Review:
Newcomer Cloak brings everything you love about the manic freneticism of rave and all its sub-genres in a neat and tidy 170bpm package. Ramping up the bass pressure in each track, it's tunes like "Killer" that really show the heart of jungle, rave and even breakcore futurism. The past always reinvents itself as new trends - just look at the cycles drum and bass has been through, and this release, for the aforementioned genres, is a case in point.
Review:
Massive collaboration business at Asbo HQ as the one and only Vinyl Junkie invites friends over for some straight-up jungle fun. "Fade Away" sees him teaming up with Bristol's Rachael E.C at the controls and David Boomah on the mic. As always, David is the star of the show with his distinctive dulcets spreading wise vibes throughout the skank-packed roller. Looking for something a little darker? Look no further than his Sanxion co-piloted stepper "Rolling Ice Cubes". With a heavy twist of 95 in the mix, there's some real head-bending science going on here.
Review:
What You Do To Me' is named after the classic sample, taken from the ever famous 'Ride On Time' by Black Box and then reworked in to a track of drum and bass pedigree 'Take Me Away'. If you're gonna use such an iconic sample you're new track better A) be different and B) be good. And we are happy to reveal both boxes are ticked. The bass is dark and menacing, yet oddly warm, drums are flowing and crashing while the synths are cinematic and powerful. The EP's other tracks are diverse, while still dancing on the darker edge of the spectrum, with 'My Position' a weighty beast lightened momentarily by an R'n'B sample, and 'Come Down' remixed by label boss Rassterlin paying homage to the ragga/jungle tip.
Review:
The name of the record label this was released on - Asbo - should tell you everything you need to know about the attitude this tune has. It's barebones jungle, packed with reggae sampling, bad boy vibes and a sense of nostalgia for the days of tower block pirate radio stations. The title track is the best example, as bouncing bass notes skim in underneath the overruling percussive madness. 'It's All Right' launches back into the reggae atmospherics, an element of jungle that always puts a smile on your face, a smile that's quickly wiped off your face by the stuttering drums and punching kicks. Another reggae sample later and we're at 'Dutty', which probably has the best bass on the EP and continues to smash all the way through. Yet more sick jungle music from Asbo.
Review:
The name says West, the location says East; Cromer-based junglist Westy is a complex man with a sound that matches. "Borrow Dubplate" (oxymoron alert - no one lends dubplates. Even by today's loose standards) is a skank-bashed, horn-heavy viber while "Can't Test" flips to show its ruffled underbelly with Original Sin-style bass grit. The synth-soaked "Fever", meanwhile, takes us back to the early 90s and the Good Looking sound while "Gone Forever" is timeless V-style roller where the sub does all the chatting amid the synths and soaring vocals. Dynamically powerful and sonically broad, Westy's just delivered something really special here.
Review:
Hot on the heels of his "Fever" EP, Westy returns to Asbo with another exciting blend of timeless drum & bass. Fusing classic jungle foundations with elements of jump-up (without going too over the top), he's honed his own sound that will work with all styles of D&B DJ: "Jungle Law" tickles with breezy pads and a bassline that punches without ever getting too cocky. "Lion", meanwhile, takes us even deeper into the rave with bulbous basslines and amens that rattle so hard they're dizzying. "Faithful" is the heaviest cut of the collection; once again we lift off with classic rave synths and a big diva vocal before hurling us into the chaos with a furious contemporary bassline. Westy's cooking up some great noises right now... Definitely one to watch for 2016.
Review:
Suckerpunch situation: Westy returns to Asbo and rounds off another tight year with a powerful four-track EP. There's a sizzling, electrified feel "Centurion" as hits hard like a 2008 Original Sin or TC record. "Real City" continues the last decade theme but with a deeper twist and more of a roll while "Serphant" is outrageously heavy, hitting neuro bass but jungle drums (think Mind Vortex) Finally "Silence Had Gone" goes even further back in time to mid 2000s late BC / D*Minds feel to its riffy bass. Serious clobber, Westy's done the business right here.
Review:
You're born, you live, you soundtrack your life with gully understated bangers, you die. It's a lifecycle we can identify with and here comes Westy to soundtrack it. Hitting with more of a technoid, electrified twist than he's shown before, the title track bites with 1.21 gigawatts and leads to a slew of darkside, jungle-touched bust-ups; the old Virus style "Humanoidz", the soaring vocals and Bingo-bounced "This Way Up", the purring (not to mention divine) mid 90s-style stepper "Do This" and the pure jolt of euphoria from the grand piano-tickling finale "No Way Out". All flavours, all bases, all crews covered... Long may our cycles continue.
Review:
More X-rated firepower from bass solider Mr Explicit. Kicking off where his last EP "Emerald Light" left us on Asbo, once again it's a dank, heads-down unapologetic roller-festival: "Suburban Affair" lights the fire with arsonist glee; an absolute bonfire of a banger that charges at 200mph into oblivion, it's Mr Explicit at his most potty-mouthed. Venom joins the swear party for the hurricane drones and blistering breaks on "Point Blank" while Asbo regular Rassterlin taps in for the last more soulful introspective hoorah. Feel the love.
Review:
Four tracks of serious jungle ruffage, all fine-tuned for different chapters of the night; longstanding Asbo activist Rassterlin cooks up the EP of his life right here. "Everything" is a big vocal slap-down with rumbling bass and glass shattering drums (think Scar) while "Rudebwoy" shows us who the daddy (Freddy) is with a bad-manna-bad-man ragga chat shock out. Deeper again "Cage" is a groaning stepper that wouldn't sound amiss on Subtitles or Symmetry and "You Make Me" closes the EP on a fizzy-but-soulful Riya-style fix. Serious business.
Review:
Choices: You can do this the easy way or "The Hardway Vol 6". Pick the former and your life is simple but kinda unfulfilling. Pick the latter and you're rewarded three killer jungle jams from everyone's favourite antisocialists. Jinx gives Durban's remix of Savvanah a complete rinsing, Vinyl Junkie, Rachael EC and Boomah's "Fade Away" is the sound of a beautiful sunrise at 172BPM while Choppah cuts us down a peg or seven with the super-skank slammer "Tuff Sound". Hard times call for hard ways.
Review:
Fractured Jungle. As if jungle wasn't fractured enough, along come longstanding Savage Rehab don Symptom and all-round jungle whore Durban. Between them they've cooked up four immaculate retro-flexing documents. F"Listen" wouldn't have gone amiss on Reinforced in 93 while "Rock The Disco" taps into the b-boy badness of the Ganja Kru circa 96 and "Shapeless" is all about the BC-style bass, epic hoovering fills and tungsten-tipped skanks. Gold trophy goes to "We've Been Expecting You", though... An absolute madness of tune that squeezes 30 years of hardcore down into one sizzling 174BPM bombshell. Explosive.
Review:
Symptom and Durban make their collaborative return to the highly respected Asbo imprint for four tracks of explosive underworld weight. We kick off with the grinding reese tones and lethal drum design of the title track "Stop", which also brings forward wonderful vocal work from Savannah. From here we fold into the hardcore inspired composition of "Bedrock" and another dip into hardcore melodics with "Belta", also featuring vocal work from Savannah. The EP is then rounded off in style with the dirt driven bassy chops of "Trenchfoot".
Review:
Dream work makes the Team work... Asbo damaged 2016 hard with their diligent digging homage to seminal jungle architects Bizzy B and Pugwash with a slew of revamps, repurposes, refixes and VIPs. Bringing the whole project to a head comes this exclusive bundle that brings all 23 of the cuts together for the all completists. With some of the biggest names in jungle on board (Saxxon, Bladerunner, DJ Hybrid, Voltage, Gold Dubs, Aries and loads more) it's a precision celebration of old and new... From Saxxon's insanely heavy shake up "Public Enemy" to Voltage & Malachai's head-melting drum science on "Sweetie" to straight up classics such as the 96 version of instant vibe-out "Walk & Skank", this really is a beautiful piece of (team) work.
Review:
Now this is how you bring everyone up to speed: Bizzy B and Pugwash's Dream Team return with a roll deep attitude. Saxxon, Bladerunner, Voltage, DJ Hybrid, Gold Dubs and many more muck in to bring the mid-90s Joker-released rollers a touch of turbo for the 2010s. The punch drunk Augustus Pablo-pushing "Walk & Skank", the savage bars of "Public Enemy", the unrefusable offer of "The God Father", the mystical ragga flex of "The Warriors".... It's all there, it's all serious jungle, it's going to floor your crowd. This is important.
Review:
Asbo and sister imprint Anti-Social collide to curate the ultimate break compendium: 26 of both label's strongest tracks (and, let's face it, all their releases are pretty hefty) here we find ourselves smacked by the ageless amen magic (Ricky Tuff's remix of the classic "Stamina"), iced out by sudden synth blasts (Westy's "Jungle Law"), massaged by abyssal subs (Cloak's "Stereo") and given nonstop nightmares by the dark designs of Sterling Sound's "Predator". Other highlights include the paranoid stretches and bends of Durban's "Dark Room" and Symptom's neuro-slapper "Transmission". Trust us; this collection isn't messing around.
Review:
48 tracks? Asbo you are truly spoiling us. The quality is as high as the quantity too; a selection of Asbo classics and brand new flavours we're taken from smooth silky rolling soul such as Westy's "Making Moves" and jazzy V-style thunder like Savannah's "Glide Away" to hurricane amen depth (Dawn Raid, Gold Dubs & Jinx - "Old Fashioned") and classic mid 90s style jump-up ruffage (Cabin Fever's remix of "Raw Dogs") via warm-as-toast dub soul a la Vinyl Junkie & Sanxion's "Talk Too Much" and Daffy's beautiful "Love Dub". And that's only an eighth of killer cuts on here. Easily one of the best tenners a junglist can invest this month.
Review:
Asbo smash off the top of 2018 with the seventh volume of their forward-thinking "3 The Hardway" series. Three tracks, three very distinctive vibes covering the whole label, there's no messing around: new signing Venom takes our head off with gnarled twists and turns on "Saw", Jaguar Paw adds a touch of sunset piano bless on his barbed, gritty roller "Sangre" while label mainstay Rassterlin gets all swampy, intense and dramatic on "In The Jungle". Come and have a go if you think you?re hardway enough...
