DJ PHANTASY & GEMINI

DJ Phantasy and DJ Gemini did quite a few collaborations, some of which were released in three wicked volumes on Liquid Wax Recordings.

These are all great examples of solid ’92 breakbeat hardcore without a trace of cheese in them. Lovely preogressive tunes, which judging from the sound of them were produced on an Amiga! Don’t quote me on that though haha.

All these tunes had tough breakbeats, cut up stuttering vocals and weird melodies and oozed street credibility. No cheese here mate!

Ruff Beats - First up is the most well known..



Never Try The Hippodrome - Maybe just as well known as Ruff Beats, but probably not sampled as much, this is a great track!

The sped-up vocal is saying 'Never try the Hippodrome, I'd rather check a tin can.' The Hippodrome was a populor commercial club at the time (which my brother used to go to!) and by 'checking a tin can' he means to smoke crack.

So there you go.

As far as I know my brother does not regret choosing the Hippodrome over checking a tin can. Perhaps if he had checked a tin can, the world might have been a brighter place, full of flowers and butterflys, with rainbows on every street corner. But I guess we'll have to settle for world-wide recession instead.

Switch to 33 - Although the ones above are played out more often, its these next two which are the best in my opinion. They are more 'filler' tunes than anything else, but really really good ones!

This one kicks off with a weird ghostly wail before turning into a funky beat-breaking monster.... and then halfway through, for no reason at all, 'switches' to 33rpms. And then after a bit, switches back to 45! No reasons! No explanations! A classic DJ trick.
My only gripe is that I wish it stayed at 33 for a bit longer cos it sounds trippy as fuck. Re-edit anyone?

Its a shame because in 10 years from now, kids won't even understand what the 33 - 45 reference is about.

Little bastards.

Everybody is Under the Influence - this is a nice solid breakbeat number. Not much to say about it, except it is nice and funky while remaining hard and uncompromising. The hypnotic vocal is one of my favourites. Good to hear an English accent for a change.

You can buy all these here: http://www.discogs.com/artist/DJ+Phantasy+%26+DJ+Gemini

I ordered Under the Influence about a month ago and I'm still waiting for the bugger to arrive, so good luck.