Pearsall presents 100 Circles Vol. 2
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Mixed in Berlin, January 2026
100% Vinyl
(74:37, 180 MB, 320 kbps mp3)
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Direct link to the mix:
https://mixes-upload.pearsall.workers.dev/mixes/100circles/Pearsall-100Circles-ModernDrumNBassV2.mp3
Tracklisting:
- Yoofee – Visualize [Through These Eyes]
- Philip D Kick – The Journey Home [Astrophonica]
- Machinedrum – Boxoff [Ninja Tune]
- Es.tereo – Flying Disc [Cosmic Bridge]
- TMSV – Hunter [Artikal]
- Amit – The Hunted [Amar]
- Dwarde – Wilderness [Future Retro London]
- Law – Stay True [Repertoire]
- Coco Bryce – Adventures in Perception [Western Lore]
- J Majik – Under the Ice [Infrared]
- Dub-One – Soul Feeling [Scientific Wax]
- Tim Reaper – The Tranquility Track [Blu Mar Ten]
- Vibez 93 – 93 Til Infinity [Vibez 93]
- Jubei – Little Dubplate [Exit]
- Digital & Response – Hung Up [Function]
- Enjoy – Blaze In [AKO Major Defence]
- Sonar’s Ghost – Box of Delights [Paradubs]
- J:Kenzo – Kalibrate [Metalheadz]
- Forest Drive West – Nothing Else [Rupture LDN]
- Tim Reaper – Scorched Earth (Side B1) [Future Retro London]
- Sully – Werk [Astrophonica]
- Tim Reaper & Fracture – Lickshot [Future Retro London / Astraphonica]
- DJ Sofa – Ferry to the Underworld [Repertoire]
- Mantra – Murda [Sneaker Social Club]
- Drum Cypha – Sepulchral [7th Storey Projects]
Welcome back to the 100 Circles project!
For the blog post for vol. 1 I talked a bit about the project which, to recap, looks like this:
The idea is simple: 100 records = 100 circles spinning = split across four mixes, all exploring where modern drum and bass is at …
Putting this one together was a genuinely fun process. I pulled out a huge stack of records = 200-plus = and split it into four piles, one per mix. For this first mix, I took about 40-50 records from that pile and split those again into four smaller, thematic piles: one leaning half-step, one more rolling, one deep and atmospheric, and one tough and aggressive. I built the mix section by section from there, working through each pile in turn. Whatever records were left over got folded back into the piles for the other three mixes.
So for this, the second mix in the series, I literally took the leftovers from the first mix’s pile, added them to the pile for the second mix, and then created the mix from that.
One thing I’ve learned over the many years I’ve been making mixes is that constraints are useful. It’s easier to make a mix from say 50 records than to try to do so from 200 records. In fact, in general it’s easier to make choices when faced with fewer options – this is what Barry Schwartz talked about in his book The Paradox of Choice. This applies in everyday situations and it also applies creatively. Too many possibilities can lead to creative paralysis – it’s easy to just fiddle endlessly, seeking perfection that is always over the horizon!
For this mix, I think the constraints worked really well – I had a pile of records and I decided that I wanted to structure the mix into four roughly equal chunks:
- Halfstep / juke / rhythmically ‘weird’ stuff
- Deeper / atmospheric
- Rollers
- Harder / tougher / more dancefloor stuff
The process of divvying the records up is pretty straightforward, I have my decks set up next to my desk, so while I am working I can listen to stuff and then just toss it on the pile as I make a decision. Then when I’ve worked through the original pile I can then think through each section: what should go where? What’s a coherent flow? What are good ‘hinge’ records between each section?
To give you an insight into how I approach such a task, let me walk you through the mix, section by section.
Section 1: Halfstep / juke / weird stuff
This section is all about bass-heavy, dubby things and weird rhythmic experiments – this is the least ‘trad’ drum n’ bass part of the mix. A lot of the later tunes legitimately could have been released before say 2005, but not these tunes. I’m not so sure that they are as good on the dancefloor as the other tunes, but they are great listening material.
The mix kicks off with ‘Visualize’ by Yoofee on Through These Eyes, a great Berlin-based label from DJ Robyn that sadly closed down a few years back. Through These Eyes was a fantastic label that managed to be interesting, experimental, danceable and fun simultaneously.
After that it goes into ‘The Journey Home’ by Philip D Kick, Om Unit‘s alias for his more footwork-styled tracks (the name is a play on the famous science fiction author Philip K Dick). This one appeared on an EP he made for Fracture’s awesome Astrophonica label. The alias was first used for some amazing footwork-styled refixes of jungle classics, which have recently been remastered and are now available officially for the first time, having previously been samizdat downloads only.
Third up is ‘Boxoff’ by Machinedrum, off his Vapor City Archives album on Ninja Tune. It’s a really interesting track, because it has shuffled footwork style drums underneath his trademark bright synthwork. Machinedrum is a really interesting producer, an American guy who has turned his hand to all kinds of stuff, from producing classic 90’s style house for Harlem rapper Azealia Banks to the whole Vapor City project, which explored a combination of melancholy synths and high tempo beats and was very Berlin in spirit (I think he was living here at the time). More recently he has moved back to the US and has been doing other types of electronic music – his most recent release is BL00MS, out June 2026 on his own relaunched label IAMSIAM, his first purely instrumental album in years, spanning dubstep, UK garage, jungle, and melodic house. A very talented guy!
After that is ‘Flying Disc’ by Es.tereo, who I know absolutely nothing about. It’s on Earthbase, a series Om Unit ran on his main Cosmic Bridge label, and it’s very on brand with the sound he was playing / producing a few years back: very synth forward, bass heavy, and rhythmically interesting. Fifth and sixth are two examples of halfstep, TMSV’s ‘Hunter’ and Amit’s ‘The Hunted’ – sort of like dubstep at 170 bpm, these are creaking, swollen, bass monsters, like Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry wired up on methamphetamine and set loose in a dark industrial building. Tough!
Section 2: Deep and Atmospheric
The next section switches things up to a more melodic / atmospheric vibe, kicking off with ‘Wilderness’ by Dwarde on Tim Reaper’s Future Retro London. Chopped up breaks, dubwise bass, mysterious atmospheres, then giving way to ‘Stay True’ by Law on his own Repertoire Records, a pulsing, melodic roller that marries twinkling synths to a roaring bass line with a soaring female vocal sample over the top.
Track nine is ‘Adventures in Perception’ by Dutch producer Coco Bryce, which was featured on the first ‘Blunted Breaks’ compilation by Bristol label Western Lore. Sci-fi atmospheres over tumbling breakbeats, which segue smoothly into ‘Under the Ice’ by drum n’ bass veteran J Majik on his own Infrared label. J Majik produced some of the biggest Metalheadz anthems in the mid-90’s as a teenager. I think he was only like 15 or 16 when he made ‘Your Sound’!
Track 11 is ‘Soul Feeling’ by Dub-One on Scientific Wax, Equinox’s label. One thing I’ve always enjoyed about Scientific Wax is that even though they specialize in the most insane and hard-hitting Amen workouts they always include some more mellow tunes on the b-side. This is a great example – tricky drums, a little vocoder album, a horn sample. Fun!
The deeper section then wraps up with Tim Reaper’s ‘The Tranquility Track’, which came out on Blu Mar Ten’s self-titled label. It’s a classic bit of atmospheric drum n’ bass – rolling breaks, soulful female vocal, luscious keys, funky bassline. Great tune!
Section 3: Rollers
The third section is all about the roller! If you’re not familiar, a roller in drum n’ bass is about a track that just rolls and rolls – not too chopped-up or crazy rhythmically, just beats and bass moving in harmony. Great music to dance to, to get lost in.
The section kicks off with the Vibez 93 bootleg of the West Coast hip-hop classic ‘93 Til Infinity‘ by Souls of Mischief. I don’t know much about Vibez 93 but they killed this one. If you’re listening, you will hear how seamlessly this slides right into the next track, ‘Little Dubplate’ by Jubei, which came out on D-Bridge’s Exit Records. This then slides very cleanly into ‘Hung Up’ by Digital & Response on Digital’s own Function Records. One great thing about rollers is how easy they are to mix, you can build really smooth and interesting mixes between them and just dip in and out.
Next up is ‘Blaze In’ by Italian producer Enjoy, which was on the Defender II compilation on AKO Major Defence – the first Defender was on AKO150, and both are sublabels of AKO Beatz. AKO Beatz, run by DJ Stretch, has been one of the best labels of the jungle revival and it’s long been a plan to put together a good tribute mix – in fact I could easily do like 3 or 4!
Next up is ‘Box of Delights’ by Sonar’s Ghost, which was a limited edition lathe cut dubplate on my friend Vali NME Click’s Paradubs, the Parallax Recordings sublabel for lathe cut dubplates. This is a nice, smooth roller, very distinct from the tearout monster that is on the flipside, and it’s a nice contrast when it switches up to ‘Kalibrate’ by J:Kenzo on the flip, a nice slice of slamming dnb on Metalheadz. J:Kenzo is one of my favorite producers, a real wizard with both dubstep and drum n’ bass, and I’m very excited to be playing on the same bill as him at Void on October 3, 2026.
Section 4: Full Force Dancefloor Tunes
The final section is where things get really tough. First up is ‘Nothing Else’ by Forest Drive West on Rupture. This kind of takes some time to get going, and is a bit deceptive, because when the second drop brings the amen drums tearing in, it’s a real face-ripper.
But that’s just the preview, because then things get really spicy, with the trio of ‘Scorched Earth (Side B1)’ by Tim Reaper, ‘Werk’ by Sully, and ‘Lickshot’ by Tim Reaper & Fracture. These are some of the biggest tunes of the last couple years and so this is me just shamelessly anthem hammering. But it’s so good! These tunes work so well together!
Finally, to round things off, the last three tunes are just out and out Amen monsters, from Finland’s DJ Sofa (‘Ferry to the Underworld’), Rupture LDN’s Mantra (‘Murda’), and Drum Cypha’s incredible ‘Sepulchral’. Just take no prisoners music.
That’s it! All in all I think it’s a great mix and I’m really happy with how it’s turned out.