Samurai Music Vinyl & CDs

Review: Samurai sign out of 2023 with this stunning expedition from longstanding craftsman ASC. One of the deepest to do it, here on 'House Of Leaves' he whips up a beguiling sense of atmosphere as we gradually ramp up the intensity from the tense and stretched out title track opener to the savage cymbal slaps of the finale 'Exploration #4'. In between we find our souls soothed by the relentless drumfunk of 'The Navidson Record' and our brains shattered by the cosmic turbo zaps of 'The 5 1/2 Minute Hallway'. Far out.

Review: Hyaku marks the 100th vinyl release for Samurai Music, so shout out to the crew for staying dedicated to the format. It also celebrates nearly 17 years of dedication to quality music and timeless design and, for this milestone, the label has assembled producers who epitomise the current Samurai sound. Each track offers a unique take on that from the crunchy breakbeats of ACS to the relentless energy of Sam KDC's 'Mutilate.' Together, these contributions form a diverse collection that highlights the artistry and innovation of this talented crew while also reflecting the journey Samurai has been on for all these years. Here's to many more.

Review: Italian producer Donato Dozy rightly has a cult following as he has a fantastically well sculpted style whether making ambient deep techno or as is the case here, drum & bass. He opens up with the pulsing loops of 'Mai', which always hints as some sort of big rhythmic explosion that never quite comes. 'Dusty Bones' is a flurry of sci-fi sounds, tribal drums and frosted bass that leaves you in a spin. 'Sanza High' is a DJ Python style half stepper with menacing bass and 'Tao' is a more traditional drum & bass beat with trademark silky synths.

Review: One of the UK's wonder-children of music production, Eusebeia, returns for a cerebral new drum & bass EP, 'Snakes & Ladders', homing in on vibes of barren atmosses and desert drumfunk. Opener 'Snakes & Ladders' is Sub-Saharan enough, opening with a bullhorned call to arms over a figurative, dust-laden sonic dune, all while a rallying 808 booms underneath like the distant underground squirms of a sandworm. Things then take an unexpected turn, however, as the producer takes brooding refuge in a nighttime cave on 'Morality Lessons', cleverly traversing an odd time signature and a nocturnal texture. 'Ladder To Salvation' embraces the desert dawn, relishing the misty morning, while 'Vice & Virtue' rounds off the B-side with an impeccable ambience and movement through several competing kettle-breaks and versions of the same atmosphere.

Review: UK up-and-comers Eusebeia and Aisatsaana team up for an incredibly deep, bass-conscious, nigh sonar-systemic new drum & bass EP, 'Transnformation'. Few artists in this circuit dare to delve quite so abyssal; if anyone's ever seen the nuclear subnautical sci-fi thriller The Deep, one will know just how risky, how odds-bucking the attempt to plunge the deepest of the ocean's depths truly is. Clearly, only the best sonic submersible wearables will have cutted the mustard in aid of salvaging the jetsam-makings of this thriller; frankly, we're blown away by the ear for layering and bass heard on this EP, whether on the snareless impacts, shock-absorptions and depth-charges of 'Shed A Light' or the dim but angelic underwater intellibreaks lodestar that is 'Wayfinder'.

Review: Topping off an incredible year in which he's launched his own label (Weaponry) and delivered three EP troves of deep drum darkness, Seattle's Homemade Weapons presents his debut album Negative Space. Followers of his disarming, physical, rolling sub-heavy sound will know exactly how important this is: the flurried amen crashes of opener "Hawkeye", the cavernous ricochet rhythm shots of "Retina", the heavily pressurised space station pads, micro-traces of jazz and busted drum fury of "Conduit", the gurgling Doc Scott style drones and sense-blurring space between the drums on "Red Herring".... Homemade Weapons has captured his stark signature with slick, subtle detail and created a document that compounds everything we've suspected since he emerged in 2011.

Review: Esteemed musical chameleon Brendon Moeller, renowned for his highly respected work in deep ambient, dub techno and myriad variations on such themes - turns his hand to 170 for Samurai Music. Centring on the iconic tempo as a key formal constraint - one that binds and defines drum & bass and halftime at its very core - Moeller is nonetheless able to articulate many new stylistic horizons with 'Vacuum'. As if to resist the banalities of content that plague drum & bass - overwrought amens, lasery one-shots, ragga voice echoes, you name it - Moeller instead leans into a purely formal atmospheric exercise, with 'Can't Run Away', 'Perspective' and 'Agitate' forgetting the concatenative associations of 'drum & bass' (TM) and instead fleshing out the less fetishistic contours of the metre, albeit also keeping up a squarely moody aura throughout.

Review: Mike Parker, a master of ice-cold wormhole techno, returns to Samurai Music with an EP that pushes the boundaries of 170BPM dancefloor devastation. 'Envenomations' sees Parker apply his steely, rigorous approach to the drum & bass template, crafting a collection of tracks that are as hypnotic as they are relentless. The A-side features two lean, rolling workouts, 'Voc-1 Robot' and 'Ee-Yo', their minimalist aesthetic and atonal synthesis recalling the icy cool sounds of mid-90s Krust. On the flip, Parker delves into more spacious territory with two tracks originally released digitally, their hypnotic grooves and alien textures showcasing his signature sound. With its blend of techno and drum & bass influences, 'Envenomations' is another standout release from a true auteur.

Review: Presha's debut EP RATS gets pulled apart and restructured by a crack squad of drum & bass talents on this fresh new red 12" from Samurai Music. Up first, 'The Spell' (Artilect remix) is a mix of heavy drum breaks and paranoid synth lines snaking about the background. Sam KDC's remix is another dark one with double time drums and drilling bass. The Untouchables remix keep it funky with their lolling loops and icy hi hats and the Last Life remix of 'Vedetta' goes for a textured, industrial vibe to make its mark in a blackened warehouse.

Review: Presha's Sacrifice: Rituals EP undergoes a transformative journey as a handful of esteemed producers delve into its sonic depths, reshaping each track with their unique perspectives. Dom & Roland's remix of 'Raven' sets a menacing tone with its hard-hitting beats and ominous atmosphere, invoking a sense of impending doom. Forest Drive West takes on 'Anaconda,' infusing it with languid, slow techno vibes that gradually evolve into a spacey light drum n bass pattern with soundscapes, characterized by dark undertones and hypnotic rhythms. Meanwhile, Homemade Weapons brings a nostalgic nod to 90s jungle with their remix of 'Temple,' featuring vocal samples and urban-inspired beats that transport listeners to the gritty streets of the past. Finally, Torn's remix of 'Sacrifice' delves into the depths of growling jungle, immersing listeners in a menacing and dark sonic landscape. With its deep, menacing tones, this remix encapsulates the EP's theme of ritualistic sacrifice. Overall, Sacrifice: Rituals displays the versatility, creativity and power of Jungle a nd Drum & Bass music.

Review: Hardcore drum & bass flavours lent an ethereal, darkside sonic twist. Welcomed to the Samuari Music shogunate for the first time ever - despite a longtime, shared presence on the scene - Pugilist, Tamen and Onyx make for a thoracic, thudding collab. Suspensory pads lock us in vial-pods of stasis on the opening 'Conquer', on which our somatic reserves end up totally vampirised by precision shellage. Scapular breaks break our kneecaps on 'ESS', which comes squared off by tweezed hats, while 'Resu' and 'Mise' go on to bloodlet a jungular jugular, with the final track meliorating the soul with its tuned 808s, sculpted distortion and pulsate, futuro-spa ambiances.

Review: Juan Rico, who also known as Reeko and Architectural, presents Urmah, his debut LP at the eye-watering pace of 170 BPM for Samurai Music. Expanding on his two previous EPs with the label, Reeko has become essential to its sonic identity and Urmah embodies this synergy with the label by both its and his artistic boundaries. Across the record, Reeko dives deeper into hypnotic grooves and layers lush textures and subtle breakbeats into an entrancing and meditative work. The producer's deft touch for blending techno's intensity with gentle psychedelia shines through as he demonstrates a mastery of new tempos and evolving sonic landscapes.

Review:  Immortal Ventures is a magnificently well-rounded new album from Torn on the mighty Samurai Music. All 13 of the cuts are fantastically well crafted and mix up a range of moods from broody and mediative to deep and hypnotic. 'Knowledge' kicks off with dark and unsettling ambience and 'Reckless' then melts the mind with deft percussive loops over groaning sounds of a depraved underworld. There is more cinematic atmosphere to 'Invisible Turmoil' with its creepy sense of open space and 'Inner Battle' is a kinetic jungle cut with thunderous energy and dystopian eeriness. This is the sort of music that works as well away from the club as it does in it.

Review: Ajit & Kate's mutations continue! Having hit us hard, deep and powerfully over the years - especially on their incredible Grassroots album a few years back - the longstanding Belgium-based couple go back to the very roots and essence of soundsystem culture: dub. Fusing aesthetics of the longstanding sound and drawing on its eternal influence that has always been there in every Untouchables record, each track highlights a different characteristic of dub. 'Onward Forward' flexes that infectious halftime swagger and groove, 'Living In Sacrifice' celebrates the more meditative, time-transcending elements of dub, 'Dubbing Siren' is all about that hypnotic immersion while 'Dread Box' is pure dub. A beautiful homage; this sounds exactly as you'd want a new Untouchables record to sound and adds a whole new twist. High recommended.

Review: French techno alchemist Vardae is the latest artist to feature on German experimental drum & bass label Samurai Music. Vardae has dabbled with 85/170bpm speeds before, most notably on his excellent 'The Kaipos' EP. This time we get a full EP's worth of deep techno-influenced drum & bass, a sound that is familiar to anyone following recent trends in the deeper scenes of techno: acid lines, forest drums, mystic vocals, etc. The opener 'The Light Motion' is a halftime groover with fluttering percussion propelling it forward. The second 'Chaeming Your Soul' has a more recognisable drum & bass rhythm underneath, bringing to mind Overlook and UVB-76's back catalogue with powerful acid washes over the top. 'Voices Of Depossesion' has a conventional four-to-the-floor beat but at a blistering BPM and 'Flaming As A Cloud' ends with an excellent drum & synth-ony. One for fans of Marco Shuttle, Pessimist, et al.

Review: On limited heavyweight black-label vinyl come yet more samurai-themed various arts from the Berlin d&b dramaturgists at Samurai Music, clocking in at an insanely portentous 13 tracks. Also marking their hundredth vinyl release, the label honour their nearly 17-year existence with aspirant, boundary-pushing, dark drum & bass numbers, all sourced internationally. Representative of the Samurai Music sound is an intense brand of technically scratchy, yet smoothly intoned atmoss - one that doesn't fall prey to overburdening by drums and retains an emphasis on nyctophonic, serene scapes. Its star selections - the sonic katanas that refract the most light in the dark - have to be ASC's techno-informed 'S100' and Mako's intricately designed mammoth of a track, 'Get Away With It'.