In a world where experimental electronic music exponentially splinters into a multitude of rogue genres that slowly shuffle the globe from demilitarized dance floors to sleeper cell bedroom studios and back, a team of disparate scientists tracks this solanum-like pandemic while desperately trying to interpret cryptic field recordings of Samhain’s past, not one day at a time, but from Amen to Zombie…
AMEN
And we’re back from commercial. Here we are back in the Juno catalog. I think I’m entering a new phase with this project. I was thinking that I would think of it as a chore to go back and slug through some crappy releases. Kind of like digging at its worst. Juno is a digital shop mainly, which means that all their record stock is probably sitting besides some lucky being’s desk as they track incoming orders in an ultra hip office with an espresso machine and way too many attractive women.
Anyway, I’ve been thinking about the fact that I will never buy vinyl from Juno. I don’t think I ever have, maybe once. But then again, when I buy from overseas it’s usually from Boomkat and it’s gotta be something that I can’t get my hands on here in Cleveland. With Another Method records replacing Grand Poo Bas (and doing a great job at being Ohio’s ST Holdings distro), the staff at the Bent Crayon still being a douche, and Breakbeat Science having been folded into Beatstax.com, I’m kind of at a loss for predicting the future of underground bass vinyl in the States.
I heard somewhere that there are only six pressing plants in the States left. And more and more I see North & South American record labels with “Made in the EU” on the sleeve. Which doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll see vinyl singing its swan song soon, but if we want to clot the flow we’d better start being wise about what records we press up. Maybe this part of the blog should come with a “warning” section as well. Like don’t ever buy a CLIPZ record unless you’re a) 16 years old, b) from Croydon, UK and c) a complete tool.
We could go back to cut-throat Jamaican ways. I forget if it’s in The Harder They Come or some documentary I watched on dubplate culture, but the way it works in Jamaica is if your shit ain’t hot, the extra copies get broken up and melted down to press up the next records. This might work well. Just about everything I’ve listened to on Juno in prep for this entry is available as a download. Which works fine for those who are interested in some very derivative Jump-Up stuff. Most of those cats are using Serato anyway. We could take all the extra copies of unsellable stuff and melt it down so we can still press up new stuff.
“But what about digging Noah? If you melt down all the records that came out in the last ten years, you’re robbing the generations to come!” To which I quote Daptone head honcho Gabriel Roth: “No one is digging for Phil Collins breaks.” Point being that if you can find someone who needs a copy of The Alternative’s “Faster Than Light” ten years from now that person had better be a genius. If not they’re trying to polish shit.
Which brings us back to Juno. Before I had the brainstorm of melting down crappy releases to save the vinyl industry, I had the thought that as I continue through the alphabet at Juno I like d&b less and less. Or there are so many shitty releases from say like ’99 to ’08 that are in a strange holding pattern on the site. Good stuff cycles in and out of stock, and I think Juno is pretty good at keeping the site accurate so that you can actually buy what you see. It makes for interesting listening. If I didn’t keep up with d&b elsewhere and just learned about the genre by doing this wacky experiment I think I would have stopped listening at the end of A. And I’d be wildly out of touch with the vibrant and exciting stuff that Exit Records has been doing in the last 3 years. Which brings us to…
Notable Releases

Code 3 – Living Proof/Response Call
Seriously, just buy anything that comes out on Exit Records. Full stop. I would bet that if you weren’t immediately into the sound it would grow on you. Here we have supergroup Code 3 with some damn fine modern d&b. Code 3 is SP:MC, Jubei, and Dakuan. SP:MC as has a perfect track record, usually found on Tempa, and is a constant collaborator. The two bits he has released solo are dead fucking classics.
Taiko Dub and Trust Nobody. You’re welcome for those links. Jubie runs more in d&b circles, and could possibly explain the group’s other major release for SGN:LTD, DJ Friction’s private reserve offshoot of his Shogun Audio label. Jubei is also one to check out if you’re into your d&b proper. He’s got releases on Metalheadz and Coded Music that aren’t bad. Dakuan is a mystery, but I’m guessing that it’s Oris Jay AKA Darquan AKA Mary Ann Hobbs’ beau. Could be wrong though. All and all you probably won’t see too much output from Code 3, but the related rabbit hole of artists and labels should keep your ears busy before they colab again.
So it goes.