Karl O’Connor aka Techno producer Regis serves up a deep, dark mix full of classic cuts from the likes of Klute and Source Direct. Classic techstep vibes mixed by a man who clearly knows his way around the decks…check it out below.
After hearing the sampler for the album a few weeks ago I couldn’t wait to get my grubby mits on the full copy of The Draft. The handful of tracks on the sampler held the promise of an album that would be far more than just 12 tracks of back to back drum & bass, and the body of work delivers on that promise in spades.
From the epic, beatless serenity of intro track Sober Light of Day through the eastern vibes of Turnaround and into the deep liquid and unusual vocals of Seperation, Klute’s varied listening on the “creative vacation” he took before writing this album shines through in the compositions. Hints of everything from Brian Eno to Pink Floyd are present in the music, and some of the tracks like Last Words and Our Pretty Lives accomplish a kind of psychedelic texture seldom heard in electronic music (and I’m not talking about the cheap “trippy” psychedelia of psy-trance either).
Elsewhere Klute delves into beautiful, playful IDM on House of Maciver, takes a few tips from the garage school of melody on My Black And White and explores deep, soulful liquid on Gaze Into Your Eyes. There’s even space for a couple of good old fashioned hard-edged rollers in the form of Sick Drive and Best Bits Not Over. Overall the record not only sets a new benchmark for variety and quality within a D&B album but it proves that the genre still has so much space for exploration; that high tempo and traditional breakbeat patterns do not pigeon-hole an artist stylistically.
Check out clips from the album below, pre-order a copy on CD, vinyl or digital from Surus and watch out for the full release on Monday.
Klute explores his deeper side on his sampler for forthcoming album The Draft. Turnaround heads straight for deep liquid territory, characterised by tight, syncopated beats and epic, atmospheric synth work, with a warm sub line taking a back seat to the rest of the composition. Superficial Lover also delivers a tight slice of full-roll D&B, soft vocal snippets echoing over the melody as insistent breaks drive the tune.
Where the sampler really excels though are on the tracks where the traditional D&B structure is completely eschewed. Klute teams up with Naomi Pryor on the weird, psychedelic Give It All; eastern sounding samples and a bassline that could well have been made with a didgeridoo combine with trance-inducingly rhythmic percussion and some fantastic vocal work from Pryor. Perhaps the best track of all though is the lush, downtempo ambience of Birdland, taking natural percussion and sweeping synths to an entirely chilled out sonic height.
Check out the clips below and watch out for the sampler dropping September 30th, with the full LP following on October 14th.
Our review of Sun & Bass continues with coverage of the second half of the week. Check out part one here if you missed it, otherwise read on…
With less than a month to go until Sun & Bass hits the beautiful island of Sardinia the organisers have delivered another quality mix in their podcast series from Dutch DJ/producer Nymfo. Packed full of tasty beats from the likes of Ulterior Motive, Klute, Maduk & Rido, the mix traverses the many styles of D&B with the deftness that only a decade of DJing brings. Check it out and grab yourself a free download below.
Klute warms up for the impending release of his seventh full length with a cheeky sampler featuring a couple of seriously heavyweight rollers. On The A side Klute delivers an old school reese-led dancefloor beast, hopped up on hard snares and baying for blood. This one will be wrecking the floors at Sun & Bass this year methinks!
Over on the flip Invaderz give the VIP treatment to Take A Breath, giving the classic (and out of print) amen smasher a nice polish for 2013. Watch out for both of these dropping on vinyl and digital June 24th.
Klute gets behind the decks to deliver the 14th entry in the Sun & Bass podcast series, mixing up a fine selection of beats from Critical, CIA, Subtitles and Innerground alongside a healthy spread of tunes from his own Commercial Suicide imprint. Techy vibes with a hint of depth and a wealth of character. Check out the mix below and watch out for the Sun & Bass lineup dropping very soon!
Today’s mixtape selection is an oldie but a goodie from Ben UFO for the well established Boiler Room mix series. Digging deep in the crates, Ben comes correct with a selection of classic jungle and 90s D&B from the likes of DJ Die, Lemon D, Doc Scott and Klute. One for the old school heads!
So much quality Drum & Bass has been hitting the speakers lately that we felt a little round up of highlights was in order!
First up, Techstep godfather and Metro Recordings head-honcho Matrix has teamed up with up and comer InsideInfo to produce Quattro and they’ve come up with something quite special. A sparkly, twinkling melody builds the song up during the intro leading up to a firm drop and some brilliant moving bass synths, with the flashes of high end keeping things sounding bright. Ice Beam on the flip on the other hand is a solid dancefloor roller with a healthy growl to it. Watch out for the release on Mar 12th.
Shogun sister label SGN:LTD have got a brand new 12″ from Technicolour & Komatic who have delivered a rough amen roller in the form of We Were Always One, also out Mar 12th.
The official video for Sabre, Stray & Halogenics feat. Frank Carter III – Oblique has dropped this week. The song has been receiving props left, right and centre and is probably the best piece of deep liquid dnb that’s been released in the last 5 years. We don’t throw around words like “essential” lightly but this tune is just that. Look out for the release on Critical coming Feb 27th, backed with a tasty garage remix from Synkro.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fffHfyie9tw]
Just today Commercial Suicide have put up the previews for SUICIDE062. Ulterior Motive have a grimey stepper on the A side but the real highlight here is the Klute VIP of Nymfo‘s Resolve. Bad tune!
Last but certainly not least, Glasgow D&B stalwarts Symbiosis have just released Episode 4 of their show on Radio Magnetic, featuring 2 hours of top quality beats including a guest mix from Edinburgh DJ and Special Records chief, Special Ed. Check it out over here.