SUBMORPHICS Vinyl & CDs

Review: Rosebay Music presents 'Darker Flowers', a fresh V/A project showcasing four hotly-tipped new school producers, all of whom represent a hauntingly soulful drum & bass sound with class and elegance. Romanian wunderkind Azotix has been making moves recently with his ultra-clean future bangers, but here he demonstrates another side of his sound with the beautiful 'Hurt'. Styke and label boss Submorphics, meanwhile, link up in The Hague for a unique collab, 'Lonely Dub', channeling dub techno and moody film noir D&B. LO! represents Chicago with the interstitial banger 'Transition', bringing an early 2000s sound into 2024, while Imo-Lu finishes things off with the gorgeous, ye deadly bassbin rattler 'Inhibition'. Epic soundsystem music straight out of Glasgow.

Review: Rosebay Music celebrates its first anniversary with its fourth release and does so by delivering a soulful d&b record from label boss Submorphics. Perfect for early autumn sun, this standout release includes two unique tracks. 'Take A Chance' features LA's rising r&b artist Upper Reality and is a bright, upbeat track blending Motown vibes with dub influences that make it an ideal party anthem. On the flipside, 'Hey Baby' combines chopped soul samples with warm Rhodes chords and hazy synth arpeggios. This release marks a big milestone for Rosebay Music and is a great entry into its catalogue.

Review: Rosebay Music is a new label from Submoprhics that opens its account with a new offering from the boss himself. He is someone with a unique style that is built on 174 bpm British foundations but adds elements from the foundational and more contemporary US styles of his homeland, from Detroit house to Chicago footwork. This debut 12' shows that to be the case again with 'Blastoff' bringing a lively juke-inspired rhythm with silky synths and nice lush chords. 'Cinerama' is another smooth roller, this time with spine-tingling female vocals.

Review: Submorphics deals in a unique sound: lo-fi drum n' bass. Yes, what was once reserved for a new style house can definitely be abstracted into other genres, contrary to what the less open-minded among us would have you believe. 'Verona Highway' is just that: working in old soulful house samples and self-recorded highpassed radio synths, the Netherlands-based artist works in a serene palette of sounds to convey a drum n' bassy idea of a late night Detroit to Chicago road trip aesthetic.

Review: US-artist-in-Holland Submorphics returns to Lenzman's TNQ stable with four more delicious soulful D&B joints. He hits the sweet spot instantly with 'Let It Shine', a Creative Source style dreamer with lavish vocals from Veda Black. It's followed by three more dreamboats... 'Guided' licks and slaps with a dubby warmth that would be easy to describe as Calibre with more strings, 'Live With The Pain' fuses serious bars from Detroit's Phat Kat and the stunning soul of Ireland's Steo while 'Infinite Void' brings home the disco bacon on a big old Amen tray. Think Blame or Artificial Intelligence. Stunning. Shine on.

Review: Submorphics' Rosebay imprint has been an absolute gold mine for soulful and warm, funky and cosmic D&B and this link-up with the man of the moment Zar is certainly no exception. 'Another Level Of Love' is a surging slab of soul that could be told at any tempo. Gentle keys, balmy (but bold) pads and a scorchio vocal from Aya Dia, this hits the spot on a whole new level (ahem) For a deeper instrumental vibe look no further than 'Western Times'. A lilting, far-away texture sets the vibe while little swirls and jazzy twangs add all the colouring your soul requires. Beautiful.

Review: Submorphics' new imprint Rosebay Music returns with its second release; this time the producer is joined by North Quarter boss and soulful drum & bass aficionado Lenzman. Fusing the former's soulful approach and the latter's high-octane neurofunk, 'Echoes Of November' harks back agog to six months ago, with snappy but swung drum lines providing the base for fast future arpeggiators, wistful soul vox chopups and bubbling synths, which almost recall the same bright guitar. As warmly merigold in tone as the front cover suggests, B-sider 'The Messenger' is just as neo-noir-at-noon, in part thanks to its deeply uplifting vocal line.