Metalheadz: A Personal Retrospective Posted by Junior

Goldie: A Sense Of Rage (Sensual VIP Mix) From: Timeless [FFR, 1995] Dillinja: The Angels Fell Alex Reece: Pulp Fiction From: Metalheadz Presents Platinum Breakz [Metalheadz, 1996] Ed Rush: The Raven Adam F: Metropolis From: Platinum Breakz II [Metalheadz, 1997] Despite my by now pretty apparent love of all things soul, funk and rap related it wasn't always this way. Through most of the nineties I was immersed in total love for the music that began as hardcore, then became jungle, and then became Drum n Bass. I believe I've only touched on this love once before with a post about Photek but now seems as good a time as any to revisit the music from my teenage years. Apologies for the length of the post; despite my best efforts I'm unable to get Blogger to hide content, my html=fail. I don't know what it was like around your area growing up but at our school at least you were defined by your music and split into two camps, the grunge heads and the rave heads. Being very much a part of the latter (it wasn't till about 2001 that I actually heard a full Nirvana album) my world was filled with trying to get my hands on the latest otherworldy music being produced by bedroom DJs. In many ways this love of electronic music got me started down the digging path. Being out in the sticks meant that, apart from the occasional trip to London, you had to work extremely hard to find out about the latest releases. This comprised of spending my days listening to the latest bootleg of a bootleg live rave recordings in circulation and then Wednesday evenings tuning into Kiss 100 for the weekly Drum n Bass show and hoping they would ID some of the white labels I'd heard. Armed with the knowledge I'd accumulated during the week, myself and my fellow hunters would hit the local record shops searching for artists and, more often, labels we recognised. One label which I would purchase the release of before even hearing would be Goldie's Metalheadz. With slicker packaging than most other Drum n Bass 12 inchers and a trademark unique sound you were pretty much assured of the quality of any purchased items through most of the mid nineties peaking in 1997 when the brutal and cold tech-step took over from the earlier, warmer, jazzy sounds. Of course the label was launched after Goldie released what is to my mind anyway the greatest Drum n Bass album ever, Timeless. Even if you think you hate the music, this album demands listening through at least once if only to display how coherent the music could be when put together properly, I've included A Sense Of Rage as a sample of the techno influenced beauty that Goldie created with this release to try and make my point in this matter but it is undeniably an album that has most power as a whole - something you can't say for that many dance albums unfortunately. Within a year of Timeless and the subsequent launch of Metalheadz the label was already in a strong enough position to launch their first best of collection. Platinum Breakz is an excellent snapshot of Drum n Bass in 1996. Standout tracks include Dillinja's The Angels Fell which is rightly regarded as a true classic of the genre with it's mournful synths and staggered drum patterns and Alex Reece's Pulp Fiction, a deceptively simple tune which launched a thousand basslines. As mentioned earlier, for me the label, and Drum n Bass in general, peaked in 1997 and Ed Rush's Raven is a perfect example of how far the music progressed in a short space of time. Starting with synths and a regular breakbeat Rush builds up layer upon layer of instrumentation as you wait for the bassline to kick in. When it does it's still only a teaser until the track hits full speed and ferocious velocity round the 3 minute mark. From there on it just gets harder and harder and harder. Intense. Adam F was a curious case, the son of Alvin Stardust, he released two of the biggest Drum n Bass singles ever, Circles and the one featured here, Metropolis. However I never really got into his subsequent album and last I saw he was producing hip hop records which I've been somewhat reluctant to check out. In any case, this track is absolutely monstrous, devouring pretty much anything that gets in it's path. It's one of the crowning achievements of tech-step and Drum n Bass in general with it's insane warped bassline, clattering drums and unnerving synths. A warning though, this track should only be listened to at bass shattering bowel moving volume. Within a year of these records being released I had ended my six year love of the breakbeat era and moved onto older and more soulful sounds reflecting the loss of the teenage anger that this music helped vocalise so well. However, revisiting them now they still have the power to move and give me chills and will always remain a part of what made me the music man I am today.