Tate said:
wouldn't necessarily call it obscure, but def lesser known - last winter i listened to cooper's (a dissensian, no less) 'transatlantic bass' mix nearly every day, almost all north american producers (jason mundo, dj joseph, deep six, g notorious, et al). info
here, clips
here. though i'd have to say that eric h's hotflush track steals the show
hey thanks!
let me see what i remember loving so:
corrupted crew f. mc neat - "g.a.r.a.g.e"
one of the first mc records to come out that i found compelling, even though it's a little cringey these days as neat spells out the hook and some of the rhymes are a little... lacking. still, it's a nice clippety 2-step rhythm and has that great organ sound that so much of the reggae-flavored 2-step had. while we're on that...
masterstepz f. ritchie dan - "r u ready"
masterstepz made the classic "melody" but i always thought anything he made was pretty excellent, because he had the same stuttery sense of rhythm chris mac did but his stuff went over better on a dancefloor. this one opens with a good 30 seconds of helicopter sound, then breaks into a very dry, minimal beat with some detuned-sounding keys. ritchie dan does a terribly vulgar but nearly indecipherable chat, there's a 3-note xylophone bassline and some sfx and that's it. feels like there's tons of space in this one.
2nd protocol - "basslick"
this was actually a huge tune when it came out, but, wow, it was silly. beats on the intro, piano!! breakdown, big bassline. ez played it all the time and we were all torn on whether it was good or not. if you can abide the breakdown or even enjoy it for its hardcore-esque cheese the bassline is awesome.
mc psg
he just sounded so cheerful! and the man had no shame at all about completely stealing famous rap lyrics.
"i am the psg and i'd like to say hell-o!
to the black, the white, and the brown,
the purple and yell-o-ow"
it's no "gwan then" but it's jolly and it always reminded me of 8th grade school dances where one kid in your class was a "rapper" and would beg for the microphone, bust out about a minute of bad freestyles, and then just give it up and start doing lyrics from rap songs. (psg was better than that, mind you)