Juno Recommends Drum & Bass: February 2022

Review: Wasting no time in laying waste to the dance, Beyond Electronix kick off 2022 in style with a mighty payload from two of Manchester's finest. Building on the quality laid out on previous 12"s from Asymmetric and Limit and plenty more besides, Northern Front honchos Response & Pliskin continue their peerless march into upfront breakbeat territory with four tracks which ably balance rough and the smooth. 'Corrosion' leans in heavy on the amens, while 'Konspiracy' has a canny blend of dub techno and jungle techno that should snake its way under your skin. With 'Brainwashed' offering a more mellow kind of roller and 'Driving Nowhere's atmospheric guitar laments, you've got a rich and considered 12" which reaches well beyond one-dimensional dancefloor fodder.

Review: Remix time! Spearhead enlist two artist who you wouldn't usually see on their roster for this super sweet 10" gem. Taking two of BCee and Villem's Vanguard Project tracks, Coco Bryce and Tim Reaper both do serious damage. Coco goes for the 160 feels, giving 'Stitches' a whole new lease of space and a sense of early 90s rave dreaminess while Reaper goes slightly more up-tempo to 163 with his excellent take on 'What U Do' where huge subs, tight break edits and beautiful chords and textures reign supreme.

Review: Don't get mad, get funky... BCee's Spearhead imprint kicks off 2022 with this almighty package of freshness from a whole range of its many friends and family members. Now a tradition on the label, the message and vibe is clear - all flavours, all styles, all levels are welcome in Spearhead's broad church. From the subtle jazzy funk of Blacklab's 'Placebo' to the tense and stark breaks of Sweetpea's 'Jungle Juice'. Elsewhere longstanding donnies Nymfo and Villem get motivational on 'Lazy Bones', Bcee & Blu Mar Ten get cosmic on 'In The Head' and Riya continues her impeccable vein of form with 'Where Did The Time Go'. All this and many more moods, Spearhead are sizzling into the 2022s in fine and firing style.

Review: Like his friend and sometime collaborator Tim Reaper, Coco Bryce is now a man in-demand amongst rave-focused house and techno labels. There's a simple reason for that: his revivalist 1990s jungle, hardcore and D&B sounds have appeal far beyond the drum & bass scene. Here he returns to one of those imprints, Lobster Theremin, for the first time in two years, bringing with him four more retro-futurist delights. We're particularly enjoying the echno, dub-style motifs and crunchy jungle breaks of 'DLP' and the rushing, melody-driven rush of 'Velocity of Love', but others may prefer the rumbling bass, jazzy keys and tactile vocal samples of 'Twenty One Lies'. Closing cut 'Wuthering Heights', a surprise deep electro number, is also superb.

Review: Purrrfect flavours right here as Dutch badman Tommy The Cat makes his debut on Unknown To The Unknown with four slabs of pristine modern day jungle. 'Flying Papers' gets us off to a flying start with its syrupy subs and dreamy feels before 'At The Yard' goes full Goodlooking 93 style but with some devilish twists on the breaks. Flip for more 160-ish goodness as 'In Your Eyes' hits with hurricane pads and emotions and 'We Will Stay Together In The Dark' closes the EP with some foundational Headz flavours. Pure breaks science. Great meowsic.

Review: The dream team Dogger & Mindstate return to TNQ wax with this hearty package of soulful, hip-hop-influenced D&B flavours that was originally unleashed digitally last summer. Representing both their pathways into this music, from north to south, the duo recruit the likes of London's Verbz and Manchester's Sleazy F Baby to vocal and narrate their delicate, subtle but ultimately heavyweight rhythms. From the deep jazz of 'Different Roads' to the symphonic dynamics of 'From The Concrete', this is one of the hardest hitting and emotional records Dogger and Mindstate have made so far.

Review: Timeless D&B exercises right here from Walk:R as he returns to Guidance with four absolute gems. 'The Reason' says everything you need to know about this EP as it rumbles with a Soulr/ Intalexual flavour, all tense and paired back but not too stern with it. 'Funk Off' plays the perfect foil with Die-style double bass strums, 'Little Things' brings a lamenting, more classical liquid style to the mix while 'Cold' finishes the EP on a real grumpy Perezian strut but in Walk:R's own style. What an EP - don't walk on by, you will definitely regret it.

Review: Ploughing into the club with pure murkery and venom, Italian crew Butu Yard lay down a 150 piece on Matera-based label. Sitting somewhere between Biome and Strategy, it's thick, oily, industrial strength badness that's primed for system demolition as 2022 progresses and things open up more. Amplified on the B by a turbo-charged jungle twist from Sativa Club where the powerful vocal and heavy bass textures are maintained beneath some rampant 160 breaks work.

Review: Breakbeat OG James Isaacs lets rip into the new year with four almighty rave work-outs on the aptly titled EP 'An Onslaught Of Retro Future Synthesizer'. And if you think that's a mouthful, wait until you chow down on the beats. 'Annihilating' is a deep bath in crash cymbals and Antarctic pads, 'Intolerable Putrid Pestilence Horror' is all about the tension with very little release while 'Welcome To The Jungle' takes Axl and co and shoves them in a furnace for a slow and juicy roast. Finally 'Firebird' is a modern breaks take on the jungle hardcore era with a slower tempo and a heavily swung rhythm. One man's Junk is another man's treasure.

Review: Reissue alert! Dijeyow's Dubnest flexes back to its earliest chapters of 2010 with this long-awaited repress featuring a range of artists who went on to become label favourites. First up are the French duo DJ Panik & M-Rode with the big rootsical romp 'Truth & Rights' where the vibe shows jungle and jump-up holding hands defiantly. Jera's 'Precious' is all about those Massive synth wobbles and sweet dancehall vocals while the bossman Dijeyow's 'Good Sensi' closes on a sweet dubby tip. Think Horace Andy having a big smoke with Dope Ammo backstage at Boomtown and you've got the flavours.