Review: Smoking, swearing, smartphone addiction, petty pilfering, being alive and taking up valuable oxygen... Whatever your chosen bad habit is, Nkid has the perfect soundtrack. Teaming up with fellow Young Gun / Biological family member Puppetz, the pots and pans riddim is the perfect soundtrack to all things naughty but nice. Elsewhere Nkid goes solo with three fast-lane master bangers: "Helicopter" is a bashy little bruiser, "Vibe" is a full tank tear-up with a clipped staccato riff while "Bad" closes with the biggest swagger of the EP. Watch out for the riffle kick drums before the drop. Bad to the bone!
Review: Profile gets his collab flex on with four moments of uncompromised dark jumpy roughage. "Hellbound" sees him colliding with Puppetz for an unrelenting shaker that's characterised by some really twisted melting sirens on the fills while "Shut Your Trap" (with Fatman D) smacks of mid 2000 era Playaz, all mischievous and barking. Finally Sub Killaz enter the fray with "Big Poppa" and "Private Stock"... Two biggie blazed blunts with the sharpest laser basses this side of Brussels. All prophet, no loss.
Review: Biological Beats screams grass-roots underground, an imprint which consistently pushes the gnarliest sides of what the bedroom producers and local promoters across the UK have to offer. They rock it, too. They Are Here, courtesy of Puppetz, is their newest offering and it's a doozy. 'Subject 87' follows on from your classic horror movie sample, 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 Puppetz.
Review: Constantly dealing out killer versions on his Soundcloud and teasing us with dubs that seem to be lurking in the A-list forever ("Rizla" anyone?), northern powerhouse Brent Kilner delivers some serious goods on Second To None. With its MC-samples and broken glass bass riff "Shots On The Scene" is a straight up ode to bassline in all its 4x4 glory. "Wheel Up" adds a jazzier twist to the chords that tap into the original UKG foundations while "Earthquake" fuses in a little breakbeat murkery and grime energy. Shots fired.
Review: Hungarian hurters, if you know any of the Puppetz previous material you'll already understand the levels of darkness we're dealing with. If not, you're in for a treat. Demonic, distorted and full of leftside dirt, each cut is an adventure into jump-up's darkest pastures... "Mambo Jambo" is all slo-mo voodoo sludge, "Hench" twists tones in a way that defines science while the dagger riffed "Start Of Something" will also be the end of something... Your amicable relationship with your neighbour. "War" and "Bounce" close the show: the former is a deep drone work out wrapped in politics, the latter is all bass lasers and a very well-known spoken sample from the rave annals.
Review: Hungarian drum & bass doesn't get any nastier than from Puppetz, a duo spliced together from Spawner and Screepy and reanimated via the Biological Beats label. Filthy and hard-edged, even the sweetly titled lead track "Living Together" from this Puppetmaster EP is a barrage of snares and kicks driven home with doomy samples and revved-up bass. As stripped back as jump-up could be without losing that dancefloor appeal, if you've not heard "Bleed" out yet, oh man are you in for a treat.
Deep Analysis (feat MR Traumatik) - (4:31) 175 BPM
Review: Now recovered from his sleep paralysis, rising new-gen bass monster Tesen returns to Young Guns with another comprehensive and generous EP. Detailed, dangerous and heavy to the very end, "Deep Analysis" takes us on a fervid trip through Tesen's sound palette and bleak apocalyptic vision. Highlights include the pranged out pipes and jaunty multi-tonal riff on "Excuse Me", the clever references and conscious messages on the title track (with Mr Traumatik) and the white knuckle energy and anger on the fittingly titled "Livid". Analyses have never been so much fun.
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: Biological Beats are turning fifteen years old and, like any good anniversary, it's being celebrated with a proper knees-up, hands-in-the-air type compilation of jump-up heavy hitters from a slew of wicked artists. This is that celebration and DJ Limited, Puppetz and more are in the place, whilst Enta and more make a feature as well. Enta turns up the heat with a screamer with 'Ear Dis', Puppetz takes things heavy on 'Reborn' and Traumatize drags proceedings into a bouncier place with his stormin VIP of 'Joker'. All round, an excellent showing from the crew and an excellent example of how to pull off a big compilation.
Review: Biological Beats are the latest addition to the Playaz roster of quality sister labels and on this sterling compilation there's a real sense of a stamp of approval - double B are looking to cement their sound. Kicking off with the beautiful sampling and hard thump of techy drums that is Jayline's "Time To Play", there's no let up and each tune brings its own blend of bone-shaking beats and subtleties. From minimal atmospherics to soaring string sections, this is jump up like you've never heard it before. Oozing with creativity and gasping for the light, forget all you know about heat-crazed dancefloor drum and bass and come over to the dark side. You know it makes sense.
