Bursting onto the underground scene in 2002, Kasra’s multi-award winning label Critical Music has been rolling out nothing but ice cold drum and bass ever since. Originally starting as a passion project in Kasra’s North London flat, the label has grown to diversify its sound, pushing out anything from deep, rich, liquid, minimal steppers, bouncy half-time cuts and hard-edge ammunition. Nurturing new talent and supporting some of D&B’s finest, Critical boasts a five star roster of artists including: Circuits, Charl Brix, Enei, Emperor, Fade Black, Foreign Concept, Halogenix, Hyroglifics, Ivy Lab, Jakes, Levela, Mefjus, Particle, Redders, Rider Shafique, QZB, Solah, Sam Binga, T>I and the big boss Kasra himself. Critical is also home to its highly esteemed club night series, Critical Sound, which has sold out Bristol’s Motion and London’s Studio 338, as well as taking shape as branded festival stages across the UK and overseas.
Review: Ivy Lab provides Critical Music with its first physical release of 2014 with a four-track EP. To begin with there's the piano-ambient introduction of "Missing Persons", which in a way sounds like a highly sped-up Burial track combined with Frank Carter III's vocals full of a similar sounding soul heard in Storm Queen's crossover hit "Look Right Through". The drums remain super-quick on "Live On Your Smile" alongside warbled computer bleeps and melancholic female vocals, while "Sunday Crunk" is a hip hop-inspired, MPC-styled slow jam that may well take its inspirations from southern rap. Lastly on this deluxe package, Project: Mooncircle and 2nd Drop artist Deft touches-up Ivy Lab & Emperor's "Pepper" for something verging on heavy dubstep mixed with some growling, Fis-like effects
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