Tag Archives: Ear & Drum Session

Ear & Drum: Session 239 – Shook

Heading back into Liquid territories again this time with a selection of new choons for 2022. Kicking off with Heron Flow from his very tasty Do 2 U EP on 31 Records, a release where every track hits just right. We’ve also got new material from Dawn Wall in the form of Fears and Judgement along with Calibre & Chelou’s track E SI O and Calibre’s insanely good remix of Dogger & Mindstate’s classic – Broken Home.

PFM and Big Bud represent the OGs with Broken Tears and Miracle (Armaning Remix) respectively. While Dub Phizix’ Suia and Flying High and BCee’s God Fixation and Think U Know fly the flag for their ownSpearhead Recordings and Senka imprints. There’s a lot to love here so slip on the headphones or turn it up and enjoy.

Shook – 1hr of Liqud D&B

Heron Flow – She Get It
HEFT – Timeline
Submorphics – Orchestra 313
Dub Phizix – Suia
Dawn Wall – Fears
BCee – God Fixation
Furney – I Vouz Ne Manquez
Wardown – Instant Money
Dawn Wall – Judgement
A-Sides – Lonely Skies
Sub Focus – Off the Ground
Bop & Subway – Don’t Wake Up (Pola & Bryson Remix)
Calibre & Chelou – E SI O
Dub Phizix – Flying High
Particle – Fall 2 Fast
Big Bud – Miracle (Arming Remix)
Submorphics – Lucinda
PFM – Broken Tears
Dogger & Mindstate feat. Liam Bailey – Broken Home (Calibre Remix)
BCee & Pat Fulgoni – Think U Know
11 East – Emotive Rinser
Shapeshifter – Lightspeed

Ear & Drum: Session 238 – Heavy Atmosphere

This one says-what-it-does-on-the-tin with a mix of heavy atmospheric tracks and a few mellower numbers to ease you in at the beginning. It’s awesome to hear this sound coming back again with a distinct early Inperspective Records vibes, which is never a bad thing.

Kicking things off with the Voyager classic Aurora remixed by the man himself. Latyn’s two versions of Dust & Ages then bring the big Amen rinsers, backed up by the ever-green Alaska, Mikal and Echo 1 also bringing the heat. Omni Music feature heavily towards the end with tracks from Eschaton, Freeboard, Cryogenics and Abstract Drumz & Peeb.

Heavy Atmosphere – 1hr of Atmospheric Rinsers

Voyager – Aurora (Remix)
Carlito – About Your
Voyager – Aurora (Revisited)
Blade – Cosmic Bells
Latyn – Dust & Ages
Latyn – Dust & Ages (Silence Groove Remix)
Source K – Technique
Alaska – Azarca
Mikal – Space Age Dubbing
Echo 1- Shifting Sounds
Acid_Lab – Imagine the Future (Art Cuebik Remix)
Eschaton – Schrödinger (Woken Balance’s Cat Remix)
Freeboard feat. Máiuáde & Christina Formica) – Other Memories
Freeboard – Walk on Sand
Cryogenics – Cosmos
Abstract Drumz & Peeb – Dying in the Light (I Wannabe Remix)
Voyager – Aurora (Remix)

Ear & Drum: Session 237 – Long Way Round

With summer well and truly keeping our northern hemisphere brothers and sisters hot and sweaty, I thought now is the perfect time to drop a mix of soulful summer sounds to help keep things chill.

LSB leads the charge with a swag of soulful tunes from his exceptional self titled LSB album on his Footnotes imprint. Alix Perez’s Wairua EP also features more of the tuneful but tuff signature 1985 sound. And Redeyes sees a solid return to form with his To the Falls EP, featuring some tasty collabs with Tokyo Prose and Fox.

Long Way Round – 1hr of Soulful Summer D&B

LSB – Endless
Mystic State – Dreamscapes
Motiv – Jupiter
MNML & Brainwork – Miracle
Mystic – Pieces of My Life
LSB – Find A Way
LSB – Bell Tune
Dogs – Unwritten
Freeboard & Toes – Water of Life
Fish & Peron – Ascending Reality
DRS feat. Need for Mirrors – Running Back
High Contrast – Exposé (AI Remix)
Bee – The Garden
Redeyes & Fox – Wait Ting
Alix Perez & Verbz – Stayed the Same
Mirrorman – Waiting For You
Audioholic – Bottlerockets
Alix Perez – Wairua
PFM – Broken Tears
Redeyes & Tokyo Prose – Yukon

Ear & Drum: Session 236 – Reprint

From 97-03 Stakka and Skynet’s Audio Blueprint label took the Tech Step sound of drum & bass and infused it with faster skittering drums, arcing b-lines and a little Techno magic to create what ended up being the blueprint for Neurofunk. While Nuero ended up becoming a formulaic dead-end in a lot of respects by the end of the 2000s, the pioneering sounds of Audio Blueprint at the time was fresh and exciting.

Audio Blueprint ended up with an enviable stable of producers such as Psion, Arcane, Kemal & Rob Data, Skinny & Lynx and the mighty Gridlock. Many of these went on to have long and respected careers in D&B, but it was Stakka & Skynet themselves who really blazed the trail for the sound. Audio Blueprint (and its sister label Underfire Records) were unique with a sound that is seeing a revival today as new artists look back to what truly ended up being an Audio Blueprint for tech-infused D&B.

Reprint – 1.5hrs of Audio Blueprint

Zerolux – Micro Burst
Stakka & Skynet – Logistics
Psion – Reverse Engineering
Stakka & K.Tee – Jagged Edge
Sublogics – U Know (Remix)
Stakka & Skynet – S4
Stakka & Skynet – Voyager
Psion – Rising Tides
Stakka & Skynet – Molecular
Stakka & Skynet – Nova Soils
Stakka & Skynet – Pathogen
Stakka & K.Tee – Territorial
Arcane – Implant
Kemal & Rob Data – Hybrid
Skinny & Lynx – Melting Pot
Sublogics – Void
Stakka & Skynet – Amorphia
Stakka & Skynet – Amorphia (Remix)
Stakka & Skynet – MK Ultra
Stakka & Skynet – Subterranean
Gridlock – The Search
Gridlock – Horizon

Ear & Drum: Session 235 – Boulder

Whether it is remixing classic older tracks, or taking influence from an earlier sound, D&B is currently living it’s best retro life. Artists like Sam Binga, Chimpo and Conrad Subs wear their love of older styles and retro inspiration on their sleeves, but the rolling and bouncy sound of D&B past is definitely starting to bleed over into more and more producer’s sounds.

There is some BIG remixes in here with Andy C’s Valley Of The Shadows getting reworked by Chase & Status, plus Camo & Krooked & Mefjus doing a drop-less take on High Contrast’s – Return of Forever. There is even an original 96 remix of Die’s classic Clear Skyz which only was released 25 years too late. Special shouts to Soul Intent for his Science Fiction EP released on 31 Recordings which nailed the ‘old but new’ sound perfectly for me.

Boulder – 1hr of D&B Rollers and Bouncers

Origin Unknown – Valley Of The Shadows (Chase & Status Remix)
DJ Die – Clear Skyz (1996 Remix)
Soul Intent – Infrared Shadow
Sam Binge & Hyroglifics – Bad (feat. Snowy)
Vasa – Gansta Sheet
Bungle – Warning
NG-17 & Dunk – New Jack Hustler
Chimpo – Rig Doctor
Sam Binge & Hyroglifics – Wicked (feat. Riko Dan)
Conrad Subs – Everytime I’m With U
Soul Intent – Sci-Fi Roller
Conrad Subs – Temple
Dub Phizix – Come On
Conrad Subs – Different
QZB & Gardna – Landline
High Contrast – Return of Forever (Camo & Krooked & Mefjus Remix)

Ear & Drum: Session 234 – Still Waters

Still waters run deep as this Liquid rinse out proves. Kicking off with an older tune from 2020 by Fishy & Peron, although if you close your eyes you’d swear it was Marcus Intalex. It is almost as if it was written to mix with S.P.Y’s – Need You from the amazing Together With Ukraine compilation. If you haven’t picked this up, you won’t find a better value release or a better cause to spend your pennies on.

Following Need You is Lenzman & Echo Brown’s – Nokia Days and Workforce’s incredible track Forever. Two more tunes proving that Liquid can have beauty and brawn in a single track. Other stand outs are Champagne feat. Miss Fudge – The Other Side, 11 East – Emotive Rinser and Bop’s VIP rework of Space 2 Breath. Although if I’m honest every tune in here is a winner to my ears.

I’m dedicating this mix to Phil Fortune Cookie for putting me onto Ascending Reality, the best intro tune I’ve come across in ages. Check out Phil’s own mix series Deep and Dreamy over on his Mix Cloud.

Still Waters – 1hr of Deep Rolling Liquid D&B

Fishy & Peron – Ascending Reality
S.P.Y – Need You
Lenzman – Nokia Days
Workforce – Forever
Particle – Fall 2 Fast
HumanNature – Stories
Champagne feat. Miss Fudge – The Other Side
Redeyes – Moon River
flowanastasia & Nympho – River Flows
11 East – Emotive Rinser
Duoscience – Edge
Issue Cross & Wilkinson – Used to This
HEFT – Timeline
Bop – Space 2 Breath VIP
Wilkinson & Ilola – Close Your Eyes
Jrumhand – Inside



Ear & Drum: Session 233 – Far Away

Rolling deep this time with a mixture of Half Step and Minimal monsters from the likes of Bop, Seba and FX909. The real star of the show here is Shinbu who’s self published stripped back tracks demonstrate that the deeper darker side of D&B is still going strong in 2022. Check his work out on his Bandcamp page.

Far Away – 1hr of Deep D&B

FX909 – Now (Half Step Mix)
Data 3 – String Theory
Shinbu – Ski
Om UNit – Aqua
Roho – Devise Law
A.T.5 – Witch Metal
Kintsuku – Absent
Echomatics – Pushing Back
Seba – Public Beauty
Bop – Space 2 Breath VIP
Quartz – Crescent Moon
Spinline – Return
Shinbu & Shoujin – Midnight Visit
Shinbu – Eka
Shinbu – Nightmarchers
Redders – No Go
Theoretical – Revival
Digital – Deadline (Dub Phizix Remix)
Khramer – Far Away

Ear & Drum: Session 232 – Doctor Who?: 4th Regeneration

The fourth and final rinse in the Wax Doctor series, this one is different. Towards the end of the 90s D&B was morphing from a heavily sample based music to more synthetic instrument base. Trackers were on the way out and DAWs with soft-synths, drum samplers and other built in instruments changed the sound forever.

Wax Doctor by this stage had teamed up with Alex Reece to become the Fallen Angels, and were sometimes joined by Utah Jazz. Amen breaks changed to heavily processed step-style beats with a real crunchy snap to the snares. Experimentation was king, and a lot of the tunes in this mix feel like all three producers were trying to find their ‘new sound’.

While some of these tracks are a little rough, there are still some absolute diamonds in the rough like the Alex Reece & Wax Doctor collaboration – Exposed, Q Certain Thoughts and the bass heavy Track 7 which is one of my all time favourite Wax Doctor tunes.

After this era Wax Doctor pretty much disappeared off the D&B map. Although a few older tunes were re-release via the Creative Wax label. And very recently a new tune cropped up in a Sun & Bass set by DJ Djinn give me hope that maybe, just maybe Wax Doctor will revive his career and bless us with some more of his sublime style of D&B again.

Doctor Who?: 4th Regeneration – 1hr of 98-01 era Wax Doctor

Fallen Angels – The Theme
Alex Reece & Wax Doctor – Exposed
Fallen Angels – Track 7
Fallen Angels – Like the Sun
Alex Reece & Utah Jazz – All Night Long
Wax Doctor – Q Certain Thoughts
Fallen Angels – Rapier
Fallen Angels – Event Horizon
Alex Reece & Utah Jazz – G.R.V.
Bounty Killaz – Silent Voices (Tango Mix)
Sounds of Life – Release the Bells (Wax Doctor Remix)
Frank De Wulf – Drums in a Grip (Wax Doctor Remix)
Jazz Juice – Detroit (DJ Lee ’97 Remix)
Alex Reece & Utah Jazz – Retrospect
Fallen Angels – Biophonic

Ear & Drum: Session 231 – Taking Flight

2022 has picked up where 2021 left off in terms of solid Liquid D&B tunes coming out left, right and center. With regulars such as Furney, Tokyo Prose and Alix Perez joined by a new school of melodic producers such as Khramer, Styke and Echomatics in bringing the goods.

There is a little bit of something for everyone in this mix with Dynamite MC feat. Bop x Subwave’s – Into and Fox’s – Paper Weights providing some vocal depth. Furney’s – El Aqua and Styke’s – Apollo lets the music do the talking, while Dan Guidance’s – Freedom of Expression and HEFT’s – Promise bringing some deft drum work and bass heft.

Taking Flight – 1hr of Liquid Beats

Khramer – Far Away
Furney – El Aqua
Random Movement – How Many Ways
Styke – Apollo
HEFT – Promise
Echomatics – By Your Side
Etherwood – Spaces
Tokyo Prose – Still Life
Flaco – Star Search
Dynamite MC feat. Bop x Subwave – Into
Duoscience – Facing…
Dan Guidance – Freedom of Expression
Fishy – Solar Transit
Chimpo & Salo – I Don’t Care
Fox feat. Swing Ting – Day Ones (Lenzman Remix)
Far – If You Want
Pola & Bryson – Inder (Feat. Lauren Archer)
HumanNature – Stories
Alix Perez – Desanka
Brainwork – Adrift
Fox – Paper Weights (Feat. DRS & Calibre)

Ear & Drum: Session 230 – Doctor Who?: 3rd Regeneration

Take three of the Wax Doctor series moving into peak energy. Some of these are considered classics like Offshore Drift, Heat, Spectrum and Kid Caprice (Funk Mix), but there are still a few surprises in here with aliases like Clone Inc., Bounty Killaz and Fallen Angels making an appearance.

The sound everyone goes to when they think of Wax Doctor is atmospheric or intelligent D&B. But as the second part of this mix proves, the man could flex a dark Amen belter when he had to, and they don’t come much harder than Logical Progression and his remix of Sounds of Life – Release the Bells.

Doctor Who? 3rd Generation – 1hr of 95-97 Wax Doctor

Wax Doctor – Offshore Drift
Wax Doctor – Finer Things
Wax Doctor – Kid Caprice (Funk Mix)
Wax Doctor – Atmospheric Funk
Clone Inc. – Mood Swing
Wax Doctor – Heat
Wax Doctor – Spectrum
St Germain – Alabama Blues (Wax Doctor Mix)
Dave Angel – This is Disco (Wax Doctor Mix)
Bounty Killaz – Silent Voices (Tango Mix)
Fallen Angels – Frequency (Tango Remix)
Wax Doctor – Logical Progression
Sounds of Life – Release the Bells (Wax Doctor Remix)