Top Buzz were a British

breakbeat hardcore Breakbeat hardcore (also referred to as hardcore rave, oldskool hardcore or simply hardcore) is a music genre that spawned from the UK rave scene during the early 1990s. It combines four-on-the-floor rhythms with breakbeats usually sampled from ...

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'' ...

DJ/ MC crew.

History

Top Buzz were originally formed in 1988 by MC Patrick Jarrett ("Mad P"), DJ Mikee B and DJ Jason Kaye. All originate from areas in

north London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames and the City of London. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshi ...

, Tottenham and Enfield respectively. They were one of the first to popularise the term ''jungle techno'', meaning to encompass both

and

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range from 120 to 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time ( ) and often ...

influences as it began to emerge from the

hardcore Hardcore, hard core or hard-core may refer to: Arts and media Film * ''Hardcore'' (1977 film), a British comedy film * ''Hardcore'' (1979 film), an American crime drama film starring George C Scott * ''Hardcore'' (2001 film), a British documen ...

sound from 1991. They released ''Livin' in Darkness'' on Basement Records in 1992, which encapsulates much of the flavour of the era. They were headline performers at Amnesia House, Fantazia, Universe, Dreamscape and Obsession events, amongst many others. A distinct feature was the

ragga Raggamuffin music (or simply ragga) is a subgenre of dancehall and reggae music. The instrumentals primarily consist of electronic music with heavy use of sampling. Wayne Smith's " Under Mi Sleng Teng", produced by King Jammy in 1985 on a ...

MCing of MC Patrick, strongly influenced by Jamaican

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots reggae, roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2 ...

. Patrick often referred to the team as "Two Blacks and a Bubble", a reference to their ethnic origins, with 'bubble' referring to

Bubble and Squeak Bubble and squeak is an English dish made from cooked potatoes and cabbage, mixed together and fried. The food writer Howard Hillman classes it as one of the "great peasant dishes of the world".Hillman, pp. 62–63 The dish has been known sinc ...

, the

Cockney rhyming slang Rhyming slang is a form of slang word construction in the English language. It is especially prevalent among Cockneys in England, and was first used in the early 19th century in the East End of London; hence its alternative name, Cockney rhymi ...

for

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

(Kaye is of

Greek Cypriot Greek Cypriots (, ) are the ethnic Greek population of Cyprus, forming the island's largest ethnolinguistic community. According to the 2023 census, 719,252 respondents recorded their ethnicity as Greek, forming almost 99% of the 737,196 Cypri ...

descent). Mikee B moved on to become part of UK garage outfit

Dreem Teem The Dreem Teem are a British DJ, music production and remixing trio consisting of DJ Spoony, Mikee B, and Timmi Magic. They formed in 1996 through pirate radio, and were instrumental in developing the UK garage sound. They presented radio shows ...

, with a slot on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

until May 2005. Jason Kaye went on to become a successful and influential DJ, producer and promoter of

UK garage UK garage, abbreviated as UKG, is a genre of electronic dance music which originated in England in the early to mid-1990s. The genre was most clearly inspired by garage house and jungle production methods, but also incorporates elements from ...

. His record label, Social Circles, is widely considered to be one of the best underground record labels in the UK, and he founded the 'Garage Nation' series of events with Terry Turbo. Patrick Jarrett studied to become a chef, a trade that he is still doing today. Jarrett is the son of Cynthia Jarrett, who died in the Broadwater Farm Estate riots in London in 1985. Mad P and Kaye were still performing as Top Buzz, up until Kaye died on 11 March 2023.

Selected discography

Selected singles/EPs

* ''Livin' in Darkness/Violas Delight'' (Basement, 1992) * ''Livin' in Darkness 93/Maintain Her'' (Basement, 1993) * ''Livin a Dream/The Wok'' (Basement, 1994)

Selected mixes

* ''Dreamscape Vol. 02 - The Vision'' (Dreamscape, 1997)

References

External links

Top Buzz
at

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

{{Authority control Breakbeat hardcore music groups English musical trios Hardcore techno music groups Jungle musicians English techno music groups Musical groups established in 1988 Musical groups disestablished in 2023 Musical groups from London