Review: DLR is having an absolute tear this year, and Sofa Sound seems like it's certain to be one fo the genre-defining labels of the next several years. His own productions are the bedrock of its success and he's back on his own imprint with this delicious single, the A-side of which features Hybris. 'Terminal Madness' is glitchy, precise and futuristic with a stuttering drum pattern, whilst the flip is classic, rolling and murky DLR - a torn, ripping bassline and crispy drums. Unreal.
Review: Invisible has been one of Noisia's best labels for quite a while now and whilst it's sad to see this as the last release, the sadness is ameliorated somewhat by how damn good this compilation is, featuring some of the best artists and tracks to have graced the label over the past couple of years. MRSA's "Push me Down the Stairs' has been a favourite ever since it saw a release on Solids_2 last year, in one of the most creative displays of funky, glitched up techy D&B in a long time. Ground's 'Swindle's is also unstoppably good and endlessly creative, with spacious, atmospheric attempts at dancefloor grit. With other legends like Fre4knc and Hybris on here, this isn't one to miss.
Review: Getting you to more places than the Docklands Light Railway ever could, DLR takes his Sofa around the world and stops off at the homes and studios of some of the most exciting new generation artists. Every direction you check its severe roller situation as each participant step up with their finest. Highlights include the outlandish grizzles of Submarine & Scepticz's "Shingoki", the hair raising wriggles and flabby funk on Ill Truth on "Catch A Break", the infectious steppy late 90s buzzes of bossman DLR and Script's "El Mosquito" and the lush jazzy flurries of Trex's "Falling Down"... but that's just scratching the surface, the whole Sofa king thing is immense.
Review: Hybris: is he man? Is he AI? Will he fry your brains and eat them for breakfast? We have no idea but we know that any man or beast who can conjure up coldness on this level is capable of some very nasty things. Seven years after his last Headz appearance, the American-in-Czech delivers two crisp slicers: "Iceworm" is a severe stepper with turbine bass jets and sub zero atmospheres while "Common Ancestor" is likely to cause a lot of monkey business in the dance with its carnal energy and filth-flinging drums. Go ape.
Review: It's safe to say that the Vandal LTD founders: SKS & Redeyes have certainly done themselves proud on this one as the label brings us the goliath Grand Royal LP. This selection is fantastic, incorporating everything from experimental hip hop to juke to the furthest borders drum & bass can find classification. The whole project just breathes originality, particularly on tracks such as 'Explicit' by NGHT DRPS, which is a very creative half time jungle roller. Another pair of instant favourites are Alerstorm's 'Bak' and 'Zero Caliber' from Balatron, both of which ooze electronic creativity and sound design prowess. This compilation is a phenomenal body of work from start to finish.
Review: Under present sunny circumstances, you'd think crazed-intellectual neurofunk noise would be the last thing on everybody's mind... This EP is a stride out into new directions, stepping through the void to reach past minimal and, in first track "Incessant", right into the guts of hardcore. Noisia teams up with Hybris and Mefjus to create a six-headed beast that is "Clusterfunk" before a entering the black-hole strewn "Reptilians". Meanwhile "Banshee" sees Noisia settle into an eerily tuneful conclusion and it only compounds the feeling that there's still more rage to come.
Review: What with Critical celebrating their ten year anniversary this year it's only right and proper that there should be a landmark album, looking back on their success to date. Enter Critical X; featuring a carefully curated selection from Critical's past, present and future (watch out for some cracking unreleased material), this is a must buy for deeper D&B heads. Stand outs from across the 16-track album include Breakage's awesome "Staggered Dub", Spectrasoul's iconic "Organiser", and of course jungle revivalist anthem Bladerunner's "Back To The Jungle". Make sure you check out the remixes from Mefjus and Enei, which add the final cherry on the cake for this superb and frankly rather essential release.
Review: Hailing from the US via the Czech Republic, Hybris first came onto our radar with "The Cleaner" last year and now he makes his debut on Noisia's experimental offshoot label. Kicking off with "Crystalline" - a collab with label owners Noisia - it's all glitchy, fidgeting rhythms and a lonely melancholy melody from the off. Hybris the goes solo for the rest of the EP; "Of Two Minds" blends understated tension with mellifluous rhythms and grouchy bass rumbles, before things get even tougher and harder in "Keeping Me", and, rounding off with EP with "Out Of Place", things are stripped back with a powerful and poignant smoothness.
Review: Kicking off with a VIP of one of the killer 90s jungle nostalgia anthems of 2010 - Bladerunner's "Back To The Jungle" - it's a great start to the next Critical compilation. Moving through the tough, percussive sounds of Break, soulful dub tinged efforts of Breakage, the blissed out Calibre in "Rockafella" to the sounds of man-of-the-moment, hotly tipped Enei with his fantastic "Forgive Me" around the halfway point, it's immediately apparent why Kasra's label has garnered such respect from his peers. Lomax - one half of Loadstar - provides a deeper incarnation to his Ram bangers in "Innocent X" and elsewhere, Rockwell's "Underpass" makes a re-emergence as does ubiquitous anthem "Redlines" which closes this utterly superb compilation.
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