Mix CD: Pirate Soundz Vol. 1
March 25, 2011 at 9:00 am 6 comments
Pirate Soundz Vol. 1
Pirate Soundz is a new series of compilations, which will provide an outsider’s view of the music that has emerged from London’s pirate radio culture over the last 20-or-so years. This first volume concentrates on the twinned inner cities of jungle and drum & bass. Generally, it eschews the more conventionally musical “progressive” drum & bass to examine the more eccentric aspects of hard-and-fast jungle. Experts in this area of endeavor are asked to go easy on the layperson-compiled tracklist but they are also encouraged to suggest alternatives, via the comments box.
Pirate Soundz Vol. 1 begins with a couple of tracks that demonstrate how ‘arkore rave music evolved into jungle, with increasingly complex splicing of sampled drum breaks taking over from swooping synths and sped-up vocal samples as the music’s main narrative element (Rufige Cru, Nasty Habits). If the compilation itself has a narrative, it’s something to do with rave’s descent from euphoria into paranoid ganja psychosis – with samples from then-contemporary US rap hits providing a crucial undertow (DJ Zinc, Elementz of Noise). Where a more explicitly progressive sensibility is in evidence, it comes – once again – through the elaborate, time-warped drum programming (Tek 9, Photek).
As ever, if you were involved in the creation or marketing/distribution of this music and you’re offended by its appearance on this compilation, just let Bubblegum Cage III know and the decent thing will be done. For those of you who would like to do the decent thing yourselves by actually buying some product from the artists featured here, it’s worth noting that two other comps were particularly helpful in the creation of this mix. The first was Routes from the Jungle, a 2CD collection put together for Virgin Records by Kevin Martin aka The Bug (available via Amazon). The second was Here Come the Drums, complied for Caipirinha by Wire magazine writer Peter Shapiro (available from Amazon). Both are well worth buying. Anyone who can provide alternative routes to actually pay for some of this music are encouraged to drop some links in the comments box.
Here’s the full track-listing for Pirate Soundz Vol. 1:
1. Rufige Cru – “Killa Muffin”
2. Nasty Habits – “Here Come the Drumz”
3. 4hero – “Wrinkles in Time”
4. Tek 9 – “A London Sumtin”
5. Boogie Times Tribe – “Dark Stranger”
6. Roni Size & DJ Die – “Music Box”
7. Photek – “Ni-Ten-Ichi-Ryu (Two Swords Technique)”
8. Omni Trio – “Thru the Vibe”
9. Optical – “Slip Thru”
10. Ed Rush – “Bludclot Artattack”
11. DJ Zinc – “Super Sharp Shooter”
12. Aphrodite – “Woman That Rolls”
13. Elementz of Noise – “Other Side of Town”
Entry filed under: dance, mix CDs, MP3s. Tags: dance, mix CDs, MP3s.
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1.
rottenhat | March 26, 2011 at 11:41 am
Enjoyed that greatly, except for the Optical track which really epitomises how tedious drum’n’bass became – almost no variation in the beats for the length of the entire track, as bad if not worse than the most unimaginative hard techno. Placing it after the Omni Trio track emphasises how repetitive and trudging it is, though I probably would have gone for “Renegade Snares” instead of “Thru the Vibe” from them (er…him). Might have been better to throw in something from the No U-Turn crowd than Optical, though you already have an early Ed Rush track in there…well, maybe Source Direct or someone instead, for an example of techstep. I might have chosen an earlier Photek track like “the Water Margin” or “Seven Samurai” but “Ni-Ten-Ichi-Ryu” is still awesome. Basically the whole stretch from Nasty Habits to Omni Trio is solid gold. Other possibilities – “Warpdrive” – DJ Crystl, “Angels Fell” – Dillinja, maybe something from Origin Unknown? Anyway, good work, looking forward to the next installment.
2.
Biggie Samuels | March 28, 2011 at 9:57 am
I know what you mean about that Optical track. I still like it, though.
Yeah, “Renegade Snares” is definitely “the” Omni Trio cut but “Thru the Vibe” is pretty much my favourite D&B track full-stop, so…
And I agree that the comp could have done with some Origin Unknown. “Valley of the Shadows”, maybe?
3. PondaBlog» Blog Archive » bubblegum jungle | March 30, 2011 at 12:57 pm
[…] beat headz: make your way over to the Bubblegum Cage III, where blogger, proprietor and general good egg Sam has posted a mouthwatery mix of prime-era […]
4. Mix CD: Pirate Soundz Vol. 2 « Bubblegum Cage III | April 19, 2011 at 9:02 am
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5.
tarrare | March 14, 2012 at 1:05 pm
Just burned to a CD, can’t wait to roll around to this for a few months. What great sounds.
6.
Biggie Samuels | March 14, 2012 at 10:44 pm
Been thinking of doing a third volume of this focusing on dubstep, only I guess everyone’s really sick of dubstep right now. It would be GOOD dubstep though, obviously.