Joker Records originated in the middle of the jungle explosion of the mid 90’s and continued to lead its own way of dance floor orientated beats for many years. Although the label didn’t reach the status of labels such as RAM, Urban Takeover and Philly Blunt it was still considered to be an incredibly important part of the early drum and bass scene.

Much of the output from the label received relatively low DJ support from the scene’s biggest players, although At The Time by The Riddler was championed by Nicky Blackmarket and Kenny Ken for a short period.

Many tracks signed to Joker Records used unlicensed samples from popular US Hip Hop records such as Vanilla Ice’s 'Ice Ice Baby' and Busta Rhymes’ 'Bus-A-Bus'. A sample from the main theme to Star Wars was cleverly reworked for the collaboration with Surburban Base Records under the title 'Star Warz'. This was a favourite intro tune for Ellis D for what seemed like an eternity in 1997.

This series of mixes aims to show how good the output from the Joker Records stable really was. In my opinion this label was an originator and pioneer of the early Jump Up scene.

Words: Jamie S23

DJ Jamie -  Best of Joker Records Volume 01

Home of DJ Thumpa 
I AM NOW RETIRED FROM DJ'ING AS AT NOV 2025 AND NOT ON SOCIAL MEDIA
THANK YOU FOR 27+ YEARS OF SUPPORT AND 15 YEARS ON SOUNDCLOUD! IT IS NOW TIME TO JUST BE A RECORD COLLECTOR AND BEDROOM DJ...
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2025 sets (taking limited dates)

01/02/25 Drum & Bass Classics, London
28/02/25 Drum Fusion, Coventry
01/03/25 Birmingham Children's Hospital Fundraiser. Birmingham
15/03/25 Pump, Burton On Trent
22/03/25 Tomorrow’s World, Doncaster
29/03/25 DNB Shellaz, Birmingham
12/04/25 Bassman & Friends, Birmingham 
20/04/25 Crooked House, Shrewsbury
25/04/25 Sumo Beatz, Colchester 
03/05/25 Drum & Bass Classics, London 
07/06/25 Unity (vinyl set), Coventry 
28/06/25 Industrial Drumz, Birmingham 
05/07/25 Formation Records Rooftop party, Leicester 
12/07/25 Bassman Birthday Bash, Birmingham  
12/07/25 Fuse Festival, Lichfield
09/08/25 Bassface, Birmingham 
30/08/25 TBC
04/10/25 TBC
05/10/25 Riverdance, London 
15/11/25 TBC
22/11/25 Tomorrow’s World, Doncaster 

2024 sets:

26/01 Be Happy, Leicester 
27/01 Drum & Bass Classics, London 
27/01 Future Drum & Bass, Milton Keynes
27/01 Raveology Children’s Hospital Fundraiser, Birmingham 
10/02 Paragon, Leicester 
10/02 Darkside, Glasgow
17/02 Happedaze, Sunderland 
24/02 Bassface, Birmingham
02/03 OnlyBass, Birmingham
16/03 Reprobeats, Manchester
29/03 Random Concept, Birmingham
30/03 Bassface, Birmingham 
27/04 Drum & Bass Classics, London 
05/05 Onset Of Bass, Bristol
25/05 Random Concept, Northampton
28/06 Duck D&B, Birmingham
30/06 Basstrap live stream, Birmingham 
13/07 Fuse Festival, Lichfield 
27/07 Basstrap, Oswestry
03/08 Rave Hart, Cannock
23/08 NoughtyCulture, Leicester
24/08 Drum & Bass Classics, London
24/08 Drop The Knife Charity Event, Birmingham
25/08 Crooked House Festival, Lichfield 
31/08 Bassman & Friends, Birmingham
27/09 Dark In The Jungle, Birmingham
28/09 Drum & Bass Classics. Birmingham
18/10 Stimulation, Ripley
20/12 Complex, Burton On Trent


My name is Thumpa and I've been DJ'ing since 1996. I've played at Westfest (the biggest indoor rave in the UK), Pandemonium (Holland), Slammin Vinyl, Breakin Science's 'Drum & Bass Classics', Random Concept, DNB Collective, HTID & HTID In The Sun, Shadow Demon, Hardcore Heaven, Uproar, Hardcore Heaven Weekender, Raver Baby, Ravers Reunited, FINRG (Finland), Codex (Japan), Fantazia, Madness Industry (Holland), Mokum (Holland), Cenobite (Holland), Dimensions Of Darkness (Holland), Hardcore Underground, Freeformation, Vibealite, Uprising, Distruxshon and hundreds more including gigs in Japan, USA, Canada, Spain, Netherlands, Hungary, Finland, Germany and for every major rave promoter in every corner of the UK. I now play D&B, classic D&B / jungle and old skool with the occasional hardcore set.

Any mixes you can't find might be at https://hearthis.at/rebuildmusic/ or http://www.mixcloud.com/OllyThumpa

Search for 1,000's of classic rave tapes, converted & restored from the original source by Section 23, exclusively for SoundCloud.

We are also a record label, why not send us a demo?