Monday, 22 April 2013

Top Drawer Digital - Future Jungle Expeditions Volume 3 with Exclusive artist interviews, free mix and a 2 free tracks

Top Drawer Digital : Future Jungle Expeditions Volume 3



To celebrate the full release of their latest album The Future Jungle Blog have got an exclusive Future Jungle Expeditions mix for you to download , free tracks ,a full review and Interviews with some of the artists involved .


Review
This, the 3rd instalment of Top Drawer Digital's compilation series 'Future Jungle Expeditions' showcase the versatility of 140-150bpm Future Jungle, continuing in the spirit of its 90's precursor, an array of styles are here for your listening pleasure.

We start thing's off with Lucas' remix of E Lab Rat-Rat Hustle which has strong techno and hip hop leanings as per Lucas' inimitable style, a great half tempo drop with beat boxing samples leads into this continually building atmospheric roller.

Next up is a TDD favourite, Netherlands original Junglist, Bojcot Selectah with ' Winston Tribute ', neatly chopped up breaks with a heavy, hypnotic bassline and intricate pads. A track that will apeal to dubstep and breaks fans alike.

Schoco's 'Sunrise' is ethereal trance like future jungle that will send shivers down your spine and give you goosebumps, a slow burning, driving tune that builds up to an immense finale

RadioKillaZ 'Leatherface' takes a few samples from a well-known horror cult classic and marries it to a bassline reminiscent of seminal DnB anthem 'The Nine' for a dancefloor smasher par excellence, good tongue in cheek fun never sounded so good.

The Rumblist ' Forever Sleep ' is a musical masterpiece, intricate tearout breaks with so many subtle elements that make it a brilliant tune, constant key changes throughout keep this fresh and the basslines are huge, watch your bassbins!!

Perennial favourite of all discerning DJs and fans of future jungle alike, Electrux offers up ' Tau Ceti ', a wonderful combo of bleepy pads and a grimey bassline with skippy amen breaks, more of his consistent greatness.

Lucas & Strange Rollers' '100% Pure(Digitally Mashed)' kicks off with a classic speaker rumbling reese bassline before a Irvine Welsh sample kicks in extolling the virtues of the raver's choice of mood enhancement, this track is full of vibes and extremely infectious, it seems that as the track title suggests, tireless veteran DJ of the scene, Digitally Mashed has had a hand in this great tune!!!

Ben Venom makes a welcome TDD return with 'Destroyer', a punchy hardcore breaks/future jungle slammer with gnarly bass and electro/tearout influenced pads, this is seriously heavy!!!!

Eddie Voyager's 'Let It Roll' is perhaps the raviest tune on the album, with hip hop vox and a 90's rave style melody running throughout over some super tight and funky drum programing, if this doesn't get you moving, check your pulse!!!

Sanxion's 'Ain't Nothing' takes modern bass music and puts it through a 140 breaks filter with a huge uplifting drop 40 seconds in before introducing some sweet pianos just before the 2 minute mark, what happens next is signature Sanxion twisted bassline madness that is simply irresistible

Final Conflict's 'We R Who We R' takes us back to the mid 00's with a modern ravey take on the Nu Skool breaks sound, lovely organ pads and ragga vocals on this bad boy!!!

Vinyl Junkie concludes proceedings with 'SubTropical' which certainly has subs and is indeed very tropical!!!! again, there's just so much going on here and it sounds stunning, trippy bleepy pads, tropical jungle samples, bongos, eerie building melodies and a beastly bassline make for a banger of a tune to put the icing on the cake for Future Jungle Expeditions, an album equally suited as a selection for the clubs and raves as much as a great home listening compilation or indeed, one for your car stereo. Whatever your pleasure, if you've even heard one or two future jungle tracks and you are eager to find out more, make this your first point of call.

Grab a free remix of Schoco : Sunrise below

Schoco : Sunrise (Lucas' Final Sunset Remix)


Schoco- Sunrise (Lucas' Final Sunset Remix ) by Top Drawer Digital

Lucas Interview

Since the early days of TDD up to now, what would you say have been the focal points of the label growing and the sound of future jungle in general?
I think the progression of Top Drawer Digital so far has been mainly down to the fact that me and Digitally Mashed make a great team.
We do things our own way, not following the pack or worrying about conforming to what’s expected. We just want to write/play/release forward thinking bass music within the 140-150 Bpm area unconstricted by rules. As far as Future Jungle goes, yes I’m one of the people who have pushed to make the tag stick which it seems to have but it means different things to different people which on a positive note should keep it diverse.
I’m not a Jungle purist myself and am happy with how things are progressing. It’s a bastardised genre in my opinion with its roots firmly set in the Old Skool but with no real allegiances to any particular part of it , 140-150 Bpm Bass and Break Driven music for the current producers to do something new with.
Personally   I’m not fussed if the term stays , we will just keep progressing and let people call it what they like.

When putting together this new compilation, the 3rd in a highly popular series, was there a certain criteria you looked for?
I do love putting these albums together , My main aim is to get a good cross section of all the styles I think sit under the Future Jungle Umbrella within the Top Drawer Digital sound then work them into a track list so that the album flows as a complete listen rather than just a collection of tunes.
I’m really happy with how Volume 3 has turned out.

 One of the tracks on the album by Strange Rollers and yourself is entitled '100 Pure (Digitally Mashed)', listening to it makes me think there must be an interesting anecdote about how this came together?
I’d been planning a trip to the Strange Rollers Studio for a while we’ve been involved in many projects together but never actually got together in the studio to do something. It’s the first time I’ve ever directly produced a track with anyone , generally I find the production process a very personal thing. When we eventually locked down the date it turned out that DM was DJing just down the road the night before so joined up with us for the day.
It was great to catch up properly and the 100% Pure track came out of it too. DM definitely had some input on it so we wanted to give him a mention in the title in someway.

Not wanting to put you on the spot but of the more under the radar producers in this scene, who do you see as potentially having a big impact in the near future?
I’m good at evading these sort of questions as a rule due to the pure mass of new talent coming through all the time but if I have to name one person I see potential in it would be Gav Ley , He has the ability to become huge in my opinion in whatever style he chooses.
His productions are innovative, clean and powerful and he is my big tip for the coming year.

And also, EDM is evolving faster than ever right now, is it still possible to stick to your guns with a sound or do you see the current 140-150bpm jungle sound also inevitably evolving?
EDM has always evolved at speed, it’s the nature of the beast , Do I see the current scene evolving ? it fucking better had ;) Evolve or Die I say!
I don’t feel the sudden mass worldwide interest in commercial EDM will really effect the likes of us , were about as underground as it comes but the spread of The Future Jungle sound internationally does bear well ,fingers crossed hey !
DM’s doing a tour of the USA , has had mix’s played on FM station C89.5 in the USA and has a forthcoming mix airing on Kiss FM Australia so things are looking good.

Lastly, what direction would you like TDD to go in the future?
Top Drawer Digital will just go with the flow, we’re on a journey that we have no idea where it’s going and are quite happy to just enjoy the ride and see what happens.

Here's a full free mix from the host and DJ of The Top Drawer Digital Show, each Tuesday 7-9pm on http://nsbradio.co.uk showcasing tracks from the full Future Jungle Expeditions Series

Digitally Mashed Presents Future Jungle Expeditions Volumes 1-3 by Top Drawer Digital
Final Conflict Interview

 You've been involved in the breaks scene since 2003, tell us a little bit about that journey...
Hailing from the Manchester area I was raised on good music, I originally started out playing Trance but I discovered Nu-Skool breaks through the seminal night 'Tangled' and never looked back. I promoted for a night called 'Military Breaks' and played a host of venues including 'The Pheonix', 'Zumbar' and 'North'. With a move to Leeds in 2004 I was involved with events at 'Stinkeys Peephouse', 'The Fav' and 'Oceans Eleven'. I then took a bit of a hiatus to pursue other business ideas but with a move to London in 2008 I was drawn back to the scene (should never have stayed away)
Playing at various venues across the capital I secured my first residency playing hip hop, breakbeat, garage and dnb, a relatively commercial venue but this, combined with a move into production led to playing regularly at Londons leading bass music night 'Supatronix' which led to playing various events with the likes of Rennie Pilgrem, Elite Force, The Freestylers, Jay Cunning, Pyramid, Jurassik...and even a set at Stanton Sessions with The Stanton Warriors earlier this year.

Can you share a few thoughts on the current future jungle sound?
I love it! I've always been a fan of clever percussion, deep basslines and intelligent riddims and this genre has it all. I love the diversity you get with Future Jungle, there is something for everybody in there and means you can take the crowd on a journey through the various guises from mellow reggae vibes to full on tear-out assaults.

You also run the Ruffneck nights which heavily promote the 140 sound, what can we expect at a typical event?
Everything from the Future Jungle!, with a bit of Old Skool thrown in for good measure. It was set up with 'Rennie Pilgrem', who has always been ahead of the game with all things breakbeat, 'Jay Cunning' of Sub Slayers who are in my eyes the leading bass music label at the moment and are banging out some top class 140 non stop and Supatronix boss Jurassik who is one of Londons biggest breakbeat promoters.
The whole ethos is just to have a good party, to push the Future Jungle vibe and to showcase up and coming talent in the genre and basically just go nuts for a few hours, we've created quite a buzz over the past year or so and have been able to attract the likes of The Freestylers, Pyramid and Schema to headline and have King Yoof coming up on May the 18th.

Whats the reaction been to 140 Jungle at your events?
Its a great vibe, with its infectious rhythms and deep basslines it always makes the crowd bounce and it fits with so many genres (Breakbeat, Dubstep) but has that fresh forward thinking sound and variation, we've been very lucky in one sense that the Ruffneck events have always been packed which shows that this is a genre that's going places. Even at the more commercial venues i play at i drop some Future Jungle and the place goes nuts.

Who inspired you to get involved in breaks and who inspires you today?
This is a difficult one to answer, I'm a massive Hybrid fan, back in the day their DJ sets were more Nu-Skool breaks than the orchestral immense soundscapes they do today, also I'd have to say The Stanton Warriors and The Plump DJs brought me a lot closer to breakbeat. Nowadays I'd say im inspired by the likes of Pyramid with there full on tear-outs, 'Toronto Is Broken' (he's making big waves at just 20 years old) and Resin, love his Old Skool vibe. But I'm still inspired by the likes of The Prodigy, The Freestylers and Hybrid and think this comes out in my productions.

Tell us your favourite tune on Future Jungle Expeditions 3
The whole album is a great representation of all things Future Jungle, they all have their place but if I was to pick one It has to be Schoco - Sunrise. I love music that involves you and takes you on a journey and this does just that, i think it sums up the album Future Jungle Expeditions.

Finally, whats coming up production and DJ'ing wise from yourself and where can we hear more of your sounds?
Production wise expect some more high octane Nu-Jungle bangers, there's a few in the pipeline im really excited about people hearing, more to come on Top Draw Digital and Bad Habit Musik and even working with a singer at the moment to explore the more vocal side so watch this space.
Dj wise there are many more Ruffnecks planned for the rest of the year, more Supatronix events but what i'm most excited about is the Bad Habit USA Tour where i'll be playing 'I Love LA' at The Airliner in Los Angeles on the 21st April, 'Concrete Jungle' in Las Vegas on the 23rd and 'The Kava Lounge' in San Diago on the 29th with a few radio appearances along the way on KPFK RADIO Fm and deeprootedradio.com. Future Jungle Worldwide!


Schoco Interview


Hi Dan, tell us a little about yourself for the uninitiated

Hi, I'm a producer from Fellbach near Stuttgart, South Germany. I mainly produce future jungle at the moment, but also other styles of breakbeat music and sometimes Techno.
My tunes and remixes have been released on Quantum Progression Audio, Boomsha Recordings, Top Drawer Digital, Digital Acetate, Brainfunktrax and Junglist Manifesto.
And there will shortly be more releases from me on Boomsha Recordings and Digital Acetate, and some others are in the pipeline…

As a producer, you have a very unique take on the future jungle sound, very minimal and euphoric, often you produce between 130-150bpm and many of your tunes are quite techno influenced, when making tunes, what do you aim to convey to the listener?

That’s very simple: music creates emotions, positive or negative. If I can touch the listener with my sound and my music creates positive emotions, I’m happy!
Music has always been very important to me, and I always wanted to create music on my own. I personally hear a wide range of different music. And as a producer you are always influenced by your personal taste, but that is often a more subconscious effect in my opinion. When I start producing I often have an idea what kind of tune I want to do, but the result is almost always very different to my plans. Often it’s more like what the sounds make with me, not what I make with the sounds... and I always keep my productions very open till the end. Sometimes I change nearly everything on an almost finished tune, when I’m not 100% happy with it. Another important thing in my productions is that I always try to give every single sound enough room to breathe, that’s why they often sound more minimalistic.

As you're appearing for the 2nd time on TDD for Future Jungle Expeditions 3, whats your favourite track on the album?

The whole Album is superb! But I Think I have to choose 2 tracks that stand out a bit in my opinion:
The first is RadioKillaz’ Leatherface. It totally sounds like slow-downed version of Alien Girl from Ed Rush, Optical & Fierce, and I like that, big tune!
And Forever Sleep from The Rumblist. This is such a huge sounding and euphoric tune, perfect for the wee hours!

Lets imagine for a second that I am an alien who's never heard of future jungle, how would you describe it to me?

It’s very difficult and almost impossible to describe future jungle without describing the roots of fj, plus there are so many influences and fj has such a variety of sounds and the boundaries to other genres are fluid… and I’m not a big fan of classifications to be honest. 
But if had to make a definition, I would say it’s a breakbeat based and bass driven sound between 130 and 150 bpm with a lot of drums, main influences are all kind of other breakbeat music, and it’s open for all kind of other influences.
In my opinion, this openness for different influences is very important to develop fj further and to keep it alive! We shouldn’t start one of those ‘true’ or ‘real’ debates again...

Lastly, where can we hear more of your sounds and any last words and shout outs?

Massive shouts and thanx to Dan (Bright Lights), Generic Bass, Kano (Bay B Kane), Chase (Sound Shifter), Daz Breakz, Lucas, Digitally Mashed, Dave (Rich Tones), Ali (Visible Sound), Dave (Breakz), Jules (Time Travel), George (Sir Charge), Ryan (RyKennon), Gav Ley, Ruined Jon, John (Vinyl Junkie), Ritchie (Strange Rollers), Dennean, David (D-audi), Aitch, Laurence (DJ L.A.B.), Simon Harris, Otter and  everyone I forgot in this list, all others involved in the future jungle movement and everyone who listens, plays and supports my sounds! BIG UPZ!!!

If you want to be up to date with my latest tunes, releases, free downloads etc. you should follow me on
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/schoco  or on
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/schocobreaks

To celebrate his inclusion on the album, Dan has granted us a free tune courtesy of QPA, You're gonna love this awesome slice of FJ


Bright Lights - KANUFYEELITTT (Schoco Remix) [QPAFREE001 - Quantum Progression Audio] by Schoco


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