Spanish artist Pablo Dread joins the ranks of Beat Machine early next month with an EP packed full of raved up, jungle influenced beats, blending future sounds with retro heritage to great effect. To celebrate we asked him for a quick Top 5 of tunes he’s feeling right now; check it out…
After the success of his much lauded Loving Touch EP Fracture returns to Exit with another top selection of raved up riddims which showcase his knack for melding dancefloor chops with intriguing stylistic experiments and varied the results are too.
Makin’ Hype Tracks kicks things off with another ravey smasher in the vein of Fracture’s excellent remix of DJ Monita’s Luv Ta Luv Ya, blending footwork influences with crisp jungle breaks and a tint of the old school. This one will absolutely be doing the damage in the clubs! Black Pearl immediately flips the script, keeping the crunchy jungle-style breaks but setting them to a more liquid-y set of pads and vocal cuts for a blend of the frantic and the serene.
The appropriately titled Acid Claps sees Teklife footwork originators Taso & Spinn on board for a track that lives up to it’s name with squelchy acid lines and tons of 808 clap action. Wonky business! Last up, I Just brings things full circle with another blend of breakneck syncopations and bassweight.
Personally I can’t get enough of Fracture’s work and that of similar producers like Moresounds and Fixate; this blend of the old and the new is absolutely infectious, and long may it last! Check out the clips below and hit up the Exit Store right now to grab a copy on vinyl or digital. Hype Hype!
Astrophonica’s latest sees Fracture going in on a huge VIP of DJ Monita’s rave classic Luv Ta Luv Ya. If you enjoyed Loving Touch this should be right up your street; it’s a joyously chaotic chopped up jungle bouncer, and no mistake! Hit up the Astrophonica bandcamp to grab this on 10″ vinyl and digital right now.
Moresounds returns to Fracture’s Astrophonica imprint with a new EP featuring more of his crossover footwork/jungle sound. Pillaging the classic breaks and ragga vocal samples from 90s jungle but reworking them to an entirely different set of rhythmic syncopations, the tracks here have at once an air of old school nostalgia and an up to the minute freshness.
Picks of the bunch for us here at the Dojo are the chopped up, dubbed out skank-up of Pure Niceness and the crusty breaks, jungle vox and classic pads of Fracture collab Dead & Bury. Check out the clips below and head to the Astrophonica store to grab this on vinyl or digital now!
Leftfield D&B innovators Fracture & Chimpo land on the mighty ‘headz imprint with a fresh new 12″ showcasing their unusual take on the 170 sound. From Early taps into the swaggering half-time sound with more than a hint of LA bass, but for us at the Dojo it’s all about the old school stylings and fantastic drum work of Hard Food. Check out the clips below and head to the Metalheadz store to pre-order a copy now, with full release due from March 16th.
Following our run down of our favourite albums of the year, we felt it was only right to put the spotlight on our top tracks. These are the ten tunes that haven’t left our record box since their release…
The ever enjoyable beats of Charlie Fracture touch down on dBridge’s Exit Records imprint, continuing his leftfield explorations of the 170 sound. Title track Loving Touch (which absolutely went off when I heard dBridge drop it at Glastonbury last weekend) blends old school D&B bass, footwork drum patterns and the irresistible vocal hook from a Chicago house classic. Apparently it was conceived in a dream; we’re not sure if that’s entirely true, but it’s a cracking track and no mistake.
Elsewhere on the EP we’re treated to a stripped-back drum workout on Werk It, twisted, bouncing dub vibrations with more than a hint of jungle on Overload and cheeky Sam Binga collab which keeps the syncopations rapid and the subs massive to close out the EP. As usual Exit are the ones to watch when it comes to pushing the envelope; check out the beats below and grab this one on vinyl or digital now.
Sun & Bass continue their tradition from last year and release another stellar compilation featuring cuts from the festival’s regular DJs, with a host of big names on board. The first half of the compilation leans heavily in the deep liquid direction, with a collection of rollers and steppers from Triad, Fracture & Mark System, Seba, Alite & Arp XP and more. Tokyo Prose steal the show for me with the sublime, twinkling piano and crisp breaks of Goodbye Hands…truly a tune you could lose yourself in.
The second half of the selection sees the heat turned up with harder beats from Klute, Chris SU and Nymfo, Dom & Roland and more. Ulterior Motive turn in a strong, squelchy stepper with Fragola Invisible and Audio Habitat collaborates with Mad Vibes for a good old fashioned dirty roller. The LP closes up with a few more soulful numbers from dBridge, Code 3 and Zero T for good measure.
Check out all the beats below and watch out for the release dropping on digital from December 16th. Don’t forget you can also pick up the sublime Calibre/Paradox remix 12″ from Surus now!
With so many good mixes touching down over the past few weeks it seemed only right to do a wee roundup of the best we’ve heard here at the Dojo. So in no particular order…
Joe Ford presents the 41st episode of the London Warehouse Events mix series with a short, sharp selection of dark techy D&B from the likes of Noisia, Maztek, Mefjus and Nickbee, including some new (and unlisted) tunes. JF dubs perhaps?
Mikal celebrates the impending release of his Immaterial EP for Metalheadz with a 30 minute promo mix featuring tracks from the EP alongside beats from Jubei, DLR, Villem and more. Watch out for the release dropping from December 16th.
Chris Renegade presents the 23rd episode of the Lifted Music podcast featuring brand new cuts from Aeph, Memtrix, Prolix & Gridlok and more, alongside a new dub from Inward Phase, a classic from the Konflict vaults and plenty of random half-cut banter.
While actually recorded back in October the audio from Fracture’s appearance at the Boiler Room Machinedrum special has recently surfaced on Soundcloud, and as usual it’s an eclectic treat. Definitely one for the deep heads to scope out.
To celebrate the recent release of his M-Theory EP for Renegade Hardware, Maztek brings us a 30 minute mix packed full of top class techstep and neurofunk belters.
Warm Communications head honcho EHL has recorded a nice mix of all things deep ahead of the labels latest release from Mako.
Finally The Upbeats celebrate their recent appearance at Japan’s Hangover D&B night with a mix full of tidy D&B belters and a few unexpected surprises.
Following on from his excellent Ginseng Smash 12″ for Critical, Stray once again revisits the footwork-influenced side of 170 on his latest EP for Exit. Prof Popper feels like Ginseng at 5am…the same syncopated riddims and cut up vocals are present but the overall vibe of the track is much more laid back, with smooth pads allowing the track to float along on a mellow plane. Dropping Bombs provides the antithesis, amping up the drums for a totally bouncing raved up belter.
Bounce That sees Stray teaming up with Fracture for a tune that’s one part half-step and one part old skool Jungle with a hint of ghetto-tech thrown in for good measure. Eerie keys and a drum line that sounds like 4×4 garage on steroids prevail on the duo’s evolution of the sound Fracture pioneered on Get Busy. Last but not least the titular Matchsticks takes things back to a more mellow place, bringing a skanking LA hip-hop vibe to the mix; this could just as easily have been written by Flying Lotus, and it sounds fantastic for it.
As usual Exit and Stray are at the cutting edge of all things 170. Check out the beats bellow and watch out for the EP dropping October 28th.