Velocity Press Vinilo y CD

Notes: Written by Spiral Tribe's co-founder and visual artist, Mark Angelo Harrison, A Darker Electricity charts the infamous sound system's nomadic journey and the rapid escalation of their popularity - and notoriety.

From small squat-scene parties in early 90s London to enormous warehouse raves and free festivals. The undercover police operation against them. The record deal with Youth. The creation of their community recording studio. The government stitch-up and their prosecution. The escape to Europe and the start of the teknival scene.

Notes: Egostrip Book 1 is a beautifully designed collection of Dan Lish’s stunning character illustrations from the world of hip hop and beyond. There are 138 illustrations of pioneering artists from hip hop’s golden era, such as De La Soul, Madlib, DJ Premier, Mobb Deep, Nas, Cypress Hill, J.Period, J Dilla, Kool Keith, MF DOOM, The Roots, Biggie Smalls, A Tribe Called Quest, Biz Markie and The Beastie Boys.

The book is 27.2cm x 29.4cm, and the 160 pages are printed and bound on heavyweight 130gsm paper with a hardback cover. It’s also available as a limited edition 20cm square art print (see left for design).

Review: In 2021, the UK's most dedicated publisher of dance music-oriented oral histories, Velocity Press, unleashed Who Say Reload, a comprehensive look-in to the origins of drum n' bass in the 1990s - from its inception as an emerging trace of breakbeat hardcore by DJs such as Fabio & Grooverider, all the way through to latter-day incarnations such as jazzstep and techstep. The book is among the cream of many that have recently jostled for the pole position as 'the' book on drum n' bass. To cement their claim, now comes a new compilation of many of the seminal tracks to feature in the book's 'significant releases' segment. Volume one here, one part of two 12" records, features scene-defining bangers from the likes of Omni Trio, DJ Tamsin, Origin Unknown and Slipmatt.