Ellis Dee is a legend. There isn’t anyone else out there who is more qualified to speak about the rave culture than this guy. He was there from when it started and he is still here now, making rave inspired tunes for the dancefloor.
Vinyl Fanatiks is lucky enough to be working alongside Ellis Dee, repressing his back catalogue and this release came out on 12” back in early 2019. Long since sold out, it was decided to create a super limited 7” version to celebrate the rise of vinyl once again. These edits were created by Ellis Dee himself exclusively for Vinyl Fanatiks.
These tracks were huge in 1992 and were the anthems of Fantazia, one of Ellis Dee’s favourite raves. We decided to create this on 7” as homage to the many rave 7” singles that came out in 1992. It’s a lost format in the world of rave represses, so we brought it back again, for a limited time.
Grab a copy while you can as its very unlikely we will press them again.
Skrufneck is the infamous DJ Pooch, hailing from Kent, UK. He was well known as a DJ on the rave circuit back in the early 90’s, playing at World Dance, Reincarnation, Arcadia, Tribal Dance and Elevation to name a few. He was also producing many great hardcore rave classics during this period and this release is the first that we have repressed from his backcat.
Over the past few years Pooch has been reinspired by the interest in the hardcore scene and has returned to the studio to make brand new rave anthems using his original analogue equipment that he had back in the day, recording for Vinyl Fanatiks sister label, Amen Brother.
This was the first release on his short-lived Skrufneck label, originally released in 1993. Now available on heavyweight green vinyl for 2022.
The rave legend and super talented DJ/Producer Ellis Dee i8s back on Vinyl Fanatiks with his 1993 repress of his classic proto-jungle vibes, released on his own CAT Records back in the day.
Another hugely collectable piece of UK rave/jungle history, licensed courtesy of Ellis Dee himself. As the great man explains:
“’Big Up’ was a popular tune for me back then, one I use to play often in my sets. The release did really well, so I just thought I should capitilise upon that sound and add something else on the flipside that had a similar vibe. I’ve always tried to produce stuff that was a bit different to what other people were playing. I always thought about my DJ sets when I made tunes. I wasn’t thinking about the other producers when I made music. I was thinking of other DJ’s and how I could stand out against the competition”.
Pressed on Aquatic Blue vinyl, this is a limited run of 300 units, presented in the attractive Vinyl Fanatiks housebag.
The Dubster is an alias of drum and bass legend L Double. Released originally in 1993 on Edzy (Unique 3) label No Noise.
This EP has been a highly collectable bit of vinyl for many years and a tricky one to hunt down. It captures the vibe of the era from the Huddersfield area of the UK. As Lee Double explains:
“The ‘Lighter Shades Of Dark’ EP was started at the RAID studios in Huddersfield. But during the making of the EP I moved to my studio to Bradford as I had started a distribution company called Wax Works which was based in Bradford. I did the distro in the day and worked at night on music. We did 1000 units and they all sold. I use to swap spare stock and whites labels with DJ SS too. I would take what he had and then I would put them into my distribution company and help sell them for him. I covered all around Yorkshire, down to Nottingham, but I also drove up to the borders of Scotland, visiting all the record shops, leaving records with them on sale or return. We were seriously spreading the word, looking back we were running things up here!”
Pressed on Aquatic Blue vinyl, this is a limited run of 300 units, presented in the attractive Vinyl Fanatiks housebag.
Brian Fenner, aka DJ Monita, first started to hit the clubs as a DJ in 1991, making his debut at the Paradise Club on a Thursday night, but when he first started to make his tapes, he didn’t have a DJ name and the tapes went out nameless, explaining why no one on the estate knew it was him behind the mixtapes. “An old girlfriend told me that I needed to sort myself out with a DJ name, so I did. Though I wasn’t very imaginative with it back then, I just named myself after monitor speakers!” Brian laughs “But I wish I didn’t change the spelling to Monita all those years ago as people keep thinking that I am a Spanish female DJ!”
This is was the 12th release that Monita put out on his Skeleton Recordings, released in 1994. Now remastered and repressed on heavyweight green vinyl for 2022.
“We were all about those atmospherics” Justice explains, recalling his early years working alongside Blame. “I had already worked with White House Records alongside Andrew Mercy. Mo’s Music, who ran White House, distributed our first EP ‘Concrete Jungle’ and off the success of that EP they wanted us to record something for their label, so we did the ‘Mixed Concrete’ EP for them. That was in 1992 and only the fifth release on the label. I then went back to them in 1994 with the ‘Soothe My Soul’ remixes. 1993 though was a very quiet period for myself and Blame working together. We dropped off a bit as the scene went dark. We both stopped listening to what was coming out and we started dabbling in other styles, including progressive house. We could try out new ideas, experiment and be young and adventurous with what we made. It wasn’t till Bukem came out with ‘Music’ that the both of us fell back in love with the scene again… We would go down to Reading, to Vinyl Distribution, during 1994, and hear all this new music by the likes of Roni, Krust and Bukem. It was inspiring. I think the first time I went down there was with a friend of mine called KC. He ran the jungle label Deep & Dark Recordings and was local to me. He was distributed by Vinyl, so when I went down there I was introduced to Phil and he already knew who I was as he had heard of Justice. He was like ‘You are Justice? You need to do some stuff with us’ and that was how my Modern Urban Jazz label came about. It was a P&D deal, pressing and distribution, which meant I could release what I wanted, when I wanted. It worked well.”
Serotonin An alias started by Krome & Time after they left Suburban Base as they wanted a clean break and the freedom to advance their craft.
A hugely successful self-distributed white label back in 1992, this release became a firm favourite of all the raves of the time and which still resonates on mixtapes from that era. As the guys state themselves:
“This was the time when the white label was king. That’s what people wanted. It felt more exclusive and special and we wanted to do something like that, to get in on that scene. So we pressed up a load of copies and filled up the boot of the car and just drove around the country. We use to use flyers to help us. Often these big raves would list local record shops where you could buy tickets, so we used those to build up a list of shops around the country using those as our resource and we would hit the road”.
Pressed on Aquatic Blue vinyl, this is a limited run of 300 units, presented in the attractive Vinyl Fanatiks housebag.
This is a very collectable EP within the breakbeat/hardcore scene with copies changing hands in excess of £350.00. Written by London born Mixmaster Max whose first step into public life was that of a breakdancer in the early 80’s when he was just a kid with a crew called The Back Street Warriors, showcasing his talents at the infamous Covent Garden jams of the same era. He then got into DJing and scratching and entered the DMC Championships and is credited as the inventor of the Topsy Turvey – stacking turntables on top of each other for a DJ routine!
As like many DJ’s around the late 80’s in London he gravitated out of hip hop and into the rave culture and from here he started to perform at many events such as Fantazia, The Pirate Club, Turnmills and the Hacienda in Manchester as well as a residency on a Friday night alongside John Saunderson - the General Manager of DMC - at Camden Palace. From his club work he started to play on the London pirates Kool FM and Centreforce and on legal stations Peoples Choice and Avenues FM.
These tracks are precursors to the soon to blossom jungle scene and highlight Max’s musical history with his creative sample play. You won’t find much more authentic hardcore than this EP, which really highlights the sound of London back in 1993.
Newton aka Nick Newton aka Nick Rhythm Section. You know this EP is going to hit the spot when you have one of the original members of the first rave super group on production!
Originally released on Rhythm Section Recordings in 1992, this EP will be well known to many who use to got to the big raves of the early 90’s. Every track captures that moment of history, erupting into peak time rave anthems with hooks and riff that imprint into your brain!
The tracks go from the darker side of the scene into full on rave anthems for the hand sin the air crew. You know if it came out on RSR back in the day that it will tick every box and more.
Rhythm Section are still very much friends and still find time to go into the studio together. Watch out for more original material by the band coming out on Vinyl Fanatiks during 2022.
The two tracks on this release ‘Take Me To Your Leader’ and ‘Bodyrock’ were made in Stu J’s living room at the Polygon in Southampton. His studio partner Don had a Roland W30 work station that he would bring over, which was an all in one sampler and sequencer. “I think this is also what The Prodigy used at the time” Stu tells me.
There was also an Akai 950, a 24 track Allen & Heath desk and a Quadraverb which Stu owned. “I think that was it, that’s all we had to make these tracks. It was such a great time that you could make music with such limited gear. It was like things were better if you had minimal gear to work with.” When the tracks were completed Stu used a company called Perpetual for all the cutting and pressing as he didn’t have any links directly, so a one stop shop was the best course of action to get his releases out there.
“It was a crazy experience. As we had limited sample time, big sections of the track are mixed in live from another record on the decks. Don had the sequencer, so he knew what he was doing on that side of things, far more than me. I was the DJ and knew how a tune should be structured. Don was an amazing engineer. He was so much more than an engineer though.
This track is a seminal tune for any raver on the South Coast of the UK as Stu would be playing Madisons, Remix, Adrenalin parties as well as Fantazia at Matchams. But this release went far beyond the south, it was a national treasure that take those who listen back to 1991, the year this release was first pressed. Now available remastered and repressed on heavyweight green vinyl.
Fruit & Veg is a hardcore collective from London and Bristol comprising of Martin Drake, Rich Williams, Dave Cridge and James Towler. With two white label releases to their name, differing members are responsible for each tune. These EPs are highly sought after on Discogs and change hands for high prices.
This EP is the first of their collaborative efforts and only 500 white labels were released and sold out the back of a van across London and the South West of England back in 1993. The are now brought to you on heavyweight green vinyl.
Law & Auder hail from the Hoxton/East London area around 1995 and appear in numerous ‘Most collectable jungle records of all time’ lists. And this release is one of those highly collectable records, reaching prices on Discogs in access of £125.
These guys produce raw, reggae fused jungle rollers, with many more releases due to drop on Vinyl Fanatiks in the years to come.
They recall: Phil: “Gimme (The Weed)’ sat about for well over a year, originally being started in 1993. It was thanks to Martin that it ever came out at all. At the time there was an era in the jungle scene, when a big spliff tune was needed. It was the done thing and everyone had one going on at the time and we needed to have our own out there. Stamp our name and vibe on the scene.” Martin adds for clarity that “It was funny as neither of us smoked weed!”
Pressed on Aquatic Blue vinyl, this is a limited run of 300 units, presented in the attractive Vinyl Fanatiks housebag.
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