A pacey, bleepy and blippy workout that evolves with patience and subtlety, which is sadly often overlooked in favour of its rowdy flipside, “Move V.I.P”.ĥ - Konflict - 'Celestial' IL: Ryme Tyme made a good few acid inspired tunes - but this has to be most accomplished of them all. This track sees him weave a particularly melancholic tapestry by utilising this space - there’s this almost haunting expectation as to when you’re next going to hear the vocal.Ĥ - Ryme Tyme - 'Frogger' IL: A master of the considered and the pensive Calibre teaches us time and time again about using samples in such a way that that they leave just the right space for one another. D has two tracks in this top ten because his production from this era essentially serves as our Holy Grail for the liquid/tech hybrid. IL: The funkiest of light & skippy breaks underpinned by painfully infectious and moody basslines, all done with an inimitable deftness of touch. This was certainly done right.Ģ - dBridge - 'Something to Hide' When done right, you get a warmth and richness to a track that evokes all the sonic virtues of d&b’s dub-reggae roots. Just on a purely geeky level blending fluid, almost muddy sounding instruments with the quantity of bass expected from a d&b tune is an art form. There’s still a lot of Bad Company in here, but tinged with a more melodic imperative, and more humble instrumentation. Ivy Lab: At the time of release this was totally pioneering music. THAT WAS THEN.ġ - dBridge - 'Pipe Dreams'.
We caught up with them to dig through their crates and hard drives to find out what tracks have influenced their sound the most, and what tracks they're liking at the moment.
The ridiculously talented production trio comprising of Sabre, Stray and Halogenix, has given birth to a number of stunning releases so far including ‘Oblique’ which dropped in early 2012, and more recently their Missing Persons EP. If you’ve been following drum & bass over the past few years you’ll be fully aware of the presence of Ivy Lab by now.