Drum & Bass

Chill Out Corner

Posted by PlasmaDancer on November 14, 2009
Posted in: Drum & Bass. 5 comments

Back by popular demand (?) here’s something I’ve been meaning to post up for a while – a few more of my favourite ambient/intelligent drum and bass tunes from back in the day. Don’t worry, I won’t start flooding TYFTH with non-freeform tracks, but click on this post and there should be as many classics as I can link to without the site imploding. I nearly killed WordPress yesterday when I tried to embed too many videos, so let’s see how it goes this time…

First up is PFM’s absolutely beautiful Danny’s Song, a very relaxing track from 1996 that builds and builds towards the end – 6.07 still gives me the shivers, amazing stuff. I was well into the melodic melancholy side of things back then too, so look inside for a few more along the same lines.

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October Top Ten

Posted by PlasmaDancer on November 1, 2009
Posted in: Drum & Bass, Finnish, Japanese, Top Tens. 4 comments

I was at Studio Cube again (!) last night, for the TRANCE Halloween event, featuring former Velfarre resident John Robinson. Of more interest to me was the 4th ‘Hard’ floor, as Zio, Minagi and Aemi were all playing. There might be some video/photos on the way, so stay tuned. The roundup of last week’s NRGetic Romancer will be here tomorrow, too.

Lately I’ve been listening to Nookie again, so here are a couple of my favourite remixes by the great man. The first is a rework of Omni Trio’s Soul Promenade – try to overlook the dodgy sounding piano, this is a perfect example of what jungle was all about back then. That breakdown and the drums at 3.00… Next is a remix of Goldie’s Inner City Life – a seminal tune if ever there was one – Nookie uses some of my favourite breakbeats and a chopped up amen on this version.

Anyway, Top Ten:

  1. Re-form – Walking in the Air (bootleg remix)
  2. Alek Szahala – Voices of Babylon
  3. Epyx & Cyrez – The Most Masochist
  4. Epyx & Cyrez – Unhola (Guld remix)
  5. Laskeuma – Fracture of Connection (Sam one remix)
  6. E-Noid – Order Chaos
  7. Nomic – Aurinkoon
  8. Andre Frauenstein & Tymon – Ethereal
  9. Paocala – Stative II
  10. Nomic – Desolated Dreams

Cubizm, 18th September/DJ Yousuke – Cubizm Demos

Posted by PlasmaDancer on September 4, 2009
Posted in: Drum & Bass, Events, Japanese, Mixes. Leave a Comment

Now, the Cubizm event isn’t really aimed at hardcore/freeform fans, but to promote the next event on the 18th, DJ Yousuke has come up with two new mixes. The first starts of with vocal house, which I absolutely despise, to be honest, but it rips through the genres and ends up with drum and bass…before somehow going back to house again. If you’re into electro/house/that sort of stuff it could be an interesting set for you, but for the rest of us it might be worth checking out the second mix of liquid drum and bass. It’s very (very) well mixed, and there are some nice melodic tracks as well as the less good ‘sped up pop music’ tunes that seem to be pretty common these days – it’s a nice set to chill out to anyway, despite the high bpm. I recognise a few of the tunes, but on a first listen the only one I could confidently name was Blu Mar Ten’s Believe Me…I might still be playing drum and bass too if all the tunes were that good.

Doc Scott – The Deep End

Posted by PlasmaDancer on July 5, 2009
Posted in: Drum & Bass, Mixes, UK. Leave a Comment

I know, this is a drum and bass mix, but it includes a great sequence of 3 or 4 tunes that are a perfect example of telling a ‘story’. Anyone familiar with drum and bass will know Doc Scott, one of the early pioneers with the ambient/intelligent jungle sound back in the mid-90s, and this set does a pretty good job of rounding up some ‘deep’ modern tunes. First of all, take a look at the tracklist.

  1. D-Bridge – Inner Disbelief
  2. ASC – Starkwood
  3. System – El Sunrise
  4. KDC – Selfless
  5. Spectrasoul – Insignia
  6. Mindmapper – Resurrection Hub
  7. ASC – Porcelain
  8. Data – Dead Rising
  9. ASC & Method One – Deadlock
  10. Blu Mar Ten – Believe Me
  11. Jubei – Entrapment
  12. Survival – Sky
  13. Bop – Ataraxia
  14. Consequence – 11 Circles
  15. Raiden – Roentgen
  16. Jynx – Beating Me
  17. Instra:Mental – Watching You
  18. Despot – Concert

ASC and Blu Mar Ten are names from back in the good old days too, and the three tracks in bold make up the sequence that caught my attention. Dead Rising is almost dubstep style (it might even be dubstep, I’m not really familiar with it), and is one of those tunes that is really made by a well chosen sample – “Two news agencies are reporting accounts of the dead returning to life”. The pace of the sequence builds up with a rolling drumbeat and ominous bassline in Deadlock, before the vocal and more melodic style of Believe Me shifts the atmosphere again…it’s quite a beautiful tune, but sounds slightly disturbing/melancholy when matched up with the other two tracks.

I’m usually not a fan of modern dnb, and I wasn’t keen on a few of these tunes, but this is an amazing sequence and very inspiring, a dark/melancholy freeform set could definitely try to create the same sort of atmosphere. It shows the kind of ‘journey’ a good DJ can take you on, for sure.

If you fancy a listen after all that, download from here.

March Top Ten

Posted by PlasmaDancer on April 11, 2009
Posted in: Drum & Bass, Top Tens. 2 comments

Here’s last month’s top ten – a few promos have started to be er, promoted by the artists now, so they’re ok to be included, I think.

By the way, the tune above can’t really go into this list, but it’s an all-time favourite of mine – Only You by Nookie. I loved the tune when it first came out in 1994, but I only found out the title last week! Ah, those drums….

Back to the top ten:

  1. Alek Szahala – Voices of Babylon
  2. Nomic – Delta Pavonis
  3. Betwixt & Between – The Beginning
  4. Guld – Nightmare Freak 09
  5. Hangover Academy & Decion – Technological Terror
  6. Psycho Keaton – Hell Night (Android Lime remix)
  7. Betwixt & Between – Tankobu Hesotarou no Hourou/The Wander of Hesotarou Tankobu
  8. DJ X Lab 4 – Requiem 2009 (Heart of Darkness)
  9. Betwixt & Between – Broken Visage
  10. V.A.G.A.B.O.N.D – Bonecrusher

Hardcore Tano*C / Drum & Bass Sessions 2009, 21st March

Posted by PlasmaDancer on March 23, 2009
Posted in: Drum & Bass, Events, Japanese, UK. Leave a Comment

I’ve just recovered from a busy Saturday, where for the first time I managed two events in one day – it nearly killed me, but I’m glad I didn’t miss either of them, especially after I couldn’t make it to last Thursday’s Tokyo Hardcore Construction.

First was Hardcore Tano*C, and I had to be there for the start to see Alabaster’s set. The night before he received some FINRG promos (entirely legally, I might add), and I was hoping, he played Voices of Babylon about halfway through. I have to say, I was really really impressed with his mixing and track choice, we’ve got very similar taste in tunes – as well as some of his more recent tracks, like Void and Ziggurat, he played Grimsoul’s Synthetic Paradise (still one his very best tunes, I reckon), Angel of Hell and a few other quality tracks. It was only a 45 minute set, but one of the best I’ve heard for a while – the mix combinations were very very good.

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Bukem in Session, 21st March @Unit

Posted by PlasmaDancer on February 11, 2009
Posted in: Drum & Bass, Japanese, UK. Leave a Comment

Ok, this might not mean much to some of the freeform heads out there, but I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to next month. LTJ Bukem is, in my opinion, the best DJ in the business, and his mixing, track selection and set construction inspired me right from when I started listening to ambient/intelligent drum and bass as a 13 or 14 year old. Growing up in darkest Wales though, I never had a chance to get to any of his live sets at Dreamscape, Speed etc (plus I was too young, really), and so to finally get to see him play here in Tokyo, 13 or 14 years later, is amazing.

[Click down below to have a listen to my favourite Bukem set from back in the day]

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Full Circle DJs – NRGetic Romancer set + Demo Mix

Posted by PlasmaDancer on January 8, 2009
Posted in: Drum & Bass, Japanese, Mixes. Leave a Comment

Two new sets for DJ Yousuke/Full Circle DJ fans, the first is the backing mix for the excellent Full Circle Live PA at last month’s NRGetic Romancer (once again minus Buzzmasta’s effects/percussion and Yousuke’s guitar). Download here, and a tracklist will be coming soon too, I think.

The second mix is really something special – mixed by Yousuke, I suppose you’d call it ‘breakbeat’, but moves from an initial hip-hop track, into modern(?)-old skool/jungle, psychadelic breakbeat (is that a genre?), and finishes with some very banging drum and bass bootleg tunes. On the first listen through I hardly knew any of the tunes, but I managed to pick up on er, someone’s brilliant remix of The Police’s Walking on the Moon (which I first heard in an older Yousuke set), and The Acolyte’s Cypherpunk. Apart from that, I was lost…but this is really quality mixing, and some of the jungle-style tunes are sure to bring back good memories for anyone of a certain age.

Tracklist as soon as I can, but listen to it anyway, here.

DJ Yousuke – In The Mix Vol. 5

Posted by PlasmaDancer on December 11, 2008
Posted in: Drum & Bass, Japanese, Mixes, UK. Leave a Comment

This isn’t a brand new mix, but Yousuke recently uploaded it while he tries to come up with another one. Not every track is my sort of thing, but it’s a great example of Yousuke’s mixing style, and his ridiculously wide knowledge of hardcore/drum and bass. It’s generally UK Hardcore/Freeform style, but drifts into harder tunes and amen-style jungle tracks too. It’s the first time for me to hear Ephexis and Oli G’s Enchanter, very nice tune…but a lot of the tracks are a few steps away from what I usually listen to, and it’s a mix well worth checking out.

01. Think You Really Missed Me (Smoothjam Mix) / Digital Tekniq & Sparky
02. Diva Beaver / DJ Stormtrooper
03. Gate Crasher / Full Circle DJs
04. Warehouse (Cube::Hard Remix) / Jon Doe
05. Enchanter / Ephexis & Oli G
06. Velvet Heaven 2006 / Sparky
07. I Wonder Why (Darwin Mix) / Adam L feat Ant Johnson
08. Free Fallin (Hard Mix) / Attention Seekers
09. Stand Back / Idealz
10. Elastoplast / Kinematic
11. Twice Around The Moon / Rampant & Obie Vs Darwin & Ant Johnson
12. Sybratis Part 1 / Kev Willow
13. Shadow Of A Memory / Arkitech
14. Pack Of Wolves (Pendulum Remix) / Nightbreed
15. Release Me (Darwin Remix) / CLSM feat Niki Mak
16. Love Me Habibi / The Panacea
17. In Kontrol / Nu Foundation
18. Pumpin / Sean Apollo
19. When The Rain Comes (Remix) / The Acolyte feat Amy
20. Fantasy Island / Darwin & Ant Johnson
21. Heads Burst Rewind / Hattrixx
22. Dreaming Of Another Way (Oli G Remix) / Contraption

Download here