D&B Music Extra in today's Metro

A round up of current d&b LPs reviewed in today's Metro - I have to say as a disillusioned d&b head, I'm the most excited about d&b as I have been in years. Hopefully this link will work, and you can see the piece in its full glory here.


Here's the text, I'm pretty pleased with it apart from - any budding journos out there take note! - I'm a little annoyed for using 'euphoric/euphoria' twice in the piece (even worse twice in the same review in the space of four lines. Grrr.)

MUSIC EXTRA

Drum & bass

Sub Focus: Sub Focus
Ram

Alix Perez: 1984
Shogun Audio

Blu Mar Ten: Natural History
Blu Mar Ten

DJ Marky & Friends presents Makoto
Innerground

Drum & bass’ continues to do the unexpected: just when it seemed the genre had been supplanted by dubstep, over the last 12 months it’s risen to the challenge of competition on the bass music block and is enjoying a renaissance – as these albums demonstrate.

Sub Focus will hope to match the success of former Ram Records label mate Chase & Status who have signed to Mercury and have been working with Snoop, Pharrell and Rihanna (they’ve been producing her 2010 LP). Sub Focus almost elicits the same Marmite reaction as Pendulum because he goes against the grain by drawing on electro, trance, rock and synths. This is precisely why Sub Focus’ eponymous debut stands out: guitar-led pop d&b, cosmic slo-mo jungle, Eye Of The Tiger-esque power rock, ravey hip hop, piano house, and cinematic synth-pop (think Airwolf’s theme tune), ethereal android soul and ferocious d&b, take you through the highs and lows of exploring outer space. It’s a forward-thinking, coherent album, which is shoe gazing, dreamy and dancefloor dynamite, and takes d&b into uncharted territory.


Belgian-born, London-resident Alix Perez’s classy musicality has been apparent since he emerged a couple of years ago. Despite his obvious talent debut LP 1984’s breadth, complexity and poise is remarkable: Cascading, Balearic soul is followed by sinister drum funk (evoking Photek) starring Foreign Beggars spitting angsty rap (The Cut Deepens), a vortex of thick bass sucks in swirling vocals (Fade Away), and Voices muddles traditional percussive structures. 1984 explores the growing half-time scene (literally d&b at 50% of its usual tempo), and it works well with vocalists. Perez shapes sophisticated piano-led soul with Peven Everett (the voice of Roy Davis Jr’s garage classic Gabriel), and computer bleeps provide the backdrop for polemical poet Ursula Rucker’s technology tirade. Perez’s ability to weave the essence of jazz, soul and funk, into monstrous sub bass recalls Alex ‘Pulp Fiction’ Reece, and takes the breath away.

Trio Blu Mar Ten made its name with Bukem’s Good Looking label over a decade ago before a sabbatical in downtempo music. Natural History is Blu Mar Ten’s debut d&b LP and takes in trademark jazzy d&b, club anthems, and um, wildlife. God’s Lonely Man floats freestyle jazz drumming over piano blasts and humming bass, By The Time… brilliantly weds lions’ roaring and horses’ galloping, to jumbled rhythms, for a rollicking rumble in the jungle. Considering d&b’s downturn was partly down to the proliferation of disposable music, it’s refreshing to see Blu Mar Ten make the effort with artwork: Natural History comes with six pages and an A1 poster of hand drawn illustrations.


DJ Marky & Friends Presents: Makoto gathers the output of the Innerground label and puts it in Japanese producer/DJ’s record box to mix. Innerground reflects the personality of permanently grinning Brazilian DJ/producer Marky, and focuses on feelgood, euphoric d&b. As a result this is brimful of elegant instrumentation, sumptuous textures and giddy euphoria. Highlights include Marky & S.P.Y.’s Kinky Funky, which has as addictive a guitar line as Marky’s 2003 chart hit LK, Makoto’s sublime roller Good Old Days, the grinding bass of Logistics’ Millionaire and Makoto & Marky’s breathless Aquarius featuring soaring horns and vocalist Deeizm scatting. It’s also evidence that d&b still exerts a powerful international pull.