Here come the drums

Noise Factory, as any junglist worth their natty dreads will recognise, was one of the most influential production teams in the scene back in the early ’90s. Formed of James Stephens, Kevin Mulqueen, and Terry Tee,  Noise Factory released early tunes on Paul Ibiza’s Ibiza label before branching out with their own label, 3rd Party. Numerous classic anthems were dropped on 3rd Party including The Fire, Breakage #4, Screwface, and many others. Straight From the Bedroom was a Noise Factory side-project that featured tunes from themselves alongside up-and-coming jungle producers in the same vein.

This month’s mix features all tracks from each of the three Straight From the Bedroom releases in 1993, as well as a couple of tangentally related bonus tracks thrown in, because that’s what we like to do. Typical of Noise Factory and related tunes at the time, the tracks feature liberal use of samples ripped from old reggae and dancehall tunes, as well as the odd pop/rock music loop thrown in for good measure. Quality, energetic, ragga-tinged material although no doubt hastily made and released (hence the label name!). All part of the charm.

Terry Tee resurrected the Straight From the Bedroom label in the 2000s (with different cat #s) to carry nu-skool jungle bootlegs… these are not in the scope of this mix, but I might do these in the future. For those looking to get hold of the records in this month’s mix, none of the three original SFTB releases are too difficult to get a hold of. The second is change, although the first and third are creeping up. The Capsule EP and Champion Jungle Sound LP from this month’s bonus features (see below) are significantly pricier – both well worth the dosh though.

Tracklist

Chatterbox – Come Fe Kill
Unknown Artist – Boyz (A Bedroom in Hackney)
On The Same Buzz – Stand Up (Bedroom In Park Lane)
Chatterbox – Jungle Crew Hold Up
Teego – Plenty Lovin (Bedroom In Loxwood Rd)
Noise Factory – Breakage 5 (Remix)
Unknown Artist – Free Your Mind (Bedroom In The North Side)
Human Being – The Box Opened (Bedroom In Space)
Unknopwn Artist – The Last Years (The Bedroom)
Noise Factory – Straight From the Bedroom
Big Vern and Chatterbox – Bassline Retreat
F.X. – Heartbeat (Bedroom In Manor Park)
Missing – The Box Re-Opens

Bonus

• Confusingly, the Noise Factory track ‘Straight From the Bedroom’ does not actually appear on the Straight From the Bedroom label. This tune appears on the absolutely huge Capsule EP, released on 3rd Party, and is very much overshadowed by the all-time classic ‘Breakage #4‘ (I bring you the future!) on the same release, but it’s a great tune in its own right, and thus it is in the mix. Incidentally many of the hard to find 3rd Party tunes, including Breakage #4, can be found on the Jungle Nation repress series for much less $$. Thumbs up to those!
• One of the highlights of the Straight From the Bedroom run was undoubtedly ‘The Box Opened‘. Sampling the film Hellraiser, the track features a very ominous piano breakdown, a mean one-note bassline and several jarring, but instantly recognisable vocal samples – ultra hardcore! It was later remixed on the Kemet Crew LP ‘Champion Jungle Sound‘ as ‘The Box Re-Opened’, which is included at the end of the mix. This remix is possibly even better than the original. Crisp amens and a Dred Bass bassline pound towards a reworked strings/piano breakdown that can’t fail to send shivers. Champion Jungle Sound, for me, is one of the top-tier jungle artist LPs ever produced. Beautiful production throughout, almost every tune is a killer. The album is fairly difficult to find nowadays in good condition, but if you do see a copy around I can’t recommend it highly enough.
• For more info on Noise Factory, I’ve archived (copy/pasted!) an old forum post from 2009 (not by me) which goes into a bit more detail. There’s also an Uncle Dugs 2011 RCFF interview and mix with Paul Ibiza that is well worth a listen.

 The Mix

Download MP3 320kbps 51mins

Planet Earth Records was Lemon D’s label before he moved to Metalheadz in 1994. The producer of numerous scene classics such as Manhattan Melody, Going Gets Tuff, This is LA, and Fade 2 Black, these days Lemon D is probably best known for his later dnb/jungle work with Dillinja, and all of the various collaborations that came as a result; the Valve Recordings label itself, cutting dubs, the LPs, the infamous Valve Sound System, etc. Although he seems to have left the full glare of the dnb scene in favour of his down-tempo cross-genre project as K-AZE, Planet Earth is where Lemon D made his start and shouldn’t be overshadowed.

As with so many of his contemporaries, the early tracks on Planet Earth are fairly raw, but by the end of the run on deep, atmospheric jungle tracks like Deep Space and Subconscious, Lemon D was absolutely killing it… The production values and break-work on these later tunes is amazing – you can see why he was snapped up by the Headz crew.

My favourite track on the label is Lemon D’s Something I Feel, from the Toxic Rhythms EP, PDJ03. It’s an unashamedly simple amen and hoovers smasher, but I am partial to that old hardcore sound. The drop is just deadly and I still play this one a lot. There is a remix but I don’t think it is quite as up front. Pursuit Through The Darkness is another one I love, which can be found on PDJ02. This is another more hardcore-sounding amen tune with a bunch of different melodies and hooks to it. Highly recommended.

I don’t really have much trainspotting geekery on this label apart from the fact that the Dexxtrous on PDJ04 was an early alias of J. Majik… in fact I think this might even have been his first ever release. He supposedly abandoned the moniker when he realised there was another high-profile jungle producer with the same name. Like Lemon D, J Majik was also soon to be Metalheadz-bound. This release is pretty cool… quite basic sounding jungle tunes. Absolutely nothing like his output today (!).

If you’re looking to pick up these records then the only ones that might cause issue are the first two releases, which are currently fairly pricey (£50ish), but everything else you can pick up for change.

Tracklist

The Mix

Enough of my rambles, here’s the mix itself. All’a dem tunes on Planet Earth and some extras. Back in the new year with yet another crusty jungle label!

Download MP3 320kbps 76mins