2018 was a great year for D&B seeing the genre swing back into popularity mainly on the back of the quality of tunes being released at the moment. Original producers came out of retirement, people started to flock to D&B nights again and even the US driven bro-step scene seems to be slowly turning to D&B for more inspiration.
This mix features a lot of my favourite producers from the last 12 months such as Seba, Calibre, DKay, Alix Perez and Rockwell mixed in with a bunch of newer headz who are holding their own – producers such as Mister Shifter, Alibi and Circuits, all who have been chipping away for a few years now, are starting to come into their own in terms of being serious talents.
Bare Music – 1.5hrs of Bare D&B Goodness Alibi – Debris Seba – Close to You Etherwood – Latida Redeyes – Let You Down DKay – Diving Deep Calibre – Taciturn Furney feat. Lady Emz – Every One of us Seba – Time Will Tell Mister Shifter – For Keeps Muffler – November Seba – Why Can’t This End Duoscience – 1.3 Furney – Without Me Muffler – Good Times Rockwell – Waiting_4 High Contrast – If We Ever (Unglued Remix) Bop – Untitled Pattern 62 Villem & McLeod – Say Yes Halogenix – Don’t You Know Alix Perez – Slink Emery, Mackadena & Dreazz – Too Fly Phi Tangent – Giving Up the Ghost Electrosoul System & Liquitek – Whatever Makes You Tribal Circuits – Inertia Silent Dust & DRS – Refuse (Calibre Remix) Chase & Status & Cutty Ranks – Retreat 2018
This mix is a little different in that the music contained within has been selected by the good people over at the legendary D&B forum Dogs on Acid from a thread called ‘Is this the most beautiful DnB tune ever?’ You can find the thread here.
Feature the most beautiful D&B from the 90s, this mix is something special and a perfect way to round out the 10th Anniversary celebrations for the Ear & Drum.
Thanks to everyone who has supported and listened to any of the mixes from this blog down the over the past decade and here’s hoping we can last for another 10 years.
Blu Mar Ten – She Moves Through Blame – Sphere (Seba Remix) Premiata Forneria Marconi – Love & Happiness Tayla – Soul Searching PFM – For All of Us D’Cruze – Lonely J Majik – Repertoire Mirage – Bewildered PFM – One & Only Essence of Aura – So This is Love ’96 Essence of Aura – So This is Love Aquarius – Aquatic Mirage – Just for You Source Direct – Secret Liaisons JMJ & Ritchie – Free La Funk (PFM Remix) Skanna – Find Me A Touch of Jazz – Respected Not Accepted Peshay – On the Nile Mystic Moods – Music is the Basis of All Life (Concept 3) Seba & Lo Tek – So Long Shogun – Pegasus Dave Wallace – Flight Rogue Unit – Dance of the Sarooes (Nookie Remix) Mandalay – Flowers Bloom (Secret Lovers Remix) JMJ & Flytronix – In Too Deep Ballistic Brothers – Come On (Simon Templar Remix) 4 Hero – Golden Age of Life Fallen Angels – Frequency (Tango Remix) Bjorn – Inside My Soul The Roots – You Got Me (Blu Mar Ten Remix) Justice – Aquisse The Chameleon – Close Your Eyes and Listen The Sentinel – Awakening Intense – The Genesis Project Urban Jungle – Back in the Daze (Dub Plate)
Part 2 of the 10th Anniversary mixes and this one is all about the melodic lushness of the Liquid D&B sound. As a genre Liquid has really come into its own over the last decade and this mix features my favourite tunes from the past two years or so.
One more mix to go tomorrow and it is going to be an absolute doozy so make sure you check back and check it out.
LSB – The Hurting (Lenzman Remix) Keeno x Krakota – Reality Ed:it – Wander Away (feat. Lady Soul) Goldie – The River Mirrored (feat. Terri Walker) Leaf – Groove BCee & S.P.Y – Is Anybody Out There (The Vanguard Project Remix) Submorphics – Without You Mama. & Loa Contreras – Against The Wall (FD Remix) Calibre – No One Gets You Keeno – Enigma Goldie & Ulterior Motive – I Adore You (feat. Natalie Williams) Etherwood – In Stillness Seba & Ulrich Schnauss – Snöflinger Seba & Jnr Vallo – Rotate Alix Perez – Missing Pieces (feat. Javeon) Greekboy – Coming From The Underground Villem & Mcleod – Perfect Solution (feat. MC Fats) Total Science – Walk The Same Lines [Feat Riya] (Calibre Remix) Etherwood – Climbing DJ Ransome – The Gift Nu:Logic – Somewhere Between the Light (feat. Child of Chief) Lenzman – In My Mind [Reprise] (feat. IAMDDB) Wilkinson – Wash Away Mitekiss – Final Hours Blu Mar Ten – Singularity (feat. Kite) Kirsty Hawkshaw – Face To Face Again [The Joy] (Seba Remix) Flaco – Inferno (feat. Submorphics) Keeno – Daydreaming (feat. Kailaa) London Elektricity & Liane Caroll – Why Are We Here? (SPY Remix) BCee – Typical Description (Calibre Remix) London Elektricity – Just One Second (Mitekiss Remix) Hybrid Minds – Touch (feat. Tiffani Juno) Villem & Mcleod – Let It Breathe (feat. Leo Wood) SpectraSoul – Say What (feat. Madi Lane (Midnight Mix)
10 years ago today I started the Ear & Drum with the intent of delivery great music to the masses. Today I thank everyone who has supported and listened down the years with Part 1 of a 3 part series of mixes that cover off my favourite tunes from the past few years plus a special retrospective mix that looks back at beautiful music from D&B’s golden years the 90s.
Part 1 focuses on the deep and the dark tunes that have influenced the D&B landscape over the past few years. There’s plenty of anthems in here and hopefully a few lesser known tunes too just to keep it interesting.
Stay tuned over the next few days as I’ll be uploading parts 2 & 3 as an early Christmas gift and of course celebrating 10 years of the good ole Ear & Drum.
The deeper side of D&B has been on fire this year with big LPs and EPs dropping left, right and centre. And it’s looking like it isn’t going to slow down anytime soon with artists like Bop, Oliver Yorke, Alix Perez, Bungle and Kid Drama all dropping quality releases over the past few months.
A special shout out to Sunchase’s return to D&B with a the very deep and catchy Slap. And to Halogenix and Bungle for their VIP mixes of Blej and Cocooned. Both tunes being some of the most heavily played tracks of the year and deftly reworked to keep the original vibe while adding something new.
This will be my final mix for the year except for a special treat closer towards Christmas. Keep you ear to the underground for that.
It’s been an absolute age since I’ve done a mix profiling a single label, but Dutch label Scientific is definitely deserving. All the tunes you’ll find here are from their exquisite compilation series ‘Chilling on the Couch’ which as you have probably guessed are full of Chilled out D&B of the highest quality.
Scientific pull in some big names such as Bungle, Mav and Nuage but they have an impressive roster of off the radar artists too such as Mobility, Seathasky, Oscallist, PLK and Physical Illusion. Between the first 3 ‘Chilling on the Couch’ compilations there is so much wonderfully laid back D&B that I heartily encourage anyone who enjoys this mix to seek them out as this really is just scratching the surface of what this amazing label has to offer.
Halo – E X I T
Seathasky – Something More
Seathasky – Beauty Made In Small Pieces
Mobility – Sunrays Through Rain
Mobility – Fully Interlocking (fat. Dana)
Bungle – Lights
Kron – Microcosmos
N4m3 – Tomorrow
Mav – Skylines (Inertia Remix)
PLK – Her Side
Physical Illusion – Ascent into Orbit
Nuage – Inspire Me (feat. Veronique J)
Naibu – Fighting for Attention (Microfunk Crew Remix)
Oscillist – Sable
Readsense & FlashbackFM – Take Me Away
Bungle – Concession
May & Saigon Empire – From Here to Eternity
A little bit of old mixed in with a lot of new this time around as we take a deep dive into the Liquid sound of D&B. The old is courtesy of the mighty DKay who has been absent for way too long from the D&B scene. The good news is he has started producing again and will have new tunes coming soon! But until then I’ve slipped in his classics Planet Music, How Much Does it Take and Serenade as a reminder of just how good this guy is in terms of melodic D&B.
In terms of new stuff Larigold’s Rhodes driven Swing the Waves is a perfect intro track to kick us off. Calibre is back so I had to slip in Makes Me, Funny Games and Self from his new Shelflife compilation. Other tunes of note are Atlantic Connection’s sing-a-long track Fathom, Tokyo Prose’s colab with Nether – Tremble and a smasher from Lewis James in the form of Your Love is a Power.
Larigold – Swing the Waves
Calibre – Makes Me
Atlantic Connection – Fathom (feat. Faith)
Calibre – Funny Games
Readsenes & Lono – Losing
Nuvertal – Faith
Seba & Manos – Etheral
DKay – Planet Music
Calibre – Self
Tokyo Prose – Tremble (feat. Nether)
Arcatype – Narrative (feat. Riya)
Nevler – Soul Space
Alim Perez & Halo – Rollcage
DKay – How Much Does It Take
LM1 & Kharm – Inversion
Dan Guidance – I’m So In Love
Lewis James feat. DanDansK – You Love Is A Power
DKay – Serenade
SpectraSoul – Say What Midnight Mix (feat. Made Lane)
Villem & McCleo feat. Leo Wood – Let It Breathe
Logistics – Lotus Flower
Back once again with a chilled out D&B selection leaning heavily on the sounds of Synkro and Stillhead who have been in heavy rotation at the Ear & Drum ranch. Big ups have to go to Amoss, Etherwood and Bop who all have fresh LPs and EPs out and well worth tracking down.
This is a perfect weekend and morning after selection designed to relax and take you on a journey. No hard edges here, just smooth beats and purring b-lines to massage the mind, body and soul.
Bringing you a bit if a mixed bag this time around. A lot of the tunes here are from the exceptional New Blood 018 compilation from Medschool. For those that don’t know, New Blood is an annual release of fresh talent and unheard of producers and this years release was the best in a looong time so I had to throw down a mix to celebrate.
We have some Trap stye D&B on Tender Love by the oddly named A. Fruit, UK Grime inspired Who Run Tingz by Trigga & Chimpo and whole host of deeper beats from the likes of Amoss, Martsman and Dom & Roland.
A. Fruit – Tender Love
SQUASH! – One!
OX7GEN – Trinity
Marcus Intalex – Ninety One
Martsman – Krine
Dom & Roland – A Broken Heart
Amoss – Flat Spots
Koherant – Low Key
Digital – Space Funk (Om Unit Remix)
Trigga & Chimpo – Who Run Tingz
Martsman – Kickoff
Blocks & Escher – Something Borrowed, Something Blue
Dexcell – Without You (Anile Remix)
Amoss – Timedrops
Enei & Kasra – 1000
A. Fruit – Tender Love (Tease)
Every now and then you do a mix where everything just goes right. This is one of those.
Inspired by the sounds from Etherwood’s incredibly beautiful LP In Stillness this is a melodic mix in which I’ve tried to program D&B songs, not just tracks. In Stillness is a rare beast in that most of the tunes on it are actual songs that just happen to be D&B too. Wonderful instrumentation, thoughtful lyrics and a musicality sorely missing in a lot of today’s dance music.
Shouts to Mohican Sun for the Cold Earth EP on Integral Recordings which is rapidly becoming a must have label for me. And to the Hospital/Medschool crew Bop, Subwave and Logisitics for keeping it real after all these years.
Mohican Sun – Don’t Wait
Alekay – Love
Etherwood – Bears Breechers feat. Anile
Etherwood – Three Eagles
Mohican Sun – Living This Way
Fred V & Graphics – Hurricanes (Wild Love) Keeno Remix
Mohican Sun – Calgary
Bop x Subwave – Clair De Lune
Etherwood – In Stillness
The Vanguard Project – Is This Love
Alekay – Turbulence feat. Motive
Eschaton – Fallen Angel
Etherwood – Climbing
Etherwood – – A Hundred Oceans feat. Feels
Rafau Etamski – Need You
Silence Groove – Air Up There (Silence Groove Remix)
Etherwood – Surrendered
Artificial Intelligence – 1000 Souls
Logistics – Lotus Flower (Radio Edit)
