From The Man Like The Pennywise – Suspension Of Disbelief / Mystery
A double A-side here from Nookie and the not quite so well known Drakey on short lived label Symphony Sound.
I can’t claim to know a huge amount about the label Symphony Sound, but perhaps the biggest tune they put out was the Stephen King’s ‘IT‘ sampling ‘Pennywise‘ by Neuromancer (which was by Drakey I believe). But without doubt my favourite release on Symphony is Suspension Of Disbelief / Mystery.
We’ll start with the A side, Suspension Of Disbelief. This one just feels huge. Reminiscent of of the work of The Invisible Man at the same time, it bridges the gap nicely between the ethereal hardcore sound and darkcore. It’s starts off with the sounds of waves crashing and seagulls squawking before the drums and an orchestral horns come in to warm up. The track just builds and builds from there and really lets loose when the inevitable amen break joins the party. A mellower, less intense mid section arrives before the track builds up again into a crescendo.
The AA side was the one that first caught my ear on this vinyl. It’s a even more otherworldly but perhaps not as intense as Suspension, but just as good. The main sample was taken from the 1990 supernatural thriller ‘Flatliners‘ and once again this one builds up and up with tough beats, the obligatory amen, female vocals and 4-4 kicks driving the track along. Half way through things get bit dark with a halftime / pitched down amen slowing things down before the track rolls out.
Both tracks are similar and both are very atmospheric. 1993 was the year for this sound, and it might just be my favourite year for the scene. Producers like Crystl, Invisible Man, Nookie, Gwange, Q-Project, Skanna and labels like Deejay, Lucky Spin, Legend and plenty of others were pushing this blissed out, spacey hardcore vibe. Shame it didn’t last too long as hardcore turned into either all out ragga jungle / hardstep, or down the more Good Looking style route of atmospheric drum and bass.
For more tunes on that ethereal hardcore tip, check out my mix for Two Hungry Ghosts blog
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.
