New releases last eight weeks: Drum & Bass / Jungle

Review: Waveforms is as a brand-new label from ASC and Presha who are already well known and respected for their work with Spatial/Auxiliary and Samurai Music. It's a new outlet that will specially tap into the sounds of 90s jungle and serve up new tunes on 10". Tim Reaper has been behind one, and Eusebeia is now on this one on blue-marbled vinyl. A-side cut 'Waveform 05' is a cavernous cut with pulsing bass and spine chillingly ethereal vocals up top while 'Waveform 06' keeps the pressure on with more throwback jungle realness and unrelenting breakbeat pressure.

Review: Two of drum & bass' most rabid underdogs, Nookie and DJ Crystl, the latter returning only recently after a two decade hiatus - make a triumphant return to the foreground, joining Suburban Architecture in aid of the third edition of their Architecture Dubs series. A fresh fusion of old and new motifs, Nookie's remix of 'Renegade Horns' pays homage to a select juncture in the genre's evolution, recalling the era of "intelligent" drum & bass while nonetheless playing into the freshness and cleanliness that could only ever have surfaced after the 2010s. Crystl's version of 'New Horizons', meanwhile, is more refractive and dreamy, taking its required time to bask in its artisanal padwork, in contrast to its raw b-boy sample and frank Amen breaks.

Review: Waveforms is a brand new label spearheaded by ASC and Presha who the already revered minds behind Spatial/Auxiliary and Samurai Music respectively. They say they are on a mission to dive deep into the menacing world of early 90s jungle and cook up tunes reminiscent of that era and then serve them up lovely slabs of 10" wax. And right from the off the man who never misses, Tim Reaper, transports us back to the driving breakbeats and raw energy of that time with a pair of tunes that layer up a flurry of snares and booming low ends with wiry synths the sense of futurism that still holds true to this day. Sure to captivate old-school heads and new listeners alike.