Artiste: Commix
Album: FabricLive 44
Spotlight Track: Life We Live
Label: Soul:r
As a self-proclaimed drum and bass expert, I was terribly disappointed when the music policy of the scene started to shift towards shit. Round ‘04 – ‘05, with the speed-induced clubs of UK where the young kids congregate and dance ALL night, drum n bass too got faster, cheesier and a lot more commercial to cater to these bunch of iPod generation punters. I’m not that old but I really can’t see myself jumping like a monkey the whole night to wobble basslines at +8. It’s insane! That’s the scene, but let’s talk about the music, where it got real bad was when different camps would push their own sound proudly, like wobbly jumps ups to badly remixes of pop tunes to your ever popular ragga influenced tacky jungle, but sad to say, because drum n bass is relatively new, a lot of the tracks released post 2000 were pretty much hit and miss. I saved my money from investing in crap and stayed out of the scene completely.
Rewind selectah to ‘96-’97, back to the era of the mighty Metalheadz, 31Records, Prototype. The days of the pioneers, Doc Scott, Goldie, Fabio, Grooverider, J Majik, Dillinja, Jonny L, Photek, Roni Size, Ed Rush & Optical and so on… this was the pinnacle of the drum n bass sound. Personally, it doesn’t get any better than this, not that I’m being negative to progress, but sometimes progress and evolution is a tricky thing. Like Darwin said, only the strong will survive. I mean, how do you outdo tracks like Carlito’s Heaven, Doc Scott’s Swarm, Dilinja’s Promise, J Majik’s Your Sound, Photek’s Into The 90’s, Digital’s Space Funk…etc HOW?! Just pick up Promised Land V2 Compilation, mixed by Fabio featuring Cleveland Watkiss, pure class. Back then, the beats-per-minute, were slower, each break hits you like a ton of bricks, and the “drop” would kick you in the nuts.
Now, fast forward to ‘08-’09, a dedicated few in the scene, much of whom feels the way I do, are starting a new shift. The gap is widening and inevitably, this is the year of the divide. Let me honour a few of our current day heroes: Commix, Kemo & Lynx, Instramental, D-Bridge, Kiat and some old soldiers backing up with serious firepower: Calibre, Digital, Goldie… etc. The latest I heard was a mix by Commix for FabricLive 44, and I must say, the sounds of the hey-day is coming back, even bigger than before! For these selected few, they have pushed the old sound with today’s technology, but most importantly, they have kept the essence of the sound alive: DRUMS and BASS, we don’t need electric guitars or weird sounding sirens.
I’ve selected Commix’s “Life We Live” because it takes me back to the Promised Land V2, I can’t wait to see what more this year has to offer.
Tangkap This!!!
-Kenny
