Midlands-based label Terabyte Records deliver their fourth release on April 1st, and this time it’s a a pair of dark, brooding techie numbers from newcomer M.Pathy. The appropriately titled Grit gets things going with a nice little stepper, while Stutter on the flip goes in with a little more roll on the beat and some bass growl. If you like your drum & bass tight, gloomy and stripped back then look no further!
2013 is looking like quite the year for Mefjus; hot on the heels of announcements about releases for Neosignal and Virus comes the news that his debut 12″ for Critical is about to drop! The Austrian rising star has delivered two slices of crisp, tight techstep, and is busy cementing his position in the scene nicely.
Signalz on the A side delivers an impressive roller with superb drum machine percussion and some meaty bass, while Cypher sees him team up with label head-honcho Kasra to deliver a tidy stepper with some nice filtered low end. Definitely tunes you’ll be hearing again and again in the coming months!
Berlin-based production duo Survey aren’t a name I’ve come across in my previous travels but their latest release for Protect Audio certainly marks them as one to watch! Grid Sheet starts things off nicely with a dark, gritty vibe which continues over on the flip. Crisp beats and dark, complex but understated bass are the order of the day here. Favourable comparisons can definitely be drawn to the likes of Octane & DLR and Enei.
Check out the beats below and grab yourself a copy, out today!
The first in our series of exclusive mixes for DnB Dojo comes courtesy of blog owner Hex! The mix features a sneak peek at his newest track The Law alongside an hour of the best techstep and neurofunk, including brand new tracks from Telekinesis, Fourward and The Upbeats. The mix is available as a free download, so stream it below and grab a copy from Mediafire! The mix is also available over on Mixcloud.
Tracklist:
Hex – The Law
The Upbeats & Noisia – Creep Out [Non Vogue]
Telekinesis & MC Coppa – Pocket Full of Drops [Eatbrain]
Cause4Concern – Luca (Silent Witness Remix) [C4C]
Ivy Lab – Brat [Critical]
Mikal – The Chant (Rido Remix) [Utopia]
The Upbeats – Diffused [Vision]
Enei & Mefjus – Crawlers [Critical]
The Prototype & MC ID – Blackout [Shogun]
Telekinesis & Concord Dawn – Nightwalkers [Eatbrain]
Neonlight – Frozen Tape (Rregular & Dementia Remix) [Trust in Music]
Inside Info – Sundew [Viper]
Audio & Future Signal – Furyen [Subtitles]
Cause4Concern – Control Freak (Task Horizon Remix) [C4C]
Ewun & Spor – We Dominate [Lifted]
Cause4Concern – Pandemic (Octane & DLR Remix) [C4C]
Naibu & Ena feat. Key – Into The Distance (Break Remix) [Horizons]
Cause4Concern – Jinx [C4C]
BSE & Foreign Beggars – Dawn Of A Dark Day [BSE]
Optiv & BTK – Riptide [Virus]
Neonlight – Computer Music [Lifted]
Jade – Acid Flood [BSE]
Fourward – Street Knowledge [AudioPorn]
Jade – Venom (Mindscape Remix) [Eatbrain]
Memtrix – Mind Control [Breed 12 Inches]
Teddy Killerz & Nphonix – Earth Shaker [Bad Taste]
Joe Ford – City 17 [Bad Taste]
Apex – Malfunction [Trust in Music]
Villem – Splinter In Your Mind (Break Remix) [Ingredients]
A couple of weeks ago leftfield London label Diffrent put out their 15th release from Arkaik. To celebrate, I caught up with label boss Dexta for a quick chat about all things Diffrent and D&B.
DNB Dojo: How do you go about finding artists? Or do they come to you? Diffrent certainly have a knack for finding and releasing tunes that are firmly D&B while being fairly unlike most of the rest of the genre.
Dexta: Thanks!! Well luckily we have a few exclusive artists who we managed to find before we got any real notice based on endless nights on SoundCloud and putting up posts on forums that we’re looking for music etc. Paid off pretty well. With the success of the GiraffeCast we get loads of tunes sent over from all kinds of artists and producers from over the globe and some from Mars, a fair few of these submissions tend to make it into the pink giraffe CD wallet and sometimes even make it onto the Diffrent release schedule. So keep em coming.
DNB Dojo: The latest release from Arkaik seems to move away from the styles of some previous releases (e.g. from Stanza and Fathom Audio) and into the territory of labels like Noisia’s Invisible imprint. Was this a deliberate move, or is it just a case of getting sent good tunes and putting them out?
Dexta: Pardon the obvious pun, but we do like to keep things different. All of our past releases have a big contrast from the flip sides, and each release moves into new grounds, Arkaik’s EP is no exception to this theory. Pete (Arkaik) is a very busy guy, and we try to give him as much freedom and space in the studio so we tend to have a lot of top quality tunes to try and distribute from him. It’s really rewarding now to see the love and attention that he is getting as such a new comer artist to the D&B music scene. I think he suits the label very well and he is part of the foundations here and this comes across in all of his musical output!
DNB Dojo: Have you got anything exciting lined up for 2013? Anything big you wanna tell us about?
Dexta: Well, as we all know 2013 has just began, we’ve about 6-7 releases pretty much ready to unleash, so these will be played and mentioned in our podcast and mixes as much as possible. We’ve got our 3rd birthday party coming up March 22nd at a secret location in East London (tickets are being put on sale now from our website www.diffrentmusic.com). The new website has been put together, we’re planning on setting up a YouTube channel and hopefully construct a life size Giraffe head/neck sculpture! TBC!
DNB Dojo: Any tips for budding producers who’d like to get music out on your label?
Dexta: The bets way of getting music into our speakers is by sending your music over, only if you seriously think it is the right kind of vibe for us, listen to the podcast do some homework, and send us a couple of tracks that we can suck in and debate about… the email is info@diffrentmusic.com
DNB Dojo: What’s the deal with giraffes?
Dexta: There is no deal, but did you know that due to their long neck, the vocal cord is so stretched that the only noises they make are in the Sub Bass frequencies!?
Check out the release below and grab yourself a copy from your favourite store, out now!
Slovenian neurofunk duo Telekinesis have bult up a small but healthy catalogue of releases over the last couple of years on respected labels like Breed 12 Inches, Bad Taste, oBSEssions and Close 2 Death, and their latest release for Jade’s Eatbrain imprint builds on that success aptly.
Opener Pocket Full Of Drops does exactly what it says on the tin, coming hard and heavy with a rolling beat and a hype vocal from MC Coppa. Title track Nightwalkers sees the duo team up with Kiwi stalwart Concord Dawn for a slightly more melodic but no less heavy hitting number, all atmosphere on the build up before heading into a hefty drop with a tasty synth lead that CD fans will be familiar with.
Lich continues the EP nicely with a slice of techy upbeat funk that’s as well paced as it is insistent; the duo have dialed back the bass ever so slightly to a level where this would sit nicely in almost any set but is still sure to get the floor moving.
Last but not least She Wants To Skate brings in a bouncy beat and warped bass with a slightly trancey lead and some nice vocal cut ups. All in all this is an EP that neuro fans will be itching to get their grubby mits on!
Watch out for more previews over the coming weeks.
Today’s classic track selection takes us all the way back to 2002 with Technical Itch‘s seminal techstep belter The Rukus. A reese line that can only be described as “utterly hench”, sci-fi arpeggios and a killer sample combine with a hefty smashed up amen to make up a tune which still absolutely destroys dancefloors today. Oooft!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DB7e_saV68U]
Reso has long been a purveyor of good quality bass music and his output remains a beacon of light in the otherwise often tedious Dubstep scene. The man also knows his drum & bass, as shown in his latest mix for Inverted Audio.
The mix starts off with a nice selection of atmospheric drumfunk from the likes of Paradox and Fanu before building into more techstep oriented tunes from producers like Xtrah and D Minds. It’s nice to hear the chopped up styles making an appearance, and the mixing is superb throughout.
Check it out below and be sure to give Reso’s new LP Tangram a listen too.
Cause4Concern’s releases through their own label have been packing a serious punch of late, and their latest from Task Horizon is no exception. The EP sees Task Horizon giving the remix treatment to two Cause4Concern tunes and two of their own tunes.
Control Freak and Kill The Pain see Task Horizon going in *hard* with bone shaking snares and tearing reese action a plenty. Things are dialed back slightly for Droidz which has a tasty off kilter-ness to it, and the EP is rounded off nicely to the glitched up head banger that is Letting Go. Huge tunes
Look out for the release from your favourite digital outlet, out now!
For the first of our running feature on classic tracks, I’ve picked out one of the first D&B tunes I heard from one of the producers that got me into the music, Black Sun Empire. Taken from their first album Driving Insane, Arrakis epitomises the super-crunchy, atmosphere-laden sounds of 2004 era neurofunk. All brooding pads and sci-fi-esque synths on the build up, and when it drops the dutch trio let loose with a furious break and heavy sub lines under a filtered, twisted reese bass. Epic!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZvOB0emxdM]