- Paranoia part 1 was released to celebrate Renegade Hardware's 50th release, providing Hardware fans and DJs a nice cross-section of the label's sound featuring tunes from new artists and old, including Concord Dawn's heavy metal cross over "Raining Blood". From the success of the first volume, Hardware have churned out another Paranoia release and this time have enlisted the mixing and scratching talents of longtime Hardware artist, Keaton.
Keaton flexes his turntablist muscle for a quick scratch intro at the beginning then kicks off the CD with The MIlitia's Paranoia which is the only tune from the first Paranoia EP to make it on the CD. Paranoia features a sinister synth and bassline riff combo and occasional shouts of "LSD"!
There's a rising trend in hard drum'n'bass tunes to include gangsta hip hop samples and nothing demonstrates this better than Loxy & Keaton's Haters which chops up various hip hop vocal samples with Keaton cutting and scratching them up. In response to this, Loxy's sometime partner in crime DJ Ink pulls out his Tech Nine loaded with an evil synth hook and deep, rumbling bassline.
Keaton represents here with his crew, the Universal Project on Encore which makes the most out of a dark growling bassline, heavy hitting drum beats (with lots of percussive elements), techy hooks and features a ragga man doing a shout out. On a solo tip, Keaton shows that he is very capable of doing it on his own with the just as dark Still Invisible featuring a menacing bassline that can turn even the sincerest of expressions into a scowling snarl.
Paradox turn out militant drum breaks (dropping lots of drum fills and crazy syncopated beats on A Certain Sound. It's a simple tune - monotonic bass, crazy drum beats make up the brunt of the tune with occasional vocal samples cut in including one that brings the title of the tune to life. Finally, the Paranoia ends with a vocal cut (well more vocal than anything else on here!) - Phobia's Positive Vibes features a dancehall vocal and a big dubby bassline.
To be honest, once you've heard one Hardware mix CD, other's tend to be on that same ride - big menacing basslines, heavyweight drum beats, evil and quirky samples and dark tones - don't bother listening to this on anything other than a big system otherwise it'd sound like shit. Migrane inducing at times and almost always causes random bursts of aggressive behaviour, I guess that's why they're the winners of Knowledge Magazine's Best Label award of 2003 - if you know what works on the floor, why bother changing it? For those who really love their dark drum'n'bass, Paranoia 2 will more than satisfy your appetite.