The second half of a tape from a show shared with Julia aka the Black Bitch, an excellent techno and electronic DJ who featured on Solid Steel a few times during the 90s. This is just my set, a busy half hour that jumps all over the place stylistically and kicks off with Scotland’s DJ Krash Slaughta featuring II Tone Committee and Killa Instinct. A dynamite slice up uptempo hip hop at a time when the faster Britcore styles had largely faded from the scene. Turntablist Krash Slaughta was a DMC finalist and absolutely slays on the cuts before Brian Eno’s ‘Fractal Zoom’ attempts to enter the mix but I obviously thought better of it during the manic cut-fest and opted for the more minimal St. Germain with ‘Sentimental Mood’ from the Boulevard series of 12”s. These three singles on F Communications were huge at the time, combining jazz with a heavily swung minimal house groove and still hold up.

Kushti’s UR Allstars was the second release on the short-living Octopus label and brings back lots of happy memories, there’s also a snatch of a DJ Toolz track in there too which I can’t identify. Toolz was an alias of Jazzy Jason, also part of the legendary Blapps posse, London Funk Allstars and Mad Doctor X, the four volumes he released on Ninja Tune in the early 90s were akin to the DJ Food Jazz Brakes both in style and sleeve design. Alpha Proxima’s immense ‘459 – / z’ is sadly truncated in this recording because the tape ended and had to be turned over so some is missing. The track resumes just as Autechre’s excellent remix of Scorn’s ‘Falling’ enters – another one of their classic mid 90s remixes that’s worth tracking down.

Sounds of Life was a collaboration between Photek and Source Direct’s Jim Baker and we hear their ‘Release The Bells’ here mixed in on 33rpm rather than its intended 45, I used to like a lot of my DnB on the wrong speed back then. Some Christian Marclay plunderphonics interjects far too soon and we’re treated to turntablism from the avant garde side of the tracks long before the word had been invented, this live improvisation dating from the 80s. DJ Krush’s ‘A Whim’ plays us out, a single from his Strictly Turntablized album which also birthed an excellent Alex Reece remix on 12” and two mixes by Roni Size and DJ Krust on 10” as I recall.

Track list:
DJ Krash Slaughta – Broken Needles Blown Mics
St.Germain – Sentimental Mood
Kushti – UR Allstars
DJ Tools 4 – ?
Alpha Proxima – 459 – / z
Scorn – Falling (Autechre FR 13 mix)
Sounds of Life – Release The Bells
Christian Marclay – Pandora’s Box
DJ Krush – A Whim