Tape That: a new series dedicated to dusting off the classic rave tape packs any raver over 25 had in their collection. Written by regular blog contributor Jamie S23, the first in our series whisks us back 19 years to Dreamscape 06. Read on to see how it affected Jamie and how both Ramos and Dougal’s sets still have an impact to this day…
Dreamscape 06: one of the UK’s finest rave events of all time, for many it will go down in history as a benchmark in the creation of the underground rave movement. It was held on 28th May 1993, a time where the acid house era was now lurking deep underground, jungle and hardcore breakbeats were fusing together and darkside vibes went hand in hand with uplifting pianos.
This event was title ‘The true new warehouse concept’, I can only assume this was due to the changing trend in underground dance music at the time. Returning to The Sanctuary in Milton Keynes and using an almost identical flyer to the very first Dreamscape design back in 1991, Murray Beetson brought an unstoppable line-up to the sacred tin shed.
The line up in the main arena consisted of: Ramos, Sy. Slipmatt, Clarkee, Dougal, GE Real (RIP), Dave Angel, LTJ Bukem, Ratty & Carl Cox complemented by the likes of MC’s Conrand, Ribbs, Marley and Eze Vibe.
The mixed bag line-up was a sign of the times…. It wasn’t best practice to fill a whole night with just one style. During the transitional period of underground music, attending an event like this would provide a broad education into music, one hour you would be listening to the likes of Dougal dropping hands in the air piano anthems, the next hour would see G. E Real (RIP) fusing techno with reggae and jungle.
The other main point here is the MC’s – it’s not a 1,000 mile an hour bar fest or an MC to DJ ratio of 100 to 1. Take Conrad, for example; a modern day GQ in terms of his approach to mic duties in comparison. Sure he has his lyrics, but it was his crowd control, his manner and professionalism that won over the crowd time and time again and probably why, to this day, he is still traveling the world with LTJ Bukem.
Tape Pack Attack!
I am sure everyone involved in the drum & bass scene can remember their first tape pack. But as they’re extinct I’ll begrudgingly include CD pack, too.
At the time of this event I was 14, way too young to legally enter a rave like this and in all fairness I probably had no chance – mainly because I still looked about 9. This tape pack was my musical education – the Ramos, Dougal and GE Real sets gave me a true insight to the ever changing hardcore scene.
Ramos
Listening back to the Ramos set in 2012 it’s still amazing. It’s a clear demonstration of how ahead of their time some producers were. Sure the set features a few tunes that have been rinsed to death throughout the years (4AM for example) but play the whole set and you will no doubt hear samples from these original hardcore tracks that have been used countless times in jungle and drum & bass production. Early production from Kane, Pascal, Andy C and Hype are combine for a excellent mixture of breakbeat, early jungle and hardcore. MC Marley, who to this date still continues to be Ramos’ main choice of MC, provides short but sweet hosting abilities and still to this day I can remember every snippet of his vocals.
Dougal
Moving onto another set from the pack that will always hold many memories for me: Dougal and Conrad. For those that want to get right into it I would skip the first 5 or so minutes where G.E Real (RIP) finishes his set by going from Dougal’s very own ‘Life is like a Dance’ to a very obscure German Gabba track – this was the era for experimenting though so I can’t really be too surprised.
I assume at the time Dougal was probably about 18, he was certainly one of the younger DJs at the time although this didn’t stop him from putting together a monster of a set featuring an abundance of happier style tracks. Starting the set off with Terrorize’s ‘Natural High’ was an obvious choice although oddly enough this is the only set I have ever heard this tune on, possibly due to it being labeled a House track. Looking through the tracklist from Dougal’s set a number of tunes in his selection are labelled as house music, quite where this fits into today’s house genre is one thing but at the time this was a perfect choice of selection.
Tracklist Info
Ramos:
- Orca – Jungle Vibes (Lucky Spin)
- Tom & Jerry – Mousetrap (Tom & Jerry)
- DJ Lee – Want Your Love (Impact)
- Pascal & Sponge – Just Rollin’ A Fat B (Face Records)
- The Untouchables – Don’t Be Afraid [Roachman Mix] (Tough Toonz)
- Andy C – Is Truth The Light? (Ram)
- Stetly – A Touch Of Love (Dance Bass Records)
- Altern 8 – Everybody [2 Bad Mice Remix] (Network Spin)
- Ironik – Believe In (Deep Seven)
- Demolition Squad – K-Bass (Dance Force Records)
- NJoi – Drumstruck (Deconstruction)
- Andy C – Something New Pt 2 (Ram)
- DJ Gemini – The G Is Strong (Liquid Wax Recordings)
- Tango & Fallout – Intrigue (NMI International)
- Pascal & Spone – Raw Basics (Face Records)
- DJ Kane – Izaac’s Story (Trouble On Vinyl)
- Hyper-On Experience – Lords Of The Null-Lines (Moving Shadow)
- The Godfather – Look To The Light (Impact)
- Orca – 4AM (Lucky Spin)
- DJ Hype – The Chopper (Suburban Base Records)
Dougal:
- Teorrize – Natural High (Devil Recordings)
- Orca – Alive & Kickin (Lucky Spin)
- Cold Sensation – Bang To The Rhythm [Breakbeat Dub] (Devotion Dance)
- Liquid Crystal – To The Top (Ruff On Wax Recordings)
- CLS – Can You Feel It (Strictly Rhythm)
- Space Cube – Session (Force Inc. Music Works)
- Sonz Of A Loop Da Loop Era – Bust That Groove (Suburban Base Records)
- Bass Selective – Blow Out Pt II (DJ Only Records)
- Austin – Unity In Dub (Suburban Base Records)
- DJ – Love Is What We Need (Labello Blanco Recordings)
- The Godfather – Look To The Light (Impact)
- Out Of Order – Tears (Not On Label)
- Yolk – Music 4 Da People [Poached Remix] (Ruffbeat)