- A slick EP from a rejuvenated drum & bass legend.
- James Boyle is one of the most important drum & bass artists to emerge after the '00s. Jungle, minimal drum & bass, techstep, radio-friendly tracks, dubstep, even grime—he can do it all. But his turn towards a commercial sound took him to some disagreeable places, leading to the pseudo-EDM disaster of his 2015 album When The Night Comes. Boyle took a wise step back after that. On his records for the label Index he's rediscovered the formula that made tracks like "Blue Mountain" classics—a sharp sense of minimalism with the right amount of personality.
On Liff Up, Boyle sounds like he's having fun. The rough-and-tumble jungle of "Yeah" is tugged forward by a lunging bassline that sounds like it's digging up the earth as it motors along (like one of the deadlier moments of Paul Woolford's recent Special Request tracks). By contrast, "Wicked" is all aluminum-light drum sounds, bright chords and chattering vocals that make the track feel like it's ricocheting across the room. That leaves "Liff Up," which boasts precise drum cut-ups in the vein of Boyle's best mid-2000s work, finished off by dubby touches and shreds of a ragga vocal. Simple and short—each less than five minutes—Liff Up's three tracks show that Boyle's bout of inspiration isn't likely to stop anytime soon.
TracklistA1 Yeah
B1 Liff Up
B2 Wicked