With the steady rise of soulful drum & bass labels like Defunked, Hospital and Liquid V, the dark and dominating sounds of mid-to-late-’90s techstep may soon be a vague memory. But Outbreak’s first mix CD, Biological Warfare, reminds us of all the angst and power that the harder spectrum has to offer. Standouts tracks derive from newcomers Resonant Evil (who also mix the CD), as well as established clientele like Dylan, Loxy, Ink, Tech Itch and Cause 4 Concern. You’ve been warned.
Various Artists The Outernational Sound: Thievery Coporation
Thievery Corporation is slicker than KY jelly, and it shows not only in their sultry production, but also in their ultra chic DJ sets. The Outernational Sound is yet another showcase of the D.C. duo’s diverse but cohesive musical palette. Sure, you’ll find signature lounge-infused beatscapes by them and labelmates Thunderball and Karminsky Experience. However, they also gyrate waists with funk-driven selections from Breakestra and Beatfanatic, while continuing to preach worldly influences (Indian Vibes’ “Mathar”) and dub it out with Delroy Wilson.
Perfect Combination What Will it Take?
Mancunian Perfect Combination supplies much-needed catchy hooks to drum & bass on “What Will It Take?,” pairing creepy chords and chunky beats with full-on female vocals and beautiful horns to create an enticing cut. “The Drop” gets darker with a buzzing bassline and rather generic syncopated cowbells.
Various Artists Electric Gypsyland
Until this compilation, traditional gypsy music remained uncolonized by modern dance music. The Balkan music of groups like Taraf de Haidouks and Kocani Orkestar, brimming with polyrhythms and bursting with banjos, horns, and exuberant vocals, provides fantastic material for Six Degrees’ crew of remixers. Senor Coconut turns “Usti, Usti Baba” into a shuffletech ska horn throwdown, while Bigga Bush takes “L’Orient est Roots” into deep dub terrain. This is the kind of music one wants from global dance/ethnic crossovers: joyfully funky, immediately recognizable, and yet unique in its original gypsy flavor.
Various Artists French Vanilla/Red Alert!
Greensleeves’ streak of fantastically creative rhythm albums continues with French Vanilla and Red Alert!. South Rakkas Crew’s Red Alert! rhythm features a spring-loaded bounce, rave whistles and ascending synthesizer lines stolen straight from Orbital’s laboratory. T.O.K. adds whirligig organs to create anthemic sing-a-along “Let it Shine,” while Predator turns the rhythm darker with the computerized menace of “Mad Sick.” French Vanilla is just as bright and upbeat, with acoustic guitars winding around backward drums and flutes. Wayne Marshall and Bling Dawg turn the rhythm into a double-time rhyme race, while Elephant Man and Assassin both opt for uncut hype.
M83 Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghost
Sometimes you play music. Other times music plays you. French duo M83 picks up where Air left off, and creates something that could be called electrogaze. Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts delivers the melancholy promised by the title, with tidal sweeps of synthesizer and wordless sighs tumbling throughout, but the mysterious uplift of bands like Spiritualized is at play here too. Choruses of organs, digital murmurs, burbling drum machines and more combine to create a sonic vortex that is all but impossible not to fall into. Simultaneously forbidding and inviting, M83 delivers the comfort of the familiar along with the shock of the new.
The Rip Off Artist New Clear Days
Does the thought of atoms being smashed strike fear into your heart? The Rip Off Artist is happy to help. New Clear Days serves as a primer on the joys and dangers of nuclear power. Its first third edits sounds into glittering, jagged pieces that almost (but not quite) fit back together, creating herky-jerky tunes like “Too Cheap to Meter” that vibrate like excited electrons. A middle section shifts into irradiated ambiance, unsettled by the clicks of a lonely Geiger counter. You’ll sleep better after the third section, where tracks like “Duck and Cover” recover a loony humor among the radioactivity.
Cari Lekebusch Tyrant
More popular than a Swedish meatball, this top affiliate unleashes an al dente cut from his recently founded new-wave techno imprint. FM synth madness visits us once again, this time behind the reins of a deep yet sultry club-styled drum track. Sweeping noise washes add a proper quantity of excitement to the reclusive breakdown.
Shawn Rudiman Odds Against Us
Salvation for the techno soul arrives via Pittsburgh-native Rudiman’s succulent strings. Driving chords rest upon shimmering pads on this percussive monster, complemented by an industrial-minded electro-tech edge. Dark, funky and energetic, this peak-aimed dancefloor jam thrives upon wistful tension.
Various Artists Baadasss!: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Badass, but not quite the dramatically elongated BAADASSS!, director Mario Van Peeble’s satisfying soundtrack plays like a greatest hits album-an ode to all things black and feisty. MVP has assembled classic fight songs like Miriam Makeba’s “Lamumba” and his father’s storied title-track “Sweetback’s Theme,” to which BAADASSS! pays homage. But we’ve all heard that stuff before in college. It’s the modern tracks that give this soundtrack its legs: “Cou Cou,” a new and fantastically cool cut from Zap Mama, Antibalas (this generation’s Fela Kuti), and Pete Rock with Pharoahe Monch all stick it to the man real nice.
