Dillinja – Fluid / Hard Noize

Top 10 DnB tracks of all time. There isn't a DnB fan alive who doesn't LOVE this track; amateur to pro. Something nobody ever worked out was how its "Reese" was made; the growling sythesiser sound. (Probably processed with Z-plane filters on the E-MU sampler, but … what is the original sample? Did it come from a stock sound in the hardware synth? Or? Nobody knows. Some people claim to have remade it on YouTube but it isn't even close.) This Reese was also used on "Nasty Ways", "Take My Life", "Love Is Not a Game Remix", "Bambaata Remix" and more; and a variation was used on "Tudor Rose" and "Go Dillinja" which just sounded fucking barbaric. In my opinion, this Reese sound was never bettered. It just IS drum & bass. In fact I'd go as far as saying this is probably the coolest ever sound made in DnB. And it's mad to think at a time in 1998 when Brit Pop was all over the airwaves, the man like Dillinja was making cooler shit underground not giving a flying fuck about selling records.

This record changed lives. It got people into the scene, and everything that came with that – partying, drugs, DJing. "Hard Noize" is the first drum & bass tune I ever really REALLY liked. I remember listening to it stoned in Staines in 1998 and immediately just thinking, "This sounds fucking good". It was "Hard Noize" and "Turbulence" by Moving Fusion (released around the same time) that gave me this realisation – this was a turning point in DnB where the genre started going very hard. I didn't realise it then, but this was the rabbit hole down to the underworld of DnB … never to return. With hindsight, I understand now that "Hard Noize" didn't just arrive from nowhere; it was the culmination of lifetime's work from the scene's most respected producer. Not understanding the genre back then it just seemed like a random record with a black-and-yellow sticker, but in actual fact that was a mythical artifact. "Hard Noize" was the second chapter in the great man's career; reinventing himself like all great artists do. We are talking "final form" Dillinja that went to war on his incredible "Cybotron LP".

What a fucking insane this record is. When DnB finally dies "Hard Noize" will be scrawled in blood somewhere on its tombstone. And by the way, the vocal sample before the drop is Dillinja saying, "Switch the shit around!"

fluid is the pick here absolutley peak late 90's dillinja

If I'm not mistaken the intro chime sound is sampled from 'Carry on Nurse' 29.34 into the film......

Nasty tune! Dam Im blessed to have this complete roof breaker

Both tracks are monstrous bass weapons and essential tracks to destroy a dance floor. 'Hard Noize' features unrelenting waves of distorted heavy bass, hard chopped Amen edits and spooky atmospheric vibes.

'Fluid' has a nice build up and takes its time to get you reeled in before dropping some amazing bass. The track has bags of soul, crunching tight heavy breaks and a sick bouncing rolling vibe. Killer!!!

The spoken sample at the start of Hard Noize is from The Twilight Zone episode Eye Of The Beholder. "Is it night already?" "It's nine thirty."

I think I've identified the sample for the intro to "fluid". I could be wrong, but the scene in the film Brain Damage, when Brain's room is filling up with blue liquid is eerily similar to the into keys

I just watched an episode of the original Twilight Zone called "Eye Of The Beholder" and the music from that episode is the spooky sample that is used in the intro and later on in the track. The credits of the episode give the composer as the renowned (and excellent!) Bernard Herrmann, which is interesting to know.

I always thought that tune was "Fluid" as well, cheers for the clarification xnationdnb.

Edit: Oops, that was meant to be a reply to crugga_records "sample which nobody can actually ID" comment, not a separate post...oh well.

This tune is renowned for people getting the wrong track name for each side.

The side with the spooky intro is "Hard Noize" whilst the flip is "Fluid" - the labels were wrong, and when the track was later licensed to mix cd's and included in dj's tracklistings they also used the wrong track name. When later included on Dillinjas own 'greatest hits' CD "My Sound" the track was given it's correct title. It was also on Dillinjas myspace page named "Hard Noize". The vocal just before the drop was also discovered to be "Switch the shit around", after my curiosity got the better of me and I went and asked Dillinja himself at an event he was DJ'ing at.

This fits in that elite section at the top of the genre, up there with The Nine, Titan & Alien girl as essential classics. Fluid starts with a wierd delayed drone lasting only a few bars then stops and theres a wierd sample which nobody can actually id, to me it sounds like "twisted fury", then all hell lets lose, distorted twisted bass and distorted breaks with an amen switch up every 8 bars, the flip is more of a roller but still has some very chucky breaks and heavy bass, more based on the musical side of things. An absolutely cracking 12".