Juno Recommends Drum & Bass March 2019

Review: This wonderful two-tracker arrived at Juno HQ just at the point when Storm Gareth was battering the UK, raising our spirits via warm vibes, melodious electronics and punchy, club-ready grooves. All credit to Metalheadz regular Jubei, because "Cold Heart" - the bustling cut that opens this Exit-released EP - is a near perfect fusion of dreamy, sun-kissed chords, intergalactic electronic motifs, rumbling sub-bass and crunchy, snare-heavy D&B drums. Almost as impressive is the even weightier, mind-mangling flipside "Little Dubplate", whose searing sub-bass and punishing drums come laden with delay-heavy reggae vocal samples.

Review: When it comes to sunny, summer-fresh drum and bass, few producers are quite as capable as Spearhead Records supremo Steve "BCee" Jefroy. Further proof of his mastery of soulful-but-punchy D&B comes courtesy of Jefroy's fifth solo full-length, "Shouting About Nothing". Highlights come thick and fast, from the gentle pianos, rolling breaks and stunning vocals of "Sincerely Yours (feat. Leo Wood)" and the weighty low-end rumble of "All Fired Up", to the ruffneck early jungle/vintage D&B fusion of "For All Your Worth", cinematic drum and bass soul of "Wanderer" and the dub-wise, hot-stepping dancefloor skank of the title track "Shouting About Nothing".

Review: Triple X rated jungle from the triple F flexing breakbusting Dutchman FFF. We all know the drill by now; floor-bound psycho soul with its feet firmly planted in 1995 and is made for your mixing pleasure. "The Prowler" is based around whirling paranoid pads and percussion heavy rolling breaks, "Miles Away" takes a more dreamy approach with lilting arpeggios and stuttering break rolls, "Death Warrant" adds some 707 ghetto jitters into the moody mix while "Our Planet" closes with more poignant rave elements and drums that slur so hard the police want to take their driving licence. FFFliping great.

Review: Fresh on the recently rejuvenated Utopia, Hydro & War are about to drop their powerful debut album "Lateral Thinking". And these are the first two tastes of what's to come. "New Territories" cuts straight the point; a gritty roller laced with layers of percussion, a high voltage bassline that's soothed by the glacial chords. "Sagarmatha", meanwhile, shows off the pair's more emotional side as it takes us to the summit with its breezy, spacious barbed soul charm. Bring on the album.

Review: Despite beginning their ascent through the bass music ranks in 2010, it was 2016 brilliant debut album "Paradise Lost" that turned Delta Heavy into global underground stars. Since then, anticipation has been building for this belated follow-up. Happily, there are no signs of the duo succumbing to "difficult second album" syndrome; in fact, "Only In Dreams" is, if anything, even more effervescent than their lauded debut. It's still rooted in drum & bass and dubstep, but this time round they've blurred the boundaries between disparate styles of bass music even further, with an impressive list of guests and collaborators - Kuuro, Rae Hall, Zeds Dead, Muzzy and Modestep included - taking turns to make their presence felt.

Review: For the latest club-rocking adventure on his re-born Skeleton Recordings label, DJ Monita has decided to showcase cuts from two different artists. Reading resident DJ Vapour handles the A-side, first serving up the powerful sub-bass and revivalist jungle drums of "The Water Board" before turning his hand to bone crunching hard-step on the paranoid and creepy "Insomniac". Mecca steps forward on side B, offering up two similarly dark and bombastic cuts. Our pick of the pair is the horror movie-inspired insanity of "The Gentle Man" - all ghostly electronics, weighty sub-bass and scattergun breakbeats - though plenty may prefer the even more intense and full-throttle ride that is "Evocation".