Review: Ever feel like life is a simulation? Like this is all a fabrication for some great dark puppet master and we don't actually exist in this world? Danger does, and he's making a break from the matrix to see what's out there in the real world. "Sleep Paralysis" breaks our cranial plug from the machine its spiked out riff while "This One" revitalises our weak machine-sustained bodies with its low rumbling rolling bass turbulence and "Simulation" confronts us with the raw horror of the actual reality we've been trapped in thanks to a high voltage lighting bass hook. Klay joins the fray for the penultimate blast of wokeness as "In Put" stabs and slams with a vicious staccato before a VIP of Danger's past glory "Touch Of Generations" sends us back to our portal, safe and snug in our cosy simulations. Home sweet simulated home.
Review: Smokin' Riddims long success can be linked to Jaydan's keen ear for balanced tracks, every track cuts a fine balance between, noisy, bouncing, rough and rolling and that means great dancefloor music. This new EP is a collection of co-labs, three of which are with the main man himself. 'Rubbish' is anything but, the aggressive track uses swaths and a stabbing bass to create an intense atmosphere. 'Good A Dead' uses jungle breakdowns in-between more modern drum patterns with grinding metallics and shadowy pads. '2049's rumbling bassline is the star of the EP.
Review: Biological Beats screams grass-roots underground, an imprint which consistently pushes the gnarliest sides of what the bedroom producers, local promoters and biggest names across the UK have to offer. They rock it, too. Live In The Present, courtesy of Klay, is their newest offering and it's a doozy. 'Digital Heroin' follows on from your classic sample, jump-up vibe, giving the spooky backdrop to an already scary bit of bass work and accompanying drum lines. The title tune is equally naughty, diving runs of bass force jumping out the blocks with ferocity and a glitchy backdrop injecting that classic jump-up feel. The rest of the release slams equally hard - well played Klay.
Review: Cre8 DnB Music are back on the fast-moving train that is jump-up and once more, they've proven adept at bringing to the fore some forward-thinking sounds in that regard. Klay isn't a name we know but 'Human Music' - the title track to this release - is certainly a promising sign. Glitchy and with a satisfying sense of lagged out travel, this tune certainly bites hard but it does so in a fresh, unique manner. 'Ghaungar' is step-up in sophistication and nastiness, a snappy, stepping drum line pushing up into its metallic bottom line, this one is a proper creeper. 'Aka Manah' finishes things up in screeching fashion - top stuff.
Review: He may have been around for well over five years but Klay's mania will never fail to spin us out. Imagine the devil-may-care rhythmic maths of Billain fused with the riff sensibility of Twisted Individual and you're on the right track... "Down The Spine" is all about the pranged out detuned riff, "Passive Aggressive" subverts the concept of triplets in a really strange way while "Bubbles" takes the crown as the most out-there track of the set with its minimal construction, alien voice processing and wonked out funk. Finally "Air" flips every switch in your house, brain and street with a really cosmic, clean roll-out that genuinely glimmers... Five years deep but still keeping us on our toes, too.
Review: Klay is known to his friends as Istavan and he's from Budapest. His manic rumblings are pitched somewhere between jump-up and minimal hardcore, and his stance on melodies begins and ends with "don't need 'em, there's enough snare and bass packing out the decibels." Decidedly aimed as soul food for the twisted among us, the title track twists and turns so heavily the momentum threatens to throw the whole thing off the decks. Dancing to "Sweatpants" might be an issue, considering the sheer insanity of Klay's beat patterns. Totally men'al.
Review: Hungarian producer Klay breaks out his darkest nightmares from his hometown of budapest and this time he's been picked up by Jaydan's Smokin' Riddims label to inflict pain and confusion. "Get used To It" does exactly that, with a homewrecker of a bassline tearing straight through tight snares and minimal interruptions from b movie samples and nightmare-style sound effects. "String Theory" follows things up with sick and twisted synths and hard hitting beats, showing off this guy's talent for creating the most corrupt steppers out there right now. Proper darkness, none of your mockery stuff.
Lowriderz & MC No Limit - "Get Done" - (3:23) 175 BPM
Get High - (3:44) 175 BPM
Lowriderz & Claws - "N.O.W." - (4:16) 172 BPM
Lowriderz & Klay - "Possession" - (4:05) 176 BPM
Evol - (4:28) 175 BPM
Review: Digital Terror release music that'll put the fear of god into you, proper big tunes that shake systems and all the rest of it. Lowriderz lands on the label with a cool five-tracker aimed at the jump-up heads amongst you and all of the tracks on this release hit fairly hard, even the first - 'Get Done' -which reels you in with some nice sampling and vocal work from MC No Limit. This release is grating at times but it's worth it, with some big tunes to keep you going. Well played guys.
Review: Nu Elementz comes storming at us on Gun Audio with an arsenal of killer cuts and cracking collaborations across this five-track EP. First up is "Bow Down" with its rambunctious, jump up panache, drill-like SFX and apocalyptic vocal sample; next is the eponymous track of the EP "Hey Brother" with it's Hazard-esque rumbling wobbly bassline and gritty mid range. "Timeshift" blends rough, dancefloor-driven beats with epic movie sampling and soaring instrumentals to huge effect before "Ragga Skank" adds a nice dose of ragga jungle to the proceedings before "Pussy Whipped" brings the EP to a close.
Review: The second part of Subway Soundz's Back to the Future album is here and ready to transport you to a different timezone by way of a sonic punch to the ears. They've brought in the entire crew for this one and the list is exhaustive, with artists from Puppetz to Tomoyoshi all digging deep into their jump-up filled Mary Poppins bags. Alphaze and Runnah's 'The Sound' is the album at its best, as a pounding percussive lead reaches into your soul and pulls it out your ears via a crashing, relentless concoction of bass stabs and skipping energy. Blackhry's 'Both' is scarred and torn in its approach, whilst Klay's 'Edo Tensei' is possibly the most creative on the album, with a clever use of space and a booming bassline. Wicked.
Review: Pick any of the most exciting new-gen names in D&B and we bet our bottom dollar they're repping in this collection. A debut V/A from Hedex's By The Producer brand, Collected 1 is bulging with the seams with fresh talent: Hexa, Disrupta, Dreadnought, Stokka, Klay, Bruk, the list goes on. With cameos from more established Gs like Total Recall and Jam Thieves - and a deep, rumbling, futuristic contemporary mood and sound running throughout - this captures 2020 in drum & bass perfect. Agitated, dark, moody, but hungry for a better future... And not afraid to have a little fun. One of the best V/As we've seen in a long time. Get collecting.
Review: What a label Diamond Audio is shaping up to be. Four releases deep and they're already two albums and two massive EPs deep. Just look at the tracklist and you know we're right on the forefront of nex-gen drum & bass. Bou, T>I, Klay, Aweminus, Rawtee, Version... The list of hotly tipped future headliners here is impressive. Highlights include T>I's sweary stepper "Pull Up", Klay's radio-melting trip-out "Clap Back", Aweminus's gamey retro pacer "It's Ok", Rawtee's hornets nest bass and barbed soul on "Searchin'" and Version's cascading kicks and harrowed bass on "Facades". 10 diamonds in the rough... These will last forever.
Review: Bringing people together through the power of good drum and bass isn't alien to these guys - Gun Audio run City Flow Festival back home in Antwerp, offering one of the biggest platforms for hard hitting jump-up sounds in Western Europe. Their Reload EP series has so far seen the rise of too many new artists to count and it's these massive compilations that the people want to hear. They bring City Flow together and they show off what's yet to come for the next year. Soul Intent, T>I and Supreme Being all make appearances, but it's the surprising new upstarts you want to listen out for. Expect very big things.
Review: High R8 have been putting out a reliable stream of D&B since 2011, but it's only now they've released a compilation, and if you were to acquaint yourself with the sound of the label it's here. Filthy Habits feature twice with their tracks "Robot Wars", a grizzly bassline driven burner, and the rolling caustic sounds of "Pitch Black". Other highlights include Total Recall's climbing "Zelator", Cino's "Relocate", Spaow's heavily effected and twisted "Hard Work" and Version's deep and cruising "Weak Sauce". Get stuck in.
