V Recordings have just launched their exclusive to vinyl Legends series with two unreleased tunes from the 90s by Krust, 'Unit 23' and 'Pentacle'. I thought this would be the perfect occasion to look back at 'Memories', a Krust tune that came out on Full Cycle in 1996 that should get you all misty eyed for a bygone era.
Krust is known for his stripped back productions, emphasising the core elements over other sounds and vocals, an ethos that ran through the whole Full Cycle camp. He told DJ Magazine Issue 162 in April '96:
"Me personally, I don't give a shit about sounds. Making a record for me, the sounds are there just to catch your attention and give it character but the main background is definitely the drum and the bass, anything I put around that is a bonus"
This ideology is apparent on 'Memories' which opens with a cut-up of the Humpty Dump break before shimmering synths and the Versatility break are introduced. The tune uses a few phrases from The Last Poet's 'Homesick (Black and Strong)': "the kindness that is truly a weakness", "one last memory" and "it becomes a friend, it shows compassion". This was a bonus track and single from the 1995 US version of their Holy Terror LP, previously released in Japan in 1993. It's essentially a remix of the album track 'Homesick' but this version is technically the sample source as the 12" and CD single featured acapella fragments from it.
Although snatches of other sounds such as various horn blasts feature in 'Memories' during the intro and breakdown, the bulk of the track is all about the drum and the bass. As it should be. I've put together a little Spotify playlist of tracks sampled in Full Cycle releases from 1994 to 2000, although 'Homesick (Black and Strong)' isn't on Spotify unfortunately. You can check out the playlist below: