2023, Bass Music, Down Low Session

The Down Low: Session 054

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Breaking out the 140bpm tempo this time around with a dirty dub heavy Down Low session. There are a few other styles in here as well, but the focus is firmly on the head nod of Dub influenced electronic music and Dubstep.

As always I’m looking to push D&B producers doing slower bits in these mixes so shouts out to Rainforest, Fox and Anz, Calibre, Synkro, Biome and Seathasky for all exploring outside of the 170bpm category.

And an extra special shout out to MC Duh for providing me with a copy of the DJG remix of The Specials – Ghost Town. Terry Hall passed away last year, and his influence on me and music in the 80s cannot be understated. Ghost Town was THE anti-anthem of Thatcher era Britain and it sound like nothing else I’d ever heard when it originally came out. This one’s for you Terry.

The Down Low: Session 54 – 1hr of Dubbed out 140bpm

Rainforest – Badmanizer
Hypho – Kumunda
Fox feat. Anz – Live Life (Sherry S Remix)
Vaults – One Last Night (Hippie Sabotage Remix)
Xeonz – Away From U
Trades Sound & BLK JCK – Hold Tight (Massive)
Martyn – Recon
Bingo Players – Rattle (Spenda C Remixxx)
The Bug – Hammer (feat Flowdan)
Coldcut x On-U Sound – Make Up Your Mind feat. Ce’Cile & Toddla T (Dub Phizix Remix)
DJ Tone – Breath Again
Easy – By Your Side
Mystic State feat. Elana Montgomery – Fly (Sepia’s Light Out Remix)
Unlimited Dream Co. – No Headaches
Bassnectar – Other Worlds (feat Dorfex Bos)
KeOSz & Trilo – Last Hope
Calibre – Rare Groove
Synkro – Back Then
Subtle Mind & SubReachers – Withdrawn
Biome – Light
Seathasky – Sun Stars Sky
The Specials – Ghost Town (DJG Bootleg)

2023, Atmospheric, Ear & Drum Session

Ear & Drum: Session 250 – 101325 Pascals

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Session number 250, and we’re headed in an Atmospheric direction for this one. My good friends over at Omni Music have once again come up with the good with label boss Eschaton’s Speed of Light and Calm Resolve doing bits, along with long time friend of the show Starski dropping the mesmerising Memphis Lemongrab from his recent In a Funk LP. Shouts to Mineral, Echo 1, Arcologies, Parallel and The Astronics for also representing the Omni camp.

I love a good Amen, but too much of a good thing is never good for a genre and Atmospheric D&B is showing some real depth here, with a much appreciated move away from pure Amen edits and into some deeper more crafted breaks. Shenji provides us with a perfect opener in his track Promises, Dub Phizix keep up his incredible run of releases with Love Changes and Wardown’s Graphite & Glitter from their amazing sci-fi themed concept album on Blu Mar Ten Music, Wardown II LP is also a standout.

101325 Pascals – 1hr of Atmospheric D&B

Shenji – Promises
Beyonders – Release
Furney – Love Changes
Dub Phizix – A Real Thing
Starski – Memphis Lemongrab
Mineral – Why Don’t We See (Moakz Remix)
Okee – Light Being
Wardown – Graphite & Glitter
Shenji – Dreaming Mode (Kharm Remix)
Echo 1 – Where We Ride
Eschaton & Parallel – Calm Resolve
Arcologies – Outer Worlds
Mikal – Space Age Dubbing
Eschaton – Speed of Light
The Astronics – Heart of Soul (Con-figure Remix)
Airstrike – Warp Factor Nine
Echo 1 – The Morning After
Rhythm Tek – Ghost Planes
Acid_Lab – Imagine the Future (Art Cuebik Remix)

2023, Ear & Drum Session, Liquid D&B, Melodic

Ear & Drum: Session 249 – The Squeeze

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I recently had an online chat about how Liquid has become a bit of a dirty word and the genre has split in three down the years into Soulful, Melodic and Stadium style. This mix sits squarely in the melodic sweet spot for me.

Tunes like A-Sides & MC Fats – Never Yesterday feel timeless too me, and in fact they release a variation on this sound just about every year and every year I play them because they are just great tunes. Bop, Dawn Wall and Alix Perez are regulars in my mixes and always bring the goods and it was a good time dropping 2022 remaster of Marcus Intalex feat. Calibre – Meltdown because once again this tune will never get old.

The Squeeze – 1hr of Melodic D&B

Rafa Etamski – Changes
Klinical – Dusk Talks
Impartial – Flow State
Matter – Hold Me Close
Fishy & Freeboard – Cause I Miss You
Bop – Space 2 Breath VIP
Dawn Wall – Fears
A-Sides & MC Fats – Never Yesterday
Dawn Wall – Judgement
nCamargo – On Route
Secret Structure & Shibumi – Holding On
Alpha Rhythm – What I Need
Low:r – Mother
Alec Perez – Wairua
Khyu – 8 Years Ago
EN:VY – Over You
Total Science – Gravy Girls (Calibre Remix)
Secret Structures – Hurt Me
Marcus Intalex feat. Calibre – Meltdown (2022 Remaster)

160bpm, 2023, Ear & Drum Session

Ear & Drum: Session 248 – Rush Job

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New year, new sounds as we roll into the first mix of ’23 and we’re peeling back the BPMs to 160. This mix was inspired by Fracture’s recent ode to 90s pirate radio 0860, which was one of THE releases of ’22 for me. Nailing the 90s hardcore sound and crossing it with modern day production to create laid back but dance floor vibes is something I hope we hear a lot more of in the coming year.

Kid Chameleon’s Open Soul EP was another big release toward the end of last year, and features heavily here. Weaved in between these two heavy releases are tracks from OGs like J Majik, Lemon D, Cloud 9, DJ Crystal along with modern day legends such as ASC, Acid_Lab and Adred.

Rush Job – 1hr of 160bpm Vibes

Fracture – Telepathy
DJ Focus – Online (Recoded)
Kid Chameleon – Open Soul
Eusebeia – Change Your Stars
J Majik – Hold ‘You (Lemon D Remix)
Fracture – 0860 (feat. Eastman)
Cloud 9 – Warriors Revenge
DJ Crystal – Meditation
Acid_Lab – Conquest of Space
Adred – Before Your Eyes
Fracture – From The Very Top
Kid Chameleon – Electric Machine
ASC – Black Rain
Con-Figure – Ataraxia
Kid Chameleon – Syrup
Oboram – Sun Showers
Thought-Forms – Star Struck
Mineral – Old School 2022
Fracture – First Aid Kit
Nitepunk – Unspoken
Acid_Lab – Imagine The Future
DJ Crystal – Warp Drive (Dubplate Mix)

2022, Amen, Deep D&B, Ear & Drum Session, Hard D&B, Liquid D&B, Melodic, Rave, Roller, Soulful

Ear & Drum: Sessions 245, 246 & 247 – New Year’s Special Selection

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For a genre that is declared dead every couple of years, D&B is healthier than ever with a whole new generation discovering the 90s and the OGs still pushing limits of what music can do. To celebrate this, and the fact that 2023 is just around the corner, I’ve put together three mixes that sum up everything that I thought was great in D&B in 2022.

Mix one is dedicated to the Soulful side of things. DRS, LSB, Dogger & Mindstate, GLXY, Heron Flow, Calibre and many more made music this year that reached beyond the generic Liquid category and brought a soul and pathos to their music that is absolutely mesmerizing.

Soul Side ’22 – 1hr+ of Soulful D&B from 2022

DRS & Monroe – Kiss & Tell
LSB – Endless
Dogger & Mindstate feat. DRS – TMWFTE
Random Movement – How Many Ways
DuoScience – Edge
Issue Cross & Wilkinson – Used to This
Impartial – Flowstate
HEFT – Timeline
HEFT – Promise
LSB – Bell Tune
Muffler – Water Piano Ambient
GLXY – Dreamers
The Sauce – BST Vibes
A-Sides & MC Fats – Never Yesterday
Seba – Public Beauty
Intake – Closing
Dawn Wall – Judgement
Dawn Wall – Fears
DRS & Dogger feat. Mindstate – Wake You Up
Wilkinson & iiola – Close Your Eyes
Heron Flow – Serpentine
Dynamite MC feat. Bop x Subwave – Into
LSB – Renaissance Song
GLXY – New Day
DRS & Document One – Can’t Explain
Particle – Drivin’ Me Crazy
Alix Perez & Verbz – Stay the Same
Redeyes & Fox – Wait Ting
Bungle – Forms
Workforce – Forever
Lensman & Echo Brown – Nokia Days
Fox feat. Swing Ting – Day One (Lenzman Remix)
Alix Perez – Wairua
DRS & LSB – Sweet Love
High Contrast – Return of Forever (Came & Krooked & Mefjus Remix)
Dogger & Mindstate feat. Liam Bailey – Broken Home (Calibre Remix)

Mix two is all about the deep, the dark and the heavy. Blocks & Escher, T>I, Buunshin, Dub Phizix, Conrad Subs, NC-17, Acid_Lab and many more tore the absolute roof off this year with BIG tunes and even bigger basslines. Labels like Metalheadz and Critical Music continued to blazer a trail, but even better was all the smaller imprints that popped up and smacked it this year.

Dark Side ’22 – 1hr+ of Deep, Dark & Heavy D&B from 2022

Soul Intent – Infrared Shadow
Seba & Digital – Love Story
Seba & Oilskin – The Future
Latyn – Dust & Ages (Silence Groove Remix)
Mako – The Both of Us
Buunshin & Idle Days – I’m Okay
Voyager – Aurora (Remix)
Fishy & Freeboard – Cause I Miss You
NC-17 & Dunk – New Jack Hustler
Dub Phizix – Demon Seed
Calibre – Verstat
Slay feat. Chimpo & SL8R – Dis One
Heron Flow – Raging Sea
Foreign Concept – China Plate
Technimatic & Komatic – Make Me Feel
Heron Flow – Serpentine
Echo 1 – Shifting Sounds
Acid_Lab – Imagine the Future (Art Cubic Remix)
Beeson & Dynamite MC – ‘Til 4am
Advisory – End Credits
Grey Code – Illiad
Dub Phizix – Item
aBLe – Still There
Script – Set up the Set (DLR’s Clash VIP)
Conrad Subs – Temple
T>I – Outboard
Dub Phizix – Come On
NC-17 – State of Grace
Audioholic – Bottlerockets
Blocks & Escher – This One
FX909 – Now (Half Step Mix)
Emz & Sam Bingo – Don’t Stress
NC-17 – Ghost Song

Last, but no where near least is the 160bpm genre that took over in 2022. Slowing things down and bringing back that original rave sound was THE best musical surprise for me in ’22. Artists like J Majik, Chimpo and ASC have always been there, but it was Fracture who really brought the 160bpm sound alive with his incredible 0860 Mix Tape release. Capturing the 90s pirate radio vibe, this release proved you can look back and still keep a modern production ethic. And I only hope that this is the beginning of more music like this!

Vibez Side ’22 – 1hr+ of 160bpm Vibes from 2022

Grey Code – Primrose
Coco Bryce – Dial M for Mayor
Fracture – Telepathy
The Vanguard Project & Jemima Read – Stitches (Coco Bryce Remix)
J Majik – Hold You (Lemon D Remix)
Fracture feat. Eastman – 0860
Kid Chameleon – Open Soul
Chimpo – Rig Doctor
Cryogenics – Haunted
IMANU & The Caracal Project feat. Josh Pan – La Fournaise
Adred – Before Your Eyes
Fracture – From the Very Top
Conman, Evasion & Mod:co – Lifestyle
Kid Chameleon – Syrup
Moakz – Distant Waves
Antony G – Lockdown
ASC – Black Rain
Mineral – Old School 2022
Fracture – First Aid Kit
D’Cruze – Sublime State

No matter if you are staying home, hitting the parties or somewhere in between there should be a sound here for everyone. Thanks for all the support in 2022 and big ups to Blick and Will for joining the Ear & Drum and bringing even more great music to the people. Happy New Year everyone and may 2023 be bigger and better for y’all.

2022, News

More new music for the Ear & Drum

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As I wrote in the A Big Change to the Ear & Drum post recently, we’ve got some fresh talent join the ranks after ten years of the Ear & Drum being exclusively my work.

DJ Blick has already posted a cracker of a mix feature new work from fan favourite PFM. And now I’m overjoyed to welcome Will AKA Klay Pigeon to the site.

Will’s ‘Alwayz Will’ series has been on constant rotation in my house for years now, so I’m stoked to have him posting the 11th in the series up here very soon. If we’re luck he might retroactively post up the previous ten other Alwayz Will mixes as they are some of most well thought out and diverse mixes I’ve come across in my time.

Welcome Will and we look forward to hearing more from you.

2022, Ambient, Deep D&B, Ear & Drum Session, Uncategorized

Ear & Drum: Session 244 – Call the Ambience 17: Silent Night

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A return to the infrequent Call the Ambience series, this mix features laid back beats from some the genres best. Some of the usual suspects are here such as Bop, Shenji and Synkro, with bits from his amazing Collected compilation. And then there are some surprises such as Noisia in their Muffler form with the beautiful Water Piano Ambient, and incredibly Scar on Metalheadz with a few piece from his deep The Road Loss Traveled EP.

Call the Ambience 17: Silent Night

Kublai – Back Home
Rowpieces – 1st Love (Downtempo Remix)
Khramer – Far Away
Ink – Lost In Time
Muffler – Water Piano Ambient
Generic Meds – About Time (Remastered Remix)
Scar – Computerised Humanity
Shenji – Dreaming Mode
Synkro – Weakness (Akuratyde Remix)
Bop – Insight
Mineral feat. Resound – Spiritual 7
Syknro – Luminous
Synkro – Gagaku (Frederick Robinson Remix)
Fanu – Silent Resistance
Shenji – Old Memories
Easy – The Beginning
Flowanastasia & Stranjah – Face Yourself (Halftime Mix)
FX909 – Now (Half Step Mix)
Scar – Error

2022, Deep D&B, Ear & Drum Session, Roller

Ear & Drum: Session 243 – Bowled

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Deep and rolling is the order of the day. This selection of minimalist and tech rollers hits just the right amount of heaviness and mood for me. A huge shout to Herron Flow for the Do 2 U EP on 31 Recordings. It’s one of the strongest EPs of the year for me, with every single track hitting home. Big up to Radders killer MC tune No Go and Slay feat. Chimpo & SL8R for the hype Dis One.

Bowled – 1hr of Deep Rolling D&B

Buunshin & Idea Days – I’m Okay
C:Critz – Panic
Radders – No Go
Dub Phizix – Blossom
I Am Legion – Choosing for You (Forbidden Society Remix)
Foreign Concept – China Plate
Siloh & Dan Structure – Swivel
Intake – Closing
Heron Flow – Swear Down
Heron Flow – Raging Sea
S.P.Y – Night Fury
Slay feat. Chimpo & SL8R – Dis One
Heron Flow – Serpentine
Conrad Subs – Heritage
Flipper – Nergal
Midik – The White Room
Moakz – A New Future (Mineral Remix)
Echomatics – Lost Focus
Date 3 – String Theory
Heron Flow – In Drag

2022, Liquid D&B, Melodic, Soulful

Ear & Drum: Session 242 – Travels

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With summer coming in for the southern hemisphere the soulful side of D&B is again on the rise. Artists like Heron Flow, Dawn Wall and Lensman are shelling it to bits, while GLXY‘s new EP ‘By Design’ on Shogun Audio and Dogger & Mindstate‘s killer 12″ on 1985 show the true depth of the soulful sound.

Shout out to Soul Intent for the free tasteful relick of Bjork’s – Future Forever and Eschaton for passing on his new LP Aboslution from which I’ve slipped in Autumn Mist here. Much appreciated.

Travels – 1hr+ of Soulful D&B

Aleyum – Blue Hour (HumanNature Remix)
Subrix – Thoughts
Dogger & Mindstate & DRS – TMWFTE
Heron Flow – Do 2 U
Seathasky – Circles
Easy – After Dark
Blacklab – You Know
GLXY – Dreamers
Natural Forces – Divine
The Sauce – BST Vibes
Dawn Wall – Fears
Cause for Concern – Angels in the Sky
GLXY – New Day
LSB – Renaissance Song
Lensman & Redeyes – Wet Like Water
Eschaton – Autumn Mist
Bjork – Future Forever (Soul Intent Relick)
Kintsuku – Absent
Fishy – Solar Transit
London Elekticity – Something Rare
Deis feat Nu:Tune & Duskee – Can We Talk (Imo-Lu Remix)
Dogger & Mindstate & Liam Bailey – Broken Home (Calibre Remix)
Total Science – Gravy Girls (Calibre Remix)
Stay feat. Lensman & A Little Sound – Taste of Gold

2022, Uncategorized

A big change for The Ear & Drum.

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I’ve been running this site for over a decade now. My original goal was to have a place to call my own where I could document great D&B and other forms of music I loved and wanted to share with the rest of the world.

I feel like I’ve achieved this goal well enough, but The Ear & Drum could always do more to further the cause. With this in mind I’m following through with a dream I’ve had for a year or two now, which is opening the site up to more DJs who share a similar passion for music that I do.

The only thing that stopped me from doing this sooner was finding like minded DJs who could keep the quality high and the music pure. I’m glad to say, this week I reached out to a DJ who has always been top notch with his mixes and selection. He’s someone I’ve always looked up to and out for whenever a new mix dropped.

Welcome DJ Blick to the Ear & Drum.

I’ve followed Blick for over 10 years and I’m yet to hear a dud Blick mix. His taste in music, set selection and mixing is incredible, and I’m beyond confident he’ll make the Ear & Drum even better than it is now. Please make him feel welcome and shower him with friendly comments when ever you feel he’s hit the musical spot for you.

If you do enjoy having more mixes and music away from the commercial streaming entities and would like to see more quality DJs contributing to the D&B archive that is the Ear & Drum, comment here and I’ll see if I can find a few more talented DJs to join.