- Dan HabarNam wasn't the first drum & bass artist to go 4/4 in the '10s, and he probably won't be the last. But the Romanian was never a conventional drum & bass producer, exploring unusual grooves even by the standards of envelope-pushing labels like Exit. His lower-tempo tracks have been similarly fresh. Last year's 4 AM Juno Birdcall was where he really found his sound, a scuffed, back-to-basics kind of UK techno that was dark and brutally funky. The record's highlights, "Juno Birdcall" and "4AM Rattle," were hammered by Ben UFO, but their (belated, vinyl-only) release on HabarNam's Selectie label went pretty under the radar. This two-tracker for Bristol's Idle Hands consolidates the sound, and with any luck will bring it to fresh ears.
If anything, "High Pass Rambo" is too much of a consolidation. With its molten bassline, claustrophobic kick and lacerating hi-end, flavoured with bleeps and synth choirs, it could be an offcut from the last record. It lacks the ruthless swing of HabarNam's best, too, but it has the ten-ton weight. Inspiration strikes harder on the B-side. The pattern of the track's title is a complex mosaic of interlocking percussion, smoky piano chords and Livity-like low-end. Hypnotic and slyly muscular, it suggests further frontiers for HabarNam to explore.
TracklistA High Pass Rambo
B Draw Your Pattern