Brimming with innovations from both brand-new faces and established acts, C4C Limited’s Flavours Vol. 1 EP serves as a timely opportunity to celebrate an ascendant cohort of drum and bass specialists. Totalling five tracks, each from a different artist, the project features some of the Cause4Concern catalogue’s heaviest offerings yet, with a vast range of sounds on offer spanning twinkling synths and halftime frenzies.
Kicking things off is “Eye Opener” by Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania producer Dropset, who’s remained firmly on C4C’s radar since debuting on the label last year with his well-received VC collaboration “Descent”. With recent drops on the evergreen EKOU Recordings, long-standing Danish imprint Kill Tomorrow and emerging Australian label ProtoCode under his belt, he’s consolidated his status as one to watch, and if you’re not already acquainted, “Eye Opener” will do what it says on the tin. Launching into a storm of flickering arpeggios and rhythmic impacts, it promptly progresses into epic crescendos accented by fuzzed basslines and hard-hitting drums, leaving a lasting impression.
Next up, Austrian talent JayVee makes his grand return to C4C Limited with “Movement”, a heavy-duty number reaffirming why the label’s co-founders recruited him back in 2019 for his debut signing Lost in Unknown Spaces. Opening with cinematic ambiance, the new track takes a darker turn as its sci-fi samples and sinewy basslines strike, reaching brutal climaxes centred around grisly, vowelled sounds. KillBreak, who steps up for the ensuing cut “Black Thursday”, is equally accomplished; with tunes alongside UK hip hop icons Foreign Beggars and Pendulum’s KJ Sawka in his arsenal – released via Eatbrain and Renegade Hardware respectively – the ever-reliable Brooklyn beatmaker has already demonstrated a penchant for mind-bending productions. “Black Thursday” is no exception, coming in the form of a stonking halftime cut lanced by chugging, metallic low-end.
Meanwhile, fast-rising trio Psynchro turn in the aptly titled “Earthquake”, a gargantuan creation which builds from ambient breakdowns to an intoxicating pinnacle anchored on scratchy basslines and rapid-fire percussion. Counting Andy C’s RAM Records, Black Sun Empire’s Blackout Music NL, Maztek’s 0101 Music and iconic platform Skankandbass among their past collaborators, the three-piece is already in high demand, and with good reason. Concluding Flavours Vol. 1 is a tag-team from Symplex and Confusion entitled “Resonate”, which opens with invitingly melodic arps before arriving at tearout drops synonymous with the future funk sound C4C pride themselves on—a fitting conclusion to a heavyweight EP.
Flavours Vol. 1 lands 4 October 2021 via digital service providers.
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