cubikmusik

drum and bass, drum n' bass or drum 'n' bass?

This is something I've been meaning to do for a quite a while now but time hasn't really permitted. Over the last two or three weeks though I've (literally) been cleaning house as I've been getting ready to sell it. Maybe that was inspiration to clean my blog house, do some tidying up, rearranging and additional decorating.

No., I'm not selling cubikmusik.
who'd buy it? :)

First things first is that you may see that my category cloud has been dramatically reduced in size. Needless to say when you have 'Drum and Bass" , "Drum n' Bass" and "Drum 'n' Bass" listed there is something wrong!
When you're writing and building a blog its easy to get caught up in adding categories to try and describe what you're talking about but I think that I need to be able to keep my categories reasonably focused. We'll see!

Another change has been the colours. In all honesty, when we did the redesign earlier last year I was very happy with how it looked. The colours were appealing but after a while they became a bit too much on the eyes. The black is certainly darker but I think it helps to bring out whats on the page more. Foreground is important while background should only compliment rather then overpower the foreground.

I've also started to try and post pictures in more of my posts. A number of reasons behind this.
-Its looks nice when you have pictures.
-When Hype Machine lists posts and you have a picture its included in the post and therefore is probably more appealing than the default that is assigned. See here:

Agreed?

- I wanted to have a more visual representation of what I write about here. Yes, its pretty much all about music in various shapes and sizes but music is also represented through visuals and so the far right column is set up to show that. This column displays my 'posts in pics' and you can click on a photo to bring you to its associated post.
-Lastly, and this isn't foremost in my thoughts, but it would certainly be a good benefit if readers were more likely to explore other posts through visuals rather than post names. I know I do.

There's a slight price to pay with regard to page load speed but thanks to the wonder of analytics I know that approx. 90% of ya'll are on cable, DSL or faster (a whopping 9% of you are checking cubikmusik out in work on your T1 lines so thats a good thing for you but a bad thing for your boss!).

So, thats it. All and any feedback (good or bad) is most welcome. There may be more changes over the coming days so if you drop by a lot, or not a lot, feel free to  tell me what you'd like to see each time or what you're tired of seeing.

With that, I've decided on "Drum 'n' Bass" so here's some top sounds from Tokyo on Hospital Records.

Download 01_go_back.mp3

(Update Feb. 5th: lower bitrate file added at request of label).

Buy: Direct from label

Download (US), (UK)

Vinyl (UK)

CD (US), (UK)

Jungle Brother

"I got so much funky shit inside my brain
I couldn't explain, I couldn't explain
You wouldn't understand, I couldn't explain"

Posting this today for Dev and the crew over at BlogFreshRadio. I was speaking to Dev today, contributing to their end of year show, and he mentioned that he was into drum 'n' bass so I thought of this sweet little number that I had tucked away.
I cannot believe that this album is 10 years old! I remember well getting this album as I was managing a clothes store, called Hobo in Dublin which is no longer around. The CD was a promo with a bonus disc with remixes of some of the tunes. Even then, like now, I was more interested in the remixes.
We played this album (as well as Roni Size/ Reprazent's New Forms) at full volume during our Saturday rushes. These tunes certainly got the customers into the mood and kept the staff going with its high energy and stimulating sounds.

So, to Dev and team I wanted to say thanks. These guys (and gals) have stepped into an open spot to produce a great weekly online radio show that covers just some of whats going on with music blogs around the world. I for one have been exposed to many great artists and blogs through the show and I wish them every success as they go full steam ahead into 2008.

This is the Jungle Brothers tune Brain remixed by Natural Born Chillers.

Download 05_brain_natural_born_chillers_remix.mp3

Ah f**k it-two tunes from the JB's while we're here. This is one of, if not THE, first hip-house tune that blew away the clubs. Superb tune!
From Epitonic: "The group went into the studio with NYC underground club and house DJ/producer Todd Terry, and hip house was born. "I'll House You" became a bona fide international hit, making Terry one of the most in-demand remixers to this day."

Download 03_ill_house_you.mp3

Buy Raw Deluxe (USA), (UK)
Buy "I'll House You" on Discogs Marketplace/ Amazon

No hats, no trainers

"No hats, no trainers" (for those of you that haven't experienced that line from a bouncer) is a rule than many clubs in the British Isles have in an effort to try and stop the 'wrong' crowd from coming in.
Trainers=tennis shoes in USA speak.
Personally I (a) don't understand it as it applies to 'dance' clubs that I used to frequent. If I am going out to dance my night away you can be assured that I am not gonna do so in shoes and so (b) I don't/ haven't gone to clubs with such rules.

Shameless is from East London with a mix of Irish and is backed by the wonderfully named PaddyRaggaband. Check out this great interview with him here along with the excellent album, Smokers Die Younger that this tune, 'No Hats, No Trainers' is taken from.

Shameless with PlanB brings us this rockin club track that is a commentary on the weird and wonderful world that contains the policies of no hats and no trainers. This mix is brought from DJ Die and Ben Westbeech that we featured here a while back.
This takes a super ska driven hip-hop track and wraps it up in some jumping drum 'n' bass that can't fail to move.

Download dj_die_ben_westbeech_remix.mp3

Buy tune from Clickgroove
Buy album from USA/ UK

Welcome to the Best Years of Your Life

So last night when I got home after a few beers I had this post written and as I was about to publish it my dog managed to literally pull the plug on my computer! I now start this again but I can't imagine it'll be the same without the influence of some beers and the high of a new music purchase. :-)

For those of you that know me, or read CubikMusik regulary, will know that I don't buy albums too much at all. I have stuck with individual songs and compilations pretty much for 10 years and I can't remember when the last time was that I bought a complete album by an artist. They just don't appeal to me at all.
Anyways-that changed last night as Ben Westbeech's album, Welcome to the Best Years of Your Life, came out. What a cracking album it is.

I've posted on Ben before on the amazing tune, Get Closer. Pure infectious music does Ben and the band of talented musicians that play with him deliver. A drum 'n' bass classic.
Check out this live clip.

I first came across Ben Westbeech back when the first (of many?) Brownswood Bubblers compilation came out with his song, Nothing Else. His soulful voice, honest words and upbeat melodies captured my attention. The along came 'So Good Today'- a top summer tune that cannot fail to get you in the mood for hanging with your mates way into the late night.

Last week I also got Hang Around from iTunes so I managed to benefit from their new 'Complete My Album' deal that credits you when you buy a song from an album.

Man-I just can't get over the tunes from this guys.
Choice.

This post goes out to P. who I know will just love this stuff. Enjoy P. :-)

Buy the CD here.

Buy the tunes here.

Under The Influence with...JLS/ Little-D Soundlab

Back again with another 'Under the Influence with..... 'post. This time around we have JLS/ from the Little-D Soundlab. Back in December we had an excellent post from 40Winks that includded tunes from  Kraftwerk, The Roots, ATCQ, and others. JLS follows up with another great posts and some cool insights into what has influenced him musically. Cheers mate. As ever, check out a JLS tune at the bottom of the post to see what these influences have turned out.

1. Moms Record Collection

I played with the records a lot when I was a kid, often leading to me running around the house with my mom chasing me after I ruined a vinyl piece with scratching haha. Lots of soul, reggae, jazz and funk was inside my moms crate, and also a lot of Kawina records (a hi-speed percussion based style from my native country Surinam), Curtis Mayfield, Bob Marley, Roy Ayers(!) Motown compilations Stevie Wonder etc etc. The one that I really loved back then was Curtis Mayfield's "Roots" album.

Download 01_we_got_to_have_peace.mp3

 

2. Radio Patapoe
A Pirate station in Amsterdam that played the nicest tunes. I remember making tapes with my first deck of all the songs they played(I was..pff 10/12 at the time so this was 90/92. Lots of dub from perry and king tubby that made me fall in love with the low bass sound, you know the one you feel in your gut when played loud :) also recorded lots of house and experimental beats at the time.      

Download 07_king_tubby_king_tubby_dub.mp3

 

3.Ice Cube -Lethal Injection
Young kid looks up to cooler older nephew who rocks mad ice, had cool car posters and a gangsta cd-collection that was crazy!! still listen to Ghetto Bird a lot.
Download 02_ghetto_bird.mp3

 

3. Yuzo Koshiro - Streets Of Rage 2 Soundtrack (sega)
Why select a videogame soundtrack you ask? Well when I was 13 me and my little brother saved up all my money for the 16-bit revolutionary device "sega megadrive" and one of the first games whe bought was Streets Of Rage II a very good beat'm up game, but the thing I remember the most: The soundtrack! heavily influenced by the rave sound from the 90's, Koshiro made tracks that me and my brother danced on with the option screen on till 3 am in the morning.
One of the reason why I started looking for that house and jungle sound and investigating what you could find on vinyl and cd! . Thanks Yuzo!!
Download spin_on_the_bridge.mp3

 

4.Leviticus - Burial
With another kid in my class I got obsessed with the jungle sound from the uk, probably because of the low basses and hi-speed percussion (kawina!!) can't remember a lot of releases from that time (all on tapes and some cd's I can't find anywhere) but this track really got to me back then!
Download burial_lovers_rock_mix.mp3

5. Old Dirty Bastard -Brooklyn Zoo (remix? if you could find it, pass it to me!!)
Hiphop was starting with one of it's first transformations and I remember listening to a radio show called Dutch Masters, It was and is in my opinion one of the best radioshows I have ever heard with a great chemistry between hosts and an amazing tracklists. I remember hearing this song on my tape deck when I was 14 and it I was a wu fan from that moment on... just as any other urban kid at the time hahaha

Download 04_brooklyn_zoo.mp3

 

6. Pharcyde - Labcabincalifornia
Got this on a tape from a good friend from the UK and ever since then I was obsessed with a certain sound within hiphop and started the actual collecting and trying to spin it on decks, subconciously collecting a lot of j-dilla produced tracks in the process and a lot of work from the native tongues...essential for my musical upbringing and a turning point to.

Download 03_drop.mp3

 

7. Dillinja - Acid Trak
Goldie, Digital, Dillinja and Lemon D really came with an amazing sound filled with amen breaks and low basses that I fell in love it. it was funny but the scene splitted in two back then but I loved it both, I remember dancing on Acid Trak for a very long time. Classic and one of the reasons that I started dabbling with a sequencer and sampler. 

8. Roni Size -Brown Paper Bag.
The other side of the Drum&Bass spectrum I really liked was more jazz influenced and had a different dynamic (melodic,warm) in the productions. this is again one of the tracks that kept me up till late at night and influenced me production wise.

Download 102_brown_paper_bag.mp3

 

9. Mos Def - Universal Magnetic
Much sentimental value for this one.. It reminds of a time of going out with my friends, hanging out with girls and coming back late at night, a great time. Every time this track played I jumped away from friends moved to the dancefloor and sang the lyrics out loud and dancing with fellow fans of the song. I think I can spit this one backwards haha
Download 04_universal_magnetic.mp3

 

10.Dj Krush - Holonic self mega mix
Turning point. I remember hearing something on the radio that amazed me, beats like I heard on radio Patapoe when I was young and again amazed: no vocals but still the music creates an instant visual in your mind. Not knowing who the artist was, I rushed to every music store to find it, humming the sound to the people from the store, finally finding this cd, I fell in love with krush his way of producing and composing and with instrumental hiphop in general. labels such as ninja tune and mowax got my attention since then from a graphical and musical standpoint. Playing the cd over and over till this very day. And on my funeral.

Cubik note: I couldn't get a tune from the album mentioned above so I am posting one of my favourites. Sorry JLS.
Download 07_days_end.mp3
      
11. Richie Hawtin - DE9 Closer to the edit album.
I was part of a vj-crew called Prime Meridian back in 97/98. And one of our first sets in Amsterdam in the mazzo was a techno based night from Estroe. It was a fantastic experience to see our graphic designs and video on the big screen for the crowd that really liked it to, I remember being mesmerized by a song that was playing and asking the dj (can't remember who it was could have been Estroe but whoever it is... THANK YOU!) what it was. he/she said that it was a Richie Hawtin track from the Closer to the edit album. Hawtin created an unprecendented mix cd by cutting up 300 12" in pieces and making one big puzzle piece with it. It's minimalistic approach to the music really pushed me to look deeper in to the techno sound then I already did.

 

12. Basic Channel - The Climax (Carl Craig Basic Reshape)
Like finding eldorado at the age of 19. big inspiration to me and got me into a lot of labels in that mindset like Scape, planet E, delsin and many others.

Download the_climax_reworked.mp3

 

13. Stones Throw Records.
Big inspiration to me as a label, and one that has transformed the face of independent hiphop and labels in general in a very positive way. Always experimenting, always ignoring set rules..and making new ones in the process, Madlib's amazing array of styles, Peanut Butter Wolf and Egons managment skills(the amount of work they had to do in the begin stages had to be crazy) and musical knowhow, Jeff Janks art and design...in short: heroes. They had a great and tough year this year but I hope that they continue the way they do.

Download soon_to_be_large.mp3

 

14. The Little-D Soundlab Roster.
The initial start for me to start a label was to bring sounds that I really liked and that we're able to translate the way I thought a label should sound like: trying new things, defying genre rule sets, fusing older styles and mastering a few. Akida,Jolynn,40 Winks, Nono And Estroe really do things already with their productions and ideas, and that really pushes me to do my job a lot better everyday, I don't know what the future for Little-D will bring but the idea that i'm helping to push the sounds of these amazingly skilled artists to the world, makes me very happy.

Now-check out what the sounds above have turned out from JLS in the Little-D Soundlab.
Download Aftersurfdub.mp3

 

Get Closer

Artist: Ben Westbeech w/ Die.
Tune: Get Closer (Rockers Mix)

Oh yes, yes, yes!
Top tune from Ben Westbeech (him with the gifted voice) who has teamed up with one of the masters of Drum 'n' Bass, Die (Full Cycle Records). This tune is released on the previously mentioned (and praised) Brownswood Recordings.

A dancefloor filler if ever there was one-with driving d'n'b beats, soulful singing, happy-clappy buildups, housey piano and some fine computer game style synth breakdowns to take the night away.
Enjoy...I know I do. :-)

Download 01_get_closer_rockers_mix.mp3

Buy it here.

Now all we need to compliment this is the new 4Hero album to come dropping in (Jan. 29th).

Cheers,
Cubik

Inner City Life

"I remember being introduced to the hip-hop/electronica sub-genre, drum and bass, by one of its pioneers, Goldie. I accompanied him to his DJ set at the London club, the Blue Note. After about an hour of him staring straight into my eyes, gold teeth glaring, miming or pointing to every invisible, yet highly audible, bass line, kick, snare, and high hat, he took me outside and instructed me to monitor my heartbeat so that I might note that the intensity of the music in the club had actually sped it up so that my heart was, now, pounding-a sort of high speed drum and bass metronome. I had been reprogrammed (note: it was a highspeed wireless connection)." ©2006 by Saul Williams
*

This tune has been around for years now (1995 I guess). This version is longer than others I've heard and I got it from #5 in the GoodTimes series delivering choice tunes from the GoodTimes Sound System at the Notthinghill Carnival. A classic that is, as the album it is taken from suggests, Timeless. A beautifully haunting intro. eases you into the  beats that are  layered in complex  structures. Beautiful.
Download 114_inner_city_life.mp3
While I was looking into this post about Goldie I found out that he 'starred' in Celebrity Big Brother this year. Hmmmm I thought. But read an interview with Goldie here and get his take on it. Nice.
For some more Drum & Bass tunes see here.

Cheers,
Cubik

*From The Dead Emcee Scrolls MTV BOOKs and Pocket Books (a Division of Simon & Schuster).
See Saul Williams Reading from the Dead Emcee Scrolls here.

 

technorati tags:d'n'b, goldie, saul williams, drum and bass

Breakbeats?

Artist: Breakbeat Era
Tune: Breakbeat Terror

Every now and again I put up some breakbeat/drum 'n' bass and here's another one.
This will compliment the SuperSharpShooter tune and the Ganja Kru mix of Jay-Z and Foxy Brown.
This tune is Breakbeat Era's jazz influenced 'Breakbeat Terror' with a solid stand-up bass leading the breakbeat charge. This tune is faster than most stuff I listen to but its just infectious. You can hear, in this tune, the influences of  Roni Size who you may know from Reprazent's 'New Forms (Mercury Prize winner).

This tune goes with a shoutout to the Bassbin crew.

Download 13_breakbeat_terror_by_breakbeat_era.mp3

Cheers,

Cubik

Supersharpshootin' Playa

Artist: DJ Zinc
Tune: Super Sharp Shooter

First off... 'Big UP' to Mulley for always playing this for me at 3am to get things livlied up somewhat.
This tune will jump out at you (be patient-there's a 2 minute intro) and hit you right in your belly and all you can do is jump up and down. Definitely an older school drum & bass /rave tune that has a bad ass bass that would shame any Miami booty basser.
The few times I have played it out and about here in the USA I always just see heads turned as if to say "what the f**k is that?"
Anyho-here it is.
Download super_sharp_shooter.mp3

Artist: Jay-Z Feat. Foxy Brown
Tune: Ain't No Playa (Ganja Kru Mix).
---This song may also be known by the name 'Ain't No Ni**a'-------

While I respect Jay-Z for all his accomplishments and obvious talents as a master rapper I am not always a fan of his music. I came across this Ganja Kru mix of Ain't No Playa/ Nigga about 6 months ago and from first listen I have been so impressed. Like the tune above this track has a longish intro with some 'foxy' brown singing and getting us all grooved up.
This track then just takes off with a rocking drum and bass lead with Jay-Z just spitting out his lyrics and setting us in our place.

Download 03_aint_no_playa_ganja_kru_mix.mp3