Ten [Spearhead Records]

BCee’s Spearhead imprint celebrate a decade in the game with a massive new compilation celebrating new sounds alongside the best in the back catalogue. Disc 2’s Future Sounds include a lush, summery VIP of Technicolour’s Centrifuge, top liquid rollers from Villem & McLeod and LSB and plenty more besides. Without bothering to describe every track, suffice to say they’re all well worth a listen.

As if that wasn’t enough, Disc 1 features 12 of the best from the back catalogue remastered specially for this release. Legendary tracks such as Netsky’s I Refuse, BCee & S.P.Y’s Is There Anybody Out There? and Redeyes’ Luv & Haight are among a tremendous selection of the label’s best and brightest rollers. Personally I don’t understand why Captured In Time wasn’t in there, but everyone must have their own personal favourites that didn’t make the cut.

Ridiculously enough you can cop this tremendous selection on double vinyl and CD for the incredibly reasonable price of £20 from the Spearhead Store, or you can pick up the 3CD set (including a mix from BCee) alone for a tenner. If you’re into your liquid this is the steal of the century – go grab a copy while you still can!

Classic Track: Riya – Seems Like

Today’s classic selection comes from Riya and dBridge in the form of Seems Like. The second release in the short but perfectly formed (and massively influential) Autonomic series combines Riya’s knack for a melancholy vocal with dBridge’s synth driven explorations in 85/170BPM envelope pushing, and still sounds as rich and fresh as it did nearly five years ago. Deeper beats…

Classified V1 [CIA Records]

CIA return with another fine and varied selection pairing the rough with the smooth over four new tracks for what appears from the title to be the first in a series of Classified EPs. Chroma step up first, providing a tough, rolling relick of Total Science & S.P.Y’s Whoonga. Next up comes a classic Calibre deep roller; not the man’s finest work, but instilled with that unmistakable quality and atmosphere that pervades so much of his work nonetheless.

The familiar and yet never played out combination of Total Science & Riya make a welcome appearance with a silky new composition featuring the usual hints of jazz and soul over a firm backbone of breaks and bass, leaving man of the moment Mako to close the EP with a hefty slice of chopped up techstep. It’s difficult to fault any of these tracks! Check out the clips below and look for the EP dropping at all good digital outlets from March 2nd.

DNB Dojo Mix Series 11: Hanzo & Randie

MixSeries11HanzoRandie_new

The eleventh installment in our exclusive mix series comes from Avantgarde alumni Hanzo & Randie. The duo celebrate their forthcoming track for the label’s Theory of the Avantgarde LP with a tasty mix focussing on the techier end of the D&B spectrum but still with place for melody and soul. Check it out via Mixcloud below or head to Hearthis.at for streaming and Dropbox for a download.

Tracklist:

Inward – Monochrome (Avantgarde dub)
Cern – Tiamat (Dispatch)
Ulterior Motive – Longshot (Metalheadz)
Dabs – Objection (Dispatch)
Break & DLR – New Design (Symmetry)
Concept Vision & Segment – Deserted (Blackout)
Alix Perez, Phace, Misanthrop – Burn Out (Shogun Audio)
Enei – Hot Plate (Critical)
Dabs, ArpXP & Grotesque – Keep Shut (Avantgarde dub)
Spinline and Hydro – Perimeter (Demand)
EBK – Strength (Dispatch)
Break – Love So True (Symmetry)
Enei and Emperor – Liberation (Critical)
Inward, Hanzo & Randie – Tetra (Redlight)
Concept Vision & Segment – Mindshaker (Blackout)
Signs – Desert Storm (Cause 4 Concern)
Maztek – Limber (Renegade Hardware)
Noisia – Running Blind (Vision)
Stealth ft. Codebreaker – Nightfall (RAM)
DLR and Script ft. Martyna Baker – Blue room (Metalheadz)
Hybris, Quadrant, D-Struct & Iris – Graphene (Dispatch)
Animal Defection – Arcadia (Avantgarde dub)
Kasra & Enei – Breath (Critical)
Blu Mar Ten – In Your Eyes (Ulterior Motive Remix) (Blu Mar Ten)
DLR, Nymfo, Need for Mirrors and HLZ – Totem (Dispatch)
Heavy1 & P-Fine – Melee (Avantgarde dub)
Hanzo, Randie & Bayou – Totentanz (Avantgarde dub)
Foreign Concept – Ask yourself (Critical)
Sabre and Riya – Injustice (Critical)

Sun & Bass 2013 Review – Part 2

Our review of Sun & Bass continues with coverage of the second half of the week. Check out part one here if you missed it, otherwise read on…

Continue reading

Total Science – See Your Face EP [Shogun Audio]

Scene legends Total Science drop their debut EP for Friction’s Shogun Audio imprint, showcasing a nice variety of sub styles of D&B. The titular See Your Face sees the duo team up with go-to female vocalist Riya for a silky smooth liquid roller, all crisp drums and piano. While the tune isn’t gonna win any medals for innovation, the execution is flawless and the combination of Total Science and Riya isn’t one I’m gonna get bored of anytime soon.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0F03eWF3KA]

Straight into track two the duo switch things up immediately with the deadly vibes of Hush Ya Mouth, clattering straight into energetic territory with a tear-out dancefloor smasher. This one will be doing the damage in the clubs!

Out into the back end of the EP Just Want You provides an interesting juxtaposition of cut up vocal samples with blasting techstep bass set over a pretty cut-up drum line. Finally, Riya gets involved once again with a surprise tempo shift down to deep Garage territory on Suspicious. Something for everyone! Check out the previews and look out for this dropping on vinyl and digital from Monday August 26th.

Lenzman – Empty Promise [Metalheadz]

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.

Tuned In Two LP [CIA]

The release of new material on Total Science‘s CIA Records imprint is always a pleasure, with the boys always keeping the quality ridiculously high and only putting out releases when they’re good and ready. This latest LP (the sequel to Tuned In some eleven years on) showcases that quality from a variety of artists across pretty much all the styles of Drum & Bass, and even among a year of so many LP releases shines through as a great album.

The LP delivers deeper tracks like Lenzman’s remix of Past Lives and the beautiful Stolen Moments from Riya & Zero T alongside techier numbers from the likes of Spirit, 8-Bits & Q-Project and Beta 2, along with some standout leftfield drumwork from Fracture on The Breaks. You can stream a few of my favourites below, so check it out and go grab yourself a copy from your favourite store!

Riya & Zero T – Stolen Moments

Beta 2 – Perceptions

Spirit – Dream Demon

Fracture – The Breaks

In The Mix… Stray

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!

DRS – Count to Ten (feat. Enei) [Soul:R]

Marcus Intalex‘s Manchester based Soul:R imprint is gearing up to release the debut album from MC DRS, and ahead of that they’ve put together a quality 12″ taken from the album. The A-side sees DRS teaming up with Russian producer Enei, with tight rhymes over a  classic “steppa”-style D&B beat. Over on the flip is Holding On with Lenzman, Jehst & Riya, an altogether more soulful, liquid-funk affair with a warm, uplifting chorus.

DRS has also put together a youtube playlist of his influences which features a wide variety of quality tunes from the likes of Goldie, Otis Reading and The Pharcyde – well worth a listen!

Check out the video for Count to Ten below, grab the single (out Monday on Soul:R from all good outlets) and watch out for the album over the next few months.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm5gB3Yk9hI]