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

Emperor 'Dispositions' (critical)

Conor Corrigan has been hurting club systems and bone structures ever since 2012’s ‘Monolith’ crashed into our chest cavities, and Kasra’s Critical label has greedily hoovered up most of his d’n’b output since. His debut LP ‘Dispositions’ illustrates the ceaseless creativity possible within hardstyle tech and neuro-funk structures: scorching synth waves of intricately detailed texture, hypnotically warm wrap-around bass and gorgeously weighted spacious loping grooves. With a minimum amount of collaborations, these 16 tracks reveal an artist who’s more than living up to his ambitious name.

9/10

Spirit 'Consciousness' (Commercial Suicide)

Duncan Spirit, the nailed-on legend behind ‘Phantom Force’, ‘Raygun’ and various other huge anthems that are still getting rotation 20 years later, hits us right between the eyes with this Detroit techno-inspired hummer. Brooding, low-slung and crackling with controlled menace, a dreadnought of a synth pulses along remorselessly beneath metronomic, no-nonsense rolling snares. Simple, deadly, heavyweight.

9/10

Rene LaVice feat David Boomah 'Lights Out (Revamped)'

Canadian partywanger LaVice is re-swizzling the best bangers from ‘Play With Fire’, and first up is this souped-up and growlier version of ‘Lights Out’. The tirelessly busy David Boomah is still front and centre, dovetailing between ragga hypings and dancehall syrup. Beneath a frantic dancefloor roll-out of squelches and skips, its contorted bassline hook honks infectiously away at breakneck pace. Unstoppable dancefloor material coming to a boat party near you.

7/10

Dub One 'Babylon System' (Foundation X Black)

Skitty’s Foundation X project relaunched in 2015, and its Black Label editions are pure vinyl-toting magic. Dub One bludgeons and mesmerises in equal measure, and his intense old-skool Amen workout is a thing of geometric beauty. Sirens wail and rasta intonations hum at the contours, while a Rubik’s Cube of breakbeat fury hammers away with countless infectious rhythmic switches. Check Nolige’s heavyweight stepper ‘Sekkle VIP’ on the other side for more vintage breakbeat wizardry.

8/10

The Prototypes 'Pale Blue Dot (Calyx & Teebee remix)' (Viper)

Could this be the last hurrah for the Protos on Viper before they relaunch on their own label? Either way, Viper is making hay: a deluxe seven-track remix pack of the massive ‘City Of Gold’ LP is fronted by this monster groove, from current hot tickets Calyx & Teebee. Spine-shivering trance synth stabs herald a muscular, more boisterous take on the Protos’ loping big-room anthem from 2015. The snares and bass are roughed up, bulletting along in trademark Ram style, and it’s arguably a superior dancefloor weapon to the original. Still right in the eye of the storm of their own recent ‘1X1’ LP, C&T are firing on multiple fronts.

8/10

David Boomah feat Rowpieces 'Wish Upon a Star (Battery remix)' (Forward Ever Recordings)

“I don’t need a shooting star,” trills David Boomah on the original mix of this bumper-remix package single. But what he does need, it seems, is a brutal dismemberment of the track via Metalheadz hypesters Battery. Viciously taut slabs of concrete bass thunder into each other, wrapped tight around threshing snares and smeared in scissoring synth trails, with the tech-stepping maelstrom occasionally relenting for long enough for Boomah’s angelic tones to glide back in. It shouldn’t work, but it does – because both artists can do no wrong right now. Check N-Type getting in on the action, too, with a garage remix.

8/10

Need For Mirrors 'Son Of Sorrow' (Liquid V)

Bossman Bryan Gee returns to mix and revive Liquid V’s once grand ‘Club Sessions’ series – and while this lead track from the sampler might have the least liquidy title ever, it’s one of the most interesting tracks out this month. Tech-tough snares slam down in a rolling intro that’s typical darkside NFM, and only when a clever curveball of warm reverbed Rhodes and soul-vocal stabs suddenly crunch into the mix does it all make sense.

7/10

FD feat. Roisin Brophy 'Heart Of Gold' (Spearhead)

Hype-magnet Freddy Dixon can draw deep but also hit the shimmering heights, too. Wreathed in bright, dewy summer vibes, this standout from his pristine four-track EP ‘Still The Same’ delivers the kind of songcraft quality Etherwood has made us all come to expect, but with a more textured, underground feel. Exquisite folky vocal yearnings arrow above a peppy liquid break, while oodles of glinting strings and reverbed atmospheres wax and wane. Sumptuous.

8/10

Icicle 'Differentia EP' (Shogun Audio)

According to Jedi Icicle (pictured above), looking for “identity” within the tech-step sound was the primary aim for this EP full of pleasant curveballs. Lead track ‘The Nothing’, a collaboration with Tasha Baxter, boasts some unapologetically emo vocals soaring to sorrowful heights before a great chugging thresher of a tech break sluices all traces away. But it’s title track ‘Differentia’ that pushes the boat out: far wonkier than we’re used to, this chopped-up staccato skeleton of a robostepper sounds like it should be a Rockwell experiment, and with each listen a fresh sonic strand bubbles to the surface. Pockmarked with gaps and absences, the patchwork of gratings and Radiohead-esque snare shuffles schlock along beneath bleepy wibblings and hoarse, horror-tinged whisperings. It’s relentlessly inventive.

8/10

SR 'Forgotten Era EP' (36 Hertz)

While Eveson rightly takes the crown for creating the most exquisite old-skool throwbacks, Mike Vapour’s trusty 36 Hertz knows how to throw down a head-turning salute too. A simply excellent EP of lush, updated hardcore and early jungle signatures, lead track ‘MC DJ’ can’t fail to get you moving, its gunning warehouse-style sub bass and loping old-skool tempo housing a trove of vintage vocal hiccups and humble synth parps. Less crackly and textured than some we’ve heard, but unbridled fun from start to finish.

7/10