Happy Land (A Compendium Of Electronic Music From The British Isles 1992-1996 Volume 2)

Future Jazzers, notorious experimentalists and outfield eccentrics stumble onto the dancefloor. In the 90s. In the UK.

From an electronic music perspective, the period 1992 to 1996 in the UK that this compilation celebrates, was one of dizzying sonic diversification.

It was also a particularly turbulent time in the UK, not only politically and economically, but also culturally too. Economic catastrophe in ‘92 was followed by widespread poverty, a cost of living crisis and countless political scandals. Meanwhile, John Major’s Tory government pandered to its political base via unpleasant, authoritarian legislation that seemingly sought to crush rave culture, alternative lifestyles, and traveller communities. The UK was not so much a ‘Happy Land’ – to quote the name of this compilation – as an angry and divided one. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Throughout, the music created by producers based across these Isles remained uniquely British, speeding up a process begun in the late 1980s through the emergence of street soul, bleep & bass and breakbeat hardcore – musical styles whose roots in multicultural

A1. Strider. B. - Linmiri ≠ Bradley Stryder
A2. Radioactive Lamb - Bellevedere
B1. Max - Pull Thy Boots
B2. Fretless Azm - Dreamland
C1. Sandoz - Armed Response
C2. The Black Dog - Cost II
D1. Zone Smut - Sub Dub Rub (Holyfield Vs. Tyson Remix Totally Killed By Sub Dub)
D2. Slow Rotor - Space Disco (Dub Edit)