Review: Drum & bass VA compilations do not get any bigger than this badboy... Total Science's CIA celebrates a quarter of a century in true style with some of the biggest and most respected talents in the game. Calibre, DLR, Break, Digital, FD, The Sauce and many more all deliver supreme sonics as we slide and glide from groove to groove; Digital plays havoc with our senses with the powerful drum breaks of 'Raggamuffin Bizness', Zero T goes super creepy and tense with the crucial 'Cut Dem' while Total Science show us how it's done with the super breezy and jazzy 'Run It'. These are just some of the many many highlights... 25 years and still fresh. No one does it like Spinback and Quiff.
Review: One for the real junglists out there: Drum&Bass Arena are honoured to welcome legend of the scene Digital who teams up with rising Sheffield-based producer Charla Green for the label's 25th anniversary series with two heavyweight tracks. Very much on the liquid tip, the spellbinding "On The Grind" is an expression in covert breakbeat intelligence that is reminiscent of classic the more detailed and complex sonic expressions from the turn of the millenium, while "Stylee" is a throwback to the jungle heyday of the mid '90s and will step you into a frenzy with its furious Amen riddims.
Review: Lion Dub have reached a decade of activity. A decade! To put it in perspective, if someone was born the year Liondub started, they're about to enter high school/secondary school. It's a crazy achievement and one matched by the craziness of the music they have on offer to celebrate, a four-part journey through their past, present and future. This instalment is all about their past and it's exemplified best by Serum's VIP of Sound The Alarm, a Liondub classic, which Serum has flipped into a characteristically badboy, stabbing little roller. The vocals float above in a haze of reggae smoke, whilst the beat pulsates below. Awesome stuff.
Review: Three years have passed since Horizon last rallied up the troops and embarked on a dead-night brain-burgling Dreamthief parade. As always it's an all-star cast with the likes of Amoss, Break, Naibu, Digital, Mikal, Mako, Need For Mirrors and many more cooking up some of their starkest, uncompromised and innovative cuts: the tight conga hypnosis of Breaks "Headway", the turbo piano rolls of Invaderz "Dukes Drift", the sublime cinematic jazz soul of Hydro & War's "Jam", the cascading, twinkling textures of Naibu's "Time Out", the neck-snap amen mechanica of Digital's "Spark Cut"... If this is the soundtrack to our innermost stories being syphoned from our heads at our most vulnerable sleeping states then sign us up and take the lot. Sweet dreams of thieved of this.
Review: Drum&Bass Arena: The longest-standing, and one of the most respected, platforms for all things jungle D&B celebrates an impressive 20 years in the game with this ridiculously hefty document that pays respect to the genre's every twist and turn. From scene-shattering megahits ("Tarantula", "Feel The Love", "Rock It", "Afterglow") to unarguable historical underground scene-smashing megabangers ("Machete", "Aztec", "Nasty Ways", "The View", "Champion Sound", "Turbulence", "Up All Night", "Deadline", Ram Trilogy's remix of "Pacman") by way of tracks that may have slipped under the radar ("Defcom 69", "What's Wrong", "Song For Lovers") the whole album is loaded to the lips with some of the most important records the genre's enjoyed in the last 20 years. Time to get nostalgic, time to fill those holes in your collection, time to educate your dancefloor. Here's to another 20 years!
Review: Featuring some big names amongst the impressive tracklist, this mini album of D&B-shaped treats was first released in 2005, and as you'd expect, it's got the sound of the old school running right through it. From veteran producer Skitty's smooth rolling 90s flavas through to Seba and Lenk's winding, experimental take on an old-school roller, each tune is a throwback to the golden age of drum & bass, thanks to Bassbin's current mission to make these absolute gems available to the public once again. A must-bag.
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