Peshay – Predator

Brilliant record ! A + B gives you the stark contrast of sound and flavour that dnb jungle can offer and both are brilliantly executed.
I'm not at all surprised Tech Itch was on the buttons, definitely not hard to hear on Predator although for some time pre and post internet Decoders name seemed to be connected to this tune. I personally don't think Peshay made better music after this release or his excellent earlier work..sure, he had some big tunes on Mo wax Miles from Home etc.. but for me they pale in comparison to this or other previous tunes he made.

On the Nile is a wonderful jazzy track. Expertly crafted by Peshay (I'll wager Flytronix had a hand in this too as similar vibes to the Rhodes Tune). Perfect for dropping into a Headz style heavy set. Still rolls well with the liquid tunes today too.

Predator is an absolute monster of a track. Immediately conjures up images of jungle warfare and alien tech. I'm going with Peshay and Decoder or Tech Itch on the buttons for this one. Filtered amens and reversed bass and FX create a claustrophobic head battering atmosphere. Devastating production.
Ban tune to drop at the end of a set and walk away with head held high!

On the nile is an absolute masterpiece...hearing this 26 years later still gives me goosebumps.....

An absolute work of art. Buy while it's still cheap.

Peshay - On The Nile is an absolute classic!!! All good.

Now here's a classic Metalheadz release...

In my humble opinion "On The Nile" is the track to check out... Original breakbeat chops - ones that clearly show up Peshay's skill as a producer and arranger - roll into one of the freshest jazz intros that I've ever heard... What an intro that is!!! Real flute licks, xylophone spills, all blended beautifully with a real heavy repeating bass-tinged Rhode chord stab, which, when overlaid onto these minimal breakbeat percusive jabs, just makes me think of Miles Davis/Gil Evans/Dave Brubeck/etc... Then, as this intro dies out, a reverberated shaker cleanses the way... And it just drops, seamlessly, into a deep, pulsing, double bass inflected D & B work out. From here on in I find myself reeling from the complex breakbeat arrangements that carry this groove along.

For me, it was this skill of layering beats and breaks into uncluttered arrangements of radically new, techno-created musical visions... Visions that you just couldn't really hear being played out back-to-back anywhere else... Ones that set aside the music being played down at SPEED (Thursdays at Mars Bar, Sutton Row, W1) from the rest of Drum & Bass back then. Always pushing the boundaries of drum programming to limit... But without ever over-crowding a groove... A select handful of artists were voyaging out into uncharted waters... Fearless and eager to experiment and create new arrangements of breakbeat flow. Flows that challenged most of the conceptual notions about what dance hall Drum and Bass Jungle was fast becoming... And what it could be. The fusion found here in this track is a classic example of this new style that was beginning to emerge from a gifted few daring to try new things... A fusion that embodied experimentation and freeform indulgence... Without any need or desire to follow the mainstream for recognition... In fact, it was this very ideal i.e. that of experimentation, both melodic and rhythmic, that defined SPEED as a night between 1995 and 1996.

Not to mention, it was tracks like this and "Jazz Lick" (released on Bukem's "Nexus" label) that saw Peshay moving into a more real, "live Jazz band" sounding production style... A style that would undoubtedly see him coming into his own with releases like Mo Wax's classic two step killer, entitled "Miles From Home", not to mention his more refined remixes of Carlito's "Heaven" and Apollo 69's "Mindgaterz", which were released on Fabio's Creative Source label... And then would come all the releases that would follow on his Pivotal Entertainment record label... But I digress here...

For me, there is no doubt that it was "On The Nile" that broke the SPEED limit down at the Mars Bar... Classy, clean production, with groovin' breaks and great recapitulations on a Jazz theme... No wonder it was rinsed out down there... With rewinds showing off that elegant intro!

Along with the fact that it was still played down at TEMPO a year or so later, in the Velvet Rooms, after SPEED closed down... This was - and still is - a timeless classic! Easily... So easily... Worth a 5/5!

'Predator' is an absolutely wicked dark tune.

Heavily sampled from the film -Predator, It kicks of with some heavily clipped metalic hardstep style beats which are so sharp, they threaten to decapitate. It builds subtly and lets loose with some very cool drops and super original beat switches and edits(for the time) the further you go through the tune, the more 'tweaked' the beat edits become, almost as if each beat loop or section is organically evolving..

Its very cool, very heavy, very dark and very original, and still sounds amazing 14 years later.