- Following on from Tayo's testosterone charged (or what he likes to refer to as controlled aggression) mix, the Dreadzone Sound System step up to take control of the decks for Beats & Bobz number 4. Dreadzone are a 4 man crew made up of 2 producers/DJs - founding member Greg Dread and Ben Balafonic and 2 MC's - Earl 16 and Terminalhead's MC Spee. Having put out releases on labels like Creation, Virgin and Fingerlickin', Dreadzone are known for incorporating ragga, dub and dancehall flavours into their tunes. When it comes to rocking dancefloors, the crew are notorious for their awesome mixing and scratching skills with hype inducing MCs and they've captured this perfectly on their mix for Beats & Bobz (minus MCs).
To start the party off, Dreadzone member Mafia Tone presents In The Party - a ragga themed breaks number targeted squarely at the dancefloor featuring a lively horn riff, feel good bassline and ragga MC shouts. Renegade Soundwave's Ozone Breakdown gets a facelift for 2004 (the original tune is now 16 years old) and maintains the wicked bassline that made it so popular. The 2004 upgrade features a very familiar old skool funk guitar lick and turns up the tempo to 130 bpms.
The new joint for Deepcut, Snuff's The Power Detectives turns up the bottom end making the most of a charged up rolling bassline, crisp rock breaks and plenty of build ups. an-ten-ae and Bassnectar show us how they do the breaks Stateside with the bass booming California Sunshine.
Dreadzone include their forthcoming single for the release, to be released on Functional Breaks - the deep, electro infused Booty Line which features a deep, electro bassline paired with a funky guitar lick and a sweet vocal melody during the breakdown. S.C.A.M's Put Up Your Hands brings the ragga flavours back to the mix with a massive ragga bassline and MC vocal who calls upon the crowd to "say whoa!" - utilised properly the tune invites crowd participation and gets it!
DJ Zinc's Bingo Beats is well known for the rolling garage style breaks and Go DJ is no exception dropping wicked old skool flavas thanks to the vocal sample and rave-style bassline. Deekline turns out an electro-breaks version of the Freestyler's Boomblast before the mix closes on a menacing heavy metal note with The Exorcist's Roxiller. Probably the only tune to do the heavy metal crossover properly, it features a distorted guitar riff, rock breaks and a guitar solo done like 80's heavy rock! When this one drops, it's time to pull out the skin tight jeans and bang your head as if the word chiropractor never existed.
Dreadzone have mixed volume 4 as if it was a direct follow up to Tayo's mix - Tayo's mix had a distinct ragga flavour and it continues here with Dreadzone. They've captured every essence of current breakbeat trends (party breaks, breakstep, electro and rock) and still managed to apply it in their own way pulling off awesome scratching and rewinds along the way.