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Soulful Squelch Playlist
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‎playlists/squelch-and-soul/.gitignore‎

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# Regenerated build artifacts / caches — NOT source of truth, so not committed.
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# Durable source lives in research/{config,picks,overrides,curator}.json + research/article.md.
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# Discogs/YouTube are fetched just-in-time. Delete a cache to force a fresh fetch.
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# (The public deliverable, README.md, IS committed.)
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research/.discogs_token
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research/.yt_key
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research/release_cache.json
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research/master_cache.json
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research/verified.json
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research/enriched.json
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research/video_fixes.json
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playlist_items.json
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playlist_items_progress.json

‎playlists/squelch-and-soul/README.md‎

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‎playlists/squelch-and-soul/research/article.md‎

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# Squelch & Soul — The Acid Thread Through the Garage Lineage
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**41 records, five decades, one sound worn five different ways.** The Roland TB-303 is
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remembered as the voice of acid house — but the squelch never belonged to acid house alone.
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This playlist follows the acid bassline *around* the genre named after it: through soul,
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disco and boogie; through Chicago and New Jersey's vocal house; through UK garage, speed
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garage and 2-step, where the squelch got jungle pressure behind it; through Sheffield
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bassline, filter house and space disco; and into the 2020s garage revival, where a new
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generation reaches for the same rubber. Dancefloor cuts only, at least five per decade,
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played in chronological order so the thread tells itself.
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**▶ Listen now (instant, no login):**
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[all 41 tracks in chronological order on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch_videos?video_ids=tydoNkFzuZE,2TxGTktpdZ4,2EtEPT3DvdM,hQg4dbSJlgc,pOOiZ7ysshQ,qwsDAH-6d4c,isUJ120EEDU,IGzc4ving54,fXFCWxNE05g,0QtCSaMYSzs,vvdKzSekAw8,3b32lvLEwAI,mmi60Bd4jSs,8MhUhmvDW2A,XXE6nG7W9zs,Vlw7zayZNG8,EkNsEAvy-Ys,ZBrEWRdaMs0,XpLkWrbXNWI,gHc55BhxOyg,Zi_XIPC-Y-Q,MVc1546lk3w,FeibR9WLKIY,4mP20PGdrf0,6EfekgVVpe8,MoGdusJNrlk,WTsHWzvJWDQ,fUGZq02cYIY,EbjB7lts-ww,ebjXsc0UjdQ,Mclc0m9CTII,t4tEEMb6VlY,I2UVb2Qt98M,kQE3jDGqCq4,2kfzWt8NYaA,oRVeF5KPngE,yA_KCHCkwCo,gDgcANUlTeE,OP3RkuipD3Y,rsFDOGwkSv8,VmiqRXG8NNc)
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— a temporary queue that plays the whole set, oldest first. *(A durable, saved YouTube playlist is one
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OAuth command away — see the method note at the foot of the page.)*
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---
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## What counts as "acid" here
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The brief is the **sound, not the genre**: a TB-303, a clone, or an analogous squelchy
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analogue bassline — resonant, rubbery, alive under a filter — doing dancefloor work inside
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the soulful lineage: **soul, disco, garage, the Jersey sound, soulful & deep house, garage
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house, UK garage, speed garage, 2-step** and, by agreement, four near neighbours: **bassline
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/ Niche 4x4, UK funky, nu-disco & disco edits, and filter/French house**. Acid house proper
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is admitted only when its heart is soulful (a Jamie Principle or Paris Brightledge vocal
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buys a lot of forgiveness). Named **Acid Mixes and Acid Dubs count** — the acid often lived
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on the B-side. Where a bassline warps rather than strictly squelches (speed garage's
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signature move), the note says so honestly.
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The **1980s pool** uses full adjacency as agreed: soulful Chicago/NY club records over
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squelchy analogue bass, proto-acid Italo/boogie, and vocal acid crossovers — because before
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1987 the squelch simply hadn't reached the soul cluster yet.
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**Method:** every row is anchored to a real Discogs release page fetched via the Discogs
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API — artist and track are copied character-for-character from the linked page's tracklist,
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masters preferred over pressings. YouTube links come from each release page's own
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community-attached videos (the page-video ladder), and every chosen video id was
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liveness-checked via YouTube's public oEmbed endpoint — no YouTube API key was used or
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needed. Notes flag every deviation.
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## The five movements
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**I. Before the letter (1983–1989).** Alexander Robotnick's rubbery MC-202 line shows the
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squelch already living inside Italo disco. Chicago then gives it a soul: Adonis plays the
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303 like a bass guitar, Jamie Principle moans over analogue snakes, Ralphi Rosario puts a
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diva on top, and by 1988 the crossover is explicit — Maurice *sings* the craze, DJ Pierre
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(Phortune) makes acid lush, Julian Jonah quietly invents the London version, and Lil Louis
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takes the squelchiest bassline in this document into the pop charts.
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**II. The squelch goes to the club (1991–1998).** Strictly Rhythm is the bridge: DJ
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Pierre's Wild Pitch (Photon Inc.) and Armand Van Helden's Witch Doktor put filtered squelch
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under New York garage. Cajmere's Underground Goodie mix does the same for gospel-house in
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Chicago; Daft Punk funk it up; and then the UK mutation — Armand's Sneaker Pimps and Tori
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Amos remixes, Ripgroove, Serious Danger, Industry Standard — turns acid's rubber into speed
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garage's warp: the same analogue elasticity with jungle pressure behind it.
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**III. Garage's acid decade (2000–2008).** The thread runs literal (Visionary's *Acid
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Flex* — a 303 over a UKG skip; DJ Narrows' *Saved Soul*, the warp bassline every
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revivalist still studies) and then north: T2 and DJ Q carry the Niche/bassline strain,
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while the disco end squelches on through Chicken Lips, LCD Soundsystem's 303 meltdown,
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Lindstrøm's space disco and Kerri Chandler's resonant stabs.
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**IV. Revival one (2012–2018).** The garage-house resurgence puts squelch back on UK
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floors — Julio Bashmore, Shadow Child, Breach — while Paranoid London prove acid house
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proper can still carry a Chicago soul vocal, and the nu-disco wing (Todd Terje, Krystal
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Klear) turns the arpeggiated squelch into melody.
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**V. Revival two (2021–2024).** The UKG/speed garage revival and its neighbours reach for
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the same circuits: Ewan McVicar's Chaka Khan flip, Kolter's bumping garage-acid, DJ
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Seinfeld and Confidence Man's acid-pop, Lauren Flax's literal *Acid Jacker*, and Joy
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Orbison's *Flight FM* — the wriggling rubber bassline as 2024's biggest club sound.
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Every row below is verified against the Discogs API; the ★ column rates how exactly the
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YouTube link matches the chosen cut (5 = the exact cut from the release's own page).
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<!-- INSERT_TABLE_HERE -->
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---
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## Alternates bench — verified near-misses
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Records that were curated, verified, and consciously left out — with the reason written
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down, so they can argue their way back in. All links are hard links.
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| Artist – Track | Year | Why benched | Links |
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|---|---|---|---|
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| Eliza Rose – B.O.T.A. (Baddest Of Them All) | 2022 | The revival's anchor record — but its famous bassline is a Korg M1 organ patch, not an acid squelch; it fails the brief's one hard criterion. | [Discogs](https://www.discogs.com/release/24160124-Eliza-Rose-4-BOTA-Baddest-Of-Them-All-Move-To-The) · [▶](https://youtu.be/Wa1aShJVJUc) |
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| A Guy Called Gerald – Voodoo Ray | 1988 | Impeccable acid credentials and a soulful vocal chop — edged out because the 80s slots went to records with fuller song-craft; first name on the subs bench. | [Discogs](https://www.discogs.com/release/117963-A-Guy-Called-Gerald-Voodoo-Ray) · [▶](https://youtu.be/AZIte3nq1e0) |
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| 2 Puerto Ricans, A Blackman And A Dominican – Do It Properly (The Original) | 1987 | Glorious squelch-bass NY club record; lost its slot to Adonis' No Way Back, whose bassline it borrows. | [Discogs](https://www.discogs.com/release/37895-2-Puerto-Ricans-A-Blackman-And-A-Dominican-Do-It-Properly-The-Original) · [▶](https://youtu.be/CkgKZKwMiSE) |
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| Isolée – Beau Mot Plage | 1999/2000 | Beloved squelch classic, but it's the home-listening end of deep house — soft on the brief's "for the dancefloor" test, and its 1999 date crowds an already-deep 90s. | [Discogs](https://www.discogs.com/release/39363-Isolée-Beau-Mot-Plage) · [▶](https://youtu.be/mQy2V_3LRMQ) |
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| Jasper James – Sneaky | 2014 | The remembered cut ("Sao Paulo") turned out not to exist on Discogs under that name; the verified EP's Sneaky is a fine squelchy loop-jam but a weaker claim than the 2010s rows that stayed. | [Discogs](https://www.discogs.com/release/5918803-Jasper-James-3-Sneaky-EP) · [▶](https://youtu.be/EpcfTFGkkTQ) |
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| Silva Bumpa – Wickedest | 2023 | Prime speed garage revival on ec2a — benched because its bass is a warp/Reese move without the acid resonance the 2020s rows had to prove. | [Discogs](https://www.discogs.com/release/25903501-Silva-Bumpa-Feel-Aight-Wickedest) · [▶](https://youtu.be/c0GYQ4c9LvU) |
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| DJANGO – Mayday | 2024 | Timeisnow speed garage, right scene, right energy — couldn't confirm a genuine squelch credential without an ear-check, and the 2020s quota was already met by stronger claims. | [Discogs](https://www.discogs.com/release/31665665-DJANGO-39-Mayday-EP) · [▶](https://youtu.be/0qA4a7tBRVI) |
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| Ejeca – All I Need | 2025 | Ejeca is the scene's resident acid-garage craftsman (see the 2012 Horizon EP too) — this Gudu EP needs an ear-check before any cut can claim the squelch honestly. | [Discogs](https://www.discogs.com/release/34875851-Ejeca-All-I-Need) · [▶](https://youtu.be/9v6pMY45eJc) |
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## Research queue
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- **Sunship & Chunky Feat. Teller – Acid Flex (2017)** — UKG royalty doing literal 2-step
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acid; its [Discogs page](https://www.discogs.com/release/13561009-Sunship-Acid-Flex) has
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no videos attached, so it can't be anchored to a listenable link yet. A prime candidate
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for a community video contribution.
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- **The 90s NY/NJ "Acid Dub" seam** — the era's soulful house 12"s hide named acid dubs on
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B-sides (Mood II Swing, MAW's orbit). No specific dub earned a row this pass; a
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crate-level sweep of Strictly Rhythm / Nervous / Emotive B-sides would deepen Movement II.
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- **UK funky (2008–2013)** — sanctioned as a neighbour, but no specific track proved a
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genuine acid line this pass; the seam stays open.
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- **Swami Sound – Hope It Stays (Kaisui Remix) (2024)** — press notes "LFO acid" in this
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NYC garage-revival cut; digital-only and thinly catalogued, so it waits for an anchor.
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- **X-Press 2 – Say What! (1993)** — kept in the table with an 🎧 flag: the acid undertow
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deserves an ear-confirmation against the London Underground Mix.
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## Method note
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Curated from a web-research pass (scene histories, contemporary reviews, revival coverage)
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and Discogs style scans; every pick then verified by fetching its release/master JSON from
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the Discogs API (July 2026). Artist and Track cells are character-for-character from the
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linked page's tracklist. YouTube ids come from the release pages' community-attached
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videos, chosen by the skill's matching ladder, and were liveness-checked via the public
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oEmbed endpoint (no YouTube API key required). The anonymous playlist link above is a
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YouTube `watch_videos` queue — instant and login-free; a durable saved playlist is one
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OAuth command away via the bundled `create_playlist.py`.

‎playlists/squelch-and-soul/research/config.json‎

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{
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"output_md": "README.md",
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"playlist": {
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"title": "Squelch & Soul — The Acid Thread Through the Garage Lineage",
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"description": "The TB-303 and its squelchy analogue kin, traced not through acid house proper but through the soulful lineage: soul, disco, garage, the Jersey sound, soulful/deep house, garage house, UK garage, speed garage, 2-step, bassline and their near neighbours — 1983 to today, dancefloor cuts only. Every track anchored to a real Discogs release page; YouTube links sourced from those pages. Built with the discogs-playlist skill.",
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"privacy": "private"
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}
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}

‎playlists/squelch-and-soul/research/curator.json‎

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{
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"track_pick": {
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"10": "Brighter Days (Underground Goodie)",
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"15": "Fly Life (Brix Mix)",
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"16": "Ripgroove (Original Mix)",
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"18": "Spin Spin Sugar (Armand's Dark Garage Mix)",
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"34": "Paris Dub 1",
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"40": "Now U Do"
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},
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"video_pick": {
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"10": "0QtCSaMYSzs",
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"22": "gHc55BhxOyg"
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},
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"video_note": {
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"10": "featured cut = the Underground Goodie mix — the squelchy B-side, not the piano-led Original",
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"18": "featured cut = Armand's Dark Garage Mix — the wobbling low-end blueprint for speed garage"
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},
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"row_note": {
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"1": "Italo squelch before house: a rubbery analogue bassline (Roland MC-202, not a 303) that Chicago and Detroit DJs adored — the disco end of the thread.",
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"2": "The 303 played as a bass guitar — Chicago jack with a soulful hook; the squelch enters the club lineage.",
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"3": "Jamie Principle's gospel-carnal vocal over a snaking analogue bassline — proto-acid soul from the Godfather's camp.",
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"4": "Diva vocal over a resonant analogue bassline — the Hot Mix 5 blueprint for squelch under soul.",
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"5": "Vocal acid house that crossed over — Maurice Joshua crooning the craze itself, soul voice on a 303 floor.",
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"6": "DJ Pierre's deep-acid beauty — strings over squelch, acid house at its most soulful.",
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"7": "London proto-garage: deep squelching bass under a UK soul vocal, years before 'UK garage' meant anything.",
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"8": "The squelchiest bassline ever to grace the pop charts — Chicago house sensuality, disco at heart.",
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"9": "DJ Pierre's Wild Pitch on Strictly Rhythm — filtered squelch rising for ten minutes under Paula Brion's vocal.",
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"10": "Gospel-house anthem from Cajmere's Chicago — the Underground Goodie mix rides a rubber-squelch bassline.",
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"11": "🎧 Junior Boy's Own garage with an acid undertow — UK house facing New York; ear-check the acid credential.",
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"12": "Strictly Rhythm acid-stab anthem — the 303-style riff IS the hook; the Dark Ages Mix is the original 12\"'s A-side.",
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"13": "G-funk squelch from the filter-house cornerstone — first released on Soma in 1995; this master anchors the Virgin pressing.",
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"14": "Armand's NY garage remix whose warping bassline wrote the speed garage blueprint — warp, not strictly 303, and canonical for it.",
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"15": "Basement Jaxx's breakout — garage swing with an acid line snaking through the brass.",
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"16": "THE speed garage detonation — its warping bass is acid squelch's jungle-pressured descendant.",
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"17": "Speed garage at its most acidic — the bassline bends like an overdriven 303 under the ragga chat.",
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"19": "Squelchy speed garage bump from the Jeremy Sylvester / Nice 'n' Ripe camp — known by its vocal hook 'what you want, what you need'.",
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"20": "Literal acid garage — a 303 flexed over a 137bpm UKG skip; the thread made explicit at UKG's peak.",
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"21": "A UKG dubplate legend on Resurrection — the warping, acid-adjacent bassline every revivalist still chases.",
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"22": "Disco-punk-house squelch — analogue filth from the Emperor Machine camp; the disco end, twenty years on.",
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"23": "DFA's 303 meltdown — nine minutes of disco-punk building to a full acid boil.",
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"24": "Space disco: arpeggiated analogue squelch as melody — Norway extending the disco thread.",
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"25": "Kerri Chandler's resonant stab-riff — deep house royalty flirting with squelch; NJ lineage.",
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"26": "Filter-house lineage with a wobbling resonant bass — the record that seeded fidget house.",
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"27": "Bassline's crossover moment — Sheffield's Niche sound, warped bass under a northern soul voice.",
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"28": "DJ Q's Niche-era classic — bassline house at full strut before the scene was policed away.",
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"29": "The warping-bass house record of 2012 — Bristol garage swing, pure rubber.",
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"30": "Nu-disco's squelchiest earworm — press coverage called out its 'gloriously fat acid 303s'.",
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"31": "The 2012 garage-house revival's acid moment — squelch riding a shuffling UKG-house beat.",
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"32": "A chart-crossing jack track — squelchy loop bass on the house/garage borderline.",
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"33": "Lobster Theremin's very first record — arpeggio squelch over dreamy deep house.",
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"34": "'We Make Acid': 303 + 707 with Paris Brightledge's Chicago-soul vocal — acid house proper with a soulful heart, the brief's spirit incarnate.",
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"36": "Glasgow euphoria — a resonant rubber bassline carrying the whole emotional load.",
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"37": "Italo-disco arp squelch on Running Back — Neutron Dance lives on The Division EP.",
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"38": "Rufus & Chaka Khan reborn over squelchy resonant stabs — the lockdown-era Scottish anthem.",
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"39": "Bumping garage-house with a proper acid line — the DJOKO alias at its squelchiest.",
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"40": "Acid-soaked disco-pop built for the floor — the vinyl 12\" adds an Extended UKG Mix that ties it back to the garage thread.",
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"41": "It says what it does: NYC bassline-house jack with a Squelch-A-Pella on the flip.",
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"42": "The decade's big-room garage-techno moment — a wriggling rubber bassline heard in every rave since."
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},
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"rating_override": {
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"34": 5
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}
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}

‎playlists/squelch-and-soul/research/overrides.json‎

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"21": 128481,
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}

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