Hospital Mix 3 - Mixed by Nu:Tone

  • Share
  • Continuing on with Hospital Records' bargain priced CD series - Hospital Mix comes the third installment of the series this time mixed by Nu:Tone. Hospital Records represents the middle ground drum'n'bass tunes - not too laidback and definitely not too hard, but more on a funky and uplifting tip - like LTJ Bukem's Good Looking imprint pulling out the slamming dancefloor bombs. As usual Hospital Mix offers listeners a mixture of already released tunes from their catalogue and some unreleased "future classics" from their range of artists. Nu:Tone's own remix of the Lenny Fontana track, Spread Love gets the mix underway, and for those who haven't heard it, it's a sped up interpretation of a classic house tune with feel good lyrics that make you want to sing along. Love is definitely the message Nu:Tone wishes to spread here! Nu:Tone even propels broken beat duo Phuturistix into drum'n'bass with his remix of Beautiful featuring the sultry vocals of Jenna Gibson. There's a couple of Nu:Tone original tracks such as the jazzy, trumpet laden Breathless - which doesn't sound too breathless with the angelic "Aaaahs!" played on top! - and Feel It on a rougher tip featuring some hard rolling breaks. London Electricity, who mixed volume make quite and appearance in this mix, most notably on tunes like To Be Me - which has the same vocals as a downbeat Katalyst tune - and also their Different Drum which is included in the mix twice both remixed by different producers, with Photek's remix sitting on a harder, beatier tip (as Photek usually does) while Dillinja's remix turns up the bassline and tweaks the drums around to create an original sounding breakbeat. Both mixes work well with each other, it's hard to tell that it's two different versions of the one tune! London Electricity even offer an exclusive mix of their Billion Dollar Gravy, this time multiplying it by a factor of a million to call it Zillion Dollar Gravy - the first and only in the mix to bring in the half tempo beats before speeding back up to a mother of a rolling break. 8 of the 16 tunes in the mix are exclusive tracks including the aforementioned Breathless and Beautiful. Dagga's Misty sounds like it borrows from an theme song to an old 50's TV show thanks in part to the drawn out string samples and jazzy orchestral arrangements. Quiet Star by Cyantific eases out the mayhem that was Different Drum(s) to bring in more of a relaxed vibe to the end of the mix, that is until Danny Byrd & Adrock travel to the Planet Music with the help of MC Foxy on vocals bringing out the more uplifting rolling breaks and melodic keys back into the mix. Finally Cyantific returns to finish off the mix with Be True featuring the vocals of Heidi Levo. Be True has a real old skool hardcore feel to it, mainly due to the usage of the famed "Amen" break throughout the track. Cyantific chop up the beats throughout the track incorporating different elements and moving the beats around giving the song very nice variations throughout - great ending to the mix! Weighing in at just under 60 minutes, Hospital Mix 3 is a superb collection of funky and uplifting drum'n'bass tunes and as typical of any good drum'n'bass mix, it has it's peaks and troughs - peaking to a climax at Different Drum before easing out with Quiet Star. Bargain priced CD series such as the Hospital Mix really help a label's reputation especially when their full of quality tracks such as this. Fans of drum'n'bass will love this and keep on playing it.
RA