Search - Dillinja, Lemon D :: Big Bad Bass

Ouch!

Kd | 07/01/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Never has there been a more descriptive album title.
This is Dillija and LemonD at their nastiest, although a few of Lemon D's cuts are quite musical; jazzy and at times a bit housy.
However the remainder of Lemon D's contribution here finds him in dirtier mood than usual. I found that his tracks are the more diverse and complex here.
The other half is Karl in precisely the form we have come to expect of him over the past couple of years. Here the culmination of his work over this period and developing sound is fully realized and does not disapoint. Do not expect any lovely vocals or musical elements(not even to the extent to which they are featured on last years "Cybotron" LP, or his recent works on V) this is just heavy Beats and Bass. Dillija's production here is predominantly steppy drum programming with scarcely an amen in sight, and hammering Bass kicks. Making this LP more of a primer for the boys' Valve soundsystem and showcase of recent floorkillers, than an artists' album.
This album is a collection of tunes that amount to 60 second blasts of Dancefloor devastation peppered with a few tracks of surprising listenablility at home or in the car.
DJ's-you already have this. Punters-well, you probably have this too.
Casual listeners-I would recomend something with a bit more diversity, to the new listener; this is not really a good starting point either. Unless you have 15"s in your ride and you want to scare the living [stuff] out of the old ladies at the bus stop, or if you want to get evicted, get some large speakers and play this at 2am...or any other time for that matter.
Overall this LP is worth it for the astounding quality of the bass for the afficionado, or the lover of bass ready to realize the latest accomplishment of the pioneer of the final frontier of this narrow persuit."

Deep, powerful bass. Pretty much everything you want in a Dn

Steward Willons | Illinois | 04/20/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Drum 'n Bass junkies are already familiar with Dillinja, but for the uninitiated, Dillinja is a DnB innovator whose advanced production techniques make for some of the hardest, deepest music you'll find anywhere. "Big Bad Bass" is the first in a series of Dillinja/Lemon D double albums - one disc of the tracks unmixed, one disc of the tracks mixed.



"Big Bad Bass" accurately describes what you'll hear when you pop this disc into the player. A lot of the tunes were written expressly for Dillinja's Valve Sound System - a monstrosity of custom-made speakers including 52 subwoofers and 96,000 watts of amplification. I'm only mentioning this because the music wasn't necessarily designed for a typical speaker system and if you're listening on iPod earbuds, you're not getting anywhere near the full effect.



The music is enjoyable enough without a lot of bass power, but it's impact increases proportionally to the amount of bass presence. Also, this music is really for the club. As pure listening music, it's too repetitive to sustain your undivided attention. That's not a fault, by the way. It's great for dancing, parties, and workouts - just not something you'd probably sit down and listen to with headphones.



Dillinja and Lemon D both contribute strong tracks. "It Ain't Too Loud" and "I Can't Take This" are standouts. Some people have been complaining that Dillinja's newer sound isn't as good as his classic sound ("Angels Fell", "Armoured D", "Thugs"). I'm not sure I agree. His sound IS different, but that's not necessarily bad. It just reflects his musical sensibilities at the moment. I don't think there are any big surprises here. You've got the typical 1-2 minute intro before the bass drops, you've got the usual assortment of peaks and valleys, etc. No big diversions from classic drum 'n bass form. It's good music though and even if it's different than the previous material, this ultimately has more bass impact as a result of Dillinja's engineering.



I'm recommending this to two types of listeners: First, those who love DnB will dig this for its energy and excitement. Second, those who own powerful subwoofer systems for their car will enjoy hearing music written specifically for bass-heavy sound systems, but without the cheese factor of someone like Bass Mekanic. It's rare that you find an artist making such great bass music while still maintaining musical integrity. For listeners who enjoy the more "listening" oriented electronic music (such as Aphex Twin or more downtempo stuff), I would direct you to something more along the lines of a Goldie mix such as "goldie.co.uk"."

Heavy dirty bass

Kd | 06/19/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This album has some good tracks on it. Some are not as good, but its worth checking out. Dillinjas got some dirty distorted basslines that will make your speakers work hard. He is a good producer and I respect him for coming up with these sounds which a lot of people might think is easy until they try making DnB. Anyway, if you like the hard, heavy, banging DnB, this is a good lp. Cybertron is worth picking up too. Later!"