Doc Scott is playing in Boston.
Doc Scott is playing at Elements, one of the longest running drum and bass weeklies in the United States. Its a Boston thing and has been for a very very long time. Doc Scott has been spinning records, as well, for even longer.
I remember sitting in the cafeteria at Northeastern University and my very good friend Michael rolled in with the new Metalheadz Platnium Breakz Comp from the UK. This was 1997 I assume and jungle had been tearing up the scene for a while now with drum and bass beginning to develop into its own.
The track that floored me on the comp actually came as the track one disc 2. It was indeed a Doc Scott track. For years I referred to it as “The Unofficial Ghost” which was its original name on the UK pressing. Later, US domestic pressings called it “Fabio’s Ghost.” That’s trivial at this point because either way, the track would crush dancefloors and I, for some reason, have never heard it played at a drum and bass night in the USA. I probably never will.
“The Unofficial Ghost” unequivocally changed something logically in my brain as to how I heard and understood music at the time, not just jungle or dnb. For the first time, I focused on the bass instead of he drum track and, from that point on, I needed nothing more to move me.
The crushing harmonics of “Ghost” almost throws the listener into the next room. Musically, nothing has every moved me sonically in this manner. For those that have been around me when my mobile rings to the “Ghost”, you know what’s up.
Doc Scott is probably better known for “Shadow Boxing” and “Drums 95″. Absolute sonic bangers at the time, almost more so than “Ghost.” “Shadow Boxing” crawls up onto you from over a hill. The image is startling; like a wall of soldiers marching to the frontlines. The pause midtrack without rhythm is your last chance of escape.
These three tracks, to me, are what made this genre of music maybe the most influential in my life and may have opened my ears to more experiential sounds – be it alt rock, no wave, bossanova, I thank jungle/dnb and Doc Scott for waking me the fuck up.
I bought this Metalheadz cap back at Black Market Record in London I think around 1997. It brings me back.
Aw, fuck it, you can download my ringtone version of “Ghost” here. I made an iPhone and MP3 version for your loving. It will surly scare the kids. Just in time for Halloween!
