Drum & Bass Recommendations May 2013

Review: Metalheadz are on fire this year! Hot on the heels of Ulterior Motive's genre-busting elephantine EP comes this astonishingly beautiful roller from Lenzman. With big splashing cymbals on the breakbeats, taught string rises and a breathy vocal sample, it's Lenzman at his very best: vibrant but carefully underplayed. For extra soul flourishes, head for Makoto's remix of "Broken Dreams". Close your eyes and you could well be in-tune to an Innerground release. Big salute to all players involved.

Review: Samurai's highly collectable Red Seal series continues with a mission to Manchester. Home to key players such as Skittles, Dub Phizix and DRS, the 'Mani' scene just keeps on giving. This three track 12" is a perfect example, as we find fellow native Indigo joining the dots between three genres with ease and engaging production skill. "Reaching The Source" is a blissed out Autonomic workout that's ideal for both headphones or early doors, "Trthys" is a much slower, sludgy bass 4/4 workout that sits somewhere between Dirtybird and Wookie while "Talia" ends us on a soft, soulful note. A lullaby on marbled vinyl: does life get much better than this?

Review: The Juno review team's hangover cure of choice is celebrated on this release from Innerground Records which pairs label boss and all round Brazilian drum and bass legend Marky once more with his Japanese counterpart Makoto. Not that we suggest you slip the needle on "Bloody Mary" when you are suffering from a heavy night however, it's rolling rhythms, heavy basslines and unmistakable talent for infectious keys are far more appropriate for the times that cause the hangover! On the flip TI demonstrates further why he's being tipped as a rising talent with the bouncy little half step business of "2nd Chance"!

Review: With the release of their album due next month, Loadstar hint at the broad church we can expect to be attending. The radio-ready "Refuse To Love" doffs a cap towards the likes of Chase & Status. Anthemic, vocal-led, lighter-thrusting business, if you enjoyed their earlier single "Space Between" you'll be all over this. "Flight" is the ideal B-side; deeper, rolling and focussed purely on the floor, it's quite similar to their previous underground nugget "BLVD". Loadstar are about to smash the D&B scene to pieces; refusal is impossible...

Review: BTK takes time away from his operations with Optiv to deliver an impeccable double-header on the D&B institution Renegade. The result? A full-bodied pit bull platter of electrifying bass that's reminiscent of the Virus style. "Be Yourself" is more angular neuro joint with a head-twisting vocal loop that worms its way through the mix to great hypnotising effect. Both are absolute slammers. Quintessential D&B.

Review: The man Phil Tangent has made a name for himself within the drum and bass community for a deep and minimal style, demonstrated with aplomb on recent transmissions for Soul:R and Samurai. Big Phil marks his Commercial Suicide debut in impressive fashion with the two track More Than You'll Ever Know 12". The lead cut is vintage Tangent, the vast expanses of glacial atmospherics and barely audible female vocals lent some brisk momentum by the regimented steppahs rhythm. The B Side track "Contrition" is undeniably the ruder of the two productions with a gnarled bass line and frenetic percussion threatening to cause havoc.

Review: Alix Perez here with a release you'd expect to surface on Eglo under his Arp 101 alias as opposed to Shogun Audio. Regardless, Annie's Song is a bold statement of Perez's undoubted production talents, demonstrating he's fully capable of producing tracks that in a perfect world would gain mainstream success. Teaming up with vocalist Sam Willis, "Annie's Song" is a vivid, 21st century slant on UK RnB replete with slow burning synths, half step drum programming and plucked strings. On the flip Shadow Child rewires the track for the club, fixing on an authentic UKG flex that sounds like it's been dug up from a forgotten DJ EZ mixtape.

Review: Ram's sister label hasn't dropped a duff disc to date. And they're not showing any signs of doing so, as their earliest artists are starting to reappear... And they're armed with equally impressive productions. If not more impressive; "Gone" is a classic subby roller that oozes dreamy, emotive vibes. Think Intalex. Think early Breakage. Think subtle, long-lasting banger. "Airlock" wafts with the same depth and sleepy breeziness but with more emphasis on the vocal. "Gone", but certainly not forgotten, Kove is going places...

Review: The classic blend of ruff London MC and heavyweight junglism abides on this second release from the Jungle Alliance camp. Dialect & Kosine line up on the A-Side offering up an authentic official VIP remix of "The Ganja", a Rodney P vocalised track from the fourth Dub Pistols LP Rum N Coke. In original form this 2009 gem was naturally a Caribbean blessed hip hop skanker so it's ripe material for a jungle makeover from Dialect and Kosine, who keep Rodney's iconic gruff London delivery amidst a barrage of classic junglist percussion. On the flip, new Jungle Alliance signee X-Nation offers up a nice 21st Century touch up of a well loved 90s Jungle track with "No Need To Tell Ya".

Review: Forbidden Society has crafted a very distinct niche with his metal-edged D&B. Here we find him playing more to the ravers than the moshers as he teams up with Donny for a neck-snapping banger of Renegade proportions. Icy, unforgiving and unashamedly brutal with sub-plundering bass tones, the two clearly complement each other well in the studio. Meanwhile on B, the mighty Audio steps up and reminds us why he's one of Virus's most treasured assets. Just listen to the clarity on the full-bodied drums and submit yourself to his trademark guttural body-bass.

Review: Flood Tide Rising sees ASC returns to the Space Cadets label in style for a second release, coaxing the London label deeper into the Drum & Bass ether with three absorbing examples of his trademark futurism. Commencing with the title track, ASC sets a foreboding tone of droning electronic pulses and swirling ghostly voices trapped deep beneath. Alongside it "Outflow" is an example of ASC's talent for sonically exploring vast cavernous soundscapes, whilst the B side is granted whole to fidgeting dystopian machine funk of "Dream of the Future".

Review: Long established for their international approach to repping all blends of the drum and bass spectrum, Dutch label Fokuz Recordings drop the final instalment of their two part 55 release. Fresh off releasing a killer six track EP for Liquid V, the prolific Mr Joseph teams up with another rising talent in Pennygiles to lead out this second plate with the soulful rolling business of "Give You My Heart". Smooth vibes, heavy delayed trumpet samples and organ cuts combine to demonstrate why the duo is so widely tipped. Face down Command Strange is in club mode on "Time Shift" pairing a deep bassline with a catchy lead hook and the sort of emotive stabs that remind the Juno office of Joy Orbison's classic "Hyph Mngo".

Review: This second release on Fabric's new in-house label Houndstooth demonstrate they plan to be much more than an Ostgut Ton clone. House Of Black Lanterns is Dylan Richards, a Berlin based musician with previous form as King Cannibal, whose dark, industrial edged combination of D&B and dancehall saw a string of releases on Ninja Tune in 2009. This new project looks to be something quite different however; "Truth & Loss" sees bombastic sci-fi vistas held together with Autonomic style rhythms and footwork-inspired snares, while "Like A Warrior" pairs Juakali's vocals alongside a dubstep style instrumental with an early Skull Disco vibe. In the remix corner, Fracture reworks the title track into an bleak, dystopian D&B roller, while House Of Black Lanterns remixes a track called "Boy Toy" by the little known producer Ghettozoid, who has previously collaborated with Richards.

Review: Lossless boss Soul Intent hops over to the ever-reliable Celsius imprint for two breath-taking rollers. "Come With Me" is a breezy, skippy affair with an entrancing arpeggio that teases with a trance vibe before dropping into a classic mid 90s bass and drum workout. Fans of Utah Jazz or anything on Full Cycle during the early days will be all over this. "Falling" is a touch deeper. Delicately coated in a mournful vocal that echoes in and out of the mix, there's a lot more texture to the drums and a whole cannon of pads waiting to whisk you off to another dancefloor altogether. Beautiful.

Review: Soul Deep's sonic assault continues unabated with this timeless doublet of swinging jazz-flecked D&B. The unity of label mainstays MJT and ARP-1 seems to really work; "Souls In Motion" bumps and stutters like a golden era London Elektricity joint. MJT's own "Silent Echoes" is a much deeper workout. Not dissimilar to the early work of PFM on Good Looking, it's as mesmerising as it is musical.

Review: With a growing, glowing back-cat that features Symmetry, Critical, Proximity and Subtitles, Xtrah's pedigree speaks for itself. Now sporting some SGN stripes, here we find him at his darkest and most complex. "Shock Treatment" is colder than a spiteful sister; pulverisingly dark with a tonal distorted bassline that worms and wriggles between two notes, it means serious business. "Going Deeper" walks on a wilder side where skittish riddims leap schizophrenically, Metalheadz-esque reverse hoovers echo across the mix and chest-press subs boom from nowhere on the fills. Treat your floor to a shock today.

Review: Drum & Bass is inherently a genre driven by dark elements, yet few releases can claim to be inspired by real life tragedy. This American Dream 12" from Gridlok belongs in this niche canon, with the title track inspired by a rather unfortunate incident from 2009; whilst the producer hard at work in his Los Angeles home studio on a new album, a young woman stood teetering on the rooftop several floors up contemplating her life. As Planet 51 state "while deeply focused on his task at hand, Gridlok was suddenly distracted by a loud scream, and then a bang, and then silence..." Thus the A Side is dedicated to this woman and the melancholy roller pays homage to those who have lost their dreams.

Review: XRS and Marky's Innerground imprint has long been a reliable source of summery drum and bass. Here, the duo collates some of the label's best output to date across two discs (one unmixed, the other mixed). Although the mix is impressive, it's the first, unmixed disc that really stands out. As you'd expect, there's plenty of soulful shufflers, where the musical goodness is only matched by the energy of the skittering junglist rhythms. Of the plentiful highlights, check Random Movement's sun-flecked "Down Somehow", Marky's delicious "A Disco Funk Organization", Submorphics soaring, string-laden "Summer Soul" and T>I's sub-heavy roller "2nd Chance".