Episode 205: Depth

This episode starts out hard and heavy with the punky darkwave sound of The Mall, but quickly mellows into the jazzy sounds of Liquid Drum & Bass. In the late 90’s and early 00’s, Liquid emerged as a reaction to the heaviness of D’n’B, a pendulum swing away from the increasingly harsh sounds of Techstep and Neurofunk. Where the harsher subgenres reveled in ever more brutal electronic manipulations and occasional hip-hop inspired toasting, Liquid turned to the warm analog sound of the Fender Rhodes and crooning vocals. One doesn’t need to squint especially hard to see the movement as a foreshadowing of the coming of 2-Step Garage and its eventual eclipse of D’n’B.

The middle third of the mix strays a bit from Liquid, bringing back some of the harsher sounds of Neuro and a bit of Autonomic

Three artists were a major inspiration to Liquid producers. Going furthest back is Roni Size, and the jazz samples, live standup bass, and vocalists of his Reprazent project, which set the template. Closer in time we have LTJ Bukem, whose smooth soundscapes and Rhodes worship provided the sonic pallet. Finally, Ink was the godfather of the scene. Tunes from all three producers, in chronological order, serve as an introduction to the mix’s coda.

Hospital Records, celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, has been a flagship label for the Liquid sound. Their 25th anniversary compilation contributes two tracks to this mix, but served as inspiration for the whole thing. The final third takes a brief veer into more contemporary sounds with the title track to DLR’s fierce new EP, but things wrap up with another Hospital track.

• The Mall – Turing Machine [Zone]
• Fetus – Depth [Dark Monkey]
• Tokyo Prose – Saving Grace [Introducing Tokyo Prose]
• Ink ft. Tha Lion – TROPICAL LAND [TROPICAL LAND ft. THA LION]
• Resound – Aftermath [Aftermath/Nonlinear]
• Skylark – Sonar [Echo-Form]
• SKC – Heart of Love (Loxy & Ink Remix) [H25PITAL]
• Abstract Elements x Out of Fuel – Disbelief [Tenderness EP]
• Sam KDC – Erogenous [Survive/Exist EP]
• Mystic State & Howz – I Always Knew [Nurtured Beatz Presents Archive #2]
• SWAN MEAT – DENTIST’S TOYS COME ALIVE AT NIGHT [FLESHWORLD]
• ASC – Loophole [Loophole EP]
• Ida Plumes – Walking With The Tasman Abel [Consequences]
• Roni Size / Reprazent – Trust Me [New Forms]
• LTJ Bukem – Watercolours [Journey Inwards]
• Ink & BTK – Triumph [The History Collection – Vol. 1]
• DLR – Make My Mind Go [Make My Mind Go EP]
• Sonic – Piano Anthem (S.P.Y. Remix) [H25PITAL]

BPM: 169