Midwest rave OGs Drop Bass Network are among the unsung heroes of EDM in America. They may not take credit for it (who would want to?), but Drop Bass threw the biggest and it has to be said the best events between the coasts and what I think most have acknowledged as the first multi-day, persistent outdoor electronic music festival in the form of Furthur.
They also provided a vital link between the artists of the Rust Belt and those in places like Amsterdam, Oslo, Leeds and Berlin. The label dropped 86 releases between 1994 and 2006, but “all of those Drop Bass Network Records vinyl releases are long gone now”:
As time went on the stamper plates used for pressing records were past their life span. Then in the early 2000s the vinyl market crashed and distribution went bust. The acid sound of Drop Bass Network Records laid in rest deteriorating on the original DAT tapes.
Until now.
Restoring and remastering nearly 300 tracks, Drop Bass Records is resurfacing for the first time in 13 years on Bandcamp. So far the site features 8 records from Woody McBride, two artists who “are making the whole digital thing possible, Paul Birken and Michael Wenz” and, to the point, two records from the “Chicago hardcore prophet for DBN,” DJ Hyperactive. Listen to “Kala Ulu” from the seminal-as-are-you-fucking-kidding-me Don’t Fuck With Chicago EP, originally released in late 1994:
There will also be a new addition the catalog. Drop Bass is hawking a special edition double 7″ (that might be a first) at Even Further 2019 this August 8-12:
