Anthill Mob – My Selector
Today’s “Tune Of The Day” is a guest post by regular reader Daniel Norman who this time selects another lesser-known gem from the archives.
Back to 1994 for this one and what appears to be the swansong release from the Anthill Mob. Creators of some all out classic hardcore from 1993 like the Antology EP and its massive dark follow-up, the Antology Remixes, producers Kevin Hann and Adrian Blunt (Hughes) unfortunately either disbanded or moved away from the jungle scene soon afterwards.
I believe one of them went on to produce house but together, they did manage one final jungle release on Top Buzz’s PP9 label (also home of the classic Van Kleef tune – Life Began Changing).
My Selector is one of those tracks that never really got much rotation but to me offers a lot in its brief 5.5mins. It’s a classic arrangement of the era when hardcore had mellowed a little and the samples and strings were given a bit more space to breath. There’s a heavy emphasis on getting the breaks to make a big impact and the stuttering, cut up Think breaks (amongst others which are nearly unrecognisable) veer close into Deep Deadly Subs territory, which is never a bad thing.
There’s a little nostalgic nod back to 1993 once the track drops with some neat time stretched break edits, some pretty dark stabs and FX squelches etc but it never loses its flow and a deep rolling bassline keeps the crowd moving. On a big system, this tune just chugs along and the breakdown is quite beautiful with the strings and almost Arabic vocals.
It’s been said before, but tunes like this used to take you places. Easily mixed and a great opener with its vocal call or reset tune in the middle of a mix, this featured in a couple of Grooverider’s sets in 1994 such as Dreamscape 11. Shame these guys never produced anything else as they had superb form up until they retired from the scene.
About Law
Main author and creator of Drumtrip. I have been listening to and mixing drum and bass in its various forms since 1998. Drumtrip was designed to celebrate the glory years between 1991 and 1997.
