Backstab's 2002 Drum and Bass Review

All in all a rather quiet year for drum and bass. Nothing special except for a few good tunes here and there, not to mention a lot of CRAP. There seems to be a few "trends" in which producers are going for nowadays. Hard techno stuff with melodic soundscapes and trancey/house sound.

My Top 20
(sorted in Artist/Song Name/Label)

1. Kemal - Let It Move You (Industry)
2. High Contrast - Return of Forever (Hospital)
3. Fresh & Fierce - Innocence (Quarantine)
4. Black Sun Empire - Smoke (DSCI4)
5. Black Sun Empire & Concord Dawn - The Sun (Black Sun Empire)
6. Concord Dawn - Take Me Away (Commercial Suicide)
7. Dom & Kemal - Moulin Rouge (Moving Shadow)
8. Raiden - Fallin (Renegade Hardware)
9. Sinthetix - Switchblade Sisters (DSCI4)
10. Sinthetix - Liar (Trouble on Vinyl)
11. Sta & Paul B - Gush (DSCI4)
12. Bulletproof, Optiv, Concord Dawn - Scorched Earth (Cyanide)
13. High Contrast - Music Is Everything (Hospital)
14. Marcus Intalex, ST Files, and High Contrast - 3 AM (Soul:r)
15. Sonic & Silver - Rocket Launcher (Virus)
16. Universal Project - Haunted Dreams (Universal Project)
17. D Kay & Epsilon - Platinum (Renegade Hardware)
18. Bad Company - Dosage (Bad Company)
19. Skinny & Lynx - Frost Byte (Audio Blueprint)
20. Chris SU - Astro-sine (DSCI4)

New Guys

Because of all the shitty tunes being released this year, there were quite a lot of new producers who tried to steal the show. Here are a list of upcoming producers that I think might be pretty huge in 2003.

Concord Dawn - Two guys from New Zealand. All their tunes have been up to par in my opinion. I really like "Take Me Away" and I think a lot of people like "Morning Light" (I don't like it that much)

Black Sun Empire - These guys from Holland came up with some huge tunes after "Radiation" and "Firing Squad" in 2001. Their EP on DSCI4 was huge, "Smoke" is definitely one of the biggest tunes of 2002. (so was the remix =P) Oh and how can you forget "The Sun", the tune that they collaborated with Concord Dawn. Sick.

Chris SU and SKC - Ok well they usually work by themselves but I grouped them together because they're both from Hungary. Anyway, lots of good stuff coming up from these guys. Chris SU's "Astro-sine"... yeah enough said. SKC's EP (should be in stores now?) is also impressive.

Sinthetix - They are turning into one of my favourite producers. I really like their dark techno sound. "Liar" is one phat song. The rest of the stuff on the DSCI4 LP is also really really good. These include "Cryogenic", "Switchblade Sisters", "Hypochondriac" and "Smoke (Sinthetix Remix)"

Raiden - Last but not least you have the guy who made "Fallin", one of the more interesting tunes of this year. And then the EP on Transparent of course... hehe

Other up and coming producers: Psidream, Pyro, Militia (they are not new individually but whatever)

Producer of the Year

High Contrast

I'm going with High Contrast here because he has done some tunes which are quite revolutionary. His "soft" drum and bass provides a break from all the hard technoid stuff. "Return of Forever" was definitely one of the top tunes of this year that should rock the dancefloor anywhere. I thought trance and bass goes nowhere until I heard that tune. =P

Honourable Mentions: Kemal, Concord Dawn

Album of the Year

Various Artists - Spy Technologies LP (DSCI4)

There's no question about this, with tunes like "Gush", "Cryogenic", "Smoke" (Sinthetix Remix), "Lobotomy", "Switchblade Sisters", "Hypochondriac", "Highline", "Come Closer", Spy Tech is obviously the winner here.

Some other albums who are worth mentioning: High Contrast - True Colours (Hospital), Moving Fusion - Start of Something (RAM) and Dom & Roland - Back From the Future (Moving Shadow)

EP of the Year

It was a really tough decision but I'm gonna go with Black Sun Empire's EP here. Smoke is just too much for me =P

Black Sun Empire - Smoke EP (DSCI4)

Worth mentioning:
Raiden - Cenobyte EP (Transparent)
Bulletproof - 12 Inch Armour EP (Cyanide)
VA - Aspect vs Perspective Volume 3 (Aspect)
VA - Soul:ution Part 2 EP (Soul:r)
VA - Edge of Human EP (Stealth)

Disappointments

The big names, like Bad Company, Andy C and the guys at RAM, Ed Rush & Optical haven't been making anything inspiring. Shot Down On Safari, which was Bad Company's album was pretty lackluster comparing to their old stuff... RAM released tunes which sounded like recycled old tunes... and Ed & Op... well I hope they are just preparing their new album in 2003.