It seems that some of my best musical moments have come recently when I’ve been forced to switch over my car stereo from its normal setting on Radio 4, to Radio 1. Last time I discovered, courtesy of Zane Lowe, the Public Enemy/DJ Zinc mashup 138 Noise. And tonight I switched over to discover that The Prodigy have taken over Zane’s show in conjunction with Pete “Cockney Rhyming Slang” Tong.

The show has so far consisted of three members of the band; Liam, Maxim & Keith (it seems Leeroy left back in 2000), playing tunes that have inspired them over the years. Unsurprisingly considering their background, many of the tunes have been rave/hardcore tunes and hip-hop, both British & US, from the late 80s. As well as iconic tracks such as Dominator by Human Resource & Wrath of Kane by Big Daddy Kane (which was new to me) I heard an absolute dance classic: during a musical showdown in which each band-member had to pick their favourite old-school track and the listeners voted for their favourite, Liam Howlett played one of the greatest ever hardcore/rave tracks.

The Horn Track by Egyptian Empire is everything that was great about rave as well as everything that was ridiculous about it, all wrapped up into one mental little ball. There are blaring fog horns, a blistering breakbeat and dirty techno synth squelches. There really is no way of describing it or the effect it used to have when it would come on at one of the old outdoor illegal raves, or on the pirate radio stations like Green Apple.

Immense.

Horn image by jfeuchter on flickr