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.
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
Crossing over to the Soulful side of the street for this one with Heron Flow, Seba, and Calibre all stepping up. We have a couple of tracks from Soul Connection’s latest LP – Possibilities which is well worth a listen. And we’ve also got the very under-rated Riya & Collette Warren on their own Carnelian imprint with a Bladerunner remix of their track Vices and a Vanguard Project re-rub of Little Things.
Also keep an ear out from one of my favourite artists, Adred on Inperspective Records with his killer track Just Now featuring the one and only Robert Manos. And last but not least the return of Badmarsh & Shri through Calibre’s remix of their track Signs which dropped on Signature recently.
Winslow – Sweet Tooth Dub Head – In My Mind PeRex – For Love Creatures – Desire Seba – Public Beauty (Zero T’s Ugly Mix) T.Base – Take You (Silentium Remix) Heron Flow – Snow Soul Connection & AKA – No Pressure Soul Connection – Break of Dawn Artificial Intelligence – No Fun Quartz – Way Back Riya & Collette Warren feat. Whiney – Vices (Bladerunner Remix) Calibre – Soul 80 Sully & Salo – Nights (Vocal Mix) Riya & Collette Warren feat. Technimatic – Little Things (The Vanguard Project Remix) Anja – One Time (Euphorics Remix) Adred feat. Robert Manos – Just Now Break feat. Lorna King – Wait for You Badmarsh & Shri – Signs (Calibre Remix) The North Quarter All Stars – Never The Sauce – Time Must Come
