Sam Purcell and Tammo Hesselink take a trip back to the early 90s

Blissed Out Breakbeat Hardcore 1991-94 takes a trip back to a very particular time in dance music history. Acid house, rave and techno had been with us for a while, but jungle and drum & bass culture was in its very earliest stages, its rules and restrictions yet to be formulated.

“The idea for the record came about organically,” recalls co-compiler Sam Purcell of the Blank Mind label, “as a result of Tammo (Hesselink) and I sending hardcore tunes across to each other and realising that we shared a love of tunes like DJ Mayhem’s ‘Inesse’ and producers such as DJ Gwange & Future Sound of Hardcore and things like that. I was sitting in an airport en route for a night in Inverness and had the idea of putting together a compilation together.

“We started using the term ‘blissed-out’ as a reference to guide us a bit and the term sort of stuck. I think the appeal comes from just the beauty of the music, there’s something really magical about the sound from this time.  I’m not an academic on this subject and make no claim of expertise, as I see it hardcore is just fast breakbeat driven dance music where anything goes, before things got more stratified into sub-genres or rules. The idea with the compilation isn’t to say this is some kind of special genre within hardcore or to water the genre down, but more to shine a light on a group of tunes that we love that share this euphoric and ethereal quality.”

We asked Sam and Tammo to guide us through the comp’s contents in their own words:

1. Sleepwalker – Age of Aquarius

Sam: Back in 2013 when I was studying Fine Art at Newcastle, I was working on an installation with old rave music, and one of the samples I used was from this tune – although at the time I had no idea on the track ID. I only found out the actual tune almost a decade later, so it’s a bit of a full circle moment. 

It has this amazing suspense, like Detroit techno refracted through a hardcore prism. It’s a real anomaly, I can’t think of anything else that sounds like it. I also like that the artist behind Sleepwalker remains something of a mystery, and only the L.D. (Lemon D) remix is available of this tune. 

2. Hedgehog Affair – Parameters

Tammo: Have been a fan of pretty much all things Ron Wells has done for ages. The Hedgehog Affair project seems to perfectly align with the concept we were going for. Very moody but still subtly restrained atmospheres. “The Pipe” is another favourite from that project. I love the 4×4 roller element in those tunes as well!

3. DJ Mayhem – Inesse

Sam: One of my favourite tunes of all time. Think I discovered this on this new year set at Seduction by Grooverider’. The Ray Keith remix is perhaps the better known version, but the original really does it for me. I played this as my final tune at said party in Inverness, and it gave me goosebumps. It’s sprawling and epic, almost gothic with an iconic breakdown. The drum programming is so good. Martin was just 19 when he produced and it was all done on an S950, a great case for  limitations that lead to inspiration. 

4. Luxury – Twirl

Tammo: Stumbled upon this record through the other side – ‘I’m Not Dreaming’ – actually which is an amazing but more of a classic hardcore track. I loved how Twirl manages to blend a lot of the styles around that time, it sounds like bleep, incorporates IDM-like atmosphere and even some electro sounds. This is probably the least “hardcore-y” track on the compilation, but perfectly demonstrates the broader range of sounds producers at that time were working with.

5. The Invisible Man – The Flute Tune

Sam: I came across this tune while we were developing the compilation. I’m a big fan of the Invisible Man material, they feature on lots of my favourite Bukem sets and I also love the Undergraduates record he did. This was produced in 1994 but didn’t come out until 2008 on an EP on Sublogic. I fell in love with it and went to great lengths to track down Graham – which wasn’t easy. It’s a euphoric, weightless tune that sounds mind-blowing on a system and very futuristic today. I can’t believe this went unreleased for so long.

6. Escape – Escape (The Optical Mix)

Tammo: All time personal favourite! The whole record perfectly encapsulates everything I love about hardcore, very interesting sampling methods and use of vocals in a way that is slightly off to create this uncanny atmosphere. The record culminates for me at Escape (The Optical Mix), a track that in terms of sound still holds up to the current date and is one of the most beautiful things to here at the end of the night.

7. Skanna – This Way

Sam: Another classic, this is a highlight of LTJ Bukem’s set at Dusk Till Dawn, Arcadia in 1993 which is probably my favourite set of all time and one I relisten to regularly. It’s a stirring, musical tune with keys and strings – almost bucolic and Epicurean in atmosphere, which then breaks down to a lush but rude ‘Reese’ bass section in a quintessentially Skanna style. Essential, cinematic hardcore. ‘

8. Xray Xperiments – Techcore

Tammo: I’ve had this record for a while now, stumbled upon the X-Ray X-Periments stuff through hearing take no chance first. Techcore stood out to me through its more subtle character compared to other piano tunes of that era. The track manages to blend that more restrained piano sound with early 90s IDM FM sounds. I remember reading some rumours about it being by B12 when I stumbled upon this record, something that has not been confirmed as of yet. I think this really shows the influence hardcore had on IDM artists.

Check the Blank Mind label page for details of Lost Paradise: Blissed Out Breakbeat Hardcore 1991-94 and other releases