Philadelphia drum n bass heads had it lucky in the mid 90's, as one of the originators of the sound, DJ Trace had settled into our fine city and regularly rocked it's dance floors with dubplates no one had or heard, from his occasional visits back to the UK. This set was recorded during the height of that period, with Trace stopping by Michelle Sainte's infamous Bassquake radio show on Princeton University's 103.3 WPRB, as most will remember to be one of the only places to hear jungle or drum n bass on American FM radio (though it is a college station).I remember it being miserably rainy the day this aired (Friday the 13th!), I recorded while at work (in an office, mind you)on a crappy boom box, but I did my best to do a bit of remastering and boosted the levels. Please don't forget, these are being ripped from cassette tapes!
While it isn't the full set, it is most of it, at least all 90 minutes I could capture. In addition to loads of still unreleased stormers, it overflows with classic No U-Turn, Metalheadz, Prototype, Ram, and Renegade Hardware techstep and early neurofunk. This was the first taste many of us got of bits like "The Shining", "Sonar", "Cells", "Replicants" and of course "To Shape The Future VIP", and it's mixed and selected in typical Trace style, with the usual Bassquake shout-outs and banter. An excellent listen for any fan of the sound. Sorry no tracklist, maybe we could compile one?
DJ Trace Live on Bassquake, 103.3 - May 1997
Click to download Side 1
Click to download Side 2
I still listen to this set. I recorded it back then as well. These were excellent times for dnb.
ReplyDeleteMy god. I had no idea this stuff was still around. I often wondered what ever happened to Michelle Sainte. Bassquake was my first experience with Drum-n-Bass, and lives on in my memory forever.
ReplyDeletelook out for more classic mixes by Trace and other coming soon!
ReplyDeleteOMG I STILL HAVE THIS TAPE!!!!! It was one of my faves, I should dig it out!
ReplyDeletefirst off, blog is killer with these rips, then I saw 'bassquake'! wow.
ReplyDeleteheh. I've got photos that were taken of us during that airing that you could use...contact me at: michele.sainte@gmail.com
ReplyDeletebtw I'm still playing out. I was just at Sullivan Room in New York last month and was just contacted about Boston and Toronto bookings...dates TBC. :)
I remember listening to this set at work, what a flash back!
ReplyDelete