VA: Sick Music 2018
Hospital Records

VA: Urban Wildlife Vol. 3
Urban Wildlife

The optimal vehicle for a label to showcase the breadth of its wares is, of course, the compilation, and two recent ones see Hospital Records and Urban Wildlife doing exactly that. Both collections attest to the seemingly inexhaustible diversity of drum'n'bass, though do so from slightly different angles, with Hospital's set slightly more populist in tone than the comparatively rawer one from Urban Wildlife. Differences aside, both are voluminous releases featuring twenty-plus tracks apiece that have much to offer the devotee and neophyte alike.

Like many a compilation, Hospital's is a bit of a hit-and-miss affair, some cuts stellar and others less so. A far greater number constitute the former, however, starting with Keeno's sublime opener “The Comet,” a perfectly calibrated example of drum'n'bass at its most liquid and epic. Buildups are executed artfully and peaks reached organically, and the whole's grounded in a lovely piano riff that's tinged with just the right amount of melancholy. Also graced by a lovely piano motif, Hugh Hardie's “Nightingale” impresses as a particularly elegant and seductive exercise in jazz-inflected drum'n'bass, and one would have to be curmudgeonly indeed not to be charmed by Keeno's swoon-worthy take on Fred V & Grafix's “Hurricanes (Wild Love),” the infectious soul of S.P.Y's club remix of Camo & Krooked's “Loving You Is Easy,” and S.P.Y's own “Love Unlimited VIP.” Epic but not overwrought are Schematic x Polaris's “Sculpture” and Reso's “Sungaze,” whereas on the tech-styled end of the spectrum we find Kings Of The Rollers' “Burnt Ends,” which engages the synapses with weird siren-like horn noises.

On a slightly less enthralling tip is Danny Byrd's “Devil's Drop,” which, despite the appeal of a hugely funky bass line, is a little too crowd-pleasing for my liking, especially when a voice repeatedly appears encouraging the listener to “make sure you play this at a high volume”—surely something the music alone should incite. Still, truth be told there's only one track I'd never revisit: Serum, Voltage & Inja's too-repetitive “Gunfinger Fam VIP.” Names such as Klute and Seba will be familiar to genre aficionados, and the set also includes contributions from Hospital commander-in-chief London Elektricity, one of which, a Mitekiss remix of “Just One Second” featuring a wonderful vocal by Elsa Esmeralda, is disarmingly beautiful. Trainspotters also should note that while the label's made Sick Music 2018 available in the usual formats, the limited box set, which includes a CD, four twelve-inch plates, and t-shirt, looks like the must-have.

The names of the young producers on Urban Wildlife's set might be less familiar than those on Hospital's, but the collection itself stands up extremely well next to its polished counterpart. Urban Wildlife sees itself “as a connecting link in the chain between various subcultures,” and certainly much on this third label compilation reflects that boundary-collapsing ethos. In a small number of cases, traces of soul, jazz, and dub emerge from the material without the essence of drum'n'bass getting shortchanged in the process. Raw and underground the material often is, but it's consistently strong and without a clunker in sight.

A dark vibe asserts itself often in the set-list. It's established early when cyb's “Cowards” introduces the set with a brooding slice of anti-authoritarianism and is rendered explicit with Diaz Soto's “Six Million Ways” and its “Six million ways to die... choose one” voice sample. Speaking of which, someone sounding very much like Bane (from The Dark Knight Rises) ups the mayhem ante during Dub Flavour and Jayruff Burry's “Soundboy.” Yet as dark as Urban Wildlife Vol. 3 often is, the clouds sometimes part to let a bright moment come through. In draping chiming, sing-song synths across a buoyantly skipping base, Duktus's “Edgebug” sounds not only carefree but almost joyful, while on the soulful and sultry tip, there are Dushi's “Love and Happiness,” Single Purpose's “Anamnesis,” and EmTee's affecting scene-stealer “See Her Again.”

June 2018