Category Archives: Label Showcase

Get To Know…Jungle Cakes

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JungleCakes

Those with a taste for cheery Dubwize D&B (or who know the owners from their other work in the Breaks world) may still have overlooked Jungle Cakes. The label has a pretty low profile, existing as an outlet for Deekline and Ed Solo‘s explorations into bouncy, jungle influenced tunes, but they’ve racked up a tidy selection of 12″s over the last few years and anyone who has seen Parker or Serial Killaz throw down will likely have heard at least a few of the tunes.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Uem9MWW1bs]

Early releases like 2009’s No No No (You Don’t Love Me) and Ragga Tip (Walk and Skank) shamelessly mined well known reggae vocals to great effect, layering dub and reggae style guitar and piano melody with up front rolling breakbeats and warm, simple basslines to produce grooves that are simply too infectious to argue with! This tradition continued well into 2011 with the likes of Sensi ripping up the dancefloors at D&B and reggae nights alike.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEbKVclFeuE]

More recently the label has started fielding releases from a wider range of artists both well known and obscure, with lower tempo jungle breaks from The Freestylers on Entertainer, slightly tougher amen rollers from JFB with Tequila Sunrise and Five On It and soulful dubwize rollers from Cain & Wakcutt with Night Nurse.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpTs3KWSFAw]

So if you yearn for the days of ragga jungle or just love an infectious groove and some reggae influenced beats, check out the Jungle Cakes back catalogue!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-ilLxzDkak]

Get to Know…Lifted Music

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Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock somewhere since 2006 it seems unlikely that you won’t have heard of Lifted Music. Starting early with a succession of classic releases from the likes of Spor, Evol Intent Ewun and Apex, the label had a quiet patch for a bit but has recently had all guns blazing once again with a slew of great releases over the last few months and plenty more to come.

Late last year the label came out with a seriously tidy EP in the form of From Roots To Wings. Featuring massive, futuristic tech-funk from Aeph, Memtrix, Neonlight, Receptor & Infuze, the release was all about dancefloor stompage and it delivered that by the spades.

Not content with that, Lifted squeezed out a 4 track EP from Neonlight just before Christmas with more heavy yet melodic tunes. Computer Music in particular has barely left my sets recently.

Not content with dominating the drum & bass scene, Lifted have just dropped a high quality Dubstep release from Meta with his second EP for their Lifted Dub arm. Delivering far more melody and production value than much of the over-saturated 140 BPM market but still retaining that futuristic Lifted sound, this is definitely worth a look.

Just in case you needed any further encouragement, here’s a classic from the back catalogue, Spor’s Knock You Down from LFTD001. Check it out, and grab the releases from the Lifted Store!

Rooted Recordings Q&A

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Chemical Ally’s brand new D&B label Rooted Recordings launched this week with some top notch techstep from Fade, 2Sides, Chemical Ally and Lady Flava. We caught up with Ally for a quick Q&A about the label.

DNB Dojo: There are so many small independent D&B labels about, especially in London. What inspired you to set up Rooted, and what sets it apart from other similar labels?

Chemical Ally: In music there are many independent labels across all genres, and I think it’s excellent. The ability for people to express themselves and maintain control of their own sound, Is what it’s all about. Let’s face it, this is about love for the sound that your label represents!

What sets it apart from other similar labels? Well I think in most cases what sets things apart, are the individuals behind the project and their motives. Some people maybe on to the next new sound, or be the next big thing. Or in my case, I aim to help maintain a sound and vibe, that i’m finding harder and harder to buy. I predominantly played Techno in my early DJing years and this then morphed into D&B. So Rooted will be styled from this mix of musical influences.

DD: Some of the tunes coming out on Rooted definitely hark back to a slightly older era of techstep production where menacing reese basslines were the order of the day. Was this a deliberate decision or just the best tunes you heard happened to be slightly “old school” in sound?

CA: This was a deliberate decision. D&B has many different affects on the dance floor, a warm fat bass that completely immerses you has the best effect of them all! In 1991 I was completely hooked on Rave music, 97-02 is my favourite period in D&B. This is and will always be the golden era for me, I consider myself Oldskool in mind. The early rave years combined with my love for Techno and late 90’s D&B will all have influence on Rooted recordings.

DD: Which producers are exciting you most in the scene just now?

CA: There are so many. Obviously the artists that have featured on Rooted001. Fade is consistently churning out music he’s like a machine, I’m sure we’re gonna see a lot from him over the coming years. 2Sides is another force to be reckoned with, fresh people with fresh ideas. Artists such as Edit, xtrah, Villem, Fields, Mako, Krakota are all featuring heavily in the sets i’m playing. Then you have the veteran producers such as Break, Total Science, Marcus Intalex, that relentlessly provide music that keeps the scene buoyant.

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Check out the tunes from Rooted001 below and grab yourself a copy from Beatport!