The Outside Agency - "Asteroid Belt" - (5:01) 175 BPM
Neonlight - "Wormhole" (Entering Part 1) - (4:12) 174 BPM
Neonlight - "Wormhole" (Leaving Part 2) - (3:30) 174 BPM
Review: Let it Roll is the biggest D&B festival in the world and it takes place twice a year out in the Czech Republic, a hedonistic outpost of pure 170bpm madness. It's also known for its no nonsense approach to the opening show and the collection of built-for-purpose, novel tunes are coming out on the festival's label and, long story short, they're wicked. Hybrid Minds and Insideinfo team up for their second release of 2019 and it's a percy, with Grimm on vocals adding the soul and a gritty, sweeping bassline adding the force. There's plenty more force to come on the rest of the EP as well, as Abis, Icicle, Neonlight and Th Outside Agency all contributing ridiculously heavy Neurofunk tunes. Oh yes.
Review: Prepare to Die is as hard hitting as it's actually possible to get. Loud kickdrums, filthy Reese basslines and plenty of distortion take this release from destroyer to monolithic world-ender. More drumstep than your average gabba, it's machine gun kicks batter straight out of the speakers and into your temples. Hear this on a night out and it might be the last thing you ever do. "Borrowed Time" keeps track down the morbid, blood-soaked theme of mortality but this time we hear from a warped sense of junglism. Quickly morphing into rave-style hardcore in an instant, there's more than a touch of insanity at play here. Your ferryman across the River Styx this evening is DJ Hidden; get under his wall of sound and he'll keep you safe. For now.
Review: Unique techno munchers The Outside Agency really are one of a kind. Mutating, morphing and mangling sounds from dubstep and drum & bass with nail-like hardcore glee, the unpredictable duo show a refreshing darkness on here on their third album. Stretching from the Squarepusher-eats-three-distortion-peddles breakbeats of "The Fabric Of Life" to the gabba-like headbuts of "Cautionary Tale" via the brave breakneck powerstomps of "End Boss", it's consistent, fun and at points damn scary.
