it was an instant classic the second it dropped. never forget

the rolls were so good back then. memories!!!!

they weren't calling it neurofunk in these days.. you are to blame for me falling into this!! Thanks!!❤️‍🔥⚡

To this day, this is my favorite Drum and Bass album in existence. I love to put it in my ears and run.

What a story! Thanks for the info behind thid mix.

Dieselboy - Witness The Strength (1995) Side A

Originally appearing on the Palm Pictures label back in 2000, "The 6ixth Session" was my best selling mix CD. It features Konflict's super awesome "The Messiah" which is one of my favorite drum and bass anthems of all time. The amazing graphic design is by Akira Takahashi and showcases 3D modeling of my head from Rene Garcia aka "Hyperform" who went on to do 3D work for the Matrix and Transformers movies. Suffice it to say, I have always been extremely proud of this particular work. It really helped push drum and bass music to a larger audience in North America.

—

TRACKLIST

Dieselboy vs. Atlantiq - Initialize
Kemal & Rob Data - The Messiah
Technical Itch - Heavy Metal
Signal to Noise - Nanobugs
Underfire vs. Negative - Bios Fear
Future Cut + Futurebound - Homicide
Usual Suspects - Shrapnel (Stakka & Skynet Remix)
Andy C + Shimon - Firewire
Bad Company - Toxin
Dieselboy - Invid (E-Sassin VIP)
Dieselboy - The Descent (Phunckateck VIP)
Technical Itch - Pusher
Loxy + Dylan - Eclipse
Facs + B-Key - Plimsoul VIP
Teebee - Space Age Remix
Dylan - Dominion
J Majik - Solarize

The 6ixth Session

Here is “The Soldier’s Story”, my first truly original cd for the prestigious American electronic music label Moonshine. For this release I was given complete control of choosing all of the music and really went out of my way to find the best future thinking, unreleased and heavy as hell drum and bass at that time. This one was not just for the dancefloor and really started to establish the way I would approach choosing music for all future mix projects. Some of the key tunes on here would be my collaboration with Technical Itch “Atlantic State”. The bassline was born out of a keyboard glitch and the cool pads in the intro are from a Skinny Puppy sample cd. The name was a nod to the classic 808 State tune “Pacific State” (the Atlantic ocean separates the USA and the UK ;). Jonny L “Bellz” was just a white hot smasher that I loved to death. And “The Stalker” was a weird super minimal tune that eventually became the anthem for my drum and bass weekly “Platinum" in Philly (everyone used to love that track!). For the intro I used a bunch of samples from the videogames Half Life and Quake (I found the sound libraries and broke them up and mined the shit out of them). At one point I was contacted by some people who worked on Half Life and they said they used to play my mix at the office. That was awesome. This mix sounds fast because I mixed it on my home turntables that were modified to play faster than normal. I always thought faster was better. The artwork was done by the late Todd Baldwin of Airline Industries. He hired famous Marvel comics artist Paul Gosier to draw me as a super soldier for the cover. Most people didn’t really think it looked like me ;) Finally, I lifted the title from the movie “A Soldier’s Story”. In the drum and bass scene a “soldier” is a die hard fan of the music. That pretty much sums me up to this day. Enjoy!

—

TRACKLIST

Dieselboy - Precautionary Procedure
Konflict - The Beckoning
Usual Suspects + Fierce - Sawn Off
DJ Friction - Photon Remix
Future Cut + Mark Da Intallex - Plastic
Technical Itch - Deception
Technical Itch - Stack
Moving Fusion - Sex Drive
Jonny L - The Bellz
Usual Suspects + Loxy - Stalker
Vertigo - Drained
Danny Breaks - Dissonance
Peshay - Vegas
Kosheen - Yes Men (Decoder Remix)
Technical Itch + Dieselboy - Atlantic State
Decoder - BS9

A Soldier's Story

My first cd for Moonshine. If memory serves, I needed to do a last minute tracklist change as I wasn't able to license a couple of tunes I wanted. Having known SS for a few years at this point, I knew he would let me have any tunes I wanted so I replaced the tunes I couldn't get with the Matrix and Executive tunes. As it turned out, they worked better than the tunes I originally wanted. :) This mix holds a special place in my heart as it was my first official mixed cd and I still really like all the tunes on it. 

TRACKLIST

Matrix - Fluid Motion
The Return - Basic Rules
Ed Rush & Optical - Funktion
Pascal & Phantasy - Terradaktil (Future Forces Remix)
DJ SS - Symphonic
Pascal - Who Can Draw
MA4 - Bull Terrier
DJ Zinc - Bring The Danger
Decoder - Circuit Breaker
Mampi Swift - Hi Tek
Special K - Pressure Roll
Decoder - Dazee Age
Majistrate - Retry
EZ - Rollers - Tough At The Top
Executive Outcomes - Sirocco
PFM - 11th Hour

DJ Dara - Full Circle

The third CD I did for Moonshine. Released in 2001 it contains the classic track "Suicide" by Kosheen and was also the first mixed cd to feature a then little-known artist called High Contrast. :)

TRACKLIST


1 Teebee - Blue Rose	
2 Nico & Rukkus - Defender!	 
3 Universal Project - Bleach	
4 JL - Dust (Total Science Remix)	
5 Ink & Dylan - Need You	
6 Future Cut - The Specialist	
7 Decoder - Hord 39	
8 Stakka, Skynet & Friction - Altitude	
9 J Majik	feat. Kathy Brown - Tell Me   
10 Skeptic - Tear	
11 Decoder & Substance - Icon	
12 EBK - 2000/2000	
13 Dylan & Ink  - Kali Kurse	
14 N.Code - Traction	
15 High Contrast - What's The Story	
16 Kosheen - (Slip And Slide) Suicide	

DJ Dara - Future Perfect

My fourth and final CD for Moonshine. Continuing the theme of titles beginning with "F" it was released in 2002. :)



TRACKLIST

DJ SS - Curtains	
Dom & Keaton - Twisted City	
Agent Babylon - Desert Planet (DJ Ecco & Sabotage Remix)	
Randall & A-Sides - Turn It Loose	
JB - Vizion	
Universal Project - Streetlife	
Universal Project - Jackhammer
Sonic - Even When It Rains (Super Disco Mix)	
DJ Ink - Mirage	
Asend & Ultravibe - What Kind Of World (Hazard Remix)	
Rascal & Klone - Galactic Jam	
Total Science - Squash	
Specimen A - Armed And Dangerous (Dylan Remix)	
Moving Fusion - Thunderball	
John B. - Five Times In One Night	
High Contrast - Global Love	



DJ Dara - Further

Project Human was essentially the launch point for my drum and bass label Human Imprint (the name of the cd was meant to tie in with the label name). It was a culmination of what I had been trying to do conceptually over the past few years and really set the template for all future mix projects - Big, cinematic voiceover intros. Remixes done specifically for my mixes. Big big tunes. Music that I had a hand in. Around this time I had started to get serious with making music and had partnered up with my dear friend Chris “Kaos” Ritter. He is featured on quite a few of the tunes on here. The first 12” release on Human Imprint was the Stratus tune “You Must Follow” and this provided Chris and I a remix opportunity to get our production feet wet. This was followed by our remix of a hip-hop track I really enjoyed by Styles And Beyond called “Subculture”. Originally I had this track remixed by Dylan and Ink for this mix, but I wasn’t especially fond of their effort and they unfortunately refused to put any more work into it. This inspired me and Kaos to do our own take on it, which is what appears here. Pretty proud of the details in that one to be honest. Looking over the tracklist…there was just a lot of really cool stuff that came together for this mix. Lots of remixes of disco house tunes (Robbie Rivera, Funk Parlor, Billy Lo). Remixes of seminal Moving Shadow tunes (Quadrant 6, The Shadow). I helped create a short lived North American drum and bass production “supergroup” called Weapon that has two remixes on here. Such awesome memories working on those tunes. We were actually in the middle of the Reborn remix (one of my favorite personal projects) when 9/11 happened. Never forget indeed. The artwork on this release was handled by the amazing WeWorkForThem boys (Michael Young and Michael Cina). They used images from a photoshoot I did with famed photographers Kelly and Meyers. I asked WWFT to remove my mouth in the images so I resembled the faces from the Human Imprint logo. The voiceover for the intro was my first ever voice actor hire. Aaaand it was Don LaFontaine himself, the most legendary voice actor of all time (“The Voice Of God”). I remember when he sent me the DAT with his voiceover takes on it. I listened to it in headphones and literally got the chills. So fucking amazing. Unfortunately around the time I was working on this intro, another DJ (Bad Boy Bill) made an internet promo that was supposed to sound like a movie trailer. It used a couple of the exact lines from my Project Human intro by coincidence! So I had to go back and rewrite those lines and have Don re-record them. Sad to say the version of the script was better (and the sound quality on the voice takes were better) in the original. Oh well. Of all of the mixes I have released, Project Human has seemed to resonate with drum and bass fans the most. I am quite proud of it.

—

TRACKLIST

Dieselboy + Joshua Ryan - Genesis
Optical + Ryme Tyme - Shapecharge
Styles Of Beyond - Subculture (Dieselboy + Kaos VIP)
The Funk Parlor - Something For The Dancefloor (Underfire Remix)
Stratus - You Must Follow (Dieselboy + Kaos Remix)
Stakka + Skynet + Friction - Altitude (Fierce + Ryme Tyme VIP)
Dylan + DJ Ink - California Curse (Technical Itch Remix)
Billy Lo - Carjacker (Ram Trilogy Remix)
Robbie Rivera - Harder And Faster (Weapon Vs E-Sassin Remix)
Kemal + Rob Data - Hostile
Usual Suspects + Loxy - Stalker (Danny C Remix)
Rob + Goldie - The Shadow (Hive VIP)
Dom + Roland - Soundwall (Dom + Roland VIP)
Dom + Optical - Quadrant 6 (E-Sassin VIP)
Rascal + Klone - Terminal Velocity
Technical Itch - Reborn (Weapon Remix)
Bad Company - Mindgames
Dieselboy + Joshua Ryan - Revelations

Project Human

System Upgrade was my 4th and final mix CD release for Moonshine back in 2000. I was on a roll at this point, given that my last CD “Soldier’s Story” had been released only one year before. I was super motivated by the freedom that I had finally been given to select all of the music in my mixes, and this tracklist reflects a truly diverse selection of really great drum and bass from that era. Being able to kick things off with the remix of “Mindscan” by the legends Ed Rush and Optical was truly an honor for me. At that time stateside artists and DJs were still struggling with garnering respect from the UK. I feel that this mix was sort of a transition for building trans-Atlantic relationships during that unfortunately tense era. Dillinja came through with a beast of a remix for American super producer Hive with “Ultrasonic Sound”. Decoder did serious justice to his remix of my tune “The Descent”. And E-Sassin was one of my favorite artists at the time and straight killed it with tracks like “Symptom”. A true American DNB classic. The rest of the mix was filled out with plenty of great music from the likes of Bad Company (the first time they licensed a tune for the American market), Kemal and Rob Data AKA Konflict and of course Dom + Roland, Tech Itch, etc. Was always super happy with the tunes I was able to get for this one. And yes, this was another mix I did in my pajamas sitting on the floor of my living room in my apartment in Philadelphia. Very classy! The artwork was handled by Justin Fines, otherwise known as Demo Design. I discovered his work on a flier at a rave in Detroit back in the 90s. He was way beyond most flier designers at that point in time. Currently he is killing it in the world of TV commercials here in NYC. Was very lucky to have him on board for this project. The concept of the mix was elevating consciousness through music. This theme played out through the title of the mix, the graphics, the liner notes, and the intro (which was a collaboration between myself and a Mr Justin Geller). Here is a fun story. The rainforest environment FX in the intro were recorded in binaural sound (that means in headphones they should sound like they are in true 3D audio). We also used a sample from one of my favorite new age / synth artists at the time named Steve Roach. Outside of the new age music scene I didn’t think he was well known. Buuut…Moonshine ended up getting contacted by his lawyers for my illegal sampling of his track. I had to forfeit all of my income from the CD to pay Steve Roach back for using his music in my intro without clearance. To this day I am still not sure how he found about it. Long story short, “System Upgrade” is a mix that reflected the vibe of drum and bass at the time and it was a very important stepping stone between what I had previously been doing before mix wise and what I would go on to do with the “6ixth Session” and future mixes. And, to this day, people still tell me that it is their favorite mix. I don’t disagree. I feel like this was an important moment in the progression of the  US drum and bass scene.

—

TRACKLIST

Dieselboy - Loading Program
Ram Trilogy - Mindscan (Ed Rush + Optical Remix)
E-Sassin - Symptom
Hive - Ultrasonic Sound (Dillinja Remix)
Biostacis - Brain Hack
Dom + Roland - Can’t Punish Me
Decoder - Road Rage
Future Cut - Overload
Kemal + Rob Data - Konspiracy VIP
Stakka + Skynet - Side Effects
Dieselboy - The Descent (Decoder Remix)
Jonny L - Selecta
Decoder - Dumb
Facs + B-Key - Antics
Technical Itch - Deadline
Bad Company - Sentient 
Absolute Zero - The Code (Usual Suspects VIP)

System Upgrade

My second CD mix! Way way back in 1997 I was just beginning to make my mark as a DJ on a national scale. Still living in Pittsburgh at the time and working as tech support at a dial-up internet company called Telerama, I was spending all of my free time practicing on my turntables and playing whatever random shows came my way. The year before I had released “Drum And Bass Selection USA” with Moonshine Music in the states in combination with Suburban Base Records out of London (a very big label at the time). For this mix I was essentially given a tracklist of tunes by Dan Donnelly at Suburban Base to use. He went out of his way to try and select music that was brand new / unreleased and also stuff that reflected my musical tastes at the time (which was a combination of techy rollers and jump-up). During this period of my life I was living in a cheap ratty apartment and my humble equipment setup consisted of a pair of Technics 1200s and the lowest of the low budget of “dj mixers” - a Radioshack 32-1100A. Go ahead and google it. It was as zero frills as possible for a mixer compared to what exists today. Two phono inputs and a crossfader. No EQ. No bells. No whistles. Questionable sound quality. Most of the music Dan sent me for the mix was on vinyl. But 4 of the tunes were on dubplate - a record-like format that rapidly decreases in sound quality after only a few plays. I didn’t know the dubplate tunes AT ALL, which meant I had to somehow practice mixing with them while at the same time not ruining their sound quality. It was crazy! I think in the end I had to have Dan send me replacement dubplates because the original ones developed skips in them almost immediately and were unusable. Very very stressful. On top of this, I needed to record the mix to DAT which is a very high quality magnetic tape format that requires a special DAT machine. I had to go buy a one of these components from a local store, and when I got it home I opened the box to discover it full of pieces of wood and drywall - someone had previously bought it, took out the unit, filled the box with garbage and returned it. Even more stress. In the end the mix came out pretty decent given the circumstances. I do realize there is at least one slight offbeat mix somewhere in there. But given the low budget mixer, my lack of familiarity with the tunes and those sensitive dubplates…it could have been much worse. Artwork duties were handled by the always amazing Airline Industries out of DC. Oh one more thing - the track “2:01” by Remarc was accidentally left off of the tracklist in the liner notes. Whoops! 

—

TRACKLIST

D’Cruz - Landspeeder
IQ Collective - Mode One
Simon + Andy C - Night Flight
Dream Team - Switch
Swoosh - Ya Rockin’
Substance - LF-Ant
Joker - Punx
Ill Figure - Style
Remarc - 2:01
Swift - Twisted
Swift - Analogue
Future Forces - Synthesis
Decoder - Twister
MTS - Instigator

97 Octane

This is the OG right here! Before I was asked to create this mix I was a medium-well known “regional” DJ from the east coast / northeast. I had some mixtapes out and was playing some shows here and there. I also had a full time job at an internet tech support company and the whole DJ’ing thing was just a hobby for me. Everything changed with this project. I was approached by Dan Donnelly of Suburban Base Records in the UK to mix a compilation for the American market. The tracks were already chosen, he just needed someone to mix it together and give it a push in the states. To this day I am still not 100% sure why he chose me to do it. He could have easily gotten a big name UK drum and bass DJ mix it and just put it out as a standard compilation. But instead…I was give the golden opportunity. Dan had Moonshine Records from the states handle the business end of it (production, distribution, etc). They offered me the job and a flat fee of $500. I was broke as hell back then and needed the money, but instead of accepting the cash I worked out a deal where I would be able to hire my own graphic designer for my cd. This was a first for Moonshine as they had a paid in-house designer for all of their projects. My release needed to be special though, and I thought their standard design of “stock photo + text” was boring. I hired the boys from Airline Industries from DC. They were putting out the sickest fliers at the time for weekly DC club night Buzz and I was really desperate to work with them. Dan sent me the music on vinyl and I banged out the mix on a couple of Technics SL-1200 turntables and the crappiest of no-frills mixers - a Radioshack 32-1100A. In the grand scheme of my mixes it is somewhat basic, but it definitely captured a moment in the drum and bass scene. The one twist I added was segueing into a sound FX record of a thunderstorm to intro the final tune. I thought it added a “sophisticated touch”. Hahaha! Once the CD came out my entire career took off. Because it was available everywhere I started getting booked everywhere. It really transformed my hobby into a a viable career and made me realize I could play music for a living. Thank you to Dan Donnelly and Moonshine for gifting me this. I will be eternally grateful. Final note - everyone always thought that the picture of the guy on Vespa on the CD cover was me. It isn’t (it was a friend of the Airline Industries guys).
—

TRACKLIST

Cain + Bizz - Everyday
Ill Figure - Jam Hot
Joker - Rollin Numbers (L Double Remix)
Rude Bwoy Monty - Steppas Style
Remarc - In Da Hood
Dream Team - Raw Dogs Relik
Shy Fx - Funkindemup (DJ Krust Remix)
DJ Nut Nut - Now Listen
Dope Skillz - 6 Million Ways To Die
45 Roller - Shotz
Pascal - Reality
M Cain - Da Power
Ed Rush - Check Me Out
Undercover Agent - Dub Plate Circles
Apollo 13 - Let It Roll
Pascal - Movin’ On

Drum And Bass Selection USA

Timecode aka Rob Playford's legendary Moving Shadow studio mix, released in 2000. 31 Moving Shadow classics from the preceding decade in approximate chronological order, sequenced digitally, as smooth as you like. Say no more.

Tracklist:
Rob & Goldie - The Shadow (Process Mix)
2 Bad Mice - 2 Bad Mice
Cosmo & Dibs - Oh So Nice
Kaotic Chemistry - Drum Trip
2 Bad Mice - Hold It Down
2 Bad Mice - Waremouse
Blame - 2 Bad Mice Take You
2 Bad Mice - Bombscare (Remix)
Omni Trio - Renegade Snares (Foul Play Remix)
Cloud 9 - You Got Me Burnin' (Remix)
Foul Play - Open Your Mind
Omni Trio - Feel Better (Foul Play Remix)
Hyper-On Experience - Lords Of The Null-Lines (Foul Play Remix)
Renegade - Terrorist
Omni Trio - Thru The Vibe (2 On 1 Mix)
Deep Blue - The Helicopter Tune
Dead Dred - Dred Bass
E-Z Rollers - Believe
Cloud 9 - Jazzmin
Aquasky - Dezires
Flytronix - The Rhode Tune
E-Z Rollers - Retro
E-Z Rollers - Tough At The Top (Instrumental)
Flytronix - Contemporary Accousticz Jam
Dom & Roland - Thunder
Dom & Roland - Parasite
Technical Itch - Reborn
Known Unknown - Rollers Edit
Dom & Roland - Can't Punish Me
E-Z Rollers - RS2000
60 Minute Man - Brand Nu Day

97 Octane

Dieselboy

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