The sixth installment in the retrospective Shadow Wax series looks at the chilled out vibes from 1996. No one could touch Moving Shadow during this era of sublime melodies and blissful beats. Artists like PFM, Flytronix, Wax Doctor, Dave Wallace, EZ Rollers and Unit 1 read like a who’s who of top Intelligent D&B producers.
For me these are some of the finest musical moments in Drum & Bass that still sound just as fresh today as when they were made. ’96 truly was a golden era for this sound, so if you like you beats chilled and smooth I suggest you kick back and enjoy the ride.
PFM – Cruising Detroit
Teqniq – Razzmatazz
Fytronix – The Rhode Tune
Mastermind – The Essence
Hoax – Meltdown
Essence of Aura – So This Is Love ’96
Neil Trix – Revolution
JMJ & Flytronix – Delusions
Wax Doctor – Cool Breeze
Unit 1 – Atlantic Drama
Dave Wallace – Flight
Dave Wallace – Waves
EZ Rollers – The Morning After
Hoax – Pipe Dreams
EZ Rollers – Vintage Moments
Vext – Visions
In a round about way this is a liquid mix. I say this because liquid seems to be morphing lately and is a hard genre to pin down these days. Originally melodic party music, liquid now encompasses a much wider range of directions then it used to. There’s the still the up for it dance tracks, but lately also a deeper and more mellow aspect that has drawn me back into a music I thought might have be in danger of becoming to formulaic for it’s own good. I’ve also noticed some tracks taking on a more live jazz based flavour, reminiscent of Reprazent’s classic Brown Paper Bag.
So in the spirit of diversity I’ve tried to cover a little bit of everything in this mix. It actually started out as a quick sound check on my new set up, which now includes an Allen & Heath mixer, until I got carried away and went into a full blown set. So let me know if you can tell a difference in sound quality. 😉
Ambient D&B continues to go from strength to strength in 2012 with a few artists clearly leading the way. Obviously ASC and dBridge are doing some great things through the Exit label and June Miller continues to release consistently strong tunes. But Sam KDC and Skeptical are also proving to be ones to watch with their own take on the laid back sound.
The good news is that there are more ambient releases coming out that any other time in D&B’s history which can only be a good thing for the lovers of chilled beats.
Sam KDC – Everything You Touch
dBridge – City of Lonely Runways
Skeptical – These Words
Dominic Ridgway – Digital Funk
Asphonic – Forest Lullaby
Naibu – Come In Slow
June Miller – Tundra
Blue Motion – Blueberry’s in Autumn
ASC – Ubik
Data – Overflow
MC FLava & Blue Motion – Hide Me
ASC – 3rd Eye
Sam KDC – Dote (A Tribute to Nostalia)
ASC – Error Code
The last Call the Ambience set was such a pleasure to mix and got such a great response that I felt compelled to do another. I’ve road tested this one a train, a plane and a Balinese massage table and I can promise you it will relax you and take you to other places. Best listened to through the headphones for maximum effect.
Brookes Brothers – Outro
ASC – Citrus
Colla & Spar – U Know
Oak – Bedroom Community
Blue Motion – A Foggy Day
Blue Motion – Astronauts
Dominic Ridgway – Shadow Beats (Thorne Remix)
ICR – Such Unimportant Things like Us
London Elekticity – Fault Lines (Unquote’s Snowy Remix)
London Elekricity – Invisible Worlds (Bop Remix)
Morphy & Marginal – Old Thomas Dub
Blue Motion – When She Is Gone Stay
Fracture & Mark System – Closed Circuit
Marginal & Vendetta – Natural Selection
Terry Artovsky – Requiem For The Mankind
ASC – Polynormal
Technicolour – Permafrost
ASC & Bvdub – Symbol #2.4
Brookes Brothers – Outro
Ambient D&B has come a long way in the past few years. Helped by it’s close neighbour Minimal, the deeper ambient sounds have come out from being hidden on the second CD of albums and the B-sides of records to being almost a genre within it’s own right. There are now labels devoted to this style of D&B and producers such as June Miller and Bop are getting the props they rightly deserve for writing beautiful but downbeat tunes.
This is a selection of the deepest most chilled tracks I could find in my collection. No dance floor frenzy with this one, just kick back and close your eyes as the music floats you away to another time and space.
Amit – Dream Sequence
June Miller – Cave In
B Cloud – Flying in a Dream
Marc Atmost – Disappear
Kogyo – Time
Synkro – Open Arms
Subwave & Stop Thinking – Plastic Heart
Scuba – In_2
Amit – Lullaby For Yerma (feat. Rani)
Oleg Sirenko – Drops
SooSLiX – When the Ocean Sleeps
Bop – The Amazing Adventures of One Curious Pixel
Viktor Gradov – The Space Wanderer
Bop – Extraterrestrial Creatures Are Stealing You From Me From The Bedroom (ft. Bev Lee Harling)
Metrik – Ocean Drive
Technicolour – Permafrost
Pag – North
Bop – Irreversible
Bop – My Heart Is In a Freezer
Project-Scorpion – In Depths of Ocean
This is the second installment of the Headz Space series focusing on the amazing music found of the Deep Space: Drum & Bass compilations. This is a bit of a Birthday celebration mix as I’m officially old as today, but you get the gift. If you like your early era atmospheric or intelligent D&B then you’ll love this.
So many good tunes in here, and quite a few rarities as well. Mandalay – Flowers Bloom (Foul Play Mix) is a classic, Blu Mar Ten’s – The Fountain is a ten minute journey into blissful beats and Elements by The Amalgamation of Soundz is definitely a lost classic.
There are some quite well known tracks to such as Saint Etienne – The Sea (PFM Remix), St Germain – Alabama Blues (Wax Doctor Mix) and Omni Trio – Trippin’ On Broken Beats (Carlito Mix) which I just had to throw in because they are all definitive examples of the intelligent sound.
Mandalay – Flowers Bloom (Foul Play Mix)
Minx – Dreamtime
Morcheeba – The Music That We Hear (Omni Trio Mix)
Blu Mar Ten – The Fountain
South – Georgia Landing (Omni Trio Remix)
Mark Penny – Moods
Recoil – The Bridge
EZ Rollers – Retro (Guardians of Dalliance Remix)
Saint Etienne – The Sea (PFM Remix)
Twisted – Elements
St Germain – Alabama Blues (Wax Doctor Mix)
Omni Trio – Trippin’ On Broken Beats (Carlito Mix)
Omni Trio – Fire Island
N&G&O – Tekken (Windermere Dub Mix by T. Power)
Jhana – Say Say Say (Doc Scott Vocal Mix)
This mix is for those that need to relax. The chilled out D&B from 96-98 is some of the most beautiful music of any genre. Artists like Photek, PFM, Aquasky and Roni Size were on top of their game when they produced these tracks. There are plenty of rarities in this mix to keep you blissed out and hunting for you own collection.
All the tracks from the mix come from the magnificent Lost In Space: Drum & Bass compilations, which along with the Artcore Series, are the best collections of Intelligent and Atmospheric D&B you’ll find. If you don’t know get to know.
So pull up a couch, put on your headphones and kick back to these dreamy tunes.
Jimpster – Martian Arts
Jonny L – 2 of Us (Photek Remix)
Aquasky – Moondance
Kumo – Tiger Style (Local Zero Remix)
Statik Sound System – Revolutionary Pilot (Rob Smith Remix)
Eat Static – Hybrid (PFM Remix)
Grand United – Dig So Deep
Nutcase & Papchubba – Things Will
Aural Imbalance – Secret Motion
Dimensions of Elegance – Naked Symphony
Skylab – The Trip (Roni Size Remix)
Future Loop Foundation – I Want To Believe
Outernational Meltdown – Hungry On Arrival (Spring Heel Jack Remix)
The Advantage – Cassiopeia
One True Parker – Bubblegum (Ray Keith Remix)
It’s been a ripe old year for the chilled out side of D&B. Minimal has had it’s wicked way with the scene, but outside of that there has also been a return to the deep and mellow sounds. Artists like Command Strange, ATP and Calibre are pumping out quality beats on a laid back tip whilst the new LP’s from Mutated Forms and Artificial Intelligence show that deeper tracks can still pack a serious punch.
Also a big nod to Mr José Gonzålez who’s cover of Kylie’s – Hand on Your Heart has been one of my guilty pleasures of 2010.
Stray – Saturday
Subwave – Gift
Command Strange – It’s All Over
Tyler Straub – Trusted Judgement
ATP – Soul Fly (feat. Jett)
June Miller – Poison the Well
Calibre – Even If
BCee & S.P.Y – Nothing to Declare
Theory – Weirdos
Bop – Song About My Dog (Subwave Remix)
Sam KDC – Detached
Mutated Forms – Last Time (feat. Jenna G)
Artificial Intelligence – Stand Alone
José Gonzålez – Hand on Your Heart
Ah Intelligent Jungle. If ever there was genre of D&B that melts my heart this is the one. Back in the day the MC would shout out, “This one’s for the ladies.” And you just knew that what would come next would be pure musical ecstasy.
There are some big names in this mix like Omni Trio, JMJ & Ritchie, DJ Pulse, T-Power and A-Sides, but I’ve tried to keep eclectic and slip in the sneaky remixes and the producers most people haven’t heard much of. Not much else to say about this one but let it roll baby.
Say what you like about the minimal trend in Drum & Bass it looks like it is here to stay. It might not ignite the dance floors but it is sweet on the ears and awesome to veg out to. This is a mix of the latest minimal tracks that are doing it for me.
Sunchase dominates with his new album Static Nitro, but s13 also puts in a good appearance with his Yourself EP. See else where on the blog for a free download of this killer EP from a fresh name. Lenzman, Rockwell and S.P.Y. get honourable mentions for always coming correct with their minimal sound.
You may notice there is a track not listed. For the life of me I can’t find it and if anyone out there knows what it is I’d be mightily pleased if you tell me what it is. Cheers.
Sunchase – Asphalt
dBridge – Love Hotel
Sunchase Violet
s13 – Earth Ulro
Sunchase – Keyring
Netsky – Storm Clouds
Rockwell – My War
Lenzman – More Than I Can Take
Blue Motion & The Square – I’m Dreaming
???
s13 – Immortal
Synthetic Pigments – Morning Glory
Anile – Never Together
Omar – Lay It Down (Triad Full Vocal Mix)
BCee – Mr. Bidigan (Total Science Remix)
Lenzman – Open Page (feat. Riya)
Furi Anga – Inside the Sun
Jose James – Warrior (Rockwell Remix)
Dephzac – We Are Together
S.P.Y. – Hurricane
