Beats News

"Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the bassbins, Mysticisms brings the latest in its Dubplate series. After the success of his first digital dubb excursions on the version, Persian returns with a second 10” of reggae inspired electronics, covering Bass, Breaks, Digidub and now also, Jungle.

Taking no prisoners with the massive opener Survival Dub, Persian marries classic breakbeats and toasting to bouncing, dance floor effect. THE party starter. This is followed by Smoke Mari, a looping steppas of FX and breaks to lay down the Dubplate clash.

As ever the link between rave, breaks and sound system culture is explored, this time with the Roots’n’Lovers opening of There Is No Love giving way to a Junglist drop, before risin’ to a beautiful soul sermon.

Finally, taking it all down, tings wrap with the deep, sampledelic dub of Zatoichi’s Troubles. With a bass to destroy many a speaker, it’s lanquidity morphs from the EP’s hedonism of sound clash styles to a gliding “tokers delight”.

Smoke the Mystery. "

Lee X-plode is one of our artists from Vinyl Fanatiks who released an EP back in 1992 that was HUGE! Over the years this self-funded white label grew in popularity, with copies fetching over £200. He joined the family in 2020 when we re-released this monster, selling out instantly.

Lee is back on the hardcore hustle once again, bringing his 3rd EP onto Amen Brother, this time incorporating a more melodic piano vibe into his raw to the core 91 hardcore sounds. You will find yourself raising your hands in the breakdowns before going straight into the pumping 4/4 breakbeat roll outs. Music to move to!

4 tracks ranging from Jungle Techno to Darkcore to Jungle, all made on an old Amiga with Octamed by a well-known face in the contemporary Jungle scene

This EP is Justin Time doing what he does best! Making anthems that are instantly recognisable, uplifting vibes without the cheese. Sweet In Pocket is one of those tracks! No matter were you where in the club or rave, when you heard this coming in, you knew the dance floor was gonna rock. It is a close fought battle between this original and the DJ Force & The Evolution remix as to which is better, and either could win on any given day! Movin’ is another great track from Justin Time and on any other EP it could have been the A side title track but when on the flip to such monster track you are to be overshadowed for sure. Don’t let that distract you from its magnificence!

Club / DJ Support
Jay Cunning, Billy Bunter, the Fat Controller, Liquid, Hyper On Experience, Glowkid, Slipmatt, Dj Jedi, Dj Luna-C, Dj Brisk, Paul Bradley, Jimni Cricket, Bustin, Jimmy J, Doughboy, Lowercase, Dave Skywalker, Ponder and many others

Rhythm Discs present a remastered re-issue of Robert Lee's dubplate classic Come Now Sound Boy - the "Sound War” mix - based King Jammy's classic "Tempo Riddim". Backed with a remix from Coco Bryce - a superb blend of jungle breaks and chops - an all killer no filler release to kick off the newly minted Rhythm Discs imprint.

Experiences Limited, now 3XL, with a new LP from Exael on a highly atmospheric ambient jungle tip, deploying 30 mins of percussive spasms seeping into smoked-out zoners - highly tipped if yr into anything from Lee Gamble to Malibu.

Clearing their cache of stray bullets, Exael returns with a gyring plunge into percussive wormholes and low-lit mood enhancers .The tracks are broadly cleft along schisms of dark/light and demonic/angelic, switching from restive propellers to more sublime sensations in a fine testament to their practice - making for prob our favourite Exael release thus far.

On the “darker” side, they commit the convulsive, fractious footwork pulses and warped tones of ‘Circle (Squishy Mix)’ in a sort of parallel to 33EMYBW’s insectoid rhythms and combustion systems, while ‘Ice That melts The Tips’ trades in rapid, ice-skating thizz and ‘Ghoul Search (Demonic Attachment Mix)’ fires up the junglist particle accelerator for a proper gauntlet of hyper techstep dynamics.

The contrast is epitomised by ’Composure’, arranging flinty breaks on a luscious waterbed of floating pads, before ‘Eidolon’ renders a sort of airborne dembow pressure in the vicinity of Ben Bondy & special guest dj’s xphresh works. ‘L-theanine’ closes the session on a fine tread inside emo ambient styles and flurries on the same spectrum between DJ Lostboi and Teresa Winter, complete with a reverberating, half-buried vocal.

Repress !

Two Heavyweight Jungle Rollers on a 10" a Limited Vinyl Press. The debut release from new Jungle Label Dubplate Championz with support from Om Unit, Sam Binga &J:Kenzo.

Modern Rufige revivalist and core Metalheadz staple Friske returns to his personal imprint with two more laser focused floor killers to further exert his dominance on the type of contemporary Jungle that he has plied for the better part of a decade.

Australia's biggest selling dance act and one of the most popular drum'n'bass acts of the early 21st century, Pendulum are an Australian group based in the United Kingdom. Formed in Perth in 2002, the group was originally comprised of producers Rob Swire and Gareth McGrillen, who worked in tandem with a local DJ named Paul "El Hornet" Harding. One of the team's initial releases, "Vault," became a sensation amid the drum'n'bass community in 2003, benefiting greatly from its high-profile placement at the beginning of J Majik's FabricLive mix album. In 2005, Pendulum made their full-length album debut, Hold Your Colour, featuring the singles "Tarantula" and "Slam."
Pendulum signed to Warner Music U.K. and made their major-label debut with 2007's "Granite," a Top 30 hit. Their second full-length album, In Silico (2008), spawned four singles, including U.K. Top Ten hit "Propane Nightmares". In Silico went on to reach platinum status in the U.K., as well as just missing out on the U.K. number one album chart spot. Their third album, Immersion, was released in 2010, and shot straight to the top of the U.K. albums chart. It featured collaborations with the Prodigy's Liam Howlett, Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson, and Swedish metallers In Flames. In support of the album, Pendulum embarked on a world tour, playing two sold-out shows at London's Wembley Arena and headline slots at some of the U.K.'s largest festivals.
At the end of 2011, Pendulum took a break from live performing, with Rob Swire and Gareth McGrillen focusing their energy on their side project, Knife Party. In 2018, Pendulum returned from a seven-year hiatus, with Rob Swire, Gareth McGrillen and Paul Harding currently touring as Pendulum - Trinity.

XK025 sees a fresh label debut in the form of Cloudsteppers - a collaboration between Toronto based artists Ciel and Dan Only. Born out of an impromptu jam session at Dan Only's NDG 208 Studio in late 2019, the pair quickly hit it off. Ciel brought her trusty Korg ESX-1 sampler, and alongside Dan Only's arsenal of vintage synths and samplers, they quickly wrote the first two cuts of what would eventually turn into the first Cloudsteppers EP. After getting great feedback from playing them on tour and sharing with friends, the pair wrote the last two cuts when lockdown restrictions loosened during the summer of 2020.

Both artists are instinctively melodically-inclined producers, so for this release they tried to focus more of their attention on the drums and fx, while limiting the amount of melodic parts in each track. Working within those parameters resulted in what is now their debut EP.

Title track, “The Limit”, is a huge undulating cut of 160bpm energy - it shimmies effortlessly between skittish jungle, breakbeat and techno rhythms, centred around a tripped out sample of Manchester’s finest physicist, Brian Cox. “Slinky Bork” brings a distinctly UK Tech House flavour reminiscent of Housey Doingz, Get Fucked and others of the Wiggle/Euka House era - underpinned by a solid 4x4, subtle rhythms and spacey atmospherics abound.

On the flip, “Diva Loops”goes in hard with a pounding kick, warbling bass and some massive clattering drums before breaking out into a playful melodic refrain. Closing things out, “Trigger Happy” is another functional 4x4 club cut full of skippy tech styles and punchy rhythms. A dreamy melody floats along into a tension building crescendo, complete with massive reese-ish bassline. Big!

Gold Vinyl 2022 repress

Since 2014 Stones Taro has been delivering his own take on the UK sound, heavily influenced by rave, jungle, garage and breakbeat. Now the Kyoto, Japan based artist makes his Cheeky Music Group debut with four intricately laced cuts on August 20th, continuing to break the mould and recontextualize his own sonic palette.

‘Again’ opens proceedings with deep wobbling bass that finds its way from your ears and down to your toes, coupled with dub style chords and vibey vocal loops, to help keep the steppers moving to the early hours. ‘Come Over Me’ picks up where ‘Again’ left off with glossy lipped vocals and oscillating snare drums, resulting in a track perfect for warming up the dance floor.

Glistening synths sparkle just above choppy breaks and spacious bass in ‘Yakusugi’ - as it’s ethereal sensibility adds a different dynamic altogether to Stones Taro’s ever evolving sonic armour. Every sound in closing track ‘Rare’ is carefully placed and nuanced; as one tone reflects off the next in auditory delight - suited for those late-night dwellers.

This double EP is a recognition of the Syko & Mak era and those who used to come to the shops just to hang out and listen to the latest white labels. It includes remasters of 3 of those original tracks from 1992 as well as 5 previously unreleased tracks from 95/96. The 3 original tracks on this EP spark some of those best memories. Including hearing Grooverider play the first test press of "Here & Now'' at the Fantazia Rave at Castle Donnington. Standing at the back and watching the 28,000 crowd lose their heads to our track was unforgettable ! Trading DATs with LTJ Bukem. He'd travel up to Hitchin on a Sunday just to share music, "Journey into the Nebulous" was the first track we gave him. The first play of "Rough & Dangerous"... A hazy memory of an Exodus rave in a wooded enclave somewhere near Luton. Unforgettable memories..

Repress on orange marbled vinyl

Cheeky Sneakers celebrates its grand opening in style as Denham Audio bring in a few
friends for a masterclass in breakbeat-rooted club music.

Opening track Single Minded, featuring the prolific Coco Bryce is a playful take on classic
house tropes with a dark, ravey twist while the raw, stripped-out roller So Good, produced
with fellow Club Glow affiliate Mani Festo nods back to the original jungle sound.

On the flip, another Club Glow affiliate enters the fray as LMajor assists on the cascading
warehouse firecracker Down On Me while rising Japanese producer Kazuho joins to help
close proceedings on the hyperactive Love Addiction.

FFF always comes with the heat with his unique blend of choppy beats and dual sensibility. The perfect combination of light and dark culminating in a profusion of emotions and euphoric whiplash. Now the Rotterdam junglist makes the step up to heavyweight with his debut on Lobster Theremin, featuring four club-ready cuts.

Title track ‘One Tribe’ builds slowly in anticipation, teasing listeners before being thrown into a cascade of fire. Gnarling synths, nausinating drums and hypnotic vocals acting as the source to create a kinetic, chemical reaction. ‘So Special’ radiates joy as it moves through sound systems with a spring in it’s step; followed up by a magnetic acid switch during the track's second half.

FFF’s music finds the balance between classic sounds with a flare for the enigmatic. ‘It’s Official’ rides a steady 4x4 beat with one of the most ecstatic piano rolls and vocal cuts you’re likely to hear all summer; before being shown the door to an alternate world. The EP comes to a close with ‘Weak Capacity’ a caffeine-charged rhythm inspired by the rave.

*Repress*

The latest from Burnski's Vivid label is a three way split, six track affair with Oldboy, Xander and Longeez each dispatching a pair of tunes in the label's trademark roughneck breakbeat style. - Oldboy kicks off proceedings with the speedy junglisms of 'Blackbird' before the chunkier, funkier and a little more traditionally paced breaks heft of 'Walrus Party'. Xander's 'If I Tell EM' and 'Get To The Point' both plays off two step rhythmic twists and menacing bass against dreamy synths and more breakbeaty flourishes, before Longeez closes proceedings with the slightly sparser 'Evermore' - super sharp hi hats and echoing rasta dialogue - and the appropriately spinback-peppered 'Wheel Up'.

Repress in green marbled vinyl

Grey Marbled Vinyl

Opius returns after his appearance on TUNNEL005, with his first full EP on Time Tunnel Recordings. Do you like your tunes smashed with amens? Well this is the release for you.
Opius is know for his tough, relentless sound.
All 3 tracks do not fail to disappoint. Dancefloor smashers all round.

Having kicked off in Galway and then quickly on to Brisbane, we travel across the pond to Durham, to pick the brains of one dance music’s freshest minds and most exciting talents, Tommy 2000, for the all-encompassing GTOWN 003 - ‘2K Musik’.

5 tracks that will travel the length and breadth of your brain; from the epic opener and lead single, ‘Whales’, to the algebraic break sequences of ‘T-2000’, Tommy’s follow up to his debut EP on DJ Haus’ Dance Trax is about as mature a sound you could expect from any artist, let alone an 18 year old just dipping his toes in the water.

‘Whales’ leads the way as an almost orchestral breakbeat builder-style track that reaches its peak gradually and really takes us for a ride as we step into the world of 2K Musik. Following on from that, is the most classically-conventional track of the lot, ‘Baff’. The four to the floor backbone lulls the listener to be sucked into what is an entirely unique club track they’ve never even come close to hearing before. That is then spun on its head entirely when Tommy’s almost bookmark sound comes into play on the title track, ‘2K Musik’. Hammering us with breaks and unapologetic bass, this marriage of old school sounds with entirely dynamic arrangement and all around ingenuity tells us exactly what 2K Musik is all about.

We swap over to the B side then, without much of a break for air, and kick off with the ever-nautically themed ‘Tuna’. At this point, it’s more than evident that Tommy 2000 is entirely worthy of his placement as an artist that’s here to stay, as if he’s pulled us underwater to listen to what the sea creatures have to say to us. Totally transforming even more modern sounding breakbeat drum patterns and bending them to his will, GTOWN003 is almost like a portal into the mind of a music genius, not just an EP you sit down and listen to; this is an immersive exhibition into the world of Tommy 2000. The final stop on the line is ‘T-2000’. You want to stop and get off, but you can’t. Everytime you think you’ve got this track figured out, you haven’t. Snares coming crashing down and attacking the breaks just as you’ve began to comprehend the synthlines and pads that eb and flow off of each other as this crescendo takes us home and back to reality, as the needle lifts on what is only the beginning for one of dance music’s brightest stars on one of its realest labels.

GTOWN003 - 2K MusiK by Tommy 2000 lands on G TOWN RECORDS on June 24th. Are you Ready?

Hot on the heels of Part One of the Time Tunnel remix series comes this absolute storming slab of wax.
FFF goes in dark with his remix of NewKiller’s U92. The Dutchman’s remix has already featured on the Fabric presents Sherelle, in fact it was the lead track featuring in the promo videos.

One of the hottest names in the scene at the moment offers his remix skills on the flip. TIM REAPER tackles the Midlife Crisis track and turns in it into a dance floor monster. Bass comes in from all angles and the breaks hit hard.
The atmospheric breakdown in the middle is unexpected but also a thing of beauty! It evens out the track giving a slight rest from the soon to return madness!!

Kingsize drops his second release on Time Tunnel Recordings and it is a beauty. Inspired by the sights and sounds of Enfield, North London back in the mid 90s. Each of the tracks is a tribute to the influences and things that surrounded him back in the day. The record shops, the nights out raving, the stories, the memories and of course the people.
The tracks are authentic mid 90s in sound and feel. Featuring the pianos and pads expected with a Kingsize release.
There is also a promo video for this EP, which can be found here:

DJ Support from the likes of: FFF, Yorobi, Jay Cunning, Josie Bee +more

Hella Jungle is a new label from one of our artists, Mr Arthur, who has had an EP on Remix with The Timespan (Luna-C). The label is a jungle venture but with a USA twist. This first EP from Haze & Spinthrift is a fabulous slice of jungle. The opening track is on the musical side of jungle with a piano line coming in to ease the darkness. The B side is more traditional jungle, with hefty chops & heavy beats, and with the last track turning up the heavy reggae vibes. Haze is an artist that has been on a number of KF Family EP’s over the years and has never failed to amaze, whist Spinthrift is the jungle name for Mr Arthur.

Club / DJ Support
Jay Cunning, Billy Bunter, the Fat Controller, Liquid, Hyper On Experience, Glowkid, Slipmatt, Dj Jedi, Dj Luna-C, Dj Brisk, Paul Bradley, Jimni Cricket, Bustin, Jimmy J, Doughboy, Lowercase, Dave Skywalker, Ponder and many others

Clear Vinyl

Best Effort is honoured to issue the debut recordings of Nutcase & Papachubba on vinyl for the first time. The duo of dub technician Anthony Maher (best known as Sheriff Lindo) and prolific Perth transplant Andrew Armstrong (a.k.a. Friendly) were one of the first Drum’n’Bass acts in Australia, at a time when the genre was only just beginning to expand beyond British shores. Self-released on Andrew’s own Gulp Communications label, the duo carved out a creative niche for themselves in the staunchly partitioned dance scenes in Australia, blending a bevy of shared influences in an original style. The experimentation that yielded this EP still sounds inspired, and we are delighted to present it to a new audience and highlight Australia’s breakbeat history beyond nosebleed hardcore.

The music here has a strong affinity with contemporaneous UK drum’n’bass in it’s sprawling, progressive style; there are particularly strong parallels with Goldie’s epoch-making “Timeless”. The duo worked with vocalists much in the same way. Peta lends gorgeous vocals on three highlights here - the serene “Floating Inside” and it’s darkside inverse, the ragga jungle ruffness of “Falling Inside”, as well as the downtempo “Track 8”. “Floating Inside” is classic atmospheric Jungle, wistful pads & subbass pressure overlaid with Peta’s weightless singing. Conversely “Falling Inside” is boisterous; Apache-cut-up and a fierce descending bassline with Ragga samples to strike DREAD into any sound bwoy.

The vocals are chopped up and interpolated amongst the guitar pluck of “Track 8”, drenching them in FX and panning it across the rollicking digi-dub bassline in the EP’s most lysergic moment. The duo embrace a Liquid sound on “Diminished” - the aqueous sound design and rolling drums wouldn’t have sounded out of place on Intelligent stalwarts Good Looking. The titular “Flex” with its frenetic drum programming, does exactly what it says in the title. There’s a palpable excitement to the track, you can hear the real-time experimentation as they stretch the elasticity of the break into amen-pointillism, in a time before codified production methods and dry clinicism.

All of these tracks are replete with the creativity of a fresh perspective at an incredible time before the bifurcation of Drum’n’Bass into umpteen subgenres. Incredible material that will shake today’s bass bins as it did in the 90s

Manchester’s Metrodome makes his debut on 1985 Music with his weird but wonderful ‘Manchester Since 1994 EP’. This 4 track collection celebrates the best of the UK rave sound and choppy beats.

“The making of this EP came from my obsession with old skool rave music!
I have been a record collector and DJ since I was 4 years old and I grew up around music, ravers and DJs.

My dad told me the only way to get me to sleep was to put on Marcus Intalex and Mark XTC's 'Da Intalex' show on Pirate Radio station Kiss 102 FM back around 1995/1996.

This EP is dedicated to 4 year old me who loved Photek, Tom & Jerry, Orbital and Aphex Twin.

The two tracks on this release ‘Take Me To Your Leader’ and ‘Bodyrock’ were made in Stu J’s living room at the Polygon in Southampton. His studio partner Don had a Roland W30 work station that he would bring over, which was an all in one sampler and sequencer. “I think this is also what The Prodigy used at the time” Stu tells me.

There was also an Akai 950, a 24 track Allen & Heath desk and a Quadraverb which Stu owned. “I think that was it, that’s all we had to make these tracks. It was such a great time that you could make music with such limited gear. It was like things were better if you had minimal gear to work with.” When the tracks were completed Stu used a company called Perpetual for all the cutting and pressing as he didn’t have any links directly, so a one stop shop was the best course of action to get his releases out there.

“It was a crazy experience. As we had limited sample time, big sections of the track are mixed in live from another record on the decks. Don had the sequencer, so he knew what he was doing on that side of things, far more than me. I was the DJ and knew how a tune should be structured. Don was an amazing engineer. He was so much more than an engineer though.

This track is a seminal tune for any raver on the South Coast of the UK as Stu would be playing Madisons, Remix, Adrenalin parties as well as Fantazia at Matchams. But this release went far beyond the south, it was a national treasure that take those who listen back to 1991, the year this release was first pressed. Now available remastered and repressed on heavyweight green vinyl.

Repress

Pau Encinas also known as Cauto returns after several years of ¨apparent ¨ inactivity. His previous EP, 35/8, was published in 2011 via Disboot. Since then until now, he has worked on several collaborations and remixes. One of the reasons for Disboots existence is to promote and release young and local talent. Cauto, without exception, is an essential one of these.

From his first release on Dj Rupture ´s Dutty Artz in 2008, Pau has been developing his skills as a producer and talented musician rooted in his background in Catalan folk music. The culmination of his musical evolution is the crystallisation of his new Lp.

"Prova A Veure Si Ets Capac De Menjar Pedres" (Try to see if you can eat stones) is his latest work and first Lp where each word in the title is the name of a track, and each of these must be understood as an aqueous sequence rather than a kind of feature sound. In each of its 9 songs deep bass, jungle rhythms and organic textures abound which have little to do with
the barrenness of its title.

"Prova A Veure Si Ets Capac De Menjar Pedres" materializes two years of work created between Berlin, Barcelona and his hometown Banyoles. This beautiful Lp was recently presented live at Sónar 2016 in an all-hardware liveset where Cauto was accompanied by Dani Guijarro (Headbirds) long time friend and collaborator in other projects such as C156.

Ellis Dee is basically the godfather of rave music and rave events. I think its official to say that a rave wasn’t a rave unless he was gracing the decks! He has was there at the inception of the movement and is still out there now pushing the sound and smashing up DJ sets.

And this is kind of how this release came about. Ellis Dee was booked for an Australian tour and one of the events was in Perth. Without his knowledge, two producers had decided to remake two of his classic tracks and surprise him by playing them at the same event, as they were performing on the same bill. Unfortunately the event was cancelled due to covid and the tour didn’t take place.

So Boykz and Chapman contacted Vinyl Fanatiks as they knew Ellis Dee worked with the label, explained the story and shared the tracks. The remixes were incredible, two respectful revamps, with original samples sourced, but a fresh interpretation that still harked as though it was made 30 years ago.

We couldn’t let these tracks vanish into history and decided to release them on Amen Brother. If you missed out on the originals being repressed on Vinyl Fanatiks a few years ago, don’t sleep on these badbwoys as they will bring any party back into 1992!

This repress is probably one of the most requested from the Hectic back catalogue. Mystic & Fire – True Love (Remix) is a next level hardcore track that has so much going on but never feels over busy. It has a lovely blend of dark and light that few releases balance as well as this! A true classic for the ages. Then we have Eye On Life – Pumpin’ It Up, which is a DJ’s delight. The intro is made for mixing but also it has an amazing build up to the crescendo of the piano and vocal, which take this masterpiece in a different direction than you might have expected. The vibe and the year, all captured in one track.

Club / DJ Support
Jay Cunning, Billy Bunter, the Fat Controller, Liquid, Hyper On Experience, Glowkid, Slipmatt, Dj Jedi, Dj Luna-C, Dj Brisk, Paul Bradley, Jimni Cricket, Bustin, Jimmy J, Doughboy, Lowercase, Dave Skywalker, Ponder and many others

Sonar's Ghost feat. Static Imprints 12''