April: 10 drum 'n' bass tunes you need to hear this month

Charlie Fracture’s runaway underground hit of 2016, ‘Makin’ Hype Tracks’, signposted a whole legion of drum ’n’ bass latecomers towards the joys of footwork-inspired jungle experiments. But his Astrophonica label has been doing the leftfield business in style for several years – and good lord, what a compilation this is, with 13 road-tested club tracks from Fracture himself, Richie Brains collaborators Sam Binga and Stray, Om Unit (in Phillip D Kick footwork guise), DBridge and more. There’s handclap-anchored footwork springiness, shimmering sunshine-funk mosaics, crunchy technoid jungle and bleepy workouts. All of jungle’s eternal agility is here, futureproofed via the most creative of hands.

9/10

Dropping quickly and powerfully into a squelching, full-bodied bassline tapestry framed by steamy vocals and warm liquid overtones, ‘Serious’ helps FD confirms his seat at the d’n’b producers’ top table. It’s an immaculately constructed liquid roller drenched in production sizzle and muscular snares that stay just the right side of forceful –and what’s more, Calibre pops up for a beautiful keys-and-bass remix of ‘Ambra’. Top-notch work from a special artist.

9/10

Black Sun Empire feat Noisia 'The Veil' (Blackout)

Dutch trio BSE have been banging out anthemic dark-matter tech since 2000, and the only Dutch trio to do it better have now joined them for this delicious collab. If you’re a fan of Noisia’s tech acrobatics, you’ll be swimming in the good stuff here: staircases of dark angel voices spiral us up to a precipitous drop, swathed in brutally agile snares and tasering synths. It’s an utterly engrossing high-spec assault, riddled with the ceaselessly inventive drum patterns and calligraphic bassline mosaics we now take for granted from our top-table beat scientists. Imagine if Bad Company had dropped this in 2000?

9/10

High Contrast 'Shotgun Mouthwash' (Jungle remix) (3 Beat)

Appearing on the same billboard as Iggy Pop and Blondie for the Trainspotting 2 soundtrack caused even the masterful Lincoln Barrett to gush with wonderment on Twitter. The vocals, keys, lead and bass guitars on this arresting bluesy stomper are all his, but it’s the remix’s final moments that underscore High Contrast’s deserved status as a genuine craftsman. Check the way the white noise and off-camera squeals of the original track shimmer effortlessly amid the classic jungle breakbeats and warm bassline nudges. Sequencing to die for from a one-off artist and remixer with jungle in his blood.

8/10

Bop 'Not Your Cup Of Tea' EP (Med School)

Bop is as wry and playful with his titles as Rockwell: witness his latest EP of intricate, super-minimal micro-funk, which will both delight and confuse with its unapologetic palette of finicky trills and staccato bleeps. There’s no denying, though, that this is the work of a supreme talent. The ghosting, warping bass nodes and tricksy wibbles on pace-setter ‘An Order’ are as hypnotically skank-worthy as Alix Perez’s celebrated glitch-groove anthem ‘I’m Free’ – and if it doesn’t get you moving, you don’t belong on a dancefloor.

9/10

SKMA 'Conflict' (Sub Slayers)

Playful, precise and punishing robo-tech from Jersey trio SKMA, with a bounce-along roller that’s got all the hallmarks of a twisted tech stomper but with oodles of pogo-tastic energy too, turning it into something far more fun. The rasping metallic synth that spears through the middle lends a wiry, spidery feel, offset by snares that carry more than a whiff of triplicate-beat silliness. It’s altogether different and excellent.

7/10

Synergy feat Miss Trouble 'Warrior Sound' (Eatbrain)

2016 was a massive year for the Eatbrain camp, and the onslaught of high-spec tech sounds continues with the ‘Helion’ EP from Synergy (formerly Segment & Concept Vision). It’s a hornet’s nest of rattling distortion and breakneck break incisions, with half-time brutaliser ‘Warrior Sound’ top of the pile thanks to the way it blends spearing synth electrics with a bleepy futurist sound palette.

7/10

Folding City 'On Point' (Through These Eyes)

US-based bass aces Folding City ratchet the tempo up to a future-rave 160/170bpm on their latest release for Through These Eyes, and it’s a thrillingly bleepy half-time groove full of womping bass electrodes and tickling hi-hat shuffles. There are enough space and echoes on ‘On Point’ to nod it towards experimental territory, but there’s no getting away from the fact that it’s dancefloor to the core. A great addition to the ever-expanding 170bpm canvas.

8/10

Pola & Bryson feat Charlotte Haining 'Find Your Way' (Shogun Audio)

An exclusive signing to Shogun only happens if you’ve got that extra something. Pola & Bryson are in for another massive year, and this title track from their ‘Shogun EP’ is big-room liquid on a Technimatic scale. There are running melodious bass jetstreams; cavernous, swooshing atmospheres melding with the molten keys and flooding the system in a euphoric sweetness that still keeps it crackly and underground; and dew-drop soul vocals from the top drawer. Keep a watchful eye on them in 2017.

8/10

Killbox 'Killbox' EP (Ram Records)

After teasing us with some cryptic videos at the back end of last year, Ram finally come up with the goods as Ed Rush and Audio crown their riveting union with an EP of belligerent, bunker-busting tech naughtiness. ‘Bound To Others’ serves up artillery-speed crunchy pogo-tech with Noisia-esque geysers erupting from the murk, while ‘Pitchfork’ wonks out into metallic stop-start rolling glitch territory. Fans of Neosignal and Rockwell will find untold gems, while Ram aficionados will definitely appreciate this knottier, left-of-centre new strain of the family DNA.

7/10