Friction

Talk about high expectations. When London drum’n'bass duo, Chase & Status aka Saul Milton (Chase) and Will Kennard (Status) first laid down the tracks that would make up their third studio album, they were faced with a weighty dilemma: how to follow the sizeable footprint left by 2011’s multi platinum selling No More Idols, not to mention their hefty rep as festival headliners? The answer was found with Brand New Machine, an album that brims with surging, dancefloor anthems, dusty trip hop grooves as championed by the likes of Massive Attack and Portishead, and a collection of jungle and garage breakbeats that increase with substance over repeated plays. Meanwhile, brooding ragga harmonies and hip hop samples deliver an updated take on No More Idols’ anthemic, catch-all appeal. The overall vibe? An instantly memorable collection of swaggering cuts tuned to a club setting, hyped summer festivals and arenas alike.

Breaking through on Hospital Records in the early 2000s, Jonathan Stanley has developed a spotless reputation across all sides of the drum & bass spectrum. His label CYN Music has dented the dance with distinctive imagery and delivers with the same stark consistency as his own productions. A bona fide D&B ambassador.

From a rural German town to playing stages around the world, Michael Schlechtinger – also known as Blooom, has had a meteoric rise. His journey began at an incredibly formative age: from fifteen, he immersed himself in electronic music, despite not even being allowed to enter club spaces yet. And whilst many of his counterparts have stories of finding a love for dance music through family ties, it was his own interests that drove him headfirst into the intricacies of music production.