artist: Big Bud country of origin: UK style(s): Drum'n'bass, lounge, dub essential releases: Producer 07 (2004, Good Looking Records)

Drum 'n' bass from space? That's more than a catchy soundbyte; it captures the atmospsheric end of drum'nbass music just beautifully. This album from UK producer Big Bud is a blinding best-of collection and part of a series of retrospective CD's from Good Looking Records that profile the producer heavyweights of this surprisingly diverse scene.
 
Producer 07 is sublime, glistening, liquid electronica. These nine tracks hand-picked by the man himself should satisfy fans of both his dancefloor productions and lovers of his more downtempo side. In Big Bud's universe the term drum 'n' bass is a fairly loose one anyway, as only half of the tracks here have the genre's trademark stuttering 160-beats-per-minute drum patterns. The soulful "Runaway" with its occasional stabs of Jamaican vocal shows why dub reggae is the drum 'n' bass DJ's favourite lazy cousin (it's exactly half the tempo, you see, making it easy to beatmix). "Stone Groove" and "Distant Space" are slow breaks pieces which, like the faster tracks, are wonderfully lush and strongly melodic. Skin a spliff, sit back and fly.

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