Portsmouth producer Kusp is someone we’ve had an eye on for a while. Through a slow trickle of releases for Authentic, Context and now Lynx’s Detail Recordings imprint, he’s slowly been carving a rep as a versatile producer capable of slinging traditional 2-step rollers and bassy halftime growlers alike. As he gears up for his debut album on Detail, we asked Kusp to give us the rundown of his top 5 halftime cuts. Check it out…
Today’s exclusive comes from a special new project on Paradise Lost Recordings entitled The Gates of Charon. Featuring a mixture of D&B and experimental electronica, the album is billed as an original soundtrack and features a strong sci-fi concept, deftly weaved by a variety of producers including Fre4knc, HLZ, Survey, Boot, Rakoon, DYL and more.
For our premiere we picked gnarly amen banger Confrontation Pt. II from Canadian breakbeat heroes Gremlinz and Jesta. Short but sweet, the track builds atmosphere via terse sound designs before dropping into a frenzy of breakbeats, but as soon as that chaotic drop arrives it’s gone, as the track fades out and into the next part of the story. Check it out below and watch out for the album coming Jun 22nd.
Counterpoint continue their excellent Counter x Culture series this month with a slamming new single from Romanian beatsmith Brusten, and we’ve got the exclusive on Transvision. Keeping things dark and grimey, this one is a proper driving tech stomper, full of energy without any danger of veering into tearout territory. Sick tune! Look for this dropping June 18th at all good digital outlets.
Om Unit & Sam Binga’s irregular BUNIT series of releases continues to be an absolute pleasure with the fourth volume now available via their usual Bandcamp store. As with previous volumes this is a complete free-for-all in terms of patterns and influences, vaguely within the 170 arena but certainly making no concessions to D&B formulas or trends.
From grimey trapped-out opener Shut The Window through the absolutely devastating cut-up jungle smasher Self Triggered, out into the spacey, driving weirdness of Never Been To Berghain and finishing up with the extremely acid-infused (and baffling titled) No Chairs, this is scattershot, heavyweight and generally fantastic. Exactly what you’d expect from Binga and Unit then really.
Vinyl copies of this are moving fast so hit up Unearthed Sounds to grab the wax or head to the BUNIT Bandcamp to get a digital copy straight from the source.
China’s Mettasonic imprint is back in our premiere spotlight today with a new track from their forthcoming Metta Muzik Vol. 2 compilation from Beijing producer SPYFI. Bringing together stripped back beats, amen interludes, and spoken vocal segments, the track has a wicked progression culminating in a bright and melodic end section. Experimental business! Look for this dropping June 21st via the label’s Bandcamp page.
Something a bit different today as we take a look at the latest work from UK producer Agents of Rush. Not many producers have the kind of output and skill to record mixes entirely comprised of their own compositions, but that’s exactly what we have here; better still the mixes are a blend of live hardware and software manipulation, and better still again there are two of them weighing in at a total of two and a half hours!
Style-wise AoR is drawing very much on vintage D&B influences, with hints of 90s jungle and the classic Metalheadz sound shining through all over the place. Atmospheric, break-focused and very much worthy of your attention – check them out on his Soundcloud or grab the downloads via his Bandcamp, available on a “pay what you like” basis.
Today’s premiere treads a fine line between tech and liquid, with German producer Tweakz serving up a powerful roller with loads of sub weight, subtle amen layering and hypnotic top end melodies. Sick tune! Watch out for this dropping at Beatport on Jun 15th, with all other stores following two weeks later.
Italian producer Qua Rush delivers our 70th guest mix featuring possibly the most dub-heavy selection yet! Comprised almost exclusively of his own beats, remixes and bootlegs, this is an absolutely sublime mix of rolling flavours from a producer that clearly has a very bright future ahead. Watch out for some of these tunes coming soon to Delta9 and other imprints…in the meantime, enjoy the mix!
As always you can check out the mix via Soundcloud below or head to Youtube or iTunes to stream. You can also grab a download from Google Drive.
Corrupted is in our premiere spotlight today alongside frequent collaborator J. Nomad delivering a wicked slice of bass-heavy halftime beats for his new EP on Halogen Music! Serious groove on this one; check it out and hit up the Halogen Bandcamp to pre-order ahead of the June 11th release.
The Dreamers return to our premiere spotlight with Italian producer Frame back for a second EP, following up his excellent Natural Sound EP from last year. Primitive Jungle brings together classic breaks with a pallet of faintly neolithic soundbytes for a playful slice of D&B that at once sounds faintly retro and very 2018. Wicked stuff! Look for this alongside at all good digital stores from June 14th.