Bad Taste Need YOU! - Drum&BassArena

You can moan about summer 2012 as much you like (too rainy, too hot, too Olympicy) but we reckon it’s been one of THE BEST seasons for great drum & bass compilations in a long time. Naturally there’s our very own Drum&BassArena Summer Selection 2012. There’s Viper’s Summer Slammers 2012. There’s Hospitality’s Summer Drum & Bass 2012. There’s V’s Big Bad & Heavy 3 and then there’s the monstrous Bad Taste Volume 5!

The heaviest comp on the block – and unmixed for your total DJ pleasure – it features 12 thrilling nuggets from some of the scene’s most exciting emerging international talent. From Royalston’s eerie triplet ridden groover The Bearer to the icy techno-inspired badlands of Fistognosticated’s Warning, it sums up everything we love about Blokhe4d’s uncompromising album. We called up Vegas for more details… And found out that they want to hear from YOU!

So you’re up to Volume 5 now! Do they get easier or harder to put together?

“This one has come together very very easily. We work consistently with a lot of great artists but there’s also a lot of incredible artists coming through who send us amazing tracks out of the blue. We’re kinda spoilt for choice. The bottom line, if it fits with what we do then we’ll have it! I started working on this one around December time so it takes about eight months or so to put together. The first track was sent to me a few months before Christmas! We never force anything; it has to be natural. And when there’s enough music ready to put together we start working on the artwork and creating a strong release. It’s very easy to do when you’re in music and you’re into what you’re doing!”

Sure. How many tunes do you get sent in general?

“Loads! Seriously, loads. They come through via AIM or through our label’s mailbox. I couldn’t put a number on it but it’s a lot. It’s just a case of putting things out that sound really good. We listen to every one of them because you never know when it’s going to be the next big record. Like the name of the label; we’re into a lot of different sounds. We’re not tied by a certain sound, we love a lot of things, we’re enjoying an adventure in music. If something’s really abstract and different to everything we’ve released before we’ll still consider it if we catch the vibe off it.”

There are some familiar faces on the compilation – Aeph, Neonlight, Prolix – do you give them an early heads up when you start putting together a release like this?

“Yeah, definitely. We let them know and they’ll get tunes over to us. But it’s the same standard with people we don’t know or have never met. Like this guy called Urbandawn from Brazil. He sent us Retrocasuality back in January. It’s such a different tune but we knew we were going to release it the first time we heard it. We never met him but knew it was amazing. We work with Aeph, Neonlight and Prolix very closely, though, so yeah they send stuff over. It’s a mixture of both…”

If any budding producers reading this want to get in touch with music, what’s the best way to do this?

“Any way is a good way, we want to hear from people! AIM, our mailbox (info@badtasterecordings.com) If you’re into what we’re doing we want to hear from you. We’re very accessible, get in touch!”

Nice! Let’s chat about the Blokhe4d material on the compilation. Two collabos…

“Yes, the one with Prolix, Switchblade, got started about a year ago. We left it for ages then went back in on it in April. It ended up turning into something different to how we imagined. As with all potential Bad Taste tunes we tried it out in the clubs a few times and the reaction said it all. The other one we did with the Russian producer Receptor – Bass Dust – was a bit of a different set up. He did a tune and sent it to us suggesting a collaboration. We went in on it, changed different bits of it and sent it back to him to see what he thought and whether he’d be up for it going on our compilation. He was over the moon!”

I bet. Like a collaborative remix…

“Yeah, completely. That’s how it ended up. He started it. He finished it. We’ve never met. I love the way these projects happen.”

So what’s next?

“The next project is already lined up. We’ve got a few 12s ready and waiting. A Chris SU and Audio and Mindscape EP with Timerider and Jarhead. We’ve got an EP from Aeph. We’ve got a Blokhe4d EP. We’ve got some new guys from Russia called the Teddy Killerz. It’s all lined up. We try and get everything planned way ahead…”

And then you start working on Bad Taste Volume 6?

“Yeah that’s it. I’m already looking forward to it!”

Nice. Finally, sum up Bad Taste 5… Just in case people aren’t sure whether to check it or not.

“It’s a collection of tracks put together by people who really care about the music and have done for a very long time. We put our heart and soul into it and make sure it’s the best thing it can possibly be. That’s it, we hope you like it!”

Bad Taste Volume 5 is out now. Listen and download here.