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| 6
not worth it |
Here's a surprisingly fine quality Drum n Bass album coming from the US. This CD is good in a way that the material on this one surpasses my expectations of United States DnB, such as stuff from Jungle Sky. I never liked much of it. But this one is not too bad. "Kah", "Jade", and "Sleepers" comes off really strong, with Omni Trio type smooth DnB. "Jade" has a female vocal and is my favorite track on the CD. I think female vocal on smooth DnB really makes a song shine; i.e. "Universal Love" by 4 Heroes. The rest of the CD is not much to talk about. Although he does make a shot at techstep on track "Discipline", synth sample used on this one is too trying and ends up sounding part like a happy hardcore. It could have been a lot better, the beats on the track is great. The next few tracks to follow ARE dark, but their beats are too held back. |
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| 4
forget it |
DJ Soul Slinger is probably the best known Drum n Bass artists coming out of US right now. But to my surprise(and big let down), his full-length from Jungle Sky camp blows. The music is just mediocre, with not much creativity, and unlike DJ Dara, not much quality neither. His title song; "Don't Believe" is probably the best track. It is reminiscent of the old Jungle tracks when ragga flavored DnB was the shit. It has great bassline, and has a live ragga vocalist. But the track is beating on the dead sheep. "Masterplan" is a collaboration between DJ Walley and Soul. It is a triphop track and it is nice. Although I haven't heard DJ Walley's new material, I've heard his "Space People" track and it's fantastic. He just maybe one of the best artists to come out of the US. "Abducted [187 remix]" is the only track on the CD that takes a shot at techstep, but it fails miserably. It has almost exactly the same beat from Ed Rush's "Technology", but with crappy happy hardcorish sample. This track could also have worked out(maybe) if it went for more darker style sample. Skip on this one unless you are looking for some headaches. |
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| 10
highly recommended |
Here comes the man with that funky breaks. It's Fatboy Slim and he is the man of the hour. After many appearance on various compilations, this man had people drooling over full-length. You think Daft Punk has funk? Wait 'til you hear this one. Start to finish, the funk never stops with totally funky breaks with various unique samples thrown in. It's a domestic release and even has 2 extra tracks unavailable in UK release. The CD starts off with "Song for Lindy", a track that's heavy with mechanical synthe(ie Crystal Method), yet very warm sounding. "Going out of my head" is my fave on this one. It uses guitar samples as its main artillery, and has a really funky fucked up vocal sample over it, very melodically well done. Slim lays slow on the track "The weekend starts here", which has Funkadelic type of synthe over slow hardcore break. "Everybody needs a 303" comes off really funky with a lot of 303, a few well placed guitar samples, and deep-bass. Another highlight. Slim lets the funky breaks really shine on "Give the po' man a break" and "Punk to Funk". I've heard that Slim made the track "Michael Jackson", one of the bonus track, because he despised him for doing everything wrong with the power that he once had, and now that he's screwed. So the song ends with a boy saying "Michael Jackson, look what you've done". "Next to nothing", the other bonus track, is amazing. This track is different from the others on the CD. It is very spacy without any guitar samples, and has faster and cleaner beat. It becomes pretty evident that Slim's roots in all this is house music. He has a sort of sound in his music that house music has. But that is just a small part, with his funky breaks and samples, the formulated outcome is explosive. Especially on dancefloor. |
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| 9
recommended |
Modus Operandi is officially the first full length from the drum n bass master, released domestically in the US from Astralwerks. ASW has been releasing many monster full lengths recently, and now this; more finest drum n bass from Photek. The CD starts off with "The Hidden Camera", a track that a few claims is the best work of the artist. I have hard time agreeing with that idea because all tracks from Photek sounds so original that it can't be compared. The few tracks to follow are more upbeat; "Smoke Rings" uses some of the drum samples from "Ni Ten Ichi Ryu"(which isn't included here, BTW. I believe this is to attract people to purchase his EP, "Risk vs. Reward" which was released a month ago). On the tracks "124" and "Axiom" instead of his usual hard snare, this track is more down tempo, very ambientish. "Trans 7" is much like "The Hidden Camera [static mix]". "Modus Operandi" has a very jazzy, but menacing beat, with great bassline. It sounds as though Nightmare on Wax and Photek came together. A very fine track. "The Fifth Column" from the "Ni Ten Ichi Ryu" EP makes appearance at the end. If you liked "Ni Ten Ichi Ryu", you'll dig this track. If you liked the "Risk vs. Reward", this one is a must have. It's just more fine DnB from Photek, nothing more. Don't' expect to find something out of his format on this one. Then again, his usual format is probably what most people are looking for from Photek. |
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| 10
highly recommended |
Luke Vibert aka Wax Doctor aka Plug hit us off big time with Big Soup. This CD is filled with very fine selection of Triphop and DnB tunez. (even some darker ones, too) This is one of those CDs that you can't give the best track off of the CD until you listen to them for many countless times. The CD is just filled with good tracks throughout. On tracks like "No Turn Unstoned" and "Music called Jazz", Luke drops a hardcore, Eastcoast oldschool hiphop beats over warm sounding samples; a beautiful slamming formula. They remind me of times when Beatnuts first came out. (yeah, I was also into hiphop back then, not just techno like now) "Am I still dreaming?" is a hard hitting triphop track with spacy samples and really dark bassline, and has samples from 60's movies. It's totally out of control and my current favorite track. On "2001 Beats", Luke goes into Plug mode and drops a beautiful Drum n Bass track. What's so good about this CD is that Luke doesn't let you down with tracks that are too quite and doesn't rock. Instead he continuously hits you off with upbeat tracks after another, with his trademark warm sounding samples. This one is a must for all Drum n Bass&Triphop heads. It's well worth the import price. |
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| 9
recommended |
Madness, total madness. While Aphex Twin's Richard D. James album's been selling like hotcakes thanks to his popularity, he had a fair share of critics including me. My main complaint is that RDJ didn't explore deep enough. His songs went in and went out, without giving me too much chance to get into the tunes. Also, beats were too shallow. Well, a lot has happened since then. Squarepusher has released EPs & LP, making this experimental kind of Drum n Bass sound concrete as genre of its own. (I think it's called "drill n bass") There are so many fine tracks to look out for on this CD. On "Hasty Boom Alert", he lets a crazy drilling rhythm go over a soothing, sad sounding synthe. A refreshing combination. My surprise came at "Approaching to Menace". What do you know? It's a Techstep track! This track actually has great breaks which he changes all around, over a dark, menacing mech pulse which he screws around with EQs. Rotation on the dancefloor is manageable. "Secret Stair PT. 1" is another one to lookout for. It starts out with chilling orchestral sound with really nice melody, and all of a sudden drums kick in taking the song out there. If you've been dying for more Aphex Twin type of sound, or you've been wanting to get your hands on some of Squarepusher's material but been out of reach, get this one first instead. Lots of great materials can be heard here. |
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| 7
maybe |
Here's a release from Renegade Hardware; a label known for making excellent techstep tunez. Tracks 1 - 4 is exlcusive to this CD. Paradox has a excellent track "A Certain Sound [Remix]". The remix is a lot more slower and quieter, with no rough edges. I like the original better. Tracks by Future Force Inc's "The Killer" is also a slow track. Not much special about it. "Natural Auras" by Monochrome is pretty much stuff you've heard from Logical Progression. Jazzy, ambient DnB; boring. The real beef, at least to me, comes from Paradox on track "Some kind of Illusion" It's a really chilling, sci-fi track with some FBI type guy saying "Whatever you saw, must've been a some kind of illusion" and a lady talking back "Noo, you've got to believe me..." And the beat is pretty amazing, too. This track's a killer. But overall, I'm not too impressed. I was expecting a more upbeat tracks from RH, but what I got was quiet, and sometimes even jazzy tracks. That's been overdone in the past. It's not a very good value either, with only 7 tracks at import price. |
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| 9
recommended |
This CD is more like a sampler than an album. It is domestically released, and you can even get it as a freebee for 1-year subscription to US version of MixMag. But included here are some of the finest sounds of DnB, especially from the dark-stepper's point of view. Ed Rush & Fierce of the No U-Turn camp drops a track named "Locust", which is actually a remix of "Proton". This track is just as hard, but is more on the clean side. Boymerang has a track from his album, Balance of the force, called "Still" and it is one of the hardest track off of his album. (next to "You like it like that") The best track IMO is John B's "Secrets". It is an amazing 9-minute techstepper, with layers of hard breaks and clean, menacing samples. It is reminiscent of the very best moments from the No U-Turn sounds. On the down side is 3 included tracks from Grooverider. All except for "Warned" sounds old with very tired beats, and too light. "Warned" is a decent track, but compared to others on the CD, it still fails to excite. Overall, this CD is one of the best techstep album released on the US domestic side. |
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Yes that's right. Renegade Hardware material released domestically! And yep, it's 2CD set finely mixed by DJ Dara. I don't see any reason why that's not enough to just go out and buy it, but OK here's the beef on what's included. The CD A is what this release is all about: stuff
from R. Hardware. CD B is all Renegade, which are more smoothed-out
jazzy DnB. The CD A doesn't get much better. Most tracks are
excellent and hard techstep tunez. "Flash Gordon" by FF inc has a
nerve soothing synthe going under a hard breaks and has few samples from
NWA's classic gangster shit. Then DJ Dara mixes it nicely with my absolute
favorite tune of all at the moment "Neitherworld". The track first
starts off with smoothing synthe with really bass heavy break, then goes
into outta-control mechanical pulse; magnificent! DJ Dara keeps the
vibe going through out the "Tanhauser's Gate" which is pretty much the
same track, except different melody. Paradox's "A Certain Sound"
is another fine tune. The breaks on this one is really hype.
At Shogun's "Nautilus", the CD takes a sudden fall and goes into jazzy
DnB, which is sooo boring. Sorry, but that shit doesn't do me anymore.
I've had it. Most of the CD B are also jazzy stuff.
I know I've rated more than half of the release as being, uhh, sucky. But I've given this rate because the CD A itself is worth the purchase at domestic price. It's not too often that a fine techstep like "Neitherworld" be released domestically. |