All DJ Crystl Mix Part Two – by Law

15 May
2011

DJ CrystlYou cannot fail to notice that Drumtrip (mostly me) loves pretty much everything DJ Crystl put his hand to.
No one made amens, strings and that spacey vibe to tracks like Daniel Chapman and a few years a ago I did a tribute mix to the man featuring all the biggest DJ Crystl tracks which can be found here on DNBA Forums (I’ll post up a proper link soon).

Anyway, I have finally got hold of a few rarer vinyls, as well as a couple of mp3s and managed to knock this together; a selection of lesser known remixes, tunes from Deejay Recordings STU white label series and some B-sides….. but all are still huge.

So…

01. DJ Crystl – Give It Up – STU
02. Slipmaster J – Groundhog Day (DJ Crystl Remix) – STU
03. DJ Crystl – Let It Roll (Remix) – STU
04. Zero B – Lock Up (DJ Crystl Counterforce Remix) – Internal
05. MI5 – I Can’t Understand – Lucky Spin
06. DJ Tamsin & The Monk – A Better Place (DJ Crystl Remix) – Whitehouse
07. DJ Crystl – Live EP – STU
08. DJ Crystl – Deep Cover – Freakout Recordings
09. DJ Crystl – The Dark Crystl – Force Ten Records
10. DJ Crystl – King Of The Beats – Moving Shadow
11. DJ Crystl – Meditation (Remix) – Deejay
12. DJ Crystl – Untitled – Deep Jungle
13. Code Blue – Angels In Dub (DJ Crystl Remix) – Deejay
14. DJ Crystl – Mind Games – Earth

Bargain Jungle: Funki Porcini – King Ashabanapal (Dillinja Remix)

11 May
2011

Funki Porcini - King Ashabanapal (Dillinja Remix)Big remix here from Dillinja, as they all were back in 1995, this time Ninja Tune stalwart Funki Porcini gets the treatment, the tune being King Ashabanapal.

The original is a fairly downtempo affair, Dillinja switches it as he does; with amens everywhere and huge sub bass, it is a fairly standard amen work out but as fair as Drumtrip is concerned, you cant have too many of them.

This one is part of 5 tracker featuring the original, Dillinja remix and a Plaid remix, you can get it on Discogs from as little as £1.50!

Zero B – Lock Up (DJ Crystl Counterforce Remix) download

11 May
2011

Counterforce - A Collection Of Deep BeatsYou may have get by now that Drumtrip is a huge fan of DJ Crystl, but this has to be just about his rarest or most unknown tune.
Zero B’s Lock Up was a flat out rave classic but DJ Crystl dropped a very nice, but subtle remix here.
Released only on the super rare Counterforce – A Collection Of Deep Beats LP alongside a few other Crystl gems and bits from Lemon D and Hyper On Experience there tunes rolls out nicely, with typical Crystl pitched beats and deep strings.

It would appear it was only ever released on this album, on both CD and vinyl and nowhere else since and I finally stumbled across a decent copy when browsing the excellent Blog To The Oldskool site, so much thanks to them, the original post can be found here.

Audio, you can download a copy here courtesy of Blog To The Oldskool or check the video below.

DJ Lee Metalheadz Podcast – Unreleased Dubs!

10 May
2011

DJ Lee has been around since the beginning, and as such has many an unreleased tune knocking about which he has kindly put up in the form of a Metalheadz podcast.
Unreleased tunes from around 1993 onwards, some big ones to from Peshay. Doc Scott, Photek, PFM, Roni Size and more.
Thanks to the people at DOA for the attempt at the tracklisting.

-download-

DJ Lee Metalheadz00:00 – Peshay – ??
07:30 – Doc Scott – Amen Track
12:50 – J Majik – Apache (Alternate Mix)
18:40 – Hidden Agenda – The Flute Tune (Doc Scott Remix)
25:00 – J Majik – Your Sound (Remix)
30:00 – Roni Size & DJ Krust – Formulate
34:30 – Wax Doctor – The Step (Not Metalheadz release)
39:40 – Photek & Peshay
46:00 – PFM – ??
54:40 – DJ Krust – Asian love dance (Remix)

May Day 2011 Jungle Mix by Law

5 May
2011

A mix from myself here, a random selection of a few not so obvious tunes.

Tracklisting looks like…

01.. Remarc – Ricky (Remarc & Lewi Cipher Remix) – Dollar
02.. Funky Porcini – King Ashabanapal (Dillinja Remix) – Ninja Tune
03.. Desired State – Killer Beat (Q-Bass Remix) – Ram
04.. Suburban Knights – State Of Art – Intelligent Music Company
05.. Tom & Jerry – On & On – Tom & Jerry
06.. Koda – Time Of Signs – Intalektive
07.. Natural Mystic – Space – Octopus Records
08.. Deep Blue – Sunset Over Stevenage – Moving Shadow
09.. DJ Crystl – Live EP – STU
10.. Phaze 1 – Try A Style – Odysee
11.. Dillinja & Ruffkut – Vol 3 A – Heavyweight
12.. Intense – Prophecy – Rugged Vinyl
13.. Oaysis – Outcry – Moving Shadow
14.. Scarface – I Seen A Man Die (4 Hero NW2 Gangsta Move) – Virgin

Bargain Jungle: DJ Crystl – Warp Drive (Remix)

6 Apr
2011

dj-crystl-warpdrive-remix-deejayIt took me a while to really appreciate Warp Drive remix after being so obsessed by the original for years, but this is the kind of tune you need to listen to extremely loud, or with headphones and let it just take you away.

It is a fantastic remix, every aspect of the original has been changed but the pattern and key elements are all still there.
Instead of an amen you have a ingeniously cut ‘Let A Woman Be A Woman’ break (as used in Digital & Spirit – Phantom Force). This break is harsh, abrasive and does not flow as nicely as the original amen but that sort of adds to the appeal, the original mix had its moments but this version is seriously dark to begin with.
Familiar sounding synths begin the build up to something big, and when it eventually breaks down it is arguably even more euphoric and other-worldly than the original.

The whole tune just sounds massive, like an event on a universal scale, kind of like Darth Vader built the Death Star not as a intergalactic weapon but as an advanced Digital Audio Workstation, and its first job was to remix Warp Drive.

I’m sure I have mentioned it on here before but DJ Crystl was on another level really, and only he could do the original Warp Drive justice.
Oh and I nearly forgot to mention the flipside which is the epic Meditation Remix, imagine if the original mix and ‘Your Destiny’ were spliced together, thats what you get. Typical crunchy Crystl amens and more string and vocal goodness than you can handle.

The vintage bit of Deejay Recordings wax is available for the scandalously cheap price of £3.25 on discogs (at time of writing).

Lucky Spin STU series mix by Noisemonkey

1 Apr
2011

Noisemonkey of Subvert Central has compiled a most excellent mix of pretty much all the STU releases by vintage label Lucky Spin.

Lucky Spin and it’s main offshoot Deejay Recordings were huge and pioneered what I can only describe as ‘Deep Space Jungle’, DJ Crystl in particular but also Orca (aka Decoder), Slipmaster J, DJ Trace and the Invisible Man all played a huge part, mostly with legendary engineer Pete Parsons on the desk.
STU was not necessarily the label name but it was a series of white labels put out by Lucky Spin without only the cat number of STU followed by the number itself, as you can see below some of these tracks do not have tune names, some are not even artist credited but that was part of the mystique in Jungle back in those days I guess.
Anyway, the mix….

-Download-Lucky Spin Recordings

DJ Crystl – Live EP
DJ Crystl – Give It Up
Slipmaster J – Groundhog Day
Slipmaster J – Groundhog Day (Remix)
DJ Crystl – Let It Roll (Remix)
Orca – 4 AM12
Voyager – Knowledge
Koda What Kind Of World
Acro Superpod
Orca Dancehall
Koda – What Kind Of World
Tonic – Keep It Real
DJ Crystl – Loose
STU-14?
STU-15? – Life Is A Roll
STU-16? – Shelter
Tonic – Wake Up Call
DJ Trace – ??
STU-19? – In The Sky
STU-20?
Psykis – Pretend
Tonic – The Mack / Hip To The Hoppa
1996 STU-23
1996 STU-24 Voyager – Sky High
Invisible Man – Tripping On Technology

Bargain Jungle: M-Beat & Jamiroquai – Do U Know (Where You’re Coming From)

31 Mar
2011

M-Beat & Jamiroquai - Do U Know (Where Your Coming From)Like many big, and respected acts of the mid 90’s Jamiroquai dabbled in a bit of jungle, but it was not just a thoughtless remix, they actually collaborated with the once huge (and then outcasted) M-Beat.

Jamiroquai were already well known for their laid back, acid jazz stylings and it seemed a logical progression (sorry!) that they would make a jazzy / mellow drum & bass tune as Bukem and co. were so popular.

The beauty of this remix is despite its happy, sing-a-long lyrics it still, to me anyway, carries an air of D&B respectability with production from M-Beat, and remixes from Jumping Jack Frost and DJ Dextrous.

The original M-Beat mix features Jay Kay on the vocals, along side some unidentified MC with some simple rhymes on the build up (extended mix only). Breezy sub bass and rhodes make for a nice track.
The Jumping Jack Frost remix is more of a stepper; its fully instrumental, switched up rhodes and bass and a stomping beat.

If you are a Jamiroquai fan anyway, like myself, its definitely a worth addition to any collection.
As always we end on the price, currently as cheap as 75p (yes £0.75) on discogs. Get in.

Tune of the day: Mickey Finn & Aphrodite – Drop Top Caddy

28 Mar
2011

So here goes then, my first post on Drum Trip… hopefully this will work as intended

Urban Takeover, one of Drum and Bass’s biggest borderline commercial labels of the mid 90’s, had its biggest success with Mickey Finn and Aphrodite’s ‘Bad Ass’ which featured on not only every top earning DJ’s sets during 1995 but has sinced graced many top 40 chart compilations. The label paved a way for the now commonly known term ‘Jump Up’ and made Aphrodite’s track mark production techniques a familiar sound with DJ’s and ravers alike. His style was mimicked by others but it was clear that Aphrodite was the only real master of his own sound. Clever sampling combined with the trademark bassline of the mid 90’s was a winning formula for the label but as Drum & Bass continued to evolve the longevity of the label was potentially being compromised.

The DJ Slip remix of Man of Steal by Vinyl Syndicate was a firm favourite worldwide and features the commonly sampled Superman theme. This obtained commercial success to a degree and still features on compilations to this day. Various attempts to rekindle the success were attempted by way of remixes although the only worthwhile attempt featured on the G.L.O.B.A.L Takeover LP.

Although Urban Takeover continue to release records, the real golden era for this label was between 1995 and 1999 – after the year 2000, in my opinion, the label lost its identity. Due to the rapidly changing styles of Drum & Bass and the demise of jump up as it was once known, previously unheard of producers joined the label in order to attempt to bring new ideas and styles to the masses.

With the History of Urban Takeover series reaching local record stores and chain giants alike in 2005 this was a sign that the label was either recouping losses or simply trying to reach the new generation. Was this a little too late? Who knows, but whatever is said about Urban Takeover you cannot argue that 16 or so releases from the label played a massive part in roots of Drum and Bass as we know it.

If your into this kind of Drum & Bass then please do check out my Soundcloud at http://soundcloud.com/section23
Jamie

Free Jungle MP3s: X-Nation – Foolproof / Mentasm Sleeps

29 Jan
2011

X-Nation aka Stimpy, the Brighton junglite brings two tunes curtesy of Blodclot Recordings, the press release reads;

Yo, we helped start of 2011 and January with 014 in our catalog, and we’re gonna wind down the first month of this new year with another release!

Hailing from Britain, the one X Nation delivers some ruff, tuff, and dangerous pure junglistic vibes with 015 in the Bludclot catalog.  “Foolproof” and “Mentasm Sleeps” are both proper runnin’ jungle tunes, each utilizing the same base for take off while running in different yet cohesive directions than the other.  With big punchy low ends and some deft clanky rollin’ chopped drums spiced up with some occasional ragga vocal drops, “Foolproof” is for the outerspace smoker massive on the floor; the perfect hybrid of headnod and bootyshake jungle drum’n’bass vibes. Decidedly more dancefloor driven, “Mentasm Sleeps” is still very spaced out, but riding the waves of the drums and bass to a more definite foot shuffling focus; dropping down to deep and dark early hardcore rave depths at points.  Together, fans of both rolling dancefloor jams and more so-called intelligent armchair jungle will be into this one, for sure.

+ BLUDCLOTdigital015

X Nation – “Foolproof / Mentasm Sleeps” [full]

X Nation – “Foolproof” [mp3]
X Nation – “Mentasm Sleeps” [mp3]

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