At the tail end of the ’90s, promo mixes weren’t about streams, algorithms, or playlists, they were weapons. Burned CDs passed hand-to-hand in dark booths, shoved into promoter pockets, traded on dancefloors. If you wanted bookings, you proved it in the mix. Two of mine from 1999 and 2000 ended up taking on lives of their own. They were part of a series I called Harder, Faster, Louder ! Raw, unapologetic snapshots of where my head was at musically: peak-hour pressure, acid-laced riffs, relentless kick drums, and that unmistakable late-90s hard house attitude. I could never keep copies of those two volumes around. They’d vanish as fast as I burned them.

This episode rebuilds them, not as a nostalgia piece, but as a reconstruction. I pulled the core tracks, rebuilt the arc, and fused both mixes into a single set that captures the spirit of that era exactly as it felt: loud rooms, hot lights, and zero interest in subtlety. Yes, I was fully in my BK phase at the time, and it shows. Consider this a time capsule from when hard house ruled the floor and subtlety wasn’t invited. This is Harder, Faster, Louder — rebuilt. Tracklisting: 01. OD404 - Rock Tha Disco / D-Funked 02. OD404 / Aaron Olson - Block Party (Baby G Mix) / It’s About the Music 03. BK & Nick Sentience - Soundman 04. Nick Sentience - Freedom 05. Lisa Pin Up - Future Acid House (BK Remix) 06. Praga Khan - Injected with a Poison (BK & Nick Sentience Remix) 07. BK - (Let The) Rhythm Move You (BK’s ‘5am @ Frantic’ Mix) 08. Apache Indian - Jump Up (Tony De Vit Remix) 09. Mark Tyler - London, Let’s ‘Ave Yer! (OD404 Remix) 10. OD404 - 9 Bar (BK & dBm ‘Amber’ Remix) 11. 200 Degrees - Hellfire (BK Remix) 12. Captain Tinrib & Steve Thomas - The Leader 13. Wayne G feat. Stewart Who? - Twisted (6AM @ Warriors Mix) 14. Beatniqz - Kick It (Original Mix / BK Remix) 15. Blow Brothers - Love (Sister Suck Remix) 16. DJ Misjah & Tim - Access (KY Jelly Babies Remix) 17. BK - Don’t Give Up 18. Barabas & OD1 - Feel the Beat (Check This Out) 19. Barabas & OD1 - Ghettoblaster 2000 (Big Blaster Mix) 20. Karim - Clean & Heavy (Remix) 21. Hard Kor - What is House? (The One 60 What is Hardcore Mix) 22. Jon Doe - D2A 23. Jon Doe & UFO - Phaze 1 24. Watergate - Heart of Asia (Jon the Dentist Remix)

FFRR (Full Frequency Range Recordings) sits right at the fault line where Chicago house crossed the Atlantic and rewired the UK. While the name itself comes from Decca’s post-war high-fidelity recording tech, the label’s real cultural impact landed decades later, when London Records relaunched FFRR in the mid-to-late ’80s as a home for emerging club music. At that exact moment, Chicago house was exploding, raw, drum-machine-driven tracks from pioneers like Frankie Knuckles, Jamie Principle, Marshall Jefferson, and Lil’ Louis were reshaping dance floors, and the UK was hungry for it.

FFRR became one of the key conduits for that sound. By licensing, releasing, and heavily promoting Chicago house records in Britain, the label helped translate a gritty, underground Black American club culture into a mainstream UK rave and house movement. Tracks like Baby Wants To Ride, French Kiss, and Tears didn’t just chart — they educated an entire generation of DJs and clubbers. In short: Chicago invented it, FFRR amplified it, and UK dance culture was never the same again. Tracklisting:

01. Club House - Deep in My Heart (Funky House Version) 02. T-Empo - Saturday Night, Sunday Morning (T-Empo Mix) 03. Mighty Dub Katz - Magic Carpet Ride (Andy Mowat Remix) 04. Jamie Principle - Baby Wants to Ride (X-Rated Version) 05. Prince & The New Power Generation - My Name is Prince (LP Version) 06. Orbital - Belfast (Sasha vs The Light Remix) 07. Together - Hardcore Uproar 08. Sterling Void - It’s All Right (House Mix) 09. Salt-N-Pepa - Push It (Remix) 10. Degrees of Motion - Shine On 11. Sex-O-Sonique - I Thought It Was You (12 Inch Mix) 12. Mighty Dub Katz - Magic Carpet Ride (Club Mix) 13. DSK - What Would We Do? (Clay & Deller’s ‘Industry Standard’ Mix) 14. Sagat - Fuk Dat (Raw/Radio Edit) 15. Tinman - Eighteen Strings (Full On Kitchen Mix) 16. Utah Saints - What Can You Do For Me (12 Inch Mix) 17. Quake - The Day Will Come 18. The Good Men - Give It Up (DJ Quicksilver Remix) 19. Goldie - Inner City Life (Rabbit in the Moon’s Vocalic City) 20. Crescendo - Are You Out There

BUY ALL THINGS FFRR: https://www.beatport.com/label/ffrr/22511

This episode salutes one of the wildest and most instantly recognizable labels of the 90s underground: Tinrib Recordings.

Founded by Captain Tinrib (Jon Bell) around 1995, this wasn’t your polished trance label, it was hard house with a grin and a gut punch. Tinrib fused hard house, acid techno, and hard trance with a hint of circus chaos into a sound that was as theatrical as it was floor-destroying.

Everything about Tinrib screamed personality, from its cheeky artwork and nautical puns to its unapologetic wall-of-sound production. It was the sound of late-night warehouses and too-loud systems, where the fun was as important as the drop.

This mix celebrates that era: the Captain, the crew, and the records that made the Tinrib fish swim forever upstream!

Tracklisting: 01. D.R. Base - Piranha 02. D.R. Base vs Karim - Barracuda 03. D.R. Base - Beat the System (V.A.T. Remix) 04. Chris C & M-Zone - Mackerel - Lord of Remix 05. D.R. Base - Don’t Stop 06. Fierce Base - Power Trip 07. Captain Tinrib - Manta (Hot Bird 3 Mix) 08. The Captain & Pete Wardman - Bimbobop 09. Weirdo - Photic Zone 10. Captain Tinrib - 2001 - The Final Frontnose (Weirdo Remix) 11. Weirdo - Shake Me 12. Captain Tinrib & Steve Thomas - Get Down 2000 13. The Captain & Max Alien Thing - The Duster 14. The Captain & Karim - Up In the Air 15. Commander Tom - Eye Bee M (Captain Tinrib Remix) 16. Opal - Hoover Groover 17. D.R. Base vs Karim - N.W.A. (Hard as Nails Mix) 18. Ganesh - Captain Tinrib’s Back Again 19. Captain Tinrib - Blue Oyster (Captain Tinrib Remix) 20. Stimulant DJ’s - Hoovertime (Captain Tinrib Remix) 21. The Captain & Karim - Show Them We Can Do This