I’m aware that plenty of people are not really a fan of these types of mixes, thinking they are a bit lazy or obvious. I can understand that argument to an extent – it would be easy to just mindlessly mix a bunch of tunes by the same producer.

But a lot of the producers I love were / are capable of a huge range of styles. This means you really have to have a think about your selection and the progression of your mix.

When mixing I don’t plan out tracklists, but I do make a careful consideration before selecting my next tune. This, in my opinion, is one of the most important skills in DJing; being able to make a quick decision on what will go nice with your current tune, whilst setting up your mix for the direction you wish to take it in.

There is another reason I love an all artist mix. It fits nicely with my nerdy, and maybe slightly OCD tendencies for order within my collection. If I collect Source Directs back catalogue, I want to then archive in a series of mixes (and of course, listen to it myself).

Anyway, it occurred to me I have 20+ all artist mixes already uploaded to my Soundcloud account, so it made sense to add them to a playlist.

These date back about 10 years, with several volumes celebrating some really prolific producers. I think there are five Dillinja mixes alone, five Photek mixes and three Source Direct. There are also mixes documenting the works of more contemporary producers like Breakage and dBridge, as well as old favourites of mine like The Invisible Man, Adam F, Seba, Nookie, Crystl and Omni Trio.

Tracklists each mix can can be found within the description of the relevant Soundcloud page.

The post Law – All Artist / Producer Mixes appeared first on Drumtrip - Hardcore / Oldskool Jungle Blog.

Until a few years ago, the mystery of Source Direct and what happened to the duo was far from clear. All we knew is Phil Aslett left departed sometime around 1998, and Jim Baker continued to produce under the Source Direct moniker until about 2000.

If you are a regular reader of Drumtrip may be familiar with this interview Phil, who now goes by “Phil Source”, gave Knowledge mag back in 2010. The interview, which is curiously no longer online, was mostly focussed on Phil’s new label “Vampire Records“. However, at that time he did touch on what happened to Source Direct…..

Would you ever get back together with Jim as Source Direct?
Because we started out so young we kind of eventually grew apart. When we signed the big deal with Virgin there was a lot of pressure on us and it drove us apart really and we almost began to hate each other which was a real shame.

We had musical differences and it all just fell apart. A lot of it was to do with the pressure and stress of having a major deal. I don’t think it will ever happen to be honest with you. We don’t really speak any more and a lot has happened in the past which no one will ever know.

It’s personal stuff and I don’t really want to go into it but what’s done is done, my new baby is Vampire, that’s what I’m pushing now. Source Direct is part of my past, a great past as we made a lot of great music but I’ve got to move forward. I’ve always been forward thinking and that’s what Source Direct was about.

Why did you have a break after Source Direct?
I had four or five years completely away from music. I went to the odd club but it was more techno. I just wanted to get away from drum & bass. I was heavily involved with it for eight years so it was a long time.

I wasn’t sick of the music but I was sick of the scene. When you get really amongst it and get to know all the people and the way that the scene ticks it can swallow you up. I just needed a complete break and it was good for me to learn about the world and real life as well.

Fast forward to 2014 and a lot has changed. Excitingly, Jim Baker has returned! Jim now exclusively DJ’s under the original Source Direct name, with a promise of new productions for 2014 and beyond.

In one of his first interviews since returning to the fold, the excellent Gotham City blog inevitably moves onto the issue of the Source Direct split. Jim is a little more forthcoming in his explanation.

GCB … You’re working solo now under the SD name, but obviously that hasn’t always been the case. I set up #GCB to ask the difficult questions, so with that in mind. What happened with the original SD partnership, why did you guys part ways and will we ever see you work together again in the future ?

SD … They say you should never say never but I will never work with him again. There’s no point as his contribution to the music was negligible and simply more of a mate (from school days) who ended up helping to buy a few items for the studio with his family support so it was more of a extra pair of hands to help do the mundane things.

All music creation, programming, mixing, production, engineering and mastering has solely been myself from day one. He used to make a good cup of tea to be fair… lol!

S.D. has always been my baby and always will be, it cost me a lot emotionally and financially to keep it as well as blood sweat and tears but S.D. and its trademark are by law & contractually owned and vested solely by me.

If you honestly had created and genuinely contributed to the S.D. body of work would you really happily agree to sign over all ownership, publishing, copyright etc. for a little pay-off cash? I know I certainly wouldn’t! S.D. is mine and tattooed on the inside of my head for life…lol!

Phil then moves on explain what happened around the time of the Virgin album deal for Exorcise The Demons, and their fateful tour of America.

It all became a serious business when the major players got involved and by this time Phil was up his own arse thinking he’d made the “big time” (have a laugh!) when in fact the “door of opportunity” had only just been knocked on and the hard work was just about to begin as far as I was concerned.

He didn’t put in the studio time to assist in the process of making the tracks and it was a constant battle with him moaning about the work schedule. Virgin/Astralwerks organised a US Tour with a couple of dozen bookings & “press” interviews over 3 weeks and Phil pulled out just 48hrs before … didn’t want to go or be part of SD any more, he was off to do his own thing…

I don’t think you could even begin to imagine how I felt, this was my baby and I had built it up with him only to be let down by him. I did the gigs alone and my manager Graham Bell came along with me.

It all went really well but on my return I had to go through loads of shit dealing with the split and loosing the Virgin deal because of this. It was a nightmare and it went on for months and months taking its toll on me.

This is why I will never work with him again. If he had come along for the ride who knows where it would have taken us but its water under the bridge now, his input has never been missed and many S.D. tracks where created since he was bought out. Only recently have I been playing them out and getting a good reaction to music I made 10 years ago. They will get released all in good time together with the new projects.

This is just a part of an excellent and quite epic interview conducted by the guys at Gotham City blog, much respect to them. Check out the full interview here.

Personally I think it’s a great shame how it all panned out, as even putting all the fantastic music to one side for a moment, the end result of this fruitful partnership was a complete falling out between two friends. But, whatever happened, it does not detract from what an impact Source Direct had on the drum and bass scene, and continues to do so today.

Drumtrip wishes Jim and Phil all the best with their new projects. I’m really looking forward to hearing some new beats… especially from Jim!

Catch Source Direct (Jim) online at….
Twitter @Source_Direct
Soundcloud @source_direct_official
Facebook @Source.Direct.Recordings

The post Whatever happened to Source Direct? Part 2 : Jim Baker interview appeared first on Drumtrip - Hardcore / Oldskool Jungle Blog.

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.

I was listening to some Doc Scott and Kemistry/Storm mixes the other day (Mixmag and One in the Jungle) and it inspired me to have a dig for the kind of mid to late 90s tunes which were rated highly at the time but never surfaced much. Stuff you generally didn’t hear in a club and had to seek out unless you were lucky enough to live near Hoxton Square.

I was at Bournemouth Uni at the time and only managed a few trips up to Speed and the Bluenote but the guys from Fat Trax Records and their associates managed to get the big names down once a month or so. Luckily for me, they preferred the deeper styles so it was usually the likes of the DJs above along with DJ Lee and Peshay etc who would turn up at the weekend.

What I liked most about these guys style was the way they rolled out the mixes and showcased a wide range of moods and sounds across their sets. Always fresh and taking the path less travelled.

I think most of these tracks are around the 95-97 years. There’s some heavy bangers (Spirit – Fathoms), some deepness (Oblivion – Last Dance) and some all out technical masterpieces (Hidden Agenda – Dispatch 1). Don’t think I’ve heard an amen squashed, compressed and twisted like that before or since. Hope you enjoy the mix.

Origination – Brace Yourself – Creative Source
Spacelink – Timezone – Reinforced
Dj Krust – Going Nowhere – Full Cycle
Jonny L – Treading – XL
Hokusai – Divine – Source Direct
Intense – 1st Contact – Vibez
DOPE – Travelling – Rugged
Sounds of Life – Intallect Remix – Cert18
Oblivion – Last Dance – Street Beats
Danny Breaks – the Bear – Droppin Science
————————-
J Majik – Lightsabre – Infrared
Hidden Agenda – Dispatch1 – Metalheadz
Nasty Habits – Prototyped – 31 Records
Dj Krust – Soul in Motion – Full Cycle
Spirit – Fathoms – Fresh86
Peshay – Music Remix – Good Looking
Source Direct – Exit 9 – Source Direct
PFM – One & Only – Good Looking
Photek – Hidden Camera – Science Virgin
Source Direct – Secret Liaisons – Good Looking

The post Dan Norman – Sounds Of Life 95-97 appeared first on Drumtrip - Hardcore / Oldskool Jungle Blog.

It occurred to me the other day that I had more than enough tunes to complete a third part of the All Source Direct mix series. I just had to pick up the one tune that has eluded me for sometime, the jazzy, slinky amen number ‘Jade‘, produced under Phil and Jim’s ‘Hokusai’ alias.

Their work as Hokusai, a name I assume is taken from legendary Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai, was a bit of a departure from the Source Direct sound.

It was dark, but never reached the evil depths like they did on ‘Exorcise The Demons’. But it also had a kind of jazzy noir feel to it which really comes across in tracks like Jade, Divine and 12 Till 4. A style not heard much within D&B other than from a handful of producers such as Photek, around the time of the “Hidden Camera” EP, and Hidden Agenda.

Once again this volume of the mix ecompasses pretty much all the styles and aliases the duo used throughout the 90s, starting from the deep jungle of Sounds Of Life, the precision edits and dark atmospheres of Source Direct, to the moody jazz tones of Hokusai.

The final third of the mix moves into the late 90s when Source Direct abandoned the mellow chords and strings in favour of horrifically bleak atmospherics created for the stunningly dark ‘Exorcise The Demons’ album on Virgin records subsidiary ‘Science’. To this day I don’t think anyone took D&B to a darker place than Source Direct did, ‘Technical Warfare” and “Stonekiller” are two perfect examples of how Drum and Bass can be dark, yet subtle and cinematic.

01. Sounds Of Life – Release The Bells – Certificate 18
02. Sounds Of Life – Currents – Certificate 18
03. Intensity – Generations – Basement
04. Source Direct – Fabric Of Space – Source Direct Recordings
05. The Medicine Men – Scream In The Jungle (Source Direct Mix) – Headroom
06. Oblivion – Sands Of Time – Street Beats
07. Mirage ‎– Just For You – Odysee
08. Sounds Of Life – Don’t Resist The Beat – Certificate 18
09. Mirage – Feel My Dreams – Odysee
10. Hokusai – 12 Till 4 – Source Direct Recordings
11. Hokusai – Jade – Source Direct Recordings
12. Source Direct – Web Of Sin – Metalheadz
13. Hokusai – Sculptures Hide – Odysee
14. Source Direct – Call & Response – Science
15. Source Direct ‎– Capital D. – Science
16. Source Direct – Mind Weaver – Science
17. Source Direct – Technical Warfare – Science

You can catch parts one and two at here

The post Law – All Source Direct Mix Part III 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.