Review: Some dads clean up your mess. Other dads make you mess yourself. Other dads make the mess and expect you to clean it up. We don't even need to tell you what type of fathers Serum and Voltage are, but in case you're unaware of the mischievous influence they have on each other, let's just say they're not changing any nappies tonight. 'Pum Pum Rule' is a splat-and-dash dust-up with some of the funkiest drums the pair have ever programmed while 'Metamorphosis' takes us back to the late 2000s style of tear-up with very messy consequences. Watch out for volume two when they try and tell us about the birds and the bees. Eek.
Review: Souped Up come through with that next level sickness once again as Russian giants Teddy Killerz get busy with the formidable arachnid MC, and fellow giant, Spyda on 'Run'. Opening with big reggae skanks, powerful vocals from Spyda and a bassline sharper than a sassy roadman on a bed of nails, it's a big 2024 anthem in waiting. Elsewhere Rouman gets involved on the sexier feels of 'Smoke' while finale 'Gun' shoots first and knocks heads off later with pure greasy intent. Bang bang!
Review: Original Sin returns to Souped Up once again, this time bringing razor sharp MC Shakes into the mix for a heavyweight link up '100K'. As with all Original Sin cuts since the very beginning, the dynamics are set to max as the urgent bassline pushes and pulls us around each corner of the dancefloor. Complete with Shakes spitting hard with clarity and vibes, you already know how much damage this is going to cause as we move towards the ravey season. 100 thumbs up.
Review: Next up from the ever-ready Souped Up crew, a vibrant two track display that showcases Upgrade as his very best, with both of these spicy originals packing a real dancefloor-ready punch. We begin with the other-worldly sounds of 'The Visitor', a synthesiser-driven stomp through gnarly sub textures, intricate percussive pops and monstrous melody, kicking off the project in style. On the flip to this, a more garage-inspired idea as 'Concrete Jungle' fuses with smooth female vocal chops with squelching bass slides and chord-driven progressions, giving a nicely balanced two-track project.
Review: No one knows what ACP stands for. A Cool Person? A Crap Party? Ah Crazy Patterns? Andy C's Pants? Who knows? But one thing we do know is that his music is seriously bubbling right now and you need to be paying attention to it. Fresh from his release on Serial Killaz comes this awesome Souped Up debut. Angular, scrappy and full of trippy surprises, 'Jumpscare' is an epic peak time slayer that sits somewhere between a young Dutta and the Teddy Killaz. 'Lullaby' is equally disarming, especially with its switch to dreamy instruments on the hook. Finally 'Foghorn' mischievously returns to one of the most divisive sounds in contemporary dnb and flips it into a vicious robotic mess. Another crucial platter.
Review: Everyone's favourite D&B dad Mozey returns to Serum's Souped Up with two more absurd thumpy bumpers. 'Tell Me' plays a mean flip as we go from hands-in-the-air Sub Focus style dancefloor energy to an absolutely grotty jump-up riff at a the flick of Mozey's luxuriant long hair. Looking for even more grot and grit? Then head for 'Volcano'. Rasping in a similar, venomous way as 'Tell Me' but with less playful switches, it's Mozey reminding us he's still a badboy when he wants to be. Cheers pops!
Review: Now here's where taxes finally get interesting... The addition of swords. Taxman shows us how: First you take your blade, then you chop up your returns and self assessment forms to shreds to the epic grind and dark swagger of this latest Souped Up banger. 'Never Give Up' cuts just as a deep but with more of an emotional blast and a sudden hurricane twist on the drop. Stylish.
Review: There's no stopping Manchester's Bou right now. If he's not slapping us silly on the likes of Critical, or whipping us with one-offs on Hospital he's, drenching us in thick gloopy gully on Serum and Benny V's Souped Up. Following the heat of his "Habibi" EP last year, "Scorpion" comes with the sting its name suggests. It's backed up by the devilishly cheeky Trigga-fronted "Veteran" before he links up with Serum for "Superstar", a warm bouncy riffy cut that's crying for an Inja-style MC topline. Finally we hit "Spook". Recently spotted in the sets of both Noisia and Skrillex, need we say more? All say 'woo' for Bou
Review: Badman Bou is in the house! Making his debut on Serum's impeccable label Souped Up label, it's nothing but four tracks of absolute sonic lava. "Mankind" is all drone and no moan as a metallic bass textures scrapes itself over some slinked-out rolling breaks, "Higher" sees him teaming up with Current Value (who he actually inspired to write a whole album without realising) for a technoid pumper with venomous springy stabs, "It's A Trap" is all about the rubber ball bass shots and flagrant cheekiness before "No Love" bids us adieu with another powerful tunnelling metallic bass drone. Lovely stuff.
Review: Souped Up are always innovating around their tried and tested formula, and this EP is from a young artist the team have been pushing hard: Mozey. He's got four tracks here and all of them are wonderful balances of funky, synth-wave patterns and jagged dancefloor destruction, with Serum, Carasel and Current Value injecting that little extra into the mix. 'Simmer' with Carasel is a proper stomper, with a stepping percussive structure beneath a call-and-response format of shuddering stabs and shimmering, shivering synthetic screams. We love the bright, analogue funk on the introduction to 'Flirt', which creates an atmosphere of approachability far removed from its bassline's tendency towards spasmodic barks and gruff shouts. 'Lady Petrol' is a straight jump-up banger, and its position as the title tracks gives away the mission here: dancefloor pressure. Oh yes.
Review: Consummate sportsman Mozey kicks down the doors of Souped Up HQ and cries 'new balls please' as loudly and threateningly as he can while brandishing a broken tennis racket... And who are we to argue? He's rolling with the likes of Rusko and Killa P and his tunes are such high calibre they could win an open without even playing a match. Highlights include the twisted dancehall and high frequencies of 'Hands In The Air' and the dreamy-but-deadly charms of 'Disco'. You cannot be serious.
Review: Northern giant Original Sin kicks the Souped Up doors down and makes himself at home with his pals Eksman and Trigga. Summoning up all the powers of Greyskull, 'Masters Of The Universe' goes all in with a big high freq wobbly bassline while Eksman calls 999 and warns them of a new pandemic on 'Drum N Bass Fever'. Further into this hectic collection we ride to find Trigga doing the damn thing on 'Chronic' before old Sinny closes the EP with the curmudgeonly slap-about 'The Other Side'. We have the power.
Review: VIP time! Souped Up unleash some of the bossman's biggest specials from the last year. If you've seen him or Kings Of The Rollers play you'll already know them... Especially the hype riddled Inja fronted take on "Lumberjack". "Heavy & Dark" gets two crucial treatments, too; one gurning, crying VIP from Serum and a killer version with Carasel who brings a whole new vibe and narrative to one of the biggest tracks of 2018. Essential.
Review: We choo-choo-choose this! Teddy Killerz return to Serum & Benny V's Souped Up for two filthy diesel-powered rave shunters. 'Night Train' gets everyone all aboard with its full-on 4x4 dancefloor charge and rolling buffet of FX and crazy textures. 'Vibrate' follows with another vast contrast of sounds that flexes from full-on and jumpy to beautiful pianos. Teddy Killerz at their absolute finest, full steam ahead!
Review: Original Sin - the man, the myth, the machine. Few artists have attained his pedigree and weight in jump-up and here he is reminding us why. Two collabos, two solos: 'Shaolin Fist', with Serum, punches with both artists' weight as their basslines almost fight each other for our attention while 'Headshot' goes right back to the G Dub days with its rasping bassline but with added fire from the one and only Eksman. Meanwhile on the solos, 'Automaton' takes a deeper, darker tearing approach with a series of wobbles echoing out over the distorted bassline and 'King Kong Style' is just pure marching-to-war music. Buckle up bub.
Review: Do as he says, not as he does... Number one father for justice Voltage lays down the ground rules with this stinking slab of parental heaviness. You thought lockdown was bad? Just wait until you see what happens under your new poppa's regime: The groaning bassline on "Space Station" will ground you for a week, the pace, tension and growls of "Gyal Chat" will stop your pocket money for three months and the gruffness and ruffness of "Cold Air" will send you to bed with no tea every night for a fortnight. It's not all punishment and gunishment, though; "Spare You" (with MC Bassman) shows Voltage's kinder, softer fatherly side and he lets you drink cider and stay up till 3am watching horror films. Way to go dad-dad-daddio.
Review: Finally! After what seems like an eternity, Souped Up bossman Serum unleashes one of his most long-awaited dubplates 'Lumberjack'. Often topped with a killer flow from Inja, here it is in all its hooky, ever-mutating glory. It's backed with an equally riffy wriggler "Square Root". Bleepy and weird but a hell of a lot of fun, it's like spending a night camped out in a transistor radio with some high quality rum. Serum's a lumberjack... And we're okay!
Review: Souped Up continue to smash us to pieces as we skank into 2022 as they welcome Enta to the label with three absolutely explosive pieces of late night action. Everything you need to know can be felt from the moment you press play on the title track - cheeky samples, skippy breaks and a drop so booming you are pretty much guaranteed to lose all your body hair while listening to it. Elsewhere the Noisia support 'L8 Nights' is a fat bassline worm wriggling around waiting to be chopped up into smaller worms while 'Them Special Effects' frazzles your mind with textures and pummels your feet with high voltage bass. What an EP.
Review: Rusko gets his gaf on the wob AND tells us to pipe down in the process... This is life in late-stage capitalist 2021 - strange, off-kilter and straight-for-the-jugular. 'Shut Ya Mouth' takes the lead with some expertly controlled wobbles and an unrelenting break, 'Real Badman' strips back the drums and brings in a little Clipz style gruffness to the bass tones while 'Your Time's Up' carries a whole sledge of old movie samples and bassline so low-slung it's enough to scuff knuckles at 50 paces. Speak now or forever shut it.
Review: Gear them now! D*Minds return to Souped Up with more fruity ruffage. 'Charlie's Sheen' takes the spicy Hollywood actor to gully new levels with a stern Hazard-esque barking bassline and a sense of tension running throughout while 'Riddem' goes full-on barrel business with an expertly rattling snare and ballistic style bass scuds flying all over the place. Classic D*Minds carnage.
Review: MCs don't come much more legendary than Birmingham's Bassman, labels don't come much more on point than Souped Up: Everything about this release stacks up in our favour. And that's before we get to the fact the remixes of Bassman's 2009 classic are none other than Serum and Bou & Simula. First up we find the label boss diving deep with his signature sheet metal groans while men-of-the-moment Bou & Simula get jiggy with more of a trippy, haunted rippled effect. Remixes don't come much more hench than this.
Review: A bunch of furry murderous Russians on Serum's Souped Up... What can possibly go wrong? Total carnage from the off, "Bun Dem" is serious sandpaper funk. Gritty, growling and unrelenting; it's not just rough around the edges, it's rough right down to the core. And it's back up with three more audio nasties... "Excited" is a staccato riff damager that nods to the mid 2000s jump-up where everything was maximal. "Beggar" follows suit but comes with a more sinister edge; like it's asking you for change but is actually ripping off your whole identity. Finally we hit "Knock Knock", a track rife in organic drums and scary bassline textures, it sets everything up for the all important punchline... You have no choice but to deliver.
Review: The biggest moves in Newcastle and the north east of the UK since Gazza cried in some football match (and the world cried with him) are happening right now. A storming wealth of D&B talent is all blazing through right now and Stompz is right up there at the front. This debut on Serum and Benny V's Souped Up is a great example of his dexterity and utter gulliness. Five tracks of twisted, bassy weirdness and dark toxic funk, highlights include the insane melted bass weirdness of "Derringer" and the farty trippiness and sudden BCUK-style fills of "Borehole" but to be honest the entire EP is killer. Do the world a favour and slap anyone who says foghorns are dead, then play them this. Big up Stompz.
Review: Dutta is a young Mancunian on a serious mission - a mission to make big tunes. One of the emerging wave of talent that Serum is fostering with his Souped Up imprint, his raucous approach to the Souped Up sound has already begun to give him a bit of a name of himself. This EP looks set to confirm that as it's a slick five-tracker. The title tune sits above a bed of solid percussive force, and there's a nice juxtaposition between funky stabs and a dark, satisfying bassline that moves and sways with serious precision. 'Hot Box' has a similar back end and is another highlight from the release, but perhaps not as much as 'Pepperoni Passion' featuring Inja, which also combines smooth jazz samples with a dirty bottom end. Big stuff from the young upstart.
Review: If Serum's new label Souped Up was an actual soup what flavour would it be? A minestrone perhaps? Full of chewy textures and a wholesomeness that instantly hits the heart. How about a mulligatawny, all hot and rich? Or maybe a classic oxtail? Intense and beefy. Whatever flavour you can compare it to, like all soups, it does what it says on the tin and it's best served piping hot. Here are two more cases in point Serum and fellow roller king Voltage; the rocket-launching Charge-like chiselled riff on "Mission Control" and the slinky jungle stepper which nods at Full Cycle sound with its mild wafts of jazziness, loose drums and continuous bass mutations. Chewy, wholesome, hot, rich, intense and beefy: Souped Up is every drum & bass flavour right now... Get it inside you!
Review: Need For Mirrors is one of the most prolific producers in the game and now he lands on Souped Up with his debut full-length release on the label. Need For Mirrors has always had an incredibly unique sound and on Peng it collides with the tones of Souped Up, Serum's influence gets refracted through Need For Mirrors' production style and the result is fantastic. The roller mix of 'Peng A Leng' just does absolute bits, with a rambunctiously solid percussive underpinning that forces you to take notice early on, leading you into a huge bassy, brass stab line that'll blow your socks clean off. NFM has smashed this one, yet again.
Review: Would you like to play a game? Rohaan would, and he's waiting for you in the Souped Up mansion games room with an array of outstanding pursuits and pastimes. 'Let's Play' reads the rules clearly with its hurricane synth stabs and sudden beat switches, 'Laser' then rips up those rules with its spiralling euphoric cascades and sudden drop into Armageddon while 'Stuck In A Memory' goes all stampy and throws the board off the table in a fit of drama and poignancy. 23rd century gamesmanship.
Review: Unofficially the baddest hombre of the KOTR cartel, Bladerunner steps over to his mate Serum's souper imprint for two understated stinker sessions. "48K Soundboy" huffs and heaves with a nicely distorted bassline that's almost guitar-like in its natural strokes and drums that have a live rattled feel (and some ace pitching on the fills) Multiverse, meanwhile, takes us back with a BC style sci-fi aesthetics and a Charge-style stab in the main riff. Impeccable, as always.
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