After too many years of staring at the lineups and wishing I was there, 2013 was finally the year for a pilgrimage to Sun & Bass. Held in San Teodoro on the beautiful island of Sardinia, the festival offers eight nights of the best D&B DJs in the world. If you don’t believe it, have a gander at the lineup. Given the length of the event, this review will be split up into separate posts. Read on for part one…
Om Unit’s conquest of the 170BPM spectrum continues with a stunning EP for none other than the mighty Metalheadz! Blending Jungle and Footwork with influences from Dubstep and Hip-Hop to great effect, the “not quite D&B” style of previous releases is only getting better.
The Hand kicks things off nicely with a super beat; the backbone is a half-time kick/snare routine but every conceivable space has been filled in with frantic hat and snare syncopation to create a fantastic duality between the relatively slow speed of most aspects of the tune and the breakneck drum fills.
Grey Skies Over Chicago amps things up a notch with a huge, angular drum line battering down the door to a background of ominous, futuristic synths soaked in reverb and oozing character. Finally Sleepwalkers nods the head to 90s techstep with a skittering beat and stabbing bassline that could well have been written by Photek back in the day. Serious business.
Check out the beats below and grab yourself a copy on vinyl or digital now!
Intalex and Metalheadz…two names that have been so long established in the scene coming together can seldom mean anything other than good things. Riots on the A-side left me a bit cold but Hell 2 Pay over on the flip is the business…taking things straight back to the late 90s and the sounds of Photek, this tune is all about the tight break and the distinctive old school stabs.
Check it out below and grab it from your favourite store, out now!
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]
Mixtape action from Mikal ahead of his appearance at Metalheadz Bristol on April 27th! True to form the man keeps things deep and dark with a 40 minute mix that hits a sweet spot for fans of the likes of Ulterior Motive and the current Metalheadz sound. Check out the mix below and check out details of the event over here.
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.
The mighty Metalheadz are lining up their next release in their METHXX series and this time it comes from Astrophonica head-honcho and superb leftfield beatmaker Fracture. Audio for the A side isn’t out yet but the label have given us a sneak peak at Gangbusters on the flip. Combining elements of Juke and Trap with classic drumfunk-esque breaks and trademark grimey Fracture low end, the tune hits a different rhythm to most of the other material out there just now. Clearly Fracture hasn’t run out of ways to innovate just yet! Look out for this one dropping April 8th.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0g3XCux64ww]
The mighty Ulterior Motive have put together a rather tasty ‘All Headz’ mix ahead of next month’s Star Warz event in Belgium. Consisting of (you guessed it) nothing but Metalheadz tracks, the mix features a tasty range of tracks from the likes of dBridge, Break, Spectrasoul, Lenzman, Goldie, Ed Rush, FD and S.P.Y, spanning the range of Metalheadz material.
Check out the mix below, and if you’re in Belgium on March 2nd be sure to head down to Kunstencentrum Vooruit to catch sets from Goldie, Dillinja, Ulterior Motive, Jubei and Amit at the Star Warz Metalheadz takeover!
Metalheadz are back with another release on their limited single track Razors Edge imprint, and this time it’s Rockwell stepping up to remix Jubei & Flowdan’s Say Nothin. Rockwell takes the track in a pretty jukey direction, with frantic syncopation along a half-time-ish beat pattern. Low down and dirty vibes!
Today’s mixtape selection is an oldie but a goodie from Ben UFO for the well established Boiler Room mix series. Digging deep in the crates, Ben comes correct with a selection of classic jungle and 90s D&B from the likes of DJ Die, Lemon D, Doc Scott and Klute. One for the old school heads!