Juno Recommends Drum & Bass May 2021

Review: Timeless is Goldie's most iconic and enduring album. In 2021, it is now an unreliable 25 years old. As well as it getting its own standalone reissue, the most famous single from it also gets a re-release alongside some big remixes from key contemporary players. The 2020 Remaster kicks off and immediately sends shivers down your spine. Binary State then go for a dark, twisted, deep version, DBridge's Sonic Nostalgia mix is a real stepper with a menacing bassline and he closing cut is a lush and lounge-y [Re:Jazz] that is pure perfection.

Review: Must grip double pack action from the Keysound crew here as UK producer Sully graces us with his first full release in some three years. A guest appearance on the debut album from E.m.m.a. last year reminded us how good a button pusher Sully was, and the eight track Blue finds him shifting focus away from the 2-step and footwork inspired sounds of his debut LP Carrier in favour of some Junglist excursions. Sully's expertise at classic break-based "rollage and choppage" is on full display across seven cuts here with fellow Keysound artist Logos chipping in with a beatless vapour dub of the title track. There's a looseness and rawness to much of the music here that will immediately hook anyone who is partial to a bit of Amen-based fun and games.

Review: Considering the label's roster, clout and history, V Recordings don't throw the word 'legend' around unless they mean it. And boy do they mean it for this 003; two unreleased corkers from Karl Francis here covering two different chapters of his sound. On the A we have 'Selassie I Sound' capturing his 94/95 era with badass Amen choppage and that rich soundsystem treacle vibe to the bass. On the B we have the late 90s Dillinja with a much more chiselled steppy beat as he flips the Cybotron classic into VIP mode. Neither track has been released before. All aboard!

Review: Goldie's incredible debut album Timeless celebrated its 25th anniversary last autumn, so to celebrate this landmark he's decided to deliver an expanded edition. The original two-disc album, a genuine game-changer that showed the musical potential of the then relatively new musical form of drum & bass, is replicated in full in fully remastered form. Those who are new to the set will be blown away by the 21-minute opener, 'Timeless' (a suite of three tracks including peerless D&B anthem 'Inner City Pressure', as well as other standouts such as weighty jungle workout 'Jah The Seventh Seal' and more soulful numbers 'Angel' and 'You & Me'. Confirmed fans meanwhile will love disc three, where remixes, rarities and unreleased material - mostly from Goldie's personal stash of VIP versions - take centre stage.

Review: Well Street continues to set out its stall within the realm of contemporary bassweight experimentation with this return to the fray from Ghost Warrior. Previously spotted on 31 Records, re:st and The Collection Artaud, Peter Ivanyi is the quintessential grey area producer, dealing in futuristic extrapolations of the D&B formula, where monochrome textures and dense dub atmospheres hover around needlepoint rhythms and ruthlessly controlled bass swells. With an icy demeanour offset by delicately deployed chords (at least on 'Kepler438', this is exquisitely executed, highly futuristic brain food for those who believe in D&B as much more than a raging soundtrack to a skank.

Review: Deep bleep visionaries NAFF send out more woozy transmission from their Montreal HQ. This time in the form of Healion, a so-far-anonymous new addition to the label's experimental fold. Across four originals they paint a watercolour like scape of textures, often touching on early jungle as the framework; the Tony Justice meets Seba style acid bubbles and wafting pads of 'About Breathing', the halftime dub waves of 'Vetiver', the Boards Of Canada flavoured ripples of 'I'll See It When I Believe It' and the skittering Kid Drama / autonomic bubbles of 'Gathering'. Complete with a remix from Ludwig AF, it's another essential broadcast from the NAFF crew.

Review: Luke Beavon & Delroy Pottinger aka LSB & DRS presented their full length opus The Blue Hour back in 2019 on Beavon's Footnotes imprint. Almost a year and a half later, we are now treated to an impressive three pack vinyl series featuring a who's who of the scene, all lending their deft hand to the art of the remix. Highlights come from Irish legend Calibre and Dutchman Lenzman who respectively turn 'Frozen' and 'Stop The World' into proper late night steppers in their idiosyncratic style. Spearhead Records' Bcee channels the intelligent drum'n'bass sound of Good Looking Records circa 2001 on another soulful perspective of 'Frozen', while Technicolour & Komatic aka Technimatic take 'Scarred' into life-affirming territory with their Reese-driven roller.

Review: Break's 2018 stepper 'Keep in It Raw' gets some special remix treatment here to close down the series. Calyx & Teebee step up first and layer in plenty of menace, with saw tooth synths bringing the sort of textures that are befitting of the tune's name. The crispy, stepping drum breaks are ever on the move and soulful hints come from the buried vocals. ON the flip, Breakage steps up with his take on 'Conversations' feat MC Fats & Cleveland Watkiss. It's a tune laced with fizzing static electricity, dub wise vocals and fantastic fills. Turn it up loud.

Review: Following their recent duels on 'Ultra-Violence' and 'Heart Of Darkness', Overlook and Karim Maas collide on Droog wax once again. This time taking a side apiece, the theme remains bleak, tense and very old school Metalheadz. Overlook's 'Video Nasties' rattles with cavernous echoes, chiselled two-step and wheezing pipes while Karim's 'Dimensions' adds a whole raft of drama with its distorted one-note growls, tense synth line and rattling breaks. Both were tailored for those darkroom 3am moments we've been craving so much of in the last year.

Review: Previous volumes in the four-part Fokuz All Stars series boasted tracks and remixes from the likes of Phaction, Satl, Calibre, Edlan, Artificial Intelligence, Kaspar and Lenzman. This edition - the third in total - focuses on the work of long-serving Swedish D&B producer Seba. A-side cut 'Sweet Magnolia' is simply sublime, with the Scandinavian adding heart-aching piano motifs, melancholic trumpet solos and Jenna G's terrifically expressive vocals to a punchy, rolling groove. Over on the flip Bert H remixes Seba's JR Vallo collaboration, 'Whisper', re-framing it as a deep, warm and spacey liquid-funk roller complete with booming sub-bass, aquatic synth sounds and dreamy chords. Luscious!

Review: Broken soul pioneers Dego & Domu reunite for a collection of pieces that both dig into a very particular time in jungle history while remaining very much contemporary and futuristic. Across Anachronistic the duo imagine an alternative 1997 - a point in drum & bass history where the technical and experimental aspects were at an exciting peak and had become artforms unto themselves - and write modern songs as if that approach were still in place. The result is an exciting range of ideas and dynamics that range from sci-fi disco scutters like 'Idiom' (where the clipped synth notes are chopped on every shard of breakbeat) to almost cute, riffy game-like halftime tracks like 'Filigree' to all-out acid hardcore like the title track itself. Tapping into the Detroit roots just as much as London's, there's a timelessness to this that transcends the typical futurist or nostalgic tropes a lot of concept albums come with. Vinyl only, too. Grab it while you can.

Review: Grenoble's Binary Digit (Dream Ticket/Opal Tapes) appears on a split EP here with Belgian debutant Victor Ziegler, to inaugurate new imprint Postal Code Records on From Berriat To Pitteurs (PCR001). On the A side, Binary Digit is in fine form on the wacky acid-jungle hybrid of '4020 Pitteurs FM' followed by the lo-fi chiptune electro of 'Ob_Break'. On the flip, Ziegler takes the rolling breakbeats of the '90s UK underground and merges them with the aesthetic of dreamy electronica of the time - namely on Warp or Rephlex - with the glassy-eyed and bittersweet epic 'Nostalgic Aerobic' which was easily the standout tune on this stellar EP. Keep your eye on Postal Code Records in 2021.

Review: Lavery's back in his old school Puffin Billy suit for Meditator once again, following the brilliant 'Happy Shopper' on the label last year. Running the early 90s gamut of sounds and samples, 'Hardcore Madness' goes in like Ellis Dee with swashbuckling amens, 'Mickey 303' is full on acid, pitched up vocals a Vampish synth hits while 'Energy 92' brings the tempo down for Rhythm Section-level breakbeat blow-out. Hardcore, you the know the score.

Review: OG vibesmith Justin Richardson (also known as Genotype) dusts off his first and foremost aliases for this bone-rattling two-tracker on Meditator Music. Just Jungle - a perfectly fitting name for these two unrelenting amen assaults. 'Ere Dread' is a dub steam roller. Clattering breaks, oozing subs and reverbed textures giving it the power and grace similar to that of Breakage or Digital. 'Ah This Feeling' digs a bit further back into the rave references with dreamy reverse chords and classic vocals before dropping into a rudeboy groove that could have easily come out of the SOUR studios in the mid 90s. Foundational sounds.

Review: Power up! Dead Man's Chest returns with two more jet-powered hardcore head trips. 'Myth & Fire' is straight up 1993 material with its reggae samples rubbing sweaty shoulders with rifle-like rave stabs while breaks rattle and slam relentlessly beneath. 'The People' is a darker, 3am affair with a hornet-like bassline, some incredible drum breaks and a dizzying range of samples weaving in and out over the top. Firing.

Review: The fourth and final part of the excellent Fokuz All Stars series homes in on the work of long-serving producer Random Movement, an artist who has been part of the Fokuz Recordings' family since 2015. On side A you'll find the 2016 Ivy Lab remix of 'Sleazy Bitch', a classic chunk of club-ready drum & bass headiness in which liquid synth sounds, hazy vocal samples and twinkling electronics ride a chunky bassline and rolling beats. Over on the flip there's a second chance to cop Lenzman's vintage revision of 'I Stayed Around', a sparkling romp through ultra-positive, sun-kissed D&B pastures that remains a warm and alluring treat.

Review: Time Tunnel launched last August with a killer EP that sold out in double quick time. The second issue is another various artist affair featuring the same four talents, all on fine form. Gridzone immediately nails you to the floor with his hardcore breaks before 'Choked Beats' maintains the same energy but in a more dreamy, pad laced environment. NewKiller's 'The Dark' heads off into a dark future rave where high speed drums melt your mind, and last of all Gold Soundz closes down with the ragga-tinged rudeness of his stepper, 'L/C/A.'

Review: Monsieur Murkt Villem returns to Spearhead four more of his trademark bubblers. As always the vibes range from smooth to sublime; '4ME Dub' warms up the fire with dubwise sunshine, all horns and a luxury rolling bassline. Elsewhere 'Sayu' takes us into Tokyo Prose territory with its bold piano strokes and unhurried pace while 'One Track Mind' takes us on more of an introspective heads-down trip before 'Waiting For You' ends with a wry hint of soul thanks to its fretless bass and honeyed vocal. Four track mind.