Magnox - Ragamanic

Here's a cool white label I got while buying a bunch of EPs in bulk years ago. There was some garbage in the lot, but I also ended up with STU-J "Gadget" and this EP, both of which are wicked 91 hardcore jams.

I have no idea who Magnox were... it looks like they released one EP prior to this one. If anyone can tell me any information on them, I will add it here. "Ragamanic" has some massive portamento synths and decent ragga vocals, and since neither of those elements seem to be going out of style in electronic music anytime soon, I'm sure these tracks will still be of interest to some people. Once the synths kick in on the little ragga vocal breakdown, it starts to remind me a bit of Knifehandchop of all people (?!!)



Magnox - Ragamanic (A Side)

In theory there's supposed to be two tracks on the A side, but they kind of merge together, so I recorded the A-side as one long mp3.

Deja Vu / 786 Recordings

Two of my favorite 90-92 labels which not many people seem to care about are Deja Vu and its affiliate label 786 Recordings. In particular, releases by Naz Khan and David Hope under various names/combinations: Naz Aka Naz, Recall, Mind of Kane, Dread, etc.

One thing which makes these labels so fun is that, for the most part, the earlier records in their catalog can be picked up for peanuts on discogs/ebay. Listening back to the tunes now, it's understandable why they might not be everyone's cup of tea: buzzing and distorted synths, frantic harsh sounds without much in the way of catchy pianos or anything happy. However, given that a lot of popular dance music has moved in that direction (distorted portamento synths being the new "rock guitar"), I'm suprised we haven't seen more of an interest in some of these tunes.

Here's a few of my favorites:



Mind of Kane - Stabbed In The Back

Absolutely great track - frantic beats, nasty bass and synth work. The track starts off heavy enough, but just wait until the super distorted synth drops in at 1 min...




Dread - Quantum Leap (b)

Dread - Quantum Leap (a)


This is a really fun single. On the B side, you get an absolutely smashing classic mentasm-sampling tune, suitable for playing alongside any big 91 style tunes. On the A side, you get a really strange/ crazy sounding track which borders on experimental music. At one point in the tune (1:38), the synth lead breaks down into some ridiculous fast portamento thing that sounds like the synths jumping off the keyboard and running down the street naked and screaming. Not a track I would rush to play out, but certainly an interesting and cool tune.




M.U.M. - The Water Paradox

Another nice single with buzzing synths, heavy breaks, etc. Also, another EP that goes for peanuts. Discogs doesn't have any artist info for MUM (Mass Underground Movement), and my record doesn't say anything since it's a white label... but based on its similarity, I'd bet this was probably the work of either Naz Khan or David Hope.