DJ Hype: Roll The Beats EP Vinyl 12"

Absolutely ’T’ for Tremendous… Three slices of vintage Sub Base kitchen sink jungle courtesy of scene legend DJ Hype. The title track mashes the Think break against metallic percussion loops, ethereal strings and vocals sampled from a recording of MC GQ toasting over Hype’s set at AWOL the year before (“wheel and come again please please please”). “Dub Plate Fever” is exactly what it sounds like; standard-issue ’94 ragga flex peppered with rocksteady brass and Amen & Scottie breaks sharing the heavy workload. The sleeper pick, though, is “Floating Kill,” the most subtle and restrained cut of the three but executed with the deadliest precision. Minor-key dread meets rolling breaks and 20K leagues-deep bass, with more dancehall artifacts (“kill sound, you waan hear tune?”) woven into eerie strings and a short snippet of The It (Larry Heard)’s “Donnie” for good measure. We managed to get our hands on a small grip of this clear vinyl pressing (as well as Remarc’s R.I.P. 12-inch), which was previously only available in the UK for RSD 2017. Recommended.

• clear vinyl pressing
• official repress issued in replica Suburban Bass disco sleeve
• limited edition
• music label: Suburban Bass Records 2017

reviewed by hannibal chew 01/2018