Classic Track: Spider Net – Awake

In the mid-90’s, the sound of Jungle/Drum & Bass was forever changed with the arrival of the Techstep style, showcased brilliantly by Spider Net’s Awake. Spider Net was an alias used only once — for this particular release — by none other than No U-Turn label boss and collaborator, Nicholas “Nico” Sykes.

A fat B side by any standard, Awake is a 1996 jolt of Techstep that stomps heavy and hard. The rough and rude bass here is characteristic of the No U-Turn sound for the time, and is quite honestly one of my favourite sounds in the world. Protean drum sampling establishes a decisively wicked groove comprised of three break flavors. Sparse samplings of complementary sounds provide just enough atmosphere to round out this monster of a classic.

No U-Turn’s catalogue boasts a heap of bangers like these, making it easy to see how the label’s trademark style indelibly marked the scene.

Written by Luke Kessler

Premiere: SD – Ice Cubes

Delta9 celebrate their 50th release this month with a massive various artists compilation featuring some of the label’s biggest tunes yet, so naturally we had to give them a hand hyping this one up! Today’s exclusive comes from Italian producer SD who follows up his previous releases for Fokuz and The Dreamers with a full roll neuro smasher in the form of Ice Cubes. Powered along by heavyweight drums, massive sub and a dangerous metallic synth lead, this one is 100% certified banger. Look for the full album dropping March 30th!


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Premiere: Freqax & Kaiza – Electrik

Fragmented are back with more dancefloor destruction this month and we’ve got the exclusive on Freqax & Kaiza’s fantastically wonky Electrik. Built on a backbone of punchy neuro bass and hard hitting kicks and snares, the tune’s character really comes from the twisted vocal cut ups and helter skelter percussion and FX hits; different elements are constantly pouncing in and out of the mix and the result is just beautifully chaotic. Look for this alongside three other weapons from Freqax and friends dropping Nov 17th.

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Classic Track: DaVIP & Encode – Vamonos

Lifted sublabel Breed 12 Inches has been responsible for some absolute stompers since it’s inception in 2008, the biggest and badest of which is undoubtedly DaVIP & Encode’s appropriately named Vamonos.

If you’re looking for subtlety or soul then this one probably isn’t for you. If you’re looking for a track that will slay floors every time however, this is the one. The first time I heard this track the response was pretty much “fuck off!”, and it still hits just as hard now…absolutely slamming!