Inspired by a fluid mix of global club sounds including UK funky, kuduro, techno and rap, Nervous Horzion co-head TSVI is to kick off 2018 with the release of new EP, ‘Rambo’.
Comprised of six tracks, including collaborations with DJ JM and fellow Nervous Horizon boss, Wallwork, as well as a bonus remix from Luru, ‘Rambo’ details how TSVI’s sound continues to evolve, taking on bold new shapes in the process.
A natural extension of 2016 EP, ‘Sacred Drums’, here he scopes out fresh influences that can be felt right the way through the tracklist. From the blaring kuduro flavours on opener ‘Pull Up’ to outright UK funky club jam, ‘Funky T’ and sparse, frenetic drum workout ‘Roller’, TSVI meshes together a network of powerful, drum-centred tracks.
Features from DJ JM and Wallwork bring new focus to his work too, with ‘Jaguar’ — a cranking, off-piste drum exercise hit by bursts of sharp, metallic synth melodies and zapping bass stabs — spotlighting inventive sound design and brilliantly abstract thinking.
A bold marker for a producer already at the top of his game, ‘Rambo’ forms the perfect 2018 lift-off point for one of the UK’s most exciting young club labels.
You have no idea what is coming and it’s an absolute delight. A knocking percussion line reveals itself slowly to a frantic acid pattern. Clinical beats race onwards while the melody teases, tenses and uncoils. When you think you can’t go higher, then comes the vocal and boots it into the stratosphere.
InnerCytem - Airbag.
A soft, delicate melody climbs around shaken percussion and a booming bass/kick combo - perfect juxtaposition of beauty and power. The central melody fades in and out of cycling clicking notes and muted clashing, through a burbling, hissing break, and a gated exit. Constructed with care and devotion.
Casual Violence - Briefly Sexual (Siege Remix).
Thunderous kicks, clipped percussion and a classic 90s hook power this track frantically onward. Drawn out ethereal buzzing notes introduce stripped bleeps and a crushing, emotive vocal after the break. Underworld on very dark steroids.
Retsof - Suns
The knockout blow. A wildly pulsating bassline doesn’t let up for one second, obliterating any possible thought but the groove. Overshadowing even the punchy beats, isolated claps, chattering hats and slowly progressing atmospheric chords, this is a truly stunning piece of musical weaponry.
a1. Innercystem - King With The Beats
a2. Innercystem - Airbag
b1. Casual Violence - Briefly Sexual (Siege Remix)
After 2 years of honing, crafting and sonic manipulation, Books’ debut ‘Station’ album is ready for earthly transmission and this is the sampler to the album. A reimagining of Drum & Bass dynamics, the album will explore expansive depths juxtaposed against impossibly finite intimacy of mind.
Kirkham's newest album comes in the form of a project under a new identity; Mikarma.
The album is a cathartic project for the accomplished electronic musician. A catharsis of emotion coupled with a restriction in studio equipment that leads to new creative means and avenues. Speaking on the reasons of the self-imposed minimal studio set up he states "Sometimes when you have too much equipment wired up it can be overwhelming and you end up just playing around for the most part."
It become apparent that there was a need for the producer to get the best out of his parameters, a process he was already familiar with "When we started back in the 90's we had a minimal setup... and because of that you would get the most you could out of each bit of kit."
Kirkham goes on to elaborate on the cathartic nature of the album "Breaking up in a relationship with the woman you love is a really draining emotional experience, I'm a person who finds it hard to outwardly express my emotions, I hold it in which is pretty unhealthy but i think writing music releases some of the pressure built up. The sad thing is my best work is normally when I'm at my lowest."
Kirkham's newest album comes in the form of a project under a new identity; Mikarma.
The album is a cathartic project for the accomplished electronic musician. A catharsis of emotion coupled with a restriction in studio equipment that leads to new creative means and avenues. Speaking on the reasons of the self-imposed minimal studio set up he states "Sometimes when you have too much equipment wired up it can be overwhelming and you end up just playing around for the most part."
It become apparent that there was a need for the producer to get the best out of his parameters, a process he was already familiar with "When we started back in the 90's we had a minimal setup... and because of that you would get the most you could out of each bit of kit."
Kirkham goes on to elaborate on the cathartic nature of the album "Breaking up in a relationship with the woman you love is a really draining emotional experience, I'm a person who finds it hard to outwardly express my emotions, I hold it in which is pretty unhealthy but i think writing music releases some of the pressure built up. The sad thing is my best work is normally when I'm at my lowest."
Few artists to emerge from North America’s drum & bass culture have made such a significant or enduring impact as San Francisco trio Bachelors of Science.
Formed in 2005, group has spent the better part of a decade writing memorable music, carving out an unmistakable signature sound that spans the full emotional scope of the genre.
Two full length albums and numerous memorable releases on some of drum & bass’s finest labels had already secured Bachelors of Science’s spot amongst North American D&B’s elder statesmen when the group founded Code Recordings in 2012 - a label dedicated to honing the Bachelors’ own sound as well as the scene’s finest up and coming talent.
Now in 2015, Bachelors of Science is proud to present its third full-length outing and first for Code - The Space Between.
a1. Bachelors Of Science - Before You Go (feat. Dylan Germick & Audio Angel)
a2. Bachelors Of Science - On The Line (feat. Collette Warren & Ben Soundscape)
a3. Bachelors Of Science - Backfoot Dub (feat. Emcee Child)
a4. Bachelors Of Science - Everywhere We Go (feat. Soultrain Locomotive)
a5. Bachelors Of Science - The Space Between
b1. Bachelors Of Science - Kanto
b2. Bachelors Of Science - Satisfy
b3. Bachelors Of Science - Cartier
b4. Bachelors Of Science - Control
b5. Bachelors Of Science - Don't Hold Back (feat Dylan Germick)
Burgeoning club label Nervous Horizon follow up label boss TSVI’s recent ‘Sacred Drums’ EP with a new EP from Houndstooth, AUS and R&S signee, Second Storey.
‘Spin Cycle’, comprised of three tracks written in the same warehouse space Storey shared with TSVI and fellow NH boss, Wallwork, earlier this year, details a micro-world of new ideas that Storey manifests within a sprawling, hyper-specific web of weird and wonderful bass abstraction. “It’s not often you go to a viewing and your potential house-mate actively wants you to make noise with no restrictions”, he says reflecting on first meeting TSVI while looking for a new place to live in London.
Energised by this new sense of creative freedom and boosted by a support network pro-vided by the extended NH crew (“Gugli (TSVI) and Tommy (Wallwork) were buzzing off these tracks when I played them”), Storey is at the top of his game across the EP.
From the fuzzy, looping programming on the title-track, written as if in a ‘spin cycle’, to the swinging, crunchy pressure on ‘Critters’ and the muffled, industrial-tech tones to ‘Sludge 3D’, ‘Spin Cycle’ plays right into the NH ethos — making music that sounds like nothing you’ve heard before.
6 tracks of fuel flamed floor movers. Dos, Ray Kandinski, Gallery S, Anthony Fade, Dj Bowlcut and Dj Longdick have all outdone themselves and the fuel keeps burning Baby. Acid infused tracks Floor Moovers all you want in 6 tracks.
Bristol based 'Arkist' has always been a versatile producer and as a result has an impressive rage of releases under his belt, with revered imprints such as Hotflush and Hypercolour. Recently he has been experimenting further in the studio and is ready to present his first 12inch in few years, under a brand new alias - Astrocat.
In this debut, self-titled EP it is instantly apparent that vocoder-infused funk and disco of the highest order can be expected from this new Astrocat guise. The EP is full of vintage talk box vocals, warm spacey chords and infectious basslines that bring classic records from the likes of Zapp and The Rah Band into mind.
With 5 tracks this EP has a lot to offer. Wether it be the raw, funked up james of the opener 'Small Talk' and title track 'Astrocat' or the more chilled, woozy grooves of 'Nightflare'. With features from Mr Woodnote and a dub remix from Appleblim this EP's roots sit firmly in the South West. Local legend DJ Die even lent his vocoder to the studio for some of the recordings.
David Meiser – Epsilon A one bar hook plays centre stage, morphing continuously (plucked, hammered, played, organic and synthesised) as waves of intensity build and recede. Simplicity and endless variation in sound built around a measured beat.
Kereni – Mutual Gravitation Taking a deep direction and fat sound, the beats roll and snake their way through glitches and handclaps into two huge melodies at a frantic pace. Reverb, echo and delay and just a hint of acid at the breakdowns show the true depth of this piece.
Jake Conlon – Cry of the Necromancer The “cry” is a cycling whisper from the grave, slowly building in intensity and menace and overtaking the trademark hard kicks and clipped percussion that characterise Conlons productions. Fine, minimalistic, machine techno.
David Meiser – Epsilon (Louis Ray Remix) Ray puts the original through a turbocharger, winding up the bpm, widening the kicks and percussion and reworking the hook into a straight up dance floor missile with just a touch of dub.
Pau Encinas also known as Cauto returns after several years of ̈apparent ̈ inactivity. His previous EP, 35/8, was published in 2011 via Disboot. Since then until now, he has worked on several collaborations and remixes. One of the reasons for Disboots existence is to promote and release young and local talent. Cauto, without exception, is an essential one of these.
From his first release on Dj Rupture ́s Dutty Artz in 2008, Pau has been developing his skills as a producer and talented musician rooted in his background in Catalan folk music. The culmination of his musical evolution is the crystallisation of his new Lp.
"Prova A Veure Si Ets Capac De Menjar Pedres" (Try to see if you can eat stones) is his latest work and first Lp where each word in the title is the name of a track, and each of these must be understood as an aqueous sequence rather than a kind of feature sound. In each of its 9 songs deep bass, jungle rhythms and organic textures abound which have little to do with the barrenness of its title.
"Prova A Veure Si Ets Capac De Menjar Pedres" materializes two years of work created between Berlin, Barcelona and his hometown Banyoles. This beautiful Lp was recently presented live at Sónar 2016 in an all-hardware liveset where Cauto was accompanied by Dani Guijarro (Headbirds) long time friend and collaborator in other projects such as C156.
This January JoeFarrwill make his Bloc debut with a three-track EP, titled 'RPM'.
Farr has a diverse catalogue, with three well-received releases on Turbo as well as records with DSNT, Leisure System and Power Vacuum. Few producers can claim to have remixed Tiga and been remixed by Truss.
Though Farr has an extensive history with Bloc., this will be his first outing on the label, a release that incorporates sounds that both Bloc and Joe are famed for. The first track, 'RPM' features prominently in the Bloc festival trailer and is the soundtrack to the 2016 weekender. Hissing high hats and an atmospheric baseline quickly develop into an explosive anthem designed to get feet moving. 'Rolling and Thatching' conveys an immediate punch of 90’s acid, followed by techno heavy 'Workout Three' with crunching beats and an unremitting delivery worthy of the Berghain dance floor.
Alex Coulton's productions are driving, abrasive techno workouts with a lo-end sensibility and abstract tendencies. It's a great honour to be able to serve up both these slabs on the Bloc platform.
Post Sandwell District, Function has formed a new partnership in the spirit of unrelenting techno alongside Ed Davenport. Together as Function/Inland they have crafted an entire side of this EP into a rolling, forceful dance- floor assault.
a1. Alex Coulton - Freefall
a2. Alex Coulton - Antagonise
aa1. Alex Coulton - Freeland (Function/Inland remix)
Vinyl will feature Individual, hand illustrated sleeves. Distraction combines thundering bass elements from darker techno with deeper, emotive pads and flourishes to create a meditative yet driving late night groove. Best used to hush dance floor chatter in favour of getting heads down and putting a shift in. Static and Choke also play with juxtapositions of light and dark elements, with Choke being the firmer of the two. Both offer sounds ideal for creating trippy and introspective dance floor moments, while not allowing those hard fought for energy levels to drop.
![Arkist - Astrocat EP [w/ Appleblim Remix]](http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0488/8057/products/hgr006_{width}x.jpg?v=1490627085)
