Kalm & Spindall – CATACLYSM EP (NBR012)

Nurtured Beatz are always on the lookout to bring you the discerning drum and bass listener, high quality D&B in there now well known imprint, the harder hitting, minimal style of D&B. I personally think that NB have surpassed themselves this time round with what is called the ‘Cataclysm EP’ this is produced by the camps owners Kalm and Spindall.
‘Cataclysm’
This starts off with a nice little simple beat ticking over to get you in the mood, you also have a sampled male vocal setting the tone, half way through this vocal you’re introduced to the main underlying body of the track. The break, which is very clean and crisp, is driven by an almighty bass kick and perfectly weighted snappy claps, that with the nice atmospheric echoed  liquid pad work, which adds a nice underlying layer which really all gel well together.
Once we hit the main drop you’ve a very low sub bass coming in that makes this one a wicked roller, with a nice on point percussion and nicely edited amens thrown in here and there to keep you guessing and to keep the track rolling this is sound nice! This is one of the lighter tracks on the EP, but is still edgy enough to be thrown down by anyone who likes playing their more techy,  liquid funk vibes.
‘Destiny’
Kalm & Spindall have done the business on this one. From the beginning you know this is going to be a dark track, with the sinister intro and haunting sampled male echoed vocal stabs and horrifying strings that make you fully engaged from the off. Then come in the Photek style drums that has been beautifully crafted, you can tell these two have put a lot of effort into the drum work on this one. This is all building you up nicely to the drop where the effortlessly made drums just filter out and you now hear the full vocal coming in now just cementing the tone for the track, once its drops there is a very old skool vibe going on here, that with the already wicked drum work you now get a heavy jungle amen coming in, mixing the old with the new, they just bounce of each other as one.
The bass line is proper in your face, but it always is with these two, that with a nice female echoed vocal coming in every now adding another layer and then and nice little stabs, and nice haunting pad work still going make this that a nice dark roller that should be in any DJ’s bag.

‘Thorn’
I was surprised to see this track on the EP, as this is a much more liquid affair. Straight from the top you hear a luscious piano riff playing and a very warming echoed saxophone playing giving this bucketloads of flavour, this is all on top of the very simple but very affective beat that has this warming you up nicely for the drop.
This is a more subtle affair this time around but once it does drop, this liquid roller really gets going with an almost marching break driving it to another level with the techy side from the boys coming out but all the while still retaining the liquid flow. The bass just rolls into the piano work and then saxophone takes over moving into some nice light strings just for good measure, love the little amen switch up break half way through. This really is a nice liquid techy number.
‘Gravis Arkaik Rmx’
Nurtured have got Arkaik on the remix here with their own track ‘Gravis’. This is a through and through minimal tech affair, and it sounds great. From the beginning there is a nice hollowed, sparse soundscape that is meet with a nice punchy beat. We are talking real proper clean highs and mids going on here trust, with a proper tight kick to compliment them. As good the as the drum work is this track is all about the bass, and oh my is it good! It just moves along like a heavy hitting fright train rumbling past right bang in front of you.
This with the excellent echoed pad work and nice string stabs make this a perfect way to round off the EP and a fresh take on the already quality track that is ‘Gravis’ Props have to go to Kalm & Spindall on this one, as I think this is one of their finest releases to date.
Buy MP3’s here
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