giovedì 3 settembre 2009

VA - The New Frontiers EP [NerveEP003]

The techno dnb thing has always been a huge part of both myself and Pyro’s dj sets, but Pyro has been one of the producers and Dj’s at the forefront of the scene and it’s his personal mission to get the style recognised properly, so he took hold of the reigns on this release and here’s his press releease to tell you more:

At Nerve Recordings, we’re constantly on the look out for new and interesting artists pushing the drum n bass envelope and developing the music further. In the past few years, the techno influenced drum n bass has once again started to take a foothold so our very own Dj Pyro set out to find the most interesting prospects of this part of the scene. Join him, if you will, on his journey to new frontiers… Pyro tells us more about the artists behind the music:

Histibe has been sending me tracks for a while now and early on I decided to keep a close watch on him as he manages to come with fresh new sounds in every track. With ‘Tears of a machine’ he managed to integrate minimal techno elements into drum’n'bass in a way that I’ve never heard before. Its completely fresh sounding with intricate and detailed production. It’s great to see someone not afraid to get deep and funky in a scene saturated with hard tracks.

No two ways about it, this one destroys floors. Pylon & Soccom operate out of Poland and are part of the highly progressive and talented Mechaplex crew (Yabol, Pylon, Soccom and Switch Technique). They violently grabbed my attention last year in a true “Where the f$!#ck did they come from?!” moment, when they put out their Mechaplex promo mix full of unknown killers. ‘Katalyst’ is a classic representation of what I love about the Mechaplex sound. Aggressive, funky and with strong techno influences, yet still rooted in dancefloor friendly drum’n'bass. It’s also great to see a real ‘unit’ working together and drawing off each other’s strengths.

Ironically, I came across this track after reprimanding Dan on a forum I
moderate. He was nice about it though, so I had a listen to what he had to
offer. Hidden way at the bottom of his myspace player was this gem of a dark spacey neurofunk workout. ‘Nauka Fank’ rolls out very smooth with an impressive balance of grit and depth. It’s a real treat to work in the mix and it also provides a very pleasant home listening experience. I have a serious soft spot for tracks drenched in atmosphere like this one, and they come in short supply these days. Split Concept – Section 63 When techno influences in drum’n'bass started gaining some momentum I was very interested in who would be able to ‘keep it real’ and make the techno sounds their own, and who would just copy the innovators and reach for the stereotypical sounds, like so often seen in this scene. Split Concept definitely belong to the first category, and the reason is probably that they produce hard techno themselves! This becomes evident when listening to ‘Section 63′, a twisted and percussive onslaught with a very authentic sounding 4/4 techno breakdown. It’s all saturated in a genuinely creepy atmosphere, every element working together as one big machine, like good techno should do. This concludes my frontier exploration, it’s left me feeling very hopeful about the future. I hope you enjoy listening as much as I did putting it together.

A. Histibe - Tears Of A Machine
B. Pylon & Soccom - Katalyst
C. Dan C - Nauka Fank
D. Split Concept - Section 63
Histibe Myspace
Pylon Myspace
Soccom Myspace
Dan C on Virb
Split Concept Myspace
Nerve Recordings