Part of the Moving Shadow management, Shaun O’Keefe AKA Deep Blue teams up with original Shadow artist, Blame on this release from 1996.

Transitions starts with a cold string that almost sounds like its breathing before a simple metallic beat moves the track along. Gentle percussion gives the track more rhythm and a cold horn section add to the atmospherics as the beats just keep on rolling.

Re-Transitions is a pure blue note. The simple metallic beat from Transitions is expanded for more dance floor appeal, Superb edits on the beats and an acidic hook keep your attention locked on the groove. As the track nears its completion an uplifting chord section that sounds like it could have come straight from the Motor city itself puts some ice cold soul into the proceedings.

Two rolling tracks from Rob Playfords label showing that sometimes the simplest of ideas often work the best.

As with a lot of the Shadow releases from this time, there are plenty available online to buy, and a steal on Discogs from under £2.00.

The post Deep Blue & Blame – Transitions / Re-Transitions appeared first on Drumtrip - Hardcore / Oldskool Jungle Blog.

My set was bang either side of Moving Shadow artists DJ Trax and Hopa; so fittingly, I went with an early Moving Shadow selection.

Frontline operates the first and third weekend of every month, so stay tuned to the website and mixlr account for full the schedule.

01. Kaotic Chemistry – Drumtrip
02. Cosmo & Dibs – Oh So Nice
03. 2 Bad Mice – Hold It Down
04. Kaotic Chemistry – Strip Search
05. Kaotic Chemistry – Space Cakes
06. Blame – This Piano Track
07. Cloud 9 – You Got Me Burnin’
08. DJ Trax – High Time
09. Omni Trio – Mainline
10. Omni Trio – Step Off (Gold Blend Mix)
11. JMJ & Richie – Case Closed
12. JMJ & Richie – Hall Of Mirrors (Omni Trio Remix)
13. Omni Trio – I’ll Be There
14. Foul Play – Open Your Mind (Nookie Remix)
15. Deep Blue – Fantasy #2
16. 2 Bad Mice – Pitch black (Boom Boom Version)
17. Omni Trio – Thru The Vibe (2 One 1 Mix)

The post Law – Radio Frontline (01/06/14) appeared first on Drumtrip - Hardcore / Oldskool Jungle Blog.

Stevenage (Hertfordshire) gets a pretty bad rep, and to be honest, some of it is deserved.

It was the first of a series of 28 new towns to be built across post-war Britain, as such parts of it are pretty drab to look at to say the least. It also harbours an unusually high amount of teenage mothers, and probably more bookies and Cash Converters-style establishments per square mile than anywhere in the world.

But the place really isn’t as bad as people say it is. For starters it’s always kept me in employ, and got me on the property market. The town also builds a quarter of all the satellites orbiting the Earth, has a quite a pleasant old town section, and plenty of green areas.

But in my mind, Stevenage’s biggest gift to the world is Moving Shadow.

Moving Shadow was founded by Rob Playford in the neighbouring village of Watton-at-Stone (where I’m from!) back in 1990 after reading a book on how to launch a record label.

As Shadow grew in popularity it became obvious it could be no longer run out of a bedroom in Rob’s mum’s house in the village, so Rob soon upped sticks five miles down the road and moved to Stevenage.

As well as acting as a warehouse for vinyl stock, the house also home to the first Moving Shadow studio. Rob might not have had many solo writing credits to his name, but during their golden years of 93/94, he was involved in a lot of the early releases, often working as engineer.

The house gave birth to many huge Moving Shadow tracks of the era. Producers such as Foul Play, DJ Trax, Omni Trio, 2 Bad Mice (Si acting as label A&R), Hyper On Experience, all passed through to either sign with Rob, or to produce (or reproduce) their tunes on Rob’s equipment.

It was even the birthplace of what is surely the undisputed defining moment in drum and bass; Timeless. Goldie and Rob had many studio sessions in Stevenage, pushing their setup to the limit to produce the 21 minute long epic.

Rob reminisces on this during an old interview with Sound On Sound magazine…

“I was living in Stevenage at the time and would give Goldie a ride back to London when we’d finished; we just kept rewinding the string section on the trip back, it was so gorgeous.

“Eventually, we ended up with an instrumental version of the song, which to my mind was finished. With that version, we could just get from Stevenage to Goldie’s house in the time the track took to finish. That was the goal; to get Goldie home without any rewinding!

Stevenage didn’t just play an important part in the history of Moving Shadow. A few other nuggets…

• Ruff Kut! Records, known for tracks like ‘Information Centre‘ and ‘River Nijer’, was based in Stevenage
• Stevenage Arts and Leisure centre was known as one of the best rave venues in the country, hosting huge parties over the years such as United Dance.
• Long running station Impact FM was based in Stevenage – Specialising in hardcore, jungle and drum & bass (and later Garage, naturally)

The Sunset Over Stevenage

The whole town of Stevenage is kind of on a giant slope. Around spring time especially, on higher ground you’ll see a dramatic sunset over the town. For a few moments, it actually looks quite beautiful, and you momentarily forget its many faults.

I suspect this is what prompted Deep Blue to write this underrated little number on the b-side of the 2 Bad mice remix of Helicopter.

Its a progressive sounding track, like a lot of Deep Blue’s work at the time, with familiar sounding percussion, deep bass and trademark strings. Remember it next time you curse Stevenage as you speed past it on the A1.

I nearly forgot to mention… it’s as cheap as hell too. Get it on Discogs for under a pound. It may even by laying about in Stevenage Cash Converters if you dare go in there!

The post Deep Blue – Sunset Over Stevenage appeared first on Drumtrip - Hardcore / Oldskool Jungle Blog.

I decided to have a look through my record collection and pick out a few tunes that I really appreciated the drum patterns on. I tried to stay away from the straight amens, but it’s jungle, so sometimes you just can’t avoid it.

Not surprisingly, Source Direct make an appearance as well as PFM, Doc Scott and Red One.

I included a much more recent track by Earl Grey called Winter Symptoms, it’s available for free download and goes to show that people are still making (what I would consider to be) jungle music, even in 2014. On that note, I’m currently putting together a contemporary jungle mix, of recent tracks with a similar “days of jungle past” vibe.

-Download-

Saint Etienne – The Sea ( PFM Remix )
Red One – The Futurist
Desires – Aquasky
Cloud 9 – Gun Star Hero
Engineers Without Fears – Spiritual Aura
Doc Scott – Last Action Hero
Boogie Times Tribe – Dark Stranger (Origin Unknown Mix)
Deep Blue – The helicopter song
Tom & Jerry – Air Freshener
Liftin Spirits – Will I dream?
Lix – Hardware
Source Direct – Forbidden Medicine
Earl grey – Winter Symptoms

The post Duff – January 2014 :: Jungle Mix appeared first on Drumtrip - Hardcore / Oldskool Jungle Blog.

An end of an era really but even in those 14 years Drum & Bass has changed drastically, and as its Radio One it comes as no surprise there is no longer space for them on the airwaves but at least D&B will still be represented by DJ Friction.

Grooverider over the years has had his critics and seems none too fussed by it either, championing his own brand of toytown D&B for the youth who are probably more interested by Dubstep’s explosion in recent times.
But it is impossible to overlook the impact the Rider has had on Jungle and D&B having pioneered the genre since its inception.

Mixing acid, house, funk and soul in the 80’s with Fabio, he went on to launch the hugely successful and somewhat jungle-incubating club night Rage before becoming king of the hardsteppers in the mid 90’s.

His label Prototype was regarded as one of drum and bass’ more future thinking and prestigious imprints as well as being infamous for the incredible amount of time it took to get a Prototype track from dubplate to general release.
Things haven’t quite been the same since the turn of the millennium but I wanted to post up a set to show what Grooverider used to be all about, pure hardstepping jungle.

So download and enjoy Rider at his peak alongside MC’s GQ and Bassman recorded live at Amnesia House 29th May 1994.

-Download-

00:00 M Beat – Incredible [Renk]
00:40 Q Project – Champion Sound (Doc Scott remix) [Legend]
04:18 Omni Trio – Soul Promenade [Moving Shadow]
06:40 System Ex – Version [Entity]
09:11 Brainkillers – Screwface [3rd Party & Kemet]
13:38 Atlas – Drifting Thru The Galaxy [Dee Jay]
15:57 Swift & Zinc featuring Steve B – Dezire (Z Mix) [2000 AD]
18:10 The JB – Stand Easy [Back 2 Basics]
20:56 Dubtronix – New Age EP [B9]
24:08 A-Zone – Calling All The People [Whitehouse]
26:43 Alex Reece – Basic Principles [Metalheadz]
30:00 Deep Blue – The Helicopter Tune [Moving Shadow]
34:38 A. Rayner & E. Rayner – Pronounced Percussion [Clockwork]
36:50 Asend & Ultravibe – What Kind Of World [Back 2 Basics]
40:16 Hardware – Nightstalker (VIP Mix) [Face Of The Future LP]
42:52 Darkus & GE Real – Fantasy Mixed [Q Dance]
45:58 Engineers Without Fears – Spiritual Aura [Dee Jay]
50:44 Renegade – Terrorist (Grooverider remix) [Moving Shadow]
55:28 System Ex – Feel It [3rd Eye]

The post Grooverider @ Amnesia House ‘The Big Bank Holiday Bash Part II appeared first on Drumtrip - Hardcore / Oldskool Jungle Blog.

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

The post May Day 2011 Jungle Mix by Law appeared first on Drumtrip - Hardcore / Oldskool Jungle Blog.