2009 has been an interesting year for me musically. It has seen my tastes broaden considerably after a few years where my musical diet consisted almost solely of drum & bass and hip hop. This year I have really enjoyed exploring house, dubstep, dancehall, the odd bit of rock, pop, and a bit of who-knows-what-to-call-it. I also love the way that at the same time a whole lot of these artificial genre barriers are disappearing, with producers and DJs surprising people on a regular basis. I have discovered (and rediscovered) some amazing artists that perhaps I would have missed out on had I remained so musically myopic.
Having said all that though, drum & bass is still the music that I feel more connection with than any other. I have loved the way that the sound has continued to evolve, particularly the melodic, musical & minimal stuff that artists like Instra:Mental, Alix Perez, Lynx, Bop, dBridge, Consequence, ASC, Spectrasoul, Commix, Blu Mar Ten, and more have been absolutely killing in 2009. For my December 2009 mix of the month I was trying to find something that really represented this sound.
This mix from Blu Mar Ten released back in September has been slowly bubbling away on my playlist ever since. It is totally incredible. This is definitely in my top 10 mixes of the year, of any genre. One thing I really love about it is that it is predominantly music from artists that I had heard very little from before (you can read more about the new talent featured on the mix over on the BMT site). As well as showcasing some of the aforementioned minimal, melodic sounds they also work in a range of other stuff, and it is all beautifully put together. This is one mix that is well worth checking out.
Blu Mar Ten: Drum & Bass Mix: Sep 2009
- D Bridge – Love’s Ugly Child
- Kharm – Wolf Jacket
- Circa – Ida
- Blu Mar Ten – Above Words
- Logistics – Murderation
- Stray – Talking About Nothing
- Sinistarr & Kiat – Black Diamonds
- Tidal – So Sexy
- Crisis – Twilight Bongos
- Stray – Saturday
- High Speed Dubbing – AMC
- Blu Mar Ten – Overwhelm
- Mr Sizef – Seven Tones of Romantic
- Kharm – Meridian
- Mr Sizef – Our Most Sincere Feeling
- Sunchase – Varka
- Blu Mar Ten – Grey Area
- Blu Mar Ten – She Moves Through (ASC remix)
- So;Flow – Long Way Over
- Vaccine – Radiate (170 edit)
- Blu Mar Ten – Last Dance
Get your hands on it right here [right click, save as].
If you dig this then be sure to check out the Blu Mar Ten blog, one of the best musicians blogs I have ever read.
