Slow School Jungle Breakz

What if a twitchy arcade monkey with a penchant for drum and bass hopped in a time machine dialed back to the mid-1990s after taking too much ketamine?

The result, of course, would be a slow motion 8 bit journey through the jungles of England, with the likes of Gavin King, Danny Williamson, Clifford Price, and Rupert Parkes lighting the way.


Hardcore Math User - Slow School Jungle Breakz.mp3

Track list:

Aphrodite - Woman That Rolls
DJ Sole - Deal Wid It
A-Zone - Calling The People
The House Crew - Untitled
Goldie - Still Life
Hidden Agenda - Pressin' On
Amazon II - Bass Light
Art Of Noise - Kiss (Haitian Vampire Mix)
Photek - Third Sequence
Dillinja - Silver Blade
Smokey Joe - A Special Request
Chameleon - Links
Johnny Jungle - Johnny (Dillinja Remix)
Dom & Roland - Dawning
Optical - To Shape The Future
Blame - Centuries
Ken Ishii - Stretch (Shogun Remix)
Photek - Rings Around Saturn
Kinetix - The Stalking Moon (Technical Itch Remix)
J Majik - Arabian Nights

All tracks released 1994 - 1997.  Made with TwistedWave 1.9 and two yard bags of imaginary sinsemilla.

Howard Jones - The Balance Of Love (Give & Take)

I remember buying Howard Jones' One To One on cassette at a suburban mall record store all done up in pink triangles and green claw slashes.  I was 13 and completely in love with the (by then) ubiquitous Things Can Only Get Better.  Oddly the copy of One To One I wound up with didn't have You Know I Love You... Don't You? or (the insufferable) No One Is To Blame.  I seem to remember those coming out a bit later.

Howard Jones - The Balance Of Love (Give And Take).mp3

Anyway, I couldn't find the MP3s from One To One anywhere (legally or otherwise) so as a last resort I ordered a used copy of the CD from Amazon.  Listening to these songs again is a revelation.  Most are dippy, some are fantastic.  This was the opening track on the cassette, and easily my favorite song that year.  It still sounds fresh and original to me now.

Adam F - Music In My Mind EP

I remember the way my life changed when Goldie prodigy Adam F dropped his full-length CD Colours.  At the time I was carrying my own PA system to dj at local clothing stores and trying my hand at jazz-influenced drum and bass at home.  I must have played Colours on a daily basis for six months.  (I still haven't recovered from Andy C's fucktartedly awesome remix of Circles.)  Colours was at the absolute pinnacle of intelligent drum and bass, right up there with D'Cruze's Control, Goldie's Timeless, and Alex Reece's So Far.

Here is one of the best songs on Colours, released as an EP in 1998 with some snacky remixes.

Adam F - Music In My Mind EP.zip

Folder includes

* Music In My Mind (Original Version)
* Music In My Mind (Blame's Astral Mix)
* Music In My Mind (DJ Krust Inside Out Mix)
* Music In My Mind (Deep Dish El Nino Mix)

The single moves seamlessly from a robot torch song to a sci-fi adventure, from a dark jazz jitterbug to a door knocking house anthem.  At the time I was heavily consuming tracks by Blame (longstanding member of the ubiquitous Good Looking empire) and Deep Dish, so this single is really a perfect microcosm of all the things that went right with electronic dance music in the second half of the nineties.  This CD single is, in many ways, the gold standard.

XTC - King For A Day (CD Maxi Single)

I was recently inspired to download and listen to Oranges & Lemons for the first time in years.  (The last time I listened to it was on cassette.)  Amazing!

Somehow I had the presence of mind to not only buy this CD single when I saw it, but to hold on to it all these years.

Contains remixes you won't find on YouTube or the iTunes Store.

XTC - King For A Day.zip

Folder contains:

* King For A Day (Czar Mix)
* King For A Day (Versailles Mix)
* Toys
* Desert Island

Turn that frown upside down.

A-Ha - Take On Me (Promo 12" Mix)

This is a coup: I've never heard this remix before, and I can't find it anywhere on discogs.com.

A-Ha - Take On Me (Promo 12 Inch Mix).mp3

A really lovely version of a sweet little song.  A rare gem indeed.

Out Of Touch (Dub Version)

Ladies and gentlemen, the entirely irresistible Hall & Oates.

Hall & Oates - Out Of Touch (Dub Version).mp3

They are my biggest guilty pleasure. Don't hate.

Billie Jean (Opolopo Remix)

Opolopo does it again. They served up a fantastic remix of Rock With You, and now they're back with an inspired revamp of Billie Jean.

Michael Jackson - Billie Jean (Opolopo Remix).mp3

This is what good networking gets you: Opolopo managed to get their hands on not one but two acapella versions of MJ hits.

Lucky us.

New Order - Ultraviolence

Everybody makes mistakes.

New Order - Ultraviolence.mp3

Even me.

My Love Is Your Love (Jonathan Peters Remix)

She might make a train wreck look pulled together by comparison, but there is no denying Whitney Houston's power when she was at her peak.

Whitney Houston - My Love Is Your Love (Jonathan Peters Remix).mp3

I've never been able to explain my immediate and overwhelming love for this song.

Brain Freeze

Is it cold in here, or is it just you?

Lomax - Brain Freeze.mp3