Back catalogue: Drum And Bass

Review: Just as they were likely originally intended, two of Calibre's said-to-be most coveted productions come remastered fresh from the vaults, and reissued on black vinyl via the sonic conservationists over at Signature. First comes the 2001 remix of Badmarsh & Shri's 'Signs', to which Calibre lends an extra rolling signification, its no-nonsense industrial break and tensing, two-note pads doing most of the legwork here. Then there's the original 'Soul 80', a unique fusion of dub-delayed chipmunky vox splices, modular synth piques, and a massive, untechy breakbeat.

Review: 26 years ago Blame embraced the dark forces of the Sith (a good five years before the Revenge movie) - and it finally got a release in 2021. Now comes the VIP. Even more score-like and dramatic with its energy and intention, this will have you unleashing force destruction before you can even whip out your sabre. 'Lost Science' is another unreleased gem from the same late 90s era. Big jazzy drums, caverns of space and a sense of cosmic jazz that's hard to find in contemporary breakbeat music. The dark force is strong on this one.

Review: ScruScru is a name you might well recognise but it is fair to say you might not recognise his work on this first release from Talkbox. He shows a very different side off the back of plenty of top edits that bottle up plenty of disco and Bossanova vibes. Here he has teamed up with Russia's dubplate don BR Selecta for an EP full of energy and joy. 'YEAH YEAH' is happy-go-lucky garage with pitched-up vocals and lively drum, 'Get My Gruv' is a kinetic two-stepper and 'Cyberrave' is just that with its all-out synth madness and flurries of breaks, then 'Serious Talking' closes out on a darker jungle tip. A varied and vital 12' for sure.

Review: Super-techy three-track jungle business from Sub Code Records, welcoming producers Lavery and Bow Street Runner for an "extremely limited" 12" pressing. Lying somewhere on the interstice of ragga and technical jungle - with a few soul and breakdance samples thrown in - we start off with the ruff sampleage of Lavery's 'Dead Soundboy', which happily chops and changes between pleasingly stereo'ed breaks and halfstep toasted breakdowns. The bread doesn't come out burnt, with Bow Street Runner's 'Butterfly Bass' grilling things just right, with its militant dancehall acapellas and no-holds-barred laserblasts leaving us hardly prepared for the track's sudden soul interjection. The collaborative closer 'My Yout' is by far the wickedest sound, with an untreated flute trill and entrancing break chop bottling a dubious mood; the listener is squarely placed in the narrative position of the yute in question, whom we gather is in the midst of being ordered to pass the rudeboy...