Drum & Bass | Jungle 523 Items

Wncl Recordings is back with a series of 2-track 10” vinyl battle weapons for your record box. Cementing his reputation as a modern day legend in the underground scene, LMajor gifts Wncl Recordings with this previously dubplate-only pair of future classics

Sunshine Productions is the old skool alter ego of d'n'b legend A-Sides, also known as part of Citadel of Kaos. This release is brand new, but in the style of the original rave sound from back in the early days, and features three ridiculously good tracks. Each track is as dangerous on the dance floor as you would expect, but because this is a Prime release, they are not only resonant of the birth of rave, but are produced with all the high quality you would expect for a modern release!

Vibes 93 is having a whale of time rinsing out all kinds of upfront drum & bass and jungle, but this takes the fun to a whole new level. The Dutch producer isn't making any attempt to mask the source material on his summer-scouting new release, calling on hip-hop and r&b legends for vocal samples in the midst of straight-up, feel good rollers. Eschewing his rowdier, underground material for something more universal, this is the kind of record which will bring a massive swathe of people together for some proper moments, but more to the point it's done with panache.

DNB Mixes with vocals by 2Pac (Do For Love) and Erykah Badu (Next Lifetime, Searching, Tyrone)

After a devastating opening salvo of 19 modernist rave mutations on a double tape pack for Sneaker Social Club, Minder lands on Hypercolour with another 19 cybernetic fever dreams still reeling from the open season NRG of hardcore.

If you need to understand where Minder wants to take you, strap in for the labyrinth narrative of ‘Knotted’, a smudged, 15-minute breakbeat suite barrelling through lurid dystopian street scenes with only a blown-out bass sprite as a guide. Throughout Sanctuary, bass is the constant when all else is chaos. It comes in thick, warped Reese tones on ‘Simulated Hunt’, gets twisted out through angry filters on ‘Popcorn Lover’, comes on wobbly in true 2-step style underneath grimey garage anti-anthem ‘Ard’.

There’s a lot to take in across the spread of Sanctuary. It’s the sound of every rave genre slowly digested over 30-plus years, until the lactic acid metabolises every snare rush, every searing lead line, every chipmunk vocal lick, and everything gets mashed up and spat back out into a gnarly signal chain at the flash point of inspiration. The time taken is key – this is the sound of a life in front of the speaker stack manifesting in something too wild and weird to be derivative. You’ll hear snatches of familiarity thrown into unfamiliar contexts, but for all the detectable lineage, Minder’s sound is unsettling in its originality.

Dislodged ragga jungle techno, muffled hardcore nightmares, hard n’ haggard acid trance, junked up jump up – you could write an essay on the sounds you can spot and the way they’ve been twisted. Aside from the omnipresent low-end, it’s the unflinching honesty of Korron’s repeat appearances on the mic throughout which bring Minder’s disturbing patchwork into focus. For all the futurism attached to these sounds, it’s also caked in a very human filth which can only come from this earth. The roots run deep, and the fruit is rotten, and isn’t that how it should be?

After causing appalling destruction and devastation with the first in the "Unrest Hazard" series, Erupt has the nerve to not apologise to you, just do it all over again. Once again, this special series showcases four or five artists on one record, each bringing a different flavour of their own to the wide world of hardcore, jungle, and drum n bass.

Wild Swan, previously known as Ugly Duckling, returns after being there all the way back when the label spread its wings in 2020. On "*int", the result is a frenzied collab with Mr Dan Master, most recently known for making noise with his "System of Systems" album as Haberdashers' Adams. Kool FM regulars Subbreak, D-Region and Code make an appearance, meanwhile, with a pounding remix of "Industry Plant".

DJ Terrace and Jon Tetly, connoisseurs of hardcore jungle with a back-catalogue of Kniteforce, 4 The Core and Codename: RCRDS releases between them, bring "Doing Battle" and "I Get Stu Pid" to the table.

Finally, Schoco appears on Erupt once again. Known for his much-loved remix of "Zero Time", his latest is the frenetic "Love Is The Answer", previously championed by Dead Man's Chest on SWU.FM, and now FINALLY getting the appearance on wax it deserves!

If you survive the eruption, you've got to get down to Amsterdam and grab yourself a copy. Don't forget that "Doing Battle" is a bonus track EXCLUSIVE to this vinyl version of the release.

MELMAK's new 12" is entitled All Stars: The Rave Years which gives you an idea of what to expect. These are high-tempo, dense and rave ready sounds from the drum & bass vanguard. There is plenty of space out cosmic energy to the exploratory leads of X Termal's 'Tragnal Kozze' then 'What If' (The Doulo Klan edit) is a tightly coiled stepper. Bugger lays down a hyper speed rhythm with drilling bass and slapping hits on 'No Silence Now' and Umbra's 'The Big Dumb' is a real slow-motion churner with textural synths and alien sound designs. All four are ready to get the party going in different ways.