Mid May of 1995 was another smorgasbord of eclecticism with drum n bass making in-roads onto the show playlists. After the show’s intro and a snatch from Negativland’s plunderphonic ‘The Perfect Cut’ LP we get what may be the first outing of the Wagon Christ remix of 2 Player’s ‘Extreme Possibilities’. It’s hard to convey how exciting it was to first hear this remix, possibly Luke’s premiere public foray into DnB and a now classic milestone in the Ninja Tune catalogue. That he put this much work into such a mix is incredible and for a relatively new band consisting of Jon Tye (aka MLO/Lo Recordings) and a little-known composer named Daniel Pemberton. Daniel is now a world famous soundtrack composer of course, working on films for Marvel and Ridley Scott among others, but back then he was still at school and would come to our Stealth nights at The Blue Note before going home to study for his exams. He didn’t waste any time making inroads into the studio either, hooking up with Jon on various Lo Recordings and Ntone releases, recording with the Future Sound of London and releasing his first album on Pete Namlook’s Fax label, for which I did the artwork.

More DnB clatters in next from Sounds of Life which was Rupert (Photek) Parkes and Jim from Source Direct collaborating and taking a big chunk of FSOL’s Lifeforms by the sound of it. Spacepimp’s only outing on Clear pits a 70s car chase synth bass line against a DnB rhythm too, everyone was having a go at this ‘new’ style around this time as it emerged from its jungle origins although Spacepimp was an Acen alias so it wasn’t too much of a stretch. After an ad break there’s a swirling ambience I can’t place before the legendary Jello Biafra monologue that we used on the Coldcut Journeys By DJ mix later that year which then led on to Matt and Jon hooking up with the ex-Dead Kennedy frontman to record ‘Every Home A Prison’. Alec Empire’s debut album, Generation Star Wars kicked off with the excellent ‘Lash the 90ties’, the elongated ambient intro suddenly crashing into Aphex-ish distorted beats. Mike Ink’s ‘Rosenkranz’ came from one of the early Sahko releases and this jaunty, marching track is in stark contrast to his then usual 150bpm driving acid techno.

G-Man was Gez Varley from LFO on his first solo outing via the Swim label and this absolutely banging piece of techno is such a joy to hear, despite my fumbled mix with Mike Ink at one point. I must have visited Vienna recently because Elin’s ‘Mondlandung’ is featured and I remember Pita aka Peter Rehberg (RIP) giving me copies of the first few Mego releases when we played there of which this was the second. Soon after comes the masterful Autechre remix of Beaumont Hannant’s Psi-Onyx – all 9 minutes + of it with Ae on peak form – ah the memories… Flanging in over the end beats is a track from Caustic Visions, a group who originally debuted on Industrial Strength with nosebleed acid techno before releasing steadily more experimental fair on their own label, influenced by Aphex Twin and beyond. ‘Corner of a Sphere’ comes from their fourth self-released EP and is well worth investigating if you see a copy and enjoy forward-thinking electronica. ‘Lunatic Jam’ by Germany’s Fauna Flash takes a large chunk of DJ Food’s ‘Dark Blood’ and builds a soulful track around it, from their debut 12” on Compost. We get a snatch of the Jedi Knights’ remix of ‘Antacid’ and then it appears the tape switches to Aphex’s ‘Ventolin’ except it may be from one of my own mixes that I’d taped over as the presence of my old flange pedal in the mix is a telling sign of the era.

Track list:
Solid Steel – intro jingle
Negativland – The Perfect Cut
2 Player – Extreme Possibilities (Wagon Christ mix)
Sounds of Life – Intellect
Spacepimp – Space Chase
Unknown – Unknown
Jello Biafra – A Message From Our Sponsor
Alec Empire – Lash the 90ties
Mike Ink – Rosenkranz
G-Man – Legion
Elin – Mondlandung
Beaumont Hannant – Psi-Onyx (Psix Million Dollar Myx Oscar Goldman’s Bonus)
Caustic Visions – Corner of a Sphere
Fauna Flash – Lunatic Jam
Link & E621 – Antacid (Jedi Knights remix)
Aphex Twin – Ventolin (Deep Gong mix)