Count To Ten: Cross-genre drum & bass remixes – part 3 (2000-09)

“Love and other tragedies are recurring themes in the series. Whoever thought that d&b is cold, emotionless and monotonous music, clearly haven’t been paying attention…” I realize that the series read like another generic countdown list, however there are deeper connotations to me. It’s a retrospective musical diary; a timeline that reflects and documents what

Count To Ten: Drum & Bass Illustrations and Record Artwork (part 2)

What the sleeve notes never tell you It’s been 16 months since the original post , which was meant to be a one-off feature; however I always felt that it’s been somehow incomplete. The constructive feedback I received, occasionally bordering on debate over a matter de facto subjective, convinced me to revisit the topic; paraphrasing

Count To Ten: Cross-genre drum & bass remixes – part 2 (1997-99)

The second part of the blog’s mini-series covers the period 1997-99. What may have started timidly for artistic purposes or exclusive dj promotional use, by 1997 it became almost de rigueur for record labels to commission drum & bass versions for selected singles and various remix compilations. The niche underground genre infiltrated the mainstream and

Count To Ten: Cross-genre drum & bass remixes – part 1 (1995-96)

This is the first part of a mini-series focusing on cross-genre drum & bass remixes; from subtle re-interpretations to complete re-constructions. The burgeoning d&b popularity in the mid-90s attracted media attention and interest from independent, as well as major record labels, which commissioned d&b remixes for their artists across the music spectrum; from post-punk and

Count To Ten: Drum & Bass Illustrations and Record Sleeves

“… drawing a fine line between the sublime and the ordinary, the initial presentation criteria have been the aesthetic quality of the imagery, the nature of its production, the relationship to the music on the record and obviously my personal attachment …” Something completely different for the last post of 2016; instead of the music

Count To Ten: Intrigue Music

“Intrigue came about from a desire to put on liquid funk nights in Bristol and showcase our sound. After a few years it developed into a record label, which was something I’d wanted to do since getting into production back in 2000.” – Ben Payne The fifteenth installment of the blog’s “Count To Ten” series

Count To Ten: Timeless Recordings (’92 – ’99)

“… from a musical point of view, I always intended to release stuff that would hopefully stand the test of time, hence the label name. Having said that, I never would have thought that people would still be listening to some of it 20+ years later! It’s proper mad, but really cool, it’s made it

Count To Ten: Ed Rush

The twelfth installment of the blog’s Count To Ten series is dedicated to a leading figure in the drum and bass proceedings; a prolific artist, a veteran dj with bookings worldwide, a label owner and the undisputed leader of the wave of noir that has swept the scene in the second half of the 90s,

Count To Ten: Nymfo

A prolific drum and bass artist and a dexterous dj, with bookings all around the globe, Nymfo is the recording alias of Bardo Camp. Hailing from Netherlands and currently based in Amsterdam, Nymfo has been creating serious waves in the international drum and bass scene, since his inaugural release in 2007. Fast forward to 2013,

Count To Ten: Secret Operations

Secret Operations is an eclectic record label launched in 1999 by the prolific Swedish drum and bass artist Sebastian Ahrenberg, widely known to the electronic music circles as Seba, but it was not until 2004 that the label picked up pace with a consistent release schedule. The label was named after the homonymous club nights