I thought I would kick off my little blog here with some quick mentions of tunes that floated my boat over the past month or so.
Drum & Bass
Dom & Roland / Dom & Gridlok : Funk Hunt / Catscan : Dom & Roland Productions, DRP007 – This is the side of Dom (and Gridlok) I love. Two funky techstep tunes that roll like no other, thickly layered with interesting samples. Reminds me of another great record on this label, “Bump In The Night” off Dom’s album.
Fanu / NSF : Poltergeist / Come Back : Lightless Recordings, LIGHTLESS005 – Poltergeist is spooky, dark drum funk. The b-side is a Jekyll & Hyde twistup of James Brown (I think) by Sick and Destroy of Germany’s Neurotic Sound Foundation collective.
V/A : Magnetic Fields : Camino Blue – Latest in a series of digital compilations from this German new-school atmospheric D&B label. I pick up almost everything they release. Like most compilations there are a few substandard tunes but this one has some gems by Modemellow, Kytel, and label owners P.B.K.
ASC / Resound & Furi Anga – Smartbomb / Waterpipe (Vampire) – This has been out for a while but I finally grabbed it on digital. Smartbomb is ASC doing deep, ploddy techstep but with his usual attention to atmospherics while Waterpipe is a lively and fidgety dancefloor tune with that characteristic Resound flavor.
SOLARÂ : NORTH TO FUTURE / STEP TWOÂ : OUTSIDER MUSIC, OUTSIDE 021 – Another solid 12 on Paradox’s label dedicated to breaking new talent. North to Future really grew on me with its retro emotive beats, pads, and subs. Step Two sounds exactly like Paradox and there’s nothing wrong with that : )
Dubstep
Horsepower Productions : Damn It / Kingstep : Tempa, TEMPA 042 – Damn It is a smorgasbord of dub samples with sax, melodica, gunshots, guitar, breaking things, chimes, vocals, just about everything but the kitchen sink. Absolutely love this tune.
MARTYN / 2562Â : Yet / Kontrol – Tectonic Plate 2.1, TEC 025 – Sampler from the next Tectonic Plates comp. Pure goodness.
Coalition Of The Killing “We Are The Glitch [DJG Remix]” (Blipswitch Digital) – Local Bay Area dubstep flavor. DJG has long been one of my favorite local DJs and now he’s writing excellent dubstep tunes. Buy this here.
Breakage : Together / Rain – Digital Soundboy Recs, SBOY019 – Robocopped! Two amazing tunes, sampler from Breakage’s forthcoming album “Foundation.” Together is Breakage at his minimalist best backing the raw energy in Roddigan’s voice.
Untold : Sweat / Dante : Hot Flush, HFT006 – New techno/garage-influenced dubstep from London’s Untold. Really into his other releases on Hessle and his label Hemlock.
Toasty / Search & Destroy : The Knowledge (Untold remix) / Candyfloss (Loefah remix) : Hotflush Recordings, HFRMX001ii – Loefah’s Candyfloss remix was one of the first dubstep tunes that really turned my head. I was never into the other mixes it was backed with but with the new Untold mix of Knowledge I finally had good reason to grab the vinyl.
Shed – Martyn & Surgeon Remixes : The Lover Upside Down (Surgeon Remix) / Wedged Chicken (Martyn’s 131 Remix) **IMPORT** : Ostgut Tonträger, OSTGUT020 – Nuff said. The Martyn mix is a bit slow for dubstep mixing but it’s great. Reminds me of the Danny Breaks mix of Amon Tobin “Like Regular Chickens.” Samples of people talking about chickens… why not?
Equinox of Scientific Wax has launched a sister label, Scientific Wax Retro for oldskool jungle sounds. The first release is Equinox “Babylon” b/w Nebula “Destiny” on a clear red vinyl 12″ (SWR001), limited to 300 copies and exclusively available by mail order from the label. Babylon is a previously unreleased 8-bit tune from 1994 while Destiny is new but in a throwback style. Fierce stuff and essential for oldskool lovers! I got my copy, now go get yours…