- The first record from Over/Shadow lives up to the label's mission to recapture the glory days of '90s drum & bass.
- Over/Shadow is a new venture from 2 Bad Mice meant to continue the legacy of Moving Shadow. The plan is to feature the producers who helped define the crucial '90s label, as well as newer artists who make music in the same vein. It's hard to overstate the importance of Moving Shadow, which helped develop a range of styles and sounds—and UK dance music more generally—as it moved through rave and UK hardcore, jungle and drum & bass in the '90s. In addition to 2 Bad Mice, it put out music from Foul Play, Omni Trio, E-Z Rollers, Dom & Roland and Blame, who would give Moving Shadow one of its first anthems with the 1991 UK hardcore hit "Music Takes You."
Blame is a natural choice to kick off the new label, and he provides two tracks that sound like they were taken from the mid-'90s heyday of Omni Trio's "Renegade Snares." It's all here: tinkling piano, soaring vocals that come in snatches and boisterous drums that carry an indefatigable sense of joy—darkcore this is not. Both tracks are of a pair, though "Lift Off" just slightly takes the edge, with the addition of some cool-blue vibraphone work and the kind of whistling synths you'd hear in an old LTJ Bukem set.
This music is truly timeless—that it's hard to tell if these tracks are from the last couple of years or the past two decades says it all, really. The attraction of this music is plain to see. It's propulsive, melodic and full of ear candy. With the next release set as a killer Dom & Roland EP, it seems like Over/Shadow is already living up to its mission.
Tracklist01. Lift Off
02. Star Traveller