Friday, June 14, 2019

oh dread



This tune gives me feelings I cannot put into words

And that vocal lick at the start - oh dread, indeed

Would listen mesmerized, in our narrow little Belsize Park kitchen as the pirates played it to death in early '94 - disbelieving that music this incredible could exist.

Surprised - delighted - to hear the same vocal lick appear on this tune by the mysterious Wots My Code (as previously posted about)



The usually infallible Whosampled.com is completely unable to tell me who the ragga gentleman is

Wots My Code 'The Dub Plate' was one of the very early hardcore junglizm 12 inches I bought - back when my collection numbered in the single figures.

I particularly liked the fireworks sound.

But I didn't have the original EP and in fact only this week realised it existed. I had the bright yellow pic sleeve one that came out later with all the remixes by Ray Keith (with Nookie engineering).


Understandably for quite some time I labored under the impression that the group's name was XLR 8








The bassline sounded very PiL to my startled ears  - "Home Is Where the Heart Is" to be precise.



"Dubplate" samples a different dancehall dude than "Bachelor Rock"  - Eek-A-Mouse "Wa-Do-Dem", plus flavour from a Revolutionaries tune and some Harder They Come dialogue ("I tell the deejay what to play seen" etc).

Ooh look yet another remix by  Ray Keith of "Dubplate" - recycling reverse-cymbal smears from his remix of DJ Mayhem "Inesse" and the Amens from "Terrorist" - ooh and the B-line and collapsy breaks bit from "Inesse". A Frankenstein composite of all his top tunes and remixes.



How much you wanna bet Total Science totally wank it up?



Actually, it's not bad at all - a bit itchy with technicality - but the bass and the fireworks are in there, and the beats are pretty ruff. Pretty good actually.

Total Science are from Oxford - the Blackbird Leys estate. Is that where Wots My Code hail from, also?




They really caned the roots reggae thing.



"Brian Can Bogle" is not out there, but this is natty Xmas tune is



The frenetic flustered Dominator Euro vibe does not suit their skill set.

8 comments:

Stefan Kraus said...

Re Total Science Remix - This was actually great back in 2000 and helped to spark a mini-breaks-resurgence within DnB, alsongside Reinforced "Second Wave" (Alpha Omega, Digital and others). More daring DJs used to rinse this in late 2000 much to my delight (for instance). However, the breaks revival didn't last all that long due to the fact Grooverider, Bad Company, RAM rec. and others (they had the pull in the scene back in the day) didn't like breaks coming back much.

Phokus said...

Sample is from here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3ltsyHcuf-o#

Charlie w said...

As far as I know Total Science (aka, Quiff and spinback, q project) Invisible Man, Gwange and Wot's My Code were all Oxford hardcore jungle crew. And quite possibly all from the Blackbird Leys.

Spiro said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Spiro said...

Wots My Code are incredible - some of the most vibesy and wintery hardcore ever made. 'Trip To The Grotto' is actually one of the tracks on the 'FMB Crew on Lightning FM 1993' pirate recording you mention in Energy Flash and I've been trying to ID it for ages (they reference it on the tape as 'sounds of the jungle bells') but I never managed to find out what it was. So I'm glad the mystery has finally been solved!

SIMON REYNOLDS said...

wow well spotted Spiro

SIMON REYNOLDS said...

thanks for the sample ID Phokus!

Ian S said...

Another sample source site (and tracklists) to compliment WhoSampled can be found here:

http://rolldabeats.com/forum/index.php?showforum=17