MUZIK Singles Reviews, November 1996

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IMGUR gallery: https://imgur.com/gallery/mMHxFF9

YouTube playlist: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfPVH0B2YdVrecojffNxq_ucjoUO7dHey

Discogs list of releases: https://www.discogs.com/lists/MUZIK-Magazine-Singles-Reviews-November-1996/874342?page=1&limit=50

★ Carl Cox - Tribal Jedi (Ian Pooley Mix / Slam Black Drum Mix)
★ Agh - Yummy
★ Latin Kings - Mamba
★ Communication X - Montego Bay / Duality
★ El Mariachi - Cuba
★ Mysterious People - Love Revolution (Mood II Swing Remix 1)
★ Herbert - Got To Be Movin' / Fat King Fire / Housewife
★ Rio Funk - Babes From Bahia / Eddie 'Flashin' Fowlkes Remix
★ Dave Wallace - Flight / Waves

★ Wayward Minds - Homeland (Xpressive Journey / Subject To Reason)
★ Stranger - Partly Cloudy (Stranger Thermal Mix) / Blue Sky Reprise (Derrick Carter Mix)
★ Floppy Sounds - Excursions (The Melon Trip / Thembots Remix)
★ Tanya Louise - Deep In You (Stone Club / Ed Rush & Nico Mix / Rob's Grand House)
★ Electric Blue - Away / Deepness
★ Grace - If I Could Fly (LTJ Bukem's Roll It Mix / More Rockers Vocal Mix / Smith & Mighty Feet On The Ground Mix)
★ Raven Maize - Forever Together (Basement Jaxx Mix / Faze Action Mix)
★ Sound Enforcer - Law, Order And Sound Enforcement EP: John Shaft / Impact / Karate Kick
★ Spooky - Bamboo (Original / Theme From Catapult) / Little Bullet (Live Version)

★ Kushti - Lifers EP: Hello It's Wednesday / U R Still Ahead
★ A.K.A. - Warning (Maximum Style Vocal Mix)
★ Ladycop - To Be Real
★ Bentley Rhythm Ace - Late Train 2 Bentley On C (later renamed Mind That Gap)
★ Juantrip - Interstone EP: Red Jack / Lola's Playground / Some Hope / Shadows / Interstone
★ Aphex Twin - Girl/Boy EP: Girl Boy (NLS Mix) (later renamed Girl/Boy Song) / Milk Man / Inkey
★ Smith & Mighty ft Tammy Payne - Same
★ David Holmes - My Mate Paul
★ Incognito - Out Of The Storm (Carl Craig Mix)

It’s going to be hard not to vote for Out Of The Storm but there are some contenders.

This is the Carl Craig remix of Out of the Storm by a good long margin for me. One of the best remixes of all time in my book.

These are more up my street, bought Muzik every month, they're all still in my dad's loft. Agree with Mr C and everyone above that Out of the Storm remix is the standout. Off the top of my head the Floppy Sounds and Mysterious People/Mood II Swing are pretty good too. Aphex too, of course

Yeah, think I bought every single issue of Muzik magazine but only have a few left now :(

Just checked and this was the issue with Deep Dish painted gold on the cover and a free Oakenfold Perfecto Fluro mixtape (with that ropey Grace track on)

From the "Trainspotting" section, and not polled here, here are the releases marked as "VITAL single" or "VITAL album".

House (reviewed by Terry Farley):
★ Ann Nesby - Can I Get A Witness (Mousse T.'s Funk 2000 Mix) (Perspective)
★ Roy Davis Jr - Gabrielle (The Scroll Mix) (Large Records)

Jungle (reviewed by Veena Virdi):
★ Shaolin Beatbox - Shaolin Beatbox (Sirkus white label)
★ Jonny L - 2 Of Us / Tychonic Cycle (XL)

Techno (reviewed by Dave Mothersole):
★ Shiver - Doctor Break (Shiver Records)
★ Various Artists - Elements Of Jazz (Kickin Records)

Hip Hop (reviewed by Will Ashon):
★ Jeru The Damaja - Wrath Of The Math (Payday/London)
★ Various Artists - Beat Classic (DC Recordings)

Trance (reviewed by Dave Fowler):
★ Westbam - 10 Years Of Low Spirit #1: Monkey Say Monkey Do / Disco Deutschland / Back To Future (Low Spirit Recordings)
★ Various Artists - Celtic Records 1 (Celtic)

Garage (reviewed by Michael Morley):
★ Basement Jaxx - Sleazycheeks EP: Eu Não / Moradi / Get Down Get Horny / Jump / Stanley (Atlantic Jaxx)
★ Stephanie Cooke - Holding On To Your Love (King Street)

Hardcore (reviewed by Claire Wyburn):
★ Active Force - Where's The Hip Hop? / Breakdown On The Floor (Clubscene)
★ Sign Ov Chaos - Frankenscience (Earache)

Soul (reviewed by Bob Jones):
★ Sweetback - You Will Rise (Columbia)
★ Puff Johnson - Miracle (Work/Columbia)

Downtempo (reviewed by Calvin Bush):
★ Jimpster - Martian Arts / Slow 'N' Low / Stateside On Monday / Bad Hair Blues (Freerange)
★ Hacienda - Sunday Afternoon (Harthouse)

Hardbag (reviewed by Joey Bolsadura):
★ Pauline Taylor - Constantly Waiting (Original / Epic Mix / Club Mix / Rhythm Masters Mix / Angel Moraes Constantly Slammin' Dub) (Cheeky)
★ Jon The Dentist - Pyramid (TEC)

There's some really good drum & bass in this poll, all new to me, my best discovery being Electric Blue's exquisite "Away" and "Deepness".

I bought this issue too, with the mixtape: https://www.discogs.com/release/202563-Oakenfold-Perfecto-Fluoro

The only one I bought as a single from the main list was Incognito. I had the Bentley Rhythm Ace and David Holmes tunes when they appeared on album.

From the specialist picks, I bought Ann Nesby and Roy Davis Jr as singles, plus the Sweetback album.

Sweetback's You Will Rise is all-time

'2 Of Us' (not polled) is very nice as per for Jonny L, gets a Photek remix as well.

Sunday Afternoon by Hacienda is a great album. The follow up singles had good remixes from Justin David and Ian O’Brien. I’m pretty sure I had this issue and would generally go for the Dave Mothersole reviews first.

i have / had a few of these. Overall a fairly mediocre selection imo.

i bought Mysterious People - Love Revolution (Mood II Swing Remixes) unheard as i was massively into what Mood II Swing were doing around this time but this one never really worked for me.

Herbert - Classic Herbert EP - it's good but i don't revisit it often.

i was also very into Floppy Sounds. The Themnots remix is good.

the Derrick Carter remix of Stranger's 'Partly Cloudy' is good too.

Carl Craig's Incognito mix would have won this for me once upon a time but i've cooled off on CC in recent times due to his social media dickishness.

i like David Holmes' 'My Mate Paul' but it is basically just a re-edit of Googie Rene Combo's 'Smokey Jo's La La'.

Smith & Mighty rule but this isn't one of their best.

if it was on the poll i'd probably vote for - ★ Westbam - 10 Years Of Low Spirit #1: Monkey Say Monkey Do / Disco Deutschland / Back To Future (Low Spirit Recordings) or Roy Davis jr. But, i think i'll vote for Aphex.

I probably would have disallowed WestBam from the poll, as it’s all reissues: this was a promo 12” for a Best Of comp.

Very taken with the Floppy Sounds.

Initially didn’t think this was a great list, but I’ve been hammering the playlist over the past few days and a lot of stuff is coming through.

(I now think it’s one of the best lists we’ve had!)

but I’ve been hammering the playlist over the past few days and a lot of stuff is coming through

i shall investigate further some of the ones i don't know.

Voted Ladycop, which is loads of fun (DJ Parrot, big Cheryl Lynn sample, proto-speed garage noises).

Archive.org has a complete set of Muzik scans last I checked, read a few during lockdown and it holds up reasonably well, certainly compared to same-era Mixmag and DJ. (Jockey Slut was best, though.)

It does suffer from the specialist reviews ('Trainspotting') rarely marking anything lower than 4/5, making it largely unhelpful as a buyer's guide. With most reviewers being working DJs, presumably they didn't want to risk pissing off pluggers with low scores and their supply of free promos drying up.

You can read them all here:

http://www.muzikmagazine.co.uk/

Voted for David Holmes as a big fan of ‘Let’s Get Killed’ back in that era. Also recently discovered a pal’s cousin co-produced it which was quite the shock 25 years on.

Don't know many of these but might go for the Mysterious People remix which I knew from a Deep Dish mix for Cream (triple pack with other mixes by Darren Emerson and...someone else) and although maybe a bit too smooth and seemingly basic I have a fondness for it hard to explain (nice shift with the bassline towards the end for one thing though).

^ Ryder/Bleasdale apparently.

Me neither

Voted Ladycop, which is loads of fun (DJ Parrot, big Cheryl Lynn sample, proto-speed garage noises).

Oh my! i had no idea Parrot was behind this. It was not my thing in 1996 but i dig it now. Hmmmm....46 For Sale from £0.85 on discogs. I may splurge.

I got it recently on CD, it's on an unmixed Unabombers compilation:

https://www.discogs.com/release/155840-Various-The-Electric-Chair-Basement-Soul-Music

top tip! thanks.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I didn't have a very well-developed ear for drum & bass in 1996, my tastes being far more four to the floor, so it's been a delight to discover how well the best of them have aged. The Dave Wallace and Wayward Mind tracks are all great, but I'm voting Electric Blue.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

SMASH HITS singles reviews, 14th to 27th November 2001