Hi Djinn, thanks for taking time out to talk to us. First up, where are you from and where are you at now?
Easy, I’m in Manchester –   was born here, & lived here for a bit, had a spell over in the US before moving back living in Lancaster in my younger days, then ended up living in Manc again.

How did you first get involved with DJing? Were you strictly a Dubstep selector first or were you always into jungle / D&B?
I was actually playing breaks initially, but that was like, towards the end good era of breaks before it went nuskool and a bit wack haha.

Back in my Lancaster days I started getting into the partying circuit when I was 16/17; went to a few mad house parties & made friends with some older music heads that were DJ’ing & going to nights and stuff.  A mate of mine showed me a few things & I started off having a little go with his tunes some daft time in the morning when everybody had been up all night & nobody that actually DJ’d could be bothered to mix anymore – no doubt doing everybody’s heads in haha!

I loved it though. Carried on stealing a few goes here and there, bought a few of my first 12’s –  I’d turn up with a puny handful of records in my bag…. forever waiting to jump on!

Few months after, I started playing out at some of the Illegal raves in the Lake District that we all used to reach on the regular, some mad local nights, Korners (RIP!) and got my first club set in another city playing at Tangled, the Phoenix, Manchester….. I wasn’t even old enough to get in the club, that was a blag!

Nearly a year after I started, I finally got my own set of 1210’s – I’d always liked raving to dnb but at this stage was getting introduced to mixing it by another group of DJ friends & getting into it more. Breaks was becoming really dry at this point; I liked the earlier tracks but I just wasn’t feeling the new stuff coming out and it didn’t really go dark enough so it was a good time to get into mixing drum & bass, mainly Metalheadz –  it’s all I really used to play at first.

From there I kind of found my own dnb sound & started working backwards; getting my hands on 91+ era oldskool hardcore / jungle bits where I could; a lot of it tied in with the whole Reinforced/Headz kinda sound, it’s always been a style I’ve gravitated towards more over others. A few of my friends were older & had been part of the whole oldskool rave scene that went down so I picked up a bit of knowledge off them here & there too.

After I’d been playing mainly dnb for most of the time I’d been mixing, around ’07 I was hearing this weird dark bass heavy 140 stuff about…. First time I heard it in a club I remember I turned to my mate like, “WTF is this>!!?” it was big haha….later I found out it was dubstep.

Shortly after, I met my then bf at the time who was DJ’ing dubstep/grime and moved to Manchester, so after being around it more I started wanting to playing it more & more and eventually sussed out my own kinda 140 style that I was running with.

You have played both dubstep and D&B extensively at gigs around Europe, any particular nights that stand out?
I’ve had a wicked time at all my European gigs to be honest, they’re always mad fun and it’s great to have had opportunities to reach out & play a little further afield; Top Ranking @ Le Zoo, Geneva is up there with my faves.

UK events too like Beat-Herder Festival, VW Xtra Festival, too many club nights to mention and loads of free parties that have been rude as well –  dropped a set at a WWII Bunker Illegal to a few thousand in MCR years ago – that was crazy haha.

Being a fan of both dubstep and jungle, what do you think of the 140bpm-ish jungle sound that’s being doing the rounds recently (the likes of Paul Woolford / Tessela etc), any recommendations?
I love it! Jungle’s been influencing dubstep for time though, if you look at tunes like 6blocc – Babylonia, Tes La Rok – Hot Jam etc.  There’s varying degrees of it though really, you can get tunes that are more dubstep but with a jungle influence; like Innasekt – Static or Boxcutter – Brood. Then you got your minimal vibe like Pearson Sound’s ‘Blanked’, up to heavier tracks that are more like actual oldskool jungle –  Cluekid – Ninety Three is a good example.

DJ Madd – ‘Murder 96’ was a percy for me. Cotti & Cluekid – Legacy was always a big one too. Ipman’s remix of Killawatt – ‘Sidewinder’ didn’t leave my box for about a year.  And Sully – Flashback is nice as well. Tessela’s got some good bits too, I’d say that’s a bit more on the experimental side, like ‘Hackney Parrot’ is borderline slow Jungle-Juke with some house elements thrown in.

You have also turned your hand to production in-between DJ’ing – Can we expect to see any new releases on the horizon from yourself? Will “Red Rain” be hitting the shops anytime soon?
Red Rain has had a few talks, it should hopefully be getting a release, TBC at the moment…..

I have a debut dubstep EP which I’ve been working on, for like, forever!!  That’s pretty much signed, it should be coming out on Mindstep once it’s been fully finalised – I’m still doing a few tweaks & sorting vocals for one of the tracks at the moment.

Drum & Bass wise I have another EP due on NB Audio sometime, which will be featuring ‘Rule of Three’, the rest of the TL is currently in progress. I’ve been making a few more bits of a similar nature to this recently; I’m usually dropping this kind of dark, half-time style with a few amen tracks & rollers thrown in my 170 sets these days.

Let’s talk jungle. A tough one to answer but if you could only play out 5 jungle tracks for the rest of time, what would you choose?
Five for the rest of time out of 20 years worth…. Are you mad?!! Haha.

Guess I would have to go with:

Mr Monik – Pressure (Hyper Records)
Doc Scott – Here come the Drums [Breakage remix] (Reinforced)
Futurecut – Whiplash (Renegade Hardware)
Peshay – The Nocturnal (Metalheadz)
Seba – 34 Alpha (Secret Operations)

And a question you were probably expecting…. Jungle or dubstep?
Aaaaaargh you can’t ask that! Last question was too hard already hahahaha. You missed off drum & bass too? I consider them all separate so I can’t really give you one answer, I love all three equally but for different reasons. Like they give me different feelings. If I had to pick for deepness & emotion I would say 140/ dubstep, If I had to pick for militant moodiness it would be drum & bass, and for menacing vibe & rhythm, jungle.

Tell us a bit about the selection for your Drumtrip Sessions mix.
The selection is a full vinyl mix featuring a few favourite ’93 to ’97 jungle tracks from my collection; a few forgotten classics, some sentimental tunes etc. Basically a bunch of tracks I’m into from some amazing artists that I think just work well with each other in content as well as structure, and that represent the varying styles of that era, both dark as well as deep/nice.

Finally, any shouts, links, gig info you want to list?
I’m back at Beat Herder Festival this year on the 19^th July! Looking forward to dropping a drum & bass set on Stumblefunk’s stage on the Saturday night 1am til 2:30 …. come check if you’re reaching

Couple of other things coming up soon too, info on my fb page.

Gotta shout Mindstep & NB Audio for backing my production, any promoters that booked me, people that play my tunes / mixes.  Makka (yes G!), past & present Lanc/Manny DJ family and my boy Ste for his continuing support. Oh and out to our current neighbours for not giving me a noise ASBO! ….. shit was about to get real with the last ones HA

[With thanks to Gary Brown (GB Multimedia) for the image]

Drumtrip Sessions #11 – Djinn

Tracklist:
Source Direct – Stone Killer (Metalheadz)
Photek – Hybrid (Science)
Rufige Kru – T3 (Metalheadz)
Rogue Unit – Nocturnal (Labello Blanco)
Mickey James – Nice n’ Deep [Exclusive remix] (Suburban Base / Moving Shadow)
Source Direct – Snake Style (Source Direct Recordings)
Nookie – A Drum, A Bass, A Piano [Origin Unknown remix] (Reinforced)
Bizzy B & Dextrous D – Come on People [amen mix] (Brain Records)
DJ Crystl – Warp Drive (Dee Jay Recordings)
Hyper on Experience – Lord of The Null Lines [Foul Play remix](Moving Shadow)
Digital – Down Under (Metalheadz)
Source Direct – Shimmer (Odysee Records)
Sounds of Life – Hidden Rooms (Certificate 18)
Paradox – A Certain Sound (Renegade Hardware)
Foul Play – Being With You [remix] (Moving Shadow)
Rogue Unit – Luv Dub [VIP] (Labello Blanco)
Q Project – Champion Sound [Doc Scott remix] (Legend Records)
The Sentinel – Heavy Vibes (Basement Records)
Skanna – Find Me (Skanna)
Sounds of Life – Currents [remix] (Certificate 18)

Find Djinn online at….

djdjinn.com
soundcloud.com/djinn
facebook.com/ukdjinn
twitter.com/djinn_dj
beatherder.co.uk/artists/djinn

The post Drumtrip Sessions #11 – Djinn 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.

When was Foul Play formed?
Foul Play was formed two and half years ago, we all met whilst DJing for various clubs such as Helter Skelter at Milwaukees.

Foul Play consists of three people; Stephen Bradshaw (Brad), John Morrow and Steve Gurley.

What have been your biggest tracks?
The biggest tracks we’ve had to date are our remixes of ‘Renegade Snares’ and ‘Lord Of The Null Lines, but our own tracks, probably ‘Open You Mind Remix’ and ‘Finest Illusion Remix’

What do you think of playing live?
We don’t really like doing live PA’s because its impossible to do everything live, but they’re a good way of earning money. IN the future we would like to work on doing more live work in our PA’s.

What are you inspired by?
Our style was inspired by a wide range of musical backgrounds, we were all DJ’s before and you can hear the hip hop, soul, rare groove and reggae influences in our music.

How do you promote your music?
We use a lot of DJ’s to promote our music on dubplate, but LTJ Bukem and Top Buzz always get our music first because they’ve supported us from day one.

At the moment we’re putting the vinishing touches to Vol 4 which will include a full vocal track, and some tracks that have been on dubplate since last year.

For a much more in-depth interview and history lesson on Foul Play, be sure to catch Uncle Dugs’ Rinse FM interview with John Morrow here.

The post Foul Play Interview – Atmosphere Mag [May 1994] appeared first on Drumtrip - Hardcore / Oldskool Jungle Blog.

Tell us a bit about yourself
I was born and grew up in Cambridge I moved to Newbury with work in 2001 and have been here ever since. Before I got into Hardcore / Jungle I used to listen to loads of different things mostly crap though.

When did you first get into the hardcore / jungle scene?
A mate gave me a tape of Devious D recorded at the Eclipse Night @ Cambridge Corn exchange. The first tune on there was Menace by Rufige Kru and that grabbed my attention immediately. I then started hunting out as many rave tapes as possible and one of my aunts used to sort me out with copies of her rave tapes. I then started buying tunes from a little record shop called Boom tunes in Cambridge and started saving up to buy a set of decks

I read that you first got a pair of decks in 1992. What made you want to start mixing?
To be honest I can’t remember why I wanted to DJ as no one else at my school was doing it – even when I left school there was only me and one other kid at my school who had decks. I just knew I could buy this music on vinyl and that was the way to play it.

When did you first start producing?
When I started college in 1995 I met loads of other DJs and a couple of them went on to set up home studio’s so I messed around with them making some horrendous noise there but nothing ever got finished, but it planted the seed in my head to get some equipment and start making my own stuff.

Am I right to say you had your first release on vinyl in 2004 in the form a remix of the legendary Top Buzz tune ‘Living In Darkness‘? How did that come about?
Yep that was the first release I had on vinyl. That come about from me living across the road from Nu-Urban (music the distribution company). I used to go over there and talk about tunes with Tobie (Serial Killaz) who used to work there and I used to play him all the crap I was making in my studio back then.

I had done this remix of Living In Darkness just to play in my sets. I played it to Tobie at some point and he had a copy – next thing I know he popped into the pub I lived at with a white label and said go upstairs and listen to that and it was my remix. I didn’t know back then that Phil from Nu-Urban was the owner of Basement records and Tobie had sorted it all out to get released. I was pretty chuffed with that and it’s certainly nice to have my first release on a legendary label such as Basement. I would say its more of a update than a remix though and it sounds awful now lol. Big up to Tobie for that though it certainly encouraged me to get on with making more music and he gave me tons of help back then.

If it was your first release, what took you so long having been DJing since 1992! Where was Vapour the producer in the late 90s?
Well the simple answer to that would be weed and women lol. I was more interested in going out partying and getting wasted rather than saving up for samplers and mixing desks. I kick myself now though as I wish I had pulled my finger out in the 90s and brought a studio sooner.

Thing is as well it cost a fortune to set up a simple studio back in the day – just a sampler that only had about 30mb memory would set you back over a grand that was a hell of a lot of money back then. Before I left Cambridge I got an offer to go live above a pub my mate was running rent free and thats how I managed to get the money to put a deposit down on a sampler, then my mate Adam brought me a computer on finance and I paid him back.
I picked up a 2nd hand mixer for 350 quid (and had no money to eat for a week) and with my minidisc recorder I was good to go.

Within 4 weeks of getting all that I was cutting shit tunes down at music house and testing them out. I then go asked to move down to Newbury to work at a new pub opening down there so I thought it would be a good opportunity to get away from distractions and get on with making music – also living rent free. So I moved down here and bought more equipment and kept banging out shit tunes until things started to sound a lot better. Bailey picked up 2 tracks for his Intasound label and that was it from there, everything steam rolled along.

Your productions always sound contemporary but have that gritty, hardcore feel of D&B in the mid 90s. What is it about that sound you like? How do you get it across in your music?
I think most dnb these days sound too over produced and noisy, I prefer a more organic sound with space and warmth in the tracks. I used to have a whole load of hardware equipment which most of my releases were made with. I think that this made a big difference when I first started putting out tunes as my tracks had a lot more warmth on the low end and lower bass, was a lot more evident on my tracks when played on a big system and I put this down to the equipment I was using at the time.

I got to a point where it was really pissing me off though as there was so much noise and hum coming from it all in the end I ripped it all out and switched to a purely software based set up and sold it all early last year. After using just software for the past 16 months its driving me mad and i’ve started buying a new set up to use – more simple than before but it will enable me to get the sound I want as using just software aint working at all as I can’t get the low end I want on the tracks, so over the coming months i’ll be picking up all the bits I want for the new hardware studio

You have been apart of the Stepback Sessions since the first volume in 2009. Was this Randall’s thing or was this a joint thing between you two? How did you hook up with Randall and what’s the idea behind the label?
Randall setup Stepback as there was a whole bunch of stuff myself, Bladerunner and Serum had bastardised for our sets, which Randall set about getting everything cleared and released. I help a lot with the label from things like artwork to mastering, and I pass tracks to Randall that have come my way. Its a great little label and has been doing really well.

We have just started up doing some Stepback Sessions tour nights as well. I first met Randall off the back of the Intasound release I did. He called me up and said he was really feeling my tracks and wanted to know if I wanted to work on some tunes with him, which of course I agreed to. He come up to my studio in Newbury and we made The Last Stand and then Angels Warning which come out on Mac II, and we also did a remix of 4Hero’s Mr Kirks Nightmare.

You have remixed some huge tracks like We Are IE, Melody Madness, Maximum Style. But if you could have one producer from back in the day remix one of yours; who would it be?
Good question! To be honest thats a hard one to answer as most of the producers I really liked back in the day are either not making tracks anymore, or make utter crap these days. And most of the producers I like at the minute have already done remixes for me. I reckon Jonny L could do a pretty naughty remix though so he would be my choice

Similar question. What’s the one hardcore / jungle track you wish you could have made?
Damn thats a hard one to pin down. I think if I had to pick one out of my top ten favourites I would go for Krust – Jazz Note on V recordings, as that tune really tells a story and just rolls perfectly.

Your own label 36 Hertz has gone from strength to strength, what have you got lined up on the label? What does the future hold for Vapour and 36 Hertz?
Next release (out now) is the Back To The Bass Volume 3 LP which has been getting some huge support across the board, then after that we have a various artists oldskool 140bpm-style 4 Track EP with tracks from Myself, SR & Digbee, ESP and Indigo Virus. After that release who knows lol.

We have a lot of artists working on music right now so there is plenty in the pipeline but its just down to who brings stuff that will work on the label first. I don’t really do all this 1 year on dubplate shite that loads of labels do, so once I get a release finalised I get it out within 6 weeks if possible. For me personally i’m sitting on about 2 albums worth of non-dnb stuff (old skool & bass music) which should be coming out next year once I get it finished. Im also working on a load of remixes of old skool tracks for various labels and projects.

Tell us a bit about your mix for Drumtrip
Well as always when I draw for a old skool mix I tend to go for the more deeper unknown stuff rather than what I call the “jungle hits” selections that most old skool mixes contain. So I put together a batch of stuff that im feeling the most from the late 90s and a couple of new things that come out on 36 hertz from myself and Jem One in that late 90s style.

Drumtrip Sessions #08 – DJ Vapour

1 – DMS & The Boneman – Strength – Production House
2 – Acro – Untitled – Force 10
3 – Sub Sequence – Music Is The Vibe – Tooz Up Records
4 – Van Kleef – Life Began Changing – PP9 Productions
5 – Revival Rough – Who Goes There – White
6 – NKS & Unknown Face – Dats Cool – Saigon
7 – Code Blue – Angels In Dub (DJ Crystl Remix) – Dee Jay Recordings
8 – Ed Rush – Force Is Electric – No U Turn
9 – DJ Vapour – Never Feel – 36 Hertz
10 – Buz – Slave Special – No U Turn
11 – 4 Horsemen Of The Apocalypse – Drowning In Her – Tone Def
12 – Photek – Touching Down – Photek Productions
13 – Bjorn Stokes – You’re Mine – State Of The Art Recordings
14 – Jem One – Bullet To The Head – 36 Hertz
15 – Dillinja – You Don’t Know (Remix) – Logic
16 – Phaze III & Klass A – Fearful Dimensions (Unreleased Mix) – Dub
17 – Nicky Blackmarket – Geese Tune – Blackmarket
18 – Lemon D – Jah Love – Conqueror
19 – Goldie – Angel – FFRR

Any big ups / shouts?
Big up to everyone buying 36 Hertz releases and supporting the label through the years

www.36hertz.com
facebook /djvapour
twitter – @vapour36hertz
youtube – /36hertz
Bookings – mainsourceagency.com
mixcloud – vapour36hertz

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Volume 6 however goes back a bit further, this time the mix heads into darker, post-hardcore territory. Starting from 1993 we have early works from established producers such as Dillinja (under his Capone alias), Lemon D, Photek (as Origination and Code Of Practice), Fenturion (Adam F) and Dexxtrous (J Majik). Without meaning to, looking back at the tracklisting there is a lot of really well known producers here, under some very earlier pseudonymous. A personal favourite of mine is the Bay B Kane cut “Unfolding Perspective” which gets darker than night during the Diana Ross sampling breakdown.

Expect lots of resampled string sections and synths, muddy mixdowns, amens, sub bass and movie sample quotes.

Half of the selection would also be eligible for inclusion under our Bargain Jungle series, with several tracks like “Treat Me Right“, “Age Of Aquarius” and “Back To The Future Pt 2” all available for well under a fiver on Discogs.

Tracklist

01. Sleepwalker – Age Of Aquarius (No Surrender, No Retreat) (L.D. Remix) – Hardtimes Recordings
02. N.W.1. Treat Me Right – Camden Tunes
03. Code Of Practice – Can We Change The Future (Dubplate Mix) – Certificate 18
04. Capone – Side B-2 (Black Wax EP) – Target Recordings
05. Fenturion – Mothership – Force Ten Records
06. DJ Crystl – The Dark Crystl – Force Ten Records
07. After Dark – Reincarnation – Moving Shadow
08. Origination – Signal To Noise – Rudeboy Recordings
09. 4 Horsemen Of The Apocalypse – We Are The Future (Darren J Remix) – Tone Def
10. Dexxtrous – Aquarius – Infrared
11. Bay B Kane – Unfolding Perspective – Whitehouse Records
12. DJ SDR & Subsonic – Back To The Future Pt 2 – Shoebox Recordings
13. Atlas – Drifting Thru The Galaxy – Deejay
14. Dexxtrous & Sudden Def – My World – Infared
15. Internal Affairs – In My Soul – Reinforced

You can check out the rest of the deep jungle series to download at: https://soundcloud.com/drumtrip/sets/deep-jungle-series

The post Law – Deep Jungle Vol 6 appeared first on Drumtrip - Hardcore / Oldskool Jungle Blog.

Whilst perusing that Soundcloud account I come across a Foul Play mega mix put together by John himself. The mix crams in 14 absolute classic Foul Play cuts in a swift 20 minutes. It even misses out some of their other huge tracks like Renegade Snares remix and Drowning In Her (under the 4 Horseman pseudonym), which really is testament to the strength of the Foul Play back catalog.

If you have not too clued up on the old work of John, Brad and Steve, this is the mix for you.

1. Total Control – Foul Play – Moving Shadow
2. Feel Better (Foul Play Remix) – Omni Trio – Moving Shadow
3. Open Your Mind (Foul Play Remix) – Foul Play – Moving Shadow
4. Lords Of The Null-Lines (Foul Play Remix) – Hyper-On Experience – Moving Shadow
5. Survival – Foul Play – Oblivion / Moving Shadow
6. Stepper – Foul Play – Moving Shadow
7. Finest Illusion (Legal Mix) – Foul Play – Moving Shadow
8. Renegade Snares (Foul Play Remix) – Omni Trio – Moving Shadow
9. Beats Track – Foul Play – Moving Shadow
10. Stay Calm (Foul Play Remix) – DJ Pulse – Moving Shadow
11. Being With You – Foul Play – Moving Shadow
12. Murder Most Foul – Foul Play – Moving Shadow
13. Dubbing You – Foul Play – Oblivion
14. Music Is The Key feat. Denise Gordon (Omni Trio Remix) – Foul Play – Moving Shadow

In Memory of Brad…. Never Forgotten

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