The fearsome Brazilian duo of Critycal Dub bulldoze the airwaves and live arenas alike with a sort of spinewreckingly good D&B that evokes both the club and all night festival heat any D&B diehard craves. You have a bit of research to do if you don’t know the back cat, and with a bit of CD soul pounding away as a backdrop, it was time to go in and chat!
Hello Critycal Dub! Got to say: I always know when one of your tunes drops! From moments such as The Deep Side ep to Warehouse Music, Viva Brasil and all in between… what makes your sound special?
Working hard! Ha ha. We’re always searching more and more for knowledge and always improving our work.
And how do you guys find yourself as part of Brazilian D&B, the way it is now in 2014?
We think 2014 is becoming a new age for all D&B producers: mainly Brazilian. All the time we’re following every guys and D&B styles, and good things are coming each day. We’re working deep in new beats, we want to both show and produce good things… that’s our focus.
Talking of styles, of influences as well… what do you guys generally check, what goes into the blender?
Well if it’s a good tune, we’re listening.
There’s no barriers to the good stuff. We listen to a lot of Hip Hop, Reggae, Jazz, Trap and Dubstep.
OK, regarding Brazilian D&B: what is clear is that it has a certain soul, it has FILTH and it is unpredictable too. Do you agree?
We agree because we have a big diversity of culture in Brazil. This has made our music very rich and unpredictable.
Bryan Gee told me that Brazil D&B guys produce so fast… the tune is talked about then bang: he gets it in the inbox! You guys never turn off!
Ha ha, it’s purely because we love D&B and what we do! So when it happens everything becomes easy and fast.
What’s happening over there with the World Cup? Good or bad?
Well, man good and bad things going together. At the moment we’re no so proud about, they spent a billion dollars building the stadium. Maybe this was not a good time to make a world cup in Brazil.
Is football something you love? Lots of D&B guys traditionally love football, to generalise.
Brazil is big and so it has a mixed culture. Many of our D&B guys love football.
OK. DJ Chap told us about great spots in São Paulo to check, can you add some?
Chap told you good things! Well we have our own party called Forbass & Tendence (nb: worth a search!) and involved is Critycal Dub, Wagner Shotikk, Thiago Un and Mole Junglist: the party happens once every month.
Last year we brought David Boomah and this year our big boss Bryan Gee. The party is wicked! The crowd here is a real junglist one. Also there’s Markey & Friends plus some great D&B festivals.
That’s the shout! Hey thanks for talking with us Critycal Dub!
Well it’s a pleasure for us talking here about our work. We’d like to thank everybody that likes our work, and thanks Drum&BassArena for this opportunity.