Juno Recommends Drum & Bass September 2021

Review: Since breaking through with the colossal 'Anybody From London' on Hotline Recordings five years ago, Boris English AKA Borai has proved to be one of British dance music's more cultured hardcore and jungle revivalists. He's at it again here, too, filling his Vivid label debut with a quartet of sub-heavy, breakbeat-driven bangers dripping in saucer-eyed, rave-style samples. He begins with the sharp riffs, pitched down Amen breaks and booming bass of 'In My Life', before upping the tempo on bustling breaks roller 'Dead Drop'. English doffs his cap to spacey early drum & bass on loose-limbed flipside opener 'Keep Steppin', while closing cut 'C'Mon' is an insanely weighty, pitched-down hardcore bomb.

Review: Ahead of a full compilation later in the year to mark the 25th anniversary of one of the most important labels in electronic music, we're treated to a series of special 12"s from it. John B is the man behind this one and a newly remastered version of his 'Up All Night' is presented first up. It's a hardcore old school tune with tough metal stabs and thrilling basslines that duck and dive through the rave. The Data 3 remix is broad, sweeping and just as direct but with a more spacious set of breaks powering you along.

Review: Pioneer Dev Paradox dons his Alaska furs for another blustery, ice-cold adventure - 'Azacar'. A journey powered by beautiful, spacious jazzy breaks, a sustained chord and marbled washes of human and synthetic textures, it's the type of transcendental track that can flip the hardest of jungle sets into an oasis of restraint. If that's not quite enough, the one and only Synkro is on hand with a fantastic remix that swaps out the breaks for lithe autonomic drums but retains every ounce of the original's mysticism and otherworldliness. Stunning.

Review: Tim Reaper has carved himself out as one of contemporary drum & bass's most assured producers. Now he is back on Lobster Theremin with more of his bristling and high energy breakbeats, opening up with the flurry of snares, cymbals and punchy kicks that is 'Whirlpools.' It's a peak time, heart of the dance floor banger that is followed up by a remix of 'Give It 2 Me' from Coco Bryce, who goes similarly hard. 'Ecospheres' comes doused in lush melodies but with drums that still will not relent and on 'On Repeat' melodies and vocals refract around the mix while those hard edged drums keep on keeping on.

Review: Great Scott! Suburban Base revive one of their most seminal and cult hardcore crossover classics and their first ever release: 'Future Sound' by Phuture Assassins. First up comes a very special 95 dubplate remix from Essex brothers Dead Dred, all full speed jungle drum & bass that was years ahead of its time and a swashbuckling remix from the time courtesy of rave legends 2 Bad Mice. Flip for two more takes on the timeless future sound; for a 2021 flavour Exile and Mark XTC get on that stripped-back wonky while Cause4Concern bring home the bacon with a long lost 2002 remix. The future is now.

Review: More previously unrelease gold from the Blueskin Badger camp! Omni Trio don Rob Haigh and Syko dig deep into the vault and dust off these three gems: 'Dead Centre' lifts off with a soulful charm years ahead of its time. Big brushed breaks and Rhodes from here to Valhalla. 'Compulsion' is a big pile driver of a track with a rolling technoid twist. Last but not least 'Nautilus' sends us off packing on deep low-tempo jazzy number, the likes of which wouldn't have gone a miss on K&D sessions.

Review: Brand new beat business from the heart of England: Stourbridge's Something System (an alias of Lee Shilton) launches this very special multi-genre label with two jungle influenced 140 breaks tracks. Cymatics, from Something System himself, rolls with a warm jazzy flavour that wouldn't have gone amiss on early SOUR or Creative Source releases. Looking for something a little darker? Jump on the Botchit-style slo-mo jungle breaks of 'Coming For Ya' from Lucas. An accomplished and very promising launch release.

Review: The badgers keep on biting as Blueskin bossman Syko unearths another unreleased gem from his early 90s DAT stash - 'Children Of God'. First comes his own touch up, laced with ghostly wails and that No U-Turn type of intensity. Then comes Rotterdam rotter FFF with a jazzier, spacier build-up but a full-on hardcore choppage twist. Flip for two contemporary sessions: FFF goes all-in with his cutty cutty drumfunk on 'Shadows' while Syko's 'End Of Time' turns the vibe inside out with a really interesting off-beat shuffle and unhurried atmospheres. Godly.

Review: 'Ruthless In Purpose: Insidious In Design'... Just in the title alone you know the Odysee captain means business with these three tracks. Lavish is their cinematic feel and brazen organic drum tones and textures; each cut gets darker as we creep around in the jazzy 3am shadows of the title track, we're pranged out by the minimalism and stark spikes of 'Provocateur' before doing the running man all the way home to the heavier, more curmudgeonly design and purpose of 'Status Anxiety'. Ruthless, insidious and seriously authentic jungle.

Review: Violet Night Recordings continue to bring life to old DATs and tracks that may never have seen the light of day. This time the bossman Chippie steps up with 'Big Grey Wolf', a breezy, cosmic take on the deeper sound. Very late 90s/early 2000s in its early in-the-box digital sounds but still carrying plenty of weight, it's one for the dreamers. Meanwhile on the B we have two legends Blame and Seba with 'Liquid Electricity'. Springy, jazzy and written at some point in the early 2000s, it captures both artist's nose for groove, sense of space and cosmic character. What a piece of history.

Review: After a blistering start to life, One Seventy is back with more unashamedly functional, dance floor-destroying tools here on its second release. This one is a collab between DYL and DB1 and all four are Basement Tracks. The first is predatory and slow, poised and menacing with its heavy drums and scraping synths. The second is the sound of a decaying warehouse, with dropping water pipes, big metal hits and distant crashing machines. The third is more suspensory, with a floating drum break and airy pads that zone you out before the brutal closer is a dystopian techno weapon.

Review: Yung Cuzzie makes his debut on Dead Man's Chest's Western Lore with two brisk hardcore homages. 'Who's Tony?' poses questions your dancing shoes are too busy to answers. All sweeping breaks, breathy vocals then a sudden switch into classic ravey stabs, by the breakdown you don't even care who Tony is any more. 'Headstuck' follows a similar suit but with more of a windswept, Future Sound Of London vibe but with turbo charged stabs that transition into some hyper mode 92 flavoured beast. Both cuts super frosty and delicious... They're great, as one famous Tony might say.