Western Lore is only a little over three-and-a-half years old, but already its releases are some of the most sought-after drops around. Filed under ‘modern jungle’, but with a sound and look that encompass the broader spirit of rave, it’s a home for hypnotic, ruffneck beats that bring together elements of techno, house, drum & bass, trance and more.
The label’s origins lie back in 2014; founder Alex Eveson had seen some success producing breaksy liquid d&b under his last name and with his label Channel 82. But with vinyl sales dwindling the imprint became impractical, and he found himself disillusioned with the clinical sound dominating drum & bass all clean, surgical drum-work and crisp mix-downs. He longed for the crunch and the dirt of the ‘90s sounds he grew up on.
To 150 and beyond
Just when you thought conversations about tempo were over, along comes 2020 with the hot, new, must-have bpm: 150. Though technically there’s actually nothing new about it nosebleed techno has been happily ramping itself up to around that speed the past few years, and hardcore/ jungle producers like Foul Play and LTJ Bukem were doing it in the early ’90s this year has seen a fresh wave of 150bpm beats sweep the UK scene.
There are two main reasons for this. The first is practicality; the past decade has seen multi-genre DJing explode like never before. With sounds from across the world evermore accessible, and DJ technology making once complex tasks evermore simple, artists have become more adventurous with what and how they play. Though there have been tricks for jumping between ‘unmixable’ tunes since the dawn of DJing, to achieve smooth blends when moving from, say, 140bpm dubstep to 160bpm footwork, stepping stones are needed: enter 150bpm.