Hardcore pitch bending, three parties & a new single
A newsletter from Finn, straight from the dance music trenches.
Good morning dance music fans!
I probably don’t have to explain why I’m starting a newsletter - the same reasons everyone else has started one, I imagine.
In this first edition I’ve written about an old cassette release of mine, some of my favourite ‘hardcore pitch bending’ mixtapes, and then I try to sell you tickets to my upcoming parties with Murlo, Matt Jam Lamont, DJ Q, BFTT & Esqueezy and Big Ang.
Jungle House - now on youtube, where all great dance music goes to rest:
I thought I’d kick off this ‘newsletter’ with something I released 2 years ago. Jungle House was tape only originally, I only shared the digital file with Boomkat & Bandcamp buyers. I’m sure the buyers won’t mind me uploading it to Youtube, as this is where all great dance music goes to rest. Plus, it was already on there.
The name ‘Jungle House’ came from a conversation I had with a cab driver from Sheffield - he was asking about DJing en route to The White Hotel, I told him I played a lot of Speed Garage and it turned out he was a regular at Niche back in the day.
He kept referring to Speed Garage as “that Jungle House stuff” and I just kept thinking, wow, that is literally exactly what it is. Jungle meets House. To explore this idea of ’Jungle House’ further I recorded these two mixes and released them on cassette a few months later.
On Side A I slow a bunch of Speedy G records right down to a sort of bumpy house-y groove - from 130-135bpm to 118bpm-ish. I picked out tracks that lean into big house vocals + chunky grooves. This works dead well I think - the extra space means you can hear all the Jungle and Hardcore touches writ large, the Garage swing leaps right out and the giant reese basslines feel, somehow, even denser. Let the record show, I think this is one of my best mixes!
On Side B I sped up a load of South Yorkshire Bassline House records to around 150bpm, trying my best to engineer the opposite effect to Side A - emphasising the Happy Hardcore influence on Sheffield’s early Bassline scene.
Does this work? At the time I was certain it did. Listening back I wonder if this was a bit of a manic episode mix concept. It's definitely a ride. The important thing is that I committed 100% and recorded it to a cassette, immortalising it forever.
Favourite ‘ardcore pitching mixtapes:
In my mind speeding things up or slowing things down is really the purest expression of ‘deejaying’ possible. It is the crux of the artform, as far as I’m concerned - more so than ‘selecting’, ‘vibes’ or any of that nonsense. The more you’re pitching the record, the more you’re deejaying.
I used to think wildly pitching things up was a pretty UK-centric perspective on mixing - we did it to Detroit Techno, we did it to NY Garage, and we even started doing it to ourselves. But that was ignorant rubbish - they were doing it in Chicago, they were doing it in New York and they were really doing it in Detroit. The Ghettotech guys used to actually break open and ‘jailbreak’ their 1210s so they could push records even faster. Now that is deejaying deejaying.
For good measure, here are some of my favourite mixtapes where stuff is played dead fast or dead slow:
DJ Assault - Off The Chain For The Y2K (2000)
Unbelievable stuff. Taking Chicago & Detroit tracks that already go hard and fast and pushing them even further - into the realms of absurdity really. Current crop of naff loser 150bpm+ techno DJs could learn a thing or two from this, to put it mildly!
Also big shout out to ‘DJ I Ain’t Been Paid Yet’
Matt Jam Lamont - The Jam Experience 1 (1993)
I tweeted about this recently - but just listen to how fast Matt Jam Lamont was playing NY Garage in 1993, just before UK Garage exploded? Much more intense than I imagined when I read about it.
No great surprise that pushing records this hard kicked off the greatest dance genre of all time - pressure makes diamonds!
Physical Therapy - Slow Garage (2022)
Gorgeous, surreal. Moving in the exact opposite direction to Lamont, Physical Therapy screws up 2-Step until suddenly everything sits somewhere between Dancehall, Eccojams & New Jack Swing.
Inspired - I will copy this idea at some point.
Chuck Person - Eccojams Vol. 1 (2010)
Is Eccojams old hat at this point? Who cares. Nothing makes me want to stand in the rain, Shawshank Redemption style, as much as A3 on this.
Now that’s what I call pitching.
Dubbel Dutch - Slow Club (2012)
Simply a masterpiece. Jersey Club RnB flips, chopped & screwed. I used to feel shit about girls to this mix at university. This is such a deeply 2012 mix, we will never see the likes of this again.
Salute Dubbel Dutch, wherever you may be!
Slimzee, Plague & Major Ace - Flava FM, 87.6 (2000)
Lots of histories of Grime mention Slimzee slowing down Jungle/DnB records so he could play them alongside Dark Garage tracks at 138bpm-ish - supposedly because he was running out of records to play!
I always found recordings of this quite hard to track down, but there’s a great example in this set on Flava FM at 16:54 - unbelievable tekkerz.
DJ Screw - Leanin On A Switch (1996)
Would be ignorant and embarrassing not to include an actual Screwtape here. DJ Screw has an intimidating catalogue - there’s something like 350+ tapes in total? This isn’t a deep cut by any means, I’ve seen it reccomended in a few places - but some of the best Screwtapes are the freestyle ones. Big Pokey is especially good on this.
Shout out to my pal Elbo for putting me onto this video with Big Pokey recently too - easily one of the best examples of a ‘carseat freestyle’.
Bitch Ass Darius - Follow The Sound (2001)
Bit of crossover with the DJ Assault tape here, but an absolute touchstone of Ghettotech mixtapes. Listen out for ‘Watchulike’ and that John Tejada record - but especially listen out for Strings Of Life coming in at an almost comic pace. Feel emotional just thinking about it.
Stone cold classic.
DJ Finn - Accelerated Club (2017)
Ok, so not ‘a favourite’ technically, but another one of mine. This was my DJ Assault & Dubbel Dutch inspired effort, from back in 2017 - pitching Baltimore Club records up to 150 so they sound like Jungle.
We put the budweiser logo on the cassettes for some reason - halcyon days for sure.
Happy listening, folks! If you have any favourite pitching up or pitching down mixtapes please send them my way!
Upcoming parties - two in Manchester then one in London:
Murlo & Finn
Saturday 18th May, Soup, Manchester
Me and Murlo return to do the business in Soup basement. This is the definition of home turf for both of us + the last party in Peckham was absolutely incredible. Expect all the classics.
Sunday Club Day Party
w/ Matt Jam Lamont, DJ Q, Finn, BFTT & Esqueezy
Sunday 26th May, The White Hotel, Salford
Sunday Club goes live! Taking 90s Ouse and Garage into the daylight - where it belongs! 3pm-11pm, we’re putting The White Hotel shutters up and drinking cocktails to Matt Jam Lamont. I’m going b2b with DJ Q, Esqueezy is coming over from Hebden and BFTT is turning 30.
A genuine dream party, do not miss!
Big Ang & Finn
Saturday 1st June, The Carpet Shop, Peckham
Last but definitely not least - Ang & me are reuniting in Peckham for a full night of Bassline House under the arch in London’s best small club (yes!!). Ang is one of the great unsung heroes of UK dance music, watching her finally getting her dues over the past couple years has been a real pleasure. I’m tempted to upload the recording of her last set with me at Soup… stay tuned!
Finally, a new single:
DJ Finn - You’ve Got To (NO!!!)
I’ve probably overstayed my email welcome now - but I released a new single last week, back home on Local Action Records.
It’s a big blown out Organ House record - landing somewhere between Chicago & Sheffield to my ears. All mixed as quickly as possible on my new studio setup (yuck) - a 90s Mackie mixing desk and a Tascam 4-track. House music baby!
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That’s your lot dance music fans! Expect another email in June, touch wood.