DJ Fresh - Kryptonite
Genre: Drum & Bass
Release date: 2010
http://www.myspace.com/freshbadcompany
01. Talkbox 4:41
02. Lassitude (feat. Sigma & Koko) 3:11
03. Kryptonite 5:11
04. Gold Dust (feat. Ce’cile) 3:11
05. Acid Rain 5:44
06. Hypercaine (feat. Stamina MC & Koko) 3:24
07. Starfall (feat. Valkyrie) 5:35
08. Chacruna 4:39
09. Fight! (feat. Valkyrie) 4:51
10. Heavyweight 5:07
by robinrenwick
"Kryptonite" has been in the making for a full three years, as DJ Fresh has taken the time and effort to make an album that is hopefully worth the wait. Regularly known as Dan Stein, DJ Fresh was also the front man for 90’s D & B crew Bad Company. After deciding to go solo in 2003, Dan Stein also produced a No.11 summer hit, ‘Barcelona' and a top 5 hit for The Pet Shop Boys. Now signed to Adam F’s Breakbeat Kaos label, Dan Stein is looking to take his DJ Fresh moniker to a new level with "Kryptonite".
The first two tracks on "Kryptonite" guide us into the production skills of DJ Fresh as they neither under or over whelm. It is not until the third number and title track ‘Kryptonite’ that we begin to see an altogether new and futuristic break-beat sound emerging. DJ Fresh couples a sublime combing bass sound with bubbles, squelches and chopped vocals sitting sublimely over a shuffled beat with the odd sprinkling of siren swish. The underlying pensive melody, sounding like an highly effected Hammond organ, shows a deftness of harmony and touch by DJ Fresh warping the listener into an emotional broken beat journey. The saunter through the middle section of "Kryptonite" opens the listener to vocal led break-beat and Drum and Bass, while not being my personal favourite, it shows technique and an ear for a club tune, a skill that we should expect from an artist that resides on such a respected and esteemed label such as BreakBeat Chaos.
It is not until track 8 on "Kryptonite" that we see the more emotional, melancholic side of DJ Fresh come out to play again. ‘Chacruna’ is a hyper-dub influenced tribal journey. DJ Fresh has taken what sounds like an eastern influenced vocal and coupled it with rising pads and strings that effortlessly take the listener into an ethereal place whilst harking back to the sounds of The Future Sound of Papae New Guinea, or indeed, some early Enya. I could continue to wax lyrical about ‘Chacruna’ but I won’t. It was clearly the stand out track on what was, by track eight, fast becoming a very mediocre break-beat album.
To be fair to DJ Fresh, the last couple of tracks continue with the good work and high standard set by ‘Chacruna’. ‘Fight’ is a full on Dubstep number, full of chugging, gritty bass and an evil lead synth line which easily sounds like a dagger cutting throw a shower curtain.
Album closer ‘Heavyweight’ is where we see a darker side to DJ Fresh’s Drum and Bass easel. DJ Fresh throws some movie vocal samples on top of glitch percussion programming and rising bass to create a true old-skool drum and bass shuffle.
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