Review: The vibes are lit. Not our words, but the words of Mr Tarantula himself MC Spyda. And who are we to argue? Last spotted cavorting with BCUK as part of the Rawhill Crew on "Mo Fire" 16 years ago, the OG MC returns to finish the job on the fittingly titled "Ruckus". Bringing us one banger closer to their long-awaited album Ice Station Zero, it tips its cap to the hazardous dynamics of jump-up with a hornet's nest bassline and a relentless energy. They're big bad men, can you handle it?
Review: The opening track from BCUK's seminal Book Of The Bad album, Nitrous - carved with tramen-troubling darksmith Trace in 1999 - gets a 2017 edit and remaster for today's dancefloors. Still just as breath-taking, hair-raising and prang-triggering, this never fails to blast holes in the floor. One of many out-and-out Bad Company classics.
Review: The BCUK machines are still just warming up. Having catapulted their project back into the game last year with "Equilibrium", they've casually dropped a modest handful of face-melting one-trackers; "Nomad", "Tetris" and now "Primal Fire". Igniting with more evocative orchestral motifs, we're suddenly dropped into a tense vocal section with the powerful dulcets of Sitka before a bassline sweeps us off our feet in an absolute electrified frenzy. Gnarly, rasping and dark to its core, the fire here is very much real.
Review: The essential BCUK reissues continue. Blueprints to everything that's followed, each of their early-2000s opuses documented a new drum & bass portal into a new dimension and energy. Detail-heavy, highly technical but brutally funky, the trio made over 50 cuts during their first run and some of their very best are on this third LP; the slinky bass funk and sudden minimal switches on "Dogs On The Moon", the classic rave elements of "Miami Flashbacks", that obscene, iconic reese on "Planet Dust", the raw cosmic mysticism of "Ladies Of Spain".... Do we even need to be listing these historic bangers? If you haven't got this in your collection yet, now is the time!
Review: Essential reissue business: the debut album by recently reformed Bad Company is acknowledged and respected as a true blueprint document for the late 90s / early 2000s darkside arms race where the likes of Virus, Trilogy and BC would flock to Music House with their darkest designs, all inspiring each other to up their game. Raw, freeform and off-the-wall, every track on here has influenced the genre and had an impact: the horror movie orchestration of "Oxygen", the twisted funk of "Trick Of The Light", that insane reese tear-up on "Nitrous", the list goes on. History seldom sounds so future.
Review: Back in the building! BCUK warned us they were packing heat.... And here it is. Most should be familiar with their agenda-setting comeback track "Equilibrium" from earlier this year with its cinematic strings, second drop and gutter-scraping bass. If you've caught one of their rare shows this year you'll also be aware of "Nomad". Soaring, electrifying, soulful and textured with just a smidgeon of air-guitar magic, it's an immaculate composition that shows the foursome aren't back for cashback nostalgic whimsy - they have their eyes on the future. Immense.
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