(Renegade Recordings/Inertia)

The crew over at Renegade Hardware show us where the roots lie in modern Drum ‘n’ Bass with their latest offering mixed by industry legend and long time contributor to the d’n’b scene Greg Packer.

As usual with Renegade releases the quality is high, and admittedly this release indeed stays true to the label’s regular and tried and true formula of deep bass, hard hitting beats, jazz and funk influenced basslines and catchy vocals that grab the attention – it’s this that makes the Renegade label both innovative and incredibly original with their style, ethos and vast variety their limits allow them to produce.

With Packer’s expertise lying originally in DJing obviously the mixing and track selection is amazing. The mix for me had an incredible flow whilst holding onto the overall vibe that makes him famous – it’s funky, uplifting and damn, damn smooth.  That said, there are heaps of bangers to keep the punters and DJs entertained and enthused, like HoldTight’s reggae influenced ‘Feel Like Jammin’ that props up the mix half way through, or even the ‘Elements of Dub’ remix provided by Makoto & Specialist that draws from more traditional house elements early in the mix. 

For me the highlight came in the mid section of the release with the techy, yet bass driven funk of ‘Devotion’ by the compiler himself, this track sits in between some great tracks with it’s former ‘Sticks & Stones’ providing a slightly tribal feel before the cool undertones of the mix kick in for some seriously chilled drum and bass.  Other highlights are also in this section of the mix with a handful of tracks coming from label giants and Renegade’s favourite son’s Phobia and Basic Operations that offer up some seriously wicked tracks like ‘Havana’, ‘DC’ and probably the best of them all ‘Mercury’.

All up, this release is solid.  Seriously funky beats and bass making this a winner for punter and DJ alike, definitely give it a look if your even thinking about listening to d’n’b, it’ll be worth your while and your ears will thank you!