There are very few arguably perfect pieces of music. Music that effectively ends a genre by providing the final answer that everyone else searched for. It was Luomo who perfected modern house music with “The Present Lover”, and Bowie’s “Hunky Dory” perfected rock/pop. Miles Davis’ ‘Kind Of Blue’ is an undeniable example of perfection wrapped in jazz, just as Underworld’s ‘Second Toughest In The Infants’ perfected the techno genre in one fell swoop. Nas showed us in 1994 that hiphop need search no longer for flawlessness, while back in Scotland, The Rhythmic State “Soap On A Rope (Hype Remix)” was released.
There’s also the less celebrated examples of perfection, made redundant by existing in genres that were passing trends and fashions. The Artful Dodger “Rewind” single-handedly introduced the world the crazy fucked up two-step garage as Mark Morrison perfected the UK R&B sound (yes, I’m serious).
But underneath even these, obscured and hidden away from anyone fortunate enough not to be stuck in the West Of Scotland in the early 90’s (which can only be remembered only with a bitter/sweet fondness) is something of equal perfection.
Ladies and gentlemen, I kindly present to you what is in my opinion the epithet of perfection in hardcore. This is The Rhythmic State “Soap On A Rope (Hype Remix)”. Yes, it’s called Soap On A Road, and no, unfortunately I don’t know what that means.
The Rhythmic State “Soap On A Rope (Hype Remix)”
Enjoy five and a half minutes of bouncing, chomping silliness and remember – music like this can’t be made now without a sense of irony and self-awareness that never seemed to exist in the 90s, and that even now that only the hippest of hipsters possess.
Just like Davis’ “Kind Of Blue” or Nas’ “Illmatic”, Soap On A Rope (Hype Remix) cannot be replicated in any way. The difference is, it’s a forgotten piece, forever lost in time and long out of fashion. In both a blessing and a curse, it won’t appear on the “Best Of the 90’s” CD, nor will it be used in TV adverts to nostalgia-rob 30-somethings.
Enjoy it for what it is, and for what it was.
The Rhythmic State “Soap On A Rope (Hype Remix)”