Drum 'N' Bass
December: 9 drum 'n' bass releases you need to hear this month
LSB, Calibre, Commix and more
Calibre 'Iron Balls' (Signature)
We do love it when Calibre gets all wonky. And in this case, it's a particularly skanky, almost tongue-in-cheek wonky, with a track centred entirely around a viciously compressed, urgent synth honk that runs and runs. Tipping a wink to the stripped-back Full Cycle heyday and its hypnotically simple Krust rollers, the gritty, fluctuating mid-range note of ‘Iron Balls’ contracts and expands to infinity, while metronomic rolling snares and off-camera bleeps stomp away beneath. True to form, however, the dashes of reverbed keys that occasionally hover at the contours lend a softer, jazzier edge to proceedings. Wonky, magic silliness from the absolute master.
8/10
