His cuts are always crisp, and nothing seems left to chance. Every sound - from the chimes,
to the whistles, saxophones and, of course, the bass and the drums - seem arranged by a
tireless perfectionist. ‘Future Reference’, his new vocal album proves that John can create a
lot more than clean beats, but also soulful, sexy, and satisfying music.
John’s rise to the top of the heap in drum & bass has been well documented... DJ SS gave him
a deal with Formation and Goldie offered words of encouragement that led to releases on
Metalheadz. John B quickly became one of the most respected producers on the scene all while
still at university studying Cell Biology. His vinyl releases now are too numerous to mention, but
John has released three albums so far: ‘Visions’ (1998), ‘Catalyst’ (1999) and ‘Redox’ (2000).
People might get a sense that John’s a bit of a studio geek because of his high concept
second album, but John’s a normal guy really who loves to hit the sauce, and big, loud
drum & bass clubs like any self-respecting DJ. John doesn’t hide out in the studio at all,
quite the contrary. He DJs all over the world, on a recent weekend he went to Thailand
and Singapore, and is in North America touring almost constantly. He is a regular at all
the d&b nights in London out dancing along with all the punters. Even though John loves
to play, he is still an intellectual.
For example, whatever the fad of the moment in d&b seems to be John will always offer up
a well thought out and timely comment on vinyl. Take ‘Up All Night’, his take on the old skool
trend. Instead of just doing a remix, John took the kernel of the idea in the old skool trend
(to make a dancefloor ready vocal track reminiscent of early jungle) and came up with
something completely new and fresh.
‘Future Reference’ builds on another current theme in drum & bass production, making tracks
that have more traditional song structures and pretty vocal arrangements, something
that had been out of vogue. While drum & bass never completely stopped making vocal
tunes, the kind of vocal tracks produced by the dark, techstep movement were nothing like
the vocal tracks of the old skool jungle days. For a while vocals were used more as sounds
like the bleep to add texture to tracks than something to sing along to. While drum & bass
became more technical, a lot of the party vibe left the scene, and the popularity of drum
& bass in the eyes of the masses dwindled, according to some people. Meanwhile UK
garage came on strong, and a lot of the women left drum & bass for the more sensual, vocal
and danceable rhythms of the 2-step movement. This version of events is open to debate,
but for whatever reason, as garage’s popularity blew up last summer some drum & bass
heads murmured about wanting to ‘bring the ladies back’.
John witnessed these events unfolding in London first hand on the dancefloors. England
was awash in vocal fever, and feeling the times a-changing he jumped into the studio to
make some vocal tracks that eventually led to his upcoming album. ‘Future Reference’
tries to mix catchy, accessible songs (instead of abstract tunes) with futuristic d&b beats.
“I wanted to do an album that was a lot more accessible than anything that I had ever done
in the past,” John explains, “and vocals was a way to do that. Since I got a lot of new studio
equipment I was able to do all sorts of things with vocals like multitracking, and sound
design that I had never been able to do before. I wanted to do an album that flowed
together instead of being separate tracks, and to do some catchy tracks instead of the same
old instrumental dancefloor tracks.”
John doesn’t think that songs with vocals are going to save drum & bass, but he does hope
to put out some vocal music that puts out a more positive and uplifting vibe: “I want to make
the music more light-hearted and less anal. But just because there is a vocal in a track
doesn’t make it a good one. A lot of vocal tracks are wack.”
John B’s critics charge him with producing music that is a bit too much on the light side, and
not rough enough (or something) to be drum & bass. But John still makes hardcore dancefloor
ready d&b, and no one should lose sight of that just because some of his d&b comes down
more on the experimental side. To appease the nay-sayers who like their drum & bass straight
up, no ice, he has created different labels so that he can release tracks under his own name
on labels with defined styles. Beta Recordings is his flagship label that showcases the straight
dancefloor stuff he still makes in abundance. It has releases by himself, Exile and Nu/Tone.
The website for the label (beta-recordings.com) is a clearinghouse for everything John B and
is updated frequently - from live dates to links, a discography, MP3s and a diary section.
His second label is the Tangent imprint which has just put out its first release, ‘No One Like
You / It’s So Real’. Tangent encompasses the non-classicly dancefloor tracks John says
sound more melodic, jazzy, musical, soulful, and less predictably like drum & bass.
His third label is Chihuahua, strictly for latin tinged d&b. “It’s going to be really fun, I am
looking forward to doing it,” says John. “A lot of people take the piss, but latin drum & bass
hasn’t been done before properly. I did my first latin tracks about three years ago with ‘Salsa’,
but I’ve waited to put out more latin tracks until I felt people were ready for it. Now there is
more of a latin-friendly environment with the success of people like Marky and V’s ‘Brazil’ EP.
John’s commitment to pushing the genre in a new direction seems to continue at a
breath-taking pace with so many labels, releases and tours. His motto could be, “changing
the face of drum & bass from a grimace to a grin.” The tracks on ‘Future Reference’ all sound
energetic and emotional in a positive way. It’s the kind of record that might sound like it could
be too light, since it’s just vocals, for some trainspotters. But the album’s production and song
structure are so good that there is plenty for the most snobbish d&b listener to pick apart.
It takes vocal d&b in a new direction, away from its cheesy past, and into a future where
vocals aren’t a novelty in d&b but a respected component carefully crafted into quality tunes.
This album will probably pave the way for a slew of imitations, but even if they aren’t as good
at least we will all have this album to go back to and sing along with. >> [Continued overleaf]
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