DJ TEEBEE N K
. . . PRESENT THE DEEPER SIDE OF DRUM N BASS
ROCKWELL RECORDINGS/SUBTITLES
Drum-and-bass is music for evil geniuses. Evil because it's jacked up with a malign sci-fi vibe perfectly tailored for dystopian epics like Blade Runner; genius because its mutant reggae riddims and bionic 4/4 beats were always far too dense to attract a pop crowd—no matter how hard the music industry tried to make Roni Size and Goldie the next big things a few years back. But even evil geniuses can be brought down to earth, as Norwegian DJs/producers Teebee and K prove with this mix CD, serving up some of the best that drum-and-bass has to offer. Naturally, the thread running through their mix is the heavy percussion, but what makes it interesting is the calm inside the storm: the airy flutes in Angelzero's track “Now,” the spooky synths of Teebee's meditation “Daywalker” and the contrarian keyboard work of K's “No Hands.” But even when it sounds like a jog through a hippie-dippie cloud forest, there's always a palpably sinister vibe that keeps the sound ever so drum-and-bass. (Andrew Asch)
