Back catalogue: Drum And Bass

Review: The legendary Fokuz label outta the Netherlands hits a 110th release and opts for a selection of remixes from various artists. AirK & Cephei open up with 'Desire,' a slick roller with booming bass and epic synths. Break then comes through with tight remix of A2 Soligen & Type 2 's 'Can't Go' complete with expertly design hits. Break then goes it alone on the original 'Coming 4U' with its low end oscillations and closes out the EP back in remix mode. His take on 'What Are You' is a roaming, textural affair with twisted leads and flurries of toms.

Review: Just as they were likely originally intended, two of Calibre's said-to-be most coveted productions come remastered fresh from the vaults, and reissued on black vinyl via the sonic conservationists over at Signature. First comes the 2001 remix of Badmarsh & Shri's 'Signs', to which Calibre lends an extra rolling signification, its no-nonsense industrial break and tensing, two-note pads doing most of the legwork here. Then there's the original 'Soul 80', a unique fusion of dub-delayed chipmunky vox splices, modular synth piques, and a massive, untechy breakbeat.

Review: Return To Disorder welcomes Evighet Records label head Marco Bruno for some brilliantly controlled sonic chaos on this new electro exploration. His Sharp Focus EP brings together ambient, breaks and techno to snappy electro rhythms of the sort that he has already showcased in style on labels such as Blueprint Records and Machine. This one opens with the sleek, future-facing and speedy sounds of 'Storyteller' before 'Values Over Ego' gets more textured and raw with knick-snapping hits and prying synth lines making for real turbulence. 'Twist Of Fate' is a jungle workout that ducks and dives on warped bass and 'Karmic Pattern' is a slow but textural and intense closer with rueful chords.

Review: He's back! It's been a while since Bungle last graced our turntables; his 2011 album Memories to be precise. But he's returned. And he's done so with a double-sided disc of pure D&Beauty. "Aura" is an emotion soaked stepper laced with all the grace of an early 90s ambient record but beefed up with Autonomic standards. Already being pimped as an 'impossible to top' tune of the year by some of the biggest names in the game, it's unarguably essential. "Astral Travel" is equally stunning. Rolling with a heavier rhythm but dosed with the same amount of star gazing whimsy, it's another faultless moment from the Brazilian DJ. Welcome back Bungle.

Review: For whatever reason. Part 3 of this EP series from Bungle on Moscow's Okbron Records dropped before this one, Part 2. Either way the drum & bass veteran has won us over again with two of his signature laidback rollers. They come with nice synth sequences and silky smooth drum breaks that manage to be powerful but comforting, certainly on 'Memory Lane' which also has the hint of nostalgia you would expect. 'Sun Step' is more stripped back, with smeared chords and more frosty textures up top and low, booming bass down low. Both are high-quality cuts.

Review: With 'Vibes', Dutch drum & bass/jungle outfit Cat In The Bag temporarily let the feline out of the case, yet they still retain enough integrity, and rein in the shellage, to the extent that the cat is nonetheless seduced back in after a certain time. Such is the art of alley-cat drum & bass, comparable in mood to "rollage"; it's all about a fine balance of hard-hitting impactfulness and careful vibe-restraint, else the mog'll arch its back and dash off elsewise. No wonder the first tune's called 'Level Vibes'; Dial-M and Msymiakos achieve an intricate, intelligent mood of levity, a belief-suspensory dread zone in which level-headedness serves as a proxy for the execution of a skittish agility, as of a cat. Our feline reccy no less reliably scours the 'Frontline'; amens penetrate hard garrisons of bass and atmoss with relentless keratinous claws, proving retractable paw-blades really can break walls. The B-siders, 'Warehouse Dub' and 'Dub Rock', provide more novelty appeal, preferring to build sound(e-)scapes that both build upon and take flight from the warpath.

Review: Wilkinson's smash hit 'Afterglow' is given a limited repress on a pretty slice of golden marbled wax, harkening back to a time when the drum n' bass artist lay just on the cusp of stardom. The original press of 'Afterglow', arguably one of the most important songs to galvanize drum n' bass as a truly Top-40-worthy style for the 2010s, has long been out of print. However, that never stopped the song from reaching public stardom, in large part thanks to its contributing vocals from Becky Hill and its lesser known jump-up B-side, 'Perforation'.