t/s: hessle audio vs hemlock vs hotflush vs hyperdub

Hyperdub have done the most things I really like (albums as well as singles) but Hessle Audio seem really consistent. Not familiar with the earlier Hotflush stuff - is that Space & Time comp worth getting?

I like Hemlock enough just not Breton, couldn't really get into the Girl Unit remix either. Hemlock is solid as hell otherwise.

How about Numbers and Night Slugs? When they're on form... fuck. Both have lows mind... L-Vis is so bad its unreal as a producer but it doesn't seem to effect the labels output much apart from when he drops a 12" which isn't often thankfuly. Numbers, I dunno sometimes they're missing something other times they kill it.

they're not really doing "intelligent bass" though are they?

I don't think any of these people are...

well you know what i mean. They're not as "serious" at the others i guess

which is why they're better

I mean the distance from the colourful synth heavy Hyperdub stuff aint far away from loads of Night Slugs releases and the Night Slugs drums aint far off Hessle. So I don't think you can say Night Slugs/Numbers are much diffrent from that pack whatever you wanna label it as.

NS and numbers are rarely as DRY as these labels can be

I definitely like Night Slugs better than any of these. Though they've slowed up recently

i didn't add night slugs, numbers, butterz, well rounded, ramp, pattern, 3024 etc because they seem more rooted in grime & funky than in dubstep, whereas hemlock, hessle, etc are strongly rooted in proper dubstep and drum and bass (untold was a drum and bass engineer)

grime, funky & ukg i should say

personally i think the night slugs stuff sounds much, much different from hessle & hemlock. i get your point with hyperdub, i just threw it in there because i liked the H

lex is right, the hessle & hemlock stuff *is* more dry and that's what makes it better than night slugs, etc

Dry is absolutely the word to describe Hessle. That Blawan track "Getting Me Down" kills everything else he's ever done because the vocal sample injects a bit of fun into it. I'd vote Night Slugs in a heartbeat over any of these, and yeah they count - I'd mix NS stuff in with Hyperdub etc...

ugh I hate fun, even the word you use ("injection") makes it sound nasty

oh here you go, here's yr prescribed "fun", better smile like you love r&b or we'll take yr dissensus account away

i hate fun as well, "getting me down" is deadly serious and all the better for it but it's not dry either

if you don't love r&b i don't know wtf went wrong with your life really

like anyone on dissensus knows shit about r&b though

for every NS release that bangs (thinking of the immense bok bok "southside" release) there's some garbage like mosca or velour lurking

velour is one of their best releases!!!!! i could listen to "she wore velour" forever

in fact i think i might put that ep second only behind wut in their catalogue

well we've already established we have different tastes so ...

you can only listen to that track forever cause its so deathly boring you wouldn't know the difference

"Dance fans who hate fun". Uh huh, okay.

Also Mosca and Velour are responsible for some of my favourite tracks in recent years (although that recent "boring house" EP Mosca released recently is the epitome of "dry/not fun".

fuck fun, i want something simultaneously steely and thought-provoking, like reinforced to night slugs' talkin' loud

more fun to go around for everyone else then I guess...

"she wore velour" is like if somebody tried to remake "discopolis" or "stars" (mr fingers) on a playstation

in a bad way

oh hello perfect immortal song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FkVaoe_BSE

pardon my while i poop out some nasty cheap synth diarrhea and an awful "swung" beat all over you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CWNL06R7z0

the synth trombone at 1:35 is particularly ... musical

i mean, to be fair, on balance it's not *that* bad but it's just a standard 2010 "future garage" beat + some bloopy synths over a mr fingers sample

i like my fun like this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDb-9bNRW_Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGoQ5oWaA0M

well when you put it that way, i agree

also this idea that hessle is more interested in drums than hemlock is not correct

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAWCUb8stgw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gSPK2hYH50&feature=related

if i'm going to listen to something like velour i would much rather go to like dj dom or doc daneeka or hackman or CRST or whatever

Hyperdub have released my favorite individual tunes out of these four, but in terms of overall consistency and feeling drawn towards their overall aesthetic then it's Hessle Audio for me by a long way.

The stuff on Hotflush is generally not my cup of tea, I can see that they're good at what they do but it never really grabs me.
Hemlock - there's definitely been some tunes on the label that I've enjoyed, but as a label it doesn't stand out for me, I don't check for every release there like I would with Hessle or Hyperdub. Like when I saw the name up top I had to stop and think 'hang on, which tunes actually came out on there?'.

IIRC there's a fair bit of overlap between Hessle & Hemlock in terms of artists anyway?

"she wore velour" isn't great b/c of the beat, it's the gorgeous gorgeous melody and the structure of the song, that amazing tune coming down from the heavens halfway through. i remember the first time i ever heard it, had no idea what it was - bok bok was djing on some london rooftop as night fell in the summer and it was the most incredibly perfect moment. a few months later when i got that promo i replied back in all caps going OMG IT'S THAT SONG IT'S THAT SONG YOU PLAYED THAT NIGHT OMG

so many memories of vibing to it at 8am afterparties that summer~

xpost to andy m YES that's why i put them front and center in the T/S action, its the subtle difference between hessle and hemlock i was trying to suss out

^^ In terms of the other labels discussed above:
Numbers are another favorite of mine but I do tend to feel they are on a somewhat different vibe to any of the 4 in the OP. Not quite sure I would use 'fun' to pinpoint the difference, the corny-sounding way I'd put it instead is that they're more of Friday night good-times label. Like when they did that video for Different Leksrix with all the clips from the New Dance Show in it that made so much sense to me in terms of the overall vibe of the label and the music that they're putting out.

Night Slugs I go through stages through, which are prob as much to do with me and the variability of what I want from dance music at any given time as they are with any changes in the label's output (though of course there has been a lot of variety between the different releases there).

(Apologies for post splurge, just trying to get myself a bit more involved plus generally unblock my writing a bit).

when i think of numbers i think of jackmaster which is more of a post-everything mixed bag diplo sort of experience

hemlock / hessle / hotflush (and to a less extent hyperdub) are much more rooted in "traditionalist" dubstep labels, hence my ref to tectonic

Yeah I feel you on that. Would never use dubstep to describe Numbers, even in a source/primary influence kind of way.

I guess I'm kind of biased on Jackmaster and the other Numbers djs after so many good experiences going along to their nights at the Sub Club over the last 2-3 years. Jack in particular can def do the thing of playing a set full of big anthems from across several hip scene, which I can see being irritating (have found the same approach annoying from other DJs myself). For me what ties his style together and imo lifts him up is the love of classic Detroit & Chicago stuff - not unique him to obv, but it seems to underpin his tune selection even in contemp stuff and in how he mixes (plus of course he's just very skilled with beat-matching and has a great ear for blends/tune combinations).

A load of the labels share artists.

Untold: Hemlock, Hessle, Numbers, Hotflush.
Ramadanman: Hessle, Hemlock, Night Slugs.
Randomer: Hessle, Hemlock, Numbers.
Cosmin TRG: Hemlock, Hessle.
Girl Unit: Hemlock, Night Slugs.
Pangaea: Hessle, Hemlock, Hotflush.
James Blake: Hessle, Hemlock.
Martyn: Hessle, Hyperdub.
Lil Silva: Night Slugs, Hotflush.
Mosca: Night Slugs, Numbers.
Bok Bok: Night Slugs, Dress 2 Sweat which is now part of Numbers.

You could prob go furthere I just got bored.

i don't actually think that "hot songs from all scenes" thing is annoying at all, i know diplo is sort of a love/hate thing

'Hot songs from all scenes' is not a major bugbear of mine but I have def heard some pretty clumsy takes on it.

jackmaster is such an incredible dj - i think what sets him out is also his fondness for playing str8-up populist cheese and mixing that up with "hip" stuff from "hot scenes" like it ain't a thing

^ he's one of the best. I really want to hear a...

Jackmaster b2b Ben UFO b2b Oneman b2b Bok Bok b2b Brackles set.

I think something close happened on Sub FM way back but one wasn't there, Brackles maybe.

If Blunted Robots didn't kinda slow to a hault and 502 wasn't so young they'd be worth a shout here too, ace labels.

i had free passes to see Oneman and Jackmaster last week but i couldn't go :(

i contemplated it but went to move d instead

i think what sets him out is also his fondness for playing str8-up populist cheese and mixing that up with "hip" stuff from "hot scenes" like it ain't a thing

Good point this. There was that great mix he did a while back filled with 90s crossover house hits like You Don't Know Me & Synth And Strings, was a nice reminder of how good some of those tunes still sound.
Really the only problem I have with his very anthem-orientated sets is that some of those tunes I've just heard too many times already, no matter how good they are. I was slightly disappointed with his Fabric CD for this reason, it's harder to justify shelling out for a mix when you've got and regularly rinse a lot of the tunes on it already. But it's a minor in the big scheme of things, I def rate him highly.

no matter how many times i've heard splack pack, UR and thomas bangalter, i've never heard them over one another, so that fabric mix was gold for me

i really didn't think the fabric mix showcased what's great about jackmaster, it felt like he was trying to cram way too much stuff in

plus it fucking ended with RADIOHEAD kmft kmft kmft unforgivable

i gotta admit these labels bore me a bit these days

http://boomkat.com/downloads/886609-pangaea-fabriclive-73-pangaea

this is surprisingly... normal sounding.

yeah, disappointing

that new hyperdub 10.3 comp where everyone on the label turns in an ambient piece ('a soundtrack to a film never made' etc etc) might have been good, but it just seems so self aware and a bit silly really. the good thing about hyperdub is/was that they sound like they COULD be on a soundtrack (and they actually were on children of men, well kode 9 at least), but actually DOING that seems to ruin the idea. i need to hear it a few more times, and there are some good/interesting pieces on here, but i think most of these producers work better with/should stick to beats. i also wish hyperdub did more EPs than albums.

where everyone on the label turns in an ambient piece

Sounds like the old Metalheadz box set comp. Self-awareness as a criticism just feels like trying to stop people breaking out of their pigeonholes tho. Everybody said the same about DnB artists moving off DnB beats. Cobblers then cobblers now :)

not sure anyone on hyperdub (or any of these labels) is in a pigeonhole to be honest. not like its 2006 and its still thought of as a dubstep label...

Yeah, just picked up 10.3 and I'm absolutely loving it. Not sure what the criticisms are talking about (ILM is not the only place I've seen opinions about it being too whatever-ish).

I really liked the hyperdub 10.4 set

Also picked up that one, but have not played it yet.

heh, i like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsAhvNSyiyQ

in lieu of a Hyperdub 15 physical release it looks like we're getting a digital release/adult swim collaboration

HyperSwim is a 19 track digital-only compilation which will be streaming in its entirety this Friday, November 22nd, on @adultswim, then will be available on all digital platforms from Saturday November 23rd. pic.twitter.com/Bp5GnXjoAw

— Hyperdub (@Hyperdub) November 18, 2019

Is VERSION part of this axis? Them, if so.

Whities >>>>

Hyperdub has released some truly woeful music in the past five years, a roster of utter mediocrity coasting along on residual critical acclaim

yeah whities.

although I probably only enjoy about 1/3rd of it, I dare say the rest is still good, just not for me.

loraine james album on hyperdub is beautiful imo

xxxp harsh but fair

Hessle Audio still killing it though. Best UK dance music label since the glory days of dubstep for me.

Hessle Audio haven't released a single record in 2019.

Whities for the win.

Overmono's "iii's Front" on Whities was maybe my favourite club record of 2018.

my (maybe) fave of 2019 is also by Overmono. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvpyQQjahL8

Hyperdub is having a renaissance imo, they're doing what they should be doing signing the younger generation (Loraine James, DJ Haram, Nazar, Proc Fiskal)

DJ Haram record is VG++

Overmono's "iii's Front" on Whities was maybe my favourite club record of 2018.

Killer tune. Sick breaks. What more could you want...

Hyperdub is having a renaissance imo, they're doing what they should be doing signing the younger generation (Loraine James, DJ Haram, Nazar, Proc Fiskal)

They're not quite at the same level of quality as they used to be in the first ~5 years (you could probably easily argue first ~10 years even), but there's some good stuff as of late. The old guard (Kode9, Burial) aren't too interesting these days as much as I hate to say it, but I do love a lot of the new UK signees especially Haram and Proc as well as the Teklife producers.

http://www.adultswim.com/music/hyper-swim/

Burial has a synth now.

But for real, lotssss of good tracks on here so far.

I agree! It's good to see the old guard still going strong ie Ikonika, Cooly G, Scratcha and of course Burial

INTELLIGENT BASS

Ergh :(

I really don't get Proc Fiskal, at all. The Loraine James album is actually really good though, thanks to this thread for encouraging me to finally get around to it

proc fiskal is a funny name at least