Published
Wed, Feb 9, 2011, 09:00
- The drum & bass veteran will release his first full-length this April through his own label, Soul:R.
After 21 years on the scene, Manchester drum & bass artist Marcus Intalex is ready to release his debut album, fittingly entitled 21.
Intalex's contributions to drum & bass music have come in many forms, most of which involve colons: aside from his productions, there were his Soul:ution nights and radio shows, plus his two labels, Soul:R and Revolve:R, which gave an early break to artists like Calibre, Martyn and Instra:mental. Though firmly rooted in drum & bass, his sound owes just as much to techno and IDM, which makes him feel particularly at home in today's open-ended UK bass scene. "It's a 130-140 BPM tempo, and that's all it is: a tempo," he says. "It's an open script otherwise. It's brilliant." In fact, Intalex thinks his albums comes at a time that is, in some respects, especially healthy for drum & bass.
"To me, drum & bass is something that a lot of people have ridden on success-wise, and now people have to work a little bit harder because the spotlight is elsewhere. And they are doing exactly that. There seems to be a lot of innovative drum & bass music coming from a lot of different angles and different parts of the world. It's opened up a new appreciation for the subtlety in drum & bass: the deeper side has gotten more interesting than ever."
Much like his output over the years, 21 is both varied and coherent, with dubbed out drum & bass, atmospheric techno, a bit of acid and even a cover of Radiohead, Intalex's favorite band of all time. ("They are, musically, the best thing I've ever come across, far outreaching anything I've ever known.") Guest appearances come from fellow UK veteran Zed Bias, Lynx, S.P.Y. and NonPlus+ vocalist Riya among others. The album will be available as a triple-vinyl pack as well as digitally and on CD.
Tracklist
01. Make A Raise feat. S.P.Y. & Ras Tweed
02. Climbing Up The Walls feat. Lynx & Danny Fierce
03. Meltdown feat. Calibre
04. Hot Hands
05. Dusk
06. Celestial Navigation feat. S.P.Y.
07. Paulista feat. S.P.Y.
08. TB Or Not TB?
09. Regrets feat. Riya
10. Wacky Races
11. Strangeways feat. Zed Bias
12. Make Way feat. DRS
Soul:R will release 21 on April 18th, 2011.