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Music

Revelling in Some White Label Classics

OK, so naming them all is an impossible task, but we got some Noisey writers and other knowledgable music compadres to talk about their favourite white label 12".

Being the proud owner of a white label release is about as close to a Nandos black card a budding vinyl collector can get. Seeing as they’re usually only spat out in their hundreds, finding them can prove quite the treasure hunt if you don’t know where to look. Way before USBs cost £7.99, test pressings were the most direct way to pilot a track at a club night. Essentially, they acted as rhythmical barometers for deciding whether a tune was ready to become a proper release or not. Even more so in the present day, white labels hold an integrity that no HTML based drivel can wipe away. They act as a badge of honour for those within the DJ community showing that you were one of the lucky holders of a rare 12”. Either that or you had a real ball-ache trying to get your hands on these gems.

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Naming them all would be a neverending task and besides, that's what Discogs does. Instead, we got some of our knowledgeable music compadres and YNTHT writers to feed us some first person accounts of their fave white label entries.

US HOUSE PRODUCER MK PICKED:

“PEARLS” (PHILIP DAMIEN REMIX) - SADE

There’ve been quite a few white label records that stand out for me. Some of my own had been bootlegged but this remix wasn’t mine and came from a while back. Last century in fact, when I was still getting vinyl. I think I was hanging out at my manager’s office picking up some records when I heard Sade's record coming from the promo side of her company and I caught myself thinking that I never remixed or worked with Sade. That record was so awesome and so incredibly unsanctioned. I think it was better than the original. The thing is, I actually knew the guy who did it because he was a friend of this really cool writer/singer I knew named Roland Clark. It’s still a great record that can get played out today. Someone told me he sold like 70,000 bootlegs on that but who knows, it never got scanned.

DRUM AND BASS LEGEND ANDY C PICKED:

“HOLD IT DOWN EP” - 2 BAD MICE

“Hold It Down” was on Moving Shadow. I went out to a rave on New Year’s Eve, maybe ‘91 or maybe ‘92. Me and my mates had been to a rave in Homerton High Street in Hackney and it was one of them first ever New Year’s Eve raves when daylight was coming up. I think the Rat Pack were on and they started with “Hold It Down”. As you can imagine, by 6am on New Year’s Eve I’m proper in the spirit of things man. But the way that tune came in and the vibe that it brought was just amazing. We ended up coming out of there and walking down the train tracks, pretty much all the way to Essex. Pretty dangerous and I wouldn’t recommend it, but yeah. I remember hounding my record shop, Boogie Times, every day asking if that record was coming and because I had a good relationship with them I finally managed to snap it up. It’s a classic, classic EP.

GRIME SELECTOR P JAM PICKED:

“BAMBAATA” - SHY FX

Back in 1997 I was in my early teens so way too young to rave. I used to record all of the D&B shows I could possibly record but I'm sure it was JJ Frost who I first heard play “Bambaata”. I used to go to my local record shop Xcessive Records run by R35 (Chaos and Order) and Rob. They had a good insight on D&B releases and I was lucky enough to be friends with them so they held tunes for me. That tune changed my perception on dance music.

OWNERS OF THE VINYL LIBRARY, SOPHIE AUSTIN AND ELLY RENDALL, PICKED:

"READY OR NOT" (DJ ZINC/DJ HYPE REMIX) - THE FUGEES

We posted up a request for people to donate some records to the library and got a response from a guy who had 300 D&B and jungle records for us. At the time we were being helped out by three young lads who were well into their D&B and Jungle so the arrival of those records was pure elation in the library. We both have a lot of love for the power in Lauryn Hill's vocals so that over some proper foot stepping bass is a magic combination. It's a proper get down tune so throwing it in after some chilled jazz in the library and watching everyone get hyped is quite a spectacle.

NOISEY WRITER, TAMARA ROPER, PICKED:

"TINGS IN BOOTS" - RUFF SQWAD

I was 15 and living in suburban paradise when I accidentally downloaded "Tings in Boots" on Limewire. It was like nothing I'd ever heard before and made my provincial adolescent problems seem ridiculous. Though Tinchy’s voice is still humorously childlike, he sounds menacing and full of conviction spitting over an instrumental that has become one of the most furious and best recognised in grime. Though it took a few listens to realise they weren’t on about girls in thigh highs, “Tings In Boots” opened doors to a genre that was and remains murkily fascinating.

GROOVE MASTER, FUNKINEVEN, PICKED:

"GABRIEL" - ROY DAVIS JR.

Back in the day when my friend’s aunty used to collect records and blast “Gabriel” in her estate out of her window and everyone fell in love with the tune. I then went to the record shop and bought the tune before it got signed to be the big, big tune that it is.

NOISEY WRITER, ERROL ANDERSON, PICKED:

"HOE" - DIZZEE RASCAL

If transported back to 2003, the ‘play later’ queue in Windows Media Player would have been chock-a-block with torrent-ripped grime. Internet police shoot me down, but at the time it was the only way I could keep up with my friends who made Rhythm Division their record shop holy grail. Dizzee’s “Hoe” may not have been the most rampant of instrumentals, but it was perfect for giving any MC vocal leeway. Meaning it was also perfect for making an 11 year old with just 16 bars feel like Wiley for a couple of minutes.

HOUSE LEGEND, KEVIN SAUNDERSON, PICKED:

"FRENCH KISS" - LIL LOUIS

I had a residency in Detroit at The Music Institute. At the time you could find me in juice bars, underground; the late hour kind of clubs where we played Detroit music, Chicago music, and Derrick [May]and me had a residency there. I’m not sure how Derrick got a copy of it or I think Lil Louis give it to him personally. Anyway, Derrick gave me a copy, and I heard Derrick play it first but I was ecstatic and couldn’t wait to play my copy. So, to me, that’s been the most powerful record. It has such a history to this day.

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