8 Tracks: Of Bleep Legacy With Luca Lozano

So I guess it would be wise to start at the start. Its 1989 and this incredible little gem comes out, touched by the hand of Rob (Gordon) and released on 10 Records, The Theme is an alien mix of sub bass, hip house raps and haunting vocal pads. Widely known as the FIRST EVER bleep record this track set the bar and inspired a lot of wonderful music to come.

Ok, lets get the obvious ones out of the way first, still in the same year and a group of Sheffield man get 500 copies of this pressed up on white label. WAP1 sells out with the quickness and begins Warp Records’ long and successful history. Its worth mentioning this record for many reasons and a ‘Bleep’ list would not be complete without it, but I personally put it in because of the way it sounds….more than 20 years old and it still sounds like the future.

It’s 1991 and Bleep hitches a ride down to Luton. Chill Records is sometimes overlooked in the history of this music, theres a lot of great releases on this label and many are still uncovered. To me, Chill is like a Southern representative of Bleep, Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield all had their say and this is down South’s way of saying “Us too!”. Word on the street is that Chill is back from the dead with new stuff…seek it out!

LFO came out swinging in 1990, knocked people for six and was declared a worldwide champ. In the following years there have been many contenders to the throne, some fared well, most failed. This contribution from Canada’s Nick Holder is great, close your eyes and its easy to believe that this track came straight out of a Leeds warehouse.

Canada must have been listening closely as theres a few tracks that fit in with the Bleep-ideals coming from labels such as Plus 8 and Strobe. Psyance was a dream team made up of Ron Allen and Hayden Andre Brown and they made a LOT of really great tracks that I would consider worthy of the Bleep blessing. The word ‘clonk’ is often used when talking about Bleep…this track sounds like a ‘clonk’ track to me.

Hailing from Bristol, Earth Recordings is considered a Hardcore label, their later stuff definitely lived up to that title but some of the earlier material sits perfectly in my Bleep sets. This track is one of my regular go-to’s, a perfect blend of bass donks, wiggly bleeps and emo pads.

Nope skip the A1, keep on going past the B1…there it is! You’ve discovered sunken Bleep treasure hidden deep in the depths of the vinyl ocean. N-Joi had a pretty massive hit at some point and as a result of a lot of their stuff is overlooked. Bleeps, breakbeats and bass are all present and combine to form a real deal dancefloor destroyer.

Representing the new Bleep-wave is this nugget from DMX Krew, anything he turns his hand to turns out great and this is no exception. Released on the very respectable and always interesting ‘Super Rhythm Trax’ label, Bleepology manages to tip its hat to the past but still face forward..