Review: Fire in the hole! Master Error gets a few of his mates together for a session that's rowdy and heavy enough to wake the dead. Skore's on side from the off with 'Dead Creatures', a furious piece laced with a staccato bassline and a beautiful rave breakdown while Warhead joins in the scrap with the wonky bleeped out swagger jam 'Circulator' and Metal Work gets involved in remix form on the ugly tear-up 'Balance Of Terror'. Elsehwere 'XMNV' is pure laser grot while 'Ready' could soundtrack you joyriding into the shop window of a deluxe robot shop. Dead good.
Review: Putting the international into Liondub International, the New York label brings serial collaborators German Maurizzle and Luxembouger Master Error together for this epic five-track funk-up. The big headline track 'Fever' and the sing-along 'Goodbye' could well have a great effect in festivals this summer while tracks like the thundering bassline behemoth 'Shadow Technique' and the anthemic emo blasts and builds of 'Holding' will do serious club damage. A highly significant connection.
Review: Pow! Right in the kisser! Master Error teams up with hyped new talent Nkid for four grotty stink-ups on Cre8. 'Get Ready' prepares us mentally and physically for the onslaught with its sandpaper bassline hits and widescreen kicks. It's backed up more extreme fire: 'Secrets' hits with such an alluring high frequency in the riff that you'll be confessing to all sorts by the time the breakdown kicks in, 'Machines' gets super twisted with its halftime intro and fax machine style bleeps and squeaks while 'Pretty Good' brings the EP to a close in a fine trippy fashion that's not dissimilar to the Audioporn nutcase Gino. Feed the machine!
Review: The super prolific Master Error returns with more masterplans, this time on Gradient. As the title suggests, there's a strong game of balance here as we veer and steer between bonkers and pure grot. On the bonkers side we have scatty riffs like that of 'Just A Game', the much deeper, twisted faraway soul of 'Need You' while on the grot side we have the disgusting title track, the rusty Cortina starter engine funk of 'Why Waste Time' (with Flint), the laser blazing craziness of 'Who You Messin With' (with Gino) and the corroded toot toots of 'Magenta'. Terroriffic.
Review: Argentinian producer Yatuza teams up with Master Error for these two supreme howlers on Bulletproof. 'Stop It' takes the lead with a heavily punctuated rhythm and blocky snares creating the playground for the bassline to mess around in. Loaded with a great spoken sample, it's an all-out riot jam that will make you do anything but stop. It's backed by the slightly deeper tones of 'Motion Sickness', a track that bumps and grinds with a more subtle bassline, jazzy chords and a vital remix from Asura. Start it.
Review: As if firing out badness galore through their 'Connected' series wasn't quite enough action for a label that's barely been around 6 months, Amplify and Metal Work's Gradient levels up again with the massive 'Foundations' VA that's stacked to the top shelf with some of drum & bass music's finest upstarts and high risers. 15 tracks deep, highlights come in all shapes and sizes including the sensual textures and tones of D-Fuser's 'Sticky Situations', the madcap jazzy springs and splutters of Fanatics' 'Everyday', KL's revved up staccato sizzler 'Plain To See', Metal Work's rather glacial 'Cold As Ice' and Parallel's early D-Minds style 'Capital Crimes'. Killer through and through, 'Foundations' as strong as this are built to last.
Review: Hedex is on a mission again! He's rousing up the troops for the second 'Collected' collection on his ByTheProducer brand and once again it's a monster rollcall of some of the scene's most exciting new-gen talent. Over 18 tracks we're treated to the likes Disrupta, Refracta, DJ Premium, Metal Work, Filthy Habits, Toxinate and so many more super skilled producers, highlights include the emotional space age jitters and whirls of Easty's 'Tapped', Scudd's emotional rumbler 'Complete', Posk's jazzy face-slapper 'Biting' and Metal Work's ruffneck 'Inner Peace'. And that's just the tip of the 'Collected' iceberg. Grab this now and grab yourself a piece of history.
Review: ERROR: Error is not found. Master Error continues his faultless work this time on Subway Soundz as he brings a whole load of pals into the mix and lets loose with four of his most unruly, brazen bangers. Amplify and Blckhry step up first as we hit the savage bassline-led 'Think About It', we're then hurled down a rabbit hole of gully as more collabos hit us left/right/centre. 'The Only One' (with Maurizzle) brings a little housey funk to the hook, Amplify returns with another bruiser on the growling, grumpy '49' and a Fanatics link-up closes with set with a goodtime 2012-style ringtone riff. BBFF business (the extra b stands for badness)
Review: The Next Gen Audio team are definitely an imprint with a knack for sniffing out powerful new releases, which is exactly what they have found here with this spicy new selection from Amplify. Kicking off with 'Human', we can tell we are in for a high energy ride as sizzling synth pulses lead the way atop clean breaks, before 'Seduction' sends us a little more leftfield with some unusual bass processing that just seems to work. Next, Fanatics join the party for 'Carousel', a super gnarly exploration of high ended bass stabs and choppy drum manoeuvres before 'Got You', alongside Master Error gives us a classic jump up outro, again pushing some super colourful bass designs for forward for a hell of a splash.
Review: Kenji is over on Eternal Muzic and with this single takes you on a rough and ready journey through rolling D&B, one that's characterised by its reliance on the best elements of the older school of 170 sonics: big drum hits, creative sampling and a complete lack of pretentiousness or over-engineering. 'Make Moves' is exactly that and we love the spoken sample that rolls out over the drop, whilst 'You Have No Idea' finishes things off in style as well with more wicked sampling, this time of nostalgic sounds from the East. Top draw.
Review: Having escalated the living dickens out of us on his recent Young Guns series, Master Error now fixes his focus on Octave Recordings with two more weapons for the cabinet. 'Different' is a hybrid jam that sits somewhere between all styles in a way that wouldn't have gone amiss in the early 2000s on labels like Formation. All bubbly, riffy and heavy in the twisted samples. 'Elixir' has more of a traditional Belgian bite to it; all rusty lasers and jagged edges, if this doesn't put lead in your pencil then you're sketching the wrong things baby. Masterful.
Review: Following May's part one, young Luxembourg producer returns to Young Guns with the second chapter... And it's every bit as crisp, diverse and hard hitting as the first edition. "Come Back To Me" eases us in with a few ivory tinkles and supreme levels of funk before the likes of "Evil" and "Five-O" plunge us deep into the bassline pit. Deeper again we hit the strange harmonic wriggles and toxic bassline grizzles of "I Tell Ya" before "Old School" closes on a sumo-sized swaggering 2010-flavoured tip. Time to Escalate m8.
Review: You'd hope that the good men and women behind Young Guns Recordings don't actually carry weapons, but this EP proves that they do. Master Error lands on the label with a five-tracker that's rooted in the current contours of the UK underground, a riotous and rough release that isn't too bothered about its occasionally unseemly fringes. 'Escalation Protocol' is a good name for the first track, an expansive stepper that oozes and pulses from its core with a surprising amount of groove. 'Run It Back' is the other standout track of the five, with a precision percussive line that gets its weight from a diving sine bass and wobbly, fluttering synths that remind us of a neurofunk tune. Sick stuff.
Jack The Ripper - "Direction Course" - (4:25) 175 BPM
Jack The Ripper - "In Your Eyes" - (4:02) 175 BPM
Jack The Ripper - "Changed" - (4:24) 175 BPM
Died This Way - (4:28) 172 BPM
Review: Digital Terror have proven that their more than capable of releasing tunes which don't mess about but which carry an air of respectability as well, music that's for the dancefloor but that doesn't sacrifice itself for that purpose. Jack The Ripper fits in with that trend. Directions is a release full of stripped back, industrial sounds but that still actually sounds really nice, a T>I or Original Sin esque four-tracker that's weighted in all the right places. Shout out to Master Error for the feature too on he absolutely wicked 'Died This Way'.
Review: Pick N Mix: A place where full fat variety comes as standard and you're guaranteed to leave with a blazing sugar high and the stickiest fingers imaginable. Since launching last year they've been responsible for a whole barrage of on-point fire jams from the most exciting names in the new-gen D&B movement and for their 10th release they've levelled up the selection in a major way. 20 fresh tracks from 20 killer new talents, the vibes here are so palpable you could chew them. Highlights include the techno-like insistency and of Alex SLK's "Gorillaz", savage tear-out in the form of Vital's "The Game", Zoro's Dread-bass warp wonder session "Buss It", Magenta's MC-fronted bash-about "Purpose", the list goes on and on. Sweet!
Review: It's been a powerful year for drum & bass across the board, with the genre showcasing its ability to remain consistent across its entirety. This latest jump up goodie back from the Dub Damage Recordings team is a fabulous way to round off the year, as Master Error first provides us with some machine gun synthesizers on the heavyweight composition of 'Come Again'. Following this, we face more behemoth bass work as the monstrous synth slaps and lively drum shuffles of 'Untold' provide us with a tidy contrast between A & B.
Review: This release is big. Not in a super fancy or sophisticated way but in the ways that matter, the ways that mean you'll be going hard on a dancefloor at 5am somewhere when one of these tracks comes on. Master Error is responsible and he's over on Young Guns Recordings this time around, Artillery is the name of the release and it's fitting. 'Braindead' is straight up roller business, with a towering intro that cuts away on the drop, leaving a pure line of energy and rattling percussion in its wake. 'Rush', 'Artillery' and 'Assault' step up the craziness even more and are where this extended EP really gets going. Top work.
Review: It's been two years since Liondub last spun us around the globe with their long-running Jungle To The World series. But now biting into their 10th year, it's the perfect time to boost up the vaults with 18 specials, exclusives and unreleased versions. Pure high grade jungle through and through: we range from the utterly gully and industrial strength badness such as RAW's "Lock Up" to smoother skank-shined bubbly rollers such as Johnny Osbourne & Bladerunner's "Night Fall Dub" via slippery tech missiles like the dangerous darkside steps of Mr Explicit's "Crystal Blue" and the 24th century jazz of Jayline & Dutty Dubz long-awaited VIP of "Bacardi & Coke". And that's just four of the 18 weapons on offer here. Authentic jungle for 10 years and counting.
Review: Master Error lands on Hydrated Audio this week for a jump-up release that genuinely stands out from the crowd. There's a lot of competition in this field at the moment and quite a few releases which aren't up to scratch or don't differentiate themselves enough to get noticed properly. Master Error does both here and it makes for a rip-roaring release that'll have you clenching your fists and scrunching your face with regularity. The title tune is just astonishingly powerful, its synths aren't anything new but the force that emanates out from them suggests some seriously good production value. 'Underground Sound' is the roller of the bunch and, packing with movement, its momentum is just unstoppable. Top release.
Review: Hyrdrated Audio have clearly decided that they're going to grab 2019 by the horns and do everything they can to make this year the year that their imprint makes it. You can tell the extent of their determination from the precision with which they've curated this various artists compilation and the mix of vibes and quality is top notch. The opening tune from Metal Work says it all, a rolling grater of chopped-up bass synths that'll pace out its competitors. A favourite of ours is Skeng by Raptcha, another lovely rolling number that flips your expectations on its head with a flow of creativity - big tune. Make sure to check out the full comp - wicked stuff.
