Five Steps: Bop

To carve a niche out of today’s vast musical landscape is no mean feat. As the pioneer and driving force behind the meticulous ambience that is Microfunk, Bop‘s catalogue is simply wonderful. His fantastic debut album on Med School Clear Your Mind was his … Read More

PREVIEW: Exit Records presents Mosaic – Volume Two

It’s finally arrived. After 2 and a half years of waiting, the follow-up to the seminal various artists LP Mosaic – Volume One, a compilation that defined a whole new sound in the spectrum of d&b, is almost upon us.

… Read More

Dub Phizix’s ‘Rainy City Music’

To celebrate the release of Mise En Place Pt. 2 on Ingredients, we asked Dub Phizix to give us a selection of his favourite ‘Rainy City’ tracks. From the man himself, “Urban Essence asked me to choose five tunes which … Read More

UE.8: Monika

Next up in our mix series is Maxwell Guise aka Monika, an exciting young producer of ambient 170bpm soundscapes that have had us beguiled ever since we first encountered them. We got Max in for a quick chat to find … Read More

SPOTLIGHT: Until Silence

Aficionados of Autonomic, the futuristic and minimal offshoot of drum & bass pioneered by dBridge and Instra:mental, will recognise the name Mode from his inclusion in the seminal Mosaic Volume One LP. His track Stepping Stones was one of the … Read More

Med School – Blood Pressure LP

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Hospital Records’ sister label Med School, managed by Ash ‘Med School’ Howard, has been upstaging its more established sibling as an advocate of quality electronic music for quite some time now. We can look as far back as at its … Read More

SPOTLIGHT: The Crescent

There’s an air of mystery surrounding new ambient-170 label The Crescent. Tunes on the label’s appropriately sparse Soundcloud have gone up and come down in quick succession, but there’s already a huge demand to hear more.

We were lucky enough … Read More

UE.1: Tiran

So here it is, the inaugural issue of the new Urban Essence mix series has arrived!

Volume One explores the deeper ambient sounds of 170bpm music and 2-step. Aimed at joining the dots between lounge and club, this new series … Read More