Juno Recommends Drum & Bass June 2018

Review: Back to 1994: Kemet off-shoot 3rd Party dropped this raw jungle four-tracker. Apache & Unknown's Brain Killers take the A with two chest-pressing rave bombs. "Screwface" lives up to its name with surging euphoric chords, slamming amens and melodic percussive riffs while "Jungle Love" takes us back to the roots of the genre with minimal breaks and guttural toasting. Flip for a seminal jungle soul cut from 3rd Party bossman Family Of Intelligence as "Champion Of Champions" really captured and drove that more restrained sound of the dominant ragga stand at the time. "Bonus Beat #1" closes the 12 the same way it did 24 years ago; rattling percussion, a classic vocal sample and a scat breakdown that was tailored for the bravest of DJs. 3rd Party on dudes.

Review: Now in its third operational phase and still chiselling away at the coal face of futurism, Kemet welcome Drama1 for more exceptional jungle workouts. "Burn Up" has every element you could need; skippy breaks, ragga chats, soulful diva tones and a sci-fi funk vocal loop. "Dancehall Side" flips the vibe with warm and toasty skanks. Flip for militant drum rolls and laser shots on the gullified "Power VIP" and star-gazing dreamy feels on "Oh So Long". No drama.

Review: Sit down sounds with stand-up grooves: DLR's Sofa Sounds hits its sophomore stride with two more absolute gems. "Song & Dance" should be known to all by now; heavily rotated on dub for at least six months, this powerhouse collab between DLR, Break and the don Randall is real a quintessential funk jam underpinned with a heavy toxic, sludgy bassline. "Modules" on the flip is suitably darker and techier as Ulterior Motive join the fray resulting in an unrelenting techno-style jam that suddenly opens out into much funkier territories when you least expect it. Sofa, so good.

Review: Paradox dons his arctic guise for the second time this year with two more glacial jungle adventures. Following "Venera" and "Criterion" come "Hold On" and "The Vortex". The former is an enchanting vocal cut that wafts with far-away charm over some classically springy breaks while the latter takes us down a darker path with crushing breaks that get coated with layer upon layer of atmospheres, arpeggios and pads. Wrap up warm.

Review: Since founding UVB-76, Ruffhouse, Gremlinz and close allies such as Overlook, Pessimist and Clarity have taken us to some unfathomably deep and extraordinary places, rising the label's reputation as one of the most explorative and experimental imprints in the 170 game with every release. Now they hit new heights as an unnamed collective. Any or all of the label artists could be behind any given 4625 production. A multi-tendrilled hive mind that has potential to take us even deeper into the unknown, they make their statement clear across this four track debut; the live drum rawness of "Non-Citizen", the submarine electroid jolts and spasms of "Proles", Loxy-level 3am stepper business "The Barrens" and the ambient / textural homage to the MC on "Cassette A". 4625 thumbs up.

Review: As the matter-of-fact title makes clear, this expansive EP offers up freshly remixed versions of tracks from Bcee's fine 2017 album Northpoint. LSB is first up to the plate, offering up a wonderfully warm and summery take on soulful roller "Surfacing" that's marked out by suitably loved-up build-ups and breakdowns, before Anile wraps fluid piano lines around a punchy rhythm on a beautifully judged revision of "Northpoint". Bladerunner provides a dose of doom-laden bass and cyber-sonic synths on a rip-snorting revision of "Your Body", while Lenzman's take on "Black Sky" is a soulful, liquid D&B delight. Elsewhere, Monty reaches for the heavy sub-bass and aggressive neuro-funk electronics on his remix of "Had It All" and Seba brings the curtain down via an anthem-like vocal take on "More Than Words".

Review: Pow! Right in the kisser: Federation X get busy on the remix front, drawing two classics from their eight year old vaults. First up, Spirit takes FDX's 002 release from Morphy and gives it a whole new coat of nuclear bomb proof armour. He says riot, he means riot. Handle with caution. X Nation isn't mucking around either as he keeps Skitty's original horns but builds a much meaner, machine funk beat around them. Savage.

Review: Three years in the making; 7th Storey proudly present the stark, twisted foundation-setting work of Mark Loy under his Jungle Buddha guise. Originally released in 1993 on Poetic Justice, the originals have been excavated from DAT, mastered, restored and cut back to wax in all their OG jungle tekno glory. Chaotic, rough, ready and riddled with prang aesthetics to make an army of rudeboys run for miles, this is still sounding decades ahead of where we are right now. A serious artefact.