The Essential Metalheadz

Quite possibly the best drum and bass label there has ever been. Founded in 1993 by Goldie, Doc Scott, Storm and the much-missed Kemistry, Metalheadz has come to be known as the most pioneering label in drum and bass.

The seminal Metalheadz Sunday Sessions at London's Blue Note have become the stuff of scene legend and their Platinum Breaks compilations helped to win over those who assumed all drum and bass sounded like lorries reversing by showcasing a side of the music that was not only sophisticated and intricate but also representative of the creativity and innovation found amongst the UK's most talented producers.

The mighty imprint is 15 years old this month and is celebrating by releasing a compilation of some of the label's finest moments on 15 Years of Metalheadz. Kmag is in turn celebrating by picking our own finest moments from Metalheadz and inviting you lot to do the same in the comments section below. Here we go...

1. Adam F – Metropolis
This came out in 1996, people, 1996! Can you imagine, knowing what you know now, what it would have been like to hear this for the first time back then?? The drums are executed with a kind of psychopathic precision and just like Fritz Lang's film, Adam F's Metropolis is foreboding, futuristic and spooky.



2. Alex Reece – Pulp Fiction
I have two words: Bass Line. Understated and simple, laid-back, grown-up, and a bit dark... This is the little black dress, the Tom Ford, the Audi of drum and bass tunes. Its minimalist arrangement makes it timeless, I can't imagine this ever sounding dated. A true classic.



3. Doc Scott – Swarm
Pure dark side drum and bass. How did such a big tune manage to evade any mention on Google other than links to mp3s? And why has it got only just over a thousand views on YouTube? Talk about being underground. If someone asked me what the difference between jungle and drum and bass was, I wouldn't be able to tell them but I'd probably play them this.



4. D Kay and Lee – Wax'd
Wax'd shows the more mellow, slightly warmer and melodic side to Metalheadz. This smoother sound of drum and bass has become a signature style in Headz ambassador, DJ Lee's sets, and tempers the moody intensity of some of the stable's other releases.

5. Optical – To Shape The Future
Glitchy and minimalist, To Shape The Future delivered on its name by becoming pretty much the catalyst for the whole neurofunk movement, and should be given massive credit for being so directional. Not only that but I heard that because of complaining neighbours when Optical was writing it he had to judge the level of the bass by feeling the vibration of the speakers while they were turned down low. That must have been HARD. Big skill.



6. Rufige Cru – Terminator
'Whistle crew make some noise!!' Oh my god, this was before even my time but it is so, so sick. Reminds me of being 13 and listening to tape packs in my bedroom. Seminal and pioneering, Terminator was among the first new wave of jungle tunes to come out of hardcore and paved the way for the Metalheadz legacy.



7. Dillinja – Angels Fell
Harks back to a time before the genre became ever more fragmented, when it was okay to do stripped back drums instead of the 2-step template that limits so much of dnb output today; a time when forums didn't erupt in acne-popping apoplexy if someone so much as removed a snare. The good news is that we're seeing a shift in trend back towards this kind of fluid production; not sure anyone will ever be able to do bass quite like Dillinja though.



8. Ed Rush – The Raven
Dirty as a dustbin full of torn bum holes. The paranoid and tense The Raven was arguably the genesis of the idea for the fantastic Locust - which came a couple of years later - with its grumbly Reece bass line providing the hook and its idiosyncratic hi-hats. As dark and sinister as any Edgar Allen Poe story. Not so much 'nevermore', as 'more!'



9. Noisia – The Bells
Right, back to the future now with one of the most recent releases. In The Bells we see a return to the label's experimental form with Noisia's interesting precise, minimal sound. This tune makes the list for having balls and for being a very positive statement of intent for Metalheadz as it enters its 16th year.



10. John B – Up All Night
This tune was probably the first time we were ever introduced to the term 'trance and bass'. Some people weren't sure at first but the foresight of Metalheadz A&R has long since been vindicated by the fact that seven years on it is hailed as one of the hugest dance floor dnb tunes from that era and John B is now one of drum and bass's most commercially successful artists. The atmospherics, pitched-up vocals and piano riffs referenced early nineties rave, while the dirty Reece bass line kept the tune rooted in the contemporary. Big and brilliant.



URL to original article on Knowledge's site here: http://www.kmag.co.uk/editorial/features/848