Review: Oh gosh... Jungle Cakes look back over their delicious back catalogue, and the wider jungle vista, to bring together 74 of the finest recipes known to mankind for this Gold level baking session. Featuring some of the biggest dishes in existence, one minute we're skanking out to Klue's insane 'Rudy, A Message To You', the next we're getting slapped by Spyda on Serum's 'All Ganja Man' then the next we're being tickled by seminal classics such as M-Beat & General Levy's 'Incredible'. The list of incendiary cuts goes on and on and on... Bossmen Ed Solo & Deekline's 'No No No', Potential Bad Boy's 'Over My Head', Dope Ammo & Taiwan MC's 'Babylon Falling' - every single cut is as hot as your oven on baking day. What a package... And there's a mix thrown in for good measure. Gold... Always believe in your soul.
Review: 15 years deep, but never on the low down... Logan D's label continues to operative and thrive at the forefront of jump up D&B with this epic anniversary collection. Loaded with new versions, upfront material and unreleased classics, it's a fittingly fresh and excitable package for a label with such tenure. Highlights include Voltage's curmudgeonly remix of Serum's 'Up In Smoke', the never-ending legacy of Dominator with the previously unreleased 'Outta Control', brand new badness from Slipz in the form of 'Badman' and timeless rawness from Heist with 'Bravado'. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Review: Tik-Tok terrorist, shampoo advert superstar and all-round donnie Mozey returns to Souped Up with four more outstanding slap-abouts. 'Shrugs' takes the lead with its hornets nest bassline and skippy drums before 'Night Buzz' gets busy over a rattling snare and big bulbous sub plunges. Elsewhere we see him link arms with bossman Serum and stroll to the chemist for some foot ointment on the early 2000s Zinc style roll-out 'Trench Foot' before 'Waiting Room' sends us all off to purgatory on a big bag of nutty harmonic basslines with no ETA on when we'll be let out. Party on.
Review: Jungle Cakes shake us and bake us once again as label owners Deekline and Ed Solo lure long time friend Benny Page into their lair for this incredible 58 track collection. Created as a mix but all tunes available for your own persy armouries, as always with the 'Welcome To The Jungle' series, we're treated to sounds and styles across the entire dnb spectrum. Expected everything ranging from Benny's own bubblers to more dancefloor styles such as Blaine Stranger's 'Dragon' and Octo-Pi's 'This Sound' via rugged jump-up uppercuts such as Lockerz 'The Funk', crucial jungle licks like Exposure's remix of DeJay's 'St Paul's Jammin' and pure futurism like Filip Motovunski's 'Ninja'. And this isn't even the tip of the jungle iceberg here, there's so much to digest here. Huge.
Review: Two of the most exciting acts around right now have collaborated on this single, as Bristol's The Sauce make their first appearance on Souped Up alongside label founder Serum. The drums are tight and head-nodding, and the basslines are expansive, choppy and full of the not-serious mentality that makes this such a great label. It's the b-side, 'A Truck Load', which really stands out from the pair, as a relentless yet subtly composed bassline barrels through the middle of the track with a feeling of pure inevitability; of course these two acts will make something this good, and of course it will blow your socks off. They wouldn't have it any other way.
Review: For his latest sojourn on Critical, Serum puts down his cricket bat and gets out his conductor's baton to conduct us through another one of his more cosmic escapades. Think Stephan Bodzin or Marc Romboy but with added 174 energy and plenty more bass. 'Tokyo Rose' adds a little more aggy action to the mix with its stern bass tones and tense string plucks. Watch out for the drop; this ain't no rose-tinted glasses situation. Oof.
Review: Souped Up are always innovating around their tried and tested formula, and this EP is from a young artist the team have been pushing hard: Mozey. He's got four tracks here and all of them are wonderful balances of funky, synth-wave patterns and jagged dancefloor destruction, with Serum, Carasel and Current Value injecting that little extra into the mix. 'Simmer' with Carasel is a proper stomper, with a stepping percussive structure beneath a call-and-response format of shuddering stabs and shimmering, shivering synthetic screams. We love the bright, analogue funk on the introduction to 'Flirt', which creates an atmosphere of approachability far removed from its bassline's tendency towards spasmodic barks and gruff shouts. 'Lady Petrol' is a straight jump-up banger, and its position as the title tracks gives away the mission here: dancefloor pressure. Oh yes.
Review: When Bassman and Serum invite you to 'The Terrordome' you don't RSVP on nice frilly paper, you don't say 'yeah defo mate' but actually think 'I'll see what else is going on before I decide', you don't ask 'who else is coming?', you don't have to get your mum's permission. You just go there and you soak up whatever hell and tarnation the two monsters are cooking for you. It might make you screw up your face, it might make you shout a rude word or two, it might make you lose your trousers but that's life in the Terrordome and you are most definitely invited. Comes complete with the equally savage tear-up 'You're Coming With Us' with Ego Trippin where Bassman reveals what theologians and philosophers have wondered for centuries... What happens when we die?
Review: The instantly recognisable sounds of NYC's T.R.A.C (one of the US's most important contributions to D&B MC culture) enjoy a reboot from man like Benny L. Part of a series of killer remixes from T.R.A.C's 2017 album Life In Motion, here we find Benny maintaining that bouncy, slightly ravey uplift of the original Serum collaboration while adding more of his signature south London grit and grumble. Savage, just like all Benny L joints.
Review: Always several steps ahead of the hurly-burly masses, Serum comes correct with another completely fresh sound. Please strap yourselves in and prepare for the interstellar dynamics of "Trident". Trancey, emotional, spacious and unlike anything else out there (with, perhaps the exception of kindred spirit Need For Mirrors) this is the sound of Serum looking ahead into a dark, unforgiving new future. But if you want something a little more conventional and expected from the roller king then head for "Special Brew". Grimy, naggy riffy business. Exemplary.
Review: It's all kicking off at Souped Up HQ. First they tell us Voltage is our real dad and it seems Dutta is being ousted as our naughty uncle coercing us into god knows what type of mischief with some of his most cantankerous sounds and flavours yet. "Tiger Claw" is pure drum riot funk, "Reload" (with Jakes) is insanely smooth, "Wash Away" (with Serum) packs all the raffish thrills and spills of an early Hazard joint, "Woah" is a deep sci-fi roll-out that takes off where "Trooper" left us the other month while "OG" closes on venomous growl flex. Wowzers... These will singe your trousers.
Review: The Souped Up crew are back in town and they have an offering, courtesy of Original Sin. It's a fiery, no-nonsense release that sits in the familiar vein of Souped Up influenced music, with an emphasis on the pummelling and the urban-edged knack that only jump-up D&B has. Remixing Serum himself, 'Earth Rot' has a punching, pitched-down back end that pulses and sways alongside its percussive cousin and to great effect - this one would go down well on any UK dancefloor. There's a genuine feel of aggressiveness here that only prooducers with the old-school credentials of Original Sin know how to cultivate, and it sits very nicely on the Souped Up release roster.
Review: Finally! One of the most in-demand dubs of the year has landed. Following the universal success of "Take My Breath Away", Paul T, Edward Oberon and Serum's dream trio alchemy works again with another anthemic hurricane. Once again perfectly balancing shades with the soaring vocal and urgent bassline, this covers so many styles and joins so many dots it's no wonder every DJ who can get the dub has been hammering it. Now you can hammer it too. Join in if you know the chorus... All we ever wanted was fish.
Review: VIP time! Souped Up unleash some of the bossman's biggest specials from the last year. If you've seen him or Kings Of The Rollers play you'll already know them... Especially the hype riddled Inja fronted take on "Lumberjack". "Heavy & Dark" gets two crucial treatments, too; one gurning, crying VIP from Serum and a killer version with Carasel who brings a whole new vibe and narrative to one of the biggest tracks of 2018. Essential.
Review: Logan D's Low Down Deep imprint celebrate 100 releases with this bumper to bumper banger collection with cuts from the biggest names in the heavier end of the game; Turno, Maji, Upgrade, Voltage, Heist, Serum and of course the late great Dominator are just some of the heavyweights involved. Every tune is a highlight but mad salutes fire in the direction of Turno & Pacso with their purring harmonic bass creeper "Cosmic Funk", K Motionz' long awaited summer slamming anthem "Buckaguy" and the blissful rippling charms and outrageous subby drop of Heist's "Hawaiian". Elsewhere there's pure gully fisticuffs as Kanine has "Bloody Knuckles" and Serum has "Brass Knuckles". Either way, they both KO. Like the whole album. Get on this.
Review: Cor blimey, Jungle Cakes aren't messing around with their Welcome To The Jungle series are they? Hot on the heels of Ray Keith comes another stone cold OG; Nicky Blackmarket. Digging deep across the classics and sparking up a whole forest of fresh fires, it's a 40 track, 2 mix, 10 FX tool trove of pure jungle magic curated with the wide-armed style you'd expect from an originator. With classic ranging from well known such as "Incredible" and "Pulp Fiction" to cult such as "Keep It Raw" and "Gangsters" and upfront jams flexing from all the right names (Serum, Aries, Serial Killaz, Drumsound & Bassline Smith), Blackmarket has absolutely smashed this out of the mark.
Review: Finally! After what seems like an eternity, Souped Up bossman Serum unleashes one of his most long-awaited dubplates 'Lumberjack'. Often topped with a killer flow from Inja, here it is in all its hooky, ever-mutating glory. It's backed with an equally riffy wriggler "Square Root". Bleepy and weird but a hell of a lot of fun, it's like spending a night camped out in a transistor radio with some high quality rum. Serum's a lumberjack... And we're okay!
Review: What happens when you get the iconic broadsword vocals from MC Spyda, the cricket bat-buckling riffage of man-of-the-mo Serum and a little love for the sticky-icky? This, basically. Hookier than a fisherman's convention, vibier than a whole cinema of massaging chairs, warmer than a picnic in the oven at gas mark six, this is guaranteed to get all the G-man and G-women singing along in harmony. The first track from BassLayerz' brand new imprint, this is the way you launch a new label!
Review: Selector! Jungle Cakes' Welcome To The Jungle series welcomes a bonafide legend to the controls: Ray Keith. Digging deep across the board he's put together over 40 killer tracks from an obscene rollcall: Serum, Vital, Dillinja, Bladerunner, Margaman, T>I, DJ Hybrid, Turno, Filthy Habits, Ed Solo, Deekline and many many more artists are responsible for the savage soul and badman bounce on offer as we're rattled and shaken from pillar to post. From the naughty ragga skanks and turbo reverse bass lashes of Deekline & Ed Solo's "Hot This Year" to Ray's very own seminal "Chopper" via Bladerunner's evergreen breezer "Jungle Jungle" via two mixes and 10 FX tools, this is one of Jungle Cakes' tastiest ever projects to date. Big up the Dark Soldier
Review: Oh Serum, how many pieces have you smashed 2017 to? Our last count was a billion but we may well be looking around the trillion mark with this new Souped Up special. Funk, humour, darkness and brute force are all at play here as we're treated to three more floor-burning classic Serum buzzes: "Hunchback" takes us back to Bingo's golden age with a riff so bouncy you'll be putting stabilisers back on your bike, "Nomads" is a little darker in its texture but just as funkily persuasive while "Road Dog" takes the Bristol sound, adds a hundred barking Staffies and lets them off the lead and right in to your face and ears. Tremendous stuff that's both classic, timeless and one of a kind. Salute to Serum!
Review: Serum & Heist: the only way this can get any heavier is if the EP came with a free elephant. It doesn't, but pachyderms ain't necessary when these two pack punches like this. Pure KO science in every tune, highlights include the breath taking groan on Serum's "Soul Travelling", the filtered waves of funk and wobbled-out subs on Heist's "Via The Shires", the jazzy twinkles and bouncy bassline charge on "People Of Earth" and classic Zinc-style dreamy twist up on "Soul Grapes". That's before we even mention the killer nature of "Setup" and "Moon Unit". Six b-line scuds, two absolute legends. You know what to do.
Review: Souper douper danger: Serum takes the controls for his label's second release with three more killer jams. "Earth Rot" pings and zips with a high frequency metallic rubber ball bassline while "Ripped Open" lives up to its name tears us all a new one as it stabs hard with a Mampi-style sense of focus and drama. Finally "Pulse-S" represents Serum's more leftfield sense of funk with a tin-of-bees bass buzz that wobbles raffishly off the kicks. Yet another soup filled with at least three of your five a day, once again Serum smashes it in his own unique way.
Review: Make the most of Serum's incredible output because at one point he's going to get arrested for murderation. And with this level of killer material, they'll throw away the key. "Black Metal" is the ultimate doom monger with its indecent drone texture that just groans malevolently over Serum's trademark rolling beats, "Ramparts" riffs on bag-rustling double bass while "Skeleton Key" strips the vibe right back to its essential ice-cold oscillating elements. Three more absolute killers from one of drum & bass's most respected artists right now.
