Established in 1992 by Andy C with the help of close friend Ant Miles. The label and business today is run by Andy C and business partner Scott Bourne (aka Red One).
.. now this is real bad; to me it seems they lacking a mastering engineer of some sorts.. coz everything (and yes i mean everything) sounds real unprofessional soundwise, next 2 that there is no real artists also yea, so that is musicwise.. to my opinion this is done on purpose and not otherwise. they is looking like they part of some culture / movement but teh only thing what is worth 2 mention moreso they was cramping other artists style since 97 or so; like theft, know what i'm saying yea? so furthermore it's shameful; but that is ment in just that way also.. word teh mother!
Ram records is one of the greatest DnB labels of all time. They haven't gone a single year without releasing absolute bangers. From "Valley of the Shadows" to "No Problem" to "Illuminate", they clearly participate in defining the sound of Drum and Bass, from its beginnings up to today. They always adapt and diversify their sound, while keeping a common backbone to it, making their style recognizable. They made and still make bold choices, which many criticize, but clearly most people agree with, as shown by their sales, the number of times their releases are played in mixes, and by the crowd's reaction everytime you play one of their releases. So much love. It's clearly deep and not commercial music, even though it has great commercial success. Don't listen to the many angry hating DnBoomers down here, what they say clearly doesn't come from the right place.
one of the great seals of the drum n bass scene. but for many, many years he does not cast anything that he lends. only discardable sounds of pessimistic quality. sad to see a label that had great relevance in the history of drum n bass making this role ridiculous.
Another label that started with excellent Records and offered great quality with outstanding artists . But all of that has changed the last several years in offering shit materials the boring commercial mainstream stuff many people of this new century savours without taste and emotions .
The same faith happened with another great label "Renegade Hardware Recordings" all became shit around 2004 .
Drum&Bass will sadly never be the same anymore offering dark materials like famous DJ Artist were known for ( i.e. Ed Rush, Optical, Future Forces Inc. , Teebee, Calyx, Grooverider , Nasty Habits, Johnny L, Panacea , Decoder , Technical Itch , etc.... ) In around 2004 the Drum&Bass started to sound more trance-ish way too soft and the adding of silly chipmunk and annoying female voices and what not .
Same happened with the Techno/Minimal Techno we are very far from what was once the very deep dark claustrophobic Techno from the 90's such as Adam Beyer, Pacou, Surgeon , Jeff Mills, Joey Beltram, ...offered us or labels such as Tresor, Construct Rhythm, Advanced Records, Drumcode, Fine Audio Records ,...were back then . Techno/Minimal Techno has vanished and is today more Trance EDM-esque commercial shit .
Hope someday DJ's will stop to think about the "money" first and focus more on offering quality like back then . And that people stop to go listen to poser wannabes artists like those clowns in Tommorow Land ( David Guetta, Paul Oakenfold, Armin van Buuren, Tiësto, ....even Moby has becoming WTF , and others ) .
Ram Records was quality! They made pioneering tunes which everyone heard, which everyone raved to between 93 and 96. They were king of the rollers by far, "Valley of the Shadows (31 seconds)" was and is a massive tune, "Falling down" "Quest" "Valley of the shadows remix" and you could go on and on. Add "Recharge" to the list and some really good albums.
Andy C, Ant miles, Shimon, Desired State, could literally do no wrong in my eyes. If plastic dropped from Ram in 93 -96 it was an instant buy in my mind. Then something changed, the rolling stopped, the direction got confusing, the tracks started sounding like non Ram music. Dare I say it the quality and production from the new artists IMHO was lacking and it was below average music that was being released. Most of it sounded like some kind of pop DNB .. with not much thought put into it. Granted the new Ram artists couldn't use the same old formula, tunes dipped to what was produced just a few years before and Ram was no longer king of the rollers.
I will always view Ram as one of the big boys pioneers of the scene and it would not be the same without them. Valley of the shadows is a classic in any musical scene, play it and people shack out and move to it wether they like DnB or not. It is over 20 odd years old!! I was gutted Ram could not find a formula after 96 - 97, I did purchase the Fresh – Future Jungle EP in 2011 that was good "Mission to mars" is a tune! It's just shame it went the direction it did, so I just remember them for the quality label they were.
If there is one thing you can depend upon Ram records for, its quality.
Having been around since the beginning of the 90's they have been somewhat less prolific in their release schedual than many other DnB labels but in doing so have managed to produce a catalogue of truly excellent music. There simply is no filler on this label, every release is well constructed, well produced well rinsed by every DJ who gets their hands on a dub. They also have made a point (it seems) of hardly ever repressing any of their back catalogue which means trying to complete a collection of Ram tunes is a rather long term task, involving plenty of ebay shopping.
Pioneers of sonic disturbance and targeting world domination. The best D&B label in the history of the music, period. Always with one ear to the dancefloor and the other tuned to alternative solutions for the way we understand rythym, harmony and atmosphere. The space age didn't start with man on the moon, it started with 'Quest'. The future's bright, the future's going to hurt your ears.
ringorider
April 1, 2022