Suburban Base Records is a British breakbeat hardcore,

rave A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mus ...

and

jungle jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''jaṅgala'' ...

drum and bass Drum and bass (commonly abbreviated as DnB, D&B, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterised by fast Break (music)#Breakbeat (element of music), breakbeats (typically 165–185 Tempo, beats per minute) with heavy Bass (music) ...

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

. It is based in

Romford Romford is a large List of places in London, town in east London, east London, England, located northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Havering, the town is one of the major Metropolitan centres of London, metropolitan centr ...

Havering The London Borough of Havering () in East London, England, forms part of Outer London. It has a population of 259,552 inhabitants; the principal town is Romford, while other communities include Hornchurch, Upminster, Collier Row and Rainham, Lo ...

, England. It was established by Danny Donnelly and operated in the UK from 1990 to 1997 and in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

from 1994 to 1997, however, started to release again in 2014.

History

Danny Donnelly opened a record store in his native

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

. Named Boogie Times, the store specialised in

dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded dance musi ...

as well as producing its own self-made

white label record A white label record is a vinyl record with white labels attached. There are several variations each with a different purpose. Variations include test pressings, white label promos, and plain white labels. Test pressings Test pressings, usua ...

s. Donnelly's first release was a track called "Hypersonic" which he made with André Jacobs, the owner of Essex-based D-Zone Records. These Boogie Times white labels were well received by customers, as well as DJs from the nearby capital

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, which enhanced the store's reputation. In the wake of this success, Donnelly was able to fund a nascent label entitled Suburban Base. The fledgling label's first release was Kromozone's "The Rush", released in April 1991. This was followed by six further releases later in the year from artists Austin, M&M, Rachel Wallace, Run Tings, Phuture Assassins and QBass. 1992 saw the label's first Top 40 success in the UK Singles Chart - Sonz of a Loop Da Loop Eras' "Far Out" - a

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

-led

breakbeat Breakbeat is a broad type of electronic music that uses drum breaks, often sampled from early recordings of funk, jazz, and R&B. Breakbeats have been used in styles such as Florida breaks, hip-hop, jungle, drum and bass, big beat, breakbeat ...

track which reached number 36 in February. As music heard at

s filtered into the mainstream, the label was to end the year with twelve UK Singles Chart hits, and experienced the highest-charted debut from an independent record company since the charts began with Smart E's "Sesame's Treet". The track, which sampled heavily from the US children's TV show ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational television, educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation, and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Worksh ...

'', reached number two in the UK Singles Chart in July of that year. As the rave scene began to mutate into two contrasting scenes, 4/4 helium-vocal-characterised

happy hardcore Happy hardcore, also known as 4-beat or happycore, is a subgenre of hardcore dance music or " hard dance". It emerged both from the UK breakbeat hardcore rave scene, and Belgian, German and Dutch hardcore techno scenes in the early 1990s ...

and darker, more bass-led

darkcore Darkcore (also referred to as darkside hardcore) is a music genre, music subgenre of breakbeat hardcore in the UK rave scene, that emerged from late 1992. It is recognised as being one of the direct precursors of the genre now known as drum and ...

(which itself mutated in

), the Suburban Base label found itself drawn to the latter. Such releases as DJ Hype's "Weird Energy" and "Shot In The Dark" and Boogie Times Tribe's "The Dark Stranger" (all 1993) maintained the label's high standing within the scene, which continued as

broke through into the mainstream in 1994. Tracks from this period were showcased on the two ''The Joint'' compilation releases; a joint collaboration with fellow leading record label Moving Shadow. That year, Donnelly launched Breakdown Records, a compilation-only subsidiary with which he and others devised and compiled an entire range of albums covering all genres of dance. The most successful of these were the 'Drum & Bass Selection' series, compiled with the help of

Danny Breaks Danny Breaks (born Daniel Whiddett) is a British drum and bass DJ, record producer and record label owner. He is known for his experimental instrumental hip hop production, and early music career as the breakbeat hardcore artist Sonz of a Loo ...

and DJ Ash, which sold in excess of 300,000 copies and were the first TV-advertised jungle compilations. The label's successes allowed it to expand its horizons, setting up a US subsidiary, Sub Base USA, and opening an office in Los Angeles, as well as securing a distribution deal for North America. Further label deals for South America and Japan soon followed. Towards the end of 1997, however, Donnelly took the decision to close Suburban Base down. This was to allow him to pursue other new challenges in business, and he felt it would be a great injustice to continue running Suburban Base without his full attention. In particular, with the emergence of the speed garage music scene, a genre that derived many elements from jungle and which saw many jungle/drum and bass fans and club-goers defect to this new scene, Donnelly had created a specific sub-label, Quench, for speed garage releases. In 2014, the label returned initially with a compilation, and then in 2021 started to release previously unreleased material and re-issues.

Compilations

Suburban Base regularly showcased its catalogue throughout its brief history. These compilations include: *''Sub Base For Your Face LP'' (1992) *''The Joint LP'' (1993) (collaboration with Moving Shadow) *''The Joint II'' (1994) (collaboration with Moving Shadow) *''A History Of Hardcore'' (1995) (collaboration with Moving Shadow) *''Subbase Sampler'' (1996) *''Classic Subbase'' (1997) *''Suburban Base Records (The History of Hardcore, Jungle, Drum & Bass 1991-1997)'' (2014 via New State Music)

References

External links

* {{Authority control British record labels Electronic music record labels Drum and bass record labels Breakbeat hardcore Jungle music Record labels established in 1989 Record labels disestablished in 1997 1989 establishments in England 1997 disestablishments in England British companies established in 1989 Romford

History

Compilations

See also

References

External links