  • Juddering walls of bass
  • The odd reggae, dancehall or hip-hop vocal sample
  • Maybe (maybe!) a melody

It’s minimal, but it is deeply, deeply effective!

Also it makes it tricky to mix at times, because the tunes are so sparse and the rhythms are sometimes a bit off-kilter.

Listening to his music makes me think of giant lumbering robots slowly stomping their way across a landscape, devastating everything in their way with blasts of pure rumbling sub-bass.

This mix, then, is my summary of his sound, pulling together a whole bunch of his original productions, remixes, and collaborations. There are a few pretty obvious tunes that are missing, of course, but overall this should give you a flavor of Loefah’s sound, or at least what he was producing in his early years. More recently he’s been focused on working as a dj and on his label Swamp 81, which has featured a few of his more recent productions.

He also has a huge back catalogue of dubs that have never been released … maybe one day!

Here are a few personal favorites:

Man I would happily shell out for a proper vinyl box set of unreleased Loefah dubs!

Obviously listening on a home stereo system does not give the full effect, but I was pretty excited to finally put together this mix after years of wanting to do it. The trigger was getting (at last!) my hands on a copy of the classic double-sider ‘Mud / Ruffage‘ courtesy of my good friend The Vinyl Pimp.

This mix also completes my series of DMZ tribute mixes, having already done mixes dedicated to Mala (including a second one) and Coki. One thing that I’ve always loved about the DMZ crew is how they each have such a unique personal take on dubstep – Coki’s hyped-up midrange madness, Mala’s throbbing dub energy, and Loefah’s minimalistic steppers. Given how samey so much electronic music production has become in recent decades, carving out a unique niche is quite an achievement!

To round things off, check out this interview with the man himself:

Gonna try to push out a lot of music in December, so keep your ears open …