Saturday Jan 23rd 2010 Archive

Last Saturday I got into week 2 of a review of the best beats of 2009. More D&B for your ears and we also checked out what was happening between 130 & 140 bpm last year (quite alot actually!)

The D&B hour opens with one of the most cinematic pieces the genre has produced in recent times. Sabre arranges the strings and the beats with an equally deft touch on “One Man Jettison”. Also featured is young Russian Bop, who’s brand of glitch-n-bass has brought a new colour to the still expanding D&B palette. Next into the fray are Estonia’s Paranoid Society representing the Modern Urban Jazz label with some experimental sounds and one of the most infectious basslines of the year on “Reversed Water Streams”. Polar made his return to the scene in 2009 and “High Voltage” was one of the highlights of his album project on the Warm Communications imprint. Following up, Holland’s Infest brings the ghost of mid-nineties LTJ Bukem to life with his aptly titled “Day In Pictures”. Then the mix launches into five dancefloor assaults by Jubei & Cern, Sumone, Mindmapper, Andy Skopes & Fanu – high octane, energetic beats aplenty! Soul Intent calms the storm with the crystalline melodies of “Bro” and maybe the most talked about name in D&B last year, Instra:Mental follow with the gloomy yet funky “No Future”. Breakbeat mutilators, Macc & dgoHn crash into the mix with “Mustard Greens” a track that’s wistful and berserk in equal proportions. Anyone that’s short of cash and in need of some new beats will like “Concentration” by Stranjah – quality beats and bass with a lovely looped guitar hook, available for free right now from Digibeat Music. It’s only recently that Seba has been getting the admiration he has always deserved from the D&B scene at large but when you’re capable of tunes like “Dangerous Days”, people can only ignore you for so long! – this is a contender for tune of the year! Vangelis samples soar while the beats pound and the bass detonates. The drop after the final breakdown sums up everything good about D&B really. Finishing the mix is a young producer called Nebula, who, despite being way too young to remember the early nineties beats of producers like Photek, Dillinja, Source Direct or DJ Crystl, seems to be heavily influenced by their productions. D&B is generally concerned with the next sound or the next style, it’s nice to hear someone just concentrating on creating a vibe and a feeling and letting others worry about being the ‘next-level’. “Destiny”, you’ve heard it before? Don’t worry, it’s okay if it’s as good as this !

Last week in hour 2, we took beats from 120-130 bpm, this week we continue where we left off and work our way upto 140 – a bpm range dominated by Dubstep at the moment. There were lots of good releases in the genre this year but what has become interesting is the music being made that is slightly slower and is (for now at least!) in some kind of genre grey-area. Listen to the opener by Taho (remixed by Berlin’s Shed), Martyn’s “Megadrive Generation”, Millie’s “Temper Tantrum”, or Kode 9’s “Black Sun for instance. Also the heavily Techno influenced Dubstep of Anstam (featured here) and Scuba (not featured here) is a sound I’d like to hear more of this year. Shackleton’s percussive sound is another distinctive one and his “Three Ep’s” album was a definite highlight of the year. Skream delivered one of the most epic dancefloor bangers of the 2009 with the anthemic brass, synth & string combination of “Trapped In A Dark Bubble”. It’s followed in the mix by Pangaea’s “Bear Witness” on the Hotflush label – what a bassline groove! Kryptic Minds is well known for his collaborations with Leon Switch on the D&B tip but he went solo for an album called “One Of Us” and the dark n nasty “Chosen Few” was one of my favourite’s from the CD. And then to maybe my absolute favourite Dubstep tune of the year. I didn’t hear much hype about this guy Scanone at all but this ‘Minotaur’ track is mindblowing! Crisp, jungle-influenced percussion and an incessant bubbling synth sound really get inside your head but it’s really the arrangement that makes this track – constantly switching a changing focus it’s a rollercoaster ride that you’ll never want to get off ! Martyn’s debut album arrived last year and though maybe not quite as good as I was hoping it would be, it is a strong release – “Right? Star!” is a dubstep-meets old school rave tune that could be the best thing on it – good vibes! It was a quiet year from Headhunter (one of my favourite Dubsteppers) but he did find the time to remix Moderat’s “A New Error” and did a very good job. 2562 delivered his second album under the moniker just a few months ago. Some amazing moments on the long player but I don’t think it gets any better than the echoed, filtered and flipped samples of “Dinosaur”, blinding! Instra:Mental can do no wrong it seems and they feature in both hour 1 and hour 2 of this show, “Forbidden” shows they are comfortable at a range of tempos. Pinch enters the fray with the brillantly (and aptly) titled “Attack Of The Giant Killer Robot Spiders”. The mechanical crawl of the beats in this will have you expecting visitors from the speakers! The mix ends with two dubstep track heavily influenced by the sounds of classic Detroit Techno. Marcus Intalex is probably better known for his D&B productions but delivers a nice wistful dubstepper with “Debbit”. Peverelist’s “Esperanto” is the parting blast and what an anthem! Taken from his very recently released “Jarvik Mindstate” album, it’s a very fitting end and hopefully a sign of what’s to come this year!



Future Beats with Code on Spin South West FM (Ireland) – Saturday Jan 23rd 2010

Download or Stream Part 1 —> http://www.divshare.com/download/10319975-9fc

Download or Stream Part 2 —> http://www.divshare.com/download/10319976-641



Part 1:
“One Man Jettison” – Sabre // Darkestral
“Nothing Makes Any Sense” – Bop // Med School
“Reversed Water Streams” – Paranoid Society // Modern Urban Jazz
“High Voltage” – Polar // Warm Communications
“The Day In Pictures” – Infest // Outsider
“Black Hole” – Jubei & Cern // Ingredients
“Sad Spirits Meditation” – Sumone // Planet Mu
“Machinator” – Mindmapper // Breakfast Audio
“Let’s Try Again” – Andy Skopes // Uncertified
“Poltergeist” – Fanu // Lightless
“Bro” – Soul Intent // Blindside
“No Future” – Instra:Mental // Non Plus+
“Mustard Greens” – Macc & dgoHn // Subtle Audio
“Concentration” – Stranjah // Digibeat Music
“Dangerous Days” – Seba // Warm Communications
“Destiny” – Nebula // Scientific Wax Retro

Part 2:
“Energy Fields” (Shed’s Ride Disturbance Mix) – Taho // Delsin
“Megadrive Generation” – Martyn // Hyperdub
“Temper Tantrum” – Andrea // Daphne
“Black Sun” – Kode 9 // Hyperdub
“Cree (B)” – Anstam // Anstam
“(No More) Negative Thoughts” – Shackleton // Perlon
“Trapped In A Dark Bubble” – Skream // Tectonic
“Bear Witness” – Pangaea // Hotflush
“Chosen Few” – Kryptic Minds // Swamp 81
“Minotaur” – Scanone // Yellow Machines
“Right? Star!” – Martyn // 3024
“A New Error” (Headhunter Remix) – Moderat // Fifty Weapons
“Dinosaur” – 2562 // Tectonic
“Forbidden” – Instra:Mental // Applepips
“Attack Of The Giant Killer Robot Spiders!” – Pinch // Planet Mu
“Debbit” – Marcus Intalex // Revolve:r
“Esperanto” – Peverelist // Punch Drunk

~ by codefuturebeats on January 30, 2010.