When you hear the words “house” and “alias”, it’s easy to think of people making their music more polite, but that’s far from the case with Trevino. The first released result of Marcus Intalex’s – an acclaimed producer in the drum’n'bass world for well over a decade – drop in tempo was ‘Chip’, an 808-driven howitzer that paired streamlined drums with builds of wild synth flare; to us, it seemed to take the blueprint that Intalex’s old sparring mates Instra:mental had established on their album Resolution 653 and firmly up the ante. Enjoy.
Having already featured on Critical Records and gathering support from S.P.Y., Bailey, Spectrasoul, Break, Enei, Kasra, Skeptical and many more, Ed:it's gritty and elegant sound mainlines the warehouse soul of classic drum & bass, serving it up in impeccably sculpted slices. Deep and deadly, this is surely one of the best batch of tunes released this year.
Marcus Intalex's favourite new artist of recent times, Phil Tangent, returns to Soul:R this month with his second single "Squaring the Circle" and "Restitution. His debut, "Billie's Smile / Lunar ", proved a discerning and unique musicality to Tangent's sound and demonstrated a level of musical depth, which is com- fortably at home in the Soul:r camp. His new single will solidify the deserved recognition for Phil Tangent's sound - a pitch perfect fusion of the soulful deep with the deep. Its mellow and spaced out vibes may sound odd in the current drum & bass climate, but there are real flashes of brilliance here that is too good to ignore. Out on Dec 10 2012, we can't recommend this enough. Go Seek.
Having a reputation for razor sharp production and always pushing boundaries with his music, Lynx's is new single hones on the sound he engineered in previous releases while setting the scope higher. With vocal treatments for well respected vocalist Kemo Dive Deep In submerges itself in dirty, deep funk. A rock solid half time beat and punishing bass stabs keep the momentum while guitar strings weave in and out. Shadowlands features fellow technician Hellrazor in an epic roller comprised of swelling strings, steppy drums and menacing bass. The latter is a favourite and is featured on our Subvert Sessions Podcast. Highly recommended. Buy it HERE.
Ruffhouse dropped their debut on Ingredients in October 2012 with 'The Foot / Bypass' 'to much acclaim. Already touted as a force to watch, their follow up ups the ante: Demand' really shows their ability to make progressive, forward thinking music and it's the unpredictability of 'Demand' that makes it a stand out track. 'Division III' is equally as impressive, room shattering drums & almighty stabs. It's out now, so get busy buying.
Zul (Subvert HQ, Singapore) has been DJing and promoting parties in the Lion City since the 1990s, performing along side the likes of dBridge, DJ Friction, Joe Syntax, Stamina MC, John B, A-Sides, Pendulum, Cyantific, Sonic, London Elektricity as well as Logistics and Hospital Records' Chris Goss. Gigs-wise, its gone from Hong Kong (he spent time with the White Label crew in 2001), Jakarta to London (playing at the legendary Hospitality parties in Shoreditch, UK) with bits of radio (MediaCorp Radio's Lush 99.5FM Clubscape sessions, to be exact) and a release on Take Off Records squeezed in between.
When not busy with his day job as a journalist in Singapore, Zul also keeps it cutting edge away from the dance floor with the Subvert Sessions Podcast (download via subverthq.blogspot.sg), blending together leftfield and idiosyncratic beats of the 170bpm variety.