FD “First Sound EP” cover art

Get ready for another exquisite offering from the master beat smith known as FD. A legend in the world of drum and bass, his prowess in creating rolling beats, lush atmospherics, and thundering basslines is unmatched. Having released everywhere from The North Quarter to Symmetry Recordings and even Sun & Bass, he has cemented his reputation for precision with every tune. He is back for another round with CIA Records, bringing three fresh tunes on his First Sound EP.

Starting things off with his trademark elements peppered with vocal stabs is the title track “First Sound”. A rollicking beat drops in, building up the momentum until the drop hits with the force of a high magnitude earthquake. In no to time flat he gives us the ideal template of a roller, defying expectations with the intense production on it.

For “True North,” he joins with legends Total Science to create a dark and deep banger like no other. Right off the bat, the surging rhythmic interplay between the kick and snare gets you locked in tight. Noisy FX and a vocal sample come together to highlight the dynamics of the drop, and with the song fully underway, the heavy vibe of the song makes it impossible to resist stepping to it. Bringing in ethereal atmospherics during the break is like a breath of fresh air, before diving back in with reckless abandon.

“Timberline” is our last outing on this EP, beginning with a haunting crackling backdrop reinforced by a deep and chaotic drum section. The rumbling bassline in this track is one to die for, containing a hard-rocking rhythm that is so singularly focused you won’t realize you’ve been bobbing your head to it since it started. Never letting up, this is one fierce tune that is destined to decimate any speaker system or dance floor it comes into contact with.

FD demonstrates why he is one of the most sought after and revered producers in the DNB genre, fusing his distinguished sense of melody with hard hitting challenging beats that are out of this world. Head over to CIA records Bandcamp and cop this ASAP!

GOLD I – Midas Touch Recordings cover art

Fresh onto the scene and armed with an innovative take on the drum and bass genre stands Midas Touch Recordings. Based in Belgium and founded by none other than Sceptiz and SVB, it’s a label committed to bringing us the best in forward thinking electronic music as well as showcasing the brightest graphic designer talent around. Belgium itself has a long history of heavyweight artists: Bredren, Phase, Solace, Glyph, Msoul & S27, and more all originate from there and share a real drive for testing the limits of DnB.

Their first outing was the Spoko EP and is available as a free download (which you definitely need to get ASAP) exposing the sound of the label to everyone for the first time. They’re back already with the first edition of their GOLD series, GOLD I. Get ready for some serious heaters as you trek through this massive release!

SubMarine starts us out with “Jitterbug.” Beginning with the funkiest of intros, the grinding buzz of the atmospherics slowly instills more and more tension, until the full flair of the drop catapults the song into a frenzy. Known for his extremely unique rolling basslines, he crafts a track that fuses the deepest of vibes with the exhilarating fun of a funk song. This is a definite foot stomper that will easily set any dancefloor on fire.

Bringing out ominous atmospherics, warbling synth melodies, and a finely tuned drum section is Solace with “Dawn.” Right off the bat, the rhythm has your head shaking as the synth motif worms its way into your head. The chattering cymbals keep the pace intense and without even realizing it, you’ve become totally lost and entranced in this tune. The wobbly bass line that comes in after the second drop further blows the mind, revealing a truly creative use of layering seldomly heard.

Label heads Sceptiz and SVB flex their musical muscles on the next tune, “Paniek”. Revered for their dark tones and challenging beat patterns, this tune is no exception. Creepy atmospherics counterpoint the magnetic groove of the drums, employing that classic dark jungle snare snap which drives the song forward. All of the elements combine in a way that is as infectious as it is overwhelming, as evidenced by the warping bassline and subtle layering that summon otherwordly sensations.

Last but not least is OaT, a producer with an absolute killer sense of bass sound design that consistently pushes the boundaries of what is possible. “Diamonds” has this on full display, along with showcasing his versatility as well. This is a tune that reaches deep into the soul; the sub bass is seemingly bottomless with such a soothing warmth, the drums are intensely busy yet create a sense of bliss, and the atmospherics glide along with the soulful vocals in a way that evoke such pure emotion it’s unreal.

Together, these songs reveal the powerhouse that Midas Touch Recordings is, and how seriously they take their name. Out now on all the major platforms, cop this one without delay!

Available through Beatport

K!NGS “Hold-On” album-cover

Delivering another release on Slime Recordings is the versatile talent known as K!NGS. Hold On continues his journey through the realms of UK Garage and House, containing further explorations in bringing other genres into that mix as well. From the lush atmospherics he crafts to the vibrating basslines that hit deep in your soul, it’s another stellar release showcasing this rising talent.

Right from the start, he cements a killer vibe on “Escape.” The bassline and drums instantly have your body pulsing and swaying to the beat, with the soothing vocals giving just the right touch that make the drop simply perfect. It’s a deft touch, wherein the beat goes just hard enough and counterpoints the ethereal effects that float in and out extremely well; thus it illustrates the struggles and desires of the world’s current state as few could.

Further blending the sounds of yesterday and today is the title track, “Hold On.” Reminiscent of melodic techno and house with its glistening atmospherics and longing female vocals, it creates that anthemic feel that captures your attention and hooks you in. It then brings in the more challenging beats of today’s bass music and the kind of bass design that could only exist today. Marrying light and dark elements as he does on this track is a difficult task K!NGS pulls off expertly and encapsulates the difficult fact life has no easy answers.

“Lost” is a foreboding track that hypnotizes you with each and every layer. The echoing motifs twist and morph their way deeper and deeper into your brain; meanwhile, the thunderous bassline carries you along as if you’re on a river of eeriness. As the track hits the break, the tension builds and builds until the massive drop hits like blinding white light, simulating a moment of enlightenment that changes how you see things from now on.

Rounding out the release is “Never Again.” Bringing out an offbeat style of drums and driven by a soulful male vocal, it’s a track that hits deep in your feelings. The bassline further sets the tone of the piece, providing just enough movement yet retaining enough space to reveal its own lush tones. Another standout element of this particular tune is the way it slowly crescendos throughout the piece, creating a subtle rising effect that makes it a wonderful tune to get lost in over and over again.

Out now on all the major platforms, this is one you’ll want to add to your collection ASAP!

Whether it’s in sports, cooking, or the arts, seeing talented artists collaborate or go head to head is an exciting sight to see. It creates an intense world of mystery where it is impossible to guess what will happen next, and truly tests the participants skills as they must use all that they have on the spot while under pressure. On this note, Dub Wars is bringing us a competition between many of the most cutting-edge producers in Drum and Bass right now.

The brainchild of Ben Green, AKA OB1, his long history in the drum and bass scene gives him a unique insight into making this the high caliber event that it is. “I got started in music at a very young age working in distribution,” says Green. “I got a job working for Virus, Valve, Infrared, Prototype Recordings, and Metalheadz working as a sort of office assistant for the labels. Later, I went on to work solely for Metalheadz and that ended up with me becoming the label/tour/club manager at Metalheadz for a number of years.

“After that, I went off to have a family and start a new business as an independent; but realized pretty quickly there was something missing in my life and I needed to be involved in music on a daily basis,” confesses Green.

“That was the dawning of Rebel Music, who has now pulled together 18 artists from all over the world including Australia, UK, Switzerland, France, Canada, and Europe. Rebel Music has released 14 EP’s, and just released our debut LP, Rebel One.We offer it for free for those affected by the current situation and those who pay for it are helping to raise money for the NHS, in support of the health workers fighting against Covid-19.”

Rebel Music has been storming the scene and pushing boundaries since, but this is only one half of the formula that led to the creation of Dub Wars.

Dub Wars poster

“Going back to my early years, I was raised in a household where music was a big part of the family and the house on a daily basis,” he points out. “My mum listened to a lot of reggae music, and part of that is clash culture and sound systems. That got me into clash culture, and I have a huge love for reggae music. Over the last eight to nine years, I’ve also gotten into battle rap and is something I have spent quite a lot of time on i.e. I’ve got favorite battlers, going to events, going to all the UK things when the US artists were coming over to battle, getting into all the forum… just really digging it and getting into all the channels of it.

“So, clash culture has been a large part of things that I enjoy, and I love people putting their skills up against each other. The situation being what it is with no events going on, there are livestreams and album projects going on, but felt we needed to do something new and exciting and this was the perfect opportunity to bring these two parts of my life together. That has ended up being the Dub Wars battle clash tournament.”

Thus, Dub Wars was born and the format OB1 developed is a stroke of efficiency and genius.

“The way the tournament is setup is that it is a 16-artist tournament that takes place over four weeks,” explains Green. “Each week there is a live draw every Sunday at 9pm BST. Each artist will be drawn against one other artist – this creates eight battles that will take place so there will be eight sample packs. Each battle gets a sample pack and the artists will have five days to make their dub. The rules are they have to use the ten sounds that are in the sample pack at least once in the track and the track must be at least three minutes long, but outside of that there are no rules. When the dubs are handed in, they will go up for a 48-hour poll online that is hosted by Native Instruments.”

While many such competitions like this can come off as a popularity contest, or even be controlled by such notions, this will not be the case in this competition.

“In those polls, you won’t know whose dub is who’s. For instance, you might see Creatures Vs. Dark Ops but in the poll, you will only see dub one and dub two. It’s all about the music and makes the focus on which dub you think won the battle.”

The entire lineup is filled to the brim with exceptional talent: Creatures, Wingz, Ill Truth, MD, kolectiv, Objectiv, Volatile Cycle, Wreckless, Dark Ops, Hadley, Screamarts, Inner Terrain, HLZ, and Missledz. It’s a well-crafted lineup, as any single pairing is set to deliver an epic showdown….let alone the fact we are getting four weeks of new tracks from them. Round one has started off the competition with a jolt, having some intense pairings that are sure to result in tracks with major heat. Round Two is shaping up the ante even further as the stakes raise even higher.

“It’s certainly a format that is exciting, it brings new sounds together. The other day someone said, ‘We are creating sonic fuckery’, which I actually quite like. It’s breaking the mold a little bit…. it’s putting a number of artists under the clock to a degree; they are also having to adapt to sounds they may not have selected for themselves for a track. We are also going to see, perhaps especially with some of the younger artists, having to use ones they have never used, and they will do exciting things with that. I think there is going to be a lot of exciting music from this project.”

Stay locked! This is a massive event the likes of which haven’t been seen before and will change the landscape of the scene. Not only is it a brand-new avenue for showcasing artist talent but has the potential to bring together the diverse talents and listeners of the scene in a totally brand-new way. Get involved, vote for your favorite tracks every week, and watch history unfold as the Dub Wars competition heats up!

Kaleidoscope Productions

“We started Kaleidoscope Productions about six years ago, in 2013,” explains Ryan Kirros, one of the three founders of the label. “It was small parties we did at first, and music production wasn’t a factor yet. We were hosting stages at different events, such as silent discos and things like that.

“We all kind of met through raving; basically, we sat down one day while mixing and realized, ‘This is it. This is what we want to do’ and got straight into DJing. Ryan Dettmer, AKA Zereticz, was the producer. He’s been producing before anyone really, whereas I was the DJ. We all meshed together; from there we began hosting at events, meeting artists throughout festivals, doing renegades, and other forms of networking until it became what it is now.”

“It definitely started with us throwing parties,” adds Dettmer. “There was a community of people who had started coming around our parties and called themselves the K tribe. I asked them, ‘What’s the K tribe?’ and they told me they went to Kaleidoscope parties, and that started our whole festival family.”

“As the years progressed, I pushed us to focus more on producing and we put out a compilation last May. This (Vol 2) will be our second one and our first official release on Beatport, which also establishes us as an official label. We’ve definitely come a long way; we have a bunch of artists coming along with us that are part of our core group, as well as a bunch of new friends and artists who have thrown down on the compilation with us.”

“There are a lot of different styles of House, and one of the great things about our label is that we touch on a lot of different styles of it,” Dettmer continues. “We do house, techno, tech house, deep house, melodic techno, etc. Each artist brings their own style to the table; and when you look at a kaleidoscope, it has a lot of changing colors and that’s what we wanted for the label. For it to have all different types of house music on it – every artist brings their own style, but it still has that core House music beat.”

“Vol. 2” cover art

There is no doubt that Vol. 2 of this compilation series is a serious tour de force. “Old School” by Zereticz opens the release with a bang, showcasing the intense highs and lows tech house has to offer. Listening to this one conjures up images of the warehouse dance floor, and how impossible it would be to resist grooving to this tune.

“Dance Like This” by Fiasko and Tandros is a real party starter, creating epic tension with its robotic vocal refrain along with its driving bass beats. These elements create a surging sensation that sucks the listener deeper and deeper into the track, as the subtle elements of the high-end creating brain food for the tech heads who love to analyze minute details of tracks.

One of the most standout and interesting facets of house music is its potential for exploring the low end of the music spectrum. “Double Down” by Kirros does this in spades: bass wobbles, rising bass tones, fuzzy bass stabs… if you love bass then this is a track to get lost in. And on top of all that, he flexes his mastery of placement for all to hear and revel in.

Things get deep and trippy on Slippy Toad’s “Space Dust” trek, with bass frequencies that seem to shake the ground you’re standing on. Echoed vocal samples and ethereal atmospherics collide with a hypnotic motif that refuses to let up, putting the listener into a trance state that removes all sense of time.

Carbon Street takes us down the rawer side of the genre with “Travel”, using everything from solid beats to melodic motifs to entrance the listener. Filled with echoey atmosphere and vocals as well, it is a bit more restrained in nature but through that it further expands the listeners mind as they journey through the album.

There is nearly everything under the sun on this release, and Kaleidoscope co-founder Macheddie’s track truly shows this on “Mystico.” He crafts a tune which delicately balances the deep bass tones of modern house with the horns and swing rooting from Latin music, making for a melody that brings a fun and fresh sound to the genre. It’s rare to hear a track blend the new with the old so effortlessly as this one does.

The buildup and drop is a key element of most modern dance music, with Just Henry demonstrating some true skill in delivering this moment on “How Did You See Me.” Over and over again, he employs removing the bass to build perfect moments of tension and release, playing with each break in new and exciting ways each time. And as the bouncy bassline hits, it’s nigh impossible to stay still.

Creating a rich texture of sound is no small feat, yet ATTE nails this on their track, “Risen.” Just like the name suggests, it is a tune that evokes the sensation of slowly rising from the deepest depths into the light through use of echoed out FX stabs and serious sub bass that carries you along the track.

Ending the release on a gloriously melodic note is K!NGS, bringing us that perfect fusion of American and UK Bass music. A tune that explores both the broken surge type beats of house along with the blissful consistency the genre is known for, it ends the release with an anthemic vibe that suits the label’s mission masterfully.

Available now via Beatport, Vol. 2 by Kaleidoscope Productions is an excellent collection of house music that has something for everyone. Treat your ears by scooping it up ASAP!!!

Emotional Support Stream

The coronavirus has drastically changed the world in an instant, with everyone effectively under orders to stay at home. The music landscape has been especially affected, with many artists having to cancel whole tours and even months worth of events. Despite this, artists refuse to let that stop them and have instead turned up the faucet by giving us more music than ever.

Livestreams in particular have exploded, with many DJ’s performing in a variety of new ways; from sets on their balconies, to cleverly themed attire, and even festivals themselves. People from all walks of life are coming together to work out the logistics of hosting a festival you can be a part of right from your home. One such group is The Emotional Support Stream collective and they have an epic one in store for us:

Emotional Support Stream lineup

“The main idea was to have a virtual rave,” explained one of the event organizers who requested to remain anonymous. “The plan is to have a twitch stream that’s going to be over the course of three days, and we have about ten crews helping us book people. We got a few headliners and some label heads to join us so that will be really cool. While that live stream is going, there is also going be a discord where people will hang out, and also have vendors who will be selling clothes or whatever it is they make.”

This simple yet effective formula will create a digital version of a rave, and at a time that it is sorely needed. Streams bring people together, and remind us we still have avenues to help and support one another. Yet streams can be sporadic, and part of the experience of a rave (or festival) is the long exposure to multiple artists throughout the night. Having three days of solid music this way creates that consistency and it is a surreal experience to be able to tune into music people all around the world who are watching.

Emotional Support Stream

While a central focus of this collective stream is to provide the emotional support we need, this is also a charity event; it will be providing a central avenue for donating and distributing financial support to artists who have been hit hard during this crisis. Thus, this makes this a truly landmark event for the scope of its goals, the sheer number of people who have come together to make it happen, its multi-genre lineup, and its unique setup.

Get ready to get down as The Emotional Support Stream is set to air from May 1 through May 3. Comprised of a massive lineup of the best in Bass Music from all over the world, don’t miss out on the amazing music and this opportunity to support each other during this time of crisis.

Watch it here: The Emotional Support Stream