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

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I guess this one might not really class as a tune of the day as you can’t buy it unfortunately, but this track is absolute pure quality.

Thankfully nothing to do with 2Unlimited (although maybe that’s where the vocal sample came from) this is a classic dark stepper from 1993.

It’s pretty sinister at times with a lazy mentasm breakdown but the lush strings and pads shine through in several places. Despite sadly never seeing a proper release (only surfaced on plate), scant information and rumour has it that it was supposed to come out on Reinforced Records.

I’ve only ever heard it twice – once on a Fabio Dance Planet mix and then on a Doc Scott tape. I suspect it’s probably a Goldie or Manix tune but there’s also some big similarities with the Energy track that Goldie and A Guy Called Gerald did as the 2 G’$ on Juicebox (especially the drums). Maybe a collaboration…

Who knows. Either way it’s a storming tune and epitomises that deadly R Sound from back then – tough, futuristic music.

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For show #001 I went for a little 4Hero and Goldie tribute. Going through the years from 1992 and the anthemic work of Manix, early Rufige, 4Hero and collaboration project ‘Internal Affairs’.

Be sure to check out Drumtrip Radio every Wednesday 8 – 9pm GMT on Mixlr with guests on rotation. Be sure to follow us to get alerts and updates!

Up next on Wednesday 9th April we have Dave M aka Brian Badonde taking the controls.

Tracklist
01. Manix – I Can’t Stand It – Reinforced
02. Manix – Hardcore Junglism (Exclusive Mix) – Reinforced
03. Rufige Cru – Menace – Reinforced
04. Sonz Of A Loop Da Loop Era – Peace & Loveism (4Hero Remix)
05. 4Hero – Journey From The Light – Reinforced
06. 4Hero – Students Of The Future – Reinforced
07. 2 Bad Mice – Mass Confusion (Rufige Kru Remix) – Moving Shadow
08. Internal Affairs – In My Soul – Reinforced
09. Nookie – Give A Little Love (Manix Remix) – Reinforced
10. Manix – One More Time – Reinforced
11. Internal Affairs – Hands To Heaven – Reinforced
12. Metalheads ‎- You And Me – The Beauty – The Beast – Synthetic
13. Rufige Kru – Fury – Moving Shadow
14. J Majik – Sunray (Rufige Cru Remix) – Infrared
15. Scarface – I Seen A Man Die (4 Hero NW2 Gangsta Move) – Virgin
16. Goldie – Jah – FFRR
17. Layla – Gotta Find Love (The Goldie Blue Room Vocal Mix) – Inferno
18. Tom & Jerry – Till The Morning – Tom & Jerry
19. Tom & Jerry – Maxi (Mun) Style (Nasty Jungle Remix) – Tom & Jerry
20. Nuyorican Soul – I Am The Black Gold Of The Sun (4 Hero Remix)

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I know nothing the Pat Metheny group other that what Discogs told me; they are a “jazz fusion band founded in 1977 around a core nucleus of guitarist Pat Metheny and keyboardist Lyle Mays.”

The original mix of Across The Sky is quite a relaxed and pleasant downtempo affair, but Goldie completely switches it up for his 1998 drum and bass take on it.

It’s a much darker and builds ominously as it progresses, with but a few elements of the original remaining as it gets the Rufige treatment.

On the vinyl you also get another alternate Goldie mix, and will set you back a mammoth 50 pence on Discogs.

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Thankfully he has still found time to relaunch his website and upload some gems to his new Soundcloud page @Goldie-Official.

This recording goes way back to 1992, Toronto 1992 to be exact. Canada is often credited as being the second home to jungle, and Toronto was one of the first major cities outside of the UK to really embrace the hardcore, jungle and D&B scene in the early 90s.

This radio show on Harddrive FM brings together Goldie alongside early Rufige Kru member Freebase, and scene stalwart DJ Phantasy. Over an hour of futuristic hardcore with Goldie handling mic duties, enthusiastically announcing soon to be released dubs like his own “Sinister” and 4 Hero’s “The Element (High Noon)”.

I always love hearing sets like this. You can hear the excitement and hope in the voices of everyone, knowing they are part of a music scene which is about to explode, pushing the boundaries and making music never heard before. It turned out alright didn’t it?

The post Rufige Kru (Goldie) and Phantasy on Harddrive 89.5 FM Toronto – 1992 appeared first on Drumtrip - Hardcore / Oldskool Jungle Blog.

This interview is probably the most fascinating, and it would be, as the interviewee is arguably jungle’s most interesting and enduring character, Clifford Joseph Price.

This three hour interview takes you from practically the birth of Goldie, to present day, and almost everything in between.

Goldie speaks of his troubled youth, living in care and various foster homes whilst dealing with the anger and sadness of being abandoned.
Discovering his talent for art at school and meeting lost family, before becoming a house hold name in the early UK graffiti scene and plying his trade in the home of all things hip hop and b-boy, the South Bronx in the 1980s.

It takes about an hour in to the show before we even get to Goldie The Musician, where he explains how he met Kemistry who put him on to the emerging new sound of UK hardcore. Meeting 4Hero and recording at Dollis Hill, learning the ropes and the making of the early Reinforced tracks like Darkrider, and signing a deal with Synthetic for Terminator.

The next topics are the creation of Metalheadz, Inner City Life and Timeless, and how the legendary nights at the Blue Note came to be. And Goldie the rockstar in the mid nineties, rubbing shoulders with David Bowie, Noel Gallagher and the Spice Girls.
The interview goes on to the present day and the release of his ‘best of’ album The Alchemist.

If you have read his biography, or read or seen interviews in the past you may be familiar with a lot of the mans life until now. Either way, its still makes for fascinating reading and he remains a fascinating personality.
An true artist in every sense of the word, and in my opinion one of very few of the original producers from jungle’s early days who never sold out, who never sacrificed his integrity and art.

He may act in Bond films, he may play a gangsta called ‘Angel’ in Eastenders, or go on Celebrity Big Brother, or Strictly Come Dancing. But never once has his music suffered, never has Metalheadz been watered down and never once as he turned his back on the scene he helped create, and helped create him.

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