The work to release ratio in the drum & bass scene is high. This is fortunate and unfortunate. On one hand paradoxes arise: certain tracks aren't necessarily "work" - rather, tainted plagairism of older craftsmanship, separating old timers from teeny boppers in a 30 second Redeye clip. Provide a hook, slap on a beat with a stone-grained structure, and you have stasis, sent to ever-increasing numbers of DJs, causing saturation, and pedalled out by labels who think (or don't) that their showcasing warrants money.
Counterintuitively, resampling of roots music can be twisted, morphed and positively reshaped into block-rocking, tasteful (or would that be "disgusting" in d&b terms?) and innovative forms that advance the sphere, consciously - or where the best jungle was subjectively constructed - unselfconciously. T-Power thrived due to meticulous intellect, Source Direct taught us true darkness with cheese shaven off, and the cornucopian brightness of the Blue Note days facillitated x to co-exist with y.
I sympathize with the desire to lift the image of a musical wasteland out of the mess of drum & bass' past, in the same way that I understand people for whom the mid 90s is the pinnacle of information anxiety. Overloads of data and memory failures make finding oneself in the labyrinth (of the computer or elsewhere) a difficult task. Dakosa's story isn't a marriage of hardships. Forming in Maidstone, UK, Dave (Dready) Marsh, Mike (Kemikal) Craske & Leo (Soulific) Tomlinson traversed the House, university and clubnight scenes through mutual friendships, dating as far back as eleven years prior to their production synergy in early 2009.
"Hideout", their debut EP, is now released on .shadybrain. A combination of gyrating synths, sweeping atmospheres, handclaps and science fiction paraphernalia, there's an understated elegance where muscle joins melody, minus pretentious drops, noodling deposits or cluttered overusage. Technoid drum & bass can be seductive while not jumping up and down like a hyperactive toddler, and shows glimmering promise for Kent's hopfuls.
Find the interview and exclusive mix here
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