Forbidden Society – Monger Remix Contest

As he gears up for an album release in September, Forbidden Society is giving budding producers the chance to be a part of the release with a remix competition! The best remix will be featured on the album and the winner will also receive a free copy of the album and a free t-shirt. Can’t say fairer than that really. Check out the original track below and head over here for full details of the contest.

Alex Seva – Era / Twisted [Deep Field Audio]

Alex Seva brings his brand of dark, snarling drum & bass to Deep Field Audio for their 6th single. Era opens up with half-time drums and ominous, brooding growls before dropping into precise, rolling percussion and a gargling, industrial reese line. Twisted keeps the tone pretty grimey but palces the emphasis on heavy kicks and snares with the bass taking a back seat.

Check out the clips below and grab this one from your favourite digital outlet now!

Mav – Sounds of the Deep [Scientific Records]

Mav drops his debut album for Scientific Records, featuring a selection of melody driven D&B tunes and some big remixes to boot. Asides from terrific compositions with tons of character, the album also features a couple of DJ friendly genre-hopping tracks, with Makati Oasis dropping down to a cheeky house-tempo bridge and Trigger the Rabbit flirting with bouncy breaks for an interlude from it’s D&B verses.

Elsewhere there’s a fantastic future-funk amen workout on Break Is The Legend and soaring arpeggios aplenty on The Dolphin and the Bassline. Remix-wise, highlights include Chris.SU’s rolling dancefloor remix of Me Against The Machine, Seba’s deep atmospheric relick of Between Heaven and the Deep Blue Sea and Bungle’s super chilled remix of Skylines. Check out the tracks below and grab this one on vinyl or digital now!

Gridlok & Prolix – Slingshot Remix [Project Trendkill]

Slighshot was undoubtedly one of the highlights of Gridlok & Prolix’s 2013 Project Trendkill LP so the news that it’s getting a cheeky remix will surely be welcomed by connoisseurs of rowdy time D&B bangers everywhere. The new mix doesn’t disappoint either, taking the memorable riff work of the original and amping it up with a new set of filtering and some energetic drum edits. Check it out below and grab it from your favourite digital outlet now.

Tiuu – All Good Things [Blu Mar Ten Music]

Blu Mar Ten Music continue their catalogue of top notch leftfield electronica with a new single from Russian producer/singer Tiiu. Fans of Synkro’s brand of “is it Dubstep, is it D&B or is it a film soundtrack” type beats will definitely appreciate the work on show here, but that’s not to say it’s a copycat job. Oozing atmosphere with its reverb drenched pads and natural sounding percussion, All Good Things is so slow as to be practically ambient, and fantastic for it. The ghostly vocal echoes are a particularly deft touch in amongst the tapestry of sounds.

Tiiu teams up with fellow Russian producer Faib to craft a slightly more beat driven Dubstep composition on the flip; the same warm atmospheres are employed here but with a little more insistence to the drums than on the positively soporific pace of the A side. Simple but effective bassline reverberations reminiscent of Distance’s growling, sludgey style provide a nice counterpoint to the more musical elements of the tune.

Check out the clips below and grab this one on digital from Blu Mar Ten’s online store now.

Detail – Detached / Shiver [Vandal Records]

Vandal Records continue their seemingly endless onslaught of releases with a new single from Detail. Detached opens the salvo with epic synths and marching drums on the intro giving way to rapid fire bass stabs and sawtooth moans set to a staccato drum line with tons of energy and character.

Shiver takes things a bit more minimal but continues the punchy vibe with both beats and bass hitting like quick punches to the gut, in and out before you know where you are. The rhythm of the track strikes a nice balance between angularity and roll, never feeling abrupt but never soothing either. Check out the clips below and grab this one from your favourite digital outlet now.

Superior Selectionz – Cold Heart EP [Lockdown Recordings]

Superior Selectionz latest release for Lockdown Recordings sounds like a love letter to the sounds of Techstep a decade ago; the influence of early Ed Rush & Optical and Photek records can be heard in the darkness and groove of the compositions on show here, but updated with the modern production tricks of 2014 to great effect.

The titular Cold Heart is all about the punchy, memorable bass hook and crisp breakbeats, while Eyes Open oozes atmosphere from the pads and backs it up with a simple but effective set of bassline modulations. Backlash takes things back to the old school with a classic rave-stab riff and Mercury rounds off the EP with a deep, subby roller. All four tracks show an emphasis on groove over hyperactive detailing, setting them against the mould of some modern techstep D&B.

Check out the clips below and look out for the tracks dropping from May 26th.

Enei – Goliath EP [Critical Music]

Enei returns to Critical Music with a great new EP featuring six dynamic new cuts straddling various styles of D&B. Goliath opens the EP with a jungle-break workout imbued with a great DRS verse and some nice bass and FX stabs. The Artefact proves an entirely different beast, opening up with soundscapey pads and a tribal kick beat and evolving into a morphing landscape of bass and breaks which seems to have been crafted for love rather than any kind of dancefloor sensibilities, and is all the better for it.

Prometheus on the other hand certainly has both feet planted firmly on the dancefloor; bass swells and a hypnotic melody build tension on the intro before we’re hit with a stomping beat and a fuzzy bassline. While possibly the least interesting composition on the EP, there’s no arguing with the heft and groove of it.

Hotplate switches things up once again, keeping the trademark Enei eery synths but placing the emphasis on frenetic loop chopping and drum edits a plenty; imagine Stray’s recent material for Exit but with a techier edge. Woodrunner slaps down an infectious full-roll beat with some interesting percussion samples over a simple but effective sub line. Last but by no means least, Get Low combines hefty sub drops with a plodding trap-style drum line, filling in the gaps with skittering jungle loops.

Check out the clips of the EP below and head over to Surus to grab the EP on vinyl or digital now! Worldwide release will follow from June 9th.

Forbidden Society – Criminal EP Part 1 [Forbidden Society Recordings]

Those who like their D&B on the gnarly side should already be familiar with Czech producer Forbidden Society and his uncompromising brand of darkstep beats. His latest release continues in a similar vein, with four new tracks of heavy hitting bass and beats.

Criminal opens the salvo with a half-time intro and a catchy vocal sample before a full tempo drop featuring heavy kicks and snares. Monger switches things up with a more spacious beat, filling in the space with some seriously aggressive bassline action.

Stress has unfortunately been the subject of some animosity on the part of Receptor (drama fans can read Receptor’s post here and Forbidden Society’s reply here) but it still proves a blasting slice of glitched up hardstep D&B. Finally the EP closes out with Donny’s absolutely belting remix of Heavy Metal Tank, featuring his trademark metallic snares and a monstrous morphing bassline.

Check out the clips below and grab the EP at your favourite digital outlet now.

Quentin Hiatus – Seppuku / Save Me [fld.Study]

Hot on the heels of his debut LP for Free Love Digi, Quentin Hiatus treats us to more deep rhythms on sister label fld.Study. Seppuku on the A side pushes all the right “dark roller” buttons with nice atmospherics laid on top of a solid bassline and a crisp break.

Over on the flip Save Me takes things leftfield with a glitched up snares and rapid panning giving the song tons of character. Check out the clips below and watch out for this one dropping from May 26th at all good digital outlets.