Various - Freak Beats - Volume 1

A pretty obscure compilation and an early British attempt to respond to the Acid House/ techno sounds coming out of Chicago and Detroit at the time. It's a mixed bag really, but it's well worth getting this for the Third Wave track alone, which anticipates the classic UK breakbeat hardcore sound that would dominate the scene a couple of years later.

Based around a programmed (or possibly sampled) breakbeat and a slowly developing 303 acid line, the track consists of several eastern sounding female vocal samples that weave around like snakes being charmed. These are split apart by reccuring waves of white noise and toots of oriental trumpets, heralding the new dawn for humanity that ecstasy seemed to promise back then.

Despite the cut 'n' paste nature of the sampling and the fairly awful production, this track still sounds so fresh and euphorically dizzy with optimism for a future, from a time when the possibilities of this new music were yet to be explored, mapped or categorised.