We’re kicking off the week on the blog with a big up to Lung…
A card carrying member of D&B/bass music’s new breed: Players who constantly evade generic tags, hopping and skipping between tempos but continually adding to their repertoire with consistency and quality.
Take last week’s release Why Does Anyone Ever Do Anything? An evergreen, string-coated roller that coasts with soul, there is no mistaking it’s a pure D&B track, with a genuinely decent vocal to boot. But check its release compadres – the penetrating steppy 140 kicks and deep pads of Sky People, the low-fi breakbeats of Asleep In Her Bed and the almost Detroit techno incessancy of Complete Me, Completely – and it’s clear Lung is most comfortable being unpredictable, hovering happily between 140-170.
“I’ve only released four drum & bass tracks! And two of them are on a half step,” he laughs. “There used to be this really purist, straight and narrow attitude about drum & bass but now people are happy to buck the trend, be open minded and do what they feel like.”
Hospital’s Med School imprint is the perfect home for Lung with a AAA pass to explore electronica’s boundary-free frontiers.
“We’re all pretty similar in that left-of-spectrum sound,” he nods. “We all experiment with tempos and styles. Bop and Unquote’s albums are both incredible. Joe Syntax is doing some mad stuff as well. We’ve got freedom to explore as many areas as we want.”
Such an adventurous attitude is in the very DNA of D&B… Our scene was based on experimentation and formulaic freedom. The similarities between dubstep’s formative years and early jungle aren’t to be dismissed. To the point where many D&B DJs add dynamics to a set with one or two lower tempo tunes.
“It’s weird; you can drop the tempo for dubstep and you can get a bigger reaction,” Lung laughs. “The best thing to do is find tune that do that tempo naturally. They’re the big DJ weapons. Seamless, you know? To be honest, I’m happiest playing a straight drum & bass set. I did used to DJ at 140 all the time but I just got bored! All the tunes are the same tempo, so all you’re doing is pressing play. There’s some good scope for harmonic mixing, though. But whenever you’re DJing, you want to create a journey… you want those peaks and troughs. It’s the same if some just played roller after roller after roller. You need dynamics!”
Dynamics abound throughout Lung’s short but perfectly formed discography so far. We’ve got most available right here and you’ll be darned if you think that’s it from him… As is the fashion at camp Hozzy, there’s already talk of an album.
“I’m writing and writing now. Hopefully it’ll all go towards the album,” he tells us. “I wanna write 30, 40 maybe even 50 odd tunes so we can choose the best for the album. I’m hoping this is the plan. And maybe even by the end of the year! The whole part of an album is buying into someone you really like. If I buy an album it’s because I love the artist and want to listen to their music lots and lots of times! You want them to take you on that journey. I never want to write throw-away, banger of the month tunes.”
Sounds like Lung’s music will respire for a long time to come.
We asked Lung to drop the tempo and give us three sub-170 tunes we should all get to know…
Commix – Specticle
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTMXxWRXjgE
“Call To Mind was such a huge album for me. It was one of the first albums I ever bought! Metalheadz really solidified drum & bass and to have that variation in tempo back then was incredibly bold. This was 2007, which is way before you had the type of experimentation in D&B. I never listened to any house and didn’t think I liked it – back then I was just ‘I love drum & bass, that’s all I’m gonna listen to now!’ – but this really opened my eyes to what you can do at 120-130bpm. The musicality is great, it’s very soulful. Check it if you don’t know it already!”
Ma – Japanese Bones [Royalston Remix]
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oJJ5rfPbyI
“This came out on Med School as part of his Cerulean Blue EP. This is actually drum & bass, so this isn’t a tempo thing but listen to that rhythm: The time signature is just mental! It has this mad groove and never fails to make me go ‘what the fuck?’ The production is top notch too… Royalsy’s the man! You can hear every single element precisely. It’s like magic. I’d recommend this if you want to hear something completely different within drum & bass. But it’s a bugger to mix. Seriously.”
Amit – Stay With Me
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G72dYoeHduQ
“This is on Exit and features Rani, who’s on his album. We’re talking proper musical dubstep with a very heavy, hypnotic groove. I’m hoping he does a lot more this type of stuff. Captivating… And very inspiring!”