Anyone who's been to Bedrock, the hugely successful monthly Thursday-nighter at London's Heaven, has probably wandered up to the Starbar to witness DJ Hyper's commotion of bass and breaks.
He's right there with the crowd, shouting and jumping up and down behind the decks, whipping them into a frenzy.
Also known as the work-hard, play-harder Guy Hatfield, Hyper's the man who is also responsible for the massively successful Y3K breakbeat compilations. With all that in mind, a lot is expected from this album, and he definitely delivers.
The mix is a double CD, showcasing two very different moods. 'Heads' Down' is a full-on, dancefloor ruckus, while the 'Late Night/Early Doors' CD explores the more chilled side of breaks. The 'Heads Down' mix builds and flows like a live dancefloor set. He kicks it off with the bowel quaking bass of Ils, 'Next Level', before rolling onto the crazy electronic warblings of Mad Dogs, 'Sudden Journey'. This is one of several 'Hyper and Rhymes' remixes included on the album, done with sparring partner, Dylan Rhymes.
For a bit of variety, he drops in Fatboy Slim's 'Gettin' Freqy' mix of 'Retox' , a splendid choice which chucks dub and breaks in the musical masher. Rennie Pilgrem's 'A Place Called Acid Part 2' is absolutely top notch. This has all the old-skool bass and breaks fury, with the added bonus of some proper analogue action, and the obligatory "acid" vocal sample.
Pilgrem pulls all these elements together brilliantly. Tracks from Koma and Bones, the Minutemen, and Dark Globe round off this well-chosen selection.
Hyper's 'Late Night/Early Doors' mix takes a more laid-back direction, with artists like Meat Katie and Dave Tipper showing the flipside of their characters. The tracks are not particularly chilled, it's just that the vibe here is lazier.
PMT's mix of John Creamer and Stephane K's 'I Wish You Were Here' lets blissed-out vocals waft through the beats. Trinity Hi-Fi's 'Turn The Lights Down' and Stisch's 'Television Popper' are both subtly electro-influenced. Hyper picks the pace up again toward the end of the mix, with the Plump DJs doing a splendid job beefing up BT's 'Smartbomb'. Keith Tenniswood in his Radioactive Man guise rounds it all off with the wicked, wobbling bassline of 'Radio Eins'.
Hyper has skilfully avoided the obvious choices, and has come up with an intelligent, inventive selection of breaks tracks. Although it's a big club, Bedrock has remained dedicated to the underground. It's a place where the DJs aren't afraid to take risks, and the crowd are both clued up and up for it. Hyper's definitely done them proud.
