Xtrah ft MC Codebreaker – Set The Levels/Regain Control (Critical Presents: Modulations)
If youve read this blog for any length of time you’ll probably know im a massive Critical Music fanboy.
Heres why:
Both huge tunes I hope you’ll agree!
Pretty much the entirity of the modulations back cat is a must own, go buy it!
To get you started heres a freebie from Critical themselves: Enei – One Chance VIP
Howitzer – Exception
A new tune put together my myself:
Let me know what you think! All comments and critique appreciated.
Local Upcoming Gigs
Heres a roundup of all the decent local undergound gigs coming up over the next month or so:
(Link to the Facebook events from the image)
Friday 20th January – The Shakespeare, Saddler Gate, Derby
Bloom is back on after a little hiaetus in December.
Great lineup of local, and not so local heads. As ever, this will be wicked vibes from the undergound.
I love bloom, its getting a nice little reputation for itself too. Long may it prosper!
Friday 27th January – Saddlers, Saddler Gate, Derby
You like that crazy dubstep all the kids are raving on about? Yeah, me too. Its a good shout then to get yourself out for derbys biggest dubstep night!
Featuring many upcoming talents and some established local DJ’s you cant go wrong if this is your bag.
Saturday 28th Jan – Spanky Van Dikes, 17 Goldsmith Street, Nottingham
I just spotted this naughty little gig as I was writing this article. Its been a while since Ive partied to some dnb at spankys.
I have fond memories of CULT when it used to be there, fucking sick place. Love the vibes, epic sound system, and with a lineup like this for freebies!
No question, im there.
Saturday 4th February – The Shakespere, Saddler gate, Derby
These guys have been busy over the past few months building up another solid night at the shakespere.
Mainly dubstep-centric you can expect a lot of deep, deep vibes from this place, shakespere is as always, a wicked venue for a party.
Friday 10th Feb
ruary – The Sunlounge, 15A Wardwick, Derby
Ahh the mighty Deckadance, THE staple underground derby dnb night since forever.
Whilst Mr Pablo is off galavanting in foreign lands for a few months, the reigns have fallen to Phil Hustle of the exceptional Hustle Audio.
I cant stress enough how wicked this night is gonna be; Cursa, Pessimist, Mr Hustle himself, Ed:it, Expect & Snaps.
I dont think I need to say any more than that. Be there!
Did I miss something? Wanna get your gig listed up here? Gimme a shout n’ I’ll put it up!
Blu Mar Ten – Problem Child / Sweet Little Supernova review
Well then, BMT have pushed out a new single from their forthcoming second album.
A well established trio that have been big names on the dnb scene since their release of Natural History (2009), their name has become synonymous with immense production quality and trademark deep liquid vibes.
Natural history is still an album in my all time top 10, not much comes close to it. So I eagerly await these releases with baited breath, hanging on every tease they send out to the community.
With this in mind, how does their new stuff stack up?
Problem child is a step towards the minimal, techy vibes that have been circling the scene of late , similar to the sounds coming from shogun but with a definite BMT stamp. Its quite the growling half-step affair with tranquil liquid synth riding through the mids here and there. Personally I feel that it doesn’t quite hit the mark.
There’s too much contrast from the main phrase to the liquid synth, The underlying depth and tech are overwhelmed by the soaring pads. I’d like to have seen more use of the vocal stabs, chopped up with a bit of delay to really amplify the tech aspect.
it feels to me, like a clash of styles. BMT’s take on neuro / tech coinciding with the sweet liquid vibes they’re used to producing. I think they achieved this with Still the one, on their previous EP. This still has all the traits I describe in problem child, but is balanced more towards techy drums with less presence on the ambience.
Ironic they called it problem child then, something that feels like it was more difficult to sculpt into a finished product.
On the flip side, Sweet Little Supernova is exactly what I expect from BMT. Big pulsing basslines, soaring ambience, sexy vocal riffs, and literally the perfect reverb on the drums to really amplify the moody nature of the track. I love the little drum fills in this tune, the flat snares and the little ‘toings’ that break the drums up into 8 bar chunks, perfectly timed to add variation and shuffle thats needed in a roller such as this.
The mids and highs have been given lots of room over the bassline for full sounding vocal ambience that compliments the low mids and bass nicely.
Whilst certainly not the dance floor smasher, it is a perfect liquid roller, a thinking mans track, and aptly titled at that.
With this being the final EP released before the album hits sometime this autumn, BMT have held my faith. There’s a good sense of progression with their sound and whilst they’re not pushing anything radically different they are staying current whilst keeping their trademark sound. You always know you’re listening to a Blu Mar Ten tune.
I sincerely hope they manage to nail that fine line between minimal/tech/neuro/liquid that problem child aims at. If they do, it’ll be an absolutely epic tune!
Problem Child:
Sweet Little Supernova:
howitzerdnb 