February: 9 drum 'n' bass releases you need to hear this month

Various 'Cyberfunk V/A LP 001' (Cyberfunk)

In less than 18 months, Xtrah’s gloriously named Cyberfunk project has hurtled up the cluttered echelons of sharp-edged sci-fi tech-funk (currently drum ’n’ bass’s most exciting corner by some distance). The springy, robotic rumble-shuffle of the bossman’s ‘Nachtmuzik’ and the surging, spidery, rolling murk of Phentix and Xanadu’s ‘Galaxite’ set the tone on this new compilation, as both known and unknown artists including Lockjaw, Monty and Simple Technique represent the brand in impressively precise style. If it’s fabulously textured bass warp that does it for you, with percussion that dances nimbly one moment and crushes savagely the next and future-tense sound design that stays the right side of bonkers, sign here.

9/10

Hybrid Minds feat Alexa Harley 'Phoenix' (Hybrid Music)

Talented duo Hybrid Minds send another liquid ballad heartwrencher arrowing out across the skyline with ‘Phoenix’, the final single to be released before their full album drops. Dipping, curving and arcing like birds in a sunset, those vocals are some of the finest we’ve heard on an emotive d’n’b track. If it’s spiralling strings, plaintive piano droplets and haunting washes of melody you’re after, start your 2017 here.

9/10

Proxima 'Closely' (Blackout)

Bullet-toothed, spearing half-time savagery is the order of the day on this standout from the latest in Blackout’s excellent EP series, and it takes some talent to keep such mayhem so tightly marshalled. Knuckledusting synths are spliced and sequenced via a phalanx of clever drums which ping, dance and shuffle without ever dominating. The effect is to create space and danger despite the onslaught, and it’s devastating.

7/10

Lenzman feat Jubei 'Park Hill' (The North Quarter)

Lenzman’s gift to all d’n’b lovers continues, here, with a second 10-track EP on his own The North Quarter label that’s stuffed to the gills with astonishingly manicured production gems both jazzy and hench. Plumbing the depths to stone-cold loping tech territory is this standout collaboration with a favourite of ours, Jubei: where others might have been content with the teak-tough grainy snares and cavernous jackhammer bass nodes that make up the track’s simple blueprint, it’s the masterful off-camera twinklings and rearing synth tremors that add the widescreen cinematic flavour we’ve come to adore.

9/10

The Prototypes 'Electric' (Get Hype)

Destroying raves across 2016, The Prototypes’ giant belting showstopper cleverly marries the stabbiness of in-your-face big-room bashers with something a little more driving and electro-funked. The lacerating synth line that snipes and cackles is balanced perfectly by the vast swooshing synth waves melodically careening the whole affair along. The midway switch-up heralds a more unvarnished pummelling, however, as the crackling mid-range takes over for some heads-down blackout time. These boys know how it goes down, and there are few better DJs to rinse the most from this kind of sound anywhere.

8/10

Data 3 'Conker Dub' (Subtitles)

Bryson (of Pola & Bryson fame), dubstep producer Syrum and garage DJ MIDA make for an unlikely d’n’b outfit but with some tidy releases in 2016, and the snaking low-end funk on display here, you’d best get to know. Unhurried, fluttering, metronomic rolling breaks are spiderwebbed slowly and frighteningly by fearsomely well-sculpted synth echoes, warping and forming with controlled venom. Most delighful are the off-beam, tip-toeing keys and hypnotic FX that arpeggio delicately into the breakdown, lending an experimental edge to what could have just been a straight-up tech-roller.

9/10

Impish 'Burning' (Program)

The giant talent known as Impish makes a serious statement with this new release on Ram’s prestigious sub-label. There’s a whole heap of Break-esque brilliance on show: sweet vocal melodies and guitar pluckings are deliciously undercut by the crunchy percussive patterns beneath, while fizzing bassline electrodes course through the veins of the track to bring extra grit and funk. Impish’s mix of sunshine and thunder is a potent combo.

7/10

HLZ feat Awaken 'From The Past' (The Dreamers Recordings)

Straight outta Turin, The Dreamers Recordings is still in single figures for releases, but on this evidence the label is set for a big 2017. Former Need For Mirrors member HLZ drowns the soundscape in a relentlessly luxurious liquid weave, thick processed synths wafting and surging amid hypnotic indie-vocal explorations and dreamy melodic hues. Listen as the track progresses, however, and a noticeably deeper lick emerges, with breaks scudding and fluttering with a little more venom, and synths coiling and flickering with a little more electricity.

8/10

Andy Pain 'Emptiness' (Demand Records)

Russian newcomer Andy Pain is an unknown to most – but that surely ends here. This is a fearsomely taut and springy tech-roller, with thunderous subs pinioned by fine-point snare patchworks and a wealth of ghostly, meditative atmospheres. Powerful, intelligent and with serious soul nestled between the thunderous peaks, this will turn many a head. Another strong release from the Demand label which, thanks to both this and its recent ‘Requisites’ EP, feels like it’s growing in stature.

9/10

Memtrix 'Clouds In Commune' (Sotto Voce)

Young musical maestro Oscar Rawlinson is at it again on his latest release ‘Clouds In Commune’, concocting a sensory overload of a dancefloor masterpiece. Here, his own vocals and delicate guitar line usher in an electro-charged glitterball of euphoric dancefloor d’n’b. The stop-start stepping break volleys are drenched in myriad layers of synths and goosebumping melodies, all finished with the most thrillingly slick production polish. Highly impressive.

8/10