Review: Serbian D&B upstart Euphorics delivers his debut album on the currently unstoppable Soul Deep. The result? 10 tracks of well-weighted, soulfully minded rollers splashed with large amounts of funk, jazz and classic D&B. Highlights include the Cyantific-style vocal workout "Brighter", the car chase flurries and low-end exhaust fumes of "Hit N Run", the early Die-style chaotic jazz dynamics of "Maracana" and the sombre, sci-fi soundscapes of the album closer "Rivers". A really impressive, accomplished debut that works well on the headphones just as well as it does on the dancefloor.
Review: Serbian D&B team Euphorics have been solely responsible for some of the most exciting new liquid releases over the past few years. Now they return to Soul Deep with an orchestral slant, picking epic string loops to fire over huge rolling beats. Swapping the epic tone for smooth soulful bass and shimmering synth textures on the title track, the EP quickly takes a turn back to deeper percussion and epic instrumentation, with huge jazzy brass filling out the melody in "That Stuff" and more epic dreamy strings in the crisp, surprisingly dancefloor-friendly "Forget Not". Lovely stuff.
Review: Liquid Brilliants have a knack for finding the oddballs amongst the D&B masses, and they've outdone themselves this time. Combining a sample from 1930s swing ditty and jungle-lite, Serbian drum and bass nutcases Euphorics sew together "Moonshine", a strangely bleak yet also confusingly upbeat little number. "Snowflake" is somewhat less mentally concerning, with refreshingly musical piano loops and soulful vocals readily deployed within lovely warm liquid breaks. "Gambling With Hearts", it's fair to say, is the drum and bass equivalent of losing your mind at an 80s high school reunion (just you wait for that sample) but with less hairspray and more questions about mortality. The Spanish flavours of sunny "So Real" is welcomingly sunkissed after all the madness; soothingly rolling and with some beautiful little instrumental inflections. A quirky pick-n-mix EP well worth the moments of disorientation.
Review: The words Chronic and Rollers should already have your attention. Throw in Sao Paulo's L-Side on selection duties and you've got a no brainer... This really is the creme de la future creme of international jungle. The purring subs and creepy vocal echoes of Euphorics' "Public Secret", the 1.21 gigawatt electrical current bass of The Invaderz "Underground", Jaybee's loose, slinky roller "Get Nasty", the immense supergroup roller magic of Serum, Jaybee & Dave Owen's "Pure Vibes", L-Side and Roger Bari's late 90s-flavoured space-bound jungle jam "Rock It". The list goes on. As on point as ever, Chronic are constantly smoking.
Review: Thirty whopping tunes make up the Two Hundred compilation. Crammed with brand new material from newcomers Link, Hazuki, Euphorics and Funkware among many others, it's a chance to really get to know Liquid Brilliant's 2015 roster. From the melancholic, to the up and jumping dancefloor driven rollers, there's a full range of drum and bass emotion here to pick from, so what are you waiting for?
