Is this the sound of the future or fragments of the past coming back to haunt us? Is a remix of a classic thirty years after the fact an exercise in hauntology or a time loop closing? When hardcore came bowling out of the UK underground, it was sci-fi postulating rendered on wax, but it also reflected an inescapable reality at street level. Idealist, escapologist music that said as much about decades of inner city pressure as it did about outer space fantasies. A sweet refrain underpinned by a necessary ruffness, the elegant ballet of a break dissected 16 different ways over 16 bars, the protest pulse of the subs carrying the torch from one soundsystem culture to another.
What hardcore successfully struck on was so definably alien it set a new paradigm which has been cast back and forth in dialogue ever since. Whole scenes have risen and receded around these principles, and the constant remains – masses of bass carrying angular rhythms, unnerving echo chambers of disembodied voices and moments of staggering beauty and masterful ugliness. These principles have a universal appeal that burns bright generation to generation, never seemingly diminishing but rather fortifying with time. Sometimes a surge of inspiration finds the principles reinterpreted in head-spinning new ways, but the ethic remains the same.
Those shaky, intrepid years of lo-fi samplers and narrow band broadcasts were defined by their lack of definition. Take a punt on a rare groove lick and work out how to get the low end louder. Then everything got organised – in the face of mass appeal scenes started splintering and preferences catered to. It may not have been a force for unity, but it engendered more intensive investigation. Years of scenes, styles, subgenres, niches, furrows, corridors, avenues, detours, each more hyper-specific than the last. Eventually though, everything breaks down so much it all becomes one mass again – a constant cross-contamination between these intensely cultivated strains, creating ever more potent hybrids that simply feed back into the temporal swirl.
Basic Rhythm returns to Sneaker Social Club with new EP "I Don't Know What I Would Do". A side opener, What I Would Do, starts with a stepping percussive melody line and sampled vocal before dropping into a 4/4 stomp and warm bassline, drawing upon Detroit Techno of old in his own inimitable style. The second track, I Just Don't Know, opens with lush keys and female vocal refrain of "I just don't..." gradually building up the percussive elements until dropping into his trademark percussion and sub bass work out.
The B side opens with Annihilate. Worn out pads and sparse percussive stabs gradually open up and make way for a slow build up before dropping into a gritty bass line that stumbles headlong into clattering percussion and the unmistakable howl of Grace Jones as the vocals switch and pan and swirl into a disorienting haze. Closing the EP is Plodding Along, a slow yet upbeat vibe pervades the track, with Basic Rhythm's trademark percussion and a happy go lucky bass line that lilts along content to exist in its own world.
From the slamming science of “Ricochet,” through the jittery ghost-rave of “Survival” and the outer-space lover’s rock of “Dubbing You,” to the manic magic of “Finest Illusion,” this collection of early EPs by rave legends Foul Play tracks an astonishing evolution across barely more than a year. Some of the top tunes to come out of the hardcore > jungle > drum & bass journey? Yes, but also some of the most thrilling and gorgeous music of the entire ‘90s.
Simon Reynolds, author of Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture.
Re-mastered by Beau Thomas of Ten Eight Seven Mastering and re-issued for your aural pleasure. Don't sleep on this one!
The latest transmission from Sneaker Social Club welcomes Low End Activist into the fold for a record that draws heavily on soundsystem culture and in particular its social function in the Afro-Caribbean communities it stemmed from.
The source material for this record of fractured bass pressure is a VHS recording of Muzikon Sound System, captured in 1988 on the Blackbird Leys estate in Oxford, UK. The vibe pours out of the scenes captured – it was a famously hot summer, and Earthy Irie’s crew set their rig up at the Blackbird Leys summer fair, gifting the community with a wall of sound blasting out ruff n’ tuff 80s dancehall while the local deejays toasted over the top. Elsewhere Street Level would have had their system set up playing UK Soul, Hip-Hop, Proto Rave and Acid House, while further down the field (known locally as ‘the wreck’) the annual five-a-side football tournament took place.
The fair was a symbol of the unity of the estate – a multi-ethnic working class community bound together both by the looming presence of the car factory (where a massive portion of the residents worked) but also the long simmering social divide in Oxford. Since the founding of Oxford University, the country’s elite have needed people to do their dirty work, predictably exploiting and marginalising them in the process. As the city and its colleges expanded, so these communities were ushered out of town. The tensions between the classes reached a flash point repeatedly throughout the centuries, and it was no different during the 1991 riots on
the Blackbird Leys estate. As with similar riots elsewhere in Britain – Brixton, St Pauls, Toxteth, and elsewhere – heavy handed, not to mention misguided, police tactics loom large in the story, where the elite and the authorities fail to understand the community, how and why it functions the way it does.
Drawing on this snapshot of Oxford life, far from the international facade of the city’s privilege and power, with a deep-rooted, personal perspective, Low End Activist channels the raw energy and expression of Muzikon’s sound and frames it in the dread bass pressure that such soundsystems directly led to. It’s not dark music, but rather an intense one, defiant and proud like the Blackbird Leys community and so many of the social situations that gave rise to rave culture in the late 80s and early 90s.
The people from the estate would take their skill, knowledge and access to ‘the factory’ and use it to joyride high-end sports cars – a celebration of personal liberty in the face of social barriers enforced by the very people who would buy such things. Now Low End Activist applies his own craft to an amazing artefact from decades past, not so much joyriding with it as respectfully doffing his cap to the community in a show of solidarity, letting the jubilant sound play out once more
Dream Cycle returns for the third instalment in his series of EPs on Sneaker Social Club. 4 tracks cover a range of moods from the tough, club ready 2 step on “Told You” to the slo-mo ambient throb of “Untitled Dream”.
DJ Support
Dusky, Deadboy, Breaka, Changsie, Barely Legal, LMajor, Foul Play, Jackie House, Jossy Mitsu, Kate Miller, Etch, Kornel Kovacs, Coco Bryce, Delfonic, Octo Octa, Avalon Emerson, Silvia Kastel, FaltyDL, Ciel, Gigsta, 2 Bad Mice, Etch, Kornel Kovacs, Coco Bryce, Michael Serafini, Chris Farrell (Idle Hands), Interplanetary Criminal, Turbojazz, Molly, Alec Falconer, Vera, Raresh, Edmondson, DJ Fart In The Club, Re:ni, Rey Colino (Kalahari Oyster Cult), Banoffee Pies + more
Through a misty, nostalgic lens of long days and nights lost in front of sound systems, Soundbwoy Killah delivers his much anticipated debut album to Sneaker Social Club. True to previous drops on this and other labels, this is rave romanticism with a bite, as much viewing the good old days with a wry smile as longing for their return. Just listen to the opening strains of “Escape Velocity,” as the MC manages a sticky situation and tries to keep cool while sending the crowd on their way “in an orderly fashion.”
As much as hardcore, jungle, acid, techno and house inform Halcyon Daze, the sonic signifiers of that ‘golden era’ of rave culture are bedded in a poignant, reflective shroud. From lingering pads to distant, reverb drenched vocal snatches, a hint of melancholy hovers over these scattered but vivid memory triggers. Reese bass has never reverberated so deep, sirens never sounded so lost at sea.
The real art in Soundbwoy Killah’s craft lies in the juxtaposition between these languid, introspective elements and bright, sharply rendered arcs of sound that bring the music right into the foreground. This isn’t a pure exercise in nostalgia – stripped of their aggressive armour plating, a lot of these familiar elements take on a new expressive identity. Whether it’s the strafing arps in “Tom Loves To Rave,” or softly nudging the rolling breaks of “Under The Influence” into a downtempo, chill-out room headspace, Halcyon Daze proves how much mileage there still is in these battle-scarred sonic tools.
It’s not all one-dimensionally downcast either – “Heartbeats” is a rude n’ ruff celebration of amen choppage, while “Wanna Hold U” channels the ghost of UK garage with one eye cast back to its US house roots. “All Night Long” finishes the record on a charging high, all tightly clipped tech step beats and bright synths that cast their gaze ahead with optimism. The themes of lost love and fuzzy memories echo throughout Halcyon Daze, but rather than wallowing in the past, this open-ended finishing move springs forward with purpose. One gets the feeling there’s plenty more to come from Soundbwoy Killah.
Shout out to my Barry’s ‘Da Mix’, Leon, Vonnett, James, Tilde, Jamie K, Edem, MR2, Fugee, 88.2 Crew, Leon at Music House, Loxy, Mike P, Logos, Parris, Mickey Pearce, Scratcha, all the silent listeners and all the bedroom ravers.
Run out groove etching “I’m oldskool like Stratford Rex, I’m oldskool like Temple”
Pure raw unfiltered Hardcore, just like it was back in the day. Stepping up here on contemporary UK rave imprint, Sneaker Social Club - Jerome Hill re-animates his Hornsey Hardcore alias for a third time. The object of the Hornsey Hardcore project is to make early 90's style Hardcore tracks but without using any extra production frills or modern twists. It's legit!
DJs - The Black Madonna, Special Request, Minimal Violence, Serge, Octo Octa, Kate Miller, Gigsta, Jackie House (Honey Soundsystem), Happa, Coco Bryce, DJ Guy, Dixon Avenue Basement Jams, Alan Fitzpatrick, Object Blue, Extrawelt, Len Faki, Stenny, Mark Archer, Deft, Julia Govor, 96 Back, Ciel, Johanna Knutsson, Neville Watson, Perc, De Sluwe Vos, Nick Craddock, JD Twitch (Optimo), Billy Nasty, Solid Blake, ASOK.
Etch's 'Ups & Downs' album is a collection of dubs which date as far back as 2014 and up to the present day. The album's tracks are united by being examples of the artists' efforts to escape the shackles of reality by using music as a vehicle.
The theme of space recurs across the material - both the 'outer-space' of the universe and galaxies that surround our planet and the 'inner-space' of exploring the infinite recesses and depths of our mind's imagination.
However these creations were made during a period experiencing a (not-uncommon) lifestyle of mad peaks, joy and optimism, and yet also, times of struggle, adversity and depression. That is of course a familiar human tale - but expressed here through Etch's own singular musical vision. Etch's music is informed by psychedelic experiences, sci-fi, occult and horror themed films and the evolution of gaming - (these being tools often used to escape the prescribed tedium of society's rules and roles).
This is then combined with a deep love of sampling vinyl and rearranging breakbeats in an unforced homage to his family roots in UK hardcore breakbeat, jungle and d'n'b. Furthermore, these hybrids are often filtered through a keen understanding of current musical developments which are then explored and deployed where it feels appropriate. Add to this a smattering of teenage Goth influences that rear their heads within the dark sound of certain tunes and you've got a serious distillation of culture being explored within these beats.
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