To celebrate his forthcoming 12″ with War and Mateba for Horizons sub-label Inside, Hydro has put together a tidy wee mix for the horizons podcast series. Full of deep, dark, tribal beats, atmospheric sound design and tasty new dubplates, this is definitely one for the heads. Check out the mix below and watch out for the Black Light 12″ dropping soon (or grab yourself a white label test press here).
Mako’s Utopia Music delivers another top notch 12″, showcasing yet more proof of the labels refusal to be pigeon-holed to a single style of D&B.
Sunchase steps up first to deliver a super chilled, ethereal piece of 170 that would feel very much at home on Blu Mar Ten music. This one’s up there with Bungle’s recent masterpiece for Soul:R, truly beautiful music.
Over on the flip Detail comes in with a more dancefloor-oriented number, bringing growling low end and hefty kick drums, punctuated with double time distorted amen bars to keep the crowd on their toes. Beauty on the A-side…beast on the B-side!
dBridge & Vegas’ True Romance is undoubtedly the best flipside in my vinyl collection, not to mention one of D&Bs most iconic and recognisable tracks. Despite being from a period where some might argue the genre was in something of a slump, the track showcases the Bad Company production talents without the savagery of earlier tracks like The Nine, and would ultimately point towards the musical direction dBridge explores now. Elegant in it’s simplicity, from the warm bass to the crisp, clean, unvaried break and instantly identifiable from the chiming melodic chords, this is a track that just never gets old.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNXBv3JycDg]
The latest in a series of D&B supergroups sees Phobia, Sato & Tyrone team up to present Chroma. Fresh from releases for Renegade Hardware and ProgRAM, their latest endeavours will be dropping on Total Science’s CIA imprint late this month.
It’s not hard to see why Total Science signed these tunes; both have the classic CIA roller vibe to them, with Intermission on the A side bringing the warm sub while Knock Knock on the flip brings a slightly tougher beat and some very Photek-esque stabs to the party. Old school vibes with new school production, top notch!
Watch out for the release on vinyl and digital from May 20th.
DJ Enorme steps up to deliver the second episode of our exclusive mix series! Enorme started building his rep in the UK scene under the guise of Doom Boy and soon started making regular appearances around the north of England warming up for names like Andy C, Shy FX, Noisia, TC and more at nights including Turbulence, Curves, Bass Militia, Lockdown and the now defunct Syndicate.
Since moving to The Netherlands, Enorme now represents the deeper side of Techstep, holding down a residency at Drum Addict in Amsterdam and presenting the Blackdub podcast with regular mixes from upcoming and established artists alike. For this mix he’s dropped a tidy selection of forthcoming releases alongside some older classics, keeping things simmering nicely with deep but rugged beats. Check it out below and grab a free download from Mediafire, or check out the mix over on Mixcloud.
Chris Octane – Synthetics [Forthcoming CO:RE]
Arclight – Pluroform (Raiden Remix) [Forthcoming AutomAte Tech]
Cern – Hollow Moon [Dispatch Recordings]
Andy Pain & Z Connection – Outsider [Demand Records]
Hybris – Face Of Change [Dispatch Recordings Freebie]
Freeze – Calm Your Ego [Proximity Recordings Freebie]
Nymfo – Air Jacks [Commercial Suicide]
Naibu – Use Of Weapons (Fracture & Neptune’s Astrophonica Remix) [Warm Communications]
Clarity – Cold Blank [Samurai Music]
???? – ???? [????]
Isotone – Trip [Obsessions]
L33 – Ironic [Syndrome Audio]
Icicle – Dreadnaught feat. SP:MC [Shogun Audio]
Cause4Concern – Paranormal [Cause4Concern Recordings]
2Sides & Kije – Black Planet [Structured Music]
Survival & Silent Witness – Speedbag [Dispatch Recordings Freebie]
FD – Blue Sky Research (Sun & Bass VIP) [Sun & Bass Recordings]
Zero T – Tavistock Dub [Nu Directions]
IM:Ltd keep the flow of quality releases coming with a top notch EP from Hibea. Title track White Owl is full of character, from the iconic chord stabs to the frantic steel tom syncopation when the break switches gear. Hitting a nice sweet spot between depth and dancefloor sensibilities, this is definitely a tune DJs will be reaching for time and again. Over on the flip Phil Tangent steps up for the remix duty and provides a characteristically soulful refix of The Form.
For the digital lovers, the packages also includes a couple of digital only bonus tracks, with the original mix of The Form and a superb Fade remix of White Owl, bringing the vibes with a techier bassline and a rolling jungle-infused beat. Check out the previews below and look out for this one dropping April 29th.
Om Unit continues his travels into all things not quite D&B with another pair of excellent 170BPM explorations for Cosmic Bridge entitled Om Unit Edits Vol. 2. Weird and wonderful synths and frantic half step syncopation are the order of the day here, blended into a musical tapestry like only this man can. Check it out and grab yourself a copy from the Cosmic Bridge Bandcamp page.
[bandcamp album=2183318268 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=grande2]
I first heard Fearful‘s material via their excellent release for Automate Tech last year and have been keeping an eye on them ever since, and listening to their productions evolve continues to be a treat! Their latest material for Diffrent sees them exploring deep, dark, leftfield territory with beats that deliberately eschew the traditional drum & bass structure while retaining the same tone and sonic pallet.
Tongues hits down with huge sub bass and heavy impact percussion, combined with truly cinematic soundscape work to create a tune which sounds more like the soundtrack to a robotic cult meeting than a piece of dance music. Nostromo keeps things weird and wonderful with a skittering, angular beat and more clever atmospherics.
To celebrate the release the boys have also put together a tidy 30 min mix showcasing the new tracks alongside other deep business from Diffrent, Automate and Proximity along with a bunch of new dubs. Check it out below and grab the release from your favourite digital outlet.
Metalheadz bring us another must have 12″ from Lenzman! A side Empty Promise covers all the bases nicely; rolling breakbeats, soft pads, soulful vocals and just enough grime in the bassline to give the tune some teeth. Then over on the flip Makoto gives Broken Dreams the remix treatment, making the song his own while retaining the trademark vocal that made the original such a big hit on release.
As if all of that wasn’t enough, the ‘headz camp are also giving away a nice little freebie in the form of Subwave’s remix of Lenzman & Riya’s Open Page. Grab yourself a copy here and look out for the Empty Promise 12″ dropping on April 29th.
Smooth liquid lovers take note; Dominic Petrie (previously known as Y2D) has just served up two lush slices of soulful, melancholy D&B for Nookie’s Phuzion Digital imprint. First up we’ve got Valid Invalid, characterised by a simple piano hook, crisp breaks and ethereal pads.
Over on the flip Con Games adopts a slightly jazzier approach while still keeping things pretty understated. Guitar licks and sublime percussion combine to produce a tune that’s simply drenched in atmosphere.
No release date on these yet but watch out for them dropping sometime in the next few months.