Speedy J – Rise

For me this just sums up 1991,a perfect year of blends between techno,house,breakbeat and in the uk this was a seminal release for more reasons than one!

track A2 is similar to Master G. - Something for your mind also released by Jochem Paap.

Tresor to me almost sounds like an Detroit techno track with the strings and syncopated percussion. Also, there's a sample of Renegade Soundwave "The Phantom" in there that no one has mentioned.

Another one of Speedy J's early collaborations with Plus 8 Records, although not as impressive as "Intercontinental EP" or "Evolution". The true gems here are the first track, Rise, which does just that, over nine minutes plus running time, with great synths and entertaining melodies getting dropped from the background to keep you interested. De-Orbit, by this day and age, an all too known and adored classic, is one of Jochem's masterstrokes, a really modest track which covers plenty of styles in six minutes. And, yes, just in case you were wondering, played @ 45rpm, if you just skip the whole beatless introduction, it will trnasform into a party monster of a track, with a neck snapping pace and a furious break beat!
Something For Your Mind needs no introduction. Along with Pull Over, it marks his largest club hit ever, and to this very day it sneaks into many a DJ sets. An going loop layed over a simple and feet tapping 909 drum pattern, coupled with a female vocal going "something for your mind", and there you have it - eternal party classic. Great, no doubt, but over used. Tresor, is just a shallow track, a bridge filling the gap between two indispensable old school classics. Indeed, if a heard it in a mix, and didn't know it was a Speedy J production, I'd just let it fly by. Rise EP is worth getting mostly for A1 and especially B2, despite the fact most of you probably already have De-Orbit as it was released on "Ginger", Speedy J's debut album Warp Records.

I always found Joachem Paap overrated and if I happenned upon this EP unprepared I probably wouldn't think of it again. This is because the real treasure on this EP is buried after three relatively unremarkable offerings and pressed at the wrong speed too. Ok, so Mr. Paap probably intended it this way but after hearing "De-Orbit" in an old LTJ Bukem mix played at 45 I can't listen to it any other way. Was it really supposed to be that slow? At 45 rpm it becomes an incredible, melodic jungle track that prefigures Bukem's own "Music" and especially the Detroit sampling "Atlantis". There's just the right amount of crackle in the breakbeat to give it that underground flavour.

"Tresor" is rather random and "Something For Your Mind" sounds like Speedy J rocking his 909 in an empty basement. Rise has some Detroit synths but sounds dated and rather naked in its production.

While most people may know this record for the famous classic "Something For Your Mind", for me the real treasure is hidden on the B-side: De-Orbit. Its a very dark and slow ambient/techno/breakbeat track. Especially the melancholic strings in the intro are spine shivering.