- Jay Fairbrass, better known as J:Kenzo, is a jack of all trades. He makes and plays UK garage as Jodo Kast, and he's released drum & bass on Metalheadz, 31 Records and Exit, even sneaking a few records onto his own label, Artikal Music. But it's with a deep and purist dubstep sound—the spacious and sub-focused kind—that J:Kenzo made a name for himself. A longtime Tempa affiliate, in 2013 he put together the label's 11th (and last) Dubstep Allstars mix, which sealed his fate as a leading figure in a scene still forging on.
Jungle, then, isn't a stretch for Fairbrass, and on his Cosmic Bridge debut as J:Kenzo, he's careful not to go all out on the nostalgia. "Skatta" looks backwards with '90s-era strings; featherweight percussion and subtle bass all add to the light and airy feel. Then the bassline drops, sounding sunken, smeared and dubby, and it's a contemporary mix of old-ragga-style-meets-new-school in a fine Om Unit vein. On the B-side, "Alight" keeps its head in the clouds as it delivers more retro junglism.
TracklistA Skatta
AA Alight