A classic smorgasbord of then-current releases and retro oddities laced with spoken word in the best Solid Steel style, opening with Dani Siciliano’s ‘Walk The Line’, co-produced with Matthew Herbert (we had her take on Nirvana’s ‘Come As You Are’ from the same EP a few uploads ago). I can’t remember where the dialogue about drum machines and drummers was from or which band was doing the talking but it’s verging on Spinal Tap territory. Ricci Rucker was definitely one of the leading abstract turntablists around this time as his disjointed ‘Dirt’ shows, not one for the party rocking crowd. Unlike Yasuharu Konishi’s Lesson-like breaks cut up, ‘A Tribute to Simon Harris’ which came from a flexi disc – possibly from Relax magazine in Japan.

The tempo is all over the place and that was the common thread behind DJ Zinc’s album, Faster, the title track of which follows, steadily gaining speed as did each subsequent track on his LP. Zinc was always one of the most forward-thinking of the drum n bass producers, able to turn his hand to a myriad of styles. Again, I’m not sure the origin of the spoken word I’ve garnished the beats with but it sounds pretty cosmic. Mordant Music’s ‘Dark Side of the Autobahn’ mash up slips into the mix and I always wondered how he’d done this as he appears to have stems to a number of the elements, either that or there’s some very canny EQ-ing going on. Digital Midgets’ debut EP also heralded the Lost Idol remix of the title track by label-mate James Dean who is still going from strength to strength under the moniker.

‘Shining Pain’ is a fine bit of 90’s trip hop from 2003 ‘presented’ by St. Germain on the Warner Jazz label, Soel was a frequent collaborator with him and a trumpeter to boot. A slight change of pace from smooth jazz to electronic hip hop via Prefuse 73’s remix of Beans’ ‘Mutescreamer’ next before a slightly out of tune mix into Quantic’s excellent ‘Compartiment Tueurs’ remix from the incredible Cinemix album which saw a raft of producers remixing rare French soundtrack cuts by Morricone, Roubaix and Vannier/Gainsbourg. Compiled by old friend Fred Elalouf aka DJ Oof, this was rich with more hits than misses, something these projects can sometimes suffer from and it can still be had very cheaply for a triple vinyl LP. A super-rare John Rydgren flexi disc follows – possibly grabbed from the online 365 Days project curated by Otis Fodder on WFMU as I definitely don’t have a copy.

Moving on we get a Prop track remixed by Mice Parade that comes on like a Steve Reich piece before the Diverse/RJD2/Lyric Born rap banger that is ‘Explosive’ – on Chocolate Industries who were definitely putting out some of the most interested rap of the era. Some ropey scratching from me of Sly & Robbie’s ‘Boops’ instrumental provided the intro to the CJ Scratch version so I could float the a cappella of FYA’s cover – which works for the most part but it’s a bit busy with all the samples underneath. Then it’s rap throwdown time again as I cut up two copies of The Returner’s ‘Throwdown No.1’ under Obie Trice’s ‘Got Some Teeth’ a cappella. Immediately this trio is over Missy’s ‘Pass That Dutch’ a cappella is in with Keno 1 (aka Natural Self) and The Hermit’s ‘Heavy Heavy’ – must dig that 45 out again, so tough. The second half morphs into Luke Vibert’s ‘Yoseph’ for a bit of light acid and an odd tempo change into Diplo’s Big Dada debut ‘Epistimology Suite’ and the drum machine evangelists are back. Forss’ micro-edited ‘Flickermood’ from his Soulhack debut LP plays us out with a moment of calm, like a jazzier Akufen and with that, we’re done – phew!

Tracklist:
Dani Siciliano – Walk The Line (Dani’s original mix)
Ricci Rucker – Dirt
Yasuharu Konishi – A Tribute To Simon Harris
Zinc – Faster
Dark Side of The Autobahn – Dark Side of The Autobahn
Digital Midgets – We Always Have Been (Lost Idol mix)
Soel – Shining Pain
Beans – Mutescreamer (Prefuse 73 remix)
Quantic – Compartiment Tueurs
John Rydgren – Unknown
Mice Parade/Prop – Remora (Free From The Shark remix)
Diverse feat. RJD2 & Lyrics Born – Explosive
Sly & Robbie – Boops (instrumental – CJ Scratch)
FYA – Boops (Acappella)
Return of the Returner – Throwdown No.1
Obie Trice – Got Some Teeth (Acappella)
Keno 1 & The Hermit – Heavy Heavy
Missy Elliot – Pass That Dutch (Acappella)
Luke Vibert – Yoseph
Diplodocus – Epistimology Suite (Don’t Fall/Like Cats)
Forss – Flickermood