Review: Let's just take a moment to appreciate the romance of the title here... "Lossless Love": an unbounded tenderness that is without compression or loss of information. Or perhaps Accelerated is just stating his love for good quality audio files, who knows? What we do know is that both these tunes hit all the right spots... "Lossless Love" is all about the big sweeping chords and soft yearning vocal texture that complements the elements so well it almost hugs them while "Drifting Heart" adds a little more space between the beats, bringing our focus to the mesmerising textures that colour the tune. Feel the love.
Review: Southampton's Al Pack takes us for a ride through the various, classic shades of drum and bass; borrowing equally from jungle as he does from soul and disco, calling to mind legends such as Peshay, Alex Reece and London Elektricity. Starting with the jazz infused vibes of the title track, other highlights aren't limited to the street level breakbeat science of "Ruffneck Tactics" and "Hustle Daily" while "Nimbus" or "Quarter After Two" feature the smooth liquid drum and bass vibes that LTJ Bukem or Calibre would stand up and notice. Well produced and promising stuff.
Review: The doors of perception are open for business! Bristol's Altered Perception returns to Soul Deep with two more hazy, spellbinding rollers. "Immersed" works a series of lingering piano strokes with sculpted musical and human elements with a touching dreaminess that's deep yet causes major uplift in an understated way. "Higher" continues this motif but focuses more on gentle guitar strums and far-away vocal textures once again causing real meltdowns but in a restrained and delicate way.
Review: As to be expected from Soul Deep Digital, we've been presented with a collection of expertly executed gloriously deep cuts, this time the imprint welcomes back Southampton dweller Avalon Rays for his 'Under The Stars EP'. The title track sees a collection of minor piano chords somberly dancing over a pattering drum pattern, while a hunting male vocal provides an emotive pull. 'Still Waters' a meditative vibe with a tribal drum pattern which appears between the main breaks and echoing shaman like calls, the sub on this is omnipresent and malevolent. 'Let Me Go' sees another collaboration between Avalon Rays and Kimberly Iji and her voice is the standout feature of the track, it soulfully and effortlessly dances over the piano led roller beneath with an impromptu sounding jazzy twang. 'Sorrow' again pairs a female vocalist with liquid blueprints, but creating a dream like quality with floaty pads, twinkling chimes and soft electric guitar.
Review: Kurruptdata grabs the ingredients from Avalon Rays' debut Soul Deep Digital EP and gives them his barbed bass signature twist. "Keep On Moving" flips "Keep On Moving" into a slamming slice of bassline drama. "Don't Cry" is a carefully restrained jazz-tinged sunset roller with gradually rising orchestral strings. Finally "One Love" is taken to the top of fog-enshrouded mountain top where murky mysticism brings Lady Emz vocal to the forefront. Serious remix action.
Review: Azhot aka Ben Ben-XLR or just... Ben, is a liquid drum and bass producer from Normandy. Hey they're his words, not ours! And believe us, there's nothing dull about this fellow, check out "Feel It Comin" for instance. This is the kind of soulful breakbeat science that would make even legends like LTJ Bukem and Marcus Intalex stand up and notice. Second offering "Fonky Flush" gets more of a party starting jump up vibe happening, with some nice psychedelic guitars and jazz horns for added measure.
Review: While Brazil usually dominates the South America's D&B headlines, Santiago soundboy B-Science reminds us that 170 rhythms are just as exciting from elsewhere across the continent. "True Soul" and "Broken" roll with big soul flavours and gorgeous sample craft while "Triangles" takes us down a classic Omni Trio style path. Like his county's wine these cuts are full-bodied, fiery and ultimately soul soothing.
Review: Bank returns to his spiritual Soul Deep home with a quartet of outstanding dream steamrollers. "Against The Grain" is a powerful vocal cut that's driven by some insistent and heavy rolling drums and complex atmospheric textures, "Misty Blue" lives up to its name with a hazy sheen that wraps around with you by way of a honeyed male vocal sample, "Droppin' Bombs" takes us down a slightly darker, junglised rabbit hole with a killer spoken word sample, finally "HP Sauce" tips a nod to the Blighty with a dense soaring groove and a vocal that's carefully placed deep in the middle of the mix, Spell-binding.
Review: Don't be fooled by the name: there's nothing basic about this Spanish artist. Back on Soul Deep (by way of two releases on Vivid), Basic Forces lays down another clutch of roomy rollers that would sit prettily alongside the tunes of LSB, Flowrian, Bcee or any of the liquid elite. Highlights range from the infectiously tight percussion and classical pads of "Long Time" and the light brushy drums and sleepy slides and reverse touches of "Dreamer".
Review: A deep flowing set of tracks from Spanish producer and co-owner of Complex Records.This time joining forces with the good souls at Soul Deep, he's brought classy, crisp decorum to the label, offering smooth rolling rhythms touched by modern electronic twists. "I Just Want You More" shows this mudding of sounds together extremely well, with its fresh, brisk atmosphere, tight, techy synths and deep harmonious bass. A masterclass in contemporary liquid drum and bass.
Review: Germany representing: hotly tipped freshmen Chrizz0r and Northern Zone collide to create three deep-space slices of rolling D&B soul. "Scapes" taps into the universal language of pads as we dive deep into a heavily atmospheric bed of vibes before the salubrious subs and twinkling instrumentation of "Vines" whisks us to even further, more mystical pastures. Finally, "Don't Look Back" brings the EP to an evocative finale with a beautiful harmonic bass/mid riff and bolder, wider rolling drums. The perfect transition that will stop floors in their tracks, something tells us these guys have lots to look forward to.
Review: Clarty on dudes! After a string of sessions on Fokuz and Jazzsticks, London soulful D&B upstart Clart steps up to Soul Deep with two sample-soaked funk gems. "Diamonds & Pearls" hits with a robust blend of 70s strings and 80s synths in a way that wouldn't have gone amiss on Logistics' first album. "I Got A Thing" takes us deeper down the disco driveway with gutsy vocals on loop and cascading vocals and instrumentations that wrap sensuously around the kicks. Timelessly golden.
Review: With an impressive repertoire building on Liquid Brilliants, Russian CNOF takes a trip to the US for a pert doublet Soul Deep. "Tell Me You Love Me" hits with classic sample craft. Simple but ravishingly effective with its stark strings and harmonic echoes, this could have been released any time since 2000 and slapped dancefloors silly. "Night Miracles" takes us deeper into the night with a texture that sounds like a super-stretched out Hall & Oats laid down gracefully over skippy, rave-tweaked breakbeats.
Review: An Oxford/LA hook-up by way of Soul Deep, Cosmology and Magnafide?s styles complement each other neatly as the pair explore the liquid realms with a commendable balance of restraint and fine-tuned drum work. ?Dream Mode? feels like a heartfelt ode to Good Looking?s golden era with overwhelming atmospheres and heaps of space between every element. ?Pasadena Drive? is a leaner affair with occasional harp ripples, honey-coated subs and mild traces of euphoria on the fills. Dreamy.
Review: Slinky liquid soul from the enigma that is Counter Culture. Building on the foundations dug last year on Soul Deep with "Soul Break", and the consequential releases on Atomatix and Liquid Flavours, Mr Culture delivers another quad of funk work outs. Highlights that really make each track stand out include the fluttering percussion on "Favela Funk", the insistent guitar loopery of "Inside" the heavy drum punches of "Workman Dub" and the darker, alien-gazing textures of "Ident".
Review: Brand new to Soul Deep Digital, Criteria makes themselves known with remarkable adventures into drum & bass's deepest of tones. The rich, lower tones of singer Hayley appear on half of the EP; the cosmic Bungle or Seba style star-gazing, space-cruise vibes of "Eastern Sunset" and the dreamier, dusky shakedown "White Hornet". For the remaining tracks Criteria goes solo with densely textured, almost prog-like pad-driven dreamer "Black Dragonfly" and the almost church-like spiritual experience of the pianos, pads and humanised textures on "Wild Ego". Sublime.
Review: Emerging London junglist Dave Catalyst makes his Soul Deep debut with four slinky, spacious, double bass slapping rollers. "Summer Haze" has such a low swung, dusty, sun-baked feel there's almost a western quality to it while "Rhode Island" maintains the fretless bass signature but with added soulful chords and rushy, piano-primed atmospheres. "Sanctuary" dips deeper into liquid territory, switching the double bass for bulbous subs and big breeze pads a la Goodlooking circa 20 years ago while "Every Little Thing" closes the show with filtered waves of honeyed jazz samples and rich warm feels similar to those of early Jazzsticks or Innamind releases. Hazy.
Review: Taking his time, London-based Catalyst is as unhurried as his spell-binding soulful beats. Sample-licked, soothing and, at places, deliciously somnambulant, each of these four cuts spins with a restrained sense of ease and allure. The evocative vocal breaths of on "Night Songs", the loose-string bass runs on "Spin Axis", the deeper Bungle-style star-gazing sub hummer "Red Giant" and the sci-fi drama and roominess of "Human Universal" all combine to create a true trove of deep rolling delights. Fans of LSB, Furney or Pennygiles should be all over this.
Review: Greece representing: dBase lays down two pearly rollers on Soul Deep. "High Above The Sea" is a well-measured, spacious liquid gem with yearning synth lines, rippling chords and just the right amount of nylon string guitar. "American Dream" is slightly darker in its intention. Less lavish chords and silkiness, more heads-down bass focus, rolling breaks and polished synth textures. The perfect combination.
Review: Few labels in drum & bass dig as deep as Soul Deep when it comes to new talent. Consistently presenting freshmen from all corners, this time they take us to Liverpool by way of North Wales for the lesser spotted Digital Organix. Clearly a man who knows his soulful stuff, there's an air of classicality to each track as minimal elements make a maximal picture. Pianos play a lead role throughout - delicately trembling on "Ukiyo", painting big pictures on "Deep Down You Know", reverberating with allure on "Highs & Lows" and providing poignant feel good emotion on "The End". Let's hope this is just the beginning.
