H.E.N.C.H Mixtape Vol 1 Review

So the mixtape arrived in the posted and first things first I like the packaging which is a good start. Upon purchasing the cd you already know what you're gonna get! A solid hour of signature wobbles! The majority of the tunes being Jakes' as he has 20 out of the 32 tracks on the cd some would say thats slightly greedy but hey he's the boss! The mix plays out more like a set you would expect to hear from Jakes rather than a showcase of the artists on the label maybe my idea of a mixtape is different? The middle section of the mixtape comes as welcome break in the form of Komonazmuk's 'You Fo' & Mensah's 'Pulse 80s'. All in all the mix if full of VIPs and enough wobble to please any H.E.N.CH aficionado. That said, I think it's time for a few of the H.E.N.C.H artists to switch up their sound....

Review: THEM @ Corsica Studios

THEM took over Corsica Studios on Saturday night with a line up that promised an amazing night! They had brought in Kuedo (the new hip-hop alias of dubstep veteran Jamie Vex'd), Boxcutter, Hyetal, Shortstuff, Slugabed and more to provide the soundtrack so the line up didn't leave anything to be desired (or so it seemed)! We got to the club at about midnight and (after paying £9 concessions :-/) I was surprised that the club was virtually empty, with resident SDUK playing to a crowd of less than 10! However, given the line up this obviously wasn't going to last and sure enough the club filled slowly but surely.

After SDUK, his last tune being the superb 'CYMK' from James Blake (forthcoming R&S May 2010) was Slugabed, been a fan of his for a while his sound for some is too glitchy but i thorouhly enjoyed with heavier tunes such as his on 'Donkey Stomp' (he said it was forthcoming) and Eprom's 'Face Melter' . That far end of the glitch-hop spectrum is really original and really forward thinking, but one thing it lacks is dancefloor presence. No one was dancing! I don't think anyone knew how! That said his earlier production such as this (see below) is a lot more focused as comprehensive.

Next up was Planet Mu's latest signing Rudi Zygadlo took to the decks. By far the standout act of the night! The system was fully cranked up so the bass was heavy and he played all the right tunes to get the crowd dancing! With this mutant strain of Hip-Hop its exceedingly difficult to mix meaning that the DJs attention is solely on the laptop screen however Mr Zygadlo was extremely entertaining to watch, loving it every bit as much as the crowd! 'The Udu and The Clave' and some Beastie Boys remix being the tracks that I remebered the most.

Last but not least Kuedo stepped up in the main room. I didn't like the setup - the stage was elevated far too high meaning that I had to strain my neck to see him all the way up in the clouds. I didn't manage to catch much of his set but from friends who stayed on they said it got better and better. My early departure sadly meant that Boxcutter, Hyetal & Shortstuff & Bullion! This meant that i left the night feeling somewhat unsatisafied especially after hearing back from friends who stayed that the night was a big success! Props to folks at THEM for a big line up! Looking forward to the next one!

Review: Essence Of Chi @ Gramaphone

London based D&B night Essence Of Chi teamed up with CIA Records to take over Gramaphone on Thursday night, with S.P.Y, Zero T, Total Science and Subterra providing the sounds for the night at the Shoreditch venue.

I'd never been to Gramaphone before and was thoroughly impressed by the venue all night, upstairs it's a hip, typically Shoreditch, bar with the club downstairs. We got there at about 1130 and just caught the end of Subterra's set, and were just in time for S.P.Y. For me, S.P.Y has always been a bit hit and miss, some of his tunes are massive, others mediocre at best. On Thursday however, he destroyed the place. The direction he's taken production wise is just right, all his recent (unreleased as of yet of course) material features penetrating drums and rolling, crackling basslines, a la Spectrasoul, Break and Noisia. He got the dance suitably hyped before man like Zero T stepped up to take control of the 1s and 2s.

Zero T bossed it typically! A couple of tunes in, he dropped some next remix of Pharoahe Monch's banger 'Simon Says', which standardly murkled the dance ;-) Definitely one of my favourite producers at the moment, and also one of the most respected in the scene (he's top of everyone's list to work with, including Rockwell and Alix Perez). He mixes up styles nicely as well, playing everything from deep rollers to crunching techy tracks. If you haven't caught one of his sets then do so asap. He never disappoints!

Total Science, followed by FD b2b Script, rounded off a sick night in Shoreditch, keeping the dance bubbling til the early hours. Essence Of Chi got it bang on point with the line up and venue, although the sound in there did leave something to be desired, but no one was complaining! If you're in town for the next one, go check it out, they've got Artificial Intelligence coming down, as well as friend of the blog Ant TC1, Survival and Subterra. Should be large!

Review: Numbers @ Fabric

I had been looking forward to this night ever since the lineup was posted on the Fabric website. Usually I have gone to Fabric for Rooms 2 or 3 and generally stayed as far away from the heaving mass of rudeboys that normally accompanies whatever tear out DJ is playing in Room 1. Take my last visit to Fabric for example; the experimental sounds of dBridge b2b Instra:mental and the emotive DnB of Commix just down the hall from Hazard and Hype. Madness! This night was set to be different. The sounds were quite varied, with Room 1 bringing the summer vibes of Martyn, Brackles and Rustie, Room 2 diving deep with Scuba and Youngsta, and Room 3 was left mostly in the capable hands of dBridge and Instra:mental to do with however they pleased. As I arrived and scanned the set times I realised that I would have to jump around quite a lot if I wanted to catch some of everyone that I wanted to see, but undaunted I bought a classically Fabric priced drink from the bar and headed over to Room 3 to catch the end of Instra:mental's first set.

As I entered the lecherous monster of a track Voyeur was being blasted from the system, much to the delight of the crowd. This was only the 2nd time I had seen Instra:mental play and he did not fail to impress in the slightest, moving from the beautiful sounds of Watching You into some absolutely huge minimal tribal beats. Next up was Scuba in Room 2. Now I have seen Scuba 4 times and he has never been anything but superb, in fact his set at the Sub:Stance take over in Leeds 2 months ago was one of the best I have seen. With this in mind I had high expectations, and I have to say unfortunately I was slightly let down. The tune selection was all right, but the biggest tunes I had heard a thousand times, such as 'Sex At The Prom' – Headhunter and the Prototype remix on the flip. Don't get me wrong, they went off, but I from a leader in the scene I expect to hear something fresh that really excites me. I also didn't really think his mixing was perfectly up to scratch with some tunes clearly not melding together yet being left for ages to play over each other. This being said, it was an enjoyable set and everyone in Room 2 was having a great time, I just think as someone who has seen him at his best I was a little bit let down. I consequently decided to leave half an hour early to grab some fresh air and catch some of Martyn's set in the main room.



With limited time before Youngsta was due to start I jumped head-first into Room 1 which I expected to be rammed full of gorgeous young women getting down to the sounds of Martyn's House inspired music. He was even playing a track which had taken the melody of Row Row Row Your Boat and exchanged the words to “Shake Shake Shake Your Ass”, yet what I saw couldn't have been further from the truth. The room was surprisingly empty and there was barely a girl in sight. Instead I was treated to a very bizarre sight that seemed to be a couple hundred middle aged men shaking their ass to the beat. All the same the music was great and me and my mates thoroughly enjoyed the feel good vibes.

I hurried back to Room 2 just in time to catch the beginning of Youngsta's set and fuck me he does not mess around. In my opinion there is NO ONE as good as Youngsta when it comes to playing dubstep, and apart from a couple of over the top choices at the end of his set he was near perfect. Tracks such as Kryptic Minds' collaborations with Alys Blaze and 'Cold Blooded' ft. Youngsta absolutely took the piss on that sound system and his last track was tooo much. I had heard it once before at DMZ 5th Birthday. It was my favourite track of the night then, and the same this time. I know it's by Pinch, but that's as much info as I have unfortunately. A notable by product of Numbers choosing the same night as the Outlook Launch Party and RAM at Matter was a serious lack of people turning up to Fabric (at one stage I went out to the smoking area and there were only 5 people there!). In my eyes this was actually very refreshing as I had space to dance, and there were no rudeboys trying to mug me for catching their eye. I have always preferred the vibe in Leeds for these reasons exactly, and I think this reduction of people actually made a positive impact on sets like Youngsta's.



We ended the night with some more upbeat vibes in Room 1 with Jackmaster & Brackles dropping some oldskool gems such as 1995 classic, The Bomb by The Bucketheads, before heading out into the morning rain, grabbing a possibly overpriced hot dog and then heading home to collapse. Overall it was a very different experience to what I expected from my past Fabric experience and although I could have exchanged a few middle aged men for some more females, it was a massively successful night with all the right ingredients.

Words: Liam 'Wachs Lyrical' Wachs

Review: Sabre's A Wandering Journal

I'd been looking forward to this for months, and finally Sabre's long awaited and much hyped debut long player dropped into my inbox last week. It's the first solo LP to come out on Critical and the perfect way to start with an album from one of the scene's most highly regarded producers.

Some artists it has to be said find it difficult to master the concept of the LP, turning what should be a chance to open up and express yourself production-wise into a series of 12" singles. Sabre has clearly not found this an issue. To start with, the LP's title couldn't be more fitting. It genuinely appears that Sabre has gone off wandering and through this journey has built up a collection of awe inspiring tracks. The interludes, with names such as 'Day One, 'Day Four', 'Day Fourteen', using news clips and how each track has individual artwork of photos taken by Sabre himself further heighten the sense of this LP being a journey and adventure. There is also a real hypnotic element to this album, you can't be unmoved by the emotion in this project. It's almost tangible throughout the album.

There are collaborations on there with the likes of Alix Perez, Icicle, Noisia, as well as exclusive remixes of tracks from the LP from Critical labelmates Rockwell and Stray, two of the brightest names in the scene at the moment. And it's not the bare minimum in terms on quantity either, there are two discs to the album, boasting 27 tracks in total!

It's hard to pick favourites, and with so much variation the album caters to loads of different musical minds. Having said that, standout tracks have to include 'Marvel', the first tune I had heard from the album, and still my favourite. Sabre takes us down to the depths on this one with his signature rim shots in full swing, as well as some penetrating drums. Other favourites include both of the collaborations with Alix Perez that feature on the album entitled 'Javelin' and 'Have It Your Way', 'Levelling Out Pt. 2', which is a deep skanker, and 'Ash'. The aforementioned remixes are also stand outs, providing even more variation and showcasing some of the scene's latest talent.

Sabre - Peril - Stray Remix by Critical Music

The variation on the album only serves to highlight Sabre's production prowess, with so many styles and sounds coming together in harmony this is definitely an early contender for album of the year, whilst the way the long player is crafted and every detail considered serves as further testament to the Critical producer. It's been a long wait for a Sabre LP, was it worth it? Definitely!

Release date: 29th March 2010

Label: Critical

A Wandering Journal Photo Slideshow

Sabre myspace

Critical Website

K-Mag are also running a Sabre remix competition at the moment after he made a track, entitled 'One Hundred Teeth' especially for the competition. The track is available for download below (just click on the download symbol on the right of the SoundCloud player) and you can get your hands on the parts next week if you're interested in entering the competition. Check K-Mag towards the end of the month for the remix brief and some tips on how to approach remixes from Sabre himself.

SABRE - ONE HUNDRED TEETH - KMAG REMIX COMP by knowledge

Review: Breakage Foundation LP

Breakage is one of the most in demand and respected producers in the scene at the minute. Fact. His latest LP entitled Foundation, coming on Shy FX's Digital Soundboy imprint, has been one of the most highly anticipated long players of the past year if not more, ever since it was declared "forthcoming" nearly 12 months ago. The album dropped into my inbox this morning and so it appears the time has actually come. Let me tell you know, all the hype around this producer and this album is deserved, in fact it doesn't do it justice.

On Foundation, Breakage is continuously switching up styles, showing he has range and variation beyond that of any other other producer around. On tracks such as Justified and Higher, he takes us 20,000 leagues down to the depths, with his trademark almost white niose-esque bass. Then on title track Foundation and Old Skool Ting, which featured on Commix's FabricLive 44 complilation early last year, he shows his roots in jungle with some proper hands in the air Amen breaks. There is no one sound to this album, Breakage's sound is what Breakage wants it to be. His sound is so unique and yet undefineable. It's Breakage.

Stand out tracks? Justified featuring Erin on the vocals has been one of my favourite tracks ever since I first heard it at the latter end of last year. The deep vocals crackly and echoing, as if it was recorded in the shower, along with that Breakage bass make this track easily the standout for me. On a big system, this tune is serious!

Open Up is another favourite of mine, it's got a sick marching rhythm to it with a Reggae vocal sample. And then there's Speechless, another big track from the LP. This one has got a proper rock vibe to it, with Donae'o on the vocals this time. I could go on and on....

One track that is sure to cause a lot of hype is his collaboration with elusive producer Burial on a track called Vial. Dark garage vibe to this track, aspects of both their production style coming to the foreground and the result is sick! As well as these, tracks such as Hard ft. Newham Generals, Run 'Em Out ft. Roots Manuva and Higher all feature on the album. As well as Over ft. Zarif, which has got a really nice 2 step garage feel to it, and Temper ft. Kemo. For those of you on a non-140 drum & bass ting, Foundation is a proper Amen track, hands in the air business indeed, and Old Skool Ting are the ones for you.

Foundation is definitely gonna be an early contender for album of the year, Breakage shows why he is so respected and proves his weight in gold. It's a musical journey through styles all put together perfectly in a 17 track long player. What's next for him? Who knows, but everyone will be watching!

Release date: 22nd March

Label: Digital Soundboy

Breakage myspace

Sabre 'A Wandering Journal' LP Sampler

The sampler for Sabre's highly anticipated debut LP, entitled 'A Wandering Journal', dropped into my inbox this afternoon. The two tracks that feature on the 12" set the tone perfectly for the album, and increases the anticipation even further before the Critical long player drops on 29th March 2010.

First up is the massive track Marvel, which in typical Sabre style is deep and moody, as well as featuring some big boy bass to boot. Marvel is backed with dancefloor smasher Barefoot, a collaboration with Subtitles-signed Ulterior Motive. This track is serious! The bassline on this one is not to be taken lightly. Fans of Break and Spectrasoul, you'll love this one!

LP Sampler Release Date: 15th February

LP Release Date: 29th March

Label: Critical

LTJ Bukem @ Momentum Review

Last Friday Momentum took over the Wire for their first installment of 2010 with non other than the godfathers of Drum & Bass, LTJ Bukem & MC Conrad. These two are without a doubt the two biggest acts to grace momentum since it started up in 2004.

3rd GD took control of the decks at 10 with a suitably melodic warm up. He played well on the crowd’s anticipation and laid out a perfect platform for the night to come, even touching on a few classic tracks from 06/07 as well as some more up to date tracks from the Non Plus & Autonomic camp. By 11.30 the club was close to full capacity and ready to set it off. As always, there were great vibes for a Friday night at the Wire.

LTJ played a very refreshing set, dropping in big teasers along the way. He maintained a perfect direction at all times and kept the crowd on the same journey throughout. It was the first time in a while I’d been to the wire and really experienced those ‘hands in the air’ rhythms from LTJ and not once did he show any signs of predictability. The pair worked together in absolute harmony, Conrad’s voice echoing around the club with such soulful intent.

Ant TC1 was next on the decks and he proved his weight in gold, with heavy rolling rhythms, the man behind momentum managed to flip the scripts from the previous sets before and really catered well for the heavier followers of the night. Personally I believe he played a tighter set than LTJ and showed the crowd a darker and heavier side to the night, giving everyone reason to stay beyond the previous showcase of soul.

It’s been such a great start to 2010 for Drum & Bass in Leeds and Momentum proved itself with a timeless line-up for its first ’10 session. We can only look in anticipation towards the February installment with Artificial Intelligence.

Written by Tom Jessel

Momentum Facebook group

Artificial Intelligence & Survival @ Momentum - Friday 26th February

Facebook event

Rockwell Noir EP

Critical wonderboy Rockwell's 'Noir' EP is out on Monday so get excited. Rockwell shot from relative anonymity to being one of the golden boys of the experimental drum and bass scene at the latter end of last year, with his massive track 'Underpass', which featured on the Critical Sound LP. There has been so much hype around this dude, I couldn't wait to hear what he had in store on his first solo release.

The sound, style and drum pattern in 'Underpass' suggested that that was going to be Rockwell's trademark, but on this EP he switches up style and sound on each track, showing he's got range and variation. Two massively important things for a producer, it keeps people interested and keeps your sound relevant.

'Keep Calm' (my favourite tune from the EP) is on a similar tip to 'Underpass', it's quite glitchy but has got really nice flow and rhythm to it, as well as some massive sub-bass so on a big system this one will go off for sure! Bone Structure (featuring Zero T) is absolutely massive as well, and has been receiving love from scene heavyweights Alix Perez, Jubei and dDridge. Tribes is deep and dark throughout, definitely one for the red eye power hour sets. It features sparse drums and surprise surprise lots of tribal aspects. The title track from the EP 'Noir' is a big percussive, jungley number with loads of hi hats and snares. It's also got an intersting piano section and some echoing bass for the dancefloor crew. This tune more than any other shows Rockwell's ability to switch up styles and keep it fresh.

Overall, this is a massive, must have release from a producer who is destined for big tings this year and beyond. He's got stuff coming on Digital Soundboy and Shogun so there's lots more Rockwell to look forward to in twenty-ten don't worry! If you haven't already grabbed it, then check out his mix for Take Flight which you can find a few posts back.

Release date: 1st February

Label: Critical

Rockwell myspace