The latest release on CIA’s Deepkut sublabel sees Zero T coming in with a tidy stepper in the form of Red Hand. A seriously infectious bassline and super tight drum rolls to fill out the beat make for a sure fire dancefloor hit. Check it out below and grab yourself a copy from your favourite vinyl/digital outlet!
So much great drum & bass has come into the inbox this month, it seemed like a good time for another roundup post!
First up, Ingredients have been going from strength to strength with their recent releases. The 29th label release saw them release a quality wee EP in the form of Mis En Place Pt. 1, featuring some great tracks by Villem, Mark Recoil and Foreign Concept, alongside my pick of the EP, dBridge‘s smooth remix of Kodo‘s The Jackal.
Not content to rest on their laurels, the label are gearing up for their 30th release with a 12″ from newcomers Ruffhouse, with a very tribal feel to it. Fans of the recent Loxy & Resound album on Exit should definitely have a listen to this.
Shogun sister label SGN:Ltd are back with another beauty from Technimatic (formerly Technicolour and Komatic) and as we’ve come to expect from this duo it’s smooth liquid vibes all the way. Unfinished Business leads the release but it’s She Knows It on the flip that really caught my attention.
Utopia Music‘s 10th release sees legendary producer Break teaming up with Fields, label owner Mako & Villem on a heavy techy roller. The deep atmospheric intro lulls the listener into a false sense of security before the drop, all clattering toms and low end growl.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXyDs1UdFGc]
French label IM:Ltd are back with a new EP featuring a versatile selection of tracks from a number of relatively unknown producers. You can check out the whole EP below; my picks of the bunch are Nuage’s Above Time (a lovely piano lead deep roller) and Atmospherix’s In This Life, which features some beautifully crisp breaks and a warm, simple bassline that proves just irresistible.
Critical are back with another deep release, this time featuring collabs with the vocal talent that is Riya. A side Injustice sees Riya teaming up with Sabre for a beautiful deep roller while the b-side switches production to Foreign Concept for an autonomic style melancholy half stepper. Essential purchase as usual from the Critical stable!
RAM‘s new sister label ProgRAM are back with another chunky dancefloor number from Kove in the form of Iodine/Open Ground which does the business exactly as you’d expect.
Last but not least, Lifted sister label Breed 12 Inches are back with an absolutely phenomenal release from Memtrix, who at the young age of 16 is already setting the world of drum & bass alight. Mind Control and Slipper both deliver some seriously heavy neurofunk business…one to watch for 2013, definitely big things coming from this guy!
Last month Octane & DLR released their highly anticipated debut album Method in the Madness to the delight of drum & bass heads everywhere. We caught up with the guys for a quick Q&A about the album and their plans for the future.
DNB Dojo: The album includes a variety of styles, not just the drum & bass you’re known for. Was that a new thing for the album, or have you guys been writing other styles for a while and just not releasing them?
Octane & DLR: We’ve been writing more downtempo music under the name Cymatic for a while. The collective consists of the both of us, Octane & DLR, along with Ruckspin & Quantum Soul. It’s not a project we’ve wanted to shout about too much because everyone involved already has their own projects with their own workload already quite heavily packed and that doesn’t leave much time for us all to get together. We have released a few things. Most recently, Electric Church / Jungle Fever and Glue / Hound Dog. Both 12″s on Box Clever.
With the Method album we wanted to show all of our colours and it made sense for us to add some of our newer Cymatic material.
DD: What’s your favourite tune on the album? Or failing that, which one has been generating the most buzz?
O & DLR: We can’t give you our favourites because we’re completely numb to the whole album after spending so much time writing it! From what we’ve seen so far, the two clear favourites seem to be Murmur (ft. Break) and Set Up The Set (ft. Script). They’re both definitely the most dancefloor orientated tracks and we expected they’d be the tracks to make an initial impact but maybe people’s favourites will change in time. We’d like to think the album has the ability to grow on people too.
DD: What’s next after the album release? World Tour? Or are you gonna take some time off?
O & DLR: We thought we’d take a little time off but that hasn’t happened yet. We’ve recently remixed Stone & Gerra‘s Dronehead and Dabs‘ Who is Gonna Lead and written another track with Break for the Forthcoming Symmetry VA album. We’ve got a lot more studio work in progress and we’re touring with the album so I think a bit of time off is out of the question just for now.
EB: It’s been a big year for you, with releases on some legendary labels and tons of gigs all over the place. What’s been your highlight of 2012 so far?
O & DLR: Actually finishing the album within our lifetime and without killing each other and/or Ant (TC1). Then, on the gigs front, Outlook 2012 without question. For anyone who hasn’t been out there, you really need to make 2013 happen. Vibes are just incredible!
DD: One for the production geeks out there, what’s your studio setup like in terms of hardware and software?
O & DLR: We love our hardware. We’ve been through so much kit, it’s ridiculous (and expensive). There are pictures of our combined studio at www.exhaleaudio.co.uk (where we wrote most of the album). In all honesty though, some software lately has just blown us away. UAD, Waves, Airwindows, Brainworx and Flux are some of the best processors we’ve heard. It’s hard to believe how far technology has moved on and the new wave of inverse distortion plugins is really capturing the analogue inconsistencies that computer musicians were craving.
DD: Wanna tell us a bit more about the Cymatic project?
O & DLR: There’s the two of us [Chris and J] along with Dom (Ruckspin, Submotion Orchestra, Author) and Guy (Quantum Soul). It’s a strange project because although we all love it so much, we rarely all get the chance to be in the same place at the same time due to our solo commitments. When we do, however, there’s usually a few all-night sessions and we really tend to ‘go in’ on the music. The four of us all bring something unique to the sessions and we always manage to keep a vibe going. Having four heads involved is certainly a great way to stay inspired. 2013 will see more Cymatic material. There’s already more music in the works.
DD: Who are your favourite producers right now?
O & DLR: We don’t really have favourite artists. We’re both on the same page when it comes to this. We’ve always had the idea that we don’t want to sound like anyone or be influenced by anyone else. Obviously we’ve been influenced by everything we’ve heard and enjoyed and it must come through in our own works to some degree but to pin down a favourite artist/producer is near on impossible because there’s just so much amazing music out there.
DD: Lastly, what (in your opinion) is the best record ever? Any era, any style, any musician
O & DLR: I can’t remember what it was or who it was by but it was probably on a tape pack from 1994 and it went something like ‘da dee naa naaa dum dum’ and had loads of samples in it…that same rave scene inspired everything we all know as dance music now. We’re lucky in that we’ve had Drum & Bass for 20 years now!
Check out clips of the album below and grab yourself a copy from the Dispatch Store at Surus.co.uk.
Glasgow’s drum & bass scene may be small, but it is perfectly formed, with some notable talents rising up from the corners of what is otherwise a very techno-centric city. Y2D is one such talent, and his second EP for London based Lifestyle Recordings is testament to that.
The EP kicks of with the eponymous Prose, a beautiful melancholy slice of deep liquid. Crisp but mellow breaks underpin a lovely combination of vocal echoes and minor key piano samples to create a beautifully smooth roller. Altered State changes the pace with a dark, grimey stepper on a sci-fi tip, which fans of the likes of Ulterior Motive will definitely enjoy. Old Crook sees the style moving back towards the smooth and melancholy, while Alphaville finishes the EP with a warm, deep half-stepper, all vinyl crackle and natural percussion.
Check out the clips below and grab yourself a copy from Beatport.
To celebrate the recent release of the beautiful Follow You Around / Contract single on Blu Mar Ten Music, Stray has compiled a top notch mix spanning all the styles of drum & bass. Starting out with some smooth liquid rollers, then venturing off into darker territory, and featuring some absolutely outstanding tracks such as Amit‘s Killer Driller before finishing up with the A side of the single, this is thoughtful d&b at it’s best.
Check out the single and the mix below!
While Dutch drum & bass veterans Black Sun Empire have certainly been busy gigging and organising their Blackout nights (which have recently touched down in the UK, to great success) new music from the trio has been fairly thin on the ground since their last album Lights and Wires. Apparently the boys have been busy and just not telling anyone though, as the emergence of the sampler for their 5th album From The Shadows shows.
More of a tease than a true show of new material, the sampler nonetheless showcases some seriously stomping remixes of tracks from Lights by the likes of Jade, Neonlight, Mindspace and Telekinesis. If you like your drum & bass big, bad and thoroughly growling then look no further than this!
Fathom Audio have brought some seriously sinister vibes on their latest release for Diffrent Music. Minimal drum beats and a twinkling high end melody combine with some seriously dirty bass stabs that are reminiscent of early Photek tunes like Sidewinder to make Promises a really interesting slice of D&B.
Over on the flip Ridges actually delivers a more upbeat, cinematic number, with rising arpeggiated melodies and swelling synth bursts used to great effect over glitchy drum lines to deliver a soulful tune. Definitely more armchair than dancefloor, and all the better for it!
Watch out for the full release on September 3rd.
The debut release on The Crescent comes from Mode, who’s recent output for labels like Ingredients and Exit Records has put him up alongside ASC and dBridge at the forefront of the minimal DnB scene.
A-side Around the Edges draws on a muted, techno inspired kick line with soft pads to create a moody slice of half step goodness, while Sam KDC‘s remix of The Abyss on the flip is dark dub at it’s purest and most stripped down. Watch out for the release on April 30th.