The Summer Selection Series #3: Harvest

Oh gosh! Only six days to go until we unleash our essential seasonal soundtrack Drum&BassArena Summer Selection 2013!

Surfing drum & bass’s sonic spectrum sporting big, bold, bass-caked Bermuda shorts, it’s the perfect backdrop for all sunny side antics you’ve got planned this summer… And beyond.

30 tracks, two CDs, 10 exclusives: Drum&BassArena Summer Selection covers every shade and style possible. From outright classics to bangers you will not find anywhere else, we are super-excited about this release. We revealed the tracklist last week, but in case you missed it, here it is again.

CD 1

1. Drumsound & Bassline Smith Feat. Fleur – One In A Million (Tantrum Desire Remix)
2. Wilkinson – Take You Higher (Dimension Remix)
3. Torqux Feat. Lady Leshurr – Blazin’
4. Chords – Biting Point
5. Donea’o – Fire (The Prototypes Remix)
6. Delano – Big, Bad & Heavy (Logistics Remix)
7. Artificial Intelligence Feat. Steo – Let It Be (DJ Marky & S.P.Y Remix)
8. High Contrast Feat Selah Corbin – Wish You Were Here
9. LSB – Solstice
10. DJ Marky & S.P.Y – Yellow Shoes (Calibre Remix)
11. Nu:Logic Feat Lifford – Everlasting Days
12. Nookie – A Drum, A Bass & A Piano (Madcap Refix)
13. A.M.C & DBR UK Feat Robby Stone – Blue Waters
14. Commix – Be True
15. Sub Zero – Brighter Days (Krakota Remix)

CD2

1. Alix Perez Feat Sabre & Sam Willis – The End Of Us
2. Ivy Lab Feat Franck Carter III – Afterthought
3. Halogenix Feat Zoe Klinck – Raw Deal
4. Commix – How You Gonna Feel
5. Harvest – Keep It Real
6. Symptom Feat Ella – Overrule My Senses
7. Need For Mirrors Feat Jasmine Spence & Grimm – Silent Runner
8. Savage Rehab Feat Saxxon – Rare Groove
9. S.P.Y – Love Hurts
10. Submorphics – Summer Soul
11. Nelver & Simplification – Midnight
12. Hybrid Minds – Meant To Be
13. Technimatic – The Unspoken
14. Stanza – Glow
15. Nookie – Only You (dRamatic & dbAudio 2013 Remix)

Massive! To celebrate the release, we’ve locked down with Harvest to highlight his exclusive contribution Keep It Real. We’ve also asked him what makes the perfect summer soundtrack and what the devil he’s up to right now.

Like all the best players in this game, he appears to be rather busy…

How’s everything going at Harvest HQ?

Yeah man, everything is going good! I’ve been busy with a lot of projects and new music that I haven’t shown anybody yet but they are getting near to completion at the moment.

We’ve always wondered this: How did you come about picking the name Harvest?

The name came from from a drunken party, when I was just starting to get into drum and bass and was mixing records. There were a lot of my mates at the party and to make sure everyone got on the decks (due to unnamed friend who would hog the decks) we did a set list with random DJ names and somehow mine stuck.

Props on Keep It Real… please tell us about the track, and how it ended up as an exclusive!

I’m known for making loads of styles of music, not only D&B, so that was just a summer vibe tune I had made. I can’t quite remember when, but I’m sure it was a sunny day and I was making some hip-hop. And from that track I created a D&B track. It came about coming on the album as an exclusive due to a couple of previous tracks also featuring on previous albums. So when I was asked again if I was up for this album I sent through a folder of tunes and let The Risky pick what suits the album best.

Do you keep it real on the regular? If so, how?

I guess I try too, but what’s keeping it real now? Being on Facebook 24/7 promoting yourself or chilling out? To me it’s more about making the music that I’m in the mood for at that time. So I’m always on a different project.

This isn’t the first time you’ve had an exclusive on a Drum&BassArena album… give us some highlights of previous exclusivities…

Yeah I’ve had a few tunes already on the albums starting from 2010. The response from the album is great and I find more people searching out other tracks of mine after hearing my tracks on the albums.

What do you have planned this summer?

This summer I have minimised my bookings to make space for some other music I am currently working on. It’s a much bigger project than my music I make under Harvest and involves around seven musicians… Without giving too much away yet! I’m also in the process of writing and producing an EP for two local hip-hop/drum & bass MC’s called Exa and Hyskos. Then, with the remaining time I have, I work at Vigo Studios in Walsall recording and producing bands.

And release-wise what Harvest crops can we look forward to?

There will be a brand new EP coming from myself on Colab, with a few tunes being tested on the circuit at the moment. I’m going to be taking a break for while to concentrate on a few other projects, but there will be new music towards the end of the year.

What makes the perfect summer for you?

The perfect summer would include friends, music, sun and drinks. Anything extra is a bonus.

Finally, please give us three ultimate summer soundtrack tunes and explain why you’ve picked them

The tracks below would be my top three tracks for any summer BBQ and as the weather is somehow warm at the moment, these are the tracks I’m listening to today…

Klashnekoff – Jamrock Takeover

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1rnpf78Fz0

Flume – Holdin On

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_H3cIsenBQ

Nosaj Thing – Eclipse/Blue

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_woNBiIyOKI