Tag Archives: Label Showcase

Get To Know…Transmission Audio

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Regular readers of the blog will probably already be familiar with Leeds-based upstart Transmission Audio. Altered Perception, Peak and Sanction have been busy over the last year building a fierce catalogue of dark, edgy D&B from up and coming producers like Komatose, Skepsis and Xsetra, and they’ve even found time to start a sister Sub:mission imprint to put out some more melodic beats.

With the labels moving from strength to strength, and the releases dropping all too quickly, the Dojo crew decided it was time for a wee retrospective on the last few releases and what’s to come over the next few months.

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Get To Know…Warm Communications

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Established back in 2001, US label Warm Communications has long flown the flag for high quality, leftfield Drum & Bass. Early releases from ASC, Equinox, Seba and Banaczech explored deep liquid and drumfunk, with producers experimenting with the less dancefloor oriented styles of D&B.

Looking back over the label’s discography, it seems founder EHL was in no hurry, and still isn’t – despite the labels twelve year tenure it had only notched up a relatively modest release catalogue. The upshot of this however is that the releases are of a consistently high quality, with plenty of genuinely classic and interesting tunes to choose from.

Certain classics stand out from the pack, such as the effortless ambience of ASC’s appropriately titled Highbrow, the epic cinematic drumfunk of Fanu’s Footsteps Concealed and Seba’s brilliantly idosyncratic This Is Our House.

All of this brings us up to the present day and hot on the heels of a sublime 12″ from Seba and Blu Mar Ten comes another solo single from Utopia head honcho Mako. A Break From Ritual explores ruff, tough drum programming with a huge mashup of different breaks kicking in and out of the mix over dark bass stabs and samples pillaged from hip-hop, rave and more.

Over on the flip we’re treated to a deep, dubby roller in the form of What A Little Moonlight Can Do, taking things down a notch but still placing the emphasis on intricate drum programming and unusual sampling. Watch out for this one dropping on vinyl and digital from December 2nd.

Get To Know…Dispatch Recordings

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Leeds-based Dispatch Recordings have been a steady part of the D&B scene for well over a decade now, with a well deserved reputation for releasing tough, rugged tracks from some of the best names in the scene. Never compromising their integrity in favour of current trends, the label has truly gone from strength to strength over the past few years with a couple of massive LP releases and a slew of singles and EPs to boot.

Early releases on the label saw tunes from the likes of Hidden Agenda, NOS and Q-Project taking centre stage, not to mention a rather tasty collaboration between Chris.Su, Stress Levels and Ant TC1.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXN3P3OssZs]

Having gained this momentum, 2008 saw the label step up a gear with their first release from the mighty Break (collabing with Survival on the Sick/Warnings 12″). From here on in the discography speaks for itself, with a massive selection of great tracks from the likes of Hybris, EBK, Amoss and Octane & DLR (who’s 2012 LP Method in the Madness was widely hailed as one of the albums of the year).

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rDt5LiA_nw]

All of this brings us up to the present day and the rather excellent release last month of Survival & Silent Witness’ LP In From The Wild. Every bit as high quality as the Octane & DLR album last year, and lavishly released on both vinyl and CD formats, the tracks below speak for themselves.

So if you don’t know Dispatch, sit down and have a browse of the back catalogue!

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]