September: 10 drum 'n' bass releases you need to hear this month

Naibu 'Corners' (Horizons Music)

Naibu is France’s answer to Calibre, and he’s the real deal. Boasting a vault of tracks from liquid’s golden age on labels such as Creative Source, Soul:r and Bassbin, the producer has released his occasional deep-end mosaics mainly on Horizons over the last decade. Now, he makes his return to the label with a new dancefloor-tipped LP performed and recorded entirely at home. There are no samples to be found here, just a fiercely intelligent musical aesthetic: crackly, rolling liquid-silk on the title track, Rufige Kru-style grit amid experimental percussion on ‘Burning’ and some Calibre-standard vocals and keys on ‘No Return’. After an admittedly rather leftfield last LP (‘Case Study’ on Scientific Records), ‘Corners’ is a delicious return to a danceable format.

9/10