Nu:Tone - Back of Beyond

It's about time for some UK drum and bass and Cambridge's Nu:Tone (Dan Gresham) is an excellent place to begin. DISCLAIMER: This is not a party album. This is straight up liquid funk. It's very up tempo but also more mellow than the majority of drum and bass and electronica in general that's picking up speed in the states right now. The arrangements are more intelligent, and the layering (both synthetic and sampled) is deep, numbing, and organic feeling. Don't come to this album looking for rough and angry sounding synths and samples. This is in no way similar to Pendulum and no this is not another artist desperately trying to be Aphex Twin's drukqs album but getting it totally wrong and making it way too commercial. I'm completely rambling but drum and bass is not a well-understood genre and I really think liquid funk, especially the artists that London's Hospital Records is putting out these days, are taking drum and bass music to new and exciting places.
So yes, Nu:Tone's 2007 Hospital release, Back of Beyond. There are some phenomenal songs on this album. "Beliefs" is a very traditional liquid funk track. The chord progressions are outlined by a synth organ, the lyrics are bout abstractly liberating yourself, etc etc. The bass line is ridiculous though when the keyboards come in and Gresham throws in an abundant supply of choppy sexy transitions. Its catchy and infectious. I never skip this track even though its one of the less adventurous on the album. "System" would make this album worth buying if it was the track on it. It's very vocally centric. The melodies and vocal harmonies are uplifting in that kind of mellow, pseudo-bluesy, where's my gin and tonic and would you send one over to the beautiful dark haired girl in the cocktail dress as well kind of way. I love this song, and the driving, spacious bass tone combined with the syncopated off beat snare patterns, gorgeous analog filters, and the uncompromised spaciousness just make for an amazing song. On the funkier, more syncopated side of the album, we have "What's Your Leisure". "Say Hello Wave Goodbye" and "Never Together" are both heavier hitters that feature some really cool, slightly more digital sounding samples than most of the album's offerings. This review is already way too long and all over the place so just listen to the album and enjoy.

http://rapidshare.com/files/33017407/Nu-Tone_-_Back_Of_Beyond_LP_-_2007.zip