Style
Deep drum and bass

Favourite labels
Ascendant Grooves
720 degrees
Good Looking
Looking Good
Partisan
Creative Source

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Tracklisting

Then the first acid house tracks started coming out in 1989. There are only 2 tracks I remember clearly from this time which are still 2 of my all time favourites now. Rhythm is Rhythm by Strings of Life, a classic piece from Derek May that I still love today and Pacific State by 808 state. My mates were all listening to acid house and I was still listening to the hip-hop guys like Big Daddy Kane, Ice T, Icecube, LL Cool J , Public Enemy and Eric B and Rakim (That's how I met Luke he took the p*ss out of my Public Enemy T-Shirt).

It was late 91/early 92 that I really started getting in to hardcore it was round about this time that the tunes started to get more breakbreat driven. DJ's like Ratty, Top Buzz, Slipmatt and Sy all started playing tunes that really grew on me like nothing else had before. As for me getting in to drum and bass, it was just a progression from hardcore really. I will never forget the very early pieces of vinyl I have from people like SS, Tango, Cool Hand Flex from ‘93 to the tunes that came out on Good Looking in ‘94/’95. Like the wonderful Dolphin Tune from Aquarius and the astonishing cut from PFM, Wash Over Me. Simply magic.

What impressed me most about the music back then was the versatility. From the dreamy sophisticated sounds of Good Looking through to the dark angry sounds of Tango and such like. Every track for me was breaking new ground and always original. I think this is something the scene has now lost. There are only really a couple of popular styles such as the tech-step, played out by Ed-Rush, Grooverider and such like and the style played by DJ Hype and Zinc now both played to death by everybody. I think promoters are very narrow minded when putting nights together and are definately not willing to take any risks. This has lead to a very stagnant scene in my opinion. A lot of tracks out there are technically good but don't really say a lot.

Even though I have owned a pair of decks for almost 4-5 years it wasn't until I met Mr Ian 'Shufflin' Porter and the rest of the Risky lot that I got a break DJing. I remembered Ian's name as I used to see him DJ at a local club, the Brunel Rooms quite regularly. When I met Ian he was playing at the Underground, and had heard about me from Luke (the creator of the Technological Groove website) and Ian said to Luke "No probs let him come down on Friday Night and he can probably have a set". Ian generously gave up his main Friday night slot to give me a chance (and I was sh*iting it up there !!!). I have only played out their 4 or 5 times but I have really enjoyed each time. Ian gave me the chance to play out the music that I wanted to play out and get heard somewhere apart from my bedroom and I won't forget this.

I mainly play out deep drum and bass from labels like Ascendant Grooves, Partisan, 720, Looking Good, Good Looking and Creative Source but I don't mind playing some hardstep and tech-step stuff if it's original and doesn't sound like the 140,000 other tracks out there. Even though it's just drum and bass I play out I own lot's of other music both on Vinyl and CD. I listen to many things from bands like the Verve and Oasis through to big Beat, hip-hop, house, garage and techno. I like to listen to all sorts, I think it's what keeps me interested in music. I can't listen to too much of one thing.