Liner Notes on 2023 – Part I (Something Borrowed, Something New)

It’s that time of the year again for my traditional end-of-year blog lists nobody has asked for. 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 and forgettable music. This annual roundup will be divided again

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

Liner notes on 2020 – Part II

“It was my own countryside and I loved it with an intimate feeling, though all its associations were crude and incoherent. I cannot think of it now without a sense of heartache, as if it contained something which I have never quite been able to discover.” – Wardown Liner Notes With a slight delay, this

Songs for the misfits: Inside Klute’s ‘Whatever It Takes’ LP

‘Whatever It Takes’ is a phrase I’ve been saying to myself over the last few years, when I despair with manipulative behaviour, in the face of what seems to be happening in the current climate of media/consumer culture; the lengths that people will go to, the things that they will do to get attention or

On The Outside, Looking In Vol. 2: Justice x Dissect

“I think things are cyclical and in the advent of digital, people crave the physical” “And I think record collectors will always be buying vinyl and building a collection of good music, then passing on that knowledge to others who might not collect yet, because it’s great and fun and a way of life!” This

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: 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: 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,