Are you ready for Drum&BassArena Anthology 2?
20 years of D&B history: 60 tracks: 3 CDs.
Make no mistakes… this is a massive release. Whether you’ve only just locked in to our unique scene, or you’ve followed it since hardcore first splintered into all its many factions, this release will speak volumes to you. And it’ll look rather fetching in your collection, too.
We announced the full tracklist here and you can pre-order right here.
The fourth in our series of features celebrating the release is with Alix Perez who’s given us two tracks for the release: Contradictions and Dubrock. A Frenchman who moved to the UK in his mid-teens, his first taste of drum & bass was something of a life altering experience.
“I’d never heard anything like it before!” he grins. “It was the energy that attracted me to begin with. Especially when you’re young, that type of energy is really engaging and something you can identify with. There might have been a little scene where I came from but nothing concrete. Then I came over and heard some Metalheadz records and they blew my mind!”
Blew his mind to the point he wanted to make it his career. After completing school in Devon he moved to London and see if he could make it big in the bass game.
“I had to,” he admits. “I needed to follow this potential in music, and just see if I can do it. I’m glad I did!”
We are too… Especially with news that he’s currently working on a new album. The follow up to his mesmerising debut 1984, we’re expecting big things.
“It’s getting there,” he says. “It’s planned for next year but it’s too soon to give any suggestion of dates or months. My style has developed a lot over the three years that have passed. I’m not going to neglect what I’ve done before, but there will be a progression. Like the last one I want it to be full of variation and go on a real journey through different BPMs, styles and emotions.”
We can’t wait. In the meantime, here’s Alix’s thoughts on the two tracks featured on Drum&BassArena Anthology 2…
Contradictions
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3fc4AYzSFE
“Originally I never had any intentions for this to be a club track. It’s a piece of music. That was my whole intention for the album; to write tracks that go beyond the dancefloor. But it works on the dancefloor and I still play it now. I get asked about it a lot. More than other tracks from the album. It’s mad, it’s been three years now. I’m happy with that. I’m happy with how it sounded too; it’s melancholic and musical which is what I wanted. It’s an album track but it’s transcended that to the dancefloor.”
Dubrock
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTvxztxpI-M&feature=related
“It’s funny, this is one of my very first releases! It’s around the time I was still experimenting a lot. It got picked up on and attracted a lot of attention. It’s the very start of my career in music. A point in time I remember very clearly. Very exciting. Getting approached by people I looked up to. People like Fabio playing it. It was a huge turning point for me. My peers supporting what I was doing, it gave me confidence to carry on and follow what I wanted to do.”
Drum&BassArena Anthology 2 is out November 4 (download) and November 5 (3xCD). Pre-order now!