Category Archives: Hard D&B

Fluctuations – Ear & Drum Session 67

Coming in deep and hard on this mix of new tunes for 2012. Whilst not everyone has loved the minimal revolution, there is no doubt it’s influence has been felt across most genres and no more so than the harder end of D&B. Tracks like Dub Phizix & Skeptical – Marka have shown just how devastating the minimal sound can be when mixed in with some tough beats and a good vocal.

This stripped back sound has played right into the hands of producers like Loxy, & Ink and Jubei who already had quite a deep and minimal sound. Plus, it has allowed a few of the more chilled out minimalists such as June Miller and Need for Mirrors to step up and have a go at producing some harder edged music.

As the boundaries begin to blur across the D&B genres it’s the music that profits as people focus less on what the music is called and concentrate more on what it sounds like. Which means 2012 is looking like being a sweet year for D&B.

Fluctuations – 1hr of Hard & Deep D&B

Dabs & Amoss – Still There
Phobia – Clean Break
Mr Foul – Land of Look Behind
War – Rafale
Dom & Roland – Enforced VIP
Skeptical – Cold One (Jubei Remix)
Need for Mirrors – Columbia
Jubei – The Path
Subwave – Wheel of Time
Sunchase & Nickbee – Dawn Time
Dub Phizix & Skeptical – Marka (feat. Strategy)
June Miller – Walls of Jericho
Krakota – Tunnel Vision
NC-17 & Time Reaper – Burial Ground

Screwface – Ear & Drum Session 42

Ruff and tuff D&B doesn’t hold a great deal of interest to me these days. Neuro has become very formulaic, new jump up isn’t a patch on the old jump up and skullstep is just, well skullstep (nuf said). However I do still manage to find the odd harder edged track which does appeal and in here are some of the best ones I could find for the final quarter of the year.

Nu:Tone and Logistics have combined their powers to create the fierce Nu:Logic sub-brand. Sundown is a proper amen boomer of the highest order and New Technique totally lives up to it’s name. Limewax is one of those guys you either love or hate, but for a skullstep-esq (is that a word?!?) producer he has some serious talent. B Key used to be one of my favourite producers, and his Guitar Track proves that he can still produce a smooth but tuff track when he puts his mind to it.

If you like your hard beats you’ll love this, but if you don’t I’d still recommend giving it a go as there is more to hard D&B then formula, skulls and air raid sirens and I think this mix proves that point.

Screwface – 1hr of tuff D&B from the end of 2010

Nu:Logic – Sundown
Limewax – One of Them
B Key – Guitar Track
Nu:Logic – New Technique
Subwave – Darkness Dub
Artificial Intelligence – Moment of Truth
Break & Silent Witness – Kontroller
Black Sun Empire – Deadhouse (feat. Jade)
Beta 2 – Release
Trei – Mindless
Audio – Genesis Device
Subwave – Road Rage
Theory – Jungle Soul
Gemini – Down
DJ Trace – Fantazia

Decadance 2000: Part 2 – Ear & Drum Session 35

The second part of Decadance focuses on the big smashers of 2000. RAM, BC Records and Renegade Hardware totally killed it and built their reputations as the BIG labels of the scene. Moving Shadow as always chipped in with the mighty Dom & Roland and Technical Itch delivering some huge tunes like the Thunder Remix and Can’t Punish Me. Surprisingly Metalheadz went almost a whole year without a release.

As MC Justiyc says in his colab track with John B – Double J, “This one is strictly for the drum and bass heads.”

Decadance 2000: Part 2 – 1hr of BIG tunes from 2000

Roni Size & Reprazent – Dirty Beats
Dieselboy – The Descent
Dom & Roland – Imagination
Bad Company – Breath
Dom & Roland – Thunder (Remix)
Technical Itch – The Extraction
Dom & Roland – Can’t Punish Me
John B & MC Justiyc – Double J (Club Mix)
J. Majik – Love Is Not A Game (Dillinja Remix)
Future Cut – Horns 2000
Usual Suspects – Shrapnel (Stakka & Skynet Remix)
Usual Suspects – Syndrome
Dylan – Spasm
Aquasky – I Can’t Wait No More
Konflict – Messiah

The Nothing – Ear & Drum Session 30

Remember The Nothing from the Never Ending Story? A huge black mass of clouds that swept across the land and cleared all before it. Well this mix reminded me of this. I’m not normally a hard D&B kind of guy, but I do enjoy mixing the heavier stuff every now and then. Lately as a genre it has been on the improve, producers are dropping the over the top scull stepping for a more junglistic vibe and melody seems to be creeping back into the heavier beats.

The Nothing – 1hr of heavy rain

Ash – Bashment
Nolige – Leave Me
Clive Concept – Out of Control
Breakage – Temper
Mindscape & Munk – Into the Night
Bachelors of Science – Warehouse DayZ
Dub Tao 0 East of Underground (Bungle Remix)
Muffler – Dirrrty
Jubei – Alignment
Antibreak – From the Wreckage
Breakage – Foundation
Maldini & Sylo – Oceanic
Engage – Helium
Royalston – The Test
AK1200 – Juniors Tune (Digital Remix)
Raiden – Aquarius

Bring The Noize – Ear & Drum Session 28

Elementz of Noize are one of those under-rated outfits that slips under the radar mainly due to the fact that they were good at just about every genre they tried there hand at. Alan Clark & Justin Maughan started out making Intelligent drops like the amazing ‘Astral’ and ‘Yes’ in 1995. But as things started turning to the dark side they released a load of classic Tech Step barn stormers on SOUR Recordings. Tunes like ‘Communicate With The World’, ‘Talking Mad Shit’ and thier biggest hit ‘Hit Tha Deck’ were monster Tech Steppers that threw out the subtlety of Ed Rush and replaced it with bitchslapping beats and cavernous b-lines to make dancefloor damage.

After the Tech Step sound died out they moved to Emotiv and had a few releases on Fuze Recordings. Their new sound was still Tech based but had a more stipped back Stepper rhythm. Then in 2002 they returned to their melodic roots with the killer 12″ of ‘Clock/Guided by Lights’, showing that a tune could be musical and still hard as nails. Although they haven’t released much since this time, their legacy is still one of a back catalogue very few misses and a shed load of hits.

Bring The Noize – 1.5hrs of Elementz of Noize

Elementz Of Noize – Yes
Elementz Of Noize – Astral
Elementz Of Noize – Trrriple
Elementz Of Noize – Stick Up
Elementz Of Noize – Neon (Ray Keith Remix)
Elementz Of Noize – Flexiwidatek
Elementz Of Noize – Science
Micro-Burst – Punkmutha
Shapeshifter – Communicate With The World
Shapeshifter – Mass Hysteria
Elementz Of Noize – Hit Tha Deck
Shapeshifter – Talking Mad Shit
Ray Keith – D4 Toxic Waste (Elementz Of Noize Remix)
Elementz Of Noize – Cold Light of Day
Elementz Of Noize – Guided By Lights
Elementz Of Noize – Clock

Blazed – Phuture Frequency 32

This one is for Darklin who reminded me that this mix even existed and to Robotone for once again filling the holes in my archiving system.

This was a radio set I did in September 2005. Loads of classic Audio Blueprint, RAM, Liftin’ Spirit, Underfire and Skynet Tracks from those masters of hard techie funk Stakka, Skynet, Kraken, K-Tee, Spy, Profound Noise, plus a whole heap of others.

It’s all class, no arse!

Blazed – 2hrs of Audio Bluepint / Underfire / Skynet Recs

Stakka & K-Tee – Hear Say (RAMM 015)
Stakka & K-Tee – After Hours (ADMM 008)
Stakka & K-Tee – Bad Influence (ADMM 009)
Stakka & K-Tee – Living for the Night (ADMM 008)
Stakka & K-Tee – Rugged and Raw (ADMM 008)
Skynet – MK Ultra (ABPR 002)
Skynet – Hal (ABPR 004)
Kraken – Warped (UDFR 011)
Friction & Skinny – Depth Charge (UDFR013)
Stakka & Skynet – Logistics (ABPR 002)
Kraken – Meatball (UDFR013)
Profound Noise – Luminous (UDFR0LP 002)
Spy – Z-Plane (UDFR013)
Profound Noise – Dropzone (UDFR013)
Kraken – Analogue Spikes (UDFR0LP 002)
Kraken – Side Effects (UDFR0LP 002)
Hard Evidence – Mind Field (UDFR0LP 002)
Profound Noise – Nu Level (UDFR0LP 002)
Stakka & K-Tee – Synthesis (UDFR0LP 002)
Stakka & K-Tee – Synthesis RMX (UDFR014)
Stakka & Skynet (Feat. Skinny) – Straight Jacket (UDFR0LP 003)
Stakka & Skynet (Feat. Kemal & Rob Data) – Biosphere (UDFR0LP 003)
Stakka & Skynet – Clockwork (UDFR0LP 003)
Stakka & Skynet (Feat. DJ Friction) – Altitude (UDFR0LP 003)
Stakka & Skynet (Feat. DJ K-Tee) – So Confused (UDFR0LP 003)
Gridlock – The Search (ABPR 018)
Skynet – Insomnia (SKY 001)
Stakka – Strange Daze (ZEROG 002)

Departure – Ear & Drum Session 19

Not my usual selection this time around as I head into the darker and harder territories. I even slip in a little dubstep at the end. There are some mighty big tunes in here though with Fresh’s Heavyweight, Commix & Rufige Kru’s Envious and Break’s Is This What You Want VIP setting the standard.

So turn on the sub, crank the volume and rinse out.

Departure – 1hr of upfront bitch slappers

D-Bridge – Memory Park
Alix Perez – Down the Line (Break Remix)
Dj Fresh – Heavyweight
Commix & Rufige Kru – Envious
Break – Is This What You Want VIP
Logistics – Warehouse
Operon – Electrons
Subwave – Dreamcatcher
Icicle – Frozen
Dom & Roland – Funkhunt
D Kay & Lee – The Greatest Thing
Rufige Kru – Shanghai Dub
DJ Fresh – Heavyweight (Benny Page Remix)
Printer Jam (Barbarix Remix)

A Certain Sound – Ear & Drum Session 17

1998 was a pivotal year for drum & bass. Certain sounds like Tech Step and Jump Up were on the rise and other like the Intelligent and Rave/Hardcore sounds were dying out. What it did mean was that there were all sorts of experimentation taking place and some amazing tracks coming out.

In this mix I cross all sorts of genres from Jump Up & Tech Step through to early Neuro and Drum Funk and everything inbetween. Some of the tunes were big smashers back in the day, whilst others are hidden gems that time seems to have forgot.

But if you were around back in 1998, then this should make the memories come flooding back and put a smile on your face. And as always it is best played LOUD!

A Certain Sound – 1.5hrs of big bass from 1998

Exocet – Demon Seed
Ray Keith – D4 Toxic Waste (Elementz Of Noize Remix)
UTI – I’m Finished
Adam F – Brand Nu Funk
Test – Fluid
Paradox – Some Kind of Illusion
Kraken – Warped
Fortran – The End Part II
Photek – UFO (J Majik Remix)
T-Power – 33rd Parallel
Paradox – A Certain Sound
Gang Related & Mask – Dictation (Michael Caine Remix)’
DJ Zinc feat MC GQ – Bring the Danger
John B – Pressure
Ed Rush, Optical & Fierce – Cutslo (Lokuste Remix)
Pish Posh – Corrupt Cops
Jungle Bothers – Brain (Natural Born Chillers Remix)
Profound Noise – Soundscape (Remix)
Klute – In The Zone

Prototypical – Jungletrain Session 191

Prototype recordings is one of those labels that chose quality over quantity. With artist like Photek, Dillinja, John B, Boymerang, Ed Rush & Optical and Bad Company on your books you are bound to making some pretty hot music. Add to this Grooverider selecting the tracks, running the label and producing under his Codename John alias and you’ve got one of the best D&B labels ever!

With derivative production becoming the norm, we need labels like Prototype. D&B needs labels who don’t imitate sounds or styles, but rather blaze their own trail of unique music. Prototype haven’t had a release for almost 5 years now, but I still hold out hope that one day Grooverider with blow the dust of his old label and start releasing some more groundbreaking tracks.

This mix covers from 1994 through to 2000, but they did release up to 2004 with smash after smash. Tunes like One Nation, Subway, Still and Locust set the standards when first released, and other labels scrambled to get ‘that sound’. Grooverider toured relentlessly to bring the Prototype sound to the four corners of the globe, and for me it was his golden era.

 

Prototypical •• 1hr of Prototype Recordings 1994-2000

Codename John – Deep Inside
Codename John – Dreams of Heaven
Photek – One Nation
Cybertron feat. Dillinja – Threshold
Ed Rush – Subway
John B – Secrets
Boymerang – Still
Dillinj – Silver Blade
Ed Rush, Optical & Fierce – Alien Girl
Ed Rush, Optical & Fierce – Cutslo (Locust Remix)
Ed Rush & Fierce – Locust
Codename John – Inta The Anthem (Special Forces Remix)
Bad Company – The Pulse

Praying for Rain – Jungletrain Session 198

Someone asked me to rinse out an all Amen set for the Train Tracks show and this was the result. ASC’s Covert Operations label has to get a bashing as I am convinced these guys are doing the best Amen atmos tracks ATM, but on the harder tip we have Equinox, Breakage, Theory, Solar Empire & Goldie all laying down some killer Amen rinsers.

Obviously Amens aren’t everybodies cup of tea, but if you love THE beat and can’t get enough of it raining down on your from your speakers then you could do a lot worse than giving this a listen.

Rinse and repeat!

 

Praying for Rain – 1hr of Amen Rinsers

Kjell – Green Eyes
Equinox – Love Thy Brother (Breakage – Dub Thy Brother Mix)
Norik – Aqueous Passage
B.Fuse – Big Space
ASC – Off World Tides Part 2
Breakage – Transbohemia (Equinox Remix)
Bachelors of Science – Imortal (Alaska Remix)
Sol ID & Cybass – The Time We’ve Left
Atlantic Connection – Alliance Amen
Theory – Aurora Flash
Solar Empire – Dynamics
Goldie – Letting Go