Better late than never. 🫠
The most challenging one yet, but loved every second of it. Thanks @letitrollfestival - it always feels special to be a part of this madness. 🙏
Shouts to my @beatworx_events mates, shouts to my @domislava for always supporting me, shouts to @leemeowdj for being my partner in crime behind the decks, shouts to my @dnbeheard homies, shouts to everyone who came to say hi to the Homebase or made it to our set. 🫶
B L E S S E D
First day of kindergarten for our little big lion today 🥹🦁 It really takes a kid for you to realize how quickly the time flies when you’re in your late 20s/early 30s, it’s an inexplicable feeling watching your kid(s) grow and mature so quickly, even though he’s 3 years old already, it feels just like yesterday when I saw him for the first time 🥲 And he’s such a sweetheart, too, making us laugh and cry from joy all the time 🫶
“You have the beat of a lion’s heart in your chest, just remember always you” 🤍
From banging Austrian neurofunk, we make another full change of direction as we are focusing on Russian microfunk instead. Bop is definitely in my top3 Russian drum & bass producers. This guy almost single-handendly took the genre in a totally different dimension and where today many sing praises and reminisce the autonomic movement, Bop created a space of his own with microfunk. For years, his home was Med School, the sister label to Hospital Records, where he released 3 albums. The third one, Punk’s Not Dead, came out in 2014 and followed the trend in offering music that can only be described as oddly wonderful or cutely weird in the best possible sense. A collection of 14 tracks, including collabs with the likes of Diagram, Elsa Esmeralda or Synkro, this is a must have for anyone who likes their music deep, introspective and above all, creative.
My favorite off the stuff that got pressed would surely be Charge Me, a collab with his long time studio friend with whom Bop also forms the Abstract Elements project. This one’s a little bit different from their usual output, though, a little mory dreamy at times yet still keeping the dark futuristic edge, too.
Time flies…it’s been almost exactly three years since we went to New York and I recently realized I didn’t really use any of these pictures so I thought I might as well take the trip down the memory lane. I remember Domi really wanted to go there for ages but funnily enough it took her quite a while to get her head around the whole trip and what we’ve seen while I was kinda tagging along at first but got absolutely mind-blown by how different and big things are over there. Definitely a life-changing experience, would do it all again in a heartbeat.
And now for something completely different, we’re back in 2009 but this time, our destination is Virus Recordings and the ultimate Austrian clash of Body & Soul vs Fourward. While Fourward were only getting started back then, Body & Soul already had a string of releases for the likes of Bad Company, Viper or their own NASCA imprint under their belt. Both squads brought their signature sound of that era to the table, resulting in two proper stompers.
I personally prefer Carnage as it hits a bit harder for me and I was really into this kind of sound at that time, but Authority also deserves a shout. All in all, a very solid single in the mighty Virus catalogue.
2011 saw Blocks & Escher seal the deal of their joint musical endeavors as they released their second single, this time for Digital Soundboy. Now around that time, this imprint was pushing one of the most interesting music not only in the realms of drum & bass and these guys fit into that ethos perfectly. Shadow Play is all about percussions but I have to go with Miller as my favorite. It feels a bit different from what we’ve had with B&E so far, it’s almost upbeat/uplifting if that’s the right word for being more atmospheric. It slowly evolves through various pads and very organic sounding drum breaks, adding even more depth and character. And when the mellow but hefty bass kicks in, this one becomes a heartbreaker.
Eventually, the tracks evolves into slightly darker territories through acid synths, too, but the first 2+ minutes are pure heaven in your ears. Another testament to what I already mentioned about their music previously, it just goes beyond your standard drum & bass preconceptions and boundaries.
Fast forward to 2022, we see Blocks & Escher deliver the 5th installment in the anniversary 25 Years Of Metalheadz series with the remaster of their Platinum Breakz, Vol. 4 submission, Madness, and a brand new offering called Bird. Now I don’t know about you, but once you listen to these tracks, you can’t possibly find a better home to those dark-atmosphere-heavy-on-breaks cuts. Even though Bird is rather new, it takes you all those years back into the nineties from the very first tone of that acidic lead synth. And when the drums kick in on the drop, you’re right there, in a sweaty room at the infamous Blue Note Sunday Sessions. The kind of music that transcends the physical realm of the media and jumps out to conquer the next dimension.
This particular sound and music coming from that era makes me feel rather uneasy but right at home at the same time, as crazy as it may sound. It’s just a different kind of beast, really.
Moving on, our next visit is to the year 2010 where we encounter Blocks, one half of one of the Blocks & Escher duo aka the guys with absolutely unique take on the genre. So this one goes actually after their debut together on Horizons but before they really started pushing it together. Released on Horizons’ sublabel Inside Recordings, the single offers two distinct cuts that tell you from the get go what you should expect when you meet Blocks. Capturing breakbeats, heavy bass and thick atmosphere turns his music to be almost intrinsically tangible. And my heart belongs to the AA side, Hollow (Baby Dont Go).
Also as with oh so many releases on Horizons and Inside from this era, and I know I’m repeating myself here but I just have to, the cover art is utterly S tier material.
Dalším vystupujícím je @fallen_gemini 🔥
V roce 2013 se mu podařilo v nabité konkurenci zvítězit v DJ contestu pořádaném proslulým neurofunkovým labelem @eatbrain 💣
Od roku 2019 je členem @letitrolldjs 🫶
Aktuálně se věnuje svému projektu @dnbeheard , skrz který informuje jak o nové hudbě, tak o historii žánru, který miluje. Pod jeho hlavičkou navíc pořadá mejdany se zajímavými jmény DnB scény 🥹
Vidíme se už tento pátek v @marleyclubofficial 🫡
Staying in 2007, today we’re exploring different territories, though. Funnily enough, before I even started listening to drum & bass, Bloc Party were one of my favorite bands in my early twenties. A couple of years later, I found out one of their well known singles, The Prayer, got remixed by another favorite artists of mine, Break & Silent Witness. By that time I was already fully hooked on dnb, so there’s no surprise I jumped at the chance to add this to my collection. To be honest, it’s a bloody good remix, very much keeping the spirit of the original, adding just a touch of the genuine B&SW edge. One of those tracks I definitely wouldn’t imagine getting a drum & bass remix in the first place, let alone such a good one at that.
Released as a limited edition sampler for the first ever album and unfortunately the very last release on DNAudio, Hard Times, which we shall revisit in the future, too.
Going back to 2007 when Blame teamed up with The Pedge for Avalon on Hospital’s Weapon Of Mass Creation 3 Sampler 1. But here’s the plot twist - the flip side to this beauty was an even more influental gem, the first ever outing of Apex on Hospital in the form of his timeless collab with Ayah Marar, Space Between. It’s a wondeful tune that somehow instantly manages to scream both Apex as well as Hospital. It’s the drums for the first and the mesmerizing upbeat atmosphere for the latter, I guess. And then there’s the vocal, taking the show to whole another level. An absolute anthem if you ask me.
On a side note, I absolutely love the way the bass properly kicks in with a slight delay and follows its own phasing throughout. Such a “stupid” little detail that adds character.
