Fluidity: You Know / Pulsar
Plasma

Promenade: Ballads LP
BNC express

VA: None of the Above
none60

Drum'n'bass comes in all shapes and sizes, as shown by these recent releases, one a single, the other a compilation, and the third a full-length artist album. Let's begin with the single, a classic, high-intensity sampler heavy on atmosphere and pulse.

Having seen his recent Metalheadz EP Deeper Vibe meet with critical acclaim, Bristol-based DJ/producer Fluidity (Henry Munton) now makes his debut on Plasma with a strong two-tracker, the release part of an intended batch of singles on Critical, Integral, and others. A five-minute rough-rider, “Pulsar” begins atmospherically before the beat kicks in, its high-velocity thrust bolstered by a grinding bass line and a raw, descending figure. A midsong breakdown reinstates the beatless atmospherics of the intro, after which another round of muscular throb takes charge. Its partner, “You Know,” dials down the aggression for a soothing exercise in liquid drum'n'bass, with acoustic piano sprinkles and a male singer's musings spreading across a smooth undercurrent of warm bass and hi-hats. The release is but two songs, yet one comes away impressed by the diversity on display and Fluidity's command.

Yes, it's titled Ballads, but Promenade's debut solo album is only occasionally mellow. The Italian producer not only crafts material, he's also the showrunner of BNCexpress, which he founded in Italy but now manages from Prague. Each of his album's ten liquid cuts impresses as a polished five-minute statement, the power of his crisp, rolling beats offset by sultry textures and a refined sensitivity to sound design. The soulful vocal hook coursing through “You,” for example, naturally grabs the attention, but listen carefully and you'll appreciate how critical the flute-like accent and chiming chords are to the arrangement.

Introduced by silken pads and uplifting chords, the stylish opener “The Way Back Home” establishes a blissful mood from the drop, Promenade using his skills to conjure a serene vibe that'll set no one's nerves on edge. Like the swoon-inducing “Ballad” that caps the set nine songs later, it's sophisticated stuff, worlds apart from the ragged end of the drum'n'bass spectrum. As the album plays on, a formula of sorts comes into focus that Promenade generally adheres to for a given track's construction. With that being so, the ten begin to feel like variations on a theme, though he's smart enough as a producer to ensure elements are included to distinguish one cut from the next. The soft mellotron accents included in “Under the Light” help set it apart, for instance, though it's as memorable for its anthemic, almost jungle-inflected roar and sweeping vocal flourishes, too. Some tracks are a little harder and darker than others (the rather proggy “Downhill,” for example), yet all progress through multiple episodes with breakdowns typically surfacing to briefly arrest the forward charge.

If an artist album's typically homogeneous, the compilation's commonly heterogeneous, the twelve-track collection (thirteen counting a digital bonus) from none60 a case in point. Yet while all of the contributors to None of the Above do differentiate themselves from one another, their tracks share in the aesthetic the label's overseers Silent Dust have established since its inception, namely a daring and rather left-field take on drum'n'bass that's as much about artful abstraction as groove. Many of the names featured on the release will be familiar to none60 followers, with artists such as Dominic Ridgway and Wagz having made recent appearances on the label. Its reach extends far, by the way, as London, UK producers are featured alongside American figures and Hathor hailing from Vilnius, Lithuania.

Londoner Lewis James starts things off with low-slung bass throb in “Response” before edging into IDM territory and then plugging into a grime-laden groove that's as much garage as drum'n'bass. Using ‘amen' material as a springboard, Ridgway powers his punchy roller “You Will Know Our Velocity” with a jittery pulse and spikes it with swirling arcade details. Quentin Hiatus weaves a lengthy spoken word sample about the value of dreams into his trippy shuffler “Hold Fast” (“Hold fast to dreams, for when dreams go life is a barren field frozen with snow”). Pulsating and hypnotic, Jaskin & Uneven's “Change You” is the rare moment None of the Above traffics in jungle, while Wagz's muscular “Hyena” harks back to the glory days of Photek's “Ni Ten Ichi Ryu.”

July 2019