Centaspike - Bent Bound Broken

Tech Itch Recordings: 2018

Releasing albums from anonymous producers who may or may not simply be the label head in disguise is all well and good, but for any print to flourish, you need that outside blood mixing things up. Artists that share your audio vision and can also bring a different spin on the same sonic ideas. Thus it was so that Centaspike was brought into the Tech Itch Recordings fold, first as a duo with Indidjinous, then finally as a solo act with this here Bent Bound Broken.

Mr. Driver had a few self-releases under his belt prior, plying his trade for half a decade on the Aussie scene before getting picked up by Mr. Caro. Well and truly comfortable behind the console as well the decks, he'd have no problem fitting in with the Tech Itch posse. Only, what sort of d'n'b would he bring to the table? There was already plenty of dark and tech-step on hand, the assortment of releases very much following in the footsteps of Technical Itch's '90s heyday. No, to stand out, Centaspike went even darker, deeper, damn near minimalist with his debut on the label.

Seriously, opening track Beyond The Void is little more than ominous noises and feral rumbles, served as oozing black glue piecing together the various twitchy drum breaks together. But that's just track one, right? The mood setter before getting to some busier business? Yeah, no, follow-up Brokenergy is no less grimy and savage, while Conjuring Spells somehow finds an even deeper layer of murky bass festering in the dankest catacombs under London city. Cool beans and all, but I can't deny, such suffocating sounds grow a little weary when played for too long, as in the seven-minute 4th Dimensional Creatures. Let me see a little light, mang'!

Oh, a Broken Street Lamp, that'll do. Actually, this cut turned my head for two reasons. One, it gets into some slamming drumfunk action, which is a nice chance of pace, but also for the Wu-Tang chatter thrown in. In fact, Anthony pulls the trick twice, Urban Chatter raiding the skits from Enter 36 Chambers as well. How can I be so sure? C'mon, I recognize RZA's barking out for Ghost and Deck anywhere. Not to mention a little chop-socky sound effects thrown in for good measure.

After that little detour down the back alleys of Shaolin, Centaspike gets back to the down 'n' dirty business end of d'n'b, each track somehow growing ever more minimalist as the album plays out. Not that I needed some rousing climax to the record, but it does leave one's engagement slowing dwindling as momentum wanes. Then I was thrown for a loop in the Outro. Anthony not only raided 2010 for some dialogue samples that aren't “My God, it's full of stars”, but the MGM lion roar and the digital text sound effects from the movie's prologue, also while overlaying the original Requiem 'music' from 2001. Oh yeah, that definitely set off my nerdy dopamine triggers.

Jonny L - Magnetic

XL Recordings: 1998

I didn't know Jonny L had a second album after Sawtooth. Heck, I didn't know he had the first one either, but I assumed as much. With so many choice tunes floating about his '90s discography - Treading, Piper, I Let U, Tychonic Cycle - it only made sense he'd consolidate them into an LP. Unfortunately, I only discovered Magnetic existed after adding Sawtooth to my Discoggian collection. I recall no promo, no hype, no big singles, no 'word on the street' discourse over Magnetic, but then, I was as far from those circles as one could get in 1998, so what do I know?

Still, ol' Jonny had a lot of competition that year to stand out from the pack. Gander: Goldie's Saturnz Return, Grooverider's Mysteries Of Funk, Ed Rush & Optical's Wormhole, E-Z Rollers' Weekend World, Dom & Roland's Industry, Photek's Form & Function, DJ Rap's Learning Curve (look, it was hyped), Amon Tobin's Permutation (sure, let's include him), Baxter's Baxter (who?), Talvin Singh's OK (okay, we're stretching now). Point being, Magnetic rolled out at a time when d'n'b was rolling hot, and with such a quick turnaround from his debut, it's small wonder Jonny L's sophomore effort got lost in the shuffle.

Not helping matters is just how relentlessly dark and grimy Magnetic is. You'd think this would make it awesome, and for the most part, this album is awesome! But it's rather singular in tone too, which at a time when d'n'b records had to show diversity for crossover success, didn't help Mr. L's prospects. You're either all in for this bridge between tech-step of old and darkstep of new, or will check out after the first four tracks. And even then, twelve tracks of this stuff may be a bit much. I know cutting a few of the standard bangers like Sight Unseen and See Red wouldn't have hurt.

Still, it's hard denying just how primal and visceral most of these tracks go. Opener Intrasound doesn't waste anytime letting you know you're in for a ride of frantic drums, gnarly bass rumbles, and swirles of sci-fi future-funk. It isn't until sixth track Accelerate we're reminded there's humans working in this studio, guest vocalist Lady Kier adding some jazzy soul, but her croon is warped in distorted into dystopian murk. Even Johnny Breaks dropping some bars in as blatant a jump-up tune as I've ever heard from Jonny L can't escape the grit and grime of Magnetic's mood.

A couple outlier tracks do spice things up a little. Focus features some gnarly didgeridoo action (has d'n'b used didge's often? I haven't heard much). Phase Shift features some wildly warped guitar shredding from Guitarminator (told you this was a robot apocalypse album!). A couple interludes slows things down to a trip-hop pace, but remain as chaotic as the rest. It still isn't enough to make Magnetic feel somewhat lesser of an album experience compared to Sawtooth, but nonetheless solid stuff for fans of this sound.

Voyage - Invader

Tech Itch Recordings: 2019

Absolutely I was gonna' grab me Voyage's follow-up to Genesis. That album introduced me to the extended roster of Technical Itch's own Tech Itch Recordings, and what an intro it was. Hard-hitting Amen break action right out the gate, it confirmed that darkstep from the days of yore was alive and well, and several artists I further checked out yielded many more audio rewards. In the process though, returning to Voyage's debut had me feeling it comparatively one-note and singular, almost too reverent of that late '90s sound. Which is fine, if that's what you're going for. Still, I hoped Voyage (whomever he may be, for he still hasn't provided a name online) would show some evolution whenever his sophomore effort dropped.

Well, he doesn't come out quite so hard. Invader opens up with Clarion, a more moody, atmospheric tech-step cut in the classic Grooverider vein – there's even some jazzy trumpets, though as heard from spa-a-a-a-ace. Sycophant gets back to the Amen-step business though, about as rough and tumble as anything you've heard from this genre. Some of those backing strings though, they seem awful familiar. Maybe it's just my imagination.

Anyhow, Voyage mostly sticks to tech-step's domain for the bulk of Invader. For sure it's about as aggro as this genre can ever get, with bass tones roaring like intergalactic cruiser engines while drums hit with the ferocity of a [sci-fi feral beast]. Really, the drums and bass of this d'n'b feel more in service of the general ominous mood Voyage maintains throughout the album. A few tracks stray from that, like the sparse Overdose and ultra-minimalist Electromagnetic (almost all bass and dubsteppy crackles). Some angelic voices serenade us in Serenade, Soldier gets super-tech its choice of sounds and broken beats, while Crash Site brings in some shuffly action to the Amen break. Yet again though, there's some sounds in this tune that has me reminded of an album from the distant past. Not so much a shared synth patch or whatnot, no, more specific than that.

And then it struck me when the track Diagnostics hit. You might recognize that name as the title of Technical Itch's debut album. Heck, Voyage not only apes that, but a whole bunch of sounds from the album too, primarily from that album's opener Focused, right down to the string refrains (one of the few 'melodic' moments from Tech Itch's record). Clearly this is an homage, Voyage's Diagnostics keeping things on a smooth cruise compared to Tech Itch's original. Is this track ever too on the nose for me though. Like, you could easily convince me this was just some long-lost alternate version of Focused Mark Caro unearthed.

Back to Invader, it's another solid album from Voyage, but the same issue as I had with Genesis does crop up: it's rather singular in execution. The whiplash of hearing Diagnostics also unfortunately leaves the back-end a bit of a drag, my brain forever anticipating the Tech Itch classic instead.

Technical Itch - Find Your Darkness

Tech Itch Recordings: 2020

It took over two decades, but Mark Caro finally released a proper second Technical Itch album. Yeah, yeah, he's put out several Progression Threat and Digitally Ascended LPs, not to mention so many singles that you'd need a multi-CD box-set to house all the music within. Those were all for tracks though, the sort of listening experience that, while fine as a collection of tunes, still lack that all important thematic flow the best albums have. And I know Mr. Caro is capable of it, his debut Tech Itch album Diagnostics still a mesmerizing assault of darkstep business to this day. Speaking of, when might we see a re-issue of that record? Surely rescuing it from Moving Shadow legal limbo shouldn't be this last longing?

I'm sure Mark has his reasons for not returning to the album format for so long, chief among them there wasn't much need to. He was sustaining a tidy career through singles, all the while maintaining his own labels in Penetration Records and Tech Itch Recordings. I wonder though, if the flurry of proper albums from the likes of Doom Poets, Voyage, and Brakken coming out on the latter print inspired him some. Heck, was he maybe involved in the production of those? He definitely was part of Biostacis, a mini-group that enjoyed a semi-revival in 2015. Whichever way you want to frame it, bottom line is, hey, new Technical Itch album!

And nothing states this is a Proper Album than an ambient intro. Following that, Modified Code drops us right back into familiar Technical Itch territory, crusty aggressive 2-step action with wailing synth backdrops and paranoid vocal samples. Stand Down brings on the Amen breakcore business, all the while maintaining the cybernetic sonic horror Mark's always been ace at.

All well and good, the production top notch, but what if you're kinda' yearning for something a little more retro, from the early days of darkstep? Can't deny the titular cut has my Diagnostics nostalgia triggers flaring. The 2-step and rolling bassline sound like it could have come from that album, and there's acid! 'Member when Technical Itch included a hardcore acid track on Diagnostics? Ooh, I 'member! Elsewhere, B28 and Machine Ghosts gets down on some basic groove ridin' swagger, while Alien gets all moody and minimal. Well, about as minimal as you'd expect from a Technical Itch cut. And speaking of ol' school, The Eagle's grimy vibe definitely has me feeling those classic Ed Rush & Optical vibes. Oh, you want only the latest technological advancements in your darkstep? Uh, first thing, that's not really what the Tech Itch label's about. But sure, Violent Instinct, The Angels and Belief go about as fuckin' hard as this genre allows without crossing the scenes.

A triumphant return to albums for Technical Itch, then? Ah, it's good, but not Diagnostics great. Find Your Darkness is plumb for choice cuts that are nicely sequenced, but lacks the whirlwind ride of narrative flow Tech Itch's debut had.

Doom Poets - Dead Forest

Tech Itch Recordings: 2019

It's been a year and a half since I last talked up Doom Poets on this here blog, and they remain as anonymous as ever. Actually, this project has remained mostly silent as well, only releasing singular tracks to Tech Itch Recordings' annual label showcase RESIST:ED. Seeing as how they (is this a plural they, or singular? Who can say with “distant beings from somewhere in the far regions of our universe”) initially released two albums in such short order, a little recharge had to be in order. When their brand of d'n'b is this dope though, you can forgive some folks on this mudball planet hoping for more sooner rather than later.

Of the few Tech Itch Rec' artists I've checked, Doom Poets' debut Lost Connection intrigued me the most, showing more darkstep diversity compared to others. Why, they even had ambient interludes! ...kinda'. It was enough for me to nab that second LP, Dead Forest, even if it didn't have any Drone Scans of its own. Ah, who needs those anyway, when you got deep, moody numbers like opener Fetus guiding us into album number two?

No, seriously, this track is some vintage Modus Operani Photek business, the bassline an omnipresent rumble while sparse drums clatter and paranoid ambience bleeds between the seams. A little later, Invisible Hand repeats the trick, but with more aggression, while Hexagon smooths the deep minimalism into an easy cruise. Dry Bones keeps things in a moody atmosphere, a twitchy, rumbling bassline over a standard 2-step break the main thrust of the tune as ominous strings carry on. Maybe not so much Photek in substance, but definitely in tone.

As with most of these Technical Itch associates though (or Mr. Caro hiding under pseudonyms, who's to say?), it's all about what they do with the good ol' Amen Break, and once again, Doom Poets don't disappoint. Opener Fetus may have set us off on a subtler vibe, but follow-up Bizon is all boshing darkstep business through and through. Not to be outdone, Black Tenticle and Necrophalus (eww?) head down the tech-step path, hitting just as hard even if their drum programming isn't as complex.

The rest of Dead Forest mostly plays out in similar fashion. A little Amen action (Timeloss, Feather), a little tech-step time (Sober, Skull), and that one track that throws all convention out the window. I've no clue what to classify the titular cut, some sort of massive mash-up of Amen and tech-step into a marching stomper. Like, I know associating advancing Imperial AT-ATs is a complete cliche in this genre, but damn, if it don't sound like mechanical monstrosities are advancing upon your puny hiding spots.

So all good stuff, as has been the case from everything I've heard out of Tech Itch Recordings now. Well, except that one CD from the main man himself, but that was just another one of Mr. Caro's dubstep/trap exercises. Need to get on that actual proper Technical Itch album sometime soon.

Terror Cell | Layer 3 - Coding Sequence

Tech Itch Recordings: 2020

Feels like forever since I last talked up anything from Technical Itch's label. Well over a year, by my blog's logs, but perhaps this is for the good. The drum 'n' bass from this print is so often relentless in its audio assaults, one needs a breather between sessions. Or I do, in any event. There are some hardcore deebee heads out there that do nothing but eat, breathe, and shit darkstep and all its permutations. Hardcore to the last.

After quite the flurry of artist-driven activity, Tech Itch Recordings seemed to slow down some, mostly putting out ambient 'white labels' from Mark Caro while the world figured its shit out. It looks like they're finally getting things rolling again with a slate of new CDs on the way, so that's nice. Just hopefully not too much all at once, as there's still material from before the gap commenced that I'm just now finally getting to.

Among the last of these items – maybe the last, if catalogue numbers are to be believed – is this pairing of Terror Cell and Layer 3, Coding Sequence. Neither have major Discogs presence, lacking names on their bios, which fits with Tech Itch Recordings' anonymous manifesto. At least they have pictures in their profiles. Layer 3 appears to have released a pile of DATs with MP3s throughout the '00s, while Terror Cell put out a few sporadic items in the early '10s. I kinda' get the sense these cats are more DJs than producers, and they have apparently done a few tag-team rinse outs at Tech Itch parties. Still, not a whole lot to go on for a superlative bio paragraph, so let's stop wasting time and get right into the music.

And it's definitely darkstep, as you'd expect from artists on Technical Itch's label. I mean, there wasn't much surprise from the last two acts I covered (Voyage and Doom Poets), so why would there be here? Mr. Caro has a finely tuned style, and the d'n'b producers he's taken on generally match that style. The basslines bash, the Amen Breaks crash, the 2-step rhythms mash, and the paranoid sci-fi samples smash. Not necessarily in that order.

While opener Beacon keeps things mostly on the atmospheric vibe, TC & L3 don't waste much time coming in with the aggro, follow-up Embryo about as vicious and nasty as this stuff gets. And geez, Coding Sequence doesn't let up, each subsequent track seemingly ramping the pressure up. It obviously doesn't, as I'd be spent before mid-album (some drumstep detours help), which is a testament to their production skill in hitting you just hard enough to keep wanting more. Wow, never thought of darkstep as sadomasochist.

Things do relatively wind down by albums end, the final clutch of tracks more standard ol' school tech-step. Can't deny this leaves my lingering impression of Coding Sequence a little weaker than it should. They're fine tracks, just may have been better served spaced out some. Can't really complain.

ACE TRACKS: October-November 2020

So I made a Topster.

And you may be wondering, what even is a Topster? Just a simple little chart app that lets you put images of music albums however you want. Most have been doing it to make Favourite Albums collages, which I figured, “When in Rome...” Only, I have no idea what my favourite albums are. For sure there's one's I like quite a bit, but I've never thought about ranking them or paring things down to a Top 40 (or 100, or 1000). There's just so much in my collection, it'd take some serious study to figure it out, and I don't care to rank my albums that much.

Fortunately, there's a handy little place that tracks which albums you listen to the most often, and while not the most accurate of apps, should be representative of what my favourites are. So off to the Last.dot.fm I went, scoped out which were my top scrobbled albums, and selected just the top from each artist that came up (there'd be quite the bunching of FSOL otherwise). The result... wasn't what I expected.

Oh, absolutely many of these albums are favourites, but I can't say they're my absolute favourites from each artist. I'd put Big Men Cry over Maya any day, or Demon Days over Plastic Beach, or Dead Cities over Environments 2, or U.F.Orb over The Dream. Plus, I'm missing whole genres here (house, techno, d'n'b, rap, almost all of rock), which is just ridiculous. What gives?

Methinks this scrobble information is so skewed because this is a lot of stuff that I tend to play at home, on the downswing, sometimes when I'm ready to nod off. I generally don't get scrobble information for music blasting on my main stereo or MP3s on the go. Others likely got high scrobble info because they have so many tracks to scrobble from (I see you, Pete Namlook tribute box-set; you too, Neil Young box-set).

Still, I feel like this is an app that could be toyed around with some more, given the time to do so. Stay tuned for future Topster pics! For now, here's the ACE TRACKS for the past two months of reviews. Seems like enough to make a decent playlist out of now.


Full track list here.


MISSING ALBUMS:
Autumn Of Communion - Reservoir Of Video Souls
Various - Recycle Or Die (Electronic Mind Music)
Skanfrom - Postcards
Vector Lovers - Pale Blue Star EP

Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 0%
Percentage Of Rock: 0%
Most “WTF?” Track: Nope, can't think of one. Even the dark ambient stuff is comparatively tame.

Aw man, I go and say downtempo, ambient, IDM-chill stuff really isn't my only port of call, and here's a playlist that's filled with it! At least there's a little more variety in here though, what with Technical Itch, UNKLE, and, um, Fictivision. Wow, relying on eurotrance to break up monotony. Strange days forever more.

Technical Itch - Progression Threat - Part One

Tech Itch Digital: 2013

A follow-up to Diagnostics. That's all we wanted. Relentless singles were nice an all, but another long-form outing from Technical Itch was what we craved. Even a consolidation of all those wayward EPs into a compilation would be dope. Just something longer than a two or three track release, feeding us those industrial-grade drums and basses. No, not those Digitally Ascended mini-albums, that's the wrong genre. Heck, the wrong scene, no matter how much d'n'b and dubstep were getting chummy. We was hungry for that darkstep dining, and wanted Technical Itch to keep feedin' us, and feedin' us, and feedin' us with full-course meals.

Ask (beg?), and you shall receive, Mark Caro giving us not one, not two, but three servings of Progression Threat. I wouldn't call these full-blown proper albums like Diagnostics, but at ten tracks each, is plenty 'nuff of the rough and rugged jungle business for folks that need their d'n'b fixes in larger than single-serving portions.

And yes, I'm not calling Progression Threat a proper-proper album roll-out on the same level as Diagnostics. If this were, in fact, a real-real album, there would have been a vinyl roll-out, maybe a box-set with CD option, the whole shebang. Yeah, yeah, the whole point of Tech Itch Digital was to release things primarily in a digital format, but even in ye' olde year of 2013, enough folks would divvy up dollars for hard copies, guaranteeing a return on a run of records. Anyhow...

I know Mr. Caro has flitted about other jungle styles over the years, but when opener Sun Eater, um, opens, I almost thought we'd be in for something on the atmospheric tip. Such a tranquil pad refrain, calm and floating, as though gazing upon Sol from afar. No, wait, here come some menacing overtones, a feral bassline, aggressive drums. Oh no! It's Unicron, come to eat the sun! I should have known better than to expect 'dolphin d'n'b' from an album with titles like Oblivion Survival, Soul Gritter, and Day Sleeper on it.

Jokes aside, this was definitely the Technical Itch, erm, itch that needed scratching after my dashed expectations following Digitally Ascended, Vol. 3. From there we get a nice variety of aggro thrashers (the aforementioned tunes; Code Weave), twitchy tech-steppers (Progress Trap, the titular cut), Led-heavy stompers (Someone Else), and... Gosh, is that a stab at Squarepusher jazz-fusion in My Being? Like, not quite so spastic cut-up as Jenkinson can go, and Mark does bring the beef later in the track, but still, a nice divergence from the norm.

And that's all there is to Progression Threat – Part One. Yeah, little need for deep analysis here. It's Mark Caro dropping nine tracks of what he does best, with one spicy outlier for flavour. Are the other Progression Threats the same? I don't know, I haven't heard them yet. For now, this was enough to sate my appetite. Besides, there's a full-course meal about to get served soon.

Doom Poets - Lost Connection

Tech Itch Recordings: 2018

Another Tech Itch Recordings artist with absolutely no information surrounding them. Like, at least Voyage had a photo available within Lord Discogs' archives. These here Doom Poets don't even have that. Okay, there is a tiny blurb within this album's inlay, but I'm not entirely sure it's on the up and up. Do you believe they're distant beings from the far regions of the cosmos, transmitting their first recordings to us inhabitants of the third rock from Sol? Could really use some photographic evidence these beings are legit.

Actually, the rumour goes these may be old associates of Technical Itch himself (maybe himself?) but also chose the path of anonymous purity in releasing music on Mr. Caro's print. In fact, this is an entire manifesto by several folks coming into the Tech Itch fold, releases from others like Brakken and Freed From The Lair also choosing to remain hidden behind project aliases. So a bunch of that theory I blagged on about in the Genesis review (no, the other one; no, the most recent one) is true! That hasn't stopped a few producers with a few details in their Discoggian bios from joining the blanked-face party, and there will always be the main man of the label around too. Just fascinating that, in the half decade since embarking on this project, these chosen few have maintained their mystery manifesto.

So while I generally liked Voyage's album, I cannot deny it being a little one-note overall, serving up brash darkstep from the drop and hardly relenting throughout. Doom Poets opt for something a little more conceptual, breaking Lost Connection up into several segments interspersed with Drone Scans. Ah cool, you think, ambient doodle interludes to break up the monotony. Except, these are far from 'doodles', each lasting between three-to-four minutes in length, fully formed tracks in of themselves, if you'd consider dronescapes with an intermittent thudding beat a track. Given how they're evenly spaced out too, it makes me wonder whether Lost Connection had a vinyl roll-out in mind, each Drone Scan the start of a record side. Alas, no vinyl roll-out, at least not yet. Maybe if the follow-up album Dead Forest moves enough units?

Not to say Doom Poets are some 'dolphin jungle' producers – we are still dealing with Tech Itch Recordings here. Proper opener MFOS is just as big, brash, and menacing as darkstep can get. That's followed by Agony though, a minimalist, feral tech-step workout, then Brighter Days, a pure Amen break workout with moody atmospherics in support. After a Drone Scan, we get a couple more sinister sci-fi darkstep tracks, Drone Scan, and you're sensing a pattern now, right?

This all works in Lost Connection's favour though. A long-player with unrelenting aggression needs its breathers for the hardest hitters to keep hitting hard. Even the moodier pieces like Ruby Eyes and The Triengle can feel oppressive with the overwhelming low-ends. You want d'n'b from the darkest corners of the galaxy, you got it.

ACE TRACKS: August 2020

Well that was certainly a more productive month on my part. In fact, that was one of my most active Augusts ever, though the lack of a Shambhala Music Festival at the start certainly played a factor in that. What gives? Tapping into a fresh well of inspiration? Stress and distraction contained to a minimum after a bout of shingles made me rethink how I was doing this life thing? Going for a biodynamic craniosacral treatment clearing up a lot more of the clutter in my headspace than I could have possibly thought? Probably a little of everything, though Blogger's forced 'upgrade' also kinda' got me hype for this hobby again. Ooh, I can see all the cover art now!

Yet I can't help but still feel like it's not enough. True, it's been nineteen months since I had a thirty-day period more productive than this past August, but I still remember the days when I'd crank out well over twenty a month. Will I ever reach those highs again? Should I even be concerning myself with that? It almost feels like a triumph to have gotten back to double-digits at this point, and who knows if that momentum can be maintained. Having a lot of... 'interesting' music coming down the line certainly helps. Like, just gander at how much interesting music I got through this past month, and believe me, we've yet to scratch the surface of where my muse has been wandering this past year. Still, enjoy this appetizer of ACE TRACKS for the month of August.

 

Full track list here.

MISSING ALBUMS:
Distant System - Infinite Continuum
Part-Sub-Merged - Four Forests
Moljebka Pvlse - Discourse On Lightness

Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 0%
Percentage Of Rock: 14%
Most “WTF?” Track: The Viking metal. Even if you dig it, it's undeniably tonal whiplash in this playlist.

So a lot of Lars Leonhard on here, in case you hadn't heard enough from him yet. Really stress-testing that 'each album is distinct' theory now, though I did mostly remember which tracks came from which LPs as this played out.

And not much else to comment on. This playlist has a little of everything from the usual genres I typically enjoy, with side-glances to some more niche corners. Surprising lack of house music though. What, do I not have any more Hed Kandi CDs left? Maybe it's time for another used store ru- oh, right. Yeah...

Voyage - Genesis

Tech Itch Recordings: 2016

This is now the third album I have with Genesis as its title. Not the most ludicrous thing to occur, I admit; an amusing tidbit of info, nothing more. No, what makes this remarkable is the fact one of the other Genesis albums I have – care of dark ambient project Paleowolf – was released within the same month as this Genesis (December 2016). Does... does this happen often, in the world of music? I can't imagine so, even with generic titles like this one, but with so much being released all the time, the odds may be higher than anyone could imagine without studious cataloguing to confirm such statistical variances. Are there any chroniclers of Lord Discogs' tomes willing to find out? Like, what else you gonna' do during quarantine?

Forgive me for an opening paragraph that has nothing to do with the music on hand. Gotta' burn through self-imposed word count somehow when the artist leaves very little in the way of biographical info to wax the bull on. This is the fifteenth artist to take on Voyage as an alias (so sayeth Lord Discogs), with no details of who the man behind the moniker is, not even a name. Cool picture though.

Maybe it's a jolly ol' throwback to the days when d'n'b artists were all about that anonymous cred', hiding behind mysterious pseudonyms so only their music stands tall and proud. I mean, if you're gonna' make darkstep jungle that sounds as fresh as it did in the late '90s, may as well go whole hog with it. And no, that isn't a diss or a criticism. I went into Tech Itch Recordings expecting to hear tuneage in line with Technical Itch's classic menacing style, and by jove does Voyage ever deliver on that front.

Like, right off the bat. Some creepy, spacey sounds and simple tech-step rhythms warm you up in Extraterestrial, soon unleashing vicious Amen break business. Holy cow, this is just track one, and this dude's already cranked the intensity to such a threshold, it's bordering on breakcore. Follow-up track Control Blade doesn't let up, with many more coming after. Not all at once though, oh no. Voyage still finds room for some stripped-down tech-step roughness (Coma, Synchronic, Backpropagation, Immune System) and even a little stab at microfunk with GEO600 and Modified? I mean, if you want to call it that – it certainly sounds like 'minimal tech-step', so why not? Oh, and there's a hilarious attempt at injecting what I can only describe as squawking funk guitar in Dangerous Idea. Title's definitely apt there, but hey, points for trying, and the Amen bedlam elsewhere in the track is mint anyway.

But yeah, more vintage darkstep follows, and tickle me pink with how much I enjoyed Genesis. As with so many classic d'n'b genres, there's little sense in messing with what worked in the past. If Voyage is representative of the up-and-comers being featured on Tech Itch Recordings, then darkstep's future looks solid indeed.

Various - Drum & Bass Arena: 20 Years Of D&B 1996-2016

Drum&BassArena: 2016

Wow, twenty years. What's crazy is I still vividly recall listening to the Arena's early online streams off the computer of that one friend who always had the best internet connections. Okay, 'vividly' is stretching things. I don't remember specifics, but I do recall how cool it was to hear live broadcasts of d'n'b shows half a world away. You'd almost think our modern age of neigh unlimited HD audio insta-streams in 4K clarity would render a website like DrumAndBassArena moot now, but there's something to be said for having an established brand in the overstuffed promotions market. Barring a total and complete collapse of the internet as we currently know it, I see no reason why the DnB-A won't be around to celebrate a thirtieth anniversary. Well, at least a twenty-fifth.

Naturally, a two-decade birthday party can't be complete without a pile of music to celebrate with, and we get three CDs worth to gorge ourselves on. Seems like a straight-forward exercise, rounding up a pile of d'n'b bangers for an extended party, but I was curious how it'd compare with the 10 Years rinse-out. With Adam F and Grooverider handling the decks there, that outing accomplished a remarkable feat in highlighting all the upfront developments the jungle scene was going through (so much Pendulum influence ...just so much), while honouring all that had made 'ardcore such a dynamic sound in its younger days. A tough act to follow, is what I'm saying, and by the looks of things, the Arena didn't even try bringing in any A-list jocks for their 20 Years rinse-out. No credits for the DJ mixes, at least.

CD1 is billed as Music For The Masses, and with an opening one-two punch of Pendulum's Tarantula and Sub Focus' Rock It, it sure is that. Good news is it isn't all Pendulum-styled d'n'b all the way through (they show up again with Vault, because of course), and things even go darkstep mid-set (Spor! Hive! Phace! Other single-syllable names!). Things turn back to the cheesy sing-along anthems by the end, but eh, it is music for the masses. This set is honest. Meanwhile, CD2 provides the old-school tunes, or Recollections, and while most of the veteran names show up (Dillinja, Ed Rush, Optical, Total Science, Adam F, etc.), it's still not as good as Grooverider's 'classics' set. How could it be?

CD3 is a welcome surprise though. Billed as Deeper Cuts, it unearths a bevy of overlooked, well, deeper cuts. Microfunk, soul-step, atmospheric jungle, and all that good stuff, with Calibre, Marcus Intalex, dBridge, and Netsky among the names I recognize in the tracklist. Not many others though. Ivy Lab? Bachelors Of Science? Technimatic? Sabre, Stray & Halogenix featuring Frank Carter III? Who are all these guys? In any event, if 20 Years is your typical night of d'n'b personified, Deeper Cuts is that classy afterhours session, where the vibe remains brisk but mellow and chill. Good stuff for old-timers like me, by g'ar.

Various - Audioworks Various Artists V1 (Original TC Review)

C.I.A.: 2004

(2019 Update:
Well, is this ever an eyesore. I know there's still a few track-by-track reviews lurking in my archives, but the older they get, the harder they are to read. Not that they were well-written in the first place, but my eyes can't help but glaze over once the supposed meat is getting detailed. Looks like a bunch of fat and gristle now. Some folks out there like fat and gristle, but not me. I likes my steak lean an' mean.

Of course, the biggest oversight in this review is the total absence of any Pendulum name-drops. True, this compilation came out before the Down-Southerns changed the d'n'b game forever after, but I was writing this at peak Pendulum-mania. Frankly, though I knew they existed, and Jack Moss had reviewed them for TranceCritic, they never registered on my radar until much later. Just goes to show how out of the loop I really was from jungle at the time, so take whatever I had to say here with a boulder of sodium carbonate.)


IN BRIEF: Rough’n’ready jungle for all.

Got’dang’it, but do I ever have a hard time starting these jungle reviews. I only dip into that scene whenever I feel the urge to bust out some frantic dancing or be absorbed by sub-whoofer assaults. The cultural nuances hardline junglists cling to with life-or-death intensity fly over my head, just because I’ve never been subservient to any one small niche of music-dom. Yes, I do my research for the necessary background info on the subject, but the personal insight a highly anticipated release on the jungle ‘mah-siive’ isn’t something I feel. I am, for all intent and purpose, a passive fan of the music, and that’s about it.

Perhaps that’s why we don’t cover as much jungle as some of the other genres. We know we can’t bullshit our way through some of the more underground acts, as junglists would see right through us. Alternatively, just dryly covering a release’s details is awfully boring, and can probably be read anywhere anyways.

Take this release for instance. I’m sure a hardline junglist could go into great depth about Total Science, their impact on the ‘deebee’ scene, and the particulars about their C.I.A. label. Of course, I could do the same, but the nuances junglists have come to know from fellow scensters would undoubtedly be missing from my interpretation of this info. While events are just historical dates to me, to the junglist they are defining moments in their lives.

Does this make me qualified to review jungle? As a review of jungle for junglists, maybe not. However, as a general music fan writing for other general music fans, why certainly.

That convoluted disclaimer out of the way, let’s dive ourselves into some breakneck drum’n’bass, yes?

So yeah, Audioworks is basically a showcase of the C.I.A. family (the C.I.A. stands for Computer Integrated Audio, your fun-fact of the day). Everyone has a moment to flex their muse here, and while the tempos are fairly consistent at their rapid pace, there are still plenty of flavors to be had.

Hive & Echo get the party started with some easy going street funk and synthy strings. Of course, the rhythms are as frenetic as ever, but never feel as though they’ll derail at any moment. As for the bassline, it doesn’t try to bludgeon you with its presence, simply bobbing along at sub-frequencies that’ll rumble in your gut when played on adequate sound-systems.

However, if you prefer your jungle with the basslines dominating, then Baron’s Meet The Creeper will be right up your alley. After a bit of a tease in the intro, the beats come in slammin’ with a grimy bass riff. Nothing pretty about this track; it knows its role and performs it admirably. DJ Friction’s follow-up Shockwave indulges with the formula a little more though, making use of a bleepy hook to play off the main bass hook. Additional sound effects complete the package, making Shockwave a well-rounded slice of niceness.

Wisely, Audioworks doesn’t overindulge in these tracks for long, and takes us into more soulful territory with Total Science’s own offering of Picture Perfect. The bassline still has drive, but the additional synth hooks and vocal samples help carry the song to mellower pastures. The next couple of tracks follow Picture Perfect’s lead quite nicely, although Booty Conspiracy began to wear a bit thin with its repetitiveness.

Invaderz aim to change the mood of this compilation once again, giving us a taste of the paranoid sci-fi soundscapes of Control. With more attention payed to the atmosphere rather than the rhythms here (the beats tend to be quite repetitive, and are arranged in such a manner that isn’t the easiest to dance to), this track may not be up your alley if you prefer your jungle soulful or energetic. Still, as a diversion form what we’ve heard so far on Audioworks, Control is a welcome bit of moody music.

The Spirit’s Midnight Run retains a similar atmosphere to Control, but the beats are more ‘bang-on’, making it easier to groove to. It also marks a return of the dominating basslines as heard earlier in this compilation, although intermittently. It makes for a nice segue though.

Why? Because follow-up Friday is absolutely killer, that’s why! The intro beats to this track are already some of the most intense heard on Audioworks, but when Friday briefly breaks down to introduce the main bassline hook in a nice build, the energy it creates is off the fucking chart! This is head-banging, balls-to-the-wallz, pummel you senseless jungle business here. And like crafty producers, Drumsound and Smith only makes use of it sparingly, making you hungry for it to drop back in but never for so long you get sick of it. Fucking wicked, this track is.

After that burst of nitro, we’re taken into a blissy bit of drum’n’bass with Digital’s 3 Point, hinting at an easy-going outro for this compilation. Follow-up Divine Intervention seems to support this idea for a bit, but takes a 180 by unleashing a growling, abrasive bassline with terrifying results. Heh, nothing like a little ‘bait’n’switch’ action to snap you out of your stupor. Q Project does come correct though, offering us a dubby slice of ragga jungle to take us out.

In all, I quite enjoyed listening to Audioworks. While individually these tracks may not be breaking any new ground, their arrangement here is very good. At no point did I feel the flow lagged or came to an abrupt halt, and each track managed to sound different enough from the last to keep me interested. In fact, even after listening to this constantly for the last few days to write this review, I’ve never grown bored of it, and will probably still have it on my current rotation.

Audioworks is a solid compilation of jungle. Even if you’re only a passive fan of the genre, do check it out.

Written by Sykonee for TranceCritic.com, 2006. © All rights reserved.

Various - 10 Years Of Drum&BassArena: Mixed By Andy C & Grooverider (Original TC Review)

Resist Music: 2007

(2018 Update:
Called it! Okay, predicting the D'n'B Arena would still be kicking around for another decade wasn't hard. In fact, they've just recently released a twentieth anniversary 3CD extravaganza! Well, 'extravaganza' if you spring for the limited edition collector's roll-out, including t-shirt, stickers, vinyl accessories, all available on their Bandcamp. What, I ain't no shill. Might be worth scoping out that 20th roll-out though.

A couple things are glaringly absent in this review. One, no Pendulum namedrop. Yeah, Andy C only used one track of theirs in the Upfront Mix, but their influence is heard throughout his set. It's also interesting hearing early breakouts from Sub Focus, Chase & Status, Noisa, and T.C., who'd all go on to be huge stars in the d'n'b scene along with Pendulum. Andy C knew what was what back then. Back to the errors though, I failed to mention how much tech-step is thrown down in Grooverider's set. For the layman, the differences between darkcore, tech-step, and darkstep are negligible, but these are Very Important demarcations within the jungle scene, believe you me.)

IN BRIEF: Here’s to another ten.

A simple website dedicated to providing scene information and live sets of jungle DJs. That’s all it started out as. These days, the internet is flooded with such places, but in 1997 it was a rare commodity. Audio files were usually just too crap to be bothered with such features - the MP3 revolution was still a couple years away, after all.

Somehow, Drum & Bass Arena survived those uncertain early years, and is now celebrating its tenth anniversary. Chalk it up to the loyalty of the junglist massive (a slick design by the always reliable Designer’s Republic didn’t hurt either). The devotion to their scene is rivaled by few, and when they put their faith in something, they stick with it through thick and thin. Fortunately, the Arena has rewarded their loyalty over the years by keeping to its strengths and always providing fresh material for the online junglists to gorge on. The website may not be a major player in the wider world web, but it’s firmly carved out its niche and will undoubtedly be here another decade later.

So what better way to celebrate your resilience than to have a couple of the ‘deebee’ scene’s elder statesmen come in and make a DJ mix for you? Well, perhaps allowing someone from the new school to represent the ‘current’ set is one possibility, but that’s just a niggling observation. Andy C has proven quite capable of hanging with the young cats.

Anyhow, Andy gets to do the ‘Upfront’ disc, and upfront it is indeed. Right up front in your mutha-fuckin’ face! With that danj’a danj’a bass! Er... sorry about that. Listening to this gets me super-hyped, that’s all. The energy in Andy’s set is fast, furious, intense, manic, insane, and plenty more adjectives describing wicked crazy nuts.

Put in more stoic terms, disc one is simply fun jungle to have on. Although there is plenty feasting for the ears should you so desire, it kind of defeats the purpose of a set like this to only treat it that way; lounging in a sofa with headphones doesn’t do this set justice. Catchy vocal samples, frenetic beats, aggressive basslines, pleasing hooks: all winning ingredients for madcap parties. And unlike many jungle sets which tend to get samey-sounding due to unwavering rhythms, Andy keeps this one fresh with plenty of unique percussion arrangements, even at times throwing different time signatures into the works. I pity the house-head who attempts to dance to this.

Okay, so this is by no means a great jungle set. It does at times teeter off the rails with different styles of drum ‘n’ bass crashing into one another. Some of Andy’s DJ tricks don’t quite mesh. For a set claiming to be ‘upfront’, some songs are rather old. And similarly, I’m sure trainspotting junglists will bemoan about played out tracks (do trainspotters ever talk about anything else though?). These are all points one should take into consideration but if such factors don’t bother you, this is a solid set and should satisfy the dedicated and casual alike.

Of course, what point is there in looking back in the past with an anniversary release unless you also include a good ol’ ‘Classics’ set too? Well, perhaps the fact another classic d’n’b set is redundant in this industry, but that’s just a niggling observation. Grooverider has proven quite capable of giving the goldie oldies a proper rinsing on many occasions.

Anyone with a passing familiarity with jungle will recognize tons of tracks here. Valley Of Shadows, Champion Sound, Cutslo, Threshold, Alien Girl (also heard in a mash-up on the first disc, no less), The Lighter, The Warning: if you’re a junglist but don’t know these, then you fail, poseur. Heh, I kid, of course. I’ve yet to meet a junglist who doesn’t have a firm grasp on his scene’s history. Other EDM scenes could stand to learn from that.

For the most part, the ‘Rider sticks to that ominous, methodical form of jungle known as darkcore/step which was very popular with the less-mainstream crowds in the mid-90s. While far less frenetic than the stuff Andy C provided on his disc, it’s nonetheless great to listen to and chugs along at a good pace. He also throws in some older cuts when the genre was still in its hardcore roots, plus a token nod to the always manic ragga style at the end. All in all, it’s a well-crafted set but will probably be best enjoyed if you don’t have many of these tracks already floating around in your collection.

I suppose you’ve noticed this review doesn’t have a terribly serious tone to it. That’s because 10 Years isn’t a release that needs a thought-out analysis. It is, if anything, a self-congratulatory pat on the back by the Arena, and if you wish to join in the festivities, you’re more than welcome to. There’s not much new to find here but if you could use a couple more DJ mixes of old and new jungle, Andy’s and ‘Rider’s sets won’t disappoint.

Written by Sykonee for TranceCritic.com, 2007. © All rights reserved

Various - United DJs Of America, Vol. 14: DJ Soul Slinger

DMC: 2000

It took six years, fourteen entries, and seventeen DJs, but d'n'b finally, finally, gets a look-in with United DJs Of America. What, did the U.S. Of A. just not have any love for jungle throughout the '90s? My dudes, of course there was a strong contingent of junglists on this continent, with plenty of prominent DJs doing the rounds. DJ Dara! AK1200! Dieselboy! Freaky Flow! Wait, I'm just listing off jocks that came out on Moonshine. Come to think of it, that was the only significant Stateside label promoting homegrown d'n'b DJs. What gives, Soul Slinger? You had a jungle label, Jungle Sky, and an outlet for it with your Liquid Sky shop. Surely you could have given a few jocks a promotional bump based off your brand? Then again, perhaps America's d'n'b scene simply didn't have enough presence to make national marketing a viable option, not until a print with the financial backing of Moonshine got some cross-continental exposure going.

It's also a surprise that, for as long as he'd been in the business, Carlos Slinger had never made a commercial DJ mix until this point. Yeah, there was Upload: A Continuous Mix a couple years prior, but that one mostly featured his own productions, so was more an album than a proper rinse-out of vinyl crate weapons. Not so here, names like Scitex, TNT (2), Uncle 22, and The Burner Brothers all showing in the Soul Slinger's set for United DJs Of America, Vol. 14. I haven't heard of any o' these cats.

The CD opens with some live crowd action and MCing – was this a live recording? there's no indication in the inlay – and Mr. Slinger shows off his Brazilian roots with his own Zulu Transform (Samba Mix). At first I was worried that such MCing would overtake the music, but it's only for a couple early tracks, and T.C. Izlam doesn't appear again until the very end, where the crowd noise returns for a jump-up remix-singalong to Mike & Ike's Plutonic (you've heard it before as Biz Markie's Just A Friend).

Surprisingly, I wish he did show up a few more times throughout, because the tracks on offer grow rather monotonous after a while. Slinger seems intent on showcasing d'n'b with weird base noises above all else, whether they're a good tune or not. Some of it kicks proper darkstep ass, like Slither's Distorted Minds and Future Cut's Whiplash. Others are hilariously limp or silly - the bassline in DJ Del Mar's Him sounds like a wet fart dribbling out. I don't think the mix CD suited Slinger's particular style, and perhaps he knew it, never releasing another commercial set again. Maybe he preferred focusing on fashion.

New York City has had far too much representation in this series. We need to get out of this place, pronto, and there's only one man for a guest review capable of doing so. What say you, Snake?

Snake: The name's Plissken.

Ed Rush & Optical - Travel The Galaxy (Original TC Review)

Virus Recordings: 2009

(2016 Update:
Deary me, but was this review ever a comedy of punctuation errors. Love that semi-colon any harder, 2009 Sykonee. This was a latter-era TranceCritic write-up too, so I should have known better than that. Maybe collegiate essay writing had gotten the better of me? Whatever the case, I've corrected a bunch of those eyesores, though not all - can't let me off on every past transgression. One that most definitely needed amending was calling Ed Rush & Optical 'darkside'. Fool, they're tech-step, slowly morphing into darkstep. Trust me, if TC had a Junglist Oversight Committee, I'd have been fired on the spot for that one. (why would a trance website have such a committee...?)

This was Eddy and Optical's last record for quite some time, the duo finally returning to the LP market just this past year with No Cure. Naturally they kept busy in the interim, but fans were starved for a while, which gave Travel The Galaxy ever increasing kudos for what it accomplished. It probably didn't hurt that darkstep saw something of a resurgence when 'drumstep' entered the scene, a hybrid of dubstep that freely took cues from darkstep's aggressive, attacking basslines. The two sub-genres mesh quite well together, many up-and-comer jocks playing ample amounts of both in their sets. I approve.)


IN BRIEF: Not much new, but so what?

In some ways, the backlash against ‘darkstep’ was the best thing for that sub-genre of drum’n’bass. Everyone was in agreement that the sound had grown overbearingly worn-out shortly after the turn of the century, which allowed the liquid funk camps to easily take over. Though the old guard that championed evil basslines and such never relented, all the imitators and band-wagoners were eventually cleared out, and ‘darkstep’ is now firmly back in the hands of the pioneers. Sadly, nearly all but the most dedicated has forgotten about them in the process.

There’s just been far too much time and new directions in the scene since seminal singles like Alien Girl sent partiers quivering into corners with fear. Neurofunk, rockin’ Pendulum… all that stuff Ed Rush & Optical spearheaded and nurtured with guys like Technical Itch and Dieselboy seems quite old hat today, a relic of a by-gone era when their scene was quite willing to suffocate on its self-created abyss. Folks needed an escape and by golly, the Hospital crew, Soul:r, and, er, Pendulum were willing to offer some respite from the horrors Virus Recordings and their associates were generating. But it’s not like the sound ever lost its destructive force on a dance floor. You can still find tracks being rinsed out by jungle DJs the world over, but as accentuated points within a set rather than being a running theme. Apathy over the techier side of take-no-prisoners d’n’b is still apparent though, so it’s a bloody shame the new album from the sub-genre’s standard bearers - Ed Rush & Optical - will go relatively unnoticed. Travel The Galaxy is probably one of the most satisfying full-lengths of darkstep and neurofunk in some time; and not just as a strong collection of singles, but as a complete play-through as well, which is remarkable because they barely stray off their chosen path.

From the moment you press ‘Play’ and for a long while, this album has a feeling of business as usual. Oh, business is definitely good but long-standing detractors of Eddie and Op’s sound aren’t going to find anything of interest here. For the faithful though, there’s plenty of choice to gorge on. You got your rollicking sci-fi beasts like City 17 and Temper; there’s your swinging sub-sub-bass funk groove in Magical Thinking and Chubrub; Snaggletooth, the obligatory cut that seems purely designed to torture your bass bins. Some knowing winks to the old guard with their vintage sounds, like a vocal sample in Snaggletooth saying “darkside”, followed by the classic vwwompp-vwwompp Reece bassline (yes, it may be a cliché, but these two wrote the book on that cliché, so it’s allowed - forward written by Grooverider). And then a couple solid cuts that could very well be b-sides (Padded Cells and Move It). So all well and good; the album’s certainly worthy of a 7 up to this point. However, Eddie and Op don’t seem content with such a score, so they start breaking form a little in the latter half of the album.

G-Force Jesus throws in ominous choirs with the galloping beats and basslines, which of itself would be pretty damned cool, but Eddie and Op take things one step further with a breakdown which could have been a solid slice of tech house on its own. At first, The Kindred seems like ‘just another tech thriller’ akin to Temper, yet there’s far more energy to this cut than heard elsewhere. Same with Titanium, which shares status with Snaggletooth as a ‘bassline experimentation’ cut, but my God is the bassline here ever something to behold - like an Imperial Star Destroyer reactor come to life! And finally, in one of the ballsiest moves I’ve heard from the neurofunk camps, Eddie and Op take a stab at liquid funk in Space Monkey, of all things. The epic builds, the wailing divas, and the exhilarating momentum - all Hospital staples, yet here imbued with the kind of sci-fi attributes you’d expect from Virus.

Even with this strong finish, Travel The Galaxy still seems like a 7 on paper, as we’re mostly stuck in the realms of darkstep and it can be rather excessive to endure for a full album’s worth, especially so with the uncompromising final cut Schrander's Dice. Yet, when you actually listen to this album, you can’t help but get caught up in the themes and energy Eddie and Op present to you. In fact, that’s always been the draw of jungle of this sort, and despite it not being as popular as before, these twelve cuts prove darkstep still has all the power and heart it once did. That’s worth the extra little nudge up a mark.

Fans will love this album, haters will likely ignore it. For the rest of the potential audience - those who’ve, say, grown tired of Pendulum’s shtick - there’s plenty for you to cut your teeth on here. Travel The Galaxy may be walking familiar territory, but it’s nonetheless a solid starting point for the curious.

Written by Sykonee for TranceCritic.com, 2009. © All rights reserved.

Dieselboy - A Soldier's Story

Moonshine Music: 1999

Few DJs are as influential in America's jungle scene as Dieselboy. There were some respectable names, sure, but as most d'n'b trends were dictated by the hierarchy of the UK, any rinser in the lands of eagles were obligated to follow suit. For the most part, so did one Damien Higgins, but as tech-step of yore started its morph into darkstep of yaye, the Dieslely One somehow turned those aggressive sounds into his own, rising to the high ranks of all jungle jocks throughout the Western Hemisphere. Few could match his furious mixing skills and relentless track selection, often hoarding all the best, unreleased material from the genre's elite (Technical Itch, Decoder, Dom & Roland, etc.). Of course, it didn't hurt he was among the first to truly push darkstep as jungle's future, setting himself apart from his contemporary late adopters. Savvy move on his part, that particular style still finding plenty of fans fifteen years on.

Making his debut with America’s former preeminent electronic music label Moonshine Music is A Soldier’s Story ...kinda’. Though much of Dieselboy’s early career was marked by the mixtape circuit, he released a couple CDs as well, though most flew well under the radar. One was even released on Philly-based Sixeleven Records, a print almost entirely known for house music. Another came care of Sub Base Records, but as Moonshine handled their distribution, that could technically be considered Mr. Higgins’ first major exposure. But no, this one, right here, right then, was Dieselboy’s proper coming out party for the greater U.S. of A. (plus Canadaland), ready to stand toe-to-toe with other American favourites like AK1200 and DJ Dara. He, um, didn’t quite knock it out of the park.

Oh, A Soldier’s Story definitely is a manifesto on Dieselboy’s part, coming in early with the burgeoning neurofunk style before letting a few Tech’ Itch cuts drop serious damage on your ears. Jump up is dead. Jazzstep is dead. All the old jungle genres are dead; obey your darkstep overlords. Jonny L and Danny Breaks can join in the celebration feast though. Some of the scene’s newer blood also make appearances with DJ Friction, Markus Intalex (or ‘Mark Da Intallex’ as he’s credited here), and, um, Kosheen. Hey, it was Decoder’s pet, that group, and we at least get a proper fierce remix on Yes Man for that cut. It’s also about as ‘vocal’ as A Soldier’s Story gets – Dieselboy ain’t having none of that sing-along E-Z Rollers anthemy shite, mate.

So a solid set in the darkstep mold, but that’s pretty much all it is straight through, little variation or twists thrown our way. That’s fine if you just want a pummelling CD, but a strong, memorable mix knows when to drop tangents without losing flow. Some might suggest that’s just the way Dieselboy does things, but his follow-up mix for Moonshine, System_Upgrade, did provide those spicy variants, making for a much stronger CD in the process. Damn, wish I still had that one.

ACE TRACKS: April 2013

It was bound to happen at some point. Like, after eight years of attending, there had to be a down year among them – law of averages and all that, right? This isn’t to say I had a bad time this year, oh no! However, I can’t honestly say I had a great time either, compounding stresses keeping me from ever quite ‘letting go’ as I typically am wont to do at Shambhala. I had a forty-hour stretch of non-sleep, and believe me it wasn’t chemically induced insomnia. Definitely has given me pause on how to proceed with next year, provided I can get rid of the debt these two summer trips have accrued upon me. Live and learn. Meanwhile, here’s a bunch of cool music that I reviewed way back in APRIL 2013!



Full track list here.

MISSING ALBUMS:
Various - Frosty
Various - Freebass Breakz & Sub Funk Beats
Various - fabric 61: Visionquest
Various - FabricLive 50: D-Bridge & Instra:mental Present Autonomic
Various - fabric 47: Jay Haze
Various - fabric 36: Ricardo Villalobos
Various - FabricLive 32: Tayo
Tony Anderson Sound Orchestra - Focus On Hollywood

Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 0%
Percentage Of Rock: 12%
Most “WTF?” Track: Yes - The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus) (soo trippy)

Yes, I feel your anguish at not getting to hear those chintzy synth-pop covers of famous movie and TV themes. Maybe not so much at the lack of cuts from my first Fabric Project (on a budget) though. Shame, as the music from Tayo’s mix definitely needs more lovin’. Aside from that, this was another month of totally random music (trance, ambient dub, tech-house, acid jazz, jungle), so I went with another alphabetical arrangement. This time, however, I’ve gone in reverse! Thrill at hearing songs with titles starting with “W” and “T” early in a playlist!

Various - Moving Shadow 99.2

Moving Shadow: 1999

The best way to gauge a label’s swagger is by the number of sub-labels it’s running. Moving Shadow had a few when it started out in the early ‘90s, though most went by the wayside as the old-school hardcore scene faded. By the late ‘90s though, they’d found their mojo again, and set-up Audio Couture on the side. Best as I can tell, it handled their ‘proper’ underground stuff here – tech-dark-steppy-step, or something. It only lasted a couple years before Moving Shadow consolidated its resources again, but it was enough to re-double the label’s presence within the d’n’b scene at large. (side note: sub-labels are also telling of a label on the downward slope if focus is on an entirely different scene, as M.S. did with breaks ‘n’ house pusher Shadow Cryptic; that didn’t go as well)

Thus when Moving Shadow released 99.2, it featured ample material from Audio Couture as a means of additional promotion. I honestly can’t recall how far apart this and 99.1 were released from each other, but it couldn’t have been that much time considering they both feature the same CD-ROM material from Rockstar Games. Ooh! Grand Theft Auto 2! I have that game, though never got further than the second city. Such shit driving mechanics. There’s also Thrasher: Skate And Destroy on here, also known as “Not Tony Hawk”.

Timecode’s CD1 mix doesn’t waste time with acid jazz pleasantries or smooth jazzstep funkiness, picking things up right where 99.1 left off, literally so. 99.1 finished with AK1200 & Danny Break’s novelty ‘smutstep’ cut Deep Porn, and here’s that starlet going on about how “you’re so nasty” right at the start of 99.2. It’s only for five seconds though, and we don’t hear the track again until the very end of this mix. So, wait, is 99.2 a direct continuation of 99.1, or is this CD supposed to repeat itself into a continual loop? I’m confused.

The real first track is Dom & Roland’s remix of Renegade’s Terrorist. Yep, darkstep to kick off, and save a detour into jazzstep’s realm in the middle (gotta get in those E-Z Rollers tracks), this mix is balls to the junglist walls throughout. 99.1 wasn’t the greatest drum ‘n’ bass mix out there, but it at least had a solid arc to it. 99.2 doesn’t let up, which is fine for the floor but wearisome in this context.

Better is the bonus mix on CD2, featuring Omni Trio. It’s only twenty-one minutes long, so just a taste of Mr. Haigh’s smooth, atmospheric sound, but definitely more enjoyable than what goes down on CD1. Okay, fine, there’s a few good tunes in Timecode’s set too: Dom & Roland’s Can’t Punish Me and Aquasky’s Bodyshock come to mind. If I’m reaching for a full-on darkstep rinse-out though, I’ll sooner grab a Dieselboy mix than a Moving Shadow sampler. I suspect the label figured that out too, subsequent Moving Shadow sampler mixes offering stronger diversity than what 99.2 gives us.

Various - Moving Shadow 99.1

Moving Shadow: 1999

The late ‘90s were easily Moving Shadow’s peak years. The home of E-Z Rollers, Omni Trio, Dom & Roland, Flytronix, and Technical Itch, the label provided a full range of credible drum ‘n’ bass tools any self-respecting junglist of the time needed having. And not to be outdone by the majors, good ol’ M.S. even got licensing deals for their roster, especially so for the growing video game market.

If by some chance you still didn’t know about Moving Shadow, sitting snuggly on your local music shop shelves were these bi-yearly sampler discs. For pocket change, you’d get DJ mixes handled by Moving Shadow honcho Timecode (Rob Playford), plus a bundle of CD-ROM material. Though the CD-ROM stuff went by the wayside once internet promotion became the norm, the Moving Shadow samplers kept rolling out for a good while longer even as the label’s influence waned in the following decade.

With 99.1, we’re definitely capturing them at their prime. The main disc presents a solid assortment of jungle genres for the time, plus a little acid jazz business from Flytronix and Omni Trio to kick things off. It’s never a bad thing to show musical diversity in a set, and such smooth vibes mix nicely if you follow it up with jazzstep business. The actually mixing’s not the best though, some transitions held too long, others rushed and clashing. Still, it’s forgivable since we’re dealing with a sampler mix of a single label. Boy, do I ever forgive DJs that self-impose restrictions on themselves, huh.

A brief moment of sci-fi sounds from Omni Trio bridges the early jazz tunes into a furious finish of darkstep roughness for the final half. Quite a bit’s been written how darkstep set the jungle scene off on an aggressive, uninviting road that took years to recover from, but how was anyone to know it during these early days of the sub-genre? Calyx’ Acid Blues, Teebee’s Instant Irradicfication, and Dom & Roland’s Killa Bullet all sounded fresh and exciting as the ‘90s came to a close, and their power hasn’t faltered since. Speaking of power, Technical Itch’s brilliant acid workout Reborn and tech-step beast LED show up here, though are mashed with their surrounding tunes so much, I’d just rather grab Diagnostics for another spin again. Huh, I guess the ‘sampler advertising’ works.

CD2 features a mini-mix of E-Z Rollers material, the biggest stars on Moving Shadow at the time. Eh… okay, maybe because Tough At The Top was ridiculously played out in my neck of the woods, but I could never get into these guys. They had some decent variety, but it seemed everyone just wanted to hear their take on jazzstep, which struck me as Roni Size music for the Aphrodite crowd. Whatever. I’m sure I’d dig their material if I dug into it beyond Weekend World.

As for 99.1, it’s worth a glance in whatever used shop you find it sitting in, but better mixes of this music lie elsewhere.