Ivy Lab – Afterthought / Brat [Critical]

Early last year Kasra’s Critical imprint put out a tasty little 12″ from Sabre, Stray and Halogenix featuring the beautiful tune that is Oblique. The material was released to much critical acclaim and was generally lauded as one of the best tunes of the year (amongst some impressive competition too). Since then the trio have been quiet, mainly focusing on their individual solo activities. But just recently they announced the formation of a new alias for their collective work; Ivy Lab. Naturally this announcement also came with news of a new release, which is due out on Critical Music Feb 4th.

Afterthought on the A-side brings back the vocal talents of Frank Carter III to great effect, and is a beautiful (if somewhat predictable) soulful, understated roller. Very much Oblique-the-second. Over on the flip, Ivy Lab prove themselves far from one trick ponies with the dirty, weird, robotic half step sounds of Brat. To round the package off, those that pick up the digital release get a rather tasty House rework of Brat from South London Ordnance, taking the excellent sound pallet of the original and bringing it down to a slower, more methodical beat.

Check out the tunes below and watch out for the full release from your favourite vinyl or digital outlet!

Stray – When It Rains / Thumbprint [Blu Mar Ten Music]

Blu Mar Ten opened the doors of their label to outside talent at the end of last year to widespread acclaim, and their latest release from Stray shows a continuing commitment to releasing the best in leftfield drum & bass.

A side When It Rains is elegant, ambient, so minimal it can barely even be called drum & bass, and perfect for it. All echoes and reverb, a sculpted soundscape in every sense of the word.

Thumbprint on the flip delivers a totally different vibe, with utterly glitched vocals layered over an off kilter beat and some dark bassy stabs to create a robotic, angular sound that’s reminiscent of some of Rockwell’s tunes, if rather less angry.

Watch out for the release on Jan 28th.

In The Mix… Stray

To celebrate the recent release of the beautiful Follow You Around / Contract single on Blu Mar Ten Music, Stray has compiled a top notch mix spanning all the styles of drum & bass. Starting out with some smooth liquid rollers, then venturing off into darker territory, and featuring some absolutely outstanding tracks such as Amit‘s Killer Driller before finishing up with the A side of the single, this is thoughtful d&b at it’s best.

Check out the single and the mix below!

Feb Round-up

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.