#Back Of The Stack’, catching up with artists in the scene every couple of weeks reminiscing on some of their favourite tracks from back in the day. No real rules, just sharing some musical knowledge and reflecting on the past…
We are back with a bang, this week we have drum & bass legend ‘Spirit’. With releases on labels you an I can only dream about, Spirit is one of the scene’s foundation artists. He is also one half of ‘Phantom Audio’ (with Digital), a duo responsible for raw, uncompromising jungle, infused with dubbed out basslines, that have destroyed raves for as long as I can remember.
To tie in with his recent release on Dispatch Recordings, we managed to get him to share some of his poignant tracks…..Enjoy!
Photek – Complex
Not one of his technically superior tracks when you compare it to Modus Operandi, UFO or it’s other side, but I still remember the first time I heard this and how it made me feel. Incredibly simple, a lesson in how to build mood with just layers of drums, some ethereal pads and one supremely hypnotic melancholic spiralling hook. I saw him a few days later and had to do my own sad vocal interpretation just to confirm it was him.. knew it the moment I heard it. I was out last weekend and Fabio played it so I’m not the only one who thinks it’s one of his best i’m sure.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3VIv7b9WMc
Doc Scott – Rage
The title says it all really. Again, another really simple track but much like the Photek one, just a perfect five minutes or so of ingredients that come together to create this all-encompassing avalanche of menace that gives way to a dreamlike section of pads that provide all-important relief from the otherwise unrelenting pressure.
R-Tyme – R-Theme
In this time of technical overload and often dominated by style over substance, music to me is still all about mood and how it makes you feel. These days Techno is often associated with a coldness, a stark soundscape of emotionless machinery and stoic rhythms, so it’s fitting that to me, perhaps the greatest track ever made in Techno in it’s purest form, so overflowing with emotion that it’s one of those that can actually move me to tears if I’m in that frame of mind.
