One funny thing about drum'n'bass is the fact that you can use nice words such as "disgusting" to describe a track in a positive way. "Disgusting" is exactly the first word that comes to mind about Chris Octane's first solo release on his own label CO Recordings.
Smartest of you readers might have already figured out that Chris is one half of the drum'n'bass duo Octane & DLR, who released an album called "Method in the Madness" last year, and also have a nice back catalogue of singles on various labels, most of them on Dispatch Recordings.
After the album the duo made an artistic decision to part ways and go solo, and now here we have an example what Octane is able to do when he's in the studio by himself.
The technical production values and attention paid to small details are high, which shouldn't come as a surprise. Synthetics is disgusting. It's filthy. It's a dirty and massive piece of modern techstep with a steppy beat, slick and tricky edits and fills, and a huge bass, which will cause some nasty bassfaces. Guaranteed to destroy a dancefloor. In a good way, of course.
The flipside "Gaia's Dub" on the other hand is completely different, and in my opinion the more interesting track on this release. It reminds me of one of my favourite producers ever, Tipper, and his glitch hop stuff. It's bass heavy, but once again has all these tiny details in the sound design department, and really has some depth in the sound and is definitely not an in-your-face track like Synthetics.
The single is out today on monday the 6th of May. There will be more releases lined up for the label later this year, and also some collaborations. I'm definitely going to keep my eyes and ears open for what Octane has to offer us in the future. This release is definitely a good start.
Here's a brand new album from MJAZZ, a label that has been around "for a while". As the name suggests, the album is about the golden era of drum'n'bass, but with a modern approach. Some tunes in this album are actually from 90's, but many of the tracks are brand new and written specifically for this LP project, but with mid 90's drum'n'bass in mind.
The album contains tunes from the label boss Justice, and also from guys like Metro, Cuelock, Jason Os, Paranoid Society and many more, and you can check the clips from the soundcloud player below.
The CD album is limited to 50 pieces only, with each CD and sleeve hand sprayed and finished with unique artwork, and the package also contains the arrow stencil used in production of CD and stickers. Get your copy from Surus before it's sold out. And obviously you can get the digital audio files from any good shops.
Here's the 2nd installment of Black Plastics ep series of previously unreleased tunes by ze german bleepmeister herr Martsman. Check it out. Make sure you check out the first part too if you haven't yet. You can get the tunes with 4 euros, but if you are a good person you can pay more than that too if you want to.
About a month ago I wrote a post about Martsman's plans to release some previously unreleased tracks his bandcamp site . The first batch is now (or actually since monday) available for purchase and while listening to the tunes you can also check out an interview he did with kmag couple of weeks ago.
The next parts of the series will be released in September and October, and there may be even more after that.
I recently made a mixtape for Hustle Audio podcast to promote the release of a four track EP by me and Infader which will be released on the same label on 23rd of July. The mix itself is quite different from the ones I've been making for our podcast, as I wanted to make a bit darker, heavier and more energetic mix. There are some fresh bits I've been feeling lately and some old favourites of mine. And some tunes from myself as well. File under: Techstep / Neurofunk.
Listen to the mix and the clips of the ep from the players below, and click read more to check the full tracklist. Check out the previous podcast episodes on Hustle Audio's podomatic site or iTunes.
I will be also playing in Tampere next week on 27th of July at a Hustle Audio label night @ BistroClub10. You can expect me to play stuff like this, and some other stuff too. Check the event on Facebook for more information
The Amazing Adventures Of One Curious Pixel is the name of Bop's second album, which is a follow up for his excellent debut album Clear Your Mind which was released two years ago. It's about time I say. Check out the clips from the Soundcloud player before and/or the minimix on youtube.
Release date is May 30th, and it's already available for preorder at Hospital Shop
Fracture and Neptune have been working on their sound for 11 years now, and to celebrate that they have compiled a retrospective album to showcase what they have been doing together. It's a 18 track digital album with all the tunes digitally remastered by Bob Macc and contains some classic F&N tracks like Too Doggone Funky, Colemanism and their first release, Deadlands as well as some previously unreleased and some brand new beats.
The original track, which we already heard in his mix, is a rather deep and chilled track with a subtle drum programming, I kind of feel tempted to say minimal but I refuse to use that word.
In the remix Mineral has taken a darker and more energetic route. With a growling bassline, a boymerang breakbeat and scifi synths the remix almost sounds like early Teebee releases. That's not exactly a bad thing.
You can check the tunes from the Soundcloud players below or from Juno Download where you can also buy the release.
Lightless Digital, the digital offshoot of Fanu's label Lightless kicks off today with its first release, a 5 track ep from Dak. We at Science thought it would be a good idea to sit down and have a chat about Dak, his music and his methods in the studio. Check the previews of the ep below, view the full article to see the full interview.
Hospital Records' always so very nice sister label Med School Music are about to release a sequel to the New Blood 010 compilation album which they released approximately a year ago. That album introduced us guys like Enei, Stray and Joe Syntax, and also ended up getting good recognition outside the usual drum'n'bass listener base.
The limited advance vinyl copies of the new album, titled New Blood 011 are already in the Hospital Shop and features tracks from new and not-so-new producers like Anile, Eleven8, Flame, Furi Anga, and Nuage. Preview tracks are dropping on the Med School website every monday until the release date, which is march 28th.
