Metalheadz veteran J Majik follows up 2019’s well received Full Circle with a three-disc album, Always Be, which continues his melding of old school drum’n’bass with a certain experimental scattering of sounds across the banging beats, making it a little more than just a raucous dancefloor filler.
The intervening twenty years have clearly expanded J’s palette. In fact, I defy anyone to dance to the hectic opener “Always Be”, which with its spacey opening vibe and indistinct vocals is a helter skelter of disjointed fills and beatless piano breaks, unexpected stretched and little additions which only leave each descent into rhythm even more headlong.
It is quite a start, but thankfully the rhythms presented across the album are varied in their strength and insistence as it progresses, and there is even space for some variations in style. There are ten tracks spread across six sides of vinyl and a couple of them spin at 45 rpm. “Velocity” and “Future World” must have been cut at that speed to prevent the stylus being thrown out of the groove, such is the throb of the low end. The beats are mindless and thudding on “Velocity”, whereas the bongo effects of “Future World” sound as if they are coming from the attic, a layer of dust being shaken with every bass pulsation. Elsewhere, there are subtle touches to keep the listener fully engaged; there are eerie space effects and scattered voices on the otherwise straight ahead “Dark Summer”, while “Break Free” has some otherworldly vocals of which Les Baxter would have been proud. The other unusual step is the change of vibe entirely on the electronica piece “Holographic”, where the drums sound more like light tapping on aluminium shutters. Its playful keyboard motif is quite subtle and the track serves almost as a palette cleanser.The other swing taken is in a slightly housier direction on “Life Force” and “Sunkiss”. The former’s cool vocals and hypnotic keyboard head off on on a sunny Ibiza trip, while the latter is darker and deeper, the mysterious vocals heading towards IDM. Always Be is interesting in the way that its intricate details offset against stomping beats, and by the time the final track “Message To You” drops with its final blowout of breakneck beats and cheeky keyboard counterpoint, your speakers will have been given a right old workout, as well as your nineties D&B spirit.
Impressive, relentless stuff.
-Mr Olivetti-
