Review: Nasty, low down, tech steppin' drum and bass courtesy of DJ Trace's seminal London imprint DSCI4. Toronto's Gremlinz teams up with fellow homeboy Adrian Go on the dark sci-fi nightmare that is "Rice Bowl" which truly plunders the depths of hell; this one's intense and calls to mind the classic sound of Ed Rush & Optical and Trace himself. The UK's Quartz steps up to the plate also with "Tachyon" featuring Nanobyte. A satanic exploration in breakbeat science reminiscent of late 90s experiments by Boymerang.
Review: Mortem has had a fantastic 12 months and the future is looking even brighter for him as he continues his takeover of the deep D&B scene. Mostly seen on his home turf of IM:Ltd, this writhing, sinister shape shifter of a roller slithers in hard and fast, skittering across lightning speed hi-hats and trademark syncopation. Quartz is also set for a promising year ahead, and "Amour King" sets out a bass-driven game plan, providing just the build and release needed to create an instant dancefloor hit. With vocal samples erring on the edge of game-play voiceovers and cold spells of desolate breakdowns, it's in another icy world.
Review: If you like your drum & bass packed with eerie soundscapes and created more with the intention of imparting an experience than packing out a dancefloor, this is the EP for you. It's classic moody Headz, and Quartz channels the hazy smoke-filled vibe of Blue Note and pumps it through an apocalyptic filter, transposing classical breaks onto futuristic landscapes. 'Folding Water' is perhaps the EP's darkest outing, as hypnotic kicks ground a steampunk aesthetic of churning metal and furious percussive energy, one with abstraction at its core but traditional breaks music in its heart. Superb release.
Review: Having cut his teeth on IM:LTD, Warm and DSCI4 it was only a matter of time before the ice slab bruises and shards of Quartz crashed down on the Headz mothership. And man do they hit hard. Six tracks in total (with two collabs with Survey and Gremlinz) every cut strikes the soul... The pulsating electrical current of "Hall Of Mirrors", the vicious halftime data spikes and caustic code cascades of "Oblong Druid" (with Gremlinz) and the grumbling, rumbling dungeon echoes of "Ghastly" are just three of the many highlights here.
