Guest Reviews: Rockwell

02 Jul 2010

Rockwell

Rockwell reviews the five drum & bass tunes doing it the most for him right now...

Rockwell – Full Circle / My War (Shogun Audio)
My first 12" on Shogun Audio, which should drop the third week of June. Been playing this for a while but as soon as people hear the pad coming through the mix they know what's coming! My War on the flip is also getting a lot of love so I'm really happy with how this release is shaping up.

Alix Perez ft. Foreign Beggars - Dark Days (Shogun)
More from this deadly collaboration, with cold raps from Foreign Beggars and warping bass and a hard step on the breaks from Alix. Look out for this on his forthcoming EP on Shogun later in the year.

Rockwell – Aria (Critical)
Bit of a deep one with wooden triplet beat patterns, big bass stabs and eerie vocals, which has been going down well and getting a lot of love, which is kind of a surprise to me as it doesn't really sound like drum & bass at all! Look for this getting released on my follow up to the Noir EP on Critical a bit later in the year.

System – Hold It (DSB)
One thing I really admire about System's production is that you never know what you're going you get before you click on the file. This has got a proper g-funk vibe to it, with big synth riffs on the intro and breakdown where you can really hear some refreshing musicality. Couple that with an absolutely running break and some big bass stabs and you know you're on to a winner.

Kevin Rudolph Feat. Lil' Wayne, Birdman, Jay Sean (Cash Money Heroes) - I Made It [Rockwell Remix]
A remix I was asked to do that was a lot of fun to make and is a lot of fun to play out. A kind of cross pollination of half step drum & bass and the sleazy synth washes and leads of US hip hop, combined with a full rap and r&b vocal from the Cash Money Heroes. Something different again from me.