A Duo of Baobinga Shorties
I’m always happy to see an artist who I was more or less obsessed with in earlier times, inadvertently follow my similar musical paths as my tastes change from one second to another. Baobinga has always be one of my favorite producers and his tunes, historically, have graced my mixtapes more than any other artist. I think a major part of his appeal for me is his unbridled appreciation for, and application of, current music’s roots and influences. Not in a tawdry way like some people often do, assuming a hoover means its a ‘rave’ tune or a half time beat makes it ‘dubstep’. He has a clear grasp of the subtleties and nuance of what makes a song unique. Boabinga’s proficiency is evident in this pair of little mixes he’s given us to give to you. He’s also been kind enough to give a little description of each tune a la discobelle’s mixin it up series.
The first is an ode to the ever present Amen break. Starting with Baobinga’s native breaks genre it works its way up to drum and bass, both new and old, ending with, IMO, the best drum and bass tune of the decade, Danny Byrd – Shock Out. It also has Krust – Cloaking Device which made me larph. I hadn’t heard that on in eons. Here’s what he said about it:
“So I played before Potential Bad Boy on NYE in Milan this year, and the promoter asked me if I could link things into his set a bit. I didn’t want to play a load of new DnB and take any shine off him, so I put together a bit of a classics set. Which then got me thinking about how many of them were based around the Amen break, which got me thinking about how much I love the Amen break… and hence the following mix :)”
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01. Skream & Cluekid – Sandsnake – Disfigured Dubs
Not a huge amount of Amen’s in dubstep, but this one is badman tings…
02. Baobinga & I.D. – Extravaganza Man – Pure Filth
…and double drops with this surprisingly well! We’d been chatting with Ollywood about how great Bonanza Kid is, and he challenged us to do our take on it. It then developed into a tribute to our favourite jungle tunes – count the basslines, basically!
03. Backdraft – Time To React – Downbeat Productions
The best Amens in breakbeat. Forgot how utterly heavy this is.
04. Baobinga – The Session – Fusetrax
The first tune I did that got any attention really. Spoke to Kalbata recently and he told me he used to cane this tune, which was nice to know :)
05. Remarc & Simpleton – Unity (Re-Mix) – Kemet / Planet Mu
All of Remarc’s stuff is doubly impressive when you think about what he most likely made it on…
06. Remarc – RIP – Suburban Base
Nothing to be said.
07. Ray Keith – Jah Dread – Dread
The most brutal Amens ever. I played before Ray Keith ages ago and brutal (in a good way) would describe his set. Glad I had ear plugs though.
08. Breakage – Stagger Dub – Critical
Biggups to Jim from Eastern Bloc for pulling this out for me about 5 visits in a row until I recognised its greatness.
09. Digital – Waterhouse Dubs – Function
First time I heard that riff it absolutely blew me away. Still does really. Great sub.
10. Krust – Kloakin Device – Full Cycle
Can we have this Krust back please?
11. Zinc & Eksman – Roll Slow – Bingo
Pretty simple Amen business but it rolls so nice. I saw an interview with Zinc where he said he was in the studio one day, called up Eksman who happened to be in the area, he came to the studio and put this down and before they knew it, it was a massive tune. Wish my tunes came together so easily.
12. Cool Hand Flex – Must Feel (Serum RMX) – Mac II
Strictly jungle, but fully modern.
13. Q Project – Credit Crunch – Hospital
Massive Q Project fan. Much harder than his usual stuff but equally amazing.
14. Dub One – Volcon – Xtinction Agenda
This is why I love record shopping. I’d decided I’d do this mix but I wanted to get something pretty fresh on there. Went into Eastern Bloc and Jim pulled this out for me. Perfect!
15. Dawn Raid – Try To Believe – Rain
Have played this out at the end of sets for quite a while now. Always sends everyone batshit mental.
16. Danny Byrd – Shock Out – Hospital
Good times to finish with :)
The second is a more modern and diverse affair expressing Baobinga’s varied and unique taste. The focus on big beats is obvious though. He also had something to say ’bout this one:
“Well, I did a mix for Mad Decent not so long ago and that had a load of dubs from me and my crew in, so I didn’t see the point in repeating that concept. Also that mix was done on Ableton, and it was cool to work that way, but I love going into town and picking up 12″s from the various record shops in Manchester (which really is a great city for anyone into record shopping), and then working them into a mix the ‘proper’ way (ha!). So I had a few records that I’d been meaning to use in a mix for a while, and figured this would be a good chance to pull em out. Some are old, some are new, and in a couple of places shit gets pretty old school, but a general theme of interesting drums and plenty sub seems to shine through. Hope people enjoy it!”
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Baobinga’s Pulling Random 12’s Out Mix – Early 09
01. The Cool Kids – 88 – XL
Great drums, and lots of em.
02. Bangers & Cash – Shake That – Downtown
Depraved filth, 808 subs and lyrics like ‘man this dick to cash that cheque’. How could anyone not like this?
03. Dukeyman & Lil Mama – Git Da Handclap (Remix) Crosstalk International
Wicked drums, nuff sub and a repetitive vocal sample… Pretty much the essence of good dance music right there.
04. Jan Driver – Rat Alert Dub – Made 2 Play
Not house, not breaks, but sonically and rhythmically so interesting.
05. 2000 And One – Get Down – Intacto
I’m a massive fan of 2000 And One. When he gets it bang on, like with this one from 2005, he can just loop up some tuff drums and I’m happy.
06. Rod Lee – Let Me See What You’re Working With – Dress 2 Sweat
Pretty much my favourite label of 2008, such good quality control. The new Rod Lee one is great too.
07. Seiji ft MC Dolores – Todo Mundo – MAN Recordings
Chopped this one down a bit afterwards to keep things moving, but the fantastic production still cuts through.
08. The Body Snatchers – I Like What I See (HiJack RMX)
Passenger – Fidget without the stoopid.
09. Rob Le Pitch – Sticky Fingers (Baobinga & I.D. RMX) – 777
Plenty stoopid, but a lot of fun :)
10. The Ragga Twins – Ready 4 This (Baobinga RMX) – Passenger
Taking it back a bit. Really happy with how this remix turned out, ragga at dance speed essentially. Well chuffed that Tayo picked it up for his Fabric CD too!
11. Inland Knights – Badman – Drop Music
Lovely warm bass and a Beenie Man sample. What more do you want?
12. Maxwell D – Serious (Jameson RMX) – 4 Liberty Records
PYOOR GARAGE CLASSIC FROM 2001! Where is Jameson??? The absolute best bass noises.
13. DJ Abstract – Nothing But A Gangster – Rat Records
Pretty old, and a fairly cheesy vocal, but it works, the drums roll like a motherfucker, and the bass bounces so good.
14. The Body Snatchers – I Like What I See (Joker RMX) – Passenger
Joker is doing a lot right now. He’s well into what we’re trying to do with The Body Snatchers, and he rinsed this remix. Gigantic mincer though.
15. Benny Page & Zero G – Trigger Finger – Digital Soundboy
Big respect for what Digital Soundboy are doing, switching the styles up.
16. I.D. – Flay – Cool & Deadly
Ed I.D. looks set for a big year in 2009. I’ve been caning this tune on dub for about 12 months and it always gets a massive reaction. Great for double dropping too :)
17. Darqwan – Raisin’ Kane – Passenger
Old breakstep business. Love Oris’ drums, proper woody sound to them.
18. Wiley – Freez Instrumental – Southside Recordings
Ha! Been meaning to slip this one into a mix for ages. One of Wiley’s best beats, I reckon. And yes, the double drop with the last one was probably a bit excessive. Sorry.
19. Kromestar – Pissed Off – Dubstar
Mid range aggro done well.
20. Mono – True 2 Da Game (Pablo Beatz RMX) – Tricksta
Keep meaning to do more Pablo Beatz stuff. It was originally supposed to be my take on the DJ Zinc / Jammin / Bingo sound – went a bit over-dark with this one but it does sound sick out, and I’ve not used it in a mix before.
21. Moves! – All Skate – Dress 2 Sweat
More D2S goodness. Great arrangement.
22. I.D. – To The Line – Passenger
White label business, out pretty soon I think – might be some whites on www.aquasky.co.uk? Proper breakstep pressure, and I can claim some heat from it (I did the mixdown). Go me!
23. King Tubby – Harder Dub – Fatman
You can learn everything you need to know about dance music from dub, and King Tubby’s not a bad place to start.
Awesome, thanks for this.
Comment by fourstar — March 11, 2009 @ 4:43 am
Diarrhea-post! Bao brings it. Prps.
Comment by TheCrookedClef — March 11, 2009 @ 9:59 pm