Marcus Intalex’s favourite new artist of recent times, Phil Tangent, returns to Soul:R this month with his second single. His debut, ‘Billie’s Smile b/w Lunar’, proved a discerning and unique musicality to Tangent’s sound and demonstrated a level of musical depth, which is comfortably at home in the Soul:R camp. SOULR59 will solidify the deserved recognition for Phil Tangent’s sound
Kicking things off with ‘Restitution’, its a soulful number and lends itself to the more musical side of drum and bass. Choppy kicks and snares with a mellow melody and weaving vocals. Love the vibe on this one
‘Squaring The Cirlce’ on the flip moves through blissfull moods before the track hits you with a depth drop while the female vocals backed by haunting bass take you off
Available on both vinyl and digital formats on 10th December. Essential music.
Having a reputation for razor sharp production and always pushing boundaries with his music, Lynx is no newcomer to the scene. With releases on some of modern days most seminal labels, Warm Communications proudly present their newest single.
With vocal treatments for well respected vocalist Kemo ‘Dive Deep In’ submerges itself in dirty, deep funk. A rock solid half time beat and punishing bass stabs keep the momentum while guitar strings weave in and out.
‘Shadowlands’ features fellow technician Hellrazor in an epic roller comprised of swelling strings, steppy drums and menacing bass.
Available worldwide on 3rd December and you can pre-order here now.
Bristol based collective Ruffhouse dropped their debut on Ingredients in October with ‘The
Foot / Bypass’ to much acclaim. Already touted as a force to watch, their follow up is as good if not better!
‘Demand’ really shows their ability to make progressive, forward thinking music and it’s the unpredictability of this track that makes it stand out.
‘Division III’ is equally as impressive, teaming room shattering drums & almighty stabs.
Released on 3rd December worldwide and also available on strictly limited white vinyl. Pre-order here to make sure you don’t miss out.
Always on the cutting edge of drum & bass, IM:Ltd returns with a pair of tracks filled with
soulful energy. Preferring to err away from the obvious, the new vinyl release from the
France based label teams intelligent lyrics with stepping rhythms and delicate
instrumentation, lifting the release above a scene saturated with dark beats. Gerwin & Nuage are one of Europe’s most prolific DnB collaborators and ‘Lying Portraits’ sees them team up with lyrical craftsman 2Shy to bring some beauty to the genre.
Sauntering through jazz influences it switches easily between a deep, emotive bass-driven track and a smooth, attention-grabbing stepper.
“Soul Truth” takes melodic textures and a smooth RnB vocal to create a track filled with
multi-layered beauty. A punchy 808 bass winds its way underneath, bringing warm depths to
carefully spacious percussion and interesting melodic snippets. A tune to relax to.
Gerwin’s ear for delicately devastating bass and percussion has been something of a well-
kept secret for too long. This release captures his need for elegance as well as depth and
rhythm. Listen and learn.
Whilst we have been busy tinkering with the back end of The Robot it’s been a minute since a we have had a Transmit mix gracing the home page. Now, thankfully, the wait is over. We have recieved an awesome blend from resident Mancunian Liquid Drum & Bass and sometimes Dubstep producer Dekoi. Featuring a myriad of vibes, the backbone of the mix is jazzy liquid DnB. Notable favourites in here from Grifta, Dramatic & dBaudio and Electrosoul System.
We also took time to put Dekoi in the interrogation room with our Robot. Here’s what he had to say;
What is Dekoi all about? What do you try to put across in your music, and what inspires you most?
Firstly i’d like to thank you for having me on Robot Bodypop and taking an interest in my music. Dekoi is all about the music! aha but seriously I’m not trying to convey any political messages or anything, just trying to make music that people can enjoy as well as having my personal progression and sense of constant improvement. I’d say what inspires me most is the music i listen to, not just dnb but jazz, soul, funk, ambient, house etcetera. I learn new things from every song I listen to and try and use them to make my music more original. But also hearing positive things about my music inspires me to keep at it, if I hadn’t had positive feedback from friends and family I would have given up a long time ago.
You’ve had releases on Echowide Music and Liquid Tones to date – What’s next? Any chance of an album?
I currently have another 2 tunes coming out on Echowide and a collab with Mayforms coming out on Promo audio. I often think i’d love to do an album but I also think i’d rather wait and release one in a couple years when I’m really getting somewhere with my music. I don’t want to release an album only to find in a months time that all the tunes need improving. (though I guess it’s always going be like that as a producer)
True! So what was the first piece of music you ever bought? How did your tastes develop to arrive at where you are now?
I wasn’t really into music until I was about 12, my mate gave me a Drum And Bass Arena CD mainly filled with jump up which I wasn’t quite into but when I heard High Contrast’s Eternal Optimist I knew DnB was the thing for me, so I went off and bought High Contrasts Confidential album. This lead me to checking out all the old Hospital mixes and their extensive back catalogue. I was disappointed with Hospital Records’ more recent releases because they lacked that soulful, jazzy vibe. I hadn’t realised there were modern producers making the stuff, and one day I stumbled upon Fokuz Recordings and the huge tree of similar liquid labels – I haven’t looked back since. I have started looking into many different genres in the past year, broadening my musical tastes and knowledge.
What’s the weirdest/most random sample or sound you have ever used in a tune?
I once made a tune using only guitar that i had recorded. I can’t play guitar but that didn’t really matter because it didn’t have any strings! I just recorded random percussive sounds with it and through a lot of experimentation I managed to make synths and bass lines out of it.
Skills! Who would you most like to collab with?
Aww man that’s too open a question and i’m too indecisive so heres a few: Dave Owen, Blue Motion, mSdoS, Eveson, Random Movement and Intelligent Manners are all at the top of the list – sorry, I can’t pick one!
What sort of music will we be listening to in ten years time?
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm… I just don’t know.
Ok, well that brings us to our final question. What’s the largest animal you could throw over a crossbar?
I wouldn’t dare throw any animal anywhere unless it was small enough to throw really far so I guess something like a mouse or a frog, but that’s just cruel ey?
Not sure if The Robot has ever considered the ethics of this question to be honest! Here we go..
C:\>STANDBY FOR TRANSMIT...C:\>RECEIVING TRANSMIT #XIIC:\>CALLSIGN : DEKOIC:\>COMMENCE TRANSMIT
1. LTJ Bukem – Watercolours
2. The Peter Nice Trio – Harp Of Gold
3. Command Strange – Vanilla Dream
4. Well Being – Storms By Streetlight
5. Brother – Get To Know
6. Grifta – Tomorrow
7. Bachelors Of Science – Bounce
8. Silent Dust – 1959 (Calibre Remix)
9. Savage Rehab – Quiet Stars
10. Andy Sim – Palm Trees (Brother Remix)
11. Mutt – Womack
12. Mayforms – Get You Off My Mind
13. Electrosoul System – In The Morning
14. Dekoi – Your Love
15. Capsika – Ghost Orchid
16. Madmen & Poets – Reached Out
17. Well Being – Lend Me Your Troubles
18. Fracture & Survival – Tracks Of Time
19. Redeyes Feat Mutt – Sugar
20. Submorphics – Step In The Spot
21. Concept & Shneck – Bedford Avenue
22. Atlantic Connection – 1979
23. Mayforms – This Is Love Girl
24. Nookie – I Love The Way
25. Dramatic & dbAudio – Subtle Shaking
26. Well Being – When You’re Not Around
27. Intelligent Manners – Still
28. Mayforms – Get High
29. Random Movement – Waterlogged
30. Dekoi – Beautiful Life
31. Intelligent Manners – Close My Eyes
32. Dekoi – Thinking About Thinking
33. Arp XP Feat. Estel Luz – Closer (Stunna Remix)
34. Blue Motion – Fallen
35. Dominic Ridgeway & Displaced Paranormals – City Of Gods
36. Ink & Getz – Road Runner
37. Savage Rehab – Bloom
38. Teebee – Untitled Jazz
This month Manchester’s Soul:ution returns to Band On The Wall for the second instalment of the bi annual Exit Records residency. With residents including Calibre, Dub Phizix and Marcus Intalex and regular shows across the country Soul:ution is one of drum and bass’ most respected parties. This month sees dBridge, Loxy, Marcus Intalex and DRS taking to the stage.
In the meantime cop a recent mix from Marcus Intalex ft. DRS and Strategy recorded for Austrias La Boum de Luxe, FM4 Radio. Grab is here on Mixcloud or here for a direct download. It’s packed full of badman tracks.
Robot Bodypop 