Week 29: Bassline House

This week's mixtape features a genre that has consistently been one of my favorites over the past couple of years: Bassline House.
It's British, it's mostly from the North, and it's essentially a second wave of '90s Speed Garage (which itself was a style of uptempo, bass-heavy house music drawing from 2-Step, Jungle, and R&B). Much like Dubstep, Bassline is a new reinterpretation of these influences. It sounds pretty much like the name: fast, garridgey house tunes with HUGE basslines.
In keeping with the rest of those scenes, the demographics in Bassline tend to be pretty working class: black youts of west indian descent and chavvy white guys in track suits, along with your standard mix of art school hipsters and post-jungle/breakcore rave burnouts. I ADORE THIS COMBO.
Sadly, Bassline seems to be on the wane. In London & the rest of the south it's been completely supplanted by UK Funky; I imagine it's still got a strong fanbase Up Norf, but I couldn't say for sure.
Anywho, here's a little retrospective of what I've been listening to in the past couple of years. By no means a definitive look at the "classics" of the genre—just what I think is good.

Chrissy Murderbot's Year of Mixtapes Week 29: Bassline House.

1. Piddy Py feat. MNT; Get Loco
   
2. Mr. Virgo; Hypnotiq
   
3. The Wideboys feat. Sarah Saville; What You're Thinking (Up Norf Dutty Mix)
   
4. Jagged Edge; Walked Outta Heaven (Burgaboy Remix)
   
5. Wittyboy; Curry House
   
6. Dexplicit; Karma (Dex Mix)
   
7. A1 Bassline feat. Safi; Girl Thing
   
8. Jinder; Youth Blood (Squire of Gothos Remix)
   
9. Brett Maverick feat. NE1; Chop Of Them
   
10. DS1; Lock Off
    
11. DJ Murkz; Datz Me
    
12. N.B. Funky; Nutz (Bassline Remix)
    
13. Ace Of Base; All That She Wants (Dexplicit Remix)
    
14. Blackstar; Time & Time Again
    
15. Dizzee Rascal; Sirens (Big Ang Remix)
    
16. Mr. V; Motherfuckers
    
17. Luniz; I Got 5 On It (B.U.N. Remix)
    
18. Mask; Gangster
    
19. DJ Q; Gangsters
    
20. Subzero; Bring It Back
    
21. Perempay & Dee feat. Katie Pearl; In The Air (Rekless Mix)
    
22. The Wideboys; Project Bassline
    
23. Rubi Dan & The Heatwave / DJ Q; Walk & Wine (Dutty Wine)
    
24. DJ Q; Love Like This
    
25. Diamond feat. Terri Walker; I Think I'm In Love (Burgaboy Remix)
    
26. Piddy Py; Leekers
    
27. Natasha Bedingfield; Single (Delinquent Remix)
    
28. WunnaDemWuns; I Feel (Wittyboy Remix)

NEXT WEEK: The Year in Rave—1993.

Week 28: Knockin' Boots

Here's a tape about fuckin'.

Chrissy Murderbot's Year of Mixtapes Week 28: Knockin' Boots

1. Akinyele; Put It In Your Mouth
   
2. 504 Boyz; I Can Tell You Wanna Fuck
   
3. Major Lazer feat. Amanda Blank & Einstein; What U Like
   
4. Minnie Ripperton; Inside My Love
   
5. Missy Elliott; Pussycat
   
6. Xrabit & DMG$; Party In My Pants
   
7. LL Cool J; Doin' It
   
8. Squarepusher; My Red Hot Car
   
9. 69 Boyz feat. Disco & The City Boyz; Pass The Puddie
   
10. Outkast; Spread
    
11. Kanye West; Take Yo Pants Off (Gant Man Refix)
    
12. Otto Von Schiroch; STD Me
    
13. Bell Biv Devoe; Do Me!
    
14. Madonna; Erotica (Kenlou B-Boy Mix)
    
15. Khia; My Neck, My Back
    
16. Akinyele; Do You Wanna
    
17. Candyman; Knockin' Boots
    
18. Lee "Scratch" Perry; Bed-Jamming
    
19. Clarence Carter; Strokin'
    
20. S.L.Y.; I Need A Freak (Black Freak Mix)
    
21. Mike Dunn presents Mr. 69; Phreaky MF
    
22. Teddy Pendergrass; Turn Off The Lights
    
23. H-Town; Knockin' The Boots
    
24. Public Announcement; Body Bumpin' (Mike Dunn Remix)
    
25. Parris Mitchell Project; Bitches & Money
    
26. King Force; Doggie Style (Sterling Void Remix)
    
27. Armand Van Helden; To Be A Freak
    
28. Sexual Harrassment; I Need A Freak
    
29. Egyptian Lover; Kinky Nation (Kingdom Kum)
    
30. 2 Live Crew; The Fuck Shop
    
31. Sylvester; Sex (Ian Levine Remix)
    
32. Gwen Jonae; Red Light Lover
    
33. Sarah Dash; Lucky Tonight
    
34. Jamie Principle; Baby Wants To Ride
    
35. Ragtyme feat. T.C. Roper; Fix It Man (Chrissy Murderbot Re-Edit)
    
36. Shy FX & T Power feat. Noel McCoy; Sheets
    
37. Daddy Woody; Punany Chemist
    
38. Mad Cobra; Oh Yes

NEXT WEEK: Bassline House.

Week 27: Quebecois Disco

This one is for Grammar Hammer, who got all excited about Lime when I announced the Hi-NRG tape, only to be cruelly deprived of even a SINGLE Lime song. And for the people who came to the show in Québec this weekend.

Most people aren't aware of this, but for a brief period in the 1980s Montreal was like the WORLD CAPITOL OF DISCO. Or one of a handful of capitols, anyway. This was right after everything disco-related in New York clubland and the US record industry had ground to a halt and become terribly unhip (the so-called "Death of Disco", to hear rock critics speak of it), but before Europe's Hi-NRG and Eurobeat scenes really took over. It was a weird transitional phase, wherein electronics gradually took over for live instruments—a crucial step on the road from disco to house.
Much like its close relative Italo-disco, a lot of the Québécois Disco stuff is still big with house DJs here in Chicago. I found out about it through bargain-bin shopping as I was growing up in Kansas City, and it's always been one of my very favorite musical styles. And before you discophobes start yelping: Yes, it's corny. Yes, the lyrics are ridiculous. Yes, it's saccharine and blatantly commercial and synthetic and manufactured and all that junk we're taught to hate about music. But it's also amazing. It's really forward-thinking. And INSANELY catchy. Enjoy.

Chrissy Murderbot's Year of Mixtapes Week 27: Quebecois Disco

1. Suzy Q; Get Into The Funky Music Now (J.C. Records, 1982)
   
2. Karen Silver; Nobody Else (Quality Records Ltd., 1981)
   
3. Nightlife Unlimited; Do Me Tonight (Unidisc, 1979)
   
4. Nancy Martin; Can't Believe (Neige, 1982)
   
5. Misty Lane; Energy (Celsius, 1983)
   
6. Lime; Don't You Wanna Do It (Matra, 1984)
   
7. Motion; Don't Stop (Tojo, 1983)
   
8. Lime; You're My Magician (Matra; 1981)
   
9. Gino Soccio; Dancer (Warner Bros., 1979)
   
10. Bob-A-Rella; Spend The Night (Channel, 1979)
    
11. Carol Jiani, Ask Me (Matra, 1982)
    
12. Sweet Brandy; Stoned Love (J.C. Records, 1982)
    
13. Lime; I Don't Wanna Lose You (Matra, 1984)
    
14. Jade; I'm Gonna Get Your Love (Disconet Remix) (Rams Horn, 1982)
    
15. Sunbelt; Spin It (Rio, 1982)
    
16. Kebekelektrik; Magic Fly (Tom Moulton Mix) (Salsoul, 1977)
    
17. Lime; Give Me Your Body (Matra, 1984)
    
18. Vera; Baby Won't You Dance With Me (Matra, 1982)
    
19. Trans-X; Living On Video (Illusion, 1983)
    
20. Susan Stevens; This Is Love (Tojo, 1983)
    
21. Kendra; Helping Myself (Dub) (J.C. Records, 1983)
    
22. Denis LePage; Magnum (Celsius, 1979)
    
23. Nightlife Unlimited; Disco Choo Choo (Howard Merit Mix) (Unidisc, 1979)
    
24. Jump; Does It Feel Good (Unidisc, 1979)
    
25. Ann Joy; Love Now Hurt Later (Unidisc, 1978)
    
26. Voggue; Roller Boogie (Celsius, 1981)
    
27. Lime; Help Yourself (Matra, 1982)
    
28. Susan Stevens; Boogie Walk (Rams Horn, 1983)

NEXT WEEK: Knockin' Boots.

Week 26: Classic Ragga Jungle

Ok, first things first. I AM HALF-WAY DONE. One half-year of mixtapes successfully hammered out. wheee!

Anyhoo, to mark the half-way point I figured I'd throw in a mix that a lot of people have been asking for (droon, joe joe, matthew e., and others)—a mix of ragga jungle. This is really the genre that got me started as a touring DJ / producer in the global sense: my first releases were ragga jungle records, and my first international gigs were ragga jungle gigs (what up guido? jak? tim? beni? how y'all livin'?)

So yeah, I decided to throw together a mix of classic ragga jungle tunes. For those of you wondering what the hell "ragga jungle" even means, let me break it down into its components:
Jungle music is a fast, breaks-oriented, bass-heavy genre of British dance music that emerged in the early '90s and later evolved into drum & bass, UK garage, grime, dubstep, bassline, & UK funky.
Ragga (short for raggamuffin) is another word for the big, brash, hip-hop influenced dancehall reggae of the 1990s—the stuff where the vocals sound a lot more like rapping than traditional reggae singing.
Add those together & there you go.

It was pretty big in the early-mid-1990s (I'm using "pretty big" in the same sense that dubstep is "pretty big" right now), and its heavy use of reggae samples made it somewhat divisive in the proper reggae scene. As a fun little side note, here are two dancehall tunes from 1995 (both on the WigWam riddim by A-Class Crew) that demonstrate the controversy jungle caused in the UK reggae scene:

Starkey Banton; Jungle Bungle
Tenor Fly; Don't Dis The Jungle

And now here's the mix. Oh, and for the people who are undoubtedly going to be all "WHERE IS CONGO NATTY?!?! OMGZ I HATE U CHRISSY", this is a mix of CLASSIC ragga. I'm basically limiting myself to tracks that came out in 1994 and 1995. A mix of newer / second-wave ragga jungle will come later. It will include Congo Natty, so stop hyperventilating already.

Chrissy Murderbot's Year of Mixtapes Week 26: Ragga Jungle

1. Greenwood; Hold It Down (Inner City Dance)
   
2. DMS & The Boneman X; Sweet Vibrations (FX Recordings)
   
3. M-Beat feat. General Levy; Incredible (Renk)
   
4. The New Cru feat. General Pecos; Run Come (Labello Blanco)
   
5. Bounty Killer & Beenie Man; Borderline Mobster (Sensi Crew Remix) (Greensleeves)
   
6. The Dream Team aka Bizzy B & Pugwash); Stamina (Suburban Base)
   
7. Hardware; Yout Man (Frontline)
   
8. Skeng Gee; Connections (Marvellous Cain Remix) (Suburban Base)
   
9. Firefox & 4 Tree; Warning (Powder Mix) (Philly Blunt)
   
10. Smokey Joe; Gimmi My Gun (Desired State Remix) (Labello Blanco)
    
11. L Double; Little Rollers vol. 1 (Flex)
    
12. Barrington Levy & Mega Banton; She's Mine (Sensi Crew Remix) (Greensleeves)
    
13. General Degree; Papa Lover (Stretch Remix) (Jet Star Records)
    
14. Remarc; R.I.P. (Suburban Base)
    
15. Dextrous & Teebone; Selectors Roll VIP (Subliminal / unreleased)
    
16. Conquering Lion; Code Red (X Project)
    
17. R-Type; Love Is Blind (Hyper Records)
    
18. Shy FX & UK Apachi; Original Nuttah (S.O.U.R.)
    
19. Chakademus & Pliers; Gal Wine Drum & Bass (Greensleeves)
    
20. Dextrous; Wanted Dead Or Alive (Subversive)
    
21. Marvellous Cain; The Hitman (Dream Team Remix) (Suburban Base)
    
22. Cutty Ranks; Limb By Limb (DJ SS Remix) (Suburban Base)
    
23. Ellis D feat. The Specialist; Nice Up Your Scene (White House)
    
24. Studio 1; Dancing Feet (Strictly Underground)
    
25. Dawn Penn & Bounty Killer; You Don't Love Me No No No (Ambient Jungle Lick) (Greensleeves)
    
26. Barrington Levy; Here I Come (Ridley Don Remix) (Greensleeves)
    
27. Mad Cobra; Tek Him (B-Line Remix) (Jet Star)
    
28. Shy FX; Simple Tings (S.O.U.R.)

NEXT WEEK: Quebecois Disco.