Felix Manuel’s unique productions as Djrum are crafting a fresh hybrid of UK-informed experimental dance music writes Gwyn Thomas de Chroustchoff.
It takes most new producers time to find a unique voice, but not DjRum. From the first release, Felix Manuel’s music lacked close comparisons, seasoning UK dance structures – drum and bass, garage, techno – with sounds harvested from a broad spectrum of genres. The result was so successful that it’s remarkable so few producers have followed in his footsteps.
The London beatsmith makes his first outing of the year on a split disc with an unknown entity.
On the surface, Felix Manuel’s output as Djrum seems to capture the zeitgeist of ‘post-dubstep’ or whatever other tag gets applied to that particular spin-off from the original bassweight sound. The melancholic chords, displaced vocal snippets and crisp beats are certainly not on their own in these times, and previous singles for On The Edge and Smokin’ Sessions tapped into this idea with aplomb. Now settled nicely into 2nd Drop Records with two EPs behind him, Manuel delivers his debut album and in turn gets to expand on the more unique facets in his sound.
2nd Drop have announced details of the debut album from UK producer Djrum.