The tune of today is one of my favourite tunes by the legendary Karl Francis.
‘Southside‘ may not be one of his most celebrated or played jungle tracks but to me it encapsulates everything that Dillinja was about at that point. Ragga and dub influences, but moving towards that Drum and Bass sound.
It starts out pretty low-key with a simple synth melody and female ‘diva’ vocals before dropping heavy with a huge sub bass and ‘Think’ break combo, yet remains quite a refined affair until the second drop.
The break down and second drop is why I love this tune so much. A drum roll starts and you hear what might be the first example of Dillinja sampling own voice, as a time stretched vocal shouts ‘Dillinja ja ja ja’ (this went on to be a staple feature of his post millenium work). He then samples a roots reggae track called ‘Who Can We Run To’ by Martin Campbell – A German born Englishman who was schooled at the renowned Alpha Boys School in Kingston, Jamaica.
Who can we run to
Who can we turn to
For you have the sayings(*?)
Of everlasting light
It drops again with with the same break, but with livelier edits and the bass as deep as ever. The track pretty much rolls out from here, but it’s that really special four bar breakdown and drop that does it for me.
Released in 1994, I imagine by Dillinja himself on white label which he did a lot at the time, curiously the full title of the track is ‘Southside (Riffin Mix)’, which begs the question what happened to the original mix? If there was one at all.
It’s not one of his most expensive and sought after tunes but it’s still not that cheap on discogs, but well worth it in my opinion.
Much to my amazement Southside was not already on YouTube, so I upped it myself…..
*let me know if you have the correct lyrics here
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.
