OUT NOW – Document One – Faced With The Unknown / Purp Feat Fio

It hasn’t been long since Document One carved their name into the pantheon of drum and bass heavy-hitters with their debut EP on Technique. Already, tracks from Revolution have been chalking up serious airtime and rave-play and ensuring that this production team’s new release bears the weight of intense anticipation. So what have they got for us this time?

Faced With the Unknown takes us straight into darkness. Background atmospherics create a bed for regally cinematic arpeggios and some apocalyptic narration. This fades into distant reverberation only to reassemble as a cybernetic paranoic beat and bassline. This drop adds an extra layer of close-up claustrophobia which gives every drum hit, bass squelch and triggered sample the space and weight to really strike hard. This is four-in-the-morning music for for when daylight is just a memory and it’s time to cast a shadow over the rave.

Purp is something different. The intro is fully-formed UK hip-hop, socially-conscious bars from Fio and all. But before we have time to strap on our backpacks, there’s just a hint of double-time percussion on the horizon, and we’re launched into a filthy drop, with grinding mid-range basses and an insistent resonant snare that turns the heat up to eleven. The juxtaposition of funky hip-hop and grimy D&B give this track an irresistible Bristol Sound vibe, showing Document One’s respect for the roots while maintaining a totally modern dancefloor sensibility.

It’s only Document One’s second release on Technique but with their already-prestigious discography and the acclaim for their Revolution EP, it’s clear this release is going to get serious attention. Showcasing both darkness and light with their trademark musicality, these two tracks are bound for set lists everywhere.

In the beginning is Genesis. Tantrum Desire have a proven track record in huge build-ups but this one might just be their most monumental to date. First, there’s the evolving pad with tension-building percussive tones. Then the morph into a glitchier, discordant contrapuntal pattern. Then the first taste of bass, adding a darker, grimier flavour. And then the drop hits to put it all together. Precision-crafted interplay between constantly shifting riffs in the low and high registers, uncompromisingly tough drums, bound together with a digital-swing six-eight time signature make this impossible not to move to.

Then the next one takes us Underground. This is a masterclass in the use of vocals in dance music, and Laura Bayston’s voice is the perfect delivery system. A quirky vibrato in the intro, combined with her elegantly controlled use of power and projection instantly set this track apart. Then as she turns up the energy, Tantrum Desire supplement her skills with a layer of harmony to build things even further. As the track drops, Laura’s voice is twisted and FXed into all manner of sculpture, successively delivering low-end drive, alto euphoria and even percussion. All this backed with a beat and bassline that leave the ravers in no doubt that it’s time to get up.

OK, we all know by now that any Tantrum Desire release are destined for heavy rotation wherever drums and bass are appreciated. And, given that, we all know that their album is destined for instant-classic status. So this release is an important opportunity to get with the programme before the bandwagon even gets rolling. Just like a typical Tantrum Desire build-up, these two tracks are bound to ratchet up the anticipation. So get ready for the drop.

Speed of Light goes first, setting the scene with a typically wide-open cosmic intro. Melodic arpeggiated figures filter in and around their own reverb, until shocked into submission by the sudden arrival of an insistent bass tone marking out the half-beats. This double-time assault builds to a drop which shows the dancefloor exactly what L Plus is up to. He’s taken a classic walking bass pattern and used subtle modulations and precision-engineered drum sounds to make every offbeat pop and crackle with its own extra burst of energy. Simultaneously a production masterclass and a tune to spark the laziest rave into action.

Then Carbon turns the page to the next chapter of the same story. Going straight in with the bass pattern right from the top, this one shares DNA with some of the funkier techstep from around the turn of the millennium. It’s all about the targeted deployment of builds and fills which somehow continue to deliver a new surge of high-power bass and drum each and every time. With only a few perfectly-crafted elements in play, L Plus manages to conjure up a sound that’s contemporary yet classic. This is 2014 dance music, but made by a true head that recognises the heritage.

So this is where L Plus shows a new facet to his sound. As well as delivering stadium-size harmonies and heart-palpitating builds, he can also take things a shade rawer and provide some rhythm-section funk too. And he can do that without sacrificing any of the musicality or production quality he’s known for. With another weapon in his armoury, this Bratislavan badman’s even more dangerous.