DnB Roots #3 - Depthcharge - Han Do Jin - J Saul Kane 1989

Once upon a time there was no such thing as drum and bass. It was but a glint in many a producers eye- and inspiration was gained from pieces like this- 'Depthcharge'. The bass vibes and tough breakbeat courtesy Kool & The Gang's 'Breeze & Soul' took over London as soon as it was released. But wait a minute- this is nothing like dnb speed.. It's only about 110bpm! Not a problem- remember dnb didn't exist so forward thinking DJs in dances back in the day just sped the vinyl up to 45RPM!
Instant dnb monster! Try it yourself! Hit 'Settings' here and adjust the speed to 1.25 or even, if you dare, 1.5 speed. See what they were doing? There's some dnb right there some 3-4 years before the first jungle record was released! Cool huh? That's the way it was rolling in the days when there was a void for fast speed breakbeats that inspired many to make their own. Many early bass heads bought this piece on the strength of it's helium hazy, sped up version and didn't even hear its original drawling, more hip hop speed.
Definitely a forerunner producer to our scene, J Saul Kane was a West London producer who was a magician with breaks and loved his movie samples. Subsequent releases brought us spaghetti cowboy movies with 'Bounty Killers', superb fast speed UK hip hop with 'Silver Fox', creepy horror films on 'Dead By Dawn' and even the World Cup on 'Goal!'.
But this largely unsung pioneer's most untamed wild beast was here's 'Depthcharge'- an amazing breakbeat bass monster with all the elements of attraction that would make jungle and drum and bass become so big a few years later. Kung Fu movie samples, top class big breaks stitched together, a heavy b-line and well, just those jungle vibes before jungle was even born. I salute that man!

[@ogslim]

A rare piece this one 🔥😎

[@darkseraphim6793]

j saul kane is so awesome

[@OrdonezLenin]

All hail J Saul Kane, The Octagon Man!

[@dans1136]

[@RELEVANTDNB]

Sick!