Manix AKA Marc Mac from 4 Hero released a hardcore album, Living in the Past, the other day. You can grab it on MP3 but the vinyl editions are all gone now including a very lovely looking picture disc which I was lucky enough to grab a copy of…but only just!
The album’s great. 10 tracks of hardcore mastery done as a faithful recreation of the sounds that these guys were putting out back in ’92 and ’93. It doesn’t stray far from the original formula, which is absolutely fine by me considering Manix and the Reinforced lot released some of the finest tunes from this period. Is the album better than the classics of yesteryear? Sadly not, but it’s an excellent recreation of the golden years of hardcore and deserves a spot in everyone’s collection.
I’ve had a bunch of records out for a while (shamefully about 6 months) to record this and finally got round to it. I now realise that not DJing regularly means that you become far worse at mixing so this is a little off in places, apologies in advance.
Most of the tracks here are from 1993 and represent the period where hardcore started to move into jungle. There’s still a hint of cheese and chipmunks but everything was getting a bit darker and the four to the floor kicks were on their way out. Loads of these are personal favs from that era and are tracks that never leave the bag when I’m playing this sort of stuff out.
Nosebleed – Left Nostril [Face]
From The Man Like The Pennywise – Suspension Of Disbelief [Symphony Sound]
Tango & Fallout – Violator Part 1
DJ Terror Eyes & Mister Mix – The Ritual [Face 2 Face]
The Reece Project – Spirit Come Down [Liquid Wax]
Formula 7 – War Cries [Quayside]
Pascal & Sponge – Raw Basics [Face]
DJ Taktix – Fatal Attraxion [Back 2 Basics]
Fast Floor – Sweat Shop [Smooth Recordings]
Harmony & Xtreme – NRG Rush [Lucky Spin]
Essence Of Aura – Intruder [Outstanding Productions]
I might have been young but when this was on TV (around 1990/91) but my older cousin lived at my place at the time and being 18 or so she was out clubbing a fair bit and was well into dance music. She was responsible for getting me into a lot of this stuff and we’d always watch Dance Energy on TV whenever it came on (Friday nights, I think?) It’s odd to think that this was on BBC2 back then, not sure they’d put anything like this on any more.
I always used to love the bit when they’d stick some tunes on and film the audience dancing. I’d try and do the moves at home, with mixed succes (my running man was pretty on point) and always wished I had all the cool trainers & clothes that the people on the show had. Watching the videos now I was expecting everything to look far worse and dated than it actually does. Some of the fashion is obviously terrible, although much of it is what some people actually wear nowadays, but I didn’t cringe too much at all.
The show regularly had lots of awesome tunes on it. Loads of hardcore (that I won’t bother posting here) but also plenty of decent underground stuff from the time. I never remembered what any of the tunes were at the time but I reckon this was probably the first time I’d heard much of the stuff that I’d later get into in a much bigger way.
Big house beats from Joey Negro
Total confusion!
Some Hijack on a UK hip hop tip. The guy who raps second would later resurface as the Unknown MC (ha!)
The show was always a welcome break from Top of the Pops and a reminder that there was actually decent “youth” programming on UK TV at one point. Not sure the same can be said now!
