What are your favourite UKG/garage rap/blipment/whatever you want to call it tracks so far?

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This is the thread where everyone lists a few of their favourite garage tracks of the past year or so, talks about how great they are (the songs that is, not the poster) and hopefully make some nice reccomendations or catch up on some songs you've missed out on.

Anyway here's mine:

1. 'Looks Like I'm Losing It' (aka 'Brand New Day') - Dizzee Rascal
Ok, so I know this isn't actually the finished album version but even in no-fi demo form it's amazing. Twinkly bells, no bassline, a small and dry beat, the melody sounds other-wordly; it's not rnb, it has barely any of the sonics 'i luv u' implies. It sounds like the underwater music on Mario, really fantastical and floaty. It's 'twee' garage maybe? The only comparison I can think to make is with 'Flowers' but it seems tighter, more minimal like it wants to break out into a huge fuck off sub bass bounce but the melody is like suffocating it. I haven't really analysed the lyrics properly yet, too detracted by the twinkles. Dizzee's voice is like he's riding a different song, it's harsher than the melody but full of emotion. There's no saccharine fucking Kelly Rowland or whoever singing some banal line about the ghetto they've never lived in, it's just some kid who's not prepared to give too much away but sometimes his voice can't help but slightly croak under that fucking melody.

2. 'We're Ready (Wiley Mix)' - East Side Connection
This song is so baaaaaaaaaad. I didn't like the roots trumpets at first but then there was no fucking way i could anticipate the bassline! It's like every Warning dnb tape set is being played at the same time by 500 be-spoilered XR Turbos in B&Q carpark. I mean fuck beats! Although it's really minimal there seems to be so much going on, like when you look at the sky and a new star appears. I just noticed these cool little Neptunes style bongo-claps. And Chucky Mondo! He's a fucking cool mc. I have a tape of him from Deja Vu FM when Slimzee was mixing and he does this great half singing/mcing thing, a bit like ODB but not as fat sad sociopathic crack-clown. I still don't get those trumpets tho'.

3. 'Freeze' - Wiley.
What's up with Wiley's voice on this? He sounds quite pissed off. As does the bassline. There's not much else to be said about Wiley's basslines, I mean they do pretty much sound the same, which is great cuz I for one can't enough of them. This one bubbles and burps under a beat-em-up rhythm, like a Tekken 3 combo. "I've almost lost my life, and, i'm special like special fried rice". Wiley's flow is awesome on this, I hope he becomes massive, he deserves to.

4. 'Pulse X' - Musical Mobb.
This one's getting on a bit now but still fucking hurts. It's barely even there, just a 303 bounce and Detroit-y handclaps, threadbare. Every now and then a voice pops up and says something like "musical mobb ride up on the map". Indeed. There's a few mixes of this, I think my favourite is the VIP mix but it doesn't stray far from the original. Alot of the allure of the REALLY minimal end of bassline music is how ominous the songs sound, the threat of violence is implied by the space. It could easily drop into a raucous tech-y mess, but it remains composed and calculated. It's grimy yet so fucking pristine. I don't like to hear an mc over this song.

5. 'Ice Rink' - Wiley ft. Titchy Strider
This is without doubt one of the most fucked up noises i've heard in my life. It's also without doubt Wiley's masterpiece. What the fuck ARE these sounds? It's nothing music. It's just gonna fall apart if you don't listen hard enough! Mario jumps up and down for a bit, Bowser slams the door then "BANG" Mario's dead you fucker! And this happens for about 5 minutes. You've got infinite lives! Anyone who hasn't heard this, PLEASE try and get it as soon as possible. It will blow your head off. There's a few different mc versions of this, but my favourite is Strider's not only cuz he has the second best MC name ever, but he has a cool voice. It would be cool if he rapped about being in school a bit more. Tantrum!

― ss, Tuesday, 10 June 2003 14:59 (twenty-two years ago)

You don't have to list just 5 btw nor write shit loads. just name some cool tracks you like and help me feed my current obsession

― ss, Tuesday, 10 June 2003 15:06 (twenty-two years ago)

not particularly "in order":

1. more fire crew feat. dizzee - "still the same"
opens with weed induced coughing-fit straight outta lee perry, fits in the best jack-ur-body sample command of the year ("i don't try anything...i just DO it"), and plenty of bleeps like the return of 91-era warp, but nastier. okay, so the rhythm is basically just a another variation on "oi!" but when that final dizzee verse comes in it's the most raucous way to finish out a track i've heard this year.

2. dem lott - "dem lott's 'ere now (sticky remix)"
replaces the chinese-water-torture mood of the original with those almost comical sticky wah-wah bass lines, angular almost painful strings, and jaunty mood. also, best intro of the year.

3. east connection - "we're ready (wiley mix)"
everything ss said. bonus: you can play along to the bassline with an empty soda bottle.

4. wiley - "blizzard"
up on gabba.net right now. one of the things about the garage rap instrumentals is that they're obviously much more fucked up/outre/avant than anything in "hardcore continuum" so far, and yet there's just this...distance they impose. echoed i suppose by wiley's own track title choices. i can't really sit through a whole one without getting antsy or bored in the way i can sit through plenty of instro dnb or garage. this is probably the best. also, i've never heard a garage rap track this well produced. i dunno if its a hopeful sign or not.

5. jon e cash vs. capleton (title uknown by me)
clipped beats in the post musical mobb style and trademark black ops sub-sub-sub bass (see also black ops "dis beats dutty" with that opening battery of - again - warp era chiming-pinging bass blips)...about the only jon e cash track i could find with an mc (thanx to matt dc) it thankfully has a nice, apocalyptic vibe ala beenie's "moses cry."

there's more but i need to dig them out.

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 15:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Jess - there's 2 mixes of 'Blizzard' a dancehall one and a more straight out bassline version. I assume you speak of the dancehall one cuz that is bad! It still can't touch 'Ice Rink' tho'.

― ss, Tuesday, 10 June 2003 15:45 (twenty-two years ago)

the one i have has - i think - a sort of xylophone thing going on, the bassline, and a clap-rhythm.

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 15:47 (twenty-two years ago)

i heard dizzee rascal last night!! i guess a promo of the album, i forgot to ask

anyway i couldn't stop laughing at his voice (= a good thing): i heart kelly rowland obv but this was fkn ubergrebt — and the foax that played it to me were pissed off cz i'd head of dizzee rascal and they tht they were catching me out hurrah

― mark s (mark s), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 15:50 (twenty-two years ago)

yes his voice makes me so very happy

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 15:53 (twenty-two years ago)

mark there's so much dizzee in the location i pointed you to.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 15:56 (twenty-two years ago)

ok i'm on it sterl!! i ph34r the interweb!! i am v.old!! new tricks!! dog!! :( :( :(

― mark s (mark s), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 16:07 (twenty-two years ago)

mark there's so much dizzee in the location i pointed you to.

can you point anyone else there, sterling?!

― toby (tsg20), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 20:18 (twenty-two years ago)

actual can you repoint me there, i forgot where the pointing is?

― mark s (mark s), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 20:38 (twenty-two years ago)

1. Danny Weed - Salt Beef

Oh man what a bassline! Although you definitely need an mc overtop to fill this tune out.

2. Outlaw Breaks - Nissi
3. DJ Wire - Believe Me
4. 2nd II None - (think the track is called bulldozer)
5. DND - Happy (Ashanti remix)
6. Roll Deep (Bubbles) - Okay
7. Mos Wanted - Hungry Tiger Rmx
7. Benny Ill and Hatcha - Highland Spring

― Philippe, Tuesday, 10 June 2003 21:40 (twenty-two years ago)

oh yeah, outlaw breakz feat. gemma fox and sweetie irie - "dutty"...a little more 2-steppy but dark and the mc'ing sounds like a cartoon bullfrog

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 21:54 (twenty-two years ago)

I think the noises from that Ice Rink tune were sampled from an old Nintendo ice hockey game! In fact, I think it was called "Ice Hockey"

― Philippe, Tuesday, 10 June 2003 22:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Argh I'm so out of touch! I'm like, yeah, love "I Love You" and "Still The Same" (actually I love much of the second half of the More Fire Crew album) and "Big Mic Man" and "I Will Not Lose" and "Dutty" and "Dem Lott's Ere Now" but any comments I would make are all rather redundant by now. Damn no fucking Soulseek for mac and damn no computer at home.

Thought: is Dizzee Rascal like an alternate history version of Goldie where he didn't fuck up b/c he released his album in '94 at the height of his powers rather than in '95? Which would make Wiley the equiv. of 4 Hero?

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 23:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Argh I'm so out of touch!

I hear you. Ain't it great? Everything will be new and fresh when you hear it. :-) (I'm not kidding either.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 23:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Sharky (& Jammer I think) - 'This Ain't a Game' - I cannot big this up enough. The lyrics are like the essence of the whole damn scene, and the music - dreamy Chinese flute sample hammered into reality by banging chords and kickdrums - is as heartbreaking as anything on Since I Left You.

Roll Deep Regular - the best chorus ever written, ever. The best use of contrast between 2 voices ever. (Wiley's monotone & Dizzee's not-monotone. I don't know what DR is saying, but all he really has to do to make me happy is blurt out words that rhyme with a long 'i' sound in them, pronounced 'ah') A monstrous and kinda 'Are You That Somebody'-style so-rigid-it's-funky bassline, with a little twitchy 'beat' (if you can call it that) that makes all the difference.

― Keith McD (Keith McD), Wednesday, 11 June 2003 04:32 (twenty-two years ago)

err, delete "that rhyme" from the above

― Keith McD (Keith McD), Wednesday, 11 June 2003 04:33 (twenty-two years ago)

Dutty Doogz - 'Wiley Slew' - in which Doogz totally rips 'Kylie' over the 'Igloo' riddim. All i can say is that this guy is incredible!

Kano - this song where he talks about the game and bling and all that. "Clothes and accesssorees ain't necessarilee the best for mee, the best for you, the best for us." He's so cool and laidback compared to the others, but so edgy. Someone should figure out a better way to describe him than that. I've only got this on tape and can't find it on mp3.

I didn't even mention that weird string instrument in Roll Deep Regular. That tracks deserves more love around here.

― Keith McD (Keith McD), Wednesday, 11 June 2003 04:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Dutty Doogz - 'Wiley Slew' - in which Doogz totally rips 'Kylie' over the 'Igloo' riddim. All i can say is that this guy is incredible!

o yeah keith, just checked this one yesterday.

― gaz (gaz), Wednesday, 11 June 2003 04:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Jammer & Sharky - Don't ya Know, and other great Jammer stuff. Jammer takes Wiley's strings to the next dimension. His tracks are like the soundtracks to the most dramatic movies you've ever seen. His beats are full of crazy kick patterns and these big gaping holes, which are perfectly filled by Sharky and the others, because they don't fill their raps with gaping holes like Dizzee does. Those guys on the Dizzee thread are right about the vulnerability thing, but it's not just Dizzee. He's just the only one that makes it explicit. Jammer's beats and over-the-top tunes are vulnerable sounding, and the rappers sound vulnerable because they're trying so damn hard to be invulnerable.

Stormin - Day by Day. Just a hiphop track really, but with weirdly clipped beats, and some great 'social realism'.

lots of other great shit on my tape that I can't name. There's one instrumental that takes slow 8bar electro oompah beats into Timbaland or even IDM territory.

Danny Weed - Freshair - Ingram's right: Garage is slowing down, and it sounds awesome. This track SWAGGERS. Even better than 'Salt Beef', although it's not very 'fucked up' like most good 8 bars.

― Keith McD (Keith McD), Wednesday, 11 June 2003 05:23 (twenty-two years ago)

1) the ends - r u really from the ends.

not much said about this on ILM that i saw, but i love it. about the time i was getting off on as much synth string as possible. the chat at the start is well cool.....youre not from the borough!

2) deekline feat someone else: sexy cinderella

this is kinda awful/kinda great. if people are going to make big beaty stanton style tunes like mr reds, then id prefer these sort of silly vocal tracks (see also a past classic - 'i'll do anything')

3) roll deep 'dey should know'

farty clarinet sounds, and jaunty marimba. silly and well good.

― ambrose (ambrose), Wednesday, 11 June 2003 12:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah I forgot The Ends, that's a great tune. The 3rd MC from the Ends (forget his name) got shot last year.

6. Geeneus vs Slimzee 'Logoff'
Someone mentioned that garage is getting slower, well guess what? It's evidentally getting housier n'all. Electro handclaps and a 303 stutter out a GASP! discernable rhythm! There's very little bass at all really, more of a mono noted pulse. Actually this tune really reminds me of Mr. Oizo's 'Flat Beat'. Some nice cricket chirps.

― ss, Wednesday, 11 June 2003 14:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Haha I keep thinking silly thoughts like this. (no offence!) My ridiculously optimistic prediction is that rather than exploding and then burning out like jungle, gutter garage will just keep getting better and better, like hiphop. Why? Because their idea of realness is all about the ghetto and nothing to do with soul or jazz, and they aspire to be cool, rich & famous more than to be 'Artists'. With Goldie there was more of a problematic contradiction between making cool tracks for the next rave and making works of art to make a respectable Name for himself. Garage rappers are fortunate to have hiphop's example to follow, rather than not knowing where to go and so resorting to crappy dated ideas. Also they've got the whole hardcore history behind them to learn from. So it's a bright future ahead. Yay!

One of the many reasons everyone needs to hear that Sharky track is the lyrics about 'I'm going to make it happen!' and 'complacency leads to vacancy'. It's a great motivational anthem and it really makes me think that the scene will go places.

― Keith McD (Keith McD), Thursday, 12 June 2003 05:39 (twenty-two years ago)

i still can't quite work out why this music still seems to cold to me...obviously some of it is down to the basic sound, but not entirely.

― jess (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 12 June 2003 05:51 (twenty-two years ago)

how i read keith md's post:

"gutter garage doesn't aspire towards anything artistic and is tied to poverty misery and violence. music goes bad when it tries to break out of the ghetto. yay!"

this is not a criticism of keith tho (since its a common position and one which actually in its non-exaggerated form has a certain strong appeal for me), but rather just a disturbing thing to consider.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Thursday, 12 June 2003 05:54 (twenty-two years ago)

how i read keith's post:

"redman and ninjaman are better influences for urban-based dance artists than david sylvian and the yellowjackets."

― jess (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 12 June 2003 05:58 (twenty-two years ago)

on another note has anyone seen people actually dance to this stuff?

what does it look like?

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Thursday, 12 June 2003 06:02 (twenty-two years ago)

On the way back from uni the other week, I managed to sneak into first class (it was about 11pm, there were no inspectors around). Anyway, on the seats behind me was some sort of garage collective, one of whom was apparently called "MC Des". They had about four bottles of Moet, and one of Remy, and they were talking about on of their friends who had recently appeared on Trisha. Apparently, Trisha is "some bare ugly ting".

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Thursday, 12 June 2003 11:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Sterling, that's not what I meant. Of course they're trying to break out of the ghetto, that's what they want more than anything and that's like the whole point of it all. What I mean is that their concept of authenticity is tied to where they're from rather than what they want to be.

― Keith McD (Keith McD), Thursday, 12 June 2003 11:40 (twenty-two years ago)

isn't it tied to records they like about the way they like to think about where they're from?

― mark s (mark s), Thursday, 12 June 2003 11:43 (twenty-two years ago)

that's based on what you just said (not any expertise on the records themselves)

and i agree w.everyone so far abt goldie

― mark s (mark s), Thursday, 12 June 2003 11:44 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah that's what I should have said, Mark. Although I imagine they would draw from their own experience as well.

And their concept of futurism and experimentation is tied to their dreams of being platinum rappers:

That's where money don't matter
In the future
Material things don't matter
In in the future
I travel in a time machine
I'm in the future

- Wiley, 'Ice Rink'

― Keith McD (Keith McD), Thursday, 12 June 2003 11:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Then again, Dizzee's a bit of a "beatnik", releasing an album and all. In interviews he seems to want to distance himself from both the scene and America a bit.

― Keith McD (Keith McD), Thursday, 12 June 2003 11:51 (twenty-two years ago)

juno list that ice rink tune as being by dizzee. whats the deal?

― ambrose (ambrose), Thursday, 12 June 2003 12:52 (twenty-two years ago)

I think breaking up with Rob Playford had a lot more to do with Goldie's demise than the Yellowjackets.

― Ben Williams, Thursday, 12 June 2003 13:10 (twenty-two years ago)

gotta add some more after getting home 2 essentials:

1) wiley 'reasons'....god damn what is this. alright i admit it its not garage anymore. this is like, 110 bpm or something. er...cant rememebr why its so good, but theres two tracks that are killer.

2) lady fevah 'battle cry (chopper mix)'
god dman! this is serious! havent listened to it for a while, but i was blown away. the bass is just so resonant and encompassing, and she has got a wicked voice, even if she islike some stush-clone. just at the end, the bass starts getting mad filtered and sounds fucking good. why arent there more female mcs?

― ambrose (ambrose), Thursday, 12 June 2003 19:06 (twenty-two years ago)

are any of these on slsk?
whenever i look i only find the same few dizzee rascal tracks...

― robin (robin), Friday, 13 June 2003 00:05 (twenty-two years ago)

"why arent there more female mcs?"

Ha ha YES! Nasty female MCs are my weakness! When's the Lady Stush album out, yo?

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Friday, 13 June 2003 00:11 (twenty-two years ago)

i found a couple mp3's of pirate jingles featuring tough chick but no actual trax

― jess (dubplatestyle), Friday, 13 June 2003 00:12 (twenty-two years ago)

Adding a few more:

1) Ms. Dynamite - Ramp
2) Outlaw Breaks - Rush DJ

What do people thing of that Jon E Cash song called Swallow? Is that filthy or what?!

― Philippe, Friday, 13 June 2003 18:52 (twenty-two years ago)

I love "Swolla" but only have the dub on vinyl
still, once you've heard the vocal/MCing your mind fills it in

― Paul (scifisoul), Saturday, 14 June 2003 14:40 (twenty-two years ago)

"Sharky (& Jammer I think) - 'This Ain't a Game' - I cannot big this up enough. The lyrics are like the essence of the whole damn scene, and the music - dreamy Chinese flute sample hammered into reality by banging chords and kickdrums - is as heartbreaking as anything on Since I Left You."

Keith, I think I just heard this toward the end of that Nasty Crew online set - you're right, it's bloody amazing!

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Sunday, 15 June 2003 11:34 (twenty-two years ago)

One thing I love about the weird honking Chinese arrangement is how it's indicative of life beyond the darkness - like garage is going through this minimal/dark post-"Pulse X" sound so that it can come out the other end as something totally different (which it's obviously becoming). Dancehall I think has the most open-ended sonic possibilities right now because of the way in which the underlying rhythmic matrix has been internalised to a point where DJs can taken anything and make a riddim out of it - and yet still have what is very obviously a riddim. I can definitely imagine 8bar forming a similar internalised/invisible structure for totally bizarre arrangements. (or ha ha an easier example would be the more out-there 2-step arrangements eg. David Howard's "U & I" or James Lavonz's "Mash Up Da Venue" - you can hear the 2-step rhythm even though what's there is actually quite different).

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Sunday, 15 June 2003 11:40 (twenty-two years ago)

i was listening to old dancehall last night (specifically cutty ranks "limb by limb") and it's quite amazing how close the basic sound of all those early, ultra-cheap digital dancehall records are to the 8-bar stuff. not just in the tone/tenor (ultra-strident/quasi-ridiculous body-based deliveries contrasted with this almost comically cheap, squeaky squawky music) but in the basic SONICS: when that wah-wah-wah synth-bass noise comes in at the chorus of cutty's tune it's something straight out of wiley's bell.

― jess (dubplatestyle), Sunday, 15 June 2003 14:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Tim, you mean that set that Sterling linked to in that 'talk about Nasty' thread, or is there another one? i have the tune at the end of that on an instrumental mp3 called 'Vice Versa', which is confusing because i thought that was the name of Kano's 'boys luv girls' tune. anyway i love that track as well.

― Keith McD (Keith McD), Monday, 16 June 2003 06:34 (twenty-two years ago)

it's by Jammer. Jammer rocks my world - he will help bring garage in from the cold!!

― Keith McD (Keith McD), Monday, 16 June 2003 06:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah that Nasty Set - it's great all the way through! MP3 versions of this stuff are beyond ugent and key!

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Monday, 16 June 2003 09:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Sharky does some of the lyrics to This Ain't a Game 28 minutes into that set: "there's always room for improvement/ know that if you're good it doesn't mean that you can't do better/ never let fame get to ya/ coz you could be loved today not cared about tomorrow/ what this game can do to ya/ if you're not careful -?????- messed up/ you know i ain't going out like that/ complacency will just lead to a vacancy/ i wish everybody thought like that/ dedication you can't go wrong/ there's your verification/ i feel like i'm as good as people say i am/ i know i can spit ten times better than i've ever done/ watch me rise with the morning sun/ this prophecy won't fail/ we gotta make sure we prevail/ this style you can tell we've mastered crafted ever so well!"

― Keith McD (Keith McD), Monday, 16 June 2003 10:30 (twenty-two years ago)

this is just getting ridiculous. every week a more horrible tune comes out and pushes the scene, i can't keep up!

wiley & danny weed 'thai weed'
eastside connection 'ready to go' (the one that sounds like 'beat connection' - no bassline!)
both deserve honourable mention.

i find it strange how people like wiley, danny weed, musical mobb; the ones who started out making the stupid computer game in space beats have sort of regressed to making more tunefull, danceable riddims

― ssean, Saturday, 28 June 2003 21:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Skipping 126 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

so should i bother plunking down mad cash for that "street beats" comp?

― strongo hulkington's ghost (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 November 2003 21:27 (twenty-one years ago)

You have "mad cash"?

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Thursday, 6 November 2003 21:29 (twenty-one years ago)

haha no, that's why i'm asking!!

― strongo hulkington's ghost (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 November 2003 21:31 (twenty-one years ago)

you should just d/l it!

i don't know, i downloaded it a couple of months ago and haven't listened to it yet. i doubt it's worth mad cash though.

― toby (tsg20), Thursday, 6 November 2003 22:51 (twenty-one years ago)

street beats: depends how much you value your mad cash. the reason is is dodgy is cos half of it is rendered unlistenable (at least, for me)by b-live mcing all over it, and he has got to be the lamest, sorryest excuse for a piece of shit i've ever heard.
the other cd, with gods gift is ok. but its a shame they had to ruin some pretty good tunes with that twat.

also, the orientation is more south (insofar as its mostly kinda dubstep-y) rather than east, so beware of tastefulness, musicaltiy etc etc etc.

but if youve got cash/memory to burn then get it/download it!

― ambrose (ambrose), Friday, 7 November 2003 09:40 (twenty-one years ago)

wicked new tune:

2 Good 2 Be True - U Ain't Ready

kinda 4x4 but its got a great pizzicato bit!

― ambrose (ambrose), Monday, 10 November 2003 15:01 (twenty-one years ago)

someone tell me the name of that really slow tune what i mentioned up thread.

also, LETHAL B - DISCUSS FASSYHOLES

― sean., Monday, 10 November 2003 15:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Yo check out the cool Boyz in da Hood, Ruff Sqwad & Nasty sets on J da Flex:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/1xtra/djs/jdaflex.shtml

― Keith McD (Keith McD), Sunday, 16 November 2003 15:57 (twenty-one years ago)

That Jammer Deuce mag mix is hot, I have to say.

― bugged out, Sunday, 16 November 2003 16:28 (twenty-one years ago)

two weeks pass...

does anybody have a tracklist for the Jammer mix, or know where one's posted?

― Andy, Friday, 5 December 2003 20:09 (twenty-one years ago)

*fetches cd cover*

1) Kano - Boys Love girls
2) Bigga-Man feat Ears - Player
3) jammer/n.a.s.t.y feat bigga-man - take you out
4) jammer feat. hyper - lyrical combat
5) davinche feat. essentials - doing it now
6) jammer feat. diamond click - don't ya know
7) jammer feat. d double e - birds in da sky
8) davinche -grimey
9) jammer - one & all
10) jammer - burnout
11) davinche - eyes on you
12) jammer -destruction
13) mr wong - orchestra
14) jammer -weed me
15) jammer/wiley/bigga man - pick & mix
16) jammer - why
17) jammer - thug
18) bigga man/jammer - le go
19) bigga- man -scuff ya pumas
20) jammer -mystic
21) lewi white - platoon
22) lewi white - dungeon
23) lewi white - lost in london
24) lewi white - star ship

*phew*

― ambrose (ambrose), Sunday, 7 December 2003 00:54 (twenty-one years ago)

does everyone like it?

― raphael diligent (Cozen), Sunday, 7 December 2003 01:02 (twenty-one years ago)

It's great but not quite as great as the mix which has (apparently) been released as "The Nasty Show" - primarily because there's no MCing over the instrumental tracks. But it's marvellous to have "Mystic", "Scuff Ya Pumas" and especially the killer "Weed Man"/"Pick 'n' Mix" combo (I can't imagine hearing these tracks played in any manner except together) on a cd.

On the version SR sent me he included a bonus track from Bigga-Man called "Trump (Funny Song)" which is awesome - like music from the intro to a sitcom set in medieval China.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Monday, 8 December 2003 01:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Is there a decent quality version of Skepta's "8 Bars" available anywhere?

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Monday, 8 December 2003 04:39 (twenty-one years ago)

and who is the MC on that track?

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Monday, 8 December 2003 04:47 (twenty-one years ago)

if you mean 'big bars' then i think it's eskobar

― Keith McD (Keith McD), Monday, 8 December 2003 05:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Thanks much for the tracklist. I like it lots, but don't have much of a grime log to measure it against. It makes me regret that more than most of what else I've heard, though.

― Andy, Monday, 8 December 2003 07:27 (twenty-one years ago)

weed me = weed man obv.

@d@ml, believe it or not, i have burnt a copy of the cd and will send it to you as soon as i can find the cdr !?!?. i will try and add some extras.

― ambrose (ambrose), Monday, 8 December 2003 09:37 (twenty-one years ago)

no worries, ambrose! Thanks!

Keith-yeh, I meant "Big Bars". Any other Eskobar tracks out there? Besides "Ice Rink"?

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Monday, 8 December 2003 15:08 (twenty-one years ago)

he's got a battlefield and a pied piper, plus things like the ice rink bootleg thing he did, maybe other bits i haven't heard. he used to turn up on nasty crew sets quite a lot with sharky major.

― luke::, Monday, 8 December 2003 15:37 (twenty-one years ago)

so is donae'o like totally over or what?

― fiddo centington (dubplatestyle), Monday, 8 December 2003 15:40 (twenty-one years ago)

i mean...the album is really entertaining!

― fiddo centington (dubplatestyle), Monday, 8 December 2003 15:41 (twenty-one years ago)

um jess i'm really drunk (such an ilm cliche) and can't deal with sarcasm/irony/whatever. so the album's really good? that r&bish track he did is startling, not sure if i like it

― Keith McD (Keith McD), Monday, 8 December 2003 16:23 (twenty-one years ago)

ha well i dont even know if "entertaining" means "good" for me anymore (or even what "good" means) (christ if i have any more scare quotes i'm gonna sound like chuck eddy)...but it's certainly...different. he sure does love his funny voices.

― fiddo centington (dubplatestyle), Monday, 8 December 2003 16:24 (twenty-one years ago)

he seems to the be the first garage rapper who's really, consciously trying to be an entertainer.

― fiddo centington (dubplatestyle), Monday, 8 December 2003 16:25 (twenty-one years ago)

entertaining = good??? i know what you mean with grime. all this amazing awesome weirdass fucked-up non-entertaining stuff keeps turning up on http://www.independance-records.co.uk/ug.htm by artists i've never heard of, and Donaeo's not really part of that tiny little E London grime clique

oh yeah and what tim said: if nasty crew were rapping over it the Jammer mix would be the greatest thing ever but as it is it's merely pretty damn great. for me the nasty mcs solve all grime's problems. they're entertaining without just being wacky

― Keith McD (Keith McD), Monday, 8 December 2003 16:37 (twenty-one years ago)

conscious entertainer? what about heartless crew? on this tape i've got they clash with pay as u go (when wiley was in it) and champion ENTERTAINMENT rather than art or war

― Keith McD (Keith McD), Monday, 8 December 2003 16:40 (twenty-one years ago)

actually UKG MCs were all about entertainment. one important part of the shift to grime was that they stopped being entertainers and started to think of themselves as REAL Artists.

― Keith McD (Keith McD), Monday, 8 December 2003 16:51 (twenty-one years ago)

mr fidgit = ok
donae'o = ok
farmer yardie = fuck that x 10000000

― ambrose (ambrose), Monday, 8 December 2003 16:54 (twenty-one years ago)

search Ruff Sqwad - Armour
search the Skepta track on After Shock - Payback EP (it's on Independance but sounds much better in the Jammer's birthday set i downloaded)
stratospheric synths!! post-grime = post-punk new wave synth pop with insane beats

also Ice Rink 2 & all the 8bar refixes in the Boyz n da Hood set (download everything you can by them) on J da Flex are incredible, like the return of the jungle mashup. Actually I reckon I Luv U was teh beginning of the return of the mashup spirit.

― Keith McD (Keith McD), Monday, 8 December 2003 17:07 (twenty-one years ago)

i heard a good mash up on j da flex's de ja vu spot last week. it was summat like d.t.i. mixed with bongo mixed with ice rink mixed with pulse y mixed with i luv u and a few other tunes, but every set of 8 was mixed differently. proper mental beats. they got something ridiculous like 50 missed calls in 30 seconds

― esso, Monday, 8 December 2003 18:09 (twenty-one years ago)

so i *finally* have broadband and can share the 3+gigs of grime on my hardrive with slsk users 24/7 (there'll be more as soon as i free up some space on my hard drive, too). i'm in the ilm room, user name beginning with c. message me to be added to my list etc etc (it may take me a while to get back to you though).

also i've moved house to somewhere i can pick up deja, so hopefully i'll be recording monday nights (ruff squad, nasty, east co) from now on, assuming my recording software doesn't crash like it did this monday (suggestions of programs for recording to mp3 in realtime are welcome).

― toby (tsg20), Wednesday, 10 December 2003 21:56 (twenty-one years ago)

also beware: d/ls from the ukg hub don't have "INCOMPLETE" in front of them as they're downloading. i'm going to change my settings to make them d/l somewhere else soon; at the moment it only affects nasty crew 10th nov (only 1mb to go tho!) and roll deep freeze fm 24/10/03.

― toby (tsg20), Wednesday, 10 December 2003 21:58 (twenty-one years ago)

hey toby, can't see the ILM room or that, & I'm about three months behind the grime times, sigh.

― etc, Thursday, 11 December 2003 04:31 (twenty-one years ago)

fuck the ukg hub, my technophobia and insecurity won't let me deal with it.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Thursday, 11 December 2003 04:35 (twenty-one years ago)

every now and again i think my spam sure has a lot of yardie speak in it and then i remember i am still signed up to that list.

― fiddo centington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 11 December 2003 04:41 (twenty-one years ago)

(I have to say that I'm still not really sure what it is, but I love the word blipment.)

― Rockist Scientist (rockistscientist), Thursday, 11 December 2003 04:57 (twenty-one years ago)

hey toby, can't see the ILM room or that, & I'm about three months behind the grime times, sigh.

right click on the rooms list, and click "refresh room list". then it should be there. or just email me (the address here works).

― toby (tsg20), Thursday, 11 December 2003 07:16 (twenty-one years ago)

ok. pay as u go cartel: bust the mic. how old is this? what have they done? who are these guys? they're fire on the mic. request for information people!

― rgeary (rgeary), Thursday, 11 December 2003 07:44 (twenty-one years ago)

paug = "champagne dance", "know we". they have been around for ages, theyre like the old school now. dont know "bust the mic". the sticky mix of champagne dance is the one to hear. tim f has written about it somewhere...

― ambrose (ambrose), Thursday, 11 December 2003 09:42 (twenty-one years ago)

anyone heard this 'marga man' fool, almost makes donaeo palatable

― prima fassy (bob), Thursday, 11 December 2003 10:03 (twenty-one years ago)

original pay as u go, what you're talking about, been round from, i dunno, maybe, 200o, 2001, that tune, you can't bus mic like me, you can't bus mic like, pay as u go, thats probably 2001. the groups split now and reformed with different members. when bus mic come out there was
maxwell d (now east co)
wiley (roll deep)
gods gift (wolf pack)
plague (what happened to plague?)
flo dan (still floating about, might be in roll deep)
and some djs, geeneus, target and slimzee i think it was.
they were trend setters as far as making it about more road stuff rather than flava for the raver all that stuff, cos wiley and riko were talking about doing armed robberies in lum polly in like, 1999, so theyreally are the originators, more so than so solid, pay as u go and heartless are the two big ones, so solid is important more for commercil success, inspiration on that level, because as MCs they're shit

― luke./, Thursday, 11 December 2003 12:13 (twenty-one years ago)

oh shit i forgot major ace who now has his special deliverey crew

― luke.:., Thursday, 11 December 2003 15:24 (twenty-one years ago)

I still don't "get" Heartless Crew.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Thursday, 11 December 2003 15:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Don't forget to check out the awesome "Destruction Mix" of "Champagne Dance", which is fucking prophetic in its prescient encapsulation of latter-day apocalyptic grime-pop. Although it also sounds like an Adam F hip hop track pitched up.

The guy behind that mix also did a track with Skibadee (dissing Neutrino - it was either the precursor or answer record to O&N's career-best "Shoot 2 Kill") which I've always wanted to hear but never stumbled across.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Thursday, 11 December 2003 23:51 (twenty-one years ago)

heartless crew are the g-unit to the kings of crunk.

― fiddo centington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 11 December 2003 23:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Ha ha yes!

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Thursday, 11 December 2003 23:55 (twenty-one years ago)

What's odd about their radio show is how they want to play everything *except* grime/MC garage. It's like "Drum & bass, yes! Dancehall, yes! Old skool jungle, yes! speed garage, yes! old-skool 2-step, yes! Hip hop, yes! Grime? Sorry folks we just ran out of time!"

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Thursday, 11 December 2003 23:57 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

So I finally got that Street Beats comp discussed upthread. It had never turned up in Australia at all, and then I found it today for a tenner (circa 4 pounds). I'd always gotten the impression it was weak but as far as major label comps go i'd say it's pretty ace really. I was astonished as I was listening to the Femme Fatale set at how much it was like a greatest hits of 8-bar - "Bongo"! "War"! "Stomp"! "Target"! "Slow Jam"! "Jam Hot"! "Scratch"! and so on. Although how much of this "greatest hits" feeling is just a result of me having listened to a lot of Femme Fatale prior I dunno. But I love it love it for including J Sweet & Cameo's "Baby" and the VIP mix of "Are You Really From The Ends" which are two of my absolute favourite 8-bars ever (and i have a theory that the latter is secretly a big influence on '04 grime).

Slimzee's mix is a bit less wall to wall hits but it's pretty strong and much less dubsteppy than I'd been led to believe. And ending with J Sweet's "Gutter" and Target's "Runway" is a pretty ace one-two-punch. Plus God's Gift is pretty great throughout, it's even got my favourite rap by him where he's giving advice on picking up girls and then he gets tired so he talks about this time he had sex and then it transforms into a rant about unsafe sex and STDs.

Are people just spoiled by pirate radio that they consider these to be so fatally mediocre?

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Sunday, 9 January 2005 13:16 (twenty years ago)

nine years pass...

for the bubblin bassline crew

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/music-nation/4od

― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Friday, 4 April 2014 00:52 (eleven years ago)

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