RMB – Love EP

Le Petit Prince is one of those amazing record labels whose discography is littered with excellence. So its no surprise that in 1994 the label was pumping out music to mirror that iconic German Mayday rave sound hugely popular at the time. And who better to showcase this sound: RMB.

I mean technically there is a Banjo in Banjo Love, but thankfully it only makes a brief cameo. It's played more like a Looney Toons cartoon as opposed to something like Cotton Eye Joe! Of all the versions on here, this is the hardest one and pretty awesome if you ask me! It has a more fine tuned bouncy kick, not necessarily the most DJ friendly. Banjo Love is just full of excitement and energy, and the way its structured adds to that. If you look at the vinyl grooves, its like short sharp bursts of energy pausing briefly for periodic breakdowns. Beautiful melodies, uplifting and serious synth riffs, lovely Pads, all played at a brisk pace. Wonderful German rave music that can be played in Hard Trance, Happy Hardcore or Gabber/Early Hardcore DJ sets, very handy to have in a record crate.

What's crazy is There's Love might actually be better than Banjo Love, which is no mean feat. Gorgeous atmospheric Pad intro partnered with a surprisingly great male vocal. Then the beat drops, quite hard really. To balance out the uplifting Pad breakdowns, RMB employs an almost wonky synth stab section which oddly sounds terrific, like old Ruffneck Records from 93/94. That combination of uplifting and serious sounds is a winning formula. I also like the small drum break at around 5 minutes. I'm torn between There's Love and Banjo Love, as to which is better. I think I can say diplomatically, its an incredible A-Side. :)

Universe Of Love shifts the tempo towards Trance/Hard Trance. Having said that, the track is full of emotion and energy. Ear piercing arpeggios, highly uplifting keyboard melody and just more delightful German rave music. The guy saying Universe Of love definitely needs some Honey and Lemon tea.

To round off the record we have Marimba Love. Marimba is one of those instruments you see in an orchestra, that person with a mallet banging away at those poor wooden bars. As the title suggests, you get some Marimba banging action. It's ridiculously catchy though, reminds me of some of those Euro Dance songs from the 90's. Maybe that was the intention. Overall, a super solid track to finish of the record.

I like how the Belgians repressed the record in Pink. Love-Pink, I'm sure there's a connection somewhere. :D The record covers of Le Petit Prince are fun to look at. The child like drawing on the actual record is silly but always makes you smile. The thanks refer to Fabian (DJ Dick) and Marusha who were a couple at the time, plus Max (Westbam), so there's a strong Mayday connection between all these producers. Interesting to note, this record and Redemption were the two records RMB made in 1994, which does suggest Rolf Maier-Bode was in the middle of a golden period production wise. All of this beautifully culminates to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZQFopVfdk8

Oh my god! What a record! I couldn't stop playing it. Especially
the There's love. It starts like acid, continues with male lyrics and hardcore sound. At 1:55 the rhythm is starting striking you like thunder. A little piece of quiteness at 3:00 and then... ok you can imagine.

The banjo love is a typical hardcore rave track, very energetic, the Marimba love is more in a hard trance style and the Universe of love has a mind travelling melody, especially where the basic melody is changing octave in the parts 2:23 and 4:06.