Category Archives: Melodic

Ear & Drum: Session 296 – Outer Sanctuary

Liquid gets a bit of a bashing these days due to it’s diversity. Ranging from Calibre style soulfulness all the way through to full-blown stadium style fromage, it’s a broad church in terms of genres. But, that doesn’t stop the euphoric goods from dropping week in and out.

Artists such as Soul Connection, Furney, Mitekiss, Technimatic and Need for Mirrors are forever perfecting their sound and keeping the quality high. Carlito’s About You was released as the 100th drop on Marky’s label and still has that 2000s Innerground running vibe. Spearhead are another label celebrating their 20th year anniversary with Technimatic’s brilliant From Within. Bop released the best Hospital drop in ages with his killer Hypnotics EP from which I selected Cravings as my pick of the bunch. And V Recordings are still keeping it real with Fox and Sl8r’s Skull & Crosses EP featuring the anthemic Love What I Do.

Outer Sanctuary – 1hr of Liquid D&B

Koherent & Charli Brix – Voices
Soul Connection – Push Me to the Limit
Furney – Swanko
Carlito – About You
Shapeshifter – Lightspeed
Seba & Paradox – Move On
ALB & LOATIAL – Forgiveness
Mitekiss – Never Felt So
Sustance & Salo – Out The Storm
Soul Intent – No One Else
Technimatic – From Within
Bop – Cravings
Nelver & nCamargo – Aurora
Impish – Truth Is (Vinyl Version)
Fox & Sl8r – Skull & Crosses
MC Conrad – Lean Upwards
Fox & Sl8r – Love What I Do
Soul Connection – With You
Walker – Late Night Track (Instrumental)
Command Strange & Intelligent Manners – When I Get Home
Break feat. Lorna King – Wait For You (The Sauce Remix)
Need For Mirrors – Whales & World Peace
Technimatic – Inner Sanctuary
Break feat. Charli Brix – Lost (Break Remix)

13th Way (Yin)

I missed doing one of these in 2024, so the 13th and 14th Way i did together, recorded in Liverpool, summer 2025.

This way – the 13th Way – is Yin…more ambient…but there’s still a bit of NRG towards the end!

Good for bathing, walking, looking out of a window…

Always Will: 13th Way

Qasim Naqvi – Plastic Glacier
Halima – Igwe (Live from Rotterdam)
Mary Lattimore & Walt Mcclements – The Poppies, The Wild Mustard, The Blue-Eyed Grass
Kelela – Raven (unplugged)
Mark Ernestus’ Ndagga Rhythm Force – Simb
Steve Spacek – Something Tells Me (featuring Raphael Saadiq, Steve Spacek)
Mk.Gee – I Want
Maxime Denuc – Edo
Transaction – Ocean
Moa Anbessa feat. Prince David – Jah Fire
Calibre – Feel The Heat
Rival Consoles – Known Shape
Rhythm & Sound – Smile (With Savage)
Maxime Denuc – Agoraphobia
nonkeen – that love
Cymande – Heart Of The Willing
Qasim Naqvi – The Glow
Civilistjävel! – A2
Kid Drama – Last Night
Commix – Life We Live
Drs – Keep The Faith Ft Calibre
Aural Imbalance – Artificial Satellite
Mk.Gee – You Got It
Oren Ambarchi, Johan Berthling & Andreas Werliin – Två
Ryuichi Sakamoto – 20210310
The Joy – Ngiphuphe Ngilele

 

 

Ear & Drum: Session 295 – Wide Open

Winding down the BPM to 160 with this one, as we explore the more atmospheric side of life. There is something special about an atmospheric amen track pitched back to the bpm the pioneers of the sound intended. The drums breath and roll more, and that space gives the pads and atmospherics their time to shine. This mix took me back the early Progression Session days. And that is never a bad thing.

When I saw an ASC & Skanna collaboration on Over/Shadow I knew it was going to be something special, and Switch truly has that OG atmosphere in spades. Sandcastles is Rufige Kru on a 160bpm atmospheric tip. Yes fucking please. If you haven’t checked out Kid Lib’s take on video game soundtracks of days gone then you need to get onto his Jungle Rush LP stat!

Tango’s classic Understanding gets a mighty rework and remaster by L Major as does F-Jam by Adam F himself, who re-recorded everything to bring it up to date. Big shouts to the Omni Music cru who always bring the atmospheric goods, this time in the form of Non Rev on his beautiful The Method of Limits LP, friend of the show, Starski with his blinding Missing Photo LP and MiesFM with the haunting Misty Keys from the Momentum LP.

Wide Open – 1hr of 160bom Atmospheric D&B

ASC & Skanna – Switch
Rufige Kru – Sandcastles
Kid Lib – Jetstream Jam
Tango – Understanding (L Major Remix)
JLM Productions – Boundary
Perspective:R – Blissfully Compulsive
Adam F feat. MC Conrad – F-Jam Revisited
Atlantic Connection – Racers
Earl Grey – Lethargica – Hangman Cliffs
NonRev – Information Society
NonRev – And The She Lied
MiesFM – Misty Keys
Mineral – Illusions Disappear
Big Bud – Lucky 7
Kid Lib – Rocket Runner
Unglued – Get A Rush
Starski – God Has Forgotten US All
Cryogenics – Melancholy
Mystic State – Expectations
NonRev – At My Most Human
Tango – Spellbound (Ricky Force Remix)
Indigo Virus – Fractured Light

Ear & Drum: Session 293 – Dusting Off

I recently did an all Calibre remix set and was alerted by Silent Dust of None60 Records fame, that I had missed not one, but two Calibre remixes of his tunes on the label. Now I knew None60 because of their excellent Government Fun – Hours EP and a few of their other releases, but I really didn’t know much about Silent Dust. So down the rabbit hole I went…

It turns out Silent Dust & DRS – Refuse (Calibre Remix) is one of THE Calibre remixes I’ve been hunting for the longest time. And it also turns out that Silent Dust is also an incredible D&B (and Hip Hop) producer with a style very much in my wheelhouse. So two album purchases and a great deal of listening later, I have produced this all Silent Dust mix to a) make up for missing out on these in my former mix and b) because you really need to hear some of these tune!

Andy, this one is for you.

Dusting Off – An all Silent Dust mix

Silent Dust – No One Man (feat. SelfSays)
Silent Dust – Puppet’s Dream
Silent Dust – Winter Song (Original Demo Mic)
Silent Dust – The Giant (Remastered)
Silent Dust – Projection (Remastered)
Silent Dust – Another Sunlight
Silent Dust – A Million Words
Silent Dust – November (feat. Zilla Rocca)
Silent Dust – A Million Words (Remix)
Silent Dust – 1959 (Calibre Remix)
Silent Dust – Marlowe (Remastered)
Silent Dust – Marlowe (Hobzee Remix)
Silent Dust – Zero Nine Zero (Response & Pliskin Remix)
Silent Dust – Shadows On The Wall (feat. DRS – Oliver Yorke’s Nightscape Femix)
Silent Dust & DRS – Refuse (Calibre Remix)
Silent Dust & DRS – Refuse
Silent Dust – Myths
Akuratyde – November’s End (Silent Dust Remix)
Silent Dust – The Giant (Om Unit Remix)
Silent Dust – Eye of The Duck
Silent Dust – $S$ (feat. Terror)

Ear & Drum: Session 291 – Calib:Remix

This is the mix I always said I wouldn’t make, an all Calibre mix. Just about every corner of Calibre’s catalogue has been covered splendidly by others, or by the man himself. So I never really felt the pull to do what has already been done. And then I typed ‘Calibre’ and ‘remix’ into my Serato search field and this came up.

This is every Calibre remix I have and it really does make for interesting listening. Calibre, for the record, doesn’t remix his own tunes. But he is always up for remixing other people’s music from within and out of the D&B genre. And while I love a good Calibre D&B remix, it always seems like the non-D&B remixes are his best work.

London Grammar, Ruti, Pablo Nouvelle, Breach, Badmarsh & Shri, Lady Blackbird — these are the ones that really stick with me. They are almost perfect D&B tunes as they elevate above being just a track and become songs. A little bit pop, a little bit soul, a little bit D&B and a whole heap awesome.

Calib:Remix – 1.5hrs of Calibre Remixes

The Vanguard Project – Stitches (feat. Jemimah Read) (Calibre Remix)
Krust – It’s A Lot (Calibre Remix)
Danny Byrd – Changes (Calibre Remix)
Children of Zeus & Tyler Daley – Small Circles (Calibre Remix)
FD – Ambra (Calibre Remix)
Zero T – Refusal ft. Steo (Calibre Remix)
Alx Perez feat. Peven Everett & SpectraSoul – Forsaken (Calibre Remix)
LSB & DRS – Frozen (Calibre Remb)
London Grammar – If You Wait (Long Enough You’ll Get the Calibre Remix)
SpectraSoul Feat. Tamara Blessa – Away With Me (Calibre Remix)
Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs – Garden (Calibre Remix)
Blu Mar Ten – Keep It Together (feat. Robert Manos) (Calibre Rel
Ruti – Lungs (Calibre Extended Remix)
Pablo Nouvelle – You Don’t Understand (Calibre Remix)
Nitri & Level 2 Feat. Grimm -Lies (Calibre Remix)
Total Science – Walk The Same Lines ft Riya (Calibre Remix)
SpectraSoul – Burst (eat. Dan Moss) (Calibre Remix)
Breach – Jack (Calibre Remix)
Sati – Forward Thinking (Calibre Remix)
DJ Marky & S.P.Y. – Yellow Shoes (Calibre Remix)
Badmarsh & Shri – Signs (Calibre Remix)
Impish – With You (Calibre Remix)
Dogger & Mindstate feat. Liam Bailey – Broken Home (Calibre Remix)
Total Science – Gravy Girls (Calibre Remix)
Lady Blackbird – Collage (Calibre Remix)

Ear & Drum: Session 288 – Cactus

A little soulful, lyrical and melodic — this mix will have you singing and swaying your way into your day. Kicking things off with a GLXY cut from the 20th Anniversary Shogun releases is the killer Workforce Remix of She Sings For Me feat. DAS. Also from Workforce we have another moody vocal feat. Tyler Daley on Falling Down.

From Kublai’s very tasty mini-LP For Old Time’s Sake we have Simple Things, From Afar and the Redeye’s collab Starstruck. And from the Anseo & Anois EP I’ve rolled the extremely in form Zero T’s All I See, Fortune Green from his own Off Broadway EP, Keep Talking from NQ State of Mind Vol.4, and on his own label Let Me Know feat. Manny. Last, but not least, we’ve got Satl & Brandy Haze from their LA Fling EP dropping the very tasty Unfortunate, and Satl once again with Esco & Milansangar – Night Out through his own imprint.

If that doesn’t do it for you there is Seba’s – Air, Alix Perez’ – Dark Pulse, and Lemon D returning to form with his latest release Come Down on J Majik’s Infrared. If you think Liquid has lost its way I suggest you give this a listen and think about what you been missin’.

Cactus – 1hr of Melodic D&B

GLXY feat. DAS – She Sings For Me (Workforce Remix)
Kublai – Simple Things
Azotix – Reflections
Kublai – From Afar
Satl &. Brandy Haze – Unfortunate
Workforce – Falling Down (feat. Tyler Daley)
Eijer – Fargo
Zero T, Onj & Steo – All I See
Redeyes – Yesterdays
Satl, Ellis Esco & Milansangar – Night Out
Zero T & Manny – Let Me Know
Lemon D – Come Down
Zero T – Fortune Green
Zero T feat. Isle of Co – Keep Talking
Alix Perez – Dark Pulse
LSB – Give You Up
Kublai – Starstruck (feat. Fedeyes)
Seba – Air
Note & Saint Harmony – What We Talk About…

Ear & Drum: Session 284 – Moist

It’s summer as of today here in the upside southern hemisphere, so I thought I’d celebrate with an unabashed summer set of Liquid. Hopefully I’ve captured the vibe.

Dan Guidance kicks us off with a few choice cuts from his Instant Connection EP. We’ve got Marky & S.P.Y bringing the Brazilian vibes, along with Need for Mirrors, Submorphics, Dawn Wall, Silence Groove, Nu: Tone and a whole heap more diverse artists and sounds. This ain’t your LiquidCity jamboree, this is proper!

Moist – 1.5hrs of Liquid D&B

Dan Guidance – Instant Connection
Unknown Artist – Scrubs
Dan Guidance – Find Me
Simulla & Catching Cairo – Melancholy
Yaano – Drained
Dub Head – In My Mind
Need For Mirrors – Sober, Loveless & Polite
Submorphics – Astroglider
Eller – False Dreams
DJ Marky – Star Trippin’
Mystic Trip & MPH & & Jules – Let Me In Siddy
Patience – Not Over Yet
LMX & Kubiks – Crossfire
Monika – Unique Outcomes
Shady Novelle – Cherish
S.P.Y. & Grimm – You And Me (Radio Edit)
Dawn Wall – Sinner (feat. ANNI)
Acuna – Played with Me
Emperor – Jealousy
Lens & Sarah Ikumu – Jungle Diva
Silence Groove – Water World
Halogenix – Reverie
Flaco & Mars – The Connoisseur
Eler – Expansion
Sydney Bryce & QZB – Let You Down
Nu: Tone x Doktor – Fighter
Break feat. Lorna King – Wait For You
A-Audio – You Got It
Motiv – Fidgety
Command Strange & Canon – Flerce

Ear & Drum: Session 276 – Soft Fokuz

Ever since they came into play back in 1999, Fokuz Recordings has been a mecca for great Liquid D&B. I was already a big fan of sister labels Celsius and the harder edged Citrus Recordings, but Dreazz’ took it to a new level with Fokuz through an output most labels simply couldn’t to keep up with. Discogs counts 757 releases in the 25 years the label has been rolling and while that is a huge quantity, it’s the consistent quality and diversity that has kept me hooked on Fokuz down the years.

Having recently released their 25 year compilation In:Fokuz, I thought it was high time I took to the decks and put together my version of the ‘best of’ Fokuz tunes I’ve supported down the years. Looking at the tracklist you’ll see a who’s who of Liquid D&B including Seba, The Vanguard Project, BCee, Lenzman and Random Movement. But it’s the lesser know artists that Fokuz released that really shine and make the label so exciting. I’ve discovered so many new artists down the years thanks to the label and for that I am truly grateful.

Happy 25th Fokuz, and here’s to the next 25!

Just a heads up, this is part one of a two part series. I’ll follow this up with a mix of the harder edged releases a little later on.

Soft Fokuz – 2hrs of Liquid D&B on Fokuz Recordings

The Vanguard Project – Daredevil
Nelver – White Clouds
Macca & Loz Contreras – Against The Wall (FD Remix)
Surreal – Riding Out
WUFO – Call Back
Atlantic Connection – Fathom (feat. Faith)
Cnof – You The One
Leo Wood – Perfect Imperfection (Feat. Reflektor)
The Vanguard Project – Flying Away
Seba & JR Vallo – Second Path
Seba – Sweet Magnolia (feat. Jenna G)
Monument Banks – Tidy Mind
Smote & Blazil MC – I Can Show You
Joakulm – 8am Roller
The Vanguard Project & Pat Fulgoni – Still Together
Unknown Artist – Sweetest Taboo
Malaky – Belleve
Sub:liminal, Minos & Cardia- Future Lines
Low:r – Social Mania (feat. Sixar)
T:Base – Is It True
BCee – The Garden
Monument Banks – Loop Thinking
Satl – Forward Thinking (Calibre Remix)
Unknown Artist – This Summer
Hiraeth – Hold On To Me ft. Critical Event
Macca, Loz Contreras & Critical Event – Snow
Smote – Just Come Back
Switch & Icicle – Ur in My Head
Facing Jinx – Time
Emery, Mackadena & Dreazz – Too Fly
The Vanguard Project – Sundance
Random Movement – I Stayed Around (Lenzman Reinterpretation)
Phil Tangent – Giving Up The Ghost
Lenzman – Re-Thinkable
Impish – With You (Calibre
Lenzman – The Worst
Edlan – Lone Pine (Instrumental)
Operator Unknown & Leo Wood – Who

Ear & Drum: Session 272 – Hertz to Breath

Soulful D&B can be a bit of a Marmite sound, you either love it or hate it. I personally love the groove, the soul and the smoothness. And when it comes to smooth it is hard to beat people like DRS, Lenzman, GLXY, Naibu and every other producer in this mix.

If you like this sound and haven’t discovered DRS’ Everything Must Go! album, get on it! Ditto for GLYX’s incredible Love, Chaos EP and the new Nauibu joint Sans Soleil. So much great soulful stuff around at the moment.

Hertz to Breath – 1hr of Soulful D&B

DRS & Mither – Angels On My Shoulder
GLYX – Detached
GLXY & Catching Cairo – – Fine Lines
DRS & Mither – No Surprises
T.Base – Universe
DRS, The Skeptics & MC RVS – Stand Calm
GLXY & [KSR] – What it Seems
Mohican Sun – Blurred Peak
Lenzman & Reeves – Play Around
Random Movement – Modelo Fumunda
Brainwork & mnml – Grey
DRS & SI8r 0 On Us Lately
Naibu – Sunless (feat. Robert Manos)
Naibu – Sans Solell (Reprise
DRS & Vangellez – Hurts To Breathe
Naibu – Spring
Soul Connection – Truly
The Sauce – What’s Going Down
Heron Flow – Snow

Ear & Drum: Session 270 – Hometown Secret

Always out to prove that Liquid isn’t a dirty word, this mix has a little bit of everything except the stadium sound that most people associate with the genre. Furney’s cracker track Tantrum is a jazz fused number with a heap of grunt behind it and we have the title track from his recent So Cold LP on Soul Deep. Break is back, also with a new Digital World LP on Symmetry Recordings from which I’ve drawn Tell Me and his amazing vocal track Wait for You with Lorna King. And I’ve pulled Daylight and Low Flying from Bungles recent Under Influence EP on the titular Influence label.

Other tracks of note that I’m feeling are Green Lane by the dream combo of Alix Perez & GLXY. These two just don’t let up on their quality liquid output. Eddy Don’t Sail & Isla Wolfe – No Place Like Home, which is just a straight up banger of a vocal track and the classic Artificial Intelligence track Switch On that recently received a much appreciate remaster.

Hometown Secret – 1hr of Liquid Lushness

Alix Perez & GLXY – Green Lane
BCee – Creed
Technimatic & Ruth Royall – Help You Stay
Furney – Tantrum
Technimatic – Coming Back
Eddy Don’t Sail & Isla Wolfe – No Place Like Home (Extended Mix)
Break – Tell Me
Furney – So Cold
BCee – Shelter
Random Movement & Anthony Kasper – Tomato Bisque
Total Science feat. Riya Quartz – Walk the Same Line (Villem Remix)
Quartz – Way Back
Quartz – Ivy
PA – Live Life
Break feat. Lorna King – Wait for You
The Vanguard Project – Chimney
Qua Rush – Honey (feat. Sista Lu)
The North Quarter All Stars – Never
Calibre & ST Files – Astral Plane
Artificial Intelligence – Switch On
Bungle – Daylight
Bungle – Low Flying
Eddy Don’t Sail & Isla Wolfe – No Place Like Home (Extended Mix)