Various - Drum & Bass Arena 2015

AEI Music: 2015

About a year ago, I got it in my head that, instead of just waiting around for another anniversary anthology from the Drum & Bass Arena, I ought to scope out their yearly compilations too. Surely there's enough annual material to justify three CDs worth of d'n'b. Perhaps, but I doubt the Arena would be the outlet for such a comprehensive collection. Don't get me wrong, they've done a remarkable job serving as a curator for the junglist mah'seeve since the Web 1.0 days. It's sometimes been a handicap though, focusing on what's the most trendy and popular out there. Granted, the drum 'n' bass scene is remarkably wide and diverse, and the Arena at least dips its toes in many genres, even if others are passed (ain't no Tech Itch Recordings here, no sir).

So I fire up their Bandcamp page, and settle on two releases from their annual series: 2015 and 2019. Something old, something new. Yes, Drum & Bass Arena 2019 is indeed the 'newest' of these, for reasons I'm sure we're all too familiar with by now. As for Drum & Bass Arena 2015... um, I'm technically still waiting for it. I haven't a clue what happened, but they haven't shipped the CDs (I did receive 2019), despite having an 'estimated to ship' notice on it. Haven't been able to contact anyone about it, and am well past the 'get a refund' window by now. Besides, I still have the digital download of 2015, and surely that's enough, right? Well, not quite.

I'm not sure why, but the digital version of 2015 only includes fifty-two tracks of the sixty that makes up the CDs. Also, unlike later Bandcamp releases of D&BArena CDs, 2015 doesn't have a continuous mix option. Hey, swell beans having unmixed tracks and all, but something tells me I'd appreciate this selection more with the beats and drops coming relentless and rapid fire. Not to mention those missing eight tunes.

Anyhow, the music. Names I'm plenty familiar with show up – TC, Calbire, Calyx, Spor, Black Sun Empire, Total Science – and a whole lot more I'm not. Which is good, the point of annual retrospectives offering some shine to the underground and unknown. Honestly though, the production homogeneity among many of them is so rampant, you could tell me half of them are the same guy, and I wouldn't be the wiser. Hey, genres are genres for a reason.

Best I can glean from the tracks I do have, CD1 of 2015 mostly features d'n'b's version of full-on tear-out anthems and whatnot: the Pendulum continuum. CD2 goes deeper into tech-step's domain, even glancing sideways a bit towards drumstep, before unloading its own anthems for the end. CD3 has the most soulful tunes of this collection, pure afterhours vibes. Or bus ride home, as the case may be. Isn't it funny, that d'n'b saves its chill stuff for the comedown, rather than a pre-party patio soundtrack that, say, deep house occupies?

Lamb - Lamb

Fontana: 1996

(a Patreon Request from Omskbird)

Like everyone else, I just automatically assumed Lamb to be part of the trip-hop lexicon. Look, when the first track you come across from them is paired up with a Portishead cut, you'd make the association too. I'd see the group's music on numerous downtempo/lounge/chill-out compilations over the years since, though Lord Discogs tells me I only have one of their songs, on the Canadian 'electronica' CD RU Receiving (Górecki, naturally).

My lack of overexposure led me to believe Lamb was a group that got a little lost in the great trip-hop wave of the mid-'90s, one that folks would recognize by name (because how could you not? 'Lamb', it just rolls off the tongue!), but could never reach the commercial highs as the big Bristol acts. And that was true for the most part, their subsequent albums after this doing only modest chart action in the U.K. to say nothing of their global impact. Except Portugal. For some reason, Lamb were huge there, possibly bigger than even in Britain. Hey, sometimes one's sound just clicks with a specific culture.

What I never realized – and probably should have given how Górecki sounds, but eh, context – is Lamb really aren't trip-hop. Elements of it, sure, with a few tracks definitely fitting the mould (Trans Fatty Acid, absolutely). As I listen through their debut album though, I hear closer lineage with jazzstep than anything downtempo. But the vibe doesn't quite gel with the d'n'b scene either, songs definitely more laid-back than the frenetic pace of your Goldies and Roni Sizes. Yet, even when those producers were doing more chill, jazz-soul outings, there was always a sense of urgency and bite in their tunes. Not quite so with Lamb, the busy rhythm-work making better sense in smokey lounges than a warehouse filled with junglists. Less rinse-out tools, more songs that you should sit down and soak in with.

It probably helps that singer-songwriter Louise Rhodes is a permanent fixture of Lamb, thus her lyricism an involved component of their songs than whatever some guest vocalist can whip up for a track or two. And she certainly shows her range here, bellowing when sampled orchestras swell, or bringing things down to a whispery, husky coo when the album goes soft and quiet.

Meanwhile, Andrew Barlow does a fair bit of chop-n-slice production with numerous jazz and orchestral samples, sometimes breaking beats down to near IDM levels of stuttering (so much backspin in Cotton Wool, just so much). As mentioned, it gives many tunes off here a level of kinetic energy you didn't really find in most trip-hop releases, which undoubtedly gave Lamb an extra edge over their contemporaries. The genre was in need of some evolution by '96 as it was, and Lamb certainly provided that. Small wonder they found plenty of success on the compilation market after. Okay, a record deal with Mercury didn't hurt either, the label anxious for their own Portishead after that group won their Music Prize.

Bows - Blush

Too Pure: 1999

(a (late) Patreon Request from Omskbird)

At first ear-glance, you'd be forgiven in thinking this is just another trend-hopping cash-in by another would-be trip-hop-slash-jazzstep act. Well, more the former than the latter, but if Roni Size/Reprazent could have crossover success, surely anyone could repeat the trick (spoiler: no). I cannot deny letting that assumption initially sink in, the Massive Attack comparisons rapidly blossoming in my brain like a bounty of succulent peaches. Or coconuts. Or apples... Darn, what a boring list of fast-growing fruits for a simile. What would the opposite of that be, the slowest blooming fruit? *d'un Google'd* The melocanna baciffera, eh? Well, the simile wouldn't work, but the alliteration would!

Anyhow, Bows was the brainchild of Luke Sutherland, a multi-instrumentalist who plied his trade with the indie rock band Long Fin Killie. Never heard of them myself, but they released three albums throughout the '90s, so a modest run. When Mr. Sutherland started feeling the itch for something a little more proper urban, the band disbanded, though Colin Greig brought his bass to the Bows project. And while Luke was proficient with plenty of instruments (guitar, violin, saxaphone, his own voice), he added a few more musicians to the mix, including Robbie McKendrick on non-sampled drums, and singer Signe Høirup Wille-Jørgensen as vocalist. Yes, that's a Danish name, she also of the band Speaker Bite Me, and followed-upon with a solo career as Jomi Massage. Man, where would I be without The Lord That Knows All, eh? I couldn't imagine trying to research all that when Blush first came out.

Anyhow, the reason those Massive Attack comparisons couldn't be helped is because the UK soul drips from this album (and we all know who invented contemporary UK soul... (James Blake?)). Opener Big Wings features dense layers of swelling strings, oozy-woozy saxophone and horns, and Ms. Wille-Jørgensen's croon over a slow Amen Break, essentially bridging trip-hop and jungle. By '99, I'm sure it'd been done plenty times, but Bows' take on it is enjoyable enough.

And that's about the gist of how I'd sum Blush. It treads ground mostly covered in years prior, but Luke shows enough songcraft and personality with the sound to make this a solid companion piece to the trip-hop lexicon. Some intriguing tricks crop up, such as the ultra-quiet start of King Deluxe (such a whisper of a vocal), or the chill fake-out before going full jazzstep tear-out in Girls Lips Glitter. Plus, the swelling strings of Big Wings becomes a recurring theme throughout Blush, including an extra-long outro in Rockets that almost turns the music into a dense six-minute drone.

If this had come out during trip-hop's critical peak ('94-'95), I'm sure it'd be regarded in the same discussions as Portisehead and Tricky. Unfortunately, the genre was waning in critical favour at the turn of the Millennium, so it's no surprise this would have been brushed off as 'more of the same'. If you dig trip-hop's myriad contributions though, 'more of the same' ain't a bad thing at all.

Mist:i:cal - The Eleventh Hour (Original TC Review)

Soul:r: 2007

(2018 Update:
It's astonishing this remains the only album this group put out. They had nearly a decade to work on another, though with the passing of Marcus Intalex this past year, such a thing's a moot point now. Save a single digital EP in the year 2008, the project went quiet after the release of this album. Calibre carried on with his solo output, now a dozen albums strong, and Marcus put out a lone LP in 2011 called 21, but his passion remained with the DJ circuit, all the while maintaining his Soul:r print. Meanwhile, ST Files kept a steady stream of singles, but never quite hit the same heights of success as the other two players involved with Mist:i:cal.

Nothing else to add to this review. There's a little fudging of the genre demarcations - liquid funk was broad enough in those days that the flying high soul found here could fit the term - but The Eleventh Hour remains a timeless outing of d'n'b for all you savvy heads out there.)

IN BRIEF: Doing it their own way.

On the opening title track of The Eleventh Hour, guest vocalist DRS is calling out all the corporate shenanigans of his scene. To the backing beats of what could be a long-lost Photek track, the MC seems a might bit peeved that drum’n’bass has lost its way, succumbing to the glitz and glamour of commercialization, sacrificing the heart and soul of the scene’s urban hipness of yore. Methinks he could be seeing the past with shades of a rosen-hue.

Yes, Pendulum turned the jungle scene on its head with one hell of a commercial breakthrough, but d’n’b had plenty of success well before then too. Goldie. Roni Size. EZ Rollers. Er... Kosheen. Hmm, apparently d’n’b’s credibility can ebb and flow with whichever name hits it big after all. However, I find it silly of DRS to be calling out currently successful acts of the dee’bee scene - if not specifically by name, then at least by association - when the very sound he’s spitting over was mainstream a decade ago. Then again, that material certainly was far more artistically credible than many current offerings from the majors these days.

And this is pretty much the sound you’ll come to hear on Mistical’s album. Comprised of Calibre, Markus Intalex, and ST. Files, the trio of producers have cooked up a collection of d’n’b cuts which mostly ignores current trends; there’s nary an ultra-aggro bassline heard, and style-biting from the Hospital Records crew is non-existent. Instead, they indulge in the styles which dragged the genre out of the underground during the mid-90s. This might have your Hooked On Nostalgia alarm beeping, but fear not, my friends, for Mistical aren’t rehashing the past, rather embracing what made those classic tunes work brilliantly when they were new.

So we have smooth dubby cuts like Mistical Soulution, City Life, and Amen Electric; atmospheric floaters like Time To Fly and Memory Jog; jazzstep offerings courtesy of Natasha; and urban stylings such as Stay Away and City Life (er, no points for predicting this reviewer's Ace Tracks, heh). Linking it all together is a warm gentle soulfulness that, frankly, tends to be lacking in much d’n’b these days. Yes, even the spirited liquid funk camps are guilty of this too, as they can get a bit caught up in bringing the bang to the party, lest they be left in the dust of their aggressive compatriots. Whether it’s Mistical’s aim to fill in this missing gap, or they merely prefer this sound over what’s hot and trendy, the trio definitely have managed to stand out from the pack because of their stylistic choice.

Further along The Eleventh Hour, we come across a track that may have all the junglists running for the hills ...or wondering if the right CD is still in their player. Dominick Martin (Calibre) has been known to dabble in other genres, but to have a purely dubbed-out house tune on a d’n’b album is a surprising and welcome idea. For a cut that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Swayzak DJ mix, Secret Love fits nicely in adding a bit of variety here.

Mistical continue their experiments for most of the final stanza. Add Break is an effects interlude; Eject finds the duo trying their hand at some neurofunk (and succeeding!); and the aforementioned Memory Jog will undoubtedly tickle at the old school dee’bee head in us all (and possibly fans of The Orb too). It’s quite an eclectic collection of sounds to close the album off, sounding very little like what came before.

Looking to close out The Eleventh Hour with that extra touch of class, Mistical bring in house legend Robert Owens to lend his vocal talents on Believe. The trio provide a sparse d’n’b cut to back the liquid funk favorite up, as Owens can easily carry the track on his own. And while he doesn’t sing about much we haven’t heard from him before (keep you chin up; don’t lose sight of your dreams, etc.), he does so in as fine a form as ever.

All in all, friends, we have a good little album here. Considering how dissimilar it is to much of what passes for cutting edge jungle, Mistical should definitely find themselves in a comfortable niche. A bigger question, though, is whether they have the chops to really stand out from the crowd, and perhaps even shake the dee’bee scene up a bit. Had you asked me that back in February when The Eleventh Hour was released, I’d probably have said “not much”. However, something recently occurred that has forced me to reconsider.

Marcus Intalex was tapped for Fabric’s thirty-fifth edition of their Live series. In the process, he came up with a drum’n’bass DJ mix that is currently being hailed as one of the best the genre has seen in years. Drawing upon many of the sounds Mistical utilize, it turned many heads around who’d grown jaded with their scene, claiming the sound is like a breath of fresh air in a stagnating atmosphere.

As I am not as immersed in the dee’bee scene to know if this is truly the case or not, I can still see the writing on the wall of what such claims foretell. Gaining exposure on a Fabric mix is big enough, but to have many bestowing high praise upon it in the process can only bring good things for the prospects of Mistical. Fortunately for them, they have an album in the bank that can back up any hype that comes with such exposure.

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

High Contrast - True Colours

Hospital Records: 2002

It may come off as ridiculous hyperbole to claim this album forever (and a day) changed the way Hospital Records went about doing drum ‘n bass, but it’s pretty much the truth of the matter. Liquid funk as a genre already existed as a nebulous idea, though with few clear, identifiable traits dozens of producers followed up with. High Contrast almost single-handedly codified how the new-fangled ‘fast soul music’ concept would be done on London Elektricity’s print, everyone following Lincoln Barrett’s form in defining one of this century’s most popular strains of d’n’b. Heck, if a mighty Pendulum hadn’t come along with their own style, liquid funk could very well still be top dog to this day.

So yeah, True Colours (or True Colors for y’all yanks), a Very Important Record in the history of d’n’b, but not exactly the best album out of High Contrast’s discography. Frankly, that would be his confident sophomore effort, High Society, if nothing else than for the liquid funk stylee coming fully formed and furious on that record. Or maybe Tough Guys Don’t Dance, what with its liberal sub-genre hopping. True Colours though (or True Couleur for the Francophones) is clearly Mr. Barrett in his early stages, more conservative in his productions, perhaps a little unsure whether the whole liquid funk thing would catch on beyond a flight of fancy for casual heads. Well, London Elektricity believed in it, abandoning any pretensions of carrying jazzstep’s legacy in favor of High Contrast’s fresher, brisk beatcraft with hooky soul samples galore.

For sure there’s some gems of the genre within True Colours (or True Rangi if you speak Swahili). Make It Tonight was the first single High Contrast put out, nearly a year prior to his debut full-length dropping, and I can’t be the only one noticing that string hook bears some resemblance to Codename John’s Deep Inside Of Me - hey, soul samples can come from the recent past as well as some dusty ‘70s 7-inch. Passion also came out in the year 2001, closing in on the sound that would turn Hospital Records into a dominating force, though that bass tone’s a bit rough. But yes, the definitive liquid funk classic, Return Of Forever, is the opener, bringing nearly everything you expect of the genre (such a glorious string section!). Perhaps the only surprising thing regarding it now is how the build-drop template doesn’t tear out as hard as liquid funk typically does - they were still defining them, after all.

A few jazzsteppy numbers round out this ten-tracker (Music Is Everything, Remember When), but by and large True Colours would rather let the ‘fast soul music’ mold settle than fool with eccentricities. That general lack of diversity in True Colours may be a turn-off for liquid funk followers who came to the genre late in the game, though I’d be astounded if such quibbles were deal breakers for that scene’s fans. They really are a devoted, passionate sort.

Omni Trio - The Haunted Science

Moving Shadow: 1996

The only Omni Trio album you’re supposed to have, even if you’re not an Omni Trio fan. Mind you, my sources for this proclamation is entirely predicated upon which singles have the longest legacy within Rob Haigh’s career. For sure every junglist worth their hoodie knows of Renegade Snares, the single that broke Omni Trio out of the darkcore scene. Who knew jungle could sound so calm and pleasant with charming piano hooks? More than enough to help kick-off the ‘atmospheric’ side of jungle. Which lead to ‘intelligent’ records, and refined tastes melding with ‘jazz’, while losing the frenetic rave roots in favor of a stripped-back ‘tech’ approach to the craft. All this, and drum ‘n bass too.

Though The Haunted Science technically isn’t Omni Trio’s first LP, it may as well be his proper debut album, prior The Deepest Cut more a collection of earlier singles and remixes. This one also features a number of tracks that would become workhorses in the compilation and DJ mix field, their only rival the aforementioned Renegade Snares (because obviously). Part of this probably was due to timing, The Haunted Science coming out in ’96, a very good year for d’n’b’s commercial and critical ventures. While Omni Trio didn’t get quite the same degree of praise and plaudits as your Goldies or Roni Sizes or Photeks or LTJ Bukems, he was always in the discussion of Very Important Drum ‘n Bass Guys, his records necessary weapons in any self-respecting DJ’s crate. Even the ardent ‘ardcore sorts would make room for an Omni Trio cut.

As for the big singles off The Haunted Science, we get three essential tunes: Trippin’ On Broken Beats, Who Are You, Nu Birth Of Cool, and Haunted Kind. Wait, that’s four? Sorry, personal perspective throwing things a little askew, that last one always slipping me by, probably because it’s more a trip-hop thing than d’n’b. Lord Discogs tells me Haunted Kind did significant compilation duty though, and who am I to dispute The Lord That Knows All?

The first three, however, were such major tracks in the Omni Trio canon, that we get two versions of each on this album! The jazzy Trippin’ On Broken Beats is easily the most famous of these singles, even appearing on Paul Oakenfold’s Live In Oslo mix when the trance jock was working a little jungle class into his sets. Who Are You is pure groovy bliss, but Aquasky takes it down de-e-eep tech-step roads with sub-bass to die for. Nu Birth Of Cool carries on the Renegade Snares tradition of funky licks, piano kicks, and peppy vocal samples, while the Rogue Unit Mix takes it into rougher jungle pastures.

The rest of The Haunted Science plays to Omni Trio’s established strengths: spacious elegant beatcraft, impossibly cool jazz vibes, and an atmosphere of endless ecstasy. Maybe not as genre-defining as other works of the time - you know what you’re getting with this album - but damn does it ever deliver.

Amon Tobin - Piranha Breaks

Ninja Tune: 1997

It’s time for another game of Wild Suppositional Theories! For this episode, your host asks the simple question, “What is Piranha Breaks, exactly?” It’s sure not a lead single for Amon Tobin’s second album, Permutation, as three of the four tracks on here are exclusive to this EP. It kind of has the feel of a stopgap, a hold-over between Bricolage and Permutation, but those typically contain material only hardcore fans would have interest in (live takes, alternate mixes, etc.) – the music on here is anything but half-assed. Are these just left-overs from the Bricolage sessions, then? It wouldn’t surprise me if he made so much awesome music that he simply couldn’t fit on his first LP due to accursed limited space on physical mediums. Yeah, let’s run with that theory.

For a less ‘fanboyish’ idea, Piranha Breaks is a short exploration of Tobin’s frenetic, jazzy jungle sound. If anything, this EP is a nice summation of the music he’s most identified with in his early career, the surrounding albums broader in their stylistic fusions. Take the classy vibe of Roni Size’s jazzstep, the intense rhythms of ragga and IDM breakcore, and add a little inner city menace as only a member of the Ninja Tune squad can create. Voila, Piranha Breaks in a nutshell. Well, okay, third track Sub Tropic’s a bit more trip-hoppy in pace, but that bassline’s all d’n’b feral nastiness.

And… um, that’s about all I have to say about this EP. It’s only four tracks long, each great but not all that stylistically different from each other. Like, what do you expect of me to do, list exactly how each sounds? The titular cut has a saxophone, Fast Eddie some trumpets, Sub Tropic more trumpets and slap cello, and Hot Pursuit focuses more on its rhythm section. As for those rhythms, yeah they’re cool and intricate and absolute catnip for breaks trainspotters and time-signature students. If you want detailed analysis of their attributes though, maybe try an old issue of XLR8R. About as in-depth I can go with this is ‘brain challenged, sounds cool, me like’. Isn’t that enough? Wait, I just lied about not having anything more to say about Piranha Breaks at the start of this paragraph, didn’t I. Hooray for rambly bullshit, eh.

Okay, this review kinda’ sucks. Amon deserves better, but unfortunately this is yet another case of my real life interfering with my writing life. I won’t bring up the issues here - just know that some situations are incredibly distracting at this time. Hopefully things will resolve itself in short order and this blog won’t suffer for it. Can’t let it overwhelm me, remember the Dr. Alban song It’s My Life and not allow others to suck me into their melodrama. Yeah, already this is getting too personal, and not in the musical anecdotal way I’ll indulge in. Ignore this last paragraph. Piranha Breaks, check it out if you crave a little extra Tobin spice in your diet.

ACE TRACKS: October 2014

One month past. Feels like forever since I started up with this Spotify Deezer thinger, yet here we are, finally with a new permanent Playlist for the sidebar to last us another month. Here are the choice cuts from what I reviewed in October.


Full track list here.

Missing Albums:
Calibre - Overflow (FOUND!)
Sunbeam - Out Of Reality
Astropilot - Here And Now
TUU - One Thousand Years (FOUND!)
The Orb - The Orb’s Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld (FOUND!)
Various - One A.D. (FOUND!)


Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 16%
Percentage Of Neil Young: 5%
Most “WTF?” Track: Aphex Twin - Xepha (like anyone else could take this spot)

Waveform Records isn't on Spotify [but are on Deezer!]. I have the sads now, since I can’t share the music they’ve put out exclusively through their label (not to mention some of the older rarities). You’ll just have to settle for the crummy Amazon clips below their reviews or, I dunno, go to their website and buy the music. It’s a worthy purchase, trust me on that.

I’m surprised by how flowing, dynamic, and fun this playlist turned out. You’d think an over-abundance of music from Raekwon, The Orb, and ambient-psy/chill-dub would make for another relatively dull collection of tunes (those May and June ones were kinda’ drab), but nay, there’s enough quirky tangents (Rock! Nu-Jazzsteps! “Peanuts!”) to keep things fresh as it plays through. Won’t deny it’s a long listen though, clocking in at nearly seven hours in length. Hey, I listened to a lot of good music in October, and now you can too, with a few play throughs! Or split it up into chunks. It’s what I do.

Calibre - Overflow

Signature Records: 2008

In the end, music reviewers and critics just want to write stories, this desire manifesting in many ways. Sometimes it’s by chronicling the narratives that developed within scenes, other times coming up with (and even dictating) narratives that are currently emerging. On a smaller scale, we enjoy deciphering potential stories that may lurk within pieces of music, giving praise to artists who compose albums that contain clearly defined arcs that we can translate into flowery purple prose. The double-LP format in particular is like catnip to the storyteller-in-reviewer's-fedora, an almost guarantee the musician(s) who released it had a grand opus in mind that simply could not be contained in typical single-serving music formats.

Sometimes though, collections of tracks are just collections of tracks, no real rhyme or reason to their being there beyond the necessary evil of the music industry (‘tis the only way the consumers can consume your product). Gads, what a boring story that is. I mean, look at this release from Calibre. Hell, look at nearly any release from Calibre. Mr. Dominick Martin doesn’t skimp on his output, almost exclusively going the double-LP route for much of his early career. Even when he finally cut back to single-CDs in recent years, he still released material at such a clip he could have maintained the double-disc format. Yet, for all this music, damned if there’s much to talk about.

Yeah, yeah, I’m only going by Overflow on this assumption – maybe the Shelflifes or Musique Concrete are more comprehensive as a listening experience. These two CDs though, I’m struggling to say much about them, beyond the basic particulars you expect from any run-of-the-mill review. Ah, let’s get that out of the way at least.

Overflow is a 2CD collection of smooth, jazzy drum ‘n’ bass from Calibre, a prolific and highly respected name within that scene. Eighteen tracks make up this bulk. Some are more on an atmospheric tip (Savannah Heat, Big Bang, TV On), some bang with the tech-step business (Lo Note, Suddenly, Beat Goes On), some find their liquid funkiness (Honeypot, Overeaction, So Blue), and some aren’t even d’n’b in the slightest (Reach You Everywhere, Slums, Gage). A good third of these tracks feature vocals, sung in an unobtrusive, urban-jazz stylee. Every tune is class, finely produced and enjoyable. You can also play everything in Overflow in any order you like, their sequence having no bearing in how the album flows from beginning to end (recommended if you’ve gotten the MP3 version). Sometimes when I’ve had my whole music library on Shuffle and a Calibre tune crops up, I’ll mistake it for a Mist:i:cal tune, which isn’t surprising since Martin’s a part of that group. The perfect track summing up Overflow’s overall vibe is Alone In A Crowd. It sounds like much of what I’ve described above.

Man, see what I’m talking about? This album is perfectly fine on the listening front, but dear Lord does it ever sap my inspiration to write about it.

Amon Tobin - Bricolage

Ninja Tune: 2007

So much music slips through my ever growing queue of “Must Hear Before I Go Six Feet Under” (I doubt Amazon will deliver to my bomb shelter following the apocalypse). Even with artists and labels I hold in the highest regard, there are unacceptable oversights and gaps on my part. Why has it taken me this long to finally spring for an Amon Tobin album? I like Ninja Tune. Like, really really like them – in a roundabout way, they were among the first 'underground electronic music labels' I dove into. Yet even with a number of their releases taking up space in my towers, one of their primary stars is noticeably absent. It’s like gathering Ultimae records while neglecting Carbon Based Lifeforms, or Hyperdub vinyl while bypassing Burial – you just don't do it, mang!

Right, it’s not like I’ve totally missed out on Tobin’s work, having heard a few of his Cujo works released when he was part of Shadow Records. And while Ninja Tune was quick to pluck him from that label, his sound left an undeniable impression on several up-and-comers featured in future Shadow releases, many finding inspiration in his fusion of jazz-jungle-hop. I’ve heard his work without even hearing his tracks!

Bricolage was his first album for the Ninja squad, and immediately found kindred souls among the likes of Herbaliser and Funki Porcini. All these guys, they loved the jazz vibes just as much as ol’ Adonai Santos de Araújo, and were always eager in finding ways of melding them with contemporary inner-city cool genres like trip-hop and jazzstep. Ol’ Amon though, he knew his production game needed something extra to stand out from the big guns. Bizarrely, he found it with IDM breakcore.

He doesn’t immediately reveal his intents either, the first few tracks finding the comfortable jazzy trip-hop vibe so many associate with Ninja Tune of the mid-to-late ‘90s (who do you think helped define it!). Yet there’s something more intricate going on with the drum programming - less reliant on using sampled breaks as the music’s backbone, and rather as genetic soup for reinterpretation. It’s Amon making future jazz out of classic jazz, and I can’t help but think of Squarepusher’s early work in this context. Not as frenetically experimental as Jenkinson’s material, mind you, but it’s there just the same.

Then Chomp Samba hits with all the feral nastiness of drill-n-bass’ intensity, and you realize you’re not in for the usual Ninja Tune romp. Tracks like One Small Step, Mission, and Bitter And Twisted keep the spazzy breaks going, all the while oozing a creeping menace with discordant cellos, trumpets, vibraphones, and saxaphones (among others). Dubby, trip-jazz-hop cuts like Defocus and The Nasty help keep Bricolage grounded with soul (not to mention some playful samba-stylee in One Day In My Garden), but we’re mostly dealing with aggressive music here, the sort one might expect on Warp rather than Coldcut’s print; a perfect LP for Ninja Tune’s musical growth, then. Welcome home, Amon.

Grooverider - Mysteries Of Funk

Columbia: 1998

For most of the '90s, I was incredibly ignorant of drum 'n bass. Though I knew of it by way of occasional crossover tunes like Goldie's Inner City Life and... um... hmm. Okay, so that was about all I knew of. Fortunately, the ‘deebee’ scene couldn’t be contained forever, and for a furious four months at the end of ’98, jungle was about all my pals and I listened to – mostly jump-up jungle, mind you, but it was a start. And yet, I felt something lacking in those two-step rhythms and bomber-style basslines - something clever, something with heart and soul, and something not so gimmicky. Putting my ace electronic music discovery skills to task, I dug around for a name that could fill that gap: asking experts, reading magazine, searching chat rooms, making the Vancouver pilgrimage...

Well, no, that’s bullshit. Grooverider’s Mysteries Of Funk was in fact a Christmas gift from a music warehouse working aunt. She knew I liked that ‘dance music’ stuff, and I’d get a tiny bundle most years. Why she included Grooverider’s debut album that winter of ’98, I’ll never know, but damn if it wasn’t exactly what I needed to hear from d’n’b.

The tale of Mr. Bingham’s only proper LP is one of years upon years of anticipation. Grooverider had been instrumental in nurturing jungle’s formative darkside era, and when it grew stale, became a leading figure in a new style, tech-step. Most of this was accomplished through his DJing, though he’d release the odd single and remix along the way too. It was enough to get folks itching at the chance to hear an album of ‘Rider’s production palette. Luckily, Mr. Bingham had an ace up his sleeve for making Mysteries Of Funk a success; or rather, an Optical in the studio.

Perhaps most surprising about this album is, for a release by a tech-step don’, there’s only a few such tracks. Where’s Jack The Ripper was the main ‘hit’ off here, which doesn’t sound too far off Optical’s typical sound of the time. There’s also Cybernetic Jazz at the start and Starbase 23 at the end, both opting for jazzy grooves and dark ambience before unleashing their feral basslines. Oh yeah, there’s a lot of jazzstep on here too.

Right, jazzstep was the commercial and critical hotness around the time, Goldie leading the way and Roni Size/Reprazent cementing it. Ol’ Groovy also having his hand in there makes sense. With his offerings just as solid as any of the heavy-hitters of the genre, by all means get on that double-bass slaps (On The Double), scat-jazz hijinks (C Funk), muted trumpets (Time & Space), and general nuttiness (Rivers Of Congo) action. Goes great with those fierce rhythms throughout (no, not Fierce; it’s Optical).

Mysterious Of Funk wasn’t a game changer in the d’n’b scene at large, though it did convince me of its potential. It’s also a strong showing from a man that’d earned his stripes. Grooverider’s contribution was good too.

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.

Doc Scott - Lost In Drum N' Bass

DMC Publishing Ltd.: 1996/1998

Amazingly, you can DJ various sub-genres of drum n’ bass in a given set. It’s rare, as most jungle micro-scenes prefer sticking to their chosen sound through and through. Occasionally though, a set offers a broader range of what one might find in the wide sonic world of 'deebee'; even rarer, one that showcases damn near everything.

Right, compared to the branches that scene splintered into at the turn of the millennium, there wasn’t much ‘everything’ in jungle by the mid-‘90s. I maintain it’s mighty impressive of early ‘ardcore veteran Doc Scott to pull together what was out there on Lost In Drum N’ Bass. Originally titled Breakbeat Experiments and released as part of Mixmag’s tape order-in promotional series Mixmag Live!, it found a re-issue in CD form shortly after. This wasn’t surprising, as Mixmag Live! did this for several tapes. Finding proper American distribution, however, hardly occurred, and when they did, it was primarily due to an American name on the cover (Moby, Hawtin, Derrick Carter, etc). Guess Moonshine, who oversaw DMC’s promotion here, figured those were the only selling names in our market. Oh ye’ of little faith, Moonshine.

By 1996, and the darkside of jungle old began waning, the stripped-down sound of tech-step the new hotness. Meanwhile, atmospheric jungle and jazzstep were gaining critical plaudits, but clearly miles away in tone and approach from the aggressive basslines of Technical Itch Studios. Not so, says Doc Scott, bringing the polar opposites of the drum ‘n’ bass scene together in fine fashion.

After opening with the jazzy atmospherics of Jonny L and Krust, we’re treated to the smooth-as-silk Lemon D. Remix of Art Of Noise’s Eye Of The Needle. Yes, that Art Of Noise, odd-ball ‘80s synth-poppers galore. Apparently there was a drum ‘n’ bass remix album of the band’s material released that year, which just goes to show how much the scene was making waves in the UK.

After all that pleasantness, Mr. McIlroy (!) brings out the harder stuff, including Dillinja’s bassbin demolishing Threshold (how many times have I said that about Dillinja?) and Adam F’s Metropolis, it no slouch in offering the rough business. A bit more of the dark stuff follows with Scott’s own Shadow Boxing (as Nasty Habits), then we’re back to jazzy, atmospheric d’n’b again. Yep, instead of continually piling on the aggressive sounds, Doc instead opts for a long ease out. How long? The first track of the final stretch is Krust’s Brief Encounter (12 Minutes), and there’s still four more tracks after that of similar ilk, Decoder’s jump-up Circuit Breaker the only surprising detour among Omni Trio and Jonny L (again).

I won’t deny being disappointed in Lost In Drum N’ Bass when I first heard it, but that’s because I was young, dumb, and only interested in the dark and hard (...wait). Of course, I appreciate Doc Scott’s offering far more now, for its uniqueness as a d’n’b mix CD along as a strong collection of tunes of the era.

Various - !K7150

Studio !K7: 2003

I got this for exactly one track, which is a pretty ludicrous investment for a double-CD release. Oh, I had faith most of the other tunes would turn out good, as !K7150 came highly recommended by all the rags I gave a shit about, but I probably wouldn't have picked it up had Tiga's Hot In Herre not been among the cuts. And like Hell I’d pick up Ministry Of Sound’s The Annual 2004 for it. If I’m going the 2CD route for one song, I sure don’t want a case where it’s the only song I’ll like. Besides, everyone knows Studio !K7 is all sorts of class, and MOS is... whatever the opposite of ‘class’ is.

It didn't hurt some of the other names dropped in write-ups for !K7150 were acts I was mostly familiar in name only. What better way to finally check out Herbert, Trevor Jackson, Recloose, Funkstörung, Ghost Cauldron, and Tosca (what, I was a late to the Kruder & Dorfmeister party)? Pairing them with personally proven names – Swayzak! Princess Superstar! DJ Hell! Guy Called Gerald! Earl Zinger? - and this was about as far from a risky purchase for yours truly as I'd ever made back in my financially lean times.

More than just a celebration of one-hundred and fifty catalogue releases from Studio !K7, this double-CD collection serves as a strong statement of what the long-running German label had musically been up to. Quite a bit, turns out, with plenty of diversity between genres, though skewing towards the downtempo side of things more often than not (must be that K&D influence). Conveniently, these genres are mostly lumped together as things play through, so if you get tired of hearing dub or electroclash (hey, early 2000s), just skip some tracks and you’ll be hearing something entirely different instead.

Dunno why anyone would want to skip these tunes though. The opening stretch of jazzy downtempo oozes inner city cool, while brisk upbeat cuts like Guy Called Gerald’s jazzstep Humanity and Ashely Beedle’s remix of Smith & Mighty’s Same will get your festive vibes in full swing. And alright, the dub-cuts at the end of CD1 hit all the right head-bobbin’ centers in my noggin’.

CD2 goes into less familiar territory where Studio !K7 was concerned, but then electroclash in general still had plenty of unexplored ground to discover (and a shame it barely did anything in the following years). Most of the tunes included here’s closer to icy microhouse (because Swayzak) and techno, so more of an evolution from the coy irony that defined the genre in its early years (though Trevor Jackson calling his remix of Behind The Wheel an Electroca$h Mix screams it).There’s also some hip-trip-hop at the end that’s... um, there.

Okay, !K7150 isn’t perfect from end to end, but there’s more than enough mint material to justify nabbing this compilation should you stumble upon it. Exclusive, unmixed DJ-Kicks cuts? Hells yeah, that’s worth some digital-ca$h.

Colette - In The Sun

Afterhours: 2000

Now here’s a gal with an interesting career. Blessed with the looks you’d associate with euro-dance pop tarts, Ms. Colette Marino instead carved out a career in the relatively underground side of house music. She initially made her mark through the DJ circuit, but would often sing her own vocals over top tracks, helping her stand out from an already overstuffed DJ market (that whole ‘being a woman’ thing probably didn’t hurt either). She produced a few tracks for various labels in her early career, and OM Records eventually gave her an opportunity to let her singing and song-writing take front-and-center, releasing a pair of albums to mild success within the deep house scene. They were rather poppy, true, but a lot of that West Coast bumpin' vibe already skewed that way, ties to disco and funk of yesteryear undeniable. They weren’t crossover attempts (though if it had happened, I doubt anyone would complain), but simply enjoyable moments of clubbing fluff the house faithful could get down to. Y'know, Hed Kandi fodder.

Given the general reactions some scenes have towards their lady DJs indulging in their pop potential, it's a testament to the classiness of house-heads that they never turned their backs on Colette (like, say, the jungle scene did to DJ Rap). It certainly helps she earned more than enough respect at the turn of the century with her DJing, honoring the deep, soulful vibes inherent to Chicago's legacy in her chosen style. This here In The Sun, released on near-Chicago label Aftermath, is as fine a representation of her talents as any.

Right, so coming off that DJ Dan mix CD, she isn't quite that good. Occasional forced mixes do crop up, but I can live with them so long as the shoes are kept out of the dryer. If you think it unfair of me to compare the two, it’s not my fault that this disc features music of pretty much the same vein. And hey, what are the odds we’d get another mix of loopy, filtered disco house one after the other in this alphabetical stipulation of mine? Okay, so it could happen if it was a running series, or both happened to be named after the similarity of genre, but that’s not the case here. In The Sun and In Stereo are two totally different releases on two totally different labels by two totally different DJs of two totally different sexes. Released but a year from each other, and just happens to have very similar taste in music. THE ODDS!!

Colette’s take on this sound is definitely more Chicago-based though, so the disco gets dubby for durations while those filter knobs get their tweak on. One of the few things that helps In The Sun stand out from all the other disco-dub house mixes of the time is the inclusion of a Sombionx’s jazzstep remix of Colette’s own Try Her For Love. Ending your set in such an unexpected fashion? That takes some balls, woman!

Various - High Karate

Mutant Sound System: 1998

Don’t you dare do it. I know you want to, and to be fair, the artwork totally invites it. To judge the CD by its cover, however, is to deny yourself all-time class, yet hopeless rare drum ‘n’ bass. Oh, there’s some wack material on here too, but the choice cuts more than makes up for it, trust you me.

First, the particulars. High Karate comes care of Mutant Sound System, a short lived American label that existed in the late ‘90s. Between albums and compilations, they generally focused on jungle and other assorted broken-beat bass music, plus a brief early flirtation with abstract ambient. Mutant Sound System was far from an original label, all things considered, but they released just enough unique material to reward the deep diggers of electronic music, should you look past some of their occasional questionable cover art. To be honest though, had I not been going through a minor ‘otaku’ phase when I stumbled upon High Karate, I may have passed by this CD altogether.

Even then, it was a while before I truly came to appreciate the music on offer here. Like so many fresh 'deebee' followers of the late '90s, it was the fierce, rough 'n' ready sounds of tech-step and such darkside spawns that got my attention (and, um, a little jump-up too), and the few cuts on High Karate that deliver those sounds were the tunes I frequently returned to. The Ray Keith and Nookie remix of the classic Scottie from Subnation certainly delivers on those fronts, while tracks from L Double and Acetate offer all the over-the-top basslines you could want from such genres. Yet once the initial thrill of those drops wane, you're unfortunately left with tunes that go nowhere, running on fumes for durations that far exceed whatever ideas these producers initially came up with.

Thank God for Nookie, then! Gavin Cheung, that is. Nookie was his most prominent alias, though he also contributes to High Karate as Cloud 9, and believe you me when I say his tracks are easily the highlights. They find a smooth, cool ground between atmospheric jungle and jazzstep, the sort of music you can easily float on as you could cruise with through urban streets at midnight. And bizarrely, most of the tracks he provides to High Karate can only be found on this CD! It was over a decade before Snow White was rescued for an MP3 Nookie album titled Lost Files. The Cloud 9 material, including a mint remix of Victor Romeo's The Italian Job, officially exists nowhere else.

A few other stylish d'n'b cuts from DJ Rap, Da Boss, Peshay (as Revelations), Rogue Unit, and Dr. S. Gachet round out an incredibly mature sounding CD, given how cartoony the art is. High Karate isn't an essential purchase, mind, but if you're after some surprisingly ace, obscure jungle (or are just a Nookie completist), then definitely snag a copy if you happen across one. You can't miss that cover.