(Full Cycle/Inertia)

There was a time when live mix albums dominated the drum n bass scene, admittedly before it was known as dnb. I remember a mate introducing me to early hardcore via massive photo-album looking folders containing eight cassettes each, each one recorded from a field in the English counties with an ecstatic crowd and equally ecstatic MC hyping them up. Well, Full Cycle take it back it that style of mix album, and although Full Cycle Live 1 hasn’t crossed my ear canal, I’ll assume it’s heavy, coos this is. Just over an hour is taken from what appears a killer night in Bristol, with the four DJs and Dynamite evidently saving a hectic performance for the hometown crowd.

There’s no track listing, but each DJ, going back to back over the course of the mix, pretty much drops a fair few of their own releases to give it that personal feel. Mr. Size kicks it off, with a few tear-out tunes getting it going, before Die is hardly outclassed with some equally tearing beats and a little more composition heavy stuff, but nothing too quirky; this was one arse-moving club set. All the while, Dynamite is doing a perfect job; a lot of people may not want an MC on their take-out mix cds, but he manages to balance quick-fire junglist MCing with the obligatory clichéd one-liners from the mid 90’s as well as crowd-hypers such as ‘Who told you?’. Anyway, by the time Krust, probably the best fucking dj in the world in terms of me spraining my neck/back/entire body, takes his turn, I am visibly bopping down King Street on a Monday morning. New boy Clipz also drops a few of the marginally techy tunes from his new debut album, including the Tali vocals which Dynamite swiftly makes way for.

There have been many average drum n bass mix cds of late, but this is not one of them. It’s close to flawless, and it’s even mastered so well the sound is practically as good as you’d get on a studio recorded cd. Lighter!