Australia meets London on the latest release for Terra Firma as Sense MC lends his inimitable vocal stylings to Perth-producer Manikin’s latest track, Daydream. Dirty techstep vibes inside the ride with a slick, relaxed vocal delivery, mixing the rough with the smooth! This one is out today exclusively at Beatport; general release follows in two weeks time.
Fybe:one is a producer we’ve had half an eye on for a few years here at Dojo HQ; while his usual explorations tend towards lower tempos, he is nonetheless one of the most interesting musicians in the electronic sphere. Having contributed some downtempo reverberations for Diffrent’s Evolution of the Giraffe LP back in 2013, Dexta’s London imprint was the clear avenue for a move into the 160+ tempo range and the results are top notch.
Fans of the likes of Frederic Robinson and Machinedrum will find plenty to enjoy here; there’s a playfulness and an old school sampling methodology at work with plenty of influence from more “conventional” D&B, but without the music becoming trapped in the confines of the more traditional genre hallmarks. Jazzy synth hits, rapid-fire percussion and unusual rhythms are the order of the day here, and there are some tasty collaborations to boot as Sense MC steps up for vocal duties and the ever talented Hyroglifics comes in to push some buttons on With You.
As you’d expect if you’ve kept an eye on Diffrent, this EP embodies the label’s ethos by doing its best not to sound like anything else out there, and while it might not quite be revolutionary it’s certainly off the beaten track. Combine that with a loving craft and that mix of club-heft and armchair sensibility and you’re onto another winning release from our favourite London giraffe-enthusiasts. Check out the preview mix below and hit up the label Bandcamp page to cop the EP now.
When it comes to D&B MCs, you can count those worth hearing outside the rave on one hand (and even those worth hearing inside the rave on a few hands more…). The jump from host in the club to the true lyricism required to spit bars on record isn’t one that all wannabe microphone fiends have the talent for, but thankfully Sense has more than proven himself worthy of the task.
Many years in the making, The Elephant In The Room sees the self-described “illegitimate offspring of a scouse and a cockney” land on Diffrent Music accompanied by some of the best producers in the scene, with a plethora of material spanning D&B and hip-hop, dark and light, hype and chill. There are plenty of highlights in the uptempo region, from the coy and playful rhymes of Lynx-produced Disconnected to the aggy lyrical duel of After Dark, where Sense is joined by longtime friend and equally talented MC Codebreaker.
The lower tempo beats tend towards beauty and introspection, such as album opener Love Is… which muses on romance against an eclectic beat from Frank & Furter that brings to mind Frederick Robinson’s work. Two Planets brings in jazzy influences and rhymes on an intergalactic tip, while Just A Ride closes the album with thoughts on the meaning of life.
Descriptions struggle to do the work here justice; the important point is that The Elephant In The Room is a polished selection of songs with depth beyond the usual hype-man lyricism or catchy verses found on MC-led tracks. We’ve no doubt this is only gonna get better on repeat listens too. Check out some of the tracks below and hit up the Diffrent Store to grab a copy on digital, CD or vinyl…as they’ve been telling us for weeks, #BuyTheAlbum.
Safe to say we’re more than a little excited for this one…we’re proud to present an exclusive from one of the finest MCs in the game, back from almost retirement last year and dropping his debut album for Diffrent Music!
State Of The Art sees Sense’s distinctive rhymes set to a dark and brooding beat courtesy of Coma and the resulting blend of dark D&B and hip-hop swagger is a potent mixture! Watch out for the album The Elephant In The Room dropping from Feb 14th via the Diffrent Store.
If you’ve been keeping your eyes and ears on the liquid D&B scene in the last few years, you could scarcely have missed LSB. Coming from humble beginnings as a promoter and DJ, Luke got his first breaks via solid releases on the likes of Bingo, Demand, Integral and Spearhead before catching the attention of Soul:R chief Marcus Intalex. Since then he’s been responsible for DRS smash The View and a host of other solid tracks for some of the biggest labels in the scene.
So with his place in D&B cemented, clearly the time felt right for a full length outing, bringing us to this month’s release of the long tipped Content LP. From the unusually detailed and personal (and un-hyperbolic for that matter) press release accompanying the album, it’s clear that Luke has striven not just to write a collection of beats and strap them together as an album, but to come up with a coherent body of music that has some shared meaning. That vision really shines through, and fans of the producer’s previous work will definitely find plenty to enjoy here.
Content is packed full of deceptively simple but ultimately really evocative pieces of music, and some surprising choices compared to the stock “deep roller” sound that LSB has made his name on. From the profound and moving downbeat hip-hop of Sense vox’d Pandora through the moody jazz influences of Circle and into the hypnotic progression of Sketches For My Sweetheart there’s a real sense of a producer pushing his own creative envelope, with rich and varied rewards.
Even on the album’s more predictable outings there’s little to fault; The View gets a fantastic follow up as DRS and Tyler Daley return for the equally sublime Missing You, and tracks like The Optimist and Capture My Heart prove that LSB has in no way lost his touch for penning solid vibesy rollers.
Sadly the album comes against the backdrop of Luke suffering from a degenerative eye disease which has already severely impaired his vision and threatens to eventually leave him completely blind. That experience has surely informed the melancholy beauty present on Content, from the understated eye-test influenced artwork to the tracks themselves, and possibly proves some of the old adages about suffering for one’s art; here’s hoping Luke’s talents aren’t robbed from the scene by further issues with his sight. Content is out now on vinyl, CD and digital from the Soul:R store.
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