Much to my reluctance I got an Amstard 64 for christmas 1988 when I was 8. I didn't like the idea of computers at the time; they seemed uncool, quite expensive, and didn't really have appeal. Why would I want an ugly black box that you plugged into a TV and played shitty games with? A friend showed me his Spectrum and I wondered why all the colours were so strange (because there were so few). When I did get my first 8-bit I picked up the manual and started to write simple games. I was fascinated by making noise using the 3 channel sound chip and would type in programs from magazines. It wasn't as bad I thought and the games were better than the Spectrum. This was the age of using cassettes to save data and waiting ten minutes or so for a good game to load! Occassionally the game wouldn't load and the computer was bashed until my hands hurt. I had many hours of fun playing the silliest of games in 16 colours...
In the early nineties my nan bought me a portable tape recorder with a built microphone and pitch control - it was revolutionary. I could record my own pretend shows with my cousins and record members of my family shouting. My first mix tape was vinyl groover bought for me by mum from a market in London, I liked the sound. By 1993 there were a few unmarked rave tapes circulating and found myself caught up in the trade of swapping. I received a Yamaha keyboard and started teaching myself to play, I played from ear. I picked up chords quite quickly and liked playing seventh chords, strings and pads. I became quite good at playing ravey stabs and showed off to my friends on school pianos and in music lessons. I don't think my music teacher was impressed by my chords and ignorance for the crapy melodies taught.
Sometime around 1994 I got my parent's unwanted Hitachi hifi. It was a major technology step from my portable tape deck; it had a radio deck, amplifier, record player and a couple of bad ass wooden speakers. I could record my own music from the radio and make tape compilations. There were more tapes circulating in school and jungle caught me. My uncle Frank would buy the occasional jungle record, like M-beat - Sweet Love. He had a massive collection of old vinyl; disco, rare-groove, funk and hits from the eighties. He was signed up to a number of promo vinyl mailing lists and would frequently receive the latest house and US garage. His collection consisted of thousands of records. Some of the labels I remember at the time were Strictly Rhythm, Nervous, Emotive, Nu Groove, Atlantic, Suburban Base, Moving Shadow, Formation, Slammin Vinyl, XL Recordings and probably more I'm unaware of!
Mase's Blurbs
About me:
Much to my reluctance I got an Amstard 64 for christmas 1988 when I was 8. I didn't like the idea of computers at the time; they seemed uncool, quite expensive, and didn't really have appeal. Why would I want an ugly black box that you plugged into a TV and played shitty games with? A friend showed me his Spectrum and I wondered why all the colours were so strange (because there were so few). When I did get my first 8-bit I picked up the manual and started to write simple games. I was fascinated by making noise using the 3 channel sound chip and would type in programs from magazines. It wasn't as bad I thought and the games were better than the Spectrum. This was the age of using cassettes to save data and waiting ten minutes or so for a good game to load! Occassionally the game wouldn't load and the computer was bashed until my hands hurt. I had many hours of fun playing the silliest of games in 16 colours...In the early nineties my nan bought me a portable tape recorder with a built microphone and pitch control - it was revolutionary. I could record my own pretend shows with my cousins and record members of my family shouting. My first mix tape was vinyl groover bought for me by mum from a market in London, I liked the sound. By 1993 there were a few unmarked rave tapes circulating and found myself caught up in the trade of swapping. I received a Yamaha keyboard and started teaching myself to play, I played from ear. I picked up chords quite quickly and liked playing seventh chords, strings and pads. I became quite good at playing ravey stabs and showed off to my friends on school pianos and in music lessons. I don't think my music teacher was impressed by my chords and ignorance for the crapy melodies taught.Sometime around 1994 I got my parent's unwanted Hitachi hifi. It was a major technology step from my portable tape deck; it had a radio deck, amplifier, record player and a couple of bad ass wooden speakers. I could record my own music from the radio and make tape compilations. There were more tapes circulating in school and jungle caught me. My uncle Frank would buy the occasional jungle record, like M-beat - Sweet Love. He had a massive collection of old vinyl; disco, rare-groove, funk and hits from the eighties. He was signed up to a number of promo vinyl mailing lists and would frequently receive the latest house and US garage. His collection consisted of thousands of records. Some of the labels I remember at the time were Strictly Rhythm, Nervous, Emotive, Nu Groove, Atlantic, Suburban Base, Moving Shadow, Formation, Slammin Vinyl, XL Recordings and probably more I'm unaware of!
If you've ignored/read all that abouve, I've got some tracks for you to listen to here
MORE TO COME!!
