Drum & Bass REVIEWS
Dillinja-styled electro bass booms and a
marching battalion beat. QUICKIES
****
John B of Trace, Commercial
Clipz When The Time Suicide and the like take ALEX C
Loud & Dirty/Push It Up (TC Comes/Dancing In note. Rippling bass booms
Remix) The Dark pound you into
Audio Zoo Beta
PO Bo
submission.
I always love Clipz’ flow and, of course, The electro don returns. x 7
there’s no exception here, with a John hits us with
*** *
502, London N22 6QN
smooth as butter bass that’s tempered retro-style echoe Technicolour
with a jalapeno chilli bite and broken up arpeggios darting and At The Spot/Good
into organised chaos every now and twisting over a super-cool News Green
then with an inexcusable bass hiccup. crash and crumble (Drumsound & SBS
It’s just that the lyric is a little too ‘loud robo-beat. Smith Remix)
and dirty’ for me, a bit harsh amongst
all this smooth high-energy factor flow.
*****
Worldwide Audio
A smile-inducing, elevating
Flip for some proper pressure from Xample little dance ditty that will
success story of the last three years TC, The Experiment have your lips curling
adding his trademark breaks and (feat Lomax)/ upward as its calming
bad-boy bass to Clipz’ ‘Push It Up’. Breath & Stop chords and soulful moods
*****
Frequency
relax your muscles and
High-pitched teeth-clench lower your pulse rate.
MONE
Y
Break introductory chords are
Chase &
SHO
T!
Enigma (Calibre Remix)/ followed in the drop by
*** *
Status Shipment chunky beats, leading Noah D &
Eastern Jam/Plan B
Quarantine
industrial keys in a style Anthony B
Ram
There’s just something a little more you have come to expect Good Sound/Good
It’s a massive mantle to carry in terms of special and untouchable about the way from the Ram crew. Sound (Benny Page
expectations but once again Ram deliver Calibre and Marcus Intalex create and
another monster with a ‘next step’ meld chords and mellow melodies to
*** *
Remix)
Pure Vibez
angle. Like the seminal ‘Bodyrock’, the breaks without losing the seething bite NC-17/Henree Could be sold under a
thudding and cracking drums in ‘Eastern bass movements and fervour that d&b Owesley/Liberty reggae category too with a
Jam’ toy with your sonic perceptions of fans desire and demand. Here Calibre
Vampire
superb bashment style half
tempo, sounding slower through spreads out an eiderdown of smooth bell Rapid tech splurges and speed set of beats and
vivaciously filthy grime-style beats. The jangles and acoustic strings that engulf android under lyrics. Benny Page does
angle is a phantom Eastern wail and and consume a low-end bass pump and psychological d&b justice on the flip.
excellently morphing bass wobbles, playful drum stream. And there’s a mid interrogation rigidity. Fans
slides and slices. Wish there was a small second dropout of breath-stopping
*****
full-speed drop at some point but still beauty. Vibes man.
full marks on the ‘Ouch’ factor. with slices of the telephone argument
*****
samples. Some smelly, strong shit.
****
*****
Marcus Intalex
Astro Dance EP
DJ Die & Friends
Soul:R
The Qemists Skate Or Die EP Marcus Intalex defies the busy and loud
Lost Weekend (Mixes)
Clear Skyz
general flow of d&b with melody
Zen
This is a four-tracker with Die showing washes, minimal beats and dreamily
A number of mixes cater for all tastes as off knowledge with some equally enchanted compositions — a logical
the Qemists raise the bar. A cool radio talented friends. The first is with progression of the journey that
version opens, an intelligent mix of man-of-the-moment Break, who producers like Omni Trio started. ‘Cabin
electro band-style beats and squirmy launches at us with haunting, directly Fever’ is all about differing coloured
d&b that sees the lyrics cavort on top. deep pieces. Here with Die on ‘Coming ethereal chords engulfing and
The second mix is full-on d&b — rising From The Top’, we’re treated to tasteful overlapping each other, ‘The Sentry’ is
pitched build-ups cut into electrocuted dub reggae hints behind solid, tight more futuro with teeth-clench Virus
worm synthetic basses. There’s a slightly productions aimed straight at the centre keys, while my fave in this four-track
repetitive chorus, but hey. Fave mix is of the floor. Harsh militant female full package, ‘Skizm’, will please Jonny L
breakbeat speed with a nice disco vibe vocal courtesy of Leonie Laws on ‘Little fans with its harsh snare built around
and the same beefy drums and Punk’ and ‘Getting There’ with Interface cushioning, hypnotic elements. Yush.
punch-combo elements that made is the hyper one for the petrol hedz.
Noisia’s ‘Gutterpump’ so big.
****
Dancefloor destroyer!
*****
*****
Icicle aTLaNTIC
Roughcut feat Spartan/Hang On
TC MC Foxy
Shogun Audio
CONNECTION
Where’s My Money (Caspa F*ck Off (DJ Vapour Mix)/ One of those anthemic floor shakers
Remix)/Tron F*ck Off (Roughcut Mix) that wind their way into your
CREATIVE SOURCE
DSR Bounce
subconscious and don’t leave in a hurry.
Opening with that distinctive telephone Some in purist d&b circles might say Different frequencies of guttural Concept & Shnek
ringing and bleep, but this time to a that the usage of swearing over beats is stomach-ache basses languish on top of Bedford Avenue (feat DJ Crum)
half-speed grime drum, and then that a bit of a cheap gesture to shock and so one another culminating in a down low,
Westbay International
crazy phone conversation cuts in. The sell more records. But that’s what they lucid nightmare. Kettledrum slurps “This is the release that everyone’s been going crazy for!
drop you won’t believe. Again — like used to say about hip-hop back in the slouch slowly over a viscous liquid of Bukem and Fabio have been dropping this all over and it’s
with Chase & Status — Caspa takes the day. Here the beats more than do the drawling, extra low frequency slides. getting people excited wherever I play it too.
bold step of almost removing the beats job properly, giving you that d&b Reminds me of early Ed Rush & Optical “Often mistakenly titled ‘Bed For Dave’, ‘Bedford Avenue’
in favour of singed, raw virally deep and aggression vibe and so those haters can work in its minimalism and confidence. is all about Concept & Shnek’s top-notch production skills
constantly changing bass progressions: just ‘F*ck Off’ — as the tune so A truly scary vibe and filtered gong and an irresistible sample that flows perfectly. Add some
deep belly grinding warps, machine-gun eloquently puts it! Shock-inducing complete the dark mixture. choice scratch samples from DJ Crum and you’ve got a
rapid thuds and crazy alarm booms all swear stabs cavort in between
*****
track that oozes Westbay flavour.”
202
www.djmag.com
DJ467.D&B.indd 202 2/10/08 14:25:34
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