Such a tight riddim. Lovely to mix with! Remarc was a breakbeat master. Definitely the king of Amen back then (although this is more of a Funky Drummer workout, with the Amen taking a back seat). He influenced all the Amen editing that came after him. Record collecting and raving in the 90s. What a time, man! Some of the best days of my life!
Yea, they had limited tools so focused on the rhythm and arrangement. Some of it might sound like poor engineering, but on a big sound system it tears it down ;)
Top rave tune!!! Classic :) - rave? hardcore? jungle? drum & bass? It's in that perfect grey area of time (92-95) where there were many tunes that now couldn't really be categorised. Not that I really care, but a lot of YT commenters seem to when it comes to music genres, sub-genres etc.
'93 was on the brink of transformation from Hardcore to Jungle. I mean, so much so that the term 'Hardcore-Jungle' started to come into play. Some people like to seperate the two, but they are one and the same, an evolution of sound. You can tell by the other tracks on this ep, they are far more Hardcore orientated. When i was buying records, like 31 Seconds, Return to Atlantis and Dark Stranger, i was buying Hardcore ! Thats what the scene was. But now people claim those same records are Jungle. No, Hardcore evolved sound and production wise from the Rave sound some associate it with, to more breaks, bass and synths/samples, the structure that evolved into the Jungle phase. But yea, it is a grey area, and '93 is without a doubt my favourite era ! I can never quite describe it but it's got this futuristic, part dark, sometimes uplifting sound and i think it's completely unique. Actually i was thinking about music the other day. There is nothing like D&B. Completely unique and it's crazy when i think about it, how we love and respond to this sped up breakbeat. Everything else is kind of 'regular' in structure and tempo. House, Rap, Rock, etc. But here we are taking a breakbeat recording, speeding it up to 165bpm, and boom it's a genre that does damage and never ends.
@Heart & Soul Recordings yes mate so happy to have witnessed that transition from happy hard-core to dark jungle. Ruined the raves in the end but glad I got to enjoy the early grooves
@Heart & Soul Recordings just read your full comment. Spot on. I remember waiting for and getting the latest Helter-skelter & Dreamscape 8-pack cassette tape recordings of the raves down the record shop, me and the boys would all get round someone's house to have a smoke and bang them out loud.. I can still listen to most of this stuff now and it still feels fresh and alive, what an era, a real revolution, I don't think we will see another one like it in music again sadly
