Episode 1 28-11-2021
Well! First edition of my show out in the wild. I use the word “show” in the loosest sense of the word of course. I suppose it can call itself a show as it’s not just a mix (in fairness my mixing is pretty light touch e.g. lame ) and I talk over the songs like a rave inspired Terry Wogan, maybe. Like all good things to do in life this whole trip was motivated by doing something that I’d like to listen too with the optimistic gamble that others would as well. When listening to mixes I often want to know what that track is called and as many top dj’s have said sometimes it’s good to just let the tracks B-R-E-A-T-H-E. So I tell you the name of the track and I pretty much play em from start to finish. Don’t get me wrong a beautifully crafted proper mix is a thing to behold but there’s a lot of cutters out there that have got that on lock. So… here we are Bass Scoops episode 1. Check out the links in the blog as gateways to moar-magic if you like.
No theme to this selection other than a collation of tracks that I’ve been really enjoying currently and a vague sense of sticking to the Bass Scoops design brief of bass led electronica across the “classic” genres tipping into the leftfield and sometimes looking to take the listener just off to one side of the road to find that lesser heard total freaking smasher. So here we go, a track by track break down of the show.
Track -1: Kicking it off with a rave revisited it’s Minders, Space from the 2021 Telepathy Double tape pack, yes you read that right, two C45’s coming straight out of 1991 just looking for a Hitachi Super Woofer to find a place called home, is a lovely self contained bass heavy psychedelic warehouse hypnosis session in just over 6 mins.
Track -2: A brace of Sneaker Social Club tracks straight out the blocks with 8ball’s Only Time Will Tell. This track is off 8ball’s Eleusis album, He has a history of raversonic experiments stretching back to 2015 on the self-run Grade 10 label which I really recommend checking out . This one is probably the most club focused track off the album, a delightfully floaty jungliest vibe.
Track -3 Renowned dubstep stable DEEP MEDi MUSIK up next with big name producer Von D’s Chestlick. A term I’ve only recently discovered is used to describe the physical sensation of bass frequencies pulsating through your chest as you get closer to a quality “proper” sound system. As they saying goes “Watch yer bassbins I’m telling ye!”.
Track -4: DUG, Moments in Time on the ever effervescent Cantina Cuts label. Producer Mark Donington brings us an absolute banger of 1993 retro breakbeat on the Insight EP 4 tracker. Hard to choose track but this one is slice of melodic jungle amen break nirvana.
Track -5: Bass music’s track of 2021 surely? A true masterpiece of complex new jungle that truly is fresh and not borrowing from the past. Sully’s 5ives has distilled nuclear energy into the opening section that rips out of the drop into a modern classic. The whole Overshadow project has been a class act from the beginning, selecting great artist, not playing it safe, not locked to the old school. Simon Colebrooke, of 2 Bad Mice fame ( Hold it Down is of my top tracks of all time btw…), regularly gets on the DOA forum and Twitter to answer questions and his love for the scene shines through. The vinyl is worth the price it for the artwork alone and the quality of the pressing is like they have a special machine for magically adding clarity and weight. Add them to your list of buy on sight labels.
Track – 6 & 7: Dave Charlesworth’s Energizer 2 EP, specifically track 2a. So, I got into this ass backwards as us Cornish like to say. Track 7 of this mix came from the Pillz EP, a modern mash up that was recommended to me as a modern Energizer. at the excellent Phonica records in London on my first trip back to the big smoke since Covid kicked off last year. If you haven’t been to Phonica records I really recommend it. Greats selection and a listening set up on the counter where you literally just stand there and ask if they have any jungle (other styles of music are available) and they hook you up with load of choice wax. Make sure you are happy to spend some money because you’re going to spend for sure.
Track – 8: The black crack as the vinyl collector’s affliction/addiction is a powerful curse. I read about the techno legendary Tresor label doing a special box set and when I saw it available on pre-order resistance was pretty futile. I should have been out in Berlin last Spring 2020 for Ableton Loop festival where I’d fortunately got guest passes for Tresor the club, sadly not to be… (thanks again Covid) but of course like a fiend this was a great “excuse” to buy the Tresor 30 box set as a form of karmic kompensation. It’s a beast of a box set, a 52 tracks spread 30 year retrospective across 12 12”s. Jenson Interceptor, or Mikey Melas to use his real name produced this track Seas of Rage fresh for the box set, inspired by the Techno Titans Drexcyia, nice little interview of the man here talking about his electro techno sound. This one went on the mix as I wanted something super hectic to match the energy of the mix but hopefully something that wouldn’t normally sit in a hardcore breakbeat led set.
Track – 9: Scuffed Recordings, according to Discogs is a label from High Class Filter & Ian DPM specialising in leftfield, UK-influenced club music. A massive roster of tunes worth checking out and a good way to do this is by listening to this excellent sampler mix . This track from San Franciscan producer Farsight, a keen student of the hardcore continuum, Renegade is an absolute belter, I just love the skittering breaks and vocodered vocals that rolls along , “Best beats in the biz coming atcha” indeed they do !
Track- 10: The third Sneaker Social Club track in the mix from the well-established artist Neil Landstrumm the originator of the self-proclaimed “wonky techno” genre. With a career crossing two decades now and releases on big labels like Tresor, Peacefrog and Mike Paradinas’s Planet Mu. This track Alt Rocker of the Yell Yell EPa breaks n bleeps collection of genre bending bass for your face has been on repeat at Casa del la Bass Scoops.
Track – 11: Bobby Gillespie, Andrew Innes, Robert Young (RIP) do not get the credit as total musical geniuses imho. I strongly recommend reading Gillespie’s recent book for insights into the hard won and studious development of their sound. This early development mix of the 12” only Screamadelica, criminally finished too late for inclusion in one of the best albums of all time, is an absolute gem of a tune found on the wonderful Demodelica album. This is surpassingly untouched by the hands and ears of equally God like genius Andrew Weatherall (RIP), but I reckon it’s a much better version that the one that got the release. That opening organ chord progression, simple lead line, lazy breakbeat and perfect bassline just does it for me. Sounds like Salsoul meeting P-funk – meeting the best party by a beach you’d ever go to. It’s only flaw is it’s too short by far so make sure you pull it back for the rewind
Hope you enjoyed this and Bass Scoops Radio epsisode 2 will be coming very soon.
J-baroudeur
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