Category Archives: Ear & Drum Session

Chill Out, Ear & Drum Session, Jazz & Bass, Melodic, Old Skool

The Finest – Ear & Drum Session 11

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1996-97 was the era when Drum & Bass was at it’s most popular in the broadest sense. From hardcore Hip-Hoppers to chart topping acts, everyone needed a D&B remix on their 12″ or album. Cafés, bars and restaurants were using it as muzac and every second advert on TV seemed to have a D&B backing track. It also happens to be the era when D&B as a music was at it’s most melodic and intricate, which is why I love the jazzy/intelligent D&B from around this time more than just about any other era.

This was a time when commercial success wasn’t such a dirty word (Sony and others were snapping up artists for their labels) and accessibility to the music didn’t seem like such a bad thing. Artists like Wax Doctor, LTJ Bukem, EZ Rollers, Omni Trio, Aquasky and many others all put delicate floating melodies over tough chopped up Amens and beats to produce a sound that you could play on a dance floor, but also play to your Mum and still have her stay in the room. The best thing about this era is that it still sounds as fresh today as when it first came out. It never seems to age or become disposable like some of the genres that came after it.

So in this mix I’ve tried to put together what was great about the 1996-97 Jazzy D&B genre. Some tracks you will have heard and, hopefully, there are a few obscure surprises in there that you haven’t. Best listened to with a good drink in your hand and your feet up on the couch, I suggest you kick back and enjoy what is not only great D&B, but great music too.

 

The Finest – 1.5hrs of 1996-97 Jazz & Bass

Nuyorcian Soul – I Am the Black Gold of the Sun (4 Hero Remix)
JMJ & Flytronix – In Too Deep
Flytronix – The Rhodes Tune
EZ Rollers – Dropping Science (EZ Remix)
Dr. S. Gachet – Remember the Rollers (The Meaningful Mix)
Omni Trio – Tripping on Broken Beats (Carlito Mix)
Statik Sound System – Revolutionary Pilot (Rob Smith Mix)
EZ Rollers – Sub Tropic
EZ Rollers – Believe
Photek – The Hidden Camera (Static Remix)
Aquasky – Opaque
Olive – You’re Not Alone (Roni Size Remix)
Alex Banks – Control
DJ Krush – Only the Strong Survive (Dillinja Remix)
LTJ Bukem – The James Bond Theme
Intense – Careless Minds
St. Germain – Alabama Blues (Wax Doctor Remix)
Ken Ishii – Stretch (Shogun Remix)
Wax Doctor – Finer Things
Adam F – Aromatherapy

2009, Cross Genre, Ear & Drum Session

Box Fresh – Ear & Drum Session 10

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A new mix full of fresh tracks for the second quarter of 2009.

Starts off mellow with some great tracks from Command Strange, Dirrrty B and Lenzman (the man of the moment). I start winding it up about mid-way through with Spirits mighty ‘Connected’ and some new stuff from Silent Witness and Submorphics. My man in Brisbane, Operon provides an amazing dub step & bass number ‘Lorien’ with some help from LM1 and Serum & Bladerunner do some old school style damage with their killer track ‘Snakefist’. I finish it off with some weirdness in the form of the purely atmospheric ‘Boundless Wonder’ by Entharsis (a new name on the block) and then hit the pure funk finish button with the help of Atlantic Connection and his sublime track ‘Retro’.

I had great fun mixing this one, so I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I did piecing it together.

 

Box Fresh – 1hr of tracks fresh from the box 

Command Strange – Don’t Touch
Dirrty B – Time to Change
Er.ic – Aware
Trisector – Morning Rain
Lenzman – Vale of Tears
Command Strange – Don’t Move Down
Lenzman – Mesmerized
Spirit – Connected
Silent Witness – Poster Girl
Radiohead – Bodysnatchers (Submorphics Bootleg)
Operon & LM1 – Lorien
Ulterior Motive – Link Down
Serum & Bladerunner – Snakefist
Entharsis – Boundless Wonder
Atlantic Connection – Retro

All Label Mix, Ear & Drum Session, Liquid D&B, Melodic

Rolled Gold – Ear & Drum Session 9

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This is just as much a review as a mix, as I focus on the amazing label Golden Orb. This label has been up and running for about a year now and already they are up to release number nine. The fact that I could find an hours worth of quality music to fill a mix is a real testimony to the quality control set down by those at Golden Orb.

Operon, the labels manager, pricked up my ears with release one which had the madly funky Inside Man on it and from there the label has never looked back. The artist roster has some better know producers such as DJ Clart and Melbourne’s ATP, but the label isn’t shy with breaking new talent. They have a string of producers I’d never heard of, but who I will be keeping a serious ear out for in the future.

The best way I can describe their sound is a cross between the golden age of the ‘intelligent’ Moving Shadow releases (think Storm From The East), Good Looking and Fokus recordings. Even though Golden Orb has all these similar elements, they still manage to have a distinct and unique sound which is both lush and deep all at the same time.

Their last two releases, the Eastern Promises EPs, sees them toughening up their sound quite substantially with Invisible Landscape’s – First is Forever and Shebuzzz’ – In Infinity clear standouts. In Infinity is what can only be described as an out and out Amen spanker and is a dead cert for making the floor go mad.

If you like what you hear in this mix please give them your support by buying their stuff from .

 

Rolled Gold – 1hr mix of Golden Orb Digital

D-Fect – The Dayz
Cutworks – Alone in the Silence
ATP – Montego Funk
ATP – Struggle
Koritsa – Mine (Infuzoria Mix)
ATP – Soho Lament
DJ Clart – So Selfish
Intelligent Manners – Showtime
Command Strange – Goa
Flirt with Dirt – Taken to Reverie
D-Fect & Crix – All I Ever
Operon – Inside Man
Invisible Landscape – First is Forever
Shebuzzz – In Infinity

Amen, Ear & Drum Session, Jungle, Old Skool

Jungle Survival: Lesson 2 – Ear & Drum Session 8

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Part 2 of the Jungle Survival series and we are still in 1994. Listening to this set, it amazes me that some of the tracks are 15 years old. Obviously the overall production quality is down, but when you consider most of this stuff was pieced together on an AKAI s2000 sampler and an Atari ST computer it really does hold up remarkably well and a lot of todays producers could take a leaf out of the collective books of the artists on this roster.

D’Cruse’s – Lonely is still as hauntingly beautiful as the day it was made, Fusion’s – Love for the World Pt. II still makes you wanna brock out and Noise Factory’s – The Future still sounds darker than most tracks today. It is the ideas and the intricate sequencing that really makes these tracks, and as always with ragga jungle the dub and sound system influences are never too far away.

I had a damn good time mixing all this stuff up, so I hope you get as much pleasure listening to it as I did making it. Big up ya chest in a bullet proof vest.

 

Jungle Survival Lesson 2 – 1hr of the ruff and the ragga

4 Hero – Shadow Run
Entity – Dubwise
D’Cruse – Lonely
Radical Sound – What is Love (Exclusive VIP Mix)
Ibizia – Brockwild
D Note feat Navigator – Iniquity Worker (Number Of The Beast Mix)
M Beat feat. General Levi – Incredible
House Crew – Super Hero
DJ SS – Rollers Convention (Original Intro Mix)
Fusion – Love for the World Pt. II
Jungle Warrior – No Surrender (Exclusive VIP Mix)
Booyaka Crew & Tippa Irie – Hustling
Amazon II – Booyaa! (Open Your Mind)
L Double – Little Roller Vol 1 (Nah Ease up Mix)
3 Disciples – Gwaan
DJ Hype – Rrrol The Beats
DJ Krome & Mr Time – Ganja Man (Original Mix)
Noise Factory – The Future

All Label Mix, Ear & Drum Session, Jump Up, Old Skool

Tru To Form – Ear & Drum Session 7

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One of the labels I have invested the most time & money into down the years is True Playaz. DJs Hype, Pascal & Zinc between them amassed a huge amount of THE best Jump Up tunes between 1995 to 2002. Whether united as the Ganja Kru, or producing under their separate identities, the Tru Playaz label always represented firing beats, funky riffs, hip-hop samples and always mashed together with a phat Jump Up bass line.

Their massive output over this time is amazing considering how high they kept the quality of the music. Albums like Still Smoking, Real Vibes and Playaz4Real offered great value because they always contained way more hits than misses on them, and the string of great EPs on True Playaz is too long to list here.

I think Jump Up today has lost it a bit. Making the as track loud and noisy as possible seems more important that making it funky, and the fun and the good vibe seems to be lacking. But during the golden age of Jump Up, this label really did live up to it’s name and was a True Playa.

 

2hrs of Jump Up classics from the True masters

DJ Zinc – The Source
DJ Hype – True Playa’z Anthem
DJ Zinc – Super Sharp Shooter (Short & Sharp Version)
DJ Zinc – Fugees or Not
Ganja Kru – Magic
Ganja Kru – Plague That Never Ends
Ganja Kru – Forbidden Fruit
DJ Nut Nut – The Finest
Ganja Kru – Science
DJ Hype – Closer To God
DJ Hype – Only One Life (Ganja Kru Remix)
DJ Hype – Musically Dope (Ganja Kru Remix)
Freestyles – Come Back
Pascal – P-Funk 2000
Freestyle – God Intendend
Ganja Kru – You Belong To Me
Pascal – Rollplay
DJ Red – Everything Has Changed (Remix)
Pascal – Keep It Real
Fellowship – Dark Flower Remedy
DJ Zinc – Casino Royal
DJ Hype – Help Me
DJ Hype – Dead A’s
DJ Zinc – Reach Out (Remix)
DJ Zinc – Ska
DJ Zinc – Pitcher
The Outfit – Cleancut
DJ Zinc – Freenote

2009, Cross Genre, Ear & Drum Session

Universal Joint – Ear & Drum Session 6

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Welcome to the first proper mix of new tracks from me for 2009. This has a bit of everything, and as per usual we start off smooth and progress thru to the ruff stuff by the end. Most the tracks in here are 2009 releases and judging by the quality of the releases so far, it looks like D&B is in good shape for another year.

A lot of the tracks I’ve rinsed here are either unreleased, digital exclusives, or currently on white label. Having said this, I do start of with a classic atmospheric T-Power number and finish off with A Guy Called Gerald monologue at the end. Everything in-between is fresh as a daisy.

Big ups especially to Calculon, Austin Speed and the Rufige Kru for their free tracks in this mix. They are not in the mix because they are free, they are in there because they rock. Thanks a lot.

2009 – bring it on.

 

Universal Joint – The first of the crop for 2009

T-Power – Inversion Boots
Eveson – Machines
Calibre – Model Way
Mutt – It’s Pouring Once Again
NotioN – Only You
The Black Ghosts – It’s Your Touch (Calculon & Austin Speed Bootleg)
Naibu – The Shrine
Naibu – Opium Lady
Mistabishi – The Light’s Really Bad
Naibu – Fireflies
Mistabishi – Heaven’s Sake
Incident – Vacate
Wenca – My Dreamgirl
Klute – Trust Me
Lenzman – Lose You
Klute – Ashram
P.B.K. – Microburst (Infuzoria Remix)
Ian Brown – Illegal Attacks (Rufige Kru Remix)
Sketch – Promises
A Guy Called Gerald – The Universe

2008, Ear & Drum Session, Hard D&B

Boomish – Ear & Drum Session 5

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This is the last mix for the 2008 overviews.

Although I am not known for playing rinse out sets these day, I do still like a good bitch-slapper when I hear one. So this mix is mainly comprised of harder and heavier stuff I grabbed during 2008.

Metalheadz came back with a vengeance this year with some BIG albums. Samurai Music, Covert Operations and, as always, Renegade Hardware kept the pedal to the metal. The return to form for Seba and Dom & Roland, plus the continuing development of Martsman and Telemetric meant that 2008 had plenty of huge tracks with which to mash dem down.

The mix itself is a bit all over the place – starting out with some dub step inspired numbers and then dipping into the realms of drumfunk and amen. Then I take it back down in the deep again and when we resurface I pretty much do it to you in the ear hole.

 

Boomish – 2hrs of 2008’s heavy hitters

Panda – Epilogue
Logistics – Shanghai Skyline
Hive & Tech Itch – Detox
Martsman – Sir Gordon Jumpmeister III
ASC – Offworld Tides Pt II
B. Fuse – Big Space
Seba – Blaze & Fade Out
Seba – Forever
Theory – Aurora Flash
Seba & Krazy – Finola
Bachelors of Science – Immortal (Alaska Remix)
Apex – The Yearning VIP
Mandelayev – Utikiyy
Ian Brown – Illegal Attacks (Rufige Kru Remix)
D-Bridge – Desire Line
Goldie – Letting Go
Martsman – Halow
Dom & Roland – Electric Smile
Theory – Question Mark
Trei & Dose – The Other Part of Me
Klute – Divinity
Shy FX – Bambaata (Break Remix)
Loxy & Munk – Genocide
Break – Headz Up
Keaton & Hive – The Plague (Hive Remix)
D.Kay & Lee – Extazzy
D.Kay & Lee – Wax’d (D.Kay Remix)
Telemetric – The Bane
Panda – Leaving Amsterdam

2008, Ear & Drum Session, Liquid D&B

Defunk – Ear & Drum Session 4

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This is mix number 2 of 3 for the 2008 overviews.

This one concentrates mainly on the pumped up Liquid Funk sound of labels like Horizons, Westbay and Hospital. It’s has that liquid vibe, but with some serious dance floor pump behind it and when the bass fires up it means business.

Recommended playing volume: Max

 

Defunk – 2hrs of the chunky and the funky

Atlantic Connection – Interlude To LA
Altair – Collateral
SpectraSoul – Alibi
Jonny L – Oh Yeah
Makoto & T-Ak – Voyager
Bachelors of Science – Strings Track (Apex Remix)
Nu:Tone – Balaclava
Logistics – Slow Motion
London Elektricity – Southeastern Dream
Bachelors of Science – Song for Lovers
Tyler Srtaub – Walk With You
Mutt – Era’s
Equinox – Love They Brother (Breakage – Dub Thy Brother Remix)
Kahluah Funk feat. MC Chevy – Play It
R0b0t Redford & Micael Sauer – Missing Out
High Contrast – The Ghost of Jungles Past
Solar Empire – Dynamic
Blue Sonix feat. Michael Moult – Luv Me (Logistics Remix)
Mistabishi – She Lied
ICR – Overtime
Logistics – Intervention
Nu:Tone – System (Matrix & Futurebound Remix)
DJ Clart – Avenue
Nu:Tone feat. Brookes Brothers – Gold Rush
Nero feat. Alana – Solid Air
Influx UK – Show Em’ What You Got
Mistabishi – No Matter What
Shebuzz – In Infinity
Atlantic Connection – Outro to Paradise

2008, Chill Out, Deep D&B, Ear & Drum Session, Liquid D&B

Chillax – Ear & Drum Session 3

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It’s that time of year again when I hit the decks and try to knock up 6 hours worth of the best D&B tracks for that year. This is part 1 of 3 and comprises of the best 2 hours of the deeper and chilled side of D&B.

I figure a good many of us probably have sore heads today, so this will ease you into 2009.

 

Chillax – 2hrs of the deeply chilled

Altiar – Reminisce
Calibre – Big Bang
Calibre – Shine
Sinistarr – How We Do 
Sinistarr – Colli Park
Mutt – It’s Pouring Once Again
Dirrrty B – Let’s Make Some Love
Breakage – Cooper
Commix, Nu:Tone & Logistics – Ghost Snare 
Kapsil – Numb
Naibu – It Took A Long Time
Calibre – Overreaction
D-Bridge feat. Instrumental – Blush Response 
Commix – Bear Music
D-Bridge – The Question
Well Being – Smoke Signal
D-Bridge – Mr Malcontent
Naibu feat. Artic – Pacific
ST Files – Moods
Stunna & Amaning – Mutual Life
Rob Sparks – Wildlife
Redeyes – Blue Note
High Contrast – If We Ever
KM & Paralyzah – Nega
Adele – Home Town Glory (High Contrast Remix)
Prim8 – Karma
Bachelors of Science – Hold On feat. Redeyes 
ICR – The Way it Goes
Utah Jazz – Atmosphere Intro

Ear & Drum Session, Jungle, Old Skool

Jungle Survival: Lesson 1 – Ear & Drum Session 2

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I wasn’t mixing ragga jungle in 94, but we used to get sent these crazy mix tapes with the roughest sounding tracks. All angry and full of gunshot samples. The tracks mainly consisted of an Amen, a phat sub-bass and a yardie/rasta lyric. And to me and my mates it was the most exciting and hardcore sound in the world.

Finally I got to jam together all those tracks that I used to listen to back in the day and lay down a ragga jungle mix of my own. I’ve tried avoiding the really obvious tracks on this and sough out the more obscure artists. Although I haven’t neglected some of the massive classics from 1994 like Hitman (Dream Team Remix) and Sound Control.

Whether your are a hardcore ragga fan or you’re just jungle curioius this mix will sort you right out.

 

Jungle Survival: Lesson 1 – 1hr of 1994 Ragga Jungle

Flex & Fats – Somebody
Code 071 – A London Sumtin’ (Tek 9 Remix)
Sonz Of A Loop Da Loop Era – What The… (Remix)
Higher Sense – Higher Sense
Mc Olive’n Slam Collective – Heaven & Hell
DJ Nut Nut – Special Dedication (V.I.P. Mix)
Asend & Ultravibe – What Kind of World
Az One – Calling All The People (Remix)
Randal & Andy C – Sound Control
F.O.I. & David Thomas – Lend Me
Family of Intelligence – Unity feat. Simpleton (Remarc Remix)
Marvelous Caine – Hitman (Dream Team Remix)
Potential Bad Boy With MC Det – What’s Your Name
Smokey Joe – 4 Meg Soundboy
Remarc – Da Clash
SHY FX & Gunsmoke – Original Gansta
Gunsmoke & the Hempaholics – Court Case