Category: Features

Dusk on the Thames, Wandsworth Park, London

This week’s Tuesday Time Machine looks back to some of the sweeter sounds of drum n’ bass from LTJ Bukem’s Good Looking camp:

Blu Mar Ten – Futureproof

Seba & Lo Tek – So Long

“So Long” is one of the deepest tracks you will ever hear. I agree 100% that this is the sort of tune to listen to in the dark by yourself. Stunning. I can confidently say that I will listen to this tune for the rest of my life. The way the amen slowly fades in and joins the other two breaks is incredible, and the atmosphere created in this track is unrivalled. Along with tracks such as photek – “rings around saturn”, and goldie – “sea of tears”, “so long” is an example of how powerful drum & bass can be. – jasonjohnson

If more people were aware that this kind of drum ‘n bass existed, it’d have a far greater following. One of, if not the most beautiful pieces of electronic music to have ever been created, ‘So Long’ just blew me away the first time I heard it and even now, sixteen years later, it still gets heavy rotation. Nothing else really comes close to this track in terms of depth, emotion, structure, in fact in every aspect. The kind of record that would make similar producers want to hang up their headphones and give it up. Completely essential drum ‘n bass. – philfunkyness

Possibly the best drum and bass record ever. Anyone who knows how drum & bass developed in the 90’s when Bukem was at the top of his game and labels like Good Looking/Looking Good were bringing out tunes that actually formed a genre will know how pivotal this tune is. If you like this type of d&b and you dont own anything else on this label then at least own this. A perfect tune. My ‘desert island disc’ of drum & bass. – tomjameswray

Aquarius & Tayla – Soul Searching

What a killer release from Danny Bukem’s Good Looking imprint… As many of you may or may not know, Aquarius is Rupert Parks’ other alias to his more common psuedonum Photek. And Tayla is man that has been there from the very beginning (check his Bang the Drums track out) and so needs no introduction. No wonder then that both these tracks still send rushes up my spine…

First up is Bringing Me Down… A track that starts off with a nice little break beat edit (that just paves the way for what’s to come) and has a whale/dolphin sample overlaid to it (something heard also on Aquarius’ Drift To The Center). This then drops into one of the most lush D&B synth lines that has the title vocal Bringing Me Down repeated. Then it drops… And this is where the breaks that only Photek and Talya can program really get flowing. Typical Aquarius and Tayla attention to detail, attention that really makes this track gleam with feeling, as it jitters into break downs and build ups. What an anthem… Still remember hearing this being played all over the city from summer 1994 onwards, while vainly searching for it down at Black Market, in Soho OR Total Music, in Bethnal Green.

On the flip is Soul Searching, another Classic that rocked me out there at Speed and Tempo, and just shows what can be done with the Amen break. Lovely intro with a lush drone, overlaid with a little catchy melody and a woman’s deep breath. Then pure Amen heaven… What killer edits! Done in a fashion that only Talya and Photek know how to do: pure grooved out, dicey chops that keep it interesting and rolling out to the end…

All in all, these two tracks complete a timeless release that beautifully sums up Good Looking’s vibe at the time… Lush, heady with spinning break beats, and totally danceable. If there was just one release on Danny Bukem’s label that you had to listen to, it would be this…

What more can I say other than Bukem Dan-O… – karlrichard

On a slightly different tip, my Cold World mix is finally on Soundcloud … enjoy!

One of the projects I am working on at the moment is the tenth edition of my Drop The Hammer series of crate-digging mixes. For the tenth edition I am utilizing a concept I got from the /r/realdubstep subreddit a while back – a mix composed entirely of dubstep remixes (one of their other ideas, of dubstep white labels, is something that I am saving for the future). In the end, I’ve picked twenty tracks for this mix, but in the process I ended up discarding a whole bunch of great tunes, because they didn’t quite fit the flow of the mix and there was no logical place to include them. This happens with every mix I do.

So, for today’s edition of the Tuesday Time Machine, here are three choice ‘leftovers’:

The Body Snatchers – I Like What I See (Joker Remix) (Passenger)

First up is this awesome remix from Bristol’s purple maestro, Joker. The original might be a fairly straight-forward fidget house tune, but this remix is all brightly-colored synth squiggles, cavernous drums and pulsating bass. Probably one of his lesser-known productions, but still a fine piece of work.

Pinch – Get Up ft Yolanda (RSD Remix) (Tectonic)

Secondly we have RSD taking on ‘Get Up’, which originally featured on Pinch’s (excellent) album Underwater Dancehall. RSD, for those of you who are unaware, is the dubstep alias of Bristol music legend Rob Smith, best known as one half of Smith & Mighty. Rob Smith is one of the longest-serving members of the Bristol scene, having been involved in production since the 80’s, and having released everything from dub to hip-hop to jungle and beyond. I’m personally a big fan of his dubstep output as RSD – always rhythmically complex, danceable, fun music. This tune is a particularly joyous example of his sound.

Juju – Half Ounce (Tes La Rok Remix) (NarcoHz)

Finally, there’s this tough remix from Finnish dubstepper Tes La Rok of the Colombian San Franciscan dj/producer Juju. Actually, think about that for a second – this is a Finnish guy remixing a Colombian guy doing a style of music that had only emerged from London a few years earlier. Dubstep was definitely the first stop on the nuum where the internet allowed people around the world to get involved right from the start. By comparison, it took years for drum n’ bass to go truly, unambiguously global.

This is a fine example of the minimal, dark side of dubstep – this remix doesn’t really do all that much, but what it does, it does well.

Evening! Here’s a new feature I’ll be doing from now on (hopefully) … the Tuesday Time Machine!

Every Tuesday I will reach into my record shelves and pull out one vintage tune from yester-year to share with you, and briefly rabbit on about.

To kick things off, here’s ‘Energy’ by The Two G’s, a 1995 collaboration from two of the absolute pioneers of drum n’ bass music, Goldie and A Guy Called Gerald. Originally released on Gerald’s Juice Box label, this tune was also later released in an extended form on Gerald’s trailblazing album Black Secret Technology, which was one of the first serious drum n’ bass artist albums – I can’t quite remember if it was literally the first, or whether that honor goes to 4 Hero’s Parallel Universe or not, but in any case it was well ahead of its time!

Lesser-known than Goldie’s own Timeless, I’ve always had a soft spot for Black Secret Technology, since it was one of the first drum n’ bass cd’s I ever bought – as well as for the obvious reason that it is absolutely brilliant! The album has sadly become a bit of an obscurity over the years, so if you’re a new school drum n’ bass fan who wants to learn more about the roots of the sound, I seriously cannot recommend highly enough picking it up if you chance across it. Wonderful album.

Every album has it’s standouts, though, and ‘Energy’, for me, was and is the highlight of Black Secret Technology. To my knowledge this tune (and its flipside ‘The Reno’) represent the only tunes that Goldie and Gerald made together, which is a shame, because this track is an absolutely gorgeous hybrid of their two distinct styles, with intricate drum programming and solid bass thumps offset by swirling pads and a lovely little vocal snippet.

This is music equally at home on the dancefloor and in your headphones.