Inka/Melos - Song For You/Jupiter

Right then, sorry it's been a whole week... there WERE reasons but I won't bore you with them. Anyway, now we're back we're also going to have a bit of a change of pace. Cos the whole point of TIWWD was meant to be partly about writing about music other than house, but because there's so much good house about, that hasn't happened as much as I like.

So for the next few days we're gonna concentrate on the dubstep/D&B/future garage/etc side of things. Partly because of what I just said… also because there's a LOT of deep techy house about, and a lot of it IS starting to sound a bit on the samey side... whereas in that whole post-dubstep arena I've been hearing some really interesting, forward-thinking stuff.

That said, you wouldn't really call this latest from probably my fave D&B label to be particularly forward-thinking, to be honest... it's just two slices of rather good liquid funk. I'm liking both cuts: if pushed I might go for Inka's Song For You cos it's slightly more rolling, but then Jupiter by Melos does that thing that seems to be the in thing in liquid circles right now of using old skool jungle beats, and I do like a bit of vintage jungle, so that's cool, too.

Out: Not until next week, actually, but gonna do all the recent/upcoming D&B/dubstep/etc bits in one batch...

About: This is No 14 from Vibration Records, and if I hadn't liked pretty much everything to date, they wouldn't be probably my fave D&B label, would they? Find out more here. Oh yeah, and they're on Soundcloud as well, naturally.

Inside Man - Cellular/A Million Lies

Please bear with me, got a LOT going on right now work-wise... all good stuff but it's a case of paying work has to take preference over what is a labour of love! So blog posts are a bit sporadic, I know. Sorry. Still, there's just time on this somewhat overcast Sunday morning to give a shout to this latest from the ever-excellent Vibration Records.

As I've said on here before, Vibration are one of my favourite D&B labels. Their deep, dreamy take on liquid funk is about a million miles from all that shiny electro-trance-rawk 'stadium D&B' shite that the kiddies love, or indeed from the minimal D&B/future D&B/dubsteppy sound that's in with the hipsters. But I don't care… I like it.

A Million Lies features a treated female vocal over typically rolling liquid beats, while Cellular works a fiercer, steppier rhythm and a lead/bass synth line that actually ISN'T a million miles from a dubstep kinda thang. The former is more 'me' TBH but both are cool… as will you be if you show some love for this resolutely underground little label!

Out: 25 February but it just landed and I thought I'd get a review up quickly or it might not happen!

About: Find the Vibration Records website here, or HEAR THIS (and earlier releases) on Soundcloud.

Various – VR010

Sticking with the D&B vibes a minute, and here's the latest from a label I certainly have come across before: the excellent Vibration Records, the Essex boys (I think) who are doing a sterling job of keeping proper musical D&B alive in the face of so much post-Pendulum/Chase & Status noisy kiddy electro trance rawk stadium bollocks. There, I said it ;-)

The EP is made up of four tracks from four artists: Dave Owen & Sconeboy, Undersound, Blue Motion, and ATP & Calculon. All four tracks follow a deep, musical, liquid-y kinda vibe, and all four are strong, but if pushed I think it's Owen & Sconeboy's jazz-tinged Coming Apart, with its echoes of classic DJ Krust material, that's working the best for me. It's a close call, though, cos as I said: this is a very strong EP all round.

Out: This week

About: Find Vibration Records online here.