Pearsall's Tunes

Gotta go out soon, so, having spent much of the evening uploading, here's a monstrous selection of stuff to check out. Don't say I don't spoil you! Btw, I promise that the next post will be non-jungle in orientation (although there's still plenty of tapes to rip).

Grooverider - Live @ Helter Skelter Energy 97 (Side A, Side B)

First up, here's a wicked Grooverider tape from the same tape pack from which I ripped that Andy C tape earlier in the week. Lots of wicked tunes on this one, a much more modern-sounding selection than the previous tape, which is not surprising considering it was three years later; it's also somewhat saddening as this was at the real tail-end of dnb's true fertility. There's a bitter-sweet quality to these tunes for me - on the one hand I absolutely love them (the Andy C remix of 'Circles' that Groove drops on this tape is an all-time favorite), but on the other I know that this was right when the music hit the wall in terms of formula. By the year after this the sounds had barely budged from the stuff featured on this tape, after years of hyperspeed development, and that was it, jungle/drum n' bass's golden era was over. Of course, today it is more popular worldwide than ever, and dnb has established itself globally - there are now dnb scenes literally around the world. What was once, almost literally, purely a London sound is now international and, in a sense, this international market is now what drives it. It's great that it's taken off to the degree it has (and it's cool that people like Dillinja are now making pretty decent change off of the music); nothing makes me happier. Still, though, I can barely listen to the modern stuff, not because it is bad per se, just that it's no better, and often worse, than the sort of stuff Grooverider was playing when this tape was recorded eight years ago.

Dr S Gachet - Live @ Dreamscape 27 (Side A, Side B)

Here's a tape from a Dreamscape NYE party, with AWOL legend Dr S Gachet. Pretty decent tape (although there's better to come from the pack). Enjoy (I really have to go out, or I'd add some more).