Various Artists - Commercial Suicide Compilation

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  • Despite the confrontational name, Klute's Commercial Suicide label is anything but. Home to some of the most consistently approachable and melodic drum & bass over the past decade, the label's output has struck an underground-friendly note of approachability without exactly reaching the pop heights of similarly reputable labels like Hospital. After ten years it releases its first compilation, a collection of tight, clever drum & bass ranging from songful to brutal, one that succeeds by way of its reliability rather than its ability to shock and awe. Starting off in rather glossy territory with Optiv's "Midnight Nation"—with a beat so light and smooth it feels like it's sculpted from ivory—the compilation rarely lets that polished sheen fall off: even the harder moments are coated in butter. There's a mixture of newer names and drum & bass heroes, and surprisingly enough they rub shoulders without too much friction. American producer Gridlok mixes down-and-dirty techstep and the album's surplus of lustre with his fantastic "Enemies Of The Same," while Dub Phizix throws in the so-taut-it-can-barely-move "Scum," a four minute exercise in how to recapture some of that prime-era drum & bass magic with the simplest of ingredients. While the compilation does prove that the new wave of drum & bass isn't just a bunch of Autonomic whisperers or Noisia rip-offs, it's the old guard that shines brightest. Calibre wins best in show with the appropriately academic "Student Music," all razor-blade pinpricks and tinkling pianos, until it drops out into a free-falling breakdown. Klute provides a typically cinematic gem with the technoid "Shy Piece," Cern (with some help from Dose and Teknik) digs up some of the ugliest drums this side of Counterstrike with the thrilling "Huntsville," and S.P.Y drops a nugget of imaginative songwriting with "Bulldozer," alternating between earth-shaking drops and heart-in-mouth breakdowns. Klute's label doesn't have the musicality of Shogun nor the pop bent of Hospital; rather, it depends on a cutthroat quality control and a keen, eagle-eyed purview of the drum & bass scene that aligns it with a similarly amorphous juggernaut like Critical. As such, Commercial Suicide Compilation feels more like a compilation of well-selected tracks, a few stunners mixed in with a few just-okay standard-bearer contributions (Seba, Break). So even if it doesn't feel like the kind of explosive and celebratory thing you might expect from a decade's worth of retrospection from a label like Commercial Suicide, you'd be hard pressed to find a more consistently listenable eighty minutes of drum & bass anywhere else.
  • Tracklist
      01. Optiv - Midnight Nation 02. Mindscape & Jade - Orion 03. Gridlok - Enemies of the State 04. Dub Phizix - Scum 05. Break - Freak 06. Calibre - Student Music 07. Klute - Shy Piece 08. Nymfo & State Of Mind - Roxy 09. Seba - It Aint the Weather 10. Dakosa & Anile - Settle The Score 11. S.P.Y - Bulldozer 12. Cern, Dose & Teknik - Huntsville 13. Vicious Circle & Nocturnal - Last Chance Saloon
RA