Ram Records is one of the most successful drum & bass labels of all time. Still going strong after nearly 20 years, it's time to run through our favourite 20 Ram tunes...


20. Nightbreed - Pack of Wolves
This unusual beast has to be in the top 20 somewhere, and it's hard to place. The proto-metal production highlights how Ram is willing to push new sounds and all things original. Equally at home in a beardy mosh pit and a Nike cap fest, Pack of Wolves bridged genres with a dirty and memorable axe hook that was later remixed by Pendulum for a commission that annihilated dance floors around the world.

 

 

 

19. Origin Unknown - Truly 1 Remix Part 1 (2002)
It's easy to forget how funky Ram productions are, what with waves of darkness shrouding their legacy. But even the most sinister Ram roller has an undercurrent of funk to make you shake your booty. Truly One remix Part 1 wore funk on its sleeve, boasting the classic Funky Worm break in its armoury partnered with live fills and robotic bass. It was a huge smash and a clever take on the original.

 

 

 

18. Ram Trilogy - Screamer
Screamer is a lesson in how to make drum & bass music. An epic intro bleeds into an unmistakable vocal hook and immaculate drums and basses. Screamer contained cute "talking synths" from a synthesiser that sounded like a person singing into a vocoder, "oh, oh, oh, ohhh, oh, woah!" What's not to love?

 

 

 

17. Ram Trilogy - Evolution
This had to be the first non-nightmarish DnB tune in a couple of years, coming from the masters of bad dreams themselves, Ram, on the Molten Beats LP in 1999. It still had roughness, but generally was uplifting. The structure was special, in that it wasn't your typical build-up-then-smash affair. Evolution sounds as strong today as it did back then, the sign of a fine record.

 

 

 

16. Moving Fusion - Atlantis (Bad Company remix)
This track was the seed DJ Fresh sewed that blossomed into the style he is famous for today. It sounded absolutely insane in a club. The Atlantis remix came out shortly before Fresh's genre-defining Planet Dust on Grooverider's Prototype label, which was cut from the same blueprint.

 

 

 

15. Shimon & Andy C - Skirmish
Originally called Scooby Doo, Skirmish was a grower. It was one of those popular anthems that didn't force you to tweak out with an impact drop. Rather, it made people go nuts because when they recognized it in the mix they felt that A) they knew cutting-edge drum & bass and B) they were part of the scene. Ram has released a lot of rollers – Sound In Motion, Milky Way and Undergrowth – Skirmish is surely the spookiest.

 

 

 

14. Concept 2 - Cause N' Effect
If there is such a thing as beautiful drum & bass, this is it. Andy C sampled the beat off a cassette tape recording of a pirate radio station. The hook was made of a therapeutic sine wave and was impossibly transparent within the song, it really sounded like it was supposed to be there. Cause N' Effect is a great example of how dance music is more than just melody – it's also about technicality. Every element not only sounds good on a big sound system but feels fantastic, making a sonic sensation.

 

 

 

13. Chase & Status - Eastern Jam
Chase & Status seem to be taking over the world right now, branching into new genres with big success, probing the UK Top 40 charts. Ram Records leveraged their momentum, with which they're still under contract for one more album. Nowadays, every producer and their dog has "a dubstep remix" or are doing "some dubstep". Chase & Status and Ram were the first notable figures to cross over from DnB to dubstep, kicking off the trend before it became clichéd. Eastern Jam was even covered by Snoop Dogg for a mixtape.

 

 

 

12. Andy C - Roll On
Roll On was on a double A-side released by Andy C, partnering the unforgettable atmospheric excellence of Cool Down. Roll On is a moving masterpiece, with emotional pads and cagey beats that sound like sex to the subcultured ear.

 

 

 

11. DJ Fresh - Signal
Is this Fresh's harshest, hardest track? For a man famed for dealing with the dark side, that the answer might be yes is frightening. Fresh pushed the sub-genre from which Signal stemmed as far as it could go, with devastating drum patterns and a dreamy intro. The raging lead synth was overwhelming on a heavy sound system. Ram Records is an inspiration for DJ Fresh and played its part in his career.

 

 

 

10. Shimon - Hush Hush
Released on the classic Ram Raiders III EP that contained other gems such as Equinox, Mind Killer, Black Hole and Fly Away, Hush Hush boasted spastic drums, an overweight bass line and mega-warmth. Shimon had been in Andy C's shadow for a long time, with the latter producer often taking credit from fans for co-productions, and so Hush Hush was vindication, nothing short of a masterstroke.

 

 

 

9. Moving Fusion - The Beginning
This is dark, devastating drum & bass capable of destroying dance floors. The Beginning lives up to its name – nothing could improve its introduction apart from another track in the mix. It's evocative, capable of capturing the imagination and stimulating visual scenes in the narcotised mind. It doesn't come much harder or more potent – The Beginning is one of the reasons DnB was so popular in 1999.

 

 

 

8. Shimon & Andy C - Quest
Quest is one of those tracks that sounds great any which way. A midnight drive through the countryside, a head-down stomp through a rough part of town or sleeping to low music are three scenarios in which Quest makes the perfect sound track. Saying that, you certainly are missing the point if you only experience it on iPod headphones. 

 

 

 

7. Ram Trilogy - No Reality
With Ram Trilogy Chapter 1, 2 and 3, Ant Miles, Andy C and Shimon really cemented their logo and brand into underground culture's consciousness, displaying it prominently as artwork. The first two chapters were exceptional, and, some years later, 4, 5 and 6 impacted the scene. They're the audio equivalent of the Star Wars movies. No Reality deserves a Top 20 spot for epitomising everything interesting about the Ram sound. It goes off like a bomb in a rave and its progressive synthesis shows how passionate Ant Miles, Andy C and Shimon are about making music.

 

 

 

6. Ed Rush & Optical - Pacman (Ram Trilogy remix)
OK, so technically this isn't a Ram release but we just had to include it. Ed Rush & Optical were behind a breathtaking remix of Mindscan on a limited vinyl sampler for Ram's Molten Beats, with Evolution on the A-Side. Ram returned the favour a few years later with a remix of Pacman. After Shimon had written the hook, Andy C and Ant Miles came in to help. What followed was an unstoppable anthem – a product of years of experience at the top of the game – that received major and prolonged play on the circuit.

 

 

 

5. Sub Focus - X-Ray
Ram Trilogy doesn't seem to make music as a trio any more, but their legacy is continued by a new wave of producers lead by Sub Focus. Sub Focus broke through with X-Ray, which evolved the Ram sound and gave him the momentum to dominate the scene until the present day.

 

 

 

4. Moving Fusion - Turbulence
This got people into drum & bass and kept them hooked. A sampler to the dark Sound in Motion LP that rubbed shoulders with the classic eponymous track from there, Turbulence was also released as a rare one-sided sampler on vinyl. With a build up to die for, Turbulence is a science fiction inspired destroyer, the sonic equivalent of a TIE fighter with a kamikaze Darth Vader as pilot.

 

 

 

3. Shimon & Andy C - Body Rock
Never has a drum & bass record received more rewinds than (or divided opinion like) Body Rock. Everyone remembers where they were the first time they heard it. On the original dubplate, before Body Rock even had a name, the word Triplets were written on the white label in fat marker, signifying the style of the drum pattern. It hit number 28 in the UK Top 40, with no music video.

 

 

2. Ram Trilogy - Titan
Like the best music, the first time people heard Titan they didn't get it. DJ Hype was one of its initial supporters. You can feel something coming about ten seconds before impact. It builds, bigger and bigger, and suddenly crashes down over your head, wreaking devastation all around. This is the sonic steroid of the DJ world – inject Titan into any mix to make it bigger, stronger and better.

 

 

1. Origin Unknown - Valley of the Shadows
A bridge between hardcore and drum & bass, this genre-defining track from 1993 started it all. The two famous vocal samples come from interesting sources. "Felt that I was in this long dark tunnel" was taken from a 1989 episode of the BBC documentary series Q.E.D. concerning out-of-body experiences and "31 Seconds" is from the 1969 Apollo 11 moon-landing countdown. Most of the samples used in the tune were actually taken from the free CD that came with the first issues of Future Music magazine.

 

What are your favourite Ram tunes? Let us know in the forum...

 

• Ram Records
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• Andy C
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• Ant Miles
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• Shimon
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• Sub Focus
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• Origin Unknown
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• Ram Trilogy
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• DJ Fresh
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• Moving Fusion
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• Chase & Status
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• The Essential...

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