Drum & Bass Recommendations February 2016

Review: Hugeness: "The View" was one of the small selection of D&B tunes that really brought all DJs from all subgenres together last year. Now under the crafty scalpel of Calibre, it's been subtly polished for the new year. Flip for a mechanical funk shake up of "Bun Ya" by Enei. Loaded with some of the funniest and sharpest lyrics DRS, Skittles, Chimpo, Rolla and Strategy have ever penned, Enei has paid full respect to the elements while upping the aggy factor by at least 50.

Review: Ahead of the Jungle Cake's third Welcome To The Jungle collection, Deekline drops two of the album's many heaters; Soulfire soulstress Sara Lugo gets the Jamie Bostron treatment as he retains the warm tones and emotional sentiments of the original while applying a slick rolling breakbeat. Looking for a heavier skanker? Flip for Ed Solo and Stickybuds' bass-flecked twist on the unavoidable Sizzla. Underpinned with a juicy bassline, Sizzla's urging lyrics and the dreamy melodica are both kept in check as we roll deeper into the dance. That's living alright.

Review: Two straight-up ragga jungle slammers from Deekline and Russian junglist Feyder. "Overcome" ploughs into the mix as a treacle-thick bassline sets the tone before the ragga elements develop; first the polished skanks, then the vibrant horns before Steppa Style and Spruddy One get melodic. "Sound Burial" really will bury your competitors thanks to its TC - "Deep" style bass hook and premiership voicing from the legendary Ragga Twins. Rewind and all that.

Review: Hear that? It's the authentic resonance of the "Junglist Sound". Coming from Navigator, a man with so many MC stripes he needs longer sleeves, it's as authentic as it gets. Throw in sweet skankage from Ranking Joe and the roots are as deep as it gets too. Elsewhere we get vibey with Aries on "Meditation Time", we get our soulful flex fulfilled by Potential Badboy and wrap up the dance with the steppy charms of "Chatty Mouth" with one of jungle's most iconic vocalists David Boomah.

Review: With previous on Program and Spearhead, Battery now take another bold leap and make their Metalheadz debut. Three tracks deep, each one showcasing their stark, spacious sound. "NoNo" is a 150mph drive down country lanes blindfolded. No escape, no surrender, no seatbelt. "Air" is slightly deeper with more of a human element thanks to subtle vocal touches from Rumour. Finally we hit "Hornsey Dub", a heads down roller laced with dense drum textures, tight edits and sneering toxic sub. Killer label debut and definite radar-lockers for 2016 hype.

Review: Over the last few years Methlab have secured a highly respected position in drum & bass as a management company, event promoter and hub for all things techy and uncompromised. Here we find them hooking up with Vegas's Bad Taste imprint for a series of on-point, club-focused 12"s featuring some of the most exciting names in the neuro movement. Highlights include the ghostly vocal cries on MachineCode's "Evacuation" and the fuzzy distorted grit of Signs' "Less Is More". The Methlab takeover continues...

Review: As Renegade Hardware write their final chapters, Trilo adds another appendix to their hugely influential tome. "Gatekeepers" is a rolling slice of menace with slight electro tendencies, mutating and morphing on every fill. "Outburst" is quintessential Renegade with its precision two-step and gutter-chomping fills. "End Game" is a searing, scorching tear-out cut that tips a nod at the like of Black Sun Empire while "Closing Chapter" sees him teaming up with the Zombie Cats for a futuristic nihilistic rampage. Emotional.

Review: Just the words 'Break' and 'remix' alone should pique your interest regarding this 12" from the Fokuz crew. Break tackles the touching sounds of Taking Facing Jinx and Alexsia Louca collaboration "Now You're Gone" and adds his trademark drum punches and snarling-but-never-OTT bass. The results? Break has, once again, smashed it. Flip for a full scale soul shock out from label mainstays Soligen, Type2 and Vandera. Wonderful.

Review: Having set up shop a year ago, Soul Trader have quickly established themselves as a really exciting and reliable prospect in the deeper, soulful end of drum & bass. The third in their vinyl-only "LTD" series sees Bcee laying down two subtle, understated rollers and Saxxon getting dreamy before the three of them get bubbly with an early zeroes Zinc flavoured jam. Grab it while you can.

Review: Now officially a solo act, NFM continues his consistent slew of heads-down rollers. Returning to Horizons, here we find Joe Moses on fine form with three far-reaching bass escapades. "Curtains" (penned with Concord Dawn) rolls with a filter chord sequence that fluctuates softly and soulfully while "Chandelier" is an example of NFM's lean fusion of jungle drums and unnerving bass adorned with warm Detroit-style synth tones. Finally we hit "Monument", a sleazy swinger with a jazz bassline and woozy, dreamy chords that wouldn't have gone amiss on Full Cycle back around 97 or 98. Beautiful.

Review: Foundation MC and German D&B don: Navigator and Bassface Sascha's "Sound The Alarm" has been rocking floors since its release last year. Now its tight array of remixes are finally pressed to wax: Serum gets his gully on with a late 90s jump-up feel, Sticky Joe gets his juicy skank on, Lost City play a dangerously sick halftime amen-smashing future jungle game while Bassface Sascha lays down an amazing groan-bass VIP that won't just raise the roof, it will smash your roof, call up new roofers, get them to build you a new roof... Then smash it again.

Review: Tried and tested since last summer, Emperor delivered a seriously slick remix on Dutty Audio's half-decade celebration EPs last year. Rolling, undulating bass with a finish that's a lot more understated than his usual style, Emperor really brought the 2014 original to life. Looking for something a little more hectic and chaotic? Flip for the panic-alarm bashing Mindscape collaboration "Ruthless". Dutty by name, dutty by nature...

Review: With a title such as Technicolour Daydream, you'd expect Zak Brashill's latest outing under the now familiar Etch moniker to be something of a colourful treat. It's certainly vivid, with the Brighton-based producer kicking things off via the sweaty, hardcore-era breakbeats and twinkling melodies of the title track. The bass-heavy, early jungle influenced brilliance of "Triptych" - think dreamy old skool vocal samples, hip-hop tempo drops and powerful sub - follows, before he goes deeper on the Luke Vibert-ish eccentricity of "Octopus". Elsewhere, there's more early Wagon Christ creepiness in the shape of "Tinfoil Hardhat", and some pleasing outer-space business in the form of "Fantasy".

Review: Life Recordings reboots its vinyl presence with a series of recent Sigma chart-busters on wax for the first time. The gospel-flashed "Redemption" (featuring Jacob Banks and Diztortion) is their most recent stadium escapade and comes complete with a VIP that's highly reminiscent of their perennial "Rudeboy" roller from 2013.