Time for more drum and bass news. This time it’s a heads up on a single on the Utopia label that will be available on Monday and it’s an interesting one. It’s from Fields who is better known as Ben Wilson in real life or as Mute when he works with his brother Andrew, who goes by the name Villem. Confused? Never mind, all you need to know is the single is good.
It’s a double A side which for most people listening on CD or MP3 won’t mean anything but those old school purists who still buy vinyl will know it refers to the fact that both tracks are classed as hits in their own right. In ye days of old you’d have Side A and Side B, obviously you were supposed to feel Side B was the slightly inferior of the two so some smart arse decided to refer to every single as a Double A instead. Not that people really pay much attention to it nowadays, or do they? I don’t have a turntable so can’t really comment but I doubt there are many singles which have Side A on both sides.
Anyway, enough waffle. Behind The Curtains is to my ear a slightly darker track than the flip side, Elemental. It took me 4 or 5 listens before I really got into it, there’s a lot going on and I feel my patience was rewarded. It builds up pace but I think I’d really need to hear it drop in a club at 2am to really get the full impact, I’d try it at home but I know the neighbours would go apeshit. I know I say this a lot but I hear traces of Grooverider and Roni Size in it and that’s no bad thing in my book.
Now, Elemental on the other hand I warmed to within 30 seconds of listening. It’s a lovely contrast. It’s a nice snuggly warm piece of drum n bass that quickly gets your toes tapping and in my case my fingers too, sadly not a great help when trying to type this piece as the first few drafts were littered with typos. It’s very much a start of the night track that really gets you in the mood. Personally I’d have switched the order, light then dark but I guess most drum n bass fans prefer to come out of the dark into the light.
Hmm I’m waffling again! So instead of me writing more and you skipping over it, why don’t you just have a preview listen to Behind The Curtains and Elemental on SoundCloud?
Ben has an interesting background, he started listening mainly to metal and punk and it was only because his brother, who I assume is older, sent him to pick up a record that he got into the drum n bass groove. He used his Playstation to get started producing music with the help of Music 2000, that quickly led him to experiment with Reason and before long he was getting busy with Cubase and an Emu 5000 sampler.
His collaborations with his brother and his good friend Stephen Mako were quickly picked up by KSS Black and it wasn’t long before he had an EP signed to Ingredients Records. Whilst honing his production skills in the studio, Fields has put in time as a promoter in Brighton, and has undertaken bespoke commissions for TV and advertising for Hear No Evil publishing.
A firm believer in quality over quantity, Fields is carefully building his catalogue of releases without being held to a particular style or sound. If this single is anything to go by, it’s a principle that works for him.
Behind The Curtains/Elemental is released on Monday 23 July on the Utopia Music label. You can buy it on FLAC (£2.70), MP3 (£1.70) and Vinyl (£7) from Surus
