Essential drum n bass in the 21st century (SEEK only)

(er, & if you're interested, get Disturbance & "Morning Light" by Concord Dawn & Real Time by Shapeshifter . . . there's some new comps coming out soon which should be interesting.)

some really great albums (IMO) since the mid 90s --

enforcers - the beginning of the end
sonar circle - radius
alpha omega - journey to the 9th level
paradox - the musician as outsider
klute - fear of people
polar - 37 C and falling
icarus - squid ink
danny breaks - vibrations
blame - into the void

Pieter K has an album out next month on Breakbeat Science (called Everything .. something). he's at the very forefront of drum & bass, with incredibly wicked breaks and an idiosyncratic style.

labels that are currently doin it: Certificate 18, Streetbeats, Droppin Science, Metaformal, Bassbin.

If you hop over to the Drum'n Bass Arena website (www.breakbeat.co.uk) the have plenty of new/forthcoming releases you can listen to. Subtronix (www.subtronix.co.nz) do a weekly streaming radio show and they're hardly a unique case.

I just don't have the energy/drive/time at the moment, but I do have to agree with the recommendations of both Klute and Polar.

Search:

J Majick vs Hatiras - Spaced Invaders
Dom & Roland - Can't Punish Me
E-Z Rollers - RS 2000 (Vocal Mix)
Dillinja - Thugged Out Bitch
Uncut - Midnight (Marcus Intallex & SF Files Mix)
Q Project - Champion Sound (Total Science Hardcore Will Never Die Mix)
Cybaspace - Life
Roni Size - Snapshots
High Contrast - Return of Forever

and nobody's mentioned Technical Itch (and Decoder too i guess but he seems to be wrapped up in the kosheen stuff these days). the recent Penetration eps have been great (but hard to find?)(extensive samples on mp3.com).

i still like Ed Rush and Optical btw. again you're pretty much spot on with the description but they're still the best at what they do.

and i keep meaning to buy more Pilote and the new Digital lp too. and other favourites are Stakka and Skynet under their various names (Kraken particularly).

hth
andy

SINGLES

1. Champion Sound (Total Science Hardcore Will Never Die Remix) - Q Project (C.I.A. 2000)
2. Water House Dub - Digital (Function 2001)
3. Midnight - Uncut featuring Jenna G (Wired 2001)
4. Hide U - Kosheen (Moksha 2000)
5. Who Told You - Roni Size/Reprazent (Talkin Loud 2000)
6. Rush Hour - Bad Company (BC 2002)
7. It's Yours - Eskobar featuring Lemon D (True Playaz 2001)
8. RS2000 - EZ Rollers (Moving Shadow 2000)
9. Night Fever - Dylan + Robyn Chaos (Outbreak 2002)
10. Mars/Echo Box - Brockie & Ed Solo (True Playaz 2002)

ALBUMS

1. In the Mode - Roni Size/Reprazent (Talkin Loud 2000)
2. Advance - Total Science (C.I.A. 2000)
3. Desert Rose - Suv (Full Cycle 2001)
4. Dubzilla - Digital (Function 2002)
5. Dillinja Presents Cybotron - Dillinja (Valve/ffrr 2001)
6. Mdz.02 - various (Metalheadz 2002)
7. Total Science Presents Tuned in - various (C.I.A. 2001)
8. Playaz 4 Real - various (True Playaz 2001)
9. Big Bad Bass - Dillinja & Lemon D (Valve 2002)
10. Through the Eyes - various (Full Cycle 2000)

this noisia mix for fabric lasted an astounding 24 minutes before i started to get bored:

Noisia & Black Sun Empire "Infusion" was the boring track - it actually got mildly interesting again after that, with a weird justice-influenced section of totally filtered-out midrange noisy drum'n'bass. i mean, stuff that sounded just like justice or SMD with breaks under it. actually, i guess maybe you would just call it breaks.

Are any of the Fabric d&b mixes to be recommended? The Fabio mix got returned to the 2nd hand shop from where it came rather quickly. It all sounded very flat to me.

if you didn't feel like hanging onto that one, then probably not.

I think DJ Clever's mix Unsung Heroes would be one of my top five or so jungle mixes ever. Pretty amazing considering it's all tracks from the middle of this decade rather than the last one.

Hmm that link didn't work. Here.

Jeez, I haven't heard of ANY of those guys. Hence the name of the mix I guess!

Although, would that be the same Martyn of recent dubstep fame...?

Yes.

you've heard of deep blue ("the helicopter tune")

it's a shame that after doing vol 4 with dj db and vol 5 with dj clever, breakbeat science would choose total science for vol 6.

does that mean that the inperspective / offshore / new breakstep thing is effectively over? has everyone else also moved on to dubstep / dub-techno?

I dunno that Breakbeat Science is really a sign of anything - the Clever mix is really the only mix in the series in that style as far as I'm aware.

I don't follow the scene close enough to know how it's going. A lot of them are doing artist albums. I didn't like the Fanu one much.

This looks like it might be good.

Perhaps this too.

CHURCH MASSIVE !!! Seek THIS !!!

http://www.youtube.com/swf/l.swf?swf=http%3A//s.ytimg.com/yt/swf/cps-vfl64504.swf&video_id=AlZpSd2lRJQ&rel=1&showsearch=1&eurl=&iurl=http%3A//i2.ytimg.com/vi/AlZpSd2lRJQ/hqdefault.jpg&sk=ESTOjZzikByIiq7zg3Lrbwgm0yb1ksCoC&use_get_video_info=1&load_modules=1&fs=1&hl=en

i've been in a d&b mood lately (which has not happened for a long-ass time)

i often wonder what it'd be like to be a real d&b head.

as one who's not, one of the few d&b tracks from this decade that i return to over & over is high contrast ft. no lay - angels & fly

Last week I revisited/imported a pile of old CDs I have in various boxes into iTunes and I am still amazed how well this baby holds up, back in high rotation here. Oh hmm not 21st century though, carry on.

shouldn't be that amazing - loads of good tunes in that mix!

did anyone mention the newish Seba album?

http://www.discogs.com/release/1461277

It's pretty good.

I don't keep up with modern DnB much. I like Kiss Kiss Bang Bang by High Contrast quite a bit:

Siegbran that's one of my favourite jungle comps ever! In fact the Grooverider disc probably is my favourite ever jungle mix, or at least equal first with his Hardstep Selection II mix.

Yes, Hardstep Selection II is great. But the mastering on that cd is dreadful. The levels are far too high in places.

But my favourite 'Rider mix is still his peerless BBC Essential Mix from 1996.

MARTSMAN is a beast

http://www.juno.co.uk/artists/Martsman/?oos=yes

is this even drum'n'bass though? or post-breakcore, post-dubstep IDM?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IoJn4fyk6M

This is bad ass.

revive for some essential liquid/autonomic?

Rockwell making some of the most interesting "bass music" {{shudder}} around, Imo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGaUj27FuKI

ASC is the best guy for Autonomic stuff. DBridge is a bit zzzzzzz
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcJD-jIVXAI

Metalheadz still going:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG5OruOyAF0

My younger sister loves Hospital Records d&b, and has played this so many times I've started to like it as well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hb1NM5wZ1Q

Know little about the 1994-7 golden age, but the above keep the flame flickering at least, no?

hospital records seems to be the first stop for drum and bass these days - they have a good podcast if you want to see what sort of stuff they are putting out these days. i like a lot of what i hear from them, it generally seems to be on a somewhat liquid tip, but evolved a bit since that genre first originated. my favorite thing i've heard from them in the last few years is "danny byrd, rave diggers" (ha ha) it's 90's rave influenced d&b, not a bad track on the album really. love this video from the single too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u1vq8xI1Vg

also if you missed out on the whole brazilian drum and bass thing from the early 2000's, you really should check that stuff out. so good! the sambass series is excellent, vol 1&2 are absolutely unmissable, you must hear.