160bpm D&B continues to expand and grow as a genre and while there isn’t any set ‘sound’ at the moment, the one thing there is a lot of is quality. Following in the footsteps of Fracture and his 0860 LP and mixtape, Kid Drama and DJ Trace have released a similar package again looking back at the classic Amen driven days of rave. The project titled Rule of Thirds came out under a combined alias of Nine Windows, and well worth your time as you’ll hear in this mix.
Kid Drama also features with breakbeat mastermind Tim Reaper on Ambien Sequence from Future Retro’s excellent Meeting of the Minds series of releases. Wardown’s Graphite and Glitter and The Ideal City come from the kitsch Wardown II LP, Pete Rogers of Technimatic’s ode to 60s futurism. And I have to shout out Orbit from Om Unit alias Philip D Kick’s stunning and sadly last LP, Off World Tales. Having jacked in making fasted BPMs for Electro and Techno inspired sounds, he will be missed.
One Six Four – 1hr of 160bpm D&B
Optimistic – Helper
Nine Windows – Looking Back
Nine Windows – Galaxian
Speckman – One the Flip (Synkro’s Ambient Jungle Flip)
Jamie Myerson – Shade Without Color
Nine Windows – Innersense
Philip D Kick – Orbit
Wardown – Graphite & Glitter
Arcologies – Secret Keeper
Adred – Before Your Eyes
Fracture – From the Very Top
Orboram – Sun Showers
Arcologies – City at Dawn
Kid Drama & Tim Reaper – Ambien Sequence
Nine Windows & Tim Reaper – Transitions
Robert Haigh – Koto Line (ASC Spatial Remix)
Wardown – The Ideal City
Fracture – First Aid Kit
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)
Back to 160bpm, but with a D&B instead of a Jungle focus this time around. As previously mentioned, this speed is ideal for letting Amen breaks breath. But there are also a lot of artists now winding back the BPM clock for other breaks to give their D&B productions that extra bit of depth.
Acid_Lab & Coco Bryce are the first artists that spring to mind, but with more than half of the tracks in this mix being from Omni Music, who’s atmospheric sound lends itself perfectly to the slower tempos, Eshaton’s killah label is worth a special mention here too. They have an amazing pool of talented producers bringing a greater depth to tunes by pushing D&B’s original tempo.
You can find all of the Omni Music tunes in this mix (plus 100s more) over at https://omnimusic.bandcamp.com/
Killah Deep – 1hr of 160bpm D&B
The Vanguard Project & Jemima Reed – Stitches (Coco Bryce Remix)
Grey Code – Primrose
Coco Bryce – Dial M for Mayor
Clothcutter – You’ll Know Me
Cryogenics – Haunted
Acid_Lab – Conquest of Space
IMANU & The Caracal Project feat. Josh Pan – La Fournaise
Added – Before Your Eyes
Dan Guidance – Creating Waves
Conman, Evasion & Mod:Co – Lifestyle
Woken Balance – Atlas 6
Mineral – Separated Attitude
Antony G – Lockdown
Moakz – Distant Waters
Mineral – Old School 2022
Dust-e-1 – One on One
The Vanguard Project – Want U Back (Coco Bryce Remix)
The original D&B archive.
