Competition – Win Tickets to See Loxy @ Hidden!

dubclinique

 

It’s competition time once again – we’ve teamed up with Circa and Dub Clinique to give away two tickets to the last ever D&B rave at London’s Hidden nightclub. Sadly Hidden will soon be closing its doors for the last time but before then original badman Loxy will be giving the venue a send off alongside sets from a host of other names including B2B sets from Double O& Theory and Threshold & Jamma.

To be in with a chance of winning all you have to do is like the DNB Dojo Facebook page and send us an email to dnbdojo@gmail.com with the subject line ‘Circa Loxy Competition’. We’ll draw the two lucky winners on Tuesday Jan 28th. Get involved!

You can check out all the details of the event on Facebook here and for a taste of what you’ll hear on the night, check out promo mixes from Jamma & Threshold and Demented Soul below.

Q&A – Safire [Plasma Collaborative]

When the debut single from brand new Melbourne crew Plasma Collaborative landed in the inbox we were suitably impressed by not just the tunes but the presentation and ethos of the outfit. To find out more we caught up with Safire about the collective’s ideas and their plans for world domination over the coming year.

DNB Dojo: Plasma Collaborative is clearly a group with many talents and many ambitions, can you tell us a bit about how the collective came together and who does what?

Safire: Plasma Collaborative is a creative platform that allows artists & musicians to express their creative works to the world. We wanted to create something new that isn’t afraid to takes risks in a new environment. We are a group of friends – artists, musicians, audio heads, fashion designers etc. from Melbourne.

The project is driven by Safire & Finna. We’ve been orchestrating tours and events in Australia for almost a decade. Through our events company BBA we’ve been lucky to develop relationships with a lot of great people and has been one of the major factors we’ve been able to get a project like this off the ground, having the global support we do. Our two closest partners are Morph & Tobias J. We’ve always seen so much talent around us and needed a way to bring it all together, so we decided to form the collaborative as this would give us a way to expose our works to the world. The concept was to create a collective made up of various components…A (Record label), Apparel (Products hand made in Australia & locally produced), Digital Media Production (Music Videos, Audio Tutorials, Sample Packs etc.) and a studio facility based in Melbourne. This kind of platform would give us freedom to work within our creative sector…now that it exists the scope is endless moving forward.

DD: The teasers of the first single are sounding enticing, and you’ve netted some big names for a new collective. How did the single come together?

S: We always had an intention for Plasma Audio’s inception to be one of very high standard. We’ve worked with Icicle quite a lot over the years through promoting events in Australia and couldn’t think of a better artist to help us kick off our label, he is very aware & aligned with our direction & intentions. We knew we’d get exactly what wanted, so I hit him up regarding a remix and he suggested I send over something over. Myself, Amoss & Gusto had just finished up a tune which had lyrics referring to ‘Plasma’ and the ‘4th state of matter’ so it made sense for Icey to remix 4th State!

DD: Can we expect some home grown singles from Australian producers in the future?

S: Yes definitely, if the quality is there then for sure. Plasma Audio isn’t necessarily about representing music from the south pacific though. There have been a few labels pop up over the years that have had the concept of exposing music from from a continent that isn’t quite as active in the drum and bass world as some but that isn’t not our focus to be honest. We want to represent production that aligns with our concept & vision regardless of where its from…we just want to have a certain standard representing our sound and through the relationships we’ve developed over the years we’re lucky enough to have access to artists from around the globe from our inception.

DD: You’ve already notched up some fantastic videos for The Upbeats and Subtitles Music. Do you feel the music video is underused or under-represented in the D&B scene?

S: Definitely, I think music videos and media production is very important nowadays. In my opinion is shows extra effort has been put toward a label’s productions. I feel it’s important to show that you’re doing these kinds of things if you want to set yourself apart from the rest in some way. The music videos were created by one of our artists ‘Tobias J who represents his own media production company Defnative. A lot of the credit goes out to him for all the video productions on the Plasma website. He is a talent and expect to see a lot of work from him popping up throughout various audio and visual scenes throughout the world.

DD:  What’s in the pipeline for 2014?

S: We’re currently wrapping up music for 002, and 003. 002 will be another 12″ from artists we’ve worked in the past through BBA. We’re looking at doing an EP for 003 which will feature artists from around the globe. It might not be the case with every single release, but for some of them we plan to include a range of artistic products relative to the release such as limited edition vinyl sleeve, art prints & t-shirts etc.

We have a new range of apparel coming including new t-shirt designs, a jacket and various other apparel products. We’ve also aligned with various audio companies around the globe such as hardware and software developers. We’ll be demo-ing some of their products and making production videos giving insight to new products from boutique analogue equipment to our own audio sample packs including a Plasma Audio Virus TI Soundset & even our own acoustic treatment products. We’re lucky to have a wide range of talent & artists working with us to cover a huge range of fields giving us the opportunity to immerse in various fields.

Music will be at the forefront of our agenda although apparel, digital media, studio work & various other creative avenues will no doubt be providing us with plenty to do over the years to come!


Check out the new Plasma Collab single from Amoss, Safire, Gamma and Icicle below and watch out for the release dropping next month.

Jaquan – Telepath [Free Download]

When the likes of Om Unit, Doc Scott and Fracture are giving you props you know you’re doing something right. That’s the case for Jaquan, who’s latest freebie Telepath shows an aptitude for the kind of heavy hitting halfstep that has been rocking dark basement rooms in the D&B scene for the last few years.

The tune is a masterclass in hefty yet simple bass and intricate percussion, and is moody and deadly in equal measure. Check it out and grab yourself a free download below.

Rusty K / Centra – Riot / Collide [Breed 12 Inches]

Lifted Music sister label Breed 12 Inches return after a lengthy hiatus with a storming double-A side from two producers who are sure to become big news over the coming year. Rusty K steps up on Riot, hitting that signature Breed sound in a big way with a huge synth lead and equally massive warped bass action; full on main room destruction.

The flip comes from Centra, who some of you may recognise from his collaborations with Emperor. Collide heads for darker territory, stripping things back to drums, bass and minimal atmospherics. For all this may lack in catchy synth leads it more than makes up for it with punchy, heaving hitting snares and an evil sounding bassline. As we’ve come to expect from the Lifted/Breed camp, this is absolutely essential neurofunk business. Watch out for the release dropping at all good digital outlets from Jan 27th.

Underground Sonics LP [Critical]

Critical Music are back with a vengeance with the Underground Sonics LP, a various artists compilation straddling all the styles of Drum & Bass via 18 tracks of cutting edge 170 BPM production from the label’s extended family. The compilation sees many artists exploring new territory away from their usual styles, to interesting effect.

Dub Phizix turns in an unusually mellow and unusually rolling beat in the form of The Clock Ticks, while Ivy Lab up the ante compared to their previous releases with a tougher and more energetic beat paired with the musicality we’ve come to know and love from the trio. Foreign Concept teams up with DRS to turn in the dark, skanking, hip-hop influenced halfstep of Falling Stars while Sam Binga and Redders blend trap, footwork and ragga to great effect on Lef Dem.

Elsewhere we’re treated to two surprising collaborations from tech heavyweights, with InsideInfo and Mefjus turning in a surprisingly minimal slice of tribal tech with Repentance while Noisia & The Upbeats put aside their usual aggression for a hypnotic deep liquid roller on Little Fling. Fans of brutal tech need not worry though – Stealth and Phace are both on hand to provide the dancefloor darkness, as are Emperor & Centra with the huge digital exclusive The Saboteur.

Enei and Kasra turn in a selection of characteristically heavy hitting beats, while Stray and Halogenix look to the experimental/hyperactive end of the spectrum with their individual takes on frantic drum syncopation with a footwork bent. Finally Blocks and Escher give Enei’s Thinline the old school tech workover with a huge beat and some serious menace on the low end.

Overall it’s hard to argue with this as the first essential release of 2014. Check out the tracks below and grab yourself a copy now from the Critical Surus store.

Shudder – Lines

Special Ed’s brand new Shudder alias is one of many up and coming artists to keep an eye on over 2014. His debut tune Lines should pique the interest of fans of the deeper side of D&B, employing interesting percussive elements, deep sub, melancholy piano and a nicely sampled vocal to great effect. Currently unsigned, we at the Dojo certainly hope this gets a proper release! Check it out below and keep an eye on the Shudder Soundcloud for more.

Jay 5ive & Kromestar – Wishful Thinking (Om Unit Remix) [Free Download

Om Unit delivers us a late festive treat in the form of his remix of Jay 5ive & Kromestar’s Wishful Thinking. Much sought after since being featured on Om Unit’s XLR8R podcast back in 2011, the track features a deep half-step groove and massive, spacey synth leads, and is very reminiscent of the tracks on the Aeolian EP. Check out the beat below and head to Om Unit’s Bandcamp for a free download.

Duoscience – Dawn / Declarations of Love [E-Motion Records]

E-Motion start their year with a pair of musical, funky liquid rollers from Duoscience. Dawn employs the classic liquid tropes of warm sub bass, catchy hooks and an emphasis on melody, making great use of harmonics to provide a really rich tone to the lead lines.

Declarations of Love heads for similar territory, with strings and guitar taking the foreground over a background of crisp, rolling breaks. Check out the clips below and watch out for the release dropping from Jan 20th at all good digital outlets.

The Upbeats – Predator [Subhuman]

The Upbeats touch down on Dieselboy’s Subhuman imprint with a monstrous slice of drumstep in the form of Predator. All caution and subtlety has been thrown to the wind here in favour of snarling bass danger and an absolutely stomping half-time kick/snare drum beat. Check it out below and grab a copy from your favourite digital outlet now!

Win a Set on the Valve Sound System!

The legendary Valve Sound System rolls into Leeds on March 1st where Dillinja, Breakage and N-Type will be taking to the decks to apply some serious bass pressure. If you’ve ever fancied rocking the decks on this impressive rig, now’s your chance, as Valve are running a competition to win a set at the night.

All you have to do is record a 30 minute mix, upload it to the Soundcloud Dropbox for the competition and then email the download link to djcomp@vlvmusic.com. For those of you less musically inclined, there’s a seperate competition to win tickets to the event – just email luccompetition@vlvmusic.com with the message ’96k OF BASS for your chance to win.