Review: Nurtured and raised by Sub Slayers; SKMA bull charges into 2017 with two sheet metal jungle slammers. "Conflict" hits with a heady vibe that sits between the grit of Renegade but the jumpy infection of Low Down Deep. A real bruiser with techy depths and demonic funk. "Over" continues the unrelenting industrial strength riffage but with more of an obvious tech twist and a clear message... Hibernation is over - the SKMA takeover starts now.
Review: Last spotted on Sub Slayers with bass veteran King Yoof, London singer/songwriter Rony Blue turns our frowns upside down with a velvet homage to lovers rock. Crisp delivery with all the right levels of emotion and delicacy, she's backed by a groove that's fat enough for a party but chill enough for any downtime. Remix-wise Potential Badboy gets his skank on twice with vocal and dub versions. Nothing to be sorry about here.
Review: FACT 1: Toronto isn't broken. It's a thriving city full of opportunities for the upwardly mobile. FACT 2: Toronto Is Broken isn't broken either. He's a thriving producer full of creative ideas and filthy rips for the upwardly energised. Case in point, these three beauties: "Voyager II" is a tearing masterpiece that's reminiscent of Grow Your Wings-era Original Sin, "Want You" is a crispy, deeper roller that sits somewhere between Enei and Dimension while "Breathe Clear VIP" adds a refreshing twist to one of the many highlights from his debut album Section 9 released last year. As they say in drum & bass: If it ain't broken, Toronto it.
Jay Cunning - "Series 04 Bass" (continuous DJ mix) - (1:17:54) 175 BPM
Review: It's been a while since Sub Slayers last curated a Best Of Bass compendium but label boss Jay Cunning makes up for lost time with this rampant selection of cross-genre scudders. 23 tracks heavy ranging from future 140 tear-ups from legends old (Ed 209, King Yoof) and new (Toronto Is Broken, Dead Belly) to chest-tickling drum & bass from the likes of SKMA, Bladerunner and Salaryman, it's a detailed portrait of where the label is at in 2015. Expect classic ragga rave blasts (Tuff & Powa's "Highest Grade"), hypnotic tribal-tinted dubby breaks (King Yoof's "Badman Riddim"), glitchy neuro-flecked D&B (Toronto Is Broken - "Way Down") and everything in between. Gun fingers!
Review: Jay Cunning's Sub Slayers get busy with a brand Bass Selection compendium. Giving the artist full artistic duties without compromise, King Yoof has taken the opportunity to amass some of his best soundsystem-tuned rolling skank-up bangers. From breaks to dubstep to D&B, the whole breakbeat spectrum is covered with special attention paid to dubwise and dancehall vocals. Highlights include a mid-zeros style electro-bass twist on Barrington Levy ("Murderer"), the stabby steppy paranoia of "Big Belly Riddim" and the evergreen harmoniousness of Aswad on Rhythm Riders' "Give Me A Sign". That's just three of 20 unmixed bullets ready for your playlist consumption. Get busy.
Review: "Wanderers" is an epic, natural history lesson of a tune featuring one of the best uses of a documentary sample in a long time. Swooping and soaring, there's something majestic about the simple bassline in this that plays out under a delicate riff and punched out beats. "Exodus Blue" swaps huge rolling sounds for a touch of trip-hop as a slow and scratchily-recorded drum kit etches out a hip hop beat, quickly swapping to a jungle rhythm once the beat kicks in. Odd in all the best ways, this is a standout release, and having been backed by the likes of Dub Phizix and Kenny Ken, you're going to hear more from this rather experimental chap in 2015.
Review: Experimental. It's a word used and used again when describing music that's a little off-the-wall but in the case of southern lad Toronto Is Broken, it's not a lazy adjective. There's a bit of an art to creating heavy, high energy D&B that's also deeply ridden with blockbuster theatrics and when it comes to pushing an atmosphere of widescreen tension and fast-paced action, he's got it down. Eerie samples pulled from places deep inside TIB's mind scatter the surface of each track, giving more texture to what could be lost as 'another' heavy drum & bass release. Don't be fooled - this one is different.
Review: Inspired by the sad death of one of his close friends, Anodyne Industries has set himself the incredible task of creating an emotionally raw, dancefloor-driven, hard-edged drum and bass EP. Intro track "LH1013" is as powerful as you'd expect, building to a heart-vibrating crescendo of neuro snares and claps, soaring synth arrangements and crystalline vocal samples. Moving on, "Reach Within Strike Out" powers through after that emotional introduction with hard-hitting drumstep charges of pure energy with "She Breathes Moonlight" the emotional tipping point. It'll knock the breath out of everyone.
Review: TIB continues to tease us with the imminent release of his debut album Section Nine. "Rekall" is pure savagery as his monstrous bass rips and tears across the mix with unfettered ugliness. Ably backed up with BBK's surefire spits, it's instant carnage material. Remix-wise Sub Slayers have left no stone unturned; Naiive conjures up a ripsnorting D&B tear-out session, Roughmath throws down the bro vibes with Datsik-level aggression, 601 tease us with spacey rave elements before dropping into the foulest breakbeat shred set-up and INF1N1TE closes the show with a half-tempo D&B slammer. No product recalls here - bring on the album already!
Review: Already supported by the likes of Sub Focus, Netsky and Benga, 21 year old producer Toronto Is Broken is already on a roll. Here we have the first sonic glimpse of forthcoming debut album "Section Nine". Although usually known for harder sounds, "Die For You" is straight up trancey pop-step - all rolling beats and giant synths. "Engineers" though redresses the balance by delivering D&B style beats, full bottom end and some dubsteppy bass. Elsewhere Anodyne Industries add some well needed darkness to the lead track, while Rain City Riot turn it into big and bouncy electro-house.
Review: Two D&B legends together on one massive tune. They couldn't leave it at that, could they? Thankfully not, as this massive track sees not one, not two, not even three but four remixes from some of the scene's finest beatmakers. First up the original sets the pace, bringing addictive, hip-swinging bass alongside playful pads with no hint of the carnage to come. Toronto Is Broken take charge on the remix switching the pace to a clean, bone-chilling techy roof-raiser, Gella's remix channels Leftfield and dubbed out dancefloor footwork, Jinx takes a dubby stance and Atomic Drop destroys what's left with a huge dubstep refix patched up with ravey wobbles. Don't wait about - you need this in your life.
Review: TIB might not yet be a household name, but Christian Hoffman has been working on his sound for some time now. Unleashing it in this mammoth six track EP after receiving Radio 1 airplay he challenges drum & bass to a stand off between neuro, dubstep, metal, breakbeat and jungle and his results are intriguing, occasionally challenging and made for the dancefloor. Stressy pads, crisp beats and horror film FX all lead to a collection of darkly menacing tunes capable of bringing the house down. You want to keep an eye on this one.
Review: Fast-rising stars on the Sub Slayers label, bass-loving Toronto is Broken unleashes some fiendish breaks on this new five-song release. Smashing together slowed-down jungle drums and dubstep bass on "The Metropolis" makes for an aggy opener - a mood that carries through nicely on tunes like the shuffle tech-D&B of "Annunaki" and the more upfront jump-up of "Dor's Theme".
We use cookies to personalise content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyse our traffic. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners who may combine it with other information that you've provided to them or that they've collected from your use of their services.