World Dance – Access All Areas, a VHS that will no doubt bring home a million memories of sitting in front of the television in amazement. Trying to spot your mates looking wasted in the crowd or even attempting to piece back memories of events………

In a similar stance to early Fantazia recordings, the promoters of World Dance released a video compilation of their events in 1996 which featured a whole host of footage from events such as the Monty Python themed ‘And Now For Something Completely Different’ to the ‘Fireworks Spectacular’ in ‘95.

From memory, the girl that everyone at school thought was AMAZING was actually a friend of Tobie (Tera) of Serial Killaz. For those that want to now attempt to spot her, she’s the one in the pink nightie alongside matey with the moobs doing the helicopter spin in his swimwear around 14 minutes in, not that I have been looking for her ; )

For those who remember the amazing effort Fantazia went to in respect of production at their events, it will come as no surprise that it’s pretty much a direct comparison to World Dance and in some respects, they probably picked up where Fantazia briefly left.

What you get here is an insight into what went into putting on these large scale events, with footage from the initial set up to plenty of behind the decks action. If you’re reading this and promoting events in 2014 then please make some notes when watching the video, the production really was spot on at every World Dance rave.

Access All Areas was exactly that, interviews with the artists and crowd by none other than Drum & Bass’ answer to Dennis Pennis – MC GQ and a wicked set taken from the 4th November ‘95 event by none other than Mickey Finn & MC Fearless. Strange maybe to some that GQ wasn’t the MC featured on the mix, mainly because prior to ‘93 he was usually the only MC to grace the flyer, let alone in the venue.

Interview with MC Fearless

How did the connection with World Dance happen?
“Working with Chris and Jay in the original AWOL days meant that performing at World Dance was achievable, although I still remember the day the phone call came in and I thought someone was winding me up!

Their policy regarding mcs was always strict and having myself and GQ on the line up was what people would come to expect. Gary and I would usually split the night in half with AWOL as these events would coincide with each other”

World Dance were renowned for their huge production and massive following, was ‘the brand’ as important as the event?
“Without a doubt man! From the World Dance MA2 bomber jackets, to the slipmats, to the lighters – they had the branding locked down. When the new clothing lines were released I remember either Chris or Jay coming backstage with massive boxes and handing out products to the artists. They understood all aspects of the promotions game, at the end of the day these guys were proper businessmen”

The Access all Areas VHS was certainly a favourite for many, were you aware the camera crew were filming for a documentary?
“Both GQ and I knew about the video, that’s how World Dance was run – the artists were always kept up to date with what was going on and when it was happening. One thing I didn’t know though was how many fireworks they were going to use at the event in ‘94!”

“That night was insane and to this date I don’t think I have seen any other fireworks event in the UK go to the levels of production and pyrotechnics World Dance did. I remember one of the production staff shouting at me to get out of the way and then… BOOM all kinds of things were set loose”

What were your favourite memories from World Dance?
“The first event I was booked for was held at Lydd airport and I had never ever expected it to be on the scale that it was. Thousands of people, the huge fairground rides and boy…. the hanger! The whole World Dance vibe was something else so when I eventually got to the front and did my thing the crowd response and the sea of heads was on another level”

What’s forthcoming in 2014 for Fearless?
“Next up I’m filming a fly on the wall documentary about my weekend on the road as an mc. This won’t be your standard type of video but one where people can really see what it’s like at raves post millenium. I’m also working on a clothing line and will be putting out a free EP with some of my previous work and possibly an album at some point in 2014”

Rewind the video, it’s going back in..

‘96 was probably the highlight of Mickey Finn’s DJ career and certainly an era where his preferred style of Drum & Bass was literally blowing up all over the shop. Combine this with Fearless’ utterly unique style at the time and it really was the soundtrack to top all rave event videos.

For those expecting a VHS filmed on a mate of the promoter’s Sony Handycam with the sound to boot you are certainly in for one massive treat. Real Jungle ravers with buttoned up shirts, MA2’s and none of this ‘heart shapes with our hands’ malarkey.

Add it to your wants list via Discogs here

Download the full video here

The Mix

To pay homage to World Dance, Mickey Finn and obviously the top notch VHS check the tribute mix I put together which features all of the tunes from the video (apart from the dubplate version of Space Dust which I will never own!)

1 Apollo 13 – Space Dust
2 Dred Bass – World Of Music
3 B-Jam – Dont Play
4 Asend & The Assailant – Africa
5 Smokey Joe – Smokin Hornz
6 Rude Bwoy Monty Warp Ten (Heavyweight Mix)
7 Murphy’s Law & Asend – 20 Seconds
8 DJ Hype – We Must Unite
9 Dope Skillz – Yo’ Son
10 DJ Zinc – Super Sharp Shooter (Remix)
11 B-Jam – Show Me (Remix)
12 Deadly D – Listen Dis (L Double Remix)
13 DJ Rap & Da Boss – I’m So
14 Sound Of The Future – The Lighter (Rollers Remix)
15 L Double & Shy FX – The Shit

The post World Dance – Access All Areas (A Dedication) appeared first on Drumtrip - Hardcore / Oldskool Jungle Blog.

When Law first approached me to do a mix for the Drumtrip Sessions, I knew that it would have to be a themed mix & not a theme that’s been widely done. I had a few potential ideas for themes, including a mix of D&B tunes on non D&B labels/compilations (Trace – The Beacon, Dillinja – In The Mood etc), a mix based around the various musicians and producers from other scenes who have had a brief flirtation with D&B (David Bowie – Little Wonder, Todd Terry – Blackout) but after giving it a lot of thought I decided that the best theme to go with in the end would be a mix of some lesser known D&B remixes commissioned by various labels for non D&B artists.

Around the 95-98 era, when Jungle was starting to fade away and was slowly evolving into D&B, it caused a lot of ears to prick up with interest. Artists like Goldie, Photek, 4hero, Grooverider, Peshay, Source Direct, Roni Size, Wax Doctor and many more were all putting out full albums on major labels and D&B was seen as the freshest, most exciting thing around and everybody wanted a piece of the action. Back when CD/12” singles were still selling healthy amounts you’d usually buy a tune and get the radio edit and a longer club mix as well as maybe a remixes of the original track as extras.

As soon as D&B began to get noticed, labels would hit up the bigger artists of the time for remixes to go on these singles, both to cash in on the then-current D&B hype as well as to market the original artist to a new audience. It would soon be pretty normal to go down to the record shop, browse through the CDs in the Pop/Rock/Electronic sections and see artists like Optical, Roni Size, Alex Reece, Boymerang and Krust doing remixes for a surprising wide range of artists from different scenes. Often the pairings that you never dreamed could work well (Krust remixing Korn, The Ganja Kru remixing Natalie Imbruglia) were where you’d get some of the interesting results.

I’ve become an avid CD collector over the past year or two, browsing Discogs hunting for obscure tracks that not too many heads might have heard before, and now that I’m starting to run out of official compilations and artist albums to buy, I’ve started to make a move to buying up remix albums and CD singles which have D&B remixes on them. Many of these are available at absolute bargain prices; very few of them turn up in mixes or tracklistings elsewhere and some of them are pretty bloody obscure. It took me a long while to gather up enough material for this mix, so I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed compiling it.

(PS – Thanks to Executive Steve for the editing!)
(PPS – Apologies for bad mixing at times, think it was about 2am when I done this mix.)

Kenny Larkin – Loop 2 (Alex Reece Remix) [R & S]
David Holmes – Gone (PFM Remix) [Go! Discs]
Friends From Rio – Maracatudo (Wax Doctor Remix) [Far Out]
Espiritu – Baby I Wanna Live (DJ Pulse Mix) [Heavenly]
Project 23 – Pleasure & The Pain (Peshay Remix) [Dorado]
Peter Andre – Flava (Jungle Mix) [Mushroom]
Palm Skin Productions – Evolution Of The Beast (Part 1) [Mo Wax]
Flora Purim – What You See (Ghost Of Flora’s Dream) [B&W Music]
Grace – If I Could Fly (LTJ Bukem’s Roll It Mix) [Perfecto]
Hunch – Visible From Space (Aquasky Mix) [Clean Up]
Blue Amazon – And The The Rain Falls (Blame Remix) [Jackpot]
The Art Of Noise – Camilla The Old Old Story (J Majik Remix) [China]
Max Reich & Johannes Foufas – Alchemy (Seba Remix) [SVEK]
Q-Tex – Do You Want Me (Funky Technicians Remix) [23rd Precinct]
Deepika – History (Crystl Clear) [RCA]
Ken Ishii – Overlap (Lemon D Remix) [R & S]
Garbage – Milk (Goldie’s VIP Trash Your Sh*t Mix) [Mushroom]
N.G.O. – Windermere (Dillinja Roll Out Mix) [JVC]
Empirion – B.E.T.A. (Doc Scott Remix) [XL]
?? – Shinobi X (Remarc & Lewi Cifer Remix) [Breakdown]
Sugizo – Michael In The Cage (Source Direct Remix) [Invader]
Wink – Simple Man (ft. The Interpreters) (Optical Remix) [Sony Soho Square]
Project 23 – Sugarize ‘Lost Inna Dream’ (Boymerang Remix) [Dorado]
David Bowie – I’m Afraid Of Americans (V5) [Virgin]
Dub War – Million Dollar Love (DJ Rap Remix) [Earache]
Turntable Terranova – Precipice (DJ Krust Remix) [Hypnotic]

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Mixed superbly by Deejay and Lucky Spin stalwart Pete Parsons, responsible for mixing and engineering some of the best drum and bass producers around such as DJ Trace and Crystl.

This one misses out on being a ‘bargain’ entry however, as its backed by a pretty renowned track on the A-side, you can currently pick it up for around £8.00 at Discogs.

The post TOTD: DJ Rap – Switch 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.

The set comes in at just over an hour and it was a real random selection, almost picking out the first vinyl that came to hand when thrusting around in the crates and shelves, and it turned out alright.

Props to my dog who seemed to enjoy the beats and sat about licking various parts of his anatomy to the sounds of Krome and Time, Remarc, Danny Breaks and a whole heap more.

Recorded on Monday 19th March, catch the video archive below.

MP3 Download

Tracklisting
01.. Sounds Of Life – Release The Bells – Cert 18
02.. DJ Rap & Ashton – Get Rushed – Suburban Base
03.. Intense – Paradox – Rugged Vinyl
04.. Parallel World – Tear Into It – Good Looking
05.. The Truper – Volume 1-A – Street Beats
06.. Foul Play – Being With You – Moving Shadow
07.. Dillinja – Moods – Logic
08.. Digital – Down Under – Metalheadz
09.. Krome & Time – Studio One Lik – Tearin Vinyl
10.. Remarc – RIP (Remarc Remix) – Planet Mu
11.. Andy C – Roll On – Ram
12.. Danny Breaks – Firin’ Line (Origin Unknown Remix) – Droppin’ Science
13.. Peshay – The Piano Tune – Good Looking
14.. DJ Gunshot – Wheel ‘n’ Deal – No U Turn
15.. Darkman – Dis Sound Ruff – Ministry Of Sound
16.. Tango – Understanding – Creative Wax
17.. Wardance – Sleeplessness – Formation

Thanks to everyone that tuned in, the next show will feature non other than the ever wacky Kola Nut.

The post Drumtrip TV Show #5 – Law appeared first on Drumtrip - Hardcore / Oldskool Jungle Blog.

It was a great selection with quick mixing and even a little bit of Hype-esque scratching too.

Track List
Omni Trio – Future Frontiers
Cloud Nine – Jazzmin
Wots My Code – Dubplate
Lords Of The Null Lines – Disturbance (Tango Remix)
Under Rhythm London – Sub Circle (Remix) – Booby Trap Recordings (white)10″ Urep-4a
Leviticus – Burial
Nookie – Only You
Dj Hype – Rolllll The Beats
Kings Of The Jungle – Move Your Body
Dillinja – Sky
Dillinja – Tear Down
Asylum – Base 2 Dark
Krust – Set Speed
Dopeskillz – Pranksters
Alex Reece – Basic Principles
Remarc – Ricky
Omni Trio – Feel Good
Goldie – Jah
Renegade – Terrorist
Andy C & Shimon – Nightflight
Invisible Man – The Bell Tune
Dj Taktix – The Way
Essence Of Aura – Spiritual Aura

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