Over time the drum and bass scene has expanded tenfold every year, naturally. What evolved from the underground jungle sounds into what we now know as dnb is commonplace in countries all over the world with dj’s playing sell-out shows in all corners of the earth, quite astonishing really!
Lifestyle Music, a label that is run from the quiet suburbia of Horsham, West Sussex maintain a quality over quantity ethos with a focus on the more technical and intricate side of drum and bass. With past releases from the likes of Lockjaw, Signal, Revaux, Ill Truth and many more but you should have heard of these guys by now. Paying an interest in the lesser-known talents across the globe, Lifestyle have coined themselves as a trusty outlet for consistent, great drum and bass.
Their latest venture as you may have guessed by the aforementioned ‘globe’ and ‘corners of the earth’ is an LP of artists all hailing from the far away land of oz. No, not The fantasy land where Tin men talk and tapping your shoes can teleport you, I’m talking about our friends on the flip-side of the equator in Australia! Lifestyle Music have curated a very impressive roster, showcasing some of the best Aussie dnb producers the country has on offer, featuring: Lockjaw, Gran Calavera, Dauntless, Ewol, Euph, VLTRN, Terrence & Phillip, Manikin & Okuli.
Now, discovering new artists is probably about 80 percent of the reason why I love drum and bass, flicking through Soundcloud, listening to mixes to try and decipher who ‘that banger’ is by. Then the excitement of realising its from an artist you’ve not heard of, before proceeding to listen to as much from that said artist as possible … Well, that was the exact case with the Australian Connection LP from Lifestyle. I’ll admit i’d only heard of about 4 artists, so knew a little what to expect from them, but I was genuinely blown away but the quality of music from some of these producers, that until now were little to unknown to me
Once you’ve had a listen to any of these artists, or even the LP itself, you’ll realise they are mostly ‘tech’ orientated artists. Now I say the term ‘tech’ quite lightly, as im sure they could class themselves as an eclectic range of styles, and im confident they could demonstrate this easily, but let’s just agree that they are mainly a technical style, low sub-bass, rolling drums, dark stabs, all that good stuff etc etc.
The Australian Connection isn’t lacking in variety though, there are energetic steppers like Terrence & Phillips ‘Broken’, and dark, sinister rollers like Gran Calaveras ‘Panorama’ even uplifting synth laden numbers like Lockjaw’s ‘Cells’ to keep even the pickiest of heads happy!
Overall this LP is an exceptional example as to why drum and bass is as addictive and interesting as it is. It bears no confines, the options of style are almost limitless, it doesn’t come from any one place and young people all over the world are getting involved with extremely impressive results. Again, as this LP demonstrates, it’s a world-wide thing and certainly isn’t showing any signs of slowing down!.
Go and cop this monster LP now!
Pre-order/Buy now – https://lifestylemusicuk.bandcamp.com/album/australian-connection-various-artists
Beatport – https://www.beatport.com/release/australian-connection/2003124
