Tag Archives: Ear & Drum Session

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 283 – A Little Lost Soul

Back on the D&B soul train for this ride and it has been a solid couple of months for the soulful sound. Kicking us off with some killer remixes in the form of the remastered classic Brown Paper Bag (Photek Remix) in
Children of Zeus & Tyler Daley – Small Circles (Calibre Remix). These two sound like they were made for each other.

If you haven’t heard Alix Perez’s latest effort Entanglements I suggest you get on it as the insta-classic Elastic Soul along with In Your Eyes, Dark Pulse and title track Entanglements are all ridiculously great tracks. As are Redeyes & Whitt’s deep cut Is It You? and LSB’s latest EP Home on Footnotes with the title track and Give You Up both doing bits. Extra big shouts to Calibre for his extended remix of Ruti’s Lungs, which could possibly be my tune of the year.

A Little Lost Soul – 1hr+ of Soulful D&B

Roni Size & Reprazent – Brown Paper Bag (Photek Remix)
Children of Zeus & Tyler Daley – Small Circles (Calibre Remix)
Alix Perez – Elastic Soul
Sydney Bryce, McLeod & SC – Clouds
Unknown Face – Yesterday
Sati & Artificial Intelligence feat. Gigi Daal – Stronger
The Sauce – What’s Going Down
Myth – Times Like These
Halogenix – Untitled Emo
Alix Perez – In Your Eyes
Eljer – False Dreams
Sydney Bryce, Zar & Bazil MC – Dreams of Tomorrow
Ruti – Lungs (Calibre Extended Remix)
Kid Drama – For All of Us
Seathasky – Take Away The Pain
Alix Perez – Dark Pulse
Soul Foundation – So Jazz
LSB – Give You Up
Alix Perez – Entanglements
Webs – Automatic
LSB – Home
Redeyes & Whitt – Is It You?
Brainwork & mml – Grey
Motiv – Fidgety

Ear & Drum: Session 282 – Cool Rinse

Dropping the pace back to 160bpm for this eclectic mix of mainly atmospheric D&B and jungle with some Dom & Roland deep space bizniz thrown in for good measure.

First up, it was an immense pleasure to kick off this mix with some new Flytronix after 20+ years. From the incredible Night Breedz EP on Over/Shadow we have RT12 and Protocol Roll in collaboration with 2 Bad Mice if you don’t mind. Also from 94′ we have Ed Rush & Nico’s first drop on No U-Turn, Selecta and some re-released and remastered goodness on Dom & Rolland The Darkmaster EP with Whispers and Other Planets.

On the Atmospheric tip we have Law’s Six Below and The Abyss from his very tasty Singularity Point EP along with Jaise taking a more chilled and deeper turn on Dispatch with 2-Way Mirror and Freedom. (Shouts out the Perth massive.) And last but not lease a big up to a dream collab of mine in Mister Shifter – Spiritual Tourist (Mystic State Remix) on Modern Conveniences out of California.

If ever you needed convincing that 160bpm is back and better than ever, this is it.

Cool Rinse – 1hr of 160bpm D&B

Flytronix – RTI2
Mineral – Us
Lunanescence & Astral Haze – Ascension (Trident Remix)
Amy Dabbs & Coco Bryce – Decipher
Law – The Abyss
Jaise – 2-Way Mirror
Mineral – Can’t Remember
Subjects – Mash Up
Ed Rush & Nico – Selecta
The Last Ronin – Run The Track
Acid Lab- Event Horizon
Flytronix – Protocol Roll
Astal Haze – Devil Ether (Data B Remix)
Senses – Cosmic Telemetry
Dom & Roland – Whispers
Law – Six Below
Jaise – Freedom
Mister Shifter – Spiritual Tourist (Mystic State Remix)
Amy Dabbs & Coco Bryce – Lust Issues
Harmony – Transit
Acid Lab – Higher
Dom & Roland – Other Planets

Ear & Drum: Session 281 – Y2K

It feels like a 2000s sound revival is just around the corner, so to get ahead of the curve I thought I’d sling together a bunch of OG tracks from back in the day. Depending on who you ask the 2000s aren’t regarded as a peak D&B era, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some diamonds in the ruff from that time.

Fellowship’s Dark Flower Remedy was always an underrated Tru Playaz tune, as was Sonic + Silver’s Longboat, which is still my favourite Renegade Hardware track. Sinthetix’ remix of Black Sun Empire’s Smoke is neuro at it’s absolute finest and Elementz Of Noize hit it out of the park with their 12″ featuring not only Guided By Lights but the momentous Clock. Other sneaky classics to keep an ear out for are DJ Kalm’s cracker Violet, one of Amit’s first tracks Roots, Dieselboy very under-rated The Descent and the incredible rolling Passport by Kiko.

Y2K – 1hr of rolled gold from the 2000s

Fellowship – Dark Flower Remedy
Sonic + Silver – Longboat
Ed Rush & Optical – Rock Tha House2
Ink – Ice Age
The JB – Say What
Black Sun Empire – Smoke (Sinthetix Remix)
Chris.SU – Astrosine
Kraken – Side Effects (Teebee Remix)
Dillinja – Go Dillinja
Elementz Of Noize – Guided By Lights
Technical Itch – The Ruckus (D Kay VIP)
TeeBee – Black Rain
2Ed Rush & Optical – Kerbkrawler
Rawthang – Epilogue Feat. Karl
DJ Kalm – Violet
Amit – Roots
John B – Dream On (2020 Remaster)
Dieselboy – The Descent
Kiko – Passport
Jonny L – Trouble
Total Science – Eastern Promise
Elementz Of Noize – Clock

Ear & Drum: Session 280 – Call the Ambience 20: Sedation

Time to take a minute and breath with some Ambient D&B to smooth the mind. First up Kid Drama’s take on the Autonomic sound Keys to Kill Time should be on everybody’s radar as it is a master work. In a similar vein Holgenix’ most recent LP Passions and Eschaton’s Ambient Artifacts II have some extremely nice Ambient takes on the D&B sound that are well worth checking out.

Other tracks to keep an ear out for include new work from Klute with the floaty and relaxing Solar Heat, Heron Flow’s ever-green Blame Game and Rainforest’s incredible Paths End. I can’t get enough of this sound, and the only issue I have with it is that it takes me soooo long to collect enough tracks to string together mixes like this.

Call the Ambience 20: Sedation – 1hr of Ambient D&B

Kid Drama – Sorrow Skyline
Kid Drama – Top Down
Kid Drama – Boarderline
Sorse – Whimsical (Alegria Remix)
Eschaton – Artifact 35: The Maze
Synkro – Contact
Heron Flow – Blame Game
Kharm & Akuratyde – Artifacts (Stillhead Remix)
Calibre – Living Without Your Love
Halogenix – An End By Any Other Name
Eschaton – Artifact 31: Unmanned Mission
Klute – Solar Heat
Eschaton – Artifact 26: Secret Biology
Rainforest – Paths End
Ink & Sin – You Are
Coco Bryce – Hunning Away Towards Me
Mystic State – Expectations
Microfunk Crew – Aura
Etherwood – Water In Your Veins
Kublai – Back Home
Halogenix – Keeping You Close

 

Ear & Drum: Session 279 – Mountainous

Here to kick a hole in your speaker with some heavy hitters past and present, we kick off with Low Slung on Detboi’s killer Dispatch Blueprint 13 release. We’ve got remixes ahoy with Xtrah’s re-rub of Noisia’s mighty Omissions, Klute’s v. nice rework of Chris SU’s smash Antiserum, Kiljoy’s remix of the Digital & Spirit classic Remote Control and last, but not least, the massive D Kay VIP of Tech Itch’s incredible The Ruckus.

Seeing as we’re rolling some older classics I thought I’d also throw in one of my all time favourites in Jonny L’s Trouble, and I couldn’t go past the recent remaster of one of Hive’s best in Krush. Hooray to the incredibly kind DOA member who hooked me up with digital versions of Trouble and that Ruckus Remix, you know who you are. I’ve been on the hunt for a clean copy of Trouble forever, so bless you.

Mountainous – 1hr of Rock Hard D&B

Detboi – Low Slung
Break – Overstayed
Kublai – Sucka
Crystal Clear – Gangster Business
Technical Itch – The Ruckus (D Kay VIP)
Raiden – Helium VIP
Noisia – Omissions (Xtrah Remix)
Trakker – Cold Sweats
Detboi – Bruk Up
Marly Marl – Run Away
Chris.Su – Antiserum (Klute Remix)
Jflux – The Heart Wants
Raiden – Hubble
Digital & Spirit – Remote Control (Kiljoy Remix)
Hive – Krush (2024 Master)
Dunk – Minimal Bounce
Jonny L – Trouble
Spectral – Submerge

Ear & Drum: Session 278 – Metal Floor

If you like your Drum & Bass deep and dark, then this one rolls like a marble across a metal floor. Setting the pace with the rolling master, Amit and his cavernous new tune Flow Off into one of my dream collabs Mako & Seba with their latest Stockholm Syndrome, this set kicks hard.

Kid Drama features heavily throughout via his collab with Garvo on CNVX – Nitrosurge along with solo efforts Rectify and Bulldog. Shouts to Rainforest for extending his range and heading into darker territories with his cuts Combative and Hypocrites (Bwoykah Remix) off the new Ascendant Warrior LP. And big ups to Myth, Conrad Subs, Kasra and Raiden and Offish & Attempt for their hefty contributions too.

Metal Floor – 1hr of Deep Rolling D&B

Amit – Flow Off
Mako & Seba – Stockholm Syndrome
Rainforest – Hypocrites (Bwoykah Remix)
Kid Drama & Garvo – Nitrosurge
Black Barrel – Side That You Can’t Hide
Conrad Subs – Spellbound
Immerse, Philth & Ant TC1 – Dark ’97
Myth – Oddity
Dunk – Danger
Eijer – Black Daruma
Kid Drama – Rectify
Rainforest – Combative
Kasra – bb.oo
Offish & Attempt – Break The Sequence
Raiden – Hubble
Adred – Futile
Conrad Subs – Liquid State
Kid Drama – Bulldog
Spectral – Submerge
Conrad Subs – Embers
Myth – Serious

Ear & Drum: Session 277 – Hard Fokuz

Continuing on with the 25th anniversary celebration of Fokuz Recordings, this set focuses (excuse the pun) on the harder edged sound that most wouldn’t associate with the label. Just one look at the tracklist shows that these aren’t the usual suspects on the Fokuz roster. S.P.Y, dBridge, Bipolar and Akuratyde all bring the heat along with Tony Anthem (feat. Doktor) with the monstrous Gunmen & Specimen A remix of Tears Of Mine show that Fokuz can thrown down with the best of them when they want to.

Hard Fokuz – 1hr of Hard Edged Fokuz Recordings

Bipolar – State of Play
Macca & Loz Contreras – Against The Wall (FD Remix)
Macca & Melinki – Ok
Monika & Akuratyde – Amber
Grof & Macca – Like That
Sikey & Speedwagon – Conquer
Anthony Kasper – Departure (Technimatic Remix)
Humanature & Induktiv – Paroxysm
Air.K & Cephei – Desire (Break Remix)
Macca & Loz Contreras – Always Yours (S.P.Y. Remix)
T:Base – When I Fear (Who I Am)
Tony Anthem (feat. Doktor) – Tears Of Mine (Gunmen & Specimen A Remix)
Madcap – Real Love
Hobzee – Don’t Go
Monika & Akuratyde – We Breathe (feat. Oktae)
Facing Jinx & Peta Oneir – Meet You There (dBridge Remix)

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 275 – Cloud Level

Heading back into 160bpm territory with this eclectic blend of Trap, Atmospheric D&B and Jungle. This combination seems a little odd but it works thanks to Acid_Lab and their new My Tek EP and The Appreciation EP, both which gets heavily raided for this mix. ASC’s Spatial imprint also features heavily and keep an ear out for the much appreciated 2023 Remaster of Stars by Source Direct.

Cloud Level – 1hr of 160bpm Trap, Atmospheric D&B & Jungle

Acid_ Lab – My Tek
Eusebela – Waveform 05
Rainforest – Faith Beyond Fate
Tim Reaper – Lucky Go Happy
The Noise Of Art – The Revival
ASC – Impressions
ASC – Repetition
Earl Grey – Amygdala
Aural Imbalance – Aurealis
ASC – Still Motion
Tim Reaper – Waveform OB
Dwarde – Poprocks Track 4
Earl Grey – Prussia Dub
WUFO – The Day
Acid Lab – Neva Trust
Acid Lab – Missing U
Lavery – Give Yourselt
Acid Lab – Zeta Reticuli
Source Direct – Stars (2023 Remaster)
J Maijk – Space Between
MOOD$ – Severence
Levrige & Mystic State – Undercurrent
ASC – Nexus
Acid Lab – On A Sunbeam