‘Innate’ first found itself on vinyl via one of Zinc’s lesser known aliases ‘Jack Ruby‘. As Jack Ruby, Zinc experimented with the emerging deep and atmospheric (or Intelligent) sound pioneered by the likes of LTJ Bukem, and released a series of 12″s on Knowledge Records throughout 1994.

The Jack Ruby productions have become more sought after over time, helped no doubt by the small amount of records pressed for each release by Knowledge.

The last of the series, catalogue number “KR 005“,  only seemed to make it to promo and featured two unnamed tunes. Some collectors claim to have versions where the tracks are indeed listed on the sleeves; one of those tracks (the b side) was entitled ‘Innate’.

Innate has that classic atmospheric drum and bass sound; lush strings and chords, a rolling ‘think’ break backed up with the abrasive ‘hot pants’ break (taken from the Stone Roses track ‘Fools Gold‘). Positively dreamy.

At the time of writing, “KR 005” is not available to buy from any seller on Discogs, and has sold in the past for up to £25.00. I imagine the next time it’s up for sale, it may even surpass that price, such is the extortionate figures Discogs sellers seem to pluck out of thin air these days.

However, it came to my attention recently that Zinc did end up releasing Innate on Ganja Records in 1996. It was the b-side to the very well known On Fire Tonight (Remix).

I cannot find audio for the original press of ‘Innate’, but from memory the version eventually released on Ganja had some very subtle differences and perhaps a boost in tempo. Other than that, its the same track at a fraction of the price. You can get the Ganja press of ‘Innate’ from just 50p (at the time of writing).

The post DJ Zinc – Innate appeared first on Drumtrip - Hardcore / Oldskool Jungle Blog.

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.

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.

After a few early releases he starting out alongside Hype on their label Ganja Records where created one of D&B’s biggest anthems in Super Sharp Shooter.

True Playaz was born shortly after in 1996 with both Hype and Pascal releasing tracks like Reach Out, before launching his own imprint Bingo around 2000.
Bingo was an outlet for his own production, both D&B and his experiments around 130bpm including the huge 138 Trek which was one of the biggest anthems of the UK Garage explosion at the turn of the millennium.

Now days Zinc has been focusing on his own brand of ‘crack’ house and housey numbers, often collaborating with the UK’s major dubstep producers.

But he has found time to delve into his Jungle past to bring us his own, and very much unreleased remix of Pascal’s huge G-Funk, KRS One sampling anthem; P-Funk Era.
Download below.

-DOWNLOAD-

The post Pascal – P-Funk Era (Unreleased DJ Zinc Mix) appeared first on Drumtrip - Hardcore / Oldskool Jungle Blog.