The Green Man gives us a sneak preview of his forthcoming double album Sound Power, due next month on his long-running Basswerk imprint. Soulful vibes abound on both tracks, from the melodic dubby jungle of Word Sound Power through to the shuffling stepper beats and euphoric chord stabs and hyper-speed ragga raps of Face The Father. Old school beats from a legend of the scene, grab these from your favourite outlet now!
M:Pathy returns with his second single for Terabyte, delivering darkness in spades with a pair of leftfield half-steppers that carry a distinctly “Room 2” vibe. The Grind combines heavy hitting kicks and sub growl with some superb glitchy texture; heavily reverbed snares, static and a skittering percussion line all fade in and out of the mix to create some serious atmosphere.
Over on the flip Meditate goes in even harder, laying down some super compressed kick drums, a pitched down vocal and an absolutely rumbling sub line. Make no mistake, this is the sound of Birmingham; grimey, industrial and oppressive. Watch out for these dropping on June 24th.
Russian super-producer Enei returns with his first fresh cuts for Critical since the release of the excellent Machines LP. Opener Liberation sees him team up with Welsh rising star Emperor to craft a tidy stepper with some serious bass heft; warm, squelchy low end and that classic helter-skelter Enei percussion are both on show here to great effect.
Not content to merely tread familiar territory, track two immediately sees a switch of styles, with Enei teaming up with Chimpo to deliver a track that’s distinctly Dub Phizix-esque. Huge sub, half-time kicks and a distinctly trap influence all pervade the mix on Headtop.
Elsewhere on the EP Sam Wills provides some nice vocals on the dark but soulful roller Circles, and we get a couple of straight up techstep belters in the form of Mosquito (with its rather appropriately insect-like bass swoops) and the hard hitting percussion-led vibes of The Bonebreaker. Check out the whole EP below and look out for the release on June 24th.
BIOS Recordings returns from hiatus with an LP bringing together 13 tracks from a variety of artists straddling the styles of drum & bass. While there are a handful of darker tracks in there (such as the excellent Chatter by Survey) for the most part the LP leans towards the rolling liquid end of the spectrum, with highlights coming in the form of the Bukem-esque Heaven Sent and the distinctly eastern infused vibes of Sirocco.
Elsewhere NotioN turn in a great atmospheric stepper with Below the Down and Savage Rehab & Physics team up to deliver a classic roller with some seriously tasty sub wobble in action. Random Movement also delivers a nice little number which heads for slightly darker territory than his usual fair while still retaining the soulful elements that mark his production out so well.
Unfortunately there are no soundcloud previews online but you can hear a mix of all the tracks on the album over on Mixcloud. Grab your copy on vinyl and CD now from all good retailers and look out for the digital release in early July.
E-Motion bring us their 19th release from upcoming producer Virtue; admittedly not a name I’m any too familiar with. The man knows his stuff though, as evidenced by the crisp, incandescent reese action and catchy hooks of Forget You, which lulls you into a false sense of security with a piano riff before slapping some serious bass down.
Over on the flip Finest Days heads for more liquid territory; the vocal mix felt a bit cheesy for my taste but the instrumental version will definitely be going into my record bag as a solid slice of rolling liquid funk. Check out the beats below and watch out for the release dropping June 24th.
As Big Dada wind up for the release of Congo Natty’s new album Jungle Revolution on July 1st they’ve begun to release a few sneak previews of tracks from the album, the first of which was UK Allstars. Now it seems we’re getting treated to an excellent remix from Machinedrum, who refixes the track into an energetic juke/jungle hybrid packed full of syncopation and warm ragga vibes. Check out the remix (and the upfront original) below and look out for this remix dropping on the Jah Warriors single.
To celebrate the upcoming release of the Judgement Day EP on BSE’s Blackout imprint (and because they love to tease) Telekinesis are giving away Eyes Closed via their Facebook page. As we’ve come to expect from the Slovenian duo it’s a slickly produced slice of neurofunk with an infectious hook and some serious bass texture. Check it out below and grab yourself a tidy freebie!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dwiaqBcnGA]
Following hot on the heels of his excellent release for Blu Mar Ten Music, Thing has put together an hour long mix featuring some great cuts from the deep, dark end of the D&B spectrum. Including tracks from his own catalogue alongside selections from Stray, Clarity, Mtwn, Skeptical and Ruffhouse, it doesn’t get much grittier than this. Brooding halfstep lovers should definitely give this a listen.
Avantgarde Recordings returns with their third release which features some tasty beats from producers around the globe. First up Dabs gives the remix treatment to Eastcolours’ I Don’t Know Why, combining some tidy low end growl with a nice crisp break and some subtle vocal echoes.
For the second track US producers Quadrant and Iris team up to deliver a really nice slice of sci-fi influenced techstep, evoking favourable comparisons with old Virus Recordings material. Trippy, atmospheric pads echo in and out of the mix on the intro before the main break drops with some throbbing low end. The use of spoken samples in the mix is a nice touch too, adding to the cinematic quality of the track. Look out for these dropping June 10th.
With a promising opening salvo of releases from label owner Jade alongside the likes of Mindscape, BSE, Neonlight and Mefjus, I had high hopes for Eatbrain from the beginning. Their last release from Telekinesis really raised the bar though, and their 7th release from Teddy Killerz continues in that veign; right now, Eatbrain is the label for big, angry neurofunk.
The titular Violence opens the EP in style with some serious bass riffage and a pounding drum line combined with some subtle touches of sound design and an insistent hook. 2SHY steps up to provide vocals for the near obligatory MC-imbued track Blackout, but despite the fairly generic vocal the track doesn’t disappoint, providing heaps of warped neuro bass, another cheeky wee hook and a slight swung kick-led beat.
Newcomers Mizo & Zendi come to the table for the third track; Bad Omen kicks the atmosphere up a notch on the intro with some pretty epic synth swells building the track up over filtered breaks before a huge drop that brings to mind Task Horizons excellent work on the Evolved EP. The break even features a melancholy guitar solo before some apt cinematic sampling and another huge drop. Finally Jacob sees the duo stripping things back to a heavy, swung beat with little more than a kick and a snare, and a whopping great beast of a bass riff.
Watch out for this one dropping June 10th on vinyl and June 24th on digital.