Boom! Happy Sunday!
Here’s some excellent new school jungle sounds from Brooklyn/Toronto label Liondub. This Street Series of releases really capture the essence of classic jungle while still remaining modern and not slavishly imitating the sounds of 20 years ago. Drum n’ bass has really had a renaissance over the last couple of years, and it’s great to hear so many producers drawing inspiration from the past in order to move the music forward.
Enjoy!
Happy Friday!
This week’s edition of Freeform Friday is all about celebrating those classic bits of freeform that never saw wax, for whatever reason. Some have since emerged as free MP3’s (never quite the same thing), some remain in limbo, and some, well, seem to be lost forever.
I’ll start with two tracks from Sharkey’s mix on Bonkers 3, which was, imo, perhaps the single best edition in that hallowed series.
One thing I’ve been listening to a little bit on YouTube recently is quote-unquote drill music, Chicago’s take on the trap sound. Basically, it’s heavy 808 bass, moody atmospherics, crispy snares, and rapping about shooting people (i.e. the usual gangster rap staples). I’ve never been someone who cares about lyrics, so the ultra-violent lyrical content basically makes no impression on me (I mean, I hardly pay attention to it). Having said that, I’m obviously not the target audience for the music, being as I am from a very different background to the guys making this music.
Most of the commentary about the music that I’ve read talks about the lyrics, the rappers, and the connections to the very high crime rates on Chicago’s poorer South and West Sides (Chicago has some of the roughest neighborhoods in America). Which I guess is fair enough, that’s what a lot of musical journalism about – placing music in a socio-political context, exploring the urban reality, blah blah blah. But I’m not a music journalist, so for me what’s interesting about the music is not the lyrics, but the music, which BANGS. As a long-term fan of really bass-heavy electronic music, some of these productions are just fucking excellent (if sometimes sadly featuring the horrors of autotune).
One thing for me that’s interesting about this is that this is the first time I can think of that Chicago has become a major rap city – obviously it’s electronic music heritage is well-established, from house to acid to ghetto house and on to juke, but besides individual stars like Kanye West it’s not really been a major city for rap music in America. Something that has obviously changed now.
Anyways, some of these tunes are pretty cool. Here’s four I’ve picked out for you to check:
One of the great bonuses of the existence of Discogs and YouTube is that you can use the two services to discover all kinds of amazing music.
Case in point: DJ Dub Rush. The other day I was casually going through a Discogs seller’s list of available ’94 jungle and adding items to my cart (no joke, I have like 100 items in my Discogs cart at any given moment), when I discovered a rather pricey item by someone called DJ Dub Rush.
Look, I consider myself reasonably well informed about jungle, but I’ve never heard of this guy.
So, interest piqued by the combo of stiff price tag and obscure artist name, off to YouTube I went, eager to have a listen.
Whoa …
Damn, this guy made some SERIOUS tunes.
I mean really. Some of the finest jungle I’ve heard. Full stop.
Yet funnily enough, almost no info on this guy exists online – a very cursory Google search found only one post from Blog to the Old Skool. Still, it doesn’t matter, because these tunes are so insanely excellent.
If you’ve been hanging around these parts for a while you’ll know that I love Metalheadz, particularly their mid-90’s golden age.
Although those days can’t ever be adequately recaptured, what’s cool is that they are still soldiering on all these years later and, in my humble opinion, have hit a real purple patch of quality music recently. This is that classic technical Metalheadz sound updated for a new era – pure machine music for dark sweaty rooms. So this edition of Sunday Sounds is all about celebrating the modern Metalheadz sound … here are five killer tracks from Dom & Roland, Om Unit, Jubei, Mikal, and Artificial Intelligence. Enjoy!
Happy Friday! I’m very happy to announce that I am starting a new feature, Freeform Friday, which will (when I get around to doing it!) feature freeform mixes and tracks, new and old.
To kick things off, here’s Beezee vs Alderz from last week’s edition of the Freeformaniacs show
Tracklisting:
Carbon Based – Ancestor (170 Mix)
Pearsall – Dreaming Of Berlin
Substanced – Crank Cleopatra (2012 Mix)
Transcend – Universe
Nomic – Rule Breaker
DJ RX – Hellfire (Betwixt & Between Remix)
Narkotik – The Fucking Shit
Alchemiist – Empire
Le Dos On – Sanctuary
Twisted Frequency – Innocence (AMS remix)
Nightforce – Second Redemption 09
Re-Form – My Sickness
Happy Sunday!
Three bits of site news first, then some music. As of today I’ve decided to change the Sunday Sounds format to post newer stuff I dig, with Tuesday Time Machine reserved for older stuff.
Now that that’s out of the way, here are four deeper tunes from Om Unit, Kromestar & Jay 5ive, Actress, and Anton F for your Sunday. I’ve been listening to a lot of these sorts of tunes recently – I guess I’m getting old and a bit more relaxed, but they do make excellent commuting and working music.
right-click, save as to download this free mp3 mix
Cover by Woofy
Mixed in Berlin, November 2013
(115:58, 265 MB, 320 kbps MP3)
Zip file (split into separate tracks)
Big cover
Cue file
Style: Freeform Hardcore – The Best of 2013!
right-click, save as to download your free mp3 mix
Mixed in London, April 2013
(72:15, 170 MB, 320 kbps MP3)
Zip file (split into separate tracks)
Big cover
Cue file
Style: Bass Music vibes, from house to techno to electro!
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:
“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!
