The Holiday Remix Snow Globe: A Short Story

This post has been moved to my new dark music / lit blog, Percival Ravenwood, Esq.

The new link for this post is here.

Rareish Altern 8

So instead of just using one of the ready-to-wear megamixes that Altern 8 provided, I decided to dig deep into their back catalogue to find a few rare gems for my hardcore mixtape.  Don't you know I found them.

From collaborations with Inner City and Pet Shop Boys to Cabaret Voltaire, Altern 8 really made their way deep into the scene.  Some of these cuts made it into the mix tape, but many of their hard to find original tracks didn't.  Here's a smattering of these rarish original tracks, including two modern remixes for good measure.

Rareish Altern 8.zip

Folder includes

* Destiny
* Hole In The Speaker
* Infiltrate 202 (Altern 8 vs Astrix & Space Mix)
* Frequency (DFRNT Remix)
* Infiltrate 202 (Autobots Remix)

Watch your bass bins.

Class Of '93: Hyper On Hardcore Breakbeat

If you've ever loved jungle, drum and bass, or happy hardcore, you've loved hardcore breakbeat. Hardcore is the solid trunk of early 90's British electronica that spawned literally dozens of sub-genres, including 2-step garage, dubstep, and fidget.

Hardcore itself is a branch of earlier revolutions in dance music, fusing together shards of house, breakbeat, acid, reggae and hip-hop turned up to 45.  The tempos eventually chased each other up into the 150 bmp range, at which point jungle nabbed the weed, warbly bass lines, and MCs to form drum and bass, happy hardcore stole away with the 4/4 beats and screaming piano divas, and gabber kept the distortion petals for a notorious affair with techno.

But once upon a time they were all one.  Funky breaks, chimpmunked vocals, scratched rap samples, rasta MCs, and heavenly synth stabs all lived together in glorious unity.  This mixtape is dedicated to the memory of that unity, and to all the DJs and producers who made it happen.

Class Of '93: Hyper On Hardcore Breakbeat.mp3

Track list:

1. Hardcore Math User - Hyper On Hardcore
2. Wishdokta - Teknoschizo
3. D'Cruze - World Within A World
4. Gamer 3 - Acid For Blood
5. Art Of Noise - Instruments Of Darkness (Prodigy Remix)
6. Austin - Unity In Dub
7. Blame - Music Takes You (2 Bad Mice Take You)
8. SL2 - On A Ragga Tip
9. Criminal Minds - Re-Baptised By Dub (Selector’s Revenge)
10. Annie Lennox - Little Bird (NJoi Remix)
11. Smart E's - Sesame's Treet (Krome & Time Remix)
12. Altern 8 - Brutal-8-E (Jungle Brutalism Mix)
13. Acen - Window In The Sky (Krome & Time Bad Up Remix)
14. 80 AUM - Mindcontroller
15. Nu-Matic - All Over Me
16. 2 Bad Mice - Like It Deep
17. Hackney Hardcore - Dance Hall Dangerous (Terrorize Mix)
18. Nu-Matic - It's Strange (Dances Are Changin')
19. Krome & Time - The Slammer
20. Austin - Rude Boy
21. Foul Play - Open Your Mind (Nookie Remix)
22. Tom & Jerry - The One Reason
23. Andy C - Something New Pt 1
24. LA Style - I’m Raving
25. Prodigy - Everybody In The Place (155 And Rising)
26. Cuba Gooding vs Altern 8 - Happiness Is Just Around The Bend
27. Mark One - Hoovers And Spraycans
28. 808 State - Timebomb
29. Altern 8 - Respect Is Due (Breakbeat Hysteria Mix)
30. Tic Tac Toe - The Big Blue
31. DJ Nex - DJ Nex’s Theme
32. Atomizer - Time To Time
33. Moby - Permanent Green
34. Prodigy - Out Of Space (Celestial Bodies Mix)
35. Praga Khan - Kick Back For The Rave Alarm
36. Fat Controller - In Complete Darkness
37. Messiah - 20,000 Hardcore Members
38. Inner City - Let It Reign (Alternate Altern 8 Mix)
39. Hardcore Math User - Hyphereoid
40. MIDI Rain - Fire
41. DJ Phantasy & DJ Gemini - Never Try The Hippodrome
42. 808 State - Colony
43. Wishdokta - Whine You Bottom
44. Manix - Hardcore Jungalism
45. Foul Play - Finest Illusion (Legal Mix)
46. Tom & Jerry - Nine Lives (Mind Out Tube Mice)
47. DJ Doc Scott - Surgery (Ordinary Mix)
48. Altern 8 - One For John (Strag-O-Late The Chicken Mix)
49. Deee-Lite - Good Beat (Beatapella)
50. Tom & Jerry - Baby Don’t Shout
51. Phuture Assasins - Future Sounds (2 Bad Mice Remix)
52. Third Mind - Beans And Barley
53. SL2 - DJs Take Control (DJ Seduction Mix)
54. Dance Conspiracy - Dub War
55. Beyond The Future - Feel It
56. Blow - This Is Called The Cutter (Altern-8-ive Hardcore Remix)
57. Hyper On Experience - A Certain Emotion
58. Criminal Minds - The Criminal
59. Kaotic Chemistry - Space Cakes (2 Bad Mice Remix)
60. Manix - Feel Real Good (Remix)
61. Prodigy - Jericho
62. DJ Hype - Weird Energy (Hells' Bells Mix)
63. Orbital - Chime (Ray Keith Mutation)
64. Altern 8 - Hypnotic St-8 (St-8 Of Art Edit)
65. Austin - I Get High (‘93 Remix)
66. Bay B Kane - Bass Pump
67. Inner City - Follow You Heart (Altern 8 Annihil 8 Mix)

Old school enthusiasts should also check out the other Class of '93 mixtapes: Techno Acid Meltdown, Robot Dub Killer, and Rave Hysteria.

Coming soon: A tribute to jungle, 1994 and back.

RuPaul FTW

Oh, sweet Jesus.  I am so gay for this song right now.

RuPaul - The Beginning.mp3

RuPaul - The Beginning (Happy Hardcore Hack).mp3

Best.  RuPaul.  Song.  Ever.

Weird Day

Last night Americans learned that Osama bin Laden had been killed in a US raid.  The President addressed the nation, crowds cheered outside the White House, and people like me tried to think of friends who would be up at 11:00 on a Sunday night so I could call them and OMG together. 

But here's a funny thing: Osama bin Laden was killed today, not yesterday.  The Washington Post announced that he clocked out near 1:00 am Pakistan time, which was mid-afternoon Washington time.  So the official date of his death, a date that will be recognized in every history book from now on to forever, is May 2nd, 2011. 

On a completely unrelated, but equally strange note: Those of us unfortunate enough to live in the upper Midwest are experiencing the seventh consecutive month to begin with wintry weather.  Seventh month.  SEVENTH MONTH.  November 1st was seven months ago, and the temperature this morning was below freezing. 

Weird day.