Back catalogue: Drum And Bass

Review: Sweet murderation! Russian roustabout Andrey HoT gets scorchio on his latest blaze-up for DanJet - 'Cold Blooded Murdarah'. Thing Remarc getting up close with Benny L and that's where we're at. Need more drummage? Roll on for Barbitura's Re-Hot remix. Flip for more Russian rawness; DJ1312 and Dima Pulsar's 'Jungle Ting' has all the edits and Dread bass style reverse warps you could ever need while 'Dark Room' closes the EP with a palpable whiff of tension. Yum.

Review: Aphrodite's Jungle Classics 94 To 96 presents a nostalgic trip back to the original jungle era with remastered tracks from the iconic releases APH-12, APH-13, APH-22, and APH-23. This limited edition vinyl release, curated by Triple Vision and Aphrodite Recordings, features timeless classics like 'Tower Bass,' 'Shine,' 'Wanted It More And More,' and the Booyaa Remix of 'Amazon II.' An impressive catalogue taht goes a long way to explaining the big part of the influential role he played in shaping the jungle and drum & bass scene during the mid-90s.

Review: Last spotted raising hell and taking names with Jon 1st on Defrostatica, Arcane (who is also known as one half of the more mainstream-sounding d&b act Kleu) goes full nelson on the breaks with these two choppy choppy bangers on Foxy Jangle. Both cuts focussing on the drums, subs, samples and FX, these are fully timeless trips and sculpted strictly for the heads. Great for losing yourself inside at 3am and even better to mix. Just like concrete.

Review: On 'Ten Steps' and its accompanying tracks, new Fokuz signee Archangel nails a much coveted mixture of sweetness, simplicity and maximalism, etching and planing each final mix as though they were blocks of marble to produce a muted, yearning and propulsive set of workouts in hard liquid. Higher powers and penitent milestones are invoked on the title track, with its memoric cascades of yearner vocals and una corda pianos set against piston-powered breaks. 'U & I' goes on to swirl its vocal samples into sloshy sci-fi garbles of emo science, while 'Darkside' near-perfectly hangs the balance between headbang jump-up and resolute emotion. Serious stuff from the 12" newcomer.

Review: California-based, British drum & bass musician ASC returns with more homages to late 90s atmospheric drum & bass on his excellent sub-label Spatial. Anyone who has been following his work and the releases that he's put out on his Auxiliary label and sub labels in the past few years should know what to expect. Following on from last month's excellent full-length Next Time You Fall, 'Undercurrents' is four tracks of impeccably produced ambient jungle. The first cut, 'Ocean Breeze', has a simpler rhythm than you would expect from him, which could be a hint at a more liquid future direction. The next three cuts are classic ASC: cut-up, spaced-out breaks interspersed with dreamy vocals.

Review: Mind Over Matter', the latest release from ASC, continues his explorations into atmospheric, breakbeat-driven soundscapes with striking results. Opening track 'Desire' sets the tone with a lush beat structure, punctuated by sharp cymbal strikes. Subtle whale song samples are woven into the mix, accompanied by a warm bassline and tender piano melodies, while swirling strings ebb and flow, creating an almost tidal sense of movement. 'Voidscaping' follows, launching immediately into crisp, striking breakbeats. The throwback pads recall the heyday of Good Looking, but ASC's meticulous sampling and deep reverb work keep the track fresh, merging nostalgia with modern complexity. On the flip, 'Let Go' brings in the sounds of nature, with metallic bongos and a restrained choral vocal riding over playful, energetic hi-hats. The atmosphere builds, layering strings, synths, and ASC's trademark vocal elements, each listen revealing new intricacies. 'Meltdown' wraps things up with a darker, more anxious vibe. Minimal breaks and elusive hi-hats give the track a creeping tension, while ambient pads and a yearning female vocal add a layer of emotional depth. It's a finely balanced track, blending melancholy and intensity in a way that ASC has mastered.

Review: Okbron Records welcome Atlantiq to the roster, and in so doing reccy an uncharted subaquatic terrain, in which drum & bass production requires specialist handling. Limited to just 350 copies, and bundled with the statement "No repress."- full stop duly noted - Okbron are implicitly aware of the (anti-)gravity of this release. 'M33' sounds as if its liquid jungle source deposits housed a yet undiscovered respiratory gas for an unidentified life-form; its all-to-easily recognised breakbeats are the only orthodox productive choice on the title track, whereupon every other element sounds born of a hidden underwater civilisation, not a mere synthesiser, and surrounds the mix as though we'd embarked on a serene coralline safari. B-sider 'Nothing To Lose' takes a seedier turn in terms of vibe, with sistrum rattles and brooding crime-drama basses hearing whackout breaks set to an otherwise ruminant sonic mystery.

Review: Everybody's favourite drum & bass disorienter Aural Imbalance (Simon Huxtable) swats the sonic spirit level out our hands with 'Coded Frequency', dizzying our sense of poise on the dancefloor with four cosmic jungle numbers. You'd think the likes of 'Deep Sea' and 'Echoes In Time' would quell the soul, but to our ears they'd seem to combine stress and relief in equal measure, their crack combo of histamine breaks and zoneout pads seeming to portray the experience of having one's spacesuit tether snapped, thus confronting the aural astronaut with the voidal cosmos: do you thrash against its cold oblivion, knowing you're going to float endlessly, or do you accept the situation? Just when we think we've settled on the latter, Huxtable reintroduces a 'Sense Of Space' on the B1, opening up the breaks texture to a farther distant vanishing point, whilst the closing 'Regolith' hears us rejoice, having landed on civilisational (yet alien) soils with the celebratory rattles and stasises of 'Regolith'.

Review: Simon Huxtable's Aural Imbalance is one of drum & bass's most cultured projects. It's a pretty prolific one too, with great new music coming on a steady basis on labels like his own Spatial and Okrbon. It is the former he returns to now with a lush translucent blue vinyl 12", Retrospective Feelings. 'Blue Sky' is a deft mix of ambient cosmic synth work and meticulous drum patterns that suspends you in mid-air. 'Starburst' douses you in dazzling light and 'Frozen Tears' is deeper, tighter, more melancholic. 'Moonlit Clouds' is the classy closer which again pairs a lightness of rhythm and melody into something heavenly.

Review: No matter your particular preference in the deep house world, this various artists' outing from Q1E2 Recordings is sure to have something for you. Mike Riveria & Marco Ohboy, for example, tap into an early sound on 'Euphoria' with its big, brash piano stabs and whistles, while A Soft Mist Production keeps it all cuddly and deep with languid chords draped over gentle drums on 'Upside Down Rainbows.' DatSIM brings in some space-tech vibes for a deft rhythm and neon infused sound on 'Influx' and The Rabbit Hole's 'Tail Groove' has a mad double bass sound jumping about beneath frantic jungle breaks.

Review: On a mission to "make d&b great again", Finland's Straight Up Breakbeat pass through once more with the second of three EPs formed to showcase modern junglism. Kicking off, 'Mystery Machines' sees Glastonbury's Dead Mans Chest slam down some deadly amen choppage reinforced by haunting vocal FX and paranoid drones. Aeon Four & FFF's 'Look Inside' is a jungle-tekno roller, served with chunky hardcore style amens and a side of warm old-skool pads. Keeping the mid-90s vibe alive, the tripped out 'Green Fields Forever ' from Fanu - which drops hot on the heels of his greatly received remaster of Source Direct's 'Stars' - delivers airtight amen trickery, weaving synth washes and blissful dubby basslines. Esc & Mineral round things off with 'Photosynthesis', a pensive stepper highlighting cut-up breaks waltzing with cheeky synth nudges and a wide, rugged bassline. If the pioneers had buried some beefed-up tracks in a time-capsule to inspire future generations, they would probably sound a lot like 'States of Art II'.

Review: Strap in for another blistering ride thanks to the Sonic Force crew who has tapped up Dissect and Abstract Illusion for a series of new tunes and remixes of one another. 'Tengoku' (Dissect's Heaven mix) is first up with some thrilling breaks that float just above the dance floor amidst nice lush pads. Dissect's 'Cosmos' then rides a lurching beat with more raw percussion and Abstract Illusion's 'Tengoku' ups the ante with crashing snares and hi-hats, plenty of turbulent rhythms and planning basslines. Dissect shuts down with 'Black Hole' which is a darker stepper with a menace undercarriage that might make it the best cut of the lot.

Review: UK up-and-comers Eusebeia and Aisatsaana team up for an incredibly deep, bass-conscious, nigh sonar-systemic new drum & bass EP, 'Transnformation'. Few artists in this circuit dare to delve quite so abyssal; if anyone's ever seen the nuclear subnautical sci-fi thriller The Deep, one will know just how risky, how odds-bucking the attempt to plunge the deepest of the ocean's depths truly is. Clearly, only the best sonic submersible wearables will have cutted the mustard in aid of salvaging the jetsam-makings of this thriller; frankly, we're blown away by the ear for layering and bass heard on this EP, whether on the snareless impacts, shock-absorptions and depth-charges of 'Shed A Light' or the dim but angelic underwater intellibreaks lodestar that is 'Wayfinder'.

Review: Okbron Records carry out the divine task of reformatting an early yet rare Micky Finn and Aphrodite tape cut onto vinyl. 'AWOL' is a clever pun, serving as an acronym for both the wartime connotations of the phrase "absent without leave", and the spiritual paths implied in the phrase A Way Of Life, which also happened to be a leading early jungle night that produced multiple Micky Finn tape packs recorded in East London. 'AWOL' and 'Dark Selector' have likely existed for decades, serving as lost tunes from the rough point in time when Finn and Aphrodite laid down their timeless Takeover Bid mix for Mixmag. Packed with funk licks and gulping basses, all tunes heat the dancefloor stovetop in no time.

Review: 'Born With It' by Mungo's Hi Fi, featuring Aziza Jaye, Gardna, and Eva Lazarus, is a high-energy anthem blending UK Garage and 90s rave vibes with a powerful dose of Drum n Bass. Aziza Jaye's searing vocals, Gardna's dynamic delivery, and Eva Lazarus's fierce dancehall attitude create an explosive party track. On Side-2 'Back in the Dayz', adds nostalgia with a deft rap over rave-infused breaks, sure to evoke memories of old-school rave scenes. This 2024 12" vinyl, eco-friendly and pressed in Scotland, includes unreleased instrumental versions and a dub mix of 'Back in the Dayz', making it essential for summer festivals, clubs and sound system parties.

Review: Colours Revisited isn't just a nod to Adam F's 1997 Colours but a wholly reconstructed journey that blends the echoes of late 90s drum and bass with new layers of live instrumentation. Rather than dusting off the original, Adam F digs deep, pairing soulful grooves with UK jazz virtuoso Julian Joseph's keys and the rich textures of re-recorded vocals by Kirsty Hawkshaw. A standout, 'Metropolis' channels the Metalheadz-issued original's punch with a vivid, rhythmic pulse, while 'Music in My Mind' echoes Herbie Hancock's influence. The album pulses with both reverence and reinvention, casting classic tracks in a fresh sonic space where analogue warmth meets carefully layered modernity. This is Colours, all brilliantly retold for a new era.

Review: Their first ever collaborative LP, drum & bass brilliants ASC and Aural Imbalance share Duality, consummating a long working relationship, which has also seen two 12" EP exquisites from 2023, 'Interstellar Transmissions' and 'The Other Side'. But, as this is their first full-length album together, Duality is less floor-centred and works in a relatively conceptual mode, tracking a strong but measured arc from left-right pad sculptings to designer breaks. The cosmic theme of both artists' music is omnipresent as ever, though there's an extra dash of titular spiritualism; we move from the literal celestiality of 'Sunset On Mars', into a B-side's figurative celestiality with 'Seraphim' and 'Prism Of Light'; a steady vibe-shift into angelic, alary buoyancy.