Get To Know…Warm Communications

Established back in 2001, US label Warm Communications has long flown the flag for high quality, leftfield Drum & Bass. Early releases from ASC, Equinox, Seba and Banaczech explored deep liquid and drumfunk, with producers experimenting with the less dancefloor oriented styles of D&B.

Looking back over the label’s discography, it seems founder EHL was in no hurry, and still isn’t – despite the labels twelve year tenure it had only notched up a relatively modest release catalogue. The upshot of this however is that the releases are of a consistently high quality, with plenty of genuinely classic and interesting tunes to choose from.

Certain classics stand out from the pack, such as the effortless ambience of ASC’s appropriately titled Highbrow, the epic cinematic drumfunk of Fanu’s Footsteps Concealed and Seba’s brilliantly idosyncratic This Is Our House.

All of this brings us up to the present day and hot on the heels of a sublime 12″ from Seba and Blu Mar Ten comes another solo single from Utopia head honcho Mako. A Break From Ritual explores ruff, tough drum programming with a huge mashup of different breaks kicking in and out of the mix over dark bass stabs and samples pillaged from hip-hop, rave and more.

Over on the flip we’re treated to a deep, dubby roller in the form of What A Little Moonlight Can Do, taking things down a notch but still placing the emphasis on intricate drum programming and unusual sampling. Watch out for this one dropping on vinyl and digital from December 2nd.

Dream Thief 4 LP [Horizons]

Horizons gear up to launch the 4th in their varied Dream Thief LP series, featuring a selection of cuts from the extended label family crossing the styles of drum & bass. Highlights include Amoss’ excellent MC led stepper Bleed It, DLR’s melodic yet techy Trading Places and the percussive intricacies of The Shield from Gremlinz & Rumbleton.

Elsewhere on Detail delivers possibly the most innovative track in the collection with his sublimely creepy Human Trust; glitchy percussion, deft sub throbs and some fantastic atmospherics combine to create a brilliant slice of leftfield 170. Finally for those who like a bit of deep liquid there are some nicely polished cuts from Eveson, Naibu and Nitri.

Vinyl lovers will find the LP available as a 4 track sampler and a further 8 track LP collection, while the digital buyers amongst you will be able to grab the files from all the usual sources. Check out a selection of the tracks below and head to the Horizons Store for previews of the rest and to buy your copy!

Break – Music Is Better [Symmetry]

DIGITAL

Hot on the heels of the mighty Steam Train Break drops another essential 12″ on Symmetry. Music Is Better on the A-side hits up that classic Break sweet-spot between tech and liquid that we’ve seen him leverage so well over the years on tracks like Love So True, Slow Down and Winter Sun. Jazzy piano and vocals on the intro give way to a meaty bass drop to give the tune equal parts summer vibes and edge. Liquid with teeth!

Backing things up on the flip the familiar team of Fields, Hydro, Mako & Villem give us Celestine. Crisp drums and soft synths on the intro once again give away to a tasty bassline, though the character is definitely in the infectious percussion rather than the low end, and the little flourishes over the top ice the proverbial cake in style. Look out for these two from August 5th on vinyl and digital!

Mako, Villem & Fields – Whatever Whatever [Warm Communications]

Warm Communications returns after a 6 month hiatus with a tidy little 12″ from Mako and friends! Whatever Whatever sees him teaming up with Villem and Fields to deliver a masterwork of skittering breaks and growling, warped low end. Seriously schizophrenic percussion is definitely the highlight of this tune!

Over on the flip Mako serves up a solo outing that dials back the breaks in favour of pure groove and hefty sub hits. Tasty half-step banter for the heads. Watch out for these dropping June 3rd!

Break Presents…The Other Side [Symmetry]

Symmetry Recordings, the label owned by drum & bass legend Break, have been gearing up for a while now to release The Other Side, the label’s third album and the first to feature tracks from artists other than Break. Ahead of the release we caught up with Break for a quick Q&A about the album.

DNB Dojo: Since this is a collaboration album, who would you do a collab with if you could pick any musician alive or dead, and why?

Break: Its very hard, the list could be very long…would love to work with Marlena Shaw or Sade, they’re two of my favourite singers.

Ooh or Seal if it was a guy!

DD: Was there a deliberate decision to shift the output of Symmetry away from your own productions and onto releasing more tunes from other producers, or did it just evolve that way organically?

Break: A bit of both…I have been releasing tracks from other artists for a little while, but so many great tracks were getting sent, it seemed right to do an album. Could probably do another one soon, there’s so many good producers Im feeling at the mo.

DD: What’s your favourite track out of everything you’ve ever written? For me it’s probably between Is This What You Want and Too Much, though I also have a lot of time for Our World (from the Breakout EP you did for Eastside back in 2003)

Break: Bit like the first question pretty hard to say. Pleased you remember Our World,  that was one of my favourites at the time, sounds a bit gnarly now, but the vibe is rolling. I really like Let it Happen, Last Chance Remix, Love So True, and Evil Twin. Lightspeed also gives me goosebumps everytime…there’s not many DnB tunes that do that for me…Think I’m more into the musical ones with heavy bass, my favourite combo.

DD: What’s next for the label after this album? Any exciting future plans you’d care to tell us about?

Break: We will be releasing some exciting remixes from the album, and there are several tracks that I’m trying to get my hands on, so a few more singles to come soon as well.

Ive been working on a non Dnb album with the singer Kyo, the band is called “Degrees of Freedom”, watch out for the first single coming soon. I’ts basically everything we’re into that isn’t DnB.

DD: The album features a nice variety of styles from more liquidy stuff to the really hard hitters like Kicked To Death. Which styles of drum & bass do you find it more fun to write, and to DJ?

Break: It kinda is 6 of one half a dozen of the other…Kicked To Death totally smashes it in every rave I’ve played, but it was designed to do that, after working on that in the studio for a while, can give you a bit of a headache… it’s so loud and lairy…whereas working on Who We Are, which is one of the more liquidy tracks on the album, I find more enjoyable and satisfying… basically I’m more into piano than synths!

DD: Any tips for budding drum & bass producers? What can make a track great rather than just good?

Break: I think there is an element of hit and miss. Not every tune can be amazing….you can’t expect to be able to do that…..whenever I try and make my best ever tune it’ss totally rubbish and contrived! When you nail a vibe that you’re really into, that usually will come through in the music. Often less is more….I find that all you need is 4 or 5 tracks in your arrangement to have a killer….any more is usually just filler.


Check out previews of the album below and grab yourself a copy from your favourite shop on digital and vinyl, out now!

October Roundup

So much great drum & bass has come into the inbox this month, it seemed like a good time for another roundup post!

First up, Ingredients have been going from strength to strength with their recent releases. The 29th label release saw them release a quality wee EP in the form of Mis En Place Pt. 1, featuring some great tracks by Villem, Mark Recoil and Foreign Concept, alongside my pick of the EP, dBridge‘s smooth remix of Kodo‘s The Jackal.

Not content to rest on their laurels, the label are gearing up for their 30th release with a 12″ from newcomers Ruffhouse, with a very tribal feel to it. Fans of the recent Loxy & Resound album on Exit should definitely have a listen to this.

Shogun sister label SGN:Ltd are back with another beauty from Technimatic (formerly Technicolour and Komatic) and as we’ve come to expect from this duo it’s smooth liquid vibes all the way. Unfinished Business leads the release but it’s She Knows It on the flip that really caught my attention.

Utopia Music‘s 10th release sees legendary producer Break teaming up with Fields, label owner Mako & Villem on a heavy techy roller. The deep atmospheric intro lulls the listener into a false sense of security before the drop, all clattering toms and low end growl.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXyDs1UdFGc]

French label IM:Ltd are back with a new EP featuring a versatile selection of tracks from a number of relatively unknown producers. You can check out the whole EP below; my picks of the bunch are Nuage’s Above Time (a lovely piano lead deep roller) and Atmospherix’s In This Life, which features some beautifully crisp breaks and a warm, simple bassline that proves just irresistible.

Critical are back with another deep release, this time featuring collabs with the vocal talent that is Riya. A side Injustice sees Riya teaming up with Sabre for a beautiful deep roller while the b-side switches production to Foreign Concept for an autonomic style melancholy half stepper. Essential purchase as usual from the Critical stable!

RAM‘s new sister label ProgRAM are back with another chunky dancefloor number from Kove in the form of Iodine/Open Ground which does the business exactly as you’d expect.

Last but not least, Lifted sister label Breed 12 Inches are back with an absolutely phenomenal release from Memtrix, who at the young age of 16 is already setting the world of drum & bass alight. Mind Control and Slipper both deliver some seriously heavy neurofunk business…one to watch for 2013, definitely big things coming from this guy!