The True Oasis (Hertscore Continuum)

Unfortunately they are the Shed Seven of ambient jungle, but below is something of a classic

Oaysis - from St Albans!

Part of the Hertscore Continuum!

Outposts in Stevenage, Hertford itself, Hitchin ... 

Labels like Moving Shadow, Candidate and PM Records.... 

Photek, Source Direct... 

Omni Trio obviously

Nookie is from Hitchin

2 Bad Mice / Kaotic Chemistry....

Chill Records was based out of Luton.... as in early bleep tracks by Original Clique etc

But more strictly in the ardkore to jungle line, Gappa G and Hypa Hypa, from Luton

Who played on a pirate called Perception FM, out of Luton / Hitchin area

As did DJ Concrete 

And to my surprise there were other pirate radio stations in Hertfordshire

Via RollDaBeats forum, ancient post

Mad FM

freq: 90.6

area: Hertfordshire

broadcast out of Hertford town centre

known years running: 1990/1-1993

basic style genre: Oldskool

known dj's: 2 Stoned crew (2 bad mice in disguise), dj lucky, dj active, dj duffy

 

Frequency FM

freq: 101.4fm

area: Hertfordshire

known years running: 1991-1993

basic style genre: Oldskool

known dj's: DJ Legacy (myself), DJ Twist, DJ Nitemare, DJ Donny P, DJ Shiva

Got bust when the aerial got blown down in high winds.

(and this one, shrouded a bit in non-knowledge)

Unknown FM

freq: 108.0 fm

area: Hertfordshire (not 100% though)

known years running : no idea

basic style genre: no idea

known dj's: no idea

And what do you know, just this morning Droid alerts me to this release by Justice and Metro, a mini-LP  titled PRESSURE 101.5 FM-Luton Pirate Memories. 

It's actually from a few years ago and is woven out of old pirate adverts and jingles - info about long-lost record shops and club nights in the Luton and Dunstable area.

"J and M takes us on a journey back to the 90's and compile Pirate radio adverts from their local station Pressure FM. The flip is a track inspired by the sounds being broadcast around the rave era."

Hark at the well spoken voices in the adverts...  big up the bourgeoisie! big shout going out to the  middle class massive!

"Right of admission is reserved - and this is a drug-free zone" - yeah pull the other one, luv!

1. Pressure EZ 03:41

2. 101.5 Skit 01:04

3. Last track from me..... 00:32

4. Soul Sense 00:26

5. Mad Dog Birthday Rave 00:49

6. Soundz Wicked 00:37

7. Gatsby's Hair Dressing 00:32

8. Pressure Zone 00:43

9. Ozone 2 01:15

10. 33 studio 00:38

https://modernurbanjazz.bandcamp.com/album/pressure-1015-fm-luton-pirate-memories

Oaysis

 

Loft Conversion E.P.  - you got to love it

St Albans massive - part of the Hertfordshire Annex to the Hardcore Continuum (Omni Trio, Source Direct, Photek, Gappa G and Hypa Hypa, Omni Trio, Nookie, DJ Trax I think, others too... Moving Shadow in Stevenage, Chill Records in Luton)

Not in the first rank of ardkore + jungle - now if they were Omni level, there'd be more polemical strength to the comparison with you-know-who

But this kind of thing = the real Britpop.  I thought that then. Think it now. 

And it was pretty popular, with the populace. Chart music for a good stretch there..

This is Oaysis's first-rank moment 

"I think we've found / A special place...  Just close your eyes / And dream with me"

Better still, the Slipmatt remix

Oaysis started on Formation, up in Leicester, then went to an actual Hertfordshire label - Stevenage's Moving Shadow

One of those groups that tended to go a bit wispy when they shifted from ardkore to intelligent 

One of them  - Danny Hopkins - became Hopa, as in Hopa & Bones - a name that always tickled me.  Although I can see now that it's just a twist on Hopkins. Still, it's an archetypally nuum sort of name, isn't it? Hopa n Bones.

Hopa and Bones featuring Oaysis - a transitional nomenclature. Was this like Hopa saying to the other two in Oaysis - "okay, you can be in the room with us while me and Bones make the tune?" Like letting them down gently, aka not pulling the bandage off.  Maybe they helped, contributed, advis.

Or  maybe it was trying to drag over the "name-recognition" factor into the new enterprise.

Good stuff. Not wispy at all. Glistening and "musical" and cold-fresh-airy, yet the beats are lively and limber, the bass booms in all the right places. 

Danny Hopkins also recorded, earlier, as Higher Octave 

Track called "Raise the Bones"

The other two seem to have dropped out of music.