Category Archives: Melodic

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)

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

Ear & Drum: Session 237 – Long Way Round

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With summer well and truly keeping our northern hemisphere brothers and sisters hot and sweaty, I thought now is the perfect time to drop a mix of soulful summer sounds to help keep things chill.

LSB leads the charge with a swag of soulful tunes from his exceptional self titled LSB album on his Footnotes imprint. Alix Perez’s Wairua EP also features more of the tuneful but tuff signature 1985 sound. And Redeyes sees a solid return to form with his To the Falls EP, featuring some tasty collabs with Tokyo Prose and Fox.

Long Way Round – 1hr of Soulful Summer D&B

LSB – Endless
Mystic State – Dreamscapes
Motiv – Jupiter
MNML & Brainwork – Miracle
Mystic – Pieces of My Life
LSB – Find A Way
LSB – Bell Tune
Dogs – Unwritten
Freeboard & Toes – Water of Life
Fish & Peron – Ascending Reality
DRS feat. Need for Mirrors – Running Back
High Contrast – Exposé (AI Remix)
Bee – The Garden
Redeyes & Fox – Wait Ting
Alix Perez & Verbz – Stayed the Same
Mirrorman – Waiting For You
Audioholic – Bottlerockets
Alix Perez – Wairua
PFM – Broken Tears
Redeyes & Tokyo Prose – Yukon

2022, All Artist Mix, Ear & Drum Session, Intelligent, Melodic, Uncategorized

Ear & Drum: Session 228 – Doctor Who?: 2nd Regeneration

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Heading into the golden era of the mid-90s for the 2nd installment of my Wax Doctor series. Since declaring this a three part series I’ve discovered a few more Wax Doctor tracks squirreled away in my vinyl collection under different names. So I’ll be adding a 4th mix to the series just for good measure.

A lot of these tracks are Wax Doctor collaborating with Alex Reece under the Jazz Juice and Unit 1 pseudonyms (later to become Fallen Angels), or as Bounty Killaz with Ashley Browne AKA DJ Pulse. There are definitely different moods to the sound depending on who the good Doctor teamed up with, Unit 1 being a lot tougher than the jazz inspired Jazz Juice for example. But in the end all of these tracks are pure quality and more than worthy of getting another spin.

Doctor Who?: 2nd Regeneration – 1hr of Wax Doctor (and friends) from 1995-97

Wax Doctor – All I Need
Jazz Juice – Detroit
Jazz Juice – Jazz Juice
Unit 1 – Untitled
Unit 1 – Love Me
DJ Pulse – Stay Calm (Bounty Killaz Remix)
Jazz Juice – Move Your Body
Wax Doctor – Step
Bounty Killaz – Silent Voices
Bounty Killaz – Do it Now!
Bounty Killaz – Killa Instinct (Alex Reece Remix)
Model 500 – I Wanna Be There (Wax Doctor Remix)
Wax Doctor – Cool Breeze

2022, All Artist Mix, Ear & Drum Session, Intelligent, Melodic

Ear & Drum: Session 226 – Doctor Who?: 1st Regeneration

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Wax Doctor is a producer who has always been close to my heart. He was a breakbeat pioneer who blazed a melodic trail in the early 90s, along with the likes of Omni Trio and Alex Reece, that defined a generation of music. He had two records in the first ten Metalheadz releases, more pseudonyms than you can poke a stick at, and was in high demand as a remix artist in D&B most formative years.

This is the first part of three mixes I’m putting together to celebrate the life and works and of Wax Doctor. Starting out in 1993 with some of his earliest Breakbeat Hardcore tracks and moving into the mid-90s, where he found his musical feet and started making serious waves in the D&B scene.

Doctor Who?: 1st Regeneration – 1.5hrs of early Wax Doctor

Kev Bird & The Wax Doctor – T.B.N (Tough But Nice)
Kev Bird & The Wax Doctor – Dark Matter ’93
Wax Doctor – Fallen Angels
Fallen Angels – Hello Lover (DJ Hype Remix)
DJ Pulse – Let You In (Wax Doctor Remix)
Wax Doctor – The Step
Model 500 – I Wanna Be There (Wax Doctor Remix)
Wax Doctor – Cool Breeze
Wax Doctor – The Spectrum
Unit 1 – Atlantic Drama
Alex Reece – Basic Principals (Wax Doctor Rollout)
Fallen Angels – Taken Over
Bounty Killaz – Do It Now! (DJ Pulse Remix)
Sounds of Life – Release the Bells (Wax Doctor Remix)
Alex Reece – Acid Lab (Wax Doctor Remix)
Wax Doctor – Kid Caprice
Lunar Funk – Spacewalk
Wax Doctor – Never As Good

2022, Ear & Drum Session, Liquid D&B, Melodic, Uncategorized

Ear & Drum: Session 225 – Memorandum

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This is the first mix of the new year to feature actual 2022 tracks in it. It’s a pumping little Liquid number featuring some of the genre’s best including KSR, DRS & Need for Mirrors, Seba, Mystific and S.P.Y. Extra big push for Furney and his new LP ‘Under Below’ which is an absolute belter and for the return of NZ favourite live D&B sons (and daughters) Shapeshifter and their new album ‘Rituals’.

Memorandum – 1hr of Liquid D&B

HLZ – Orbit
MNML & Brainwork – Miracle
Shapeshifter – Lightspeed
Mystific – Pieces of My Life
Collette Warren, DJ Marky & Tyler Daley – One Exception (Pola & Bryson Remix)
KSR – Life, Money
Degs – Unwritten
Seba – Public Beauty
Furney – Lunar Tunes
Furney & Lady Emz – Travel in a Day
DRS feat. Need for Mirrors – Running Back
Bungle – Forms
FLM – One Time (Euphorics Remix)
Hiraeth – A Time When
HLZ – How I Feel
S.P.Y – Dream Fragments
Flowrain, Pulsaar & Devon – Blue (Decon Remix)
Furney – Bengo
Mystific – Space Cadet
Subrix – Direction
Particle – Fall 2 Fast

2022, Bass Music, Down Low Session, Melodic

The Down Low: Session 052

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Back to the lower BPMs for a hot minute with a selection of Garage, House and Bass tunes. Don’t ask me for the micro-genres because it is all broken beats to me. Like most of my Down Low mixes, I like to still keep a solid ear on D&B artists doing interesting things at different BPMs.

Some highlights for me are GLXY’s – The LP Track, which is Garage at its catchiest from a guy who normally rolls out D&B. Nelver, another D&B wizard shows off his 130bpm chops with Show You and Wait for Me with BORKA FM. Moby proves he still has it with his track Rufuge and make sure you keep an ear out for the spine tingling sample lifted off Ed Rush, Optical & Fierce’s classic Locust / Cutslo in Kastle’s Garage 2 stepper 4 Real.

Down Low: Session 52 – 1hr+ of 130bpm Broken Beats

Minor Science – Second Language (Intro)
Aspect – Little Bitta Bass
GLXY – The LP Track
Goldie – Inner City Life (Binary State Remix)
Jack Michael – Think Twice
Monika Ross – Cloud Steppin’
Nowheretobefound – Giving Up
Aka Zeb – Deep Discovery
Nelver – Show You
Nelver feat. BORKA FM – Wait for Me
Trudios & BLK JCK – Hold Tight (Massive)
Symbiosis – Protocol
DJ Tone – Breath Again
Pepe – Lemon Fanta
David Kochs – Heart Transplant
Moby – Refuge
Scuba – Never Forget
Natasha Atlas – One Brief Moment (Klute Remix)
Bioritm – Balkal
MindOfaDragon – Hype M8
Kastle – 4 Real
DJG – Say Something

2021, Ear & Drum Session, Liquid D&B, Melodic, Soulful

Ear & Drum Session: 216 – Outer Soul

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Reaching back to August for this soulful mix of D&B. This style is really kicking off and the quality of the beats and vocals is only getting better and better.

Artists like Inja with their Smile & Wave LP are forging a style of D&B that not only sounds amazing, but tackles deeper issues than just getting busted up on the weekend and coming down. Tracks like Inja’s Pressure are still sing-a-long good times, but the subject matter of solo parenting are deep and really get you thinking.

Shouts out the one like Seba feat Jenna G too for their stunning tune Sweet Magnolia, which is definitely in my top 5 tracks for 2021, as is Lally & Aaliyah Esprit – Hustlin’. This is just beautiful music than makes my soul soar. Even those these tunes aren’t the absolute latest drops, there is plenty in here to get you singing, smiling and thinking all at the same time.

Outer Soul – 1hr of Soulful D&B

Satl – Never Far
Styke – Apollo
BCee – A Little Too Much
Science of Man – Never Without
Seba feat Jenna G – Sweet Magnolia
Sustance feat. Ruby Letitia – Rumours
Satl feat. DRS – Beautiful Struggle
Lally & Aaliyah Esprit – Hustlin’
Inja – Stranger
Unglued feat. Singing Fats – Sardinian Sunrise
Macca, Liz Contreras & Critical Event – Snow
Acid_Lab – Rainy Fridays
DJ SS & Azpect – Feeling Blessed (Soul Savage & Rosa G Mix)
Solsan & Bazil MC – Follow
Conspiracy – Metamorphosis
Satl – Give Up
Fox feat. DRS & Calibre – Paper Weights
Inja feat Cleveland Watkiss – Pressure
Satl & Tokyo Prose – Hazards

2021, All Artist Mix, Atmospheric, Deep D&B, Ear & Drum Session, Intelligent, Melodic

Ear & Drum Session: 214 – PFM x 4Hero

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Recently PFM and 4Hero have remastered versions of some of their classic tunes that defined an era. PFM in the form of a bunch of singles and 4Hero with the re-release of their seminal LPs 2 Pages and Jacob’s Optical Stairway.

So what happens when you take two of D&B’s greatest acts and blend them together? Great things, that’s what!

PFM x 4Hero – 1.5hrs of 90s atmospheric masterpieces

PFM – For All of Us
4Hero – Universal Love (Single Version)
4Hero – Universal Love (Internal Affairs Mix)
Jacob’s Optical Stairway – Majestic 12
Jacob’s Optical Stairway – Fragments of a Lost Language
PFM – Is the Only and the One (Unreleased Original Full Length Version)
Jacob’s Optical Stairway – The Naphosisous Wars
4Hero – One Final Hour
Jacob’s Optical Stairway – Solar Feelings
JMJ & Ritchie – Free La Funk (PFM Remix)
4Hero – Evacuation Plan
PFM – Bonus Track
PFM – Wash Over Me (Original Instrumental Version)
Jacob’s Optical Stairway – Jacob’s Optical Illusion
David Holmes – Gone (PFM Remix)
Force of Nature – Cool Spot (PFM Remix)
PFM – Dreams (Club Mix)