Drum & Bass Recommendations August 2011

Review: Ram serve up a bit of a treat for their centenary release with this much talked about EP, composed of four much rinsed, but never released tracks from over their history. With legendary cuts from Andy C, Sub Focus, Ram Trilogy and Culture Shock spread across a killer double gatefold 12", this is pretty much essential. Expect pumping dancefloor anthems, big, bad beats and an irreplaceable slice of history!

Review: Bassbin worriers Ed Solo and Deekline return to their Jungle Cakes label for more natty and eminently danceable vintage riddims soaked in recognisable vocal hooks. Barrington Levy's "Under Me Sensei" has proved an inspiration to the jungle and drum and bass heads for many years now and the duo manage to eek further fun out of that distinctive vocal on "Sensei", which deviates nicely between rolling rhythms wrapped tight around booming sub bass and nicely poised steppah breakdowns. The flip brings the junglist flavour to the iconic "Ghost Town" which song purists might recoil in horror at, but there has always been a playful nature to these Jungle Cakes releases - drop this at the right moment and the dancefloor will respond in suitably enthusiastic terms.

Review: To date Auxiliary have stuck close to home, with two releases from label owner ASC out last year. This time they venture further afield, enlisting Sam KDC for a three track vinyl cut. The third instalment in the Symbol series, "Symbol #3" delivers ambient electronica, veering off to discover new sound pockets and experimental moments at every opportunity. Blissfully mellow yet inexorably electronic, each track takes you through a minefield of trippy stories and raw and industrial soundscapes. In a word, essential.

Review: This summer, Hospital Records' party brand Hospitality is hitting the festival circuit hard (Lovebox, Global Gathering etc). To celebrate, they've put together this action-packed mix CD of festival-friendly drum and bass stormers. In the best traditions of the Hospitality parties, it's a real non-stop rinse-out, with a whopping 28 tracks from Hospital regulars (Danny Byrd, Cyantific, Nu:Tone etc) and like-minded souls (D:Minds, Camo & Krooked, SPY) squeezed into an hour. As you'd perhaps expect, the focus is firmly on fun, with bona fide scene anthems wrestling for disc space with arms-raised festival funk-outs and soaring vocal workouts.

Review: Somewhat amazingly, this is the first ever artist album released by the Renegade Hardware label, one of the drum & bass scene's most decorated and long-running imprints. It's also a bit of a sprawling epic, as Architecture label boss and long time Renegade Hardware contributor DJ Ink delivers a two disc debut packed with twenty tracks of snappy dancefloor grooves and dark, twisted rhythmic funk. Given his long history of collaborations, it's no surprise to find an all-star cast of friends lending a hand, with Perpetum, BTK, Loxy & Genode and J Dub all weighing in with impressive contributions.