Liner Notes on 2022 – Part II (Impressions of Absence)

This is the second part of the extended ‘Liner Notes on 2022’ feature exploring a wide array of styles, concepts, themes and motifs; from contemporary classical, ambient and music for films, to shoegaze electronica, techno, deep house and even progressive rock vignettes. The piano takes centre stage and bar a few exceptions, this is mainly

Liner Notes on 2022 – Part I (Borrowed Nostalgia)

It’s that time of the year again for my traditional end-of-year blog lists nobody has asked for. As we have returned to some kind of normality, another year has been graced with a plethora of fantastic records; precious moments where the underground and the niche popped their camo clad head through the mire of derivative

Liner Notes on 2021 – Part III (Anachronism – The Jungle/D&B Edition)

“Introducing intentional anachronisms as a device to help a contemporary audience to engage more readily with a period in the past and implementing modern production techniques to emulate the mystique and breakbeat science of a specific era is a tricky affair that occasionally might lead to the rabbit-hole of repetition and mediocrity”. The previous part

Sing me a line from your favourite song

“Ever get that feeling, when you experience some sort of musical epiphany and strive to memorize the melody and the lyrics of a song you have just listened to, before they‘re lost into the next morning’s haze?” This month is my blog’s 8th year anniversary and to be honest I’ve never expected to make it

Liner notes on an exceptional musical year

“Sacrificing time, energy and money to keep an independent record label afloat in a niche and saturated market is a reality we often ignore or overlook, especially when it comes to investing on the vinyl format. So, I take the opportunity to thank all artists and record labels for gracing this year with their beautiful

On The Outside, Looking In Vol. 1: Sicknote x Soul Beat Runner

Most of the blog’s features are thematically based on informal conversations with my guests. Although I often include verbatim excerpts, it’s been a long time since I posted an actual interview. This is the first installment of a new category introduced to replace one of the blog’s oldest series “Jump The Q”, which has unceremoniously

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

Tracks I Wish I’d Written (issue #10): Ulrich Schnauss & ASC – 77

From Kiel & Berlin to London & San Diego, cool has been re-imagined “… ‘77’ seems a piece that has a rather elegant flow, something I always appreciated about d&b very much. Although this might not be a d&b release from a ‘genre-stalinist’ perspective, I’d still argue that it at least attempts to relate to

Tracks I Wish I’d Written (issue #8): Instra:mental – Photograph

“… the track had a very heavy nostalgic feeling to it, like you were looking at an old photo album with the faded film of childhood memories, simpler times. We are both massive fans of video and with ‘Photograph’ it’s like we envisioned it to be scene of a film …” – Damon Kirkham reflects

A Thousand Beautiful Things: Inside the Blu Mar Ten albums

“Musically it’s the same button we’ve been pressing since day one, trying to find that particular and delicate place between sadness and hope. We rarely find it, exactly, but we come close sometimes. It’s like what they say about jazz players, always trying to find the ‘lost chord’ …”  – Interview for UKF, November 2016.