United by Breakbeat’s DJ Showcase (Week 2)

United by Breakbeat (UBB) is a drum and bass DJ collective that includes artists and broadcasters from around the world – it is an open enrollment Twitch team founded by Christopher Goodacre (a.k.a. Guddah) that focuses on increasing the visibility and reach of it’s members. The team offers a mutltitude of resources to every member, including tips on getting a stream started, using Open Broadcasting Software (OBS) and other tools, endless troubleshooting, promotion, community raid trains (a way to pass viewers from one artist to the next), and now a weekly community DJ showcase. As Twitch has grown and changed in the last few years the discoverability of new DJs has been a challenge – there is almost no way to grow on the platform without some sort of help, and retaining viewership can be a difficult game. That being said, there are many things that the platform provides that can’t be found anywhere else: the openness of being able to essentially play whatever music you want, the gamification and amount of interactions, and the strength of the community. On the artistic side of Twitch, it is delightful to see the creativity of individuals show on their stream through the infinite customizations that are available as well as their broadcasting style, aesthetic, and knowledge. Every presenter has their own story!

The core goal behind the showcase is to put a spotlight on these artist’s hard work, whatever story they would like to share, and to provide a space where the public can see their acclaim. Organized by Guddah with support from the UBB team, the showcase is now in it’s second week – when Guddah isn’t working on this or streaming, he is helping other people and building his community/platform. The team is designed to be a collective to share ideas, promote and help one another, and increase the visibility of its members as well as drum and bass in general. Every week this show is improving, and in the future will include other features.

Every week I will summarize each performance, provide a short biography of each artist based on their submission questionnaire, and provide information about forthcoming shows, sign-ups, and membership perks. The full recording of these showcases will be available on Guddah’s YouTube channel.

This week’s lineup featured four DJ’s in generally associated with lyrical and musical DnB, with sets that covered a much bigger base of sounds than that. The night flowed well with the selectors bringing fresh sounds, delivered with a special finesse. Here’s what went down:

First performer: Slyce Master

Slyce Master comes from Leeds, UK and is a producer as well as DJ who plays a variety of genres, including trance and jungle. His DnB is just as varied, selecting tunes across many genres to energetic and entertaining end. Introduced to the sound by Goldie’s music, Slyce Master played DnB at school parties and pushed the sound that way until finding Twitch and other broadcasting platforms. About five years ago, he states, a fire was reignited in him to keep DJing and honing his craft – utilizing deep, heavy drum and bass, dancefloor and pop sounds, jungle and trance influence, he’s delivered a great set live for the showcase this week.

From the questionnaire:

My streaming journey began with a desire to share my love of music with a wider audience. I started experimenting with different platforms and software, learning the technical side of things like audio mixing and encoding. Initially, it was just for fun, sharing mixes with friends. Over time, I honed my skills, built a small following, and started to explore different genres and formats for my streams. It’s been a continuous learning process, and I’m always looking for ways to improve the experience for my listeners.

Top three favorite tracks of all time: Goldie ‘Inner City Life’, Roni Size and Reprazent ‘Brown Paper Bag’, Calibre ‘Mr Majestic’

The set opens with some big, driving neurofunk-y grooves from L-33 and The Upbeats, the artist takes us expertly through some heavier cuts from dancefloor artists who like to rip energetic tunes like Culture Shock, Andy C, and Fourward. He keeps the energy up through heavy dancefloor cuts with sprinkles of deep dnb and jump-up, weaving classics in between that have sweeping trance-like vocals and pads. There’s a great party-like energy to this set that reminds me of a live show because of the big builds and anthemic midsections, and Slyce Master expertly digs into that vibe throughout. Representing SkyBass (another fantastic Twitch team and UBB ally), Slyce revealed he freestyled this entire set, which just makes the selections and energy that much more exciting.

If bouncy, driving DnB with a large dose of vocals and uplifting synth work is your flavor, look no further. Slyce Master brings this energy to his Trance sets as well as DnB, and you can check out his massive library of shows on his mixcloud:

Slyce Master Mixcloud

Second performer: Soul Concept

Soul Concept is an incredibly talented producer with a penchant for creating melody driven, jazz-fused Liquid Funk with releases on Soul Deep Digital, Omni Music, and his own imprint, Soul Concept Music. From Northampton, UK, he quotes DJ Krust as a major influence in his early days, captured by his classic ‘Warhead’ and it’s driving bassline and tension. Hooked at that point, he quickly discovered a love for liquid through the great LTJ Bukem and once he attended some of the legendary Progression Sessions at The End, the journey began. Main influences include Calibre, Alix Perex, Lenzman, High Contrast, and Bukem.

Infusing his DJ performances with a musical touch Soul Concept delivers a set as varied and nuanced as the set of influences he lists, tastefully letting the music speak and breathe. The chat was entirely suprised by a few sections of this one. Shoutout to FunkyVibe (one of Soul Concept’s mates) for “…convincing me to give it a go during the pandemic”. Good work!

From the questionnaire:

I’ve been DJing in various genres since around 1997. I started by playing at house parties and local community events, then later got into corportate events and weddings. During the early 2000s, I played a few regular student nights around london – mainly garage, rnb, hiphop, bhangra. While at Uni I started attending Swerve (The End) and thats also when I really started to get into DnB.

 

I also did an 8 hour set on NYE at “The Gherkin” tower in London during that time.

 

I took a break from DJing for a few years after getting married and starting a family, and then during the Covid lockdown, I discovered Twitch and here we are!

Top three tracks of all time: Calibre ‘Mr Majestic’, Alix Perez ‘Crown City’, Nookie ‘Continental Drift’

Soul Concept starts of with a set of lush and sultry blends that highlight a blues tonality with vocals that follow that vibe perfectly. About five minutes in he picks up the pace and starts deepening the bass while quickening the percussion with a laidback groove that is infectious. He slowly develops a main section of the mix that features tunes on the absolute forefront of liquid funk, as well as playing some classics and edits that keep the head-bopping groove going strong. Then, a switch happened that I don’t think anyone saw coming to a dark, tech-y, deep sort of vibe that featured some techstep cuts, some new bangers, and a totally different rolling groove. The thing I really appreciated about this mix was just this, the two distinct sections allowed the audience to enjoy a variety of sounds and styles from the performer and it really uncovered some of the depth of the selections. Old school jump up, jungle bangers, classic dancefloor hits, this set has it all.

Check out Soul Concept @SoulConcept on all socials, and check out his website that includes his release catalog below:

Soul Concept (dedicated site)

Third performer: MetaPattern

Representing Atlanta, Georgia, this veteran stateside DJ and podcaster/promoter knows how to bring an insane setlist to life in a really special way that only comes from dancefloor experience. His stream is setup with maximum interaction and focus on the high energy vibe, and you can see this in the creative overlays and scenes as well as hearing it in the three and four deck style he utilizes. Having DJed alongside Andy C, Jade, Flite, among other top-tier names it’s always a treat to see this broadcast and enjoy the selections that cross decades of collecting. Meta is a real-life DnB warrior – he co-owns 404 Audio and the legendary Torch DNB as well as founding the Atlanta DJ Collective and is partnered with Logam’s Santoku Records, to name a few ventures. Recently he organized a massive Twitch event as an online party for Jungle Bells in Atlanta, the biggest DnB event in the states – he hosted artists CHARMENDER, DocDnb, TikTak, Wicky, and Wet Paint B2B Chuk-D. It was a blast to see some of the performers of the main event as well as showcase some of the amazing local talent and heavy hitters.

This artist plays bass music across the spectrum, from minimal and deep, to neurofunk and halftime, as well as dubstep, breaks, and bass house and doesn’t discriminate when it comes to good music. This set is full of a great array of bangers and classics from this spectrum.

From the questionnaire:

As a child I always gravitated towards movie and videogame soundtracks for my main source of music, and the electronic music was always my favorite. In highschool I got into Trance and had a friend with a DJ setup. I eventually bought some used CDJ-1000s and a 2ch mixer to start myself. I used those CDJs to get into clubs before I was old enough and from there I was able to start playing actual gigs. By 2015, I was involved with every DNB effort in the city: Torch DNB, Elevate DNB, 404 Audio, and Santoku Records. Since then, I have opened and/or closed for pretty much every large DNB DJ who has come to Atlanta. Covid pushed me onto Twitch which is where I met the amazing global DNB community. We used to stream some live DNB shows on Facebook, so I had the OBS fundamentals locked down before Covid kicked in. After launching my own channel I really stepped up the Twitch interactivity!

 

(One influence is) very hard to choose! I feel like I get small influences from everywhere and everyone with no singular person/group really jumping to the forefront. There are too many amazing producers, DJs, label owners, and promoters to list them all!

 

If you’ve ever seen my stream, you know I love puzzle cubes! I can solve almost any shape and cube given enough time!

 

The opening for Netsky in 2021 was a huge moment for me – one of the largest crowds I’ve played to in recent memory, and the energy in the room was absolutely amazing! I believe the mix from that set is the only one on my soundcloud right now.

Top three tracks of all time: Audio ‘Missing’, Apex ‘In Motion’, Evol Intent ‘Double Glock’

I really enjoyed the selections in this set, a lot of them are tunes I like to play myself and have really enjoyed over the course of my own listening and dancing to this music. The mix starts in absolute tenth gear which draws the listener in quickly while he loads the cannon up with a few crispy triples. This artist has a touch on the decks that allows a creative control and flexibility that creates a feeling of flow in the overall set as well as between the audience and DJ – this building of trust allows tunes to be seen in a different, more open-minded state and Meta definitely uses this in his set. He’s playing only bangers, but only bangers from a wide variety of artists and backgrounds. Personal favorite mix was with InsideInfo’s classic ‘Airwaves’, and about 40 minutes in we get to see his cube skills.

Moving between features of the broadcast without dropping a beat, this artist makes the space for and is the life of the party.

You can check out MetaPattern on socials below:

MetaPattern IG MetaPattern Twitch MetaPattern SC

Fourth performer: entitee

Entitee is a multi-faceted artist who produces DnB with a cinematic and jazzy aesthetic, raps (on stream too), is a visual artist, and a photographer – his dedication to this craft is apparent in his enthusiasm as well as the art that he puts out. He’s a passionate guy who loves to perform and exudes a certain gregariousness. From Sacramento, California, this artist is influenced greatly by hip hop, sampling culture, and synth culture, especially as it was apparent in the late 90s and early 00s when there was a cultural and technological explosion across the world, resulting in rave culture that was rich with creativity. Getting into the DnB through his photography, it was during the covid pandemic that he found Billy Lane’s (916 Junglist) channel and party “Inside the Ride” and decided to start his own channel to showcase his art and connect with the community. Beginning his journey as an artist with producing beats, he has an appreciation for compositon and flow as well as tension and drop – this propensity allows for dynamic DJing that makes room for vocals. This artist has a deep appreciation for the human voice as an instrument, and the stories that he tells in his production and DJing have a similar narrative quality. THIS MAN LOVES VOCALS…. muahaha (just watch the set, you’ll get it)

From the questionnaire:

My introduction to DnB is probably Goldie Timeless, but I had been essentially searching for DnB ever since I heard Lords of Acid Voodoo-U in 1995. I didn’t know what any of the music was called back then. I just knew I liked 808s and chopped up breaks as a fan of hip-hop. I had been into Chemical Brothers and The Prodigy, but the more I heard faster breaks, the more I looked for that sound. Eventually, I found the import section at Tower Records and went crazy buying up Jungle and DnB CDs. After that, the floodgates were open.

 

I was always into DJing, I just could never afford it when I was young. I used to make blends on cassette with 2 songs that were the same BPM, so I understood the concepts before I became a DJ. Then I got into producing music on PC with the help of other producers on IRC. When I finally got a job that allowed me to afford decks, I bought some off of ebay, and 24 years later I’m still at it.

Top three tracks of all time: Goldie ‘Inner City Life’, Ed Rush and Optical ‘To Shape the Future’ (Both versions), Capone ‘Massive’

The set opens with a huge blend with Pendulum hit ‘Girl in the Fire’ that rolls into an insane stepp-y mix with another hit ‘Drop it Like it’s Hot’ entitee shows us how this hour is about to go down. The DJ expertly moseys around liquid funk, techstep, deep and minimal cuts, all the time lacing the groove with hip hop vocals either from existing tracks or the man himself – I really appreciated that he chose some true old school classics from the hip-hop world, showcasing that appreciation for the genre throughout. His broadcasting ability is confident, smooth, and natural, and he manages to interact while also keeping the mix interesting and upbeat which as I mentioned before, builds an instant trust with the audience that opens their ears to new sounds. Entitee plays something for everyone in his sets, DnB head or not and this set is full of familiar vocals and unfamiliar favorites as you’ll see. The way he chooses the vocals to blend and then employs them is indicative of his musical prowess, and levels up the mix. No distractions, just gas. Some of the cleanest accapella mixing I’ve ever heard.

Check out entitee’s stream on Twitch and absolutely give some love to his productions. He’s made some incredible music, recently releasing tracks as part of the Catch22 Hurricane Relief albums.

entitee

You can watch the UBB DJ showcase every Saturday from 16:00 GMT – 22:30 GMT (10AM CST, 8AM PST) on Guddah’s twitch channel! The weekly recap will be available right here on Best Drum and Bass in the following days of each broadcast.

If you are a Twitch streamer that is interested in getting involved with UBB, ask about signups at one of the showcases and a team member will invite you to the discord and add you to the Twitch team. Membership is open to everyone who streams drum and bass on twitch in any capacity. This community aims to build each other up and provide an even platform for people to share knowledge. It is a safe space to discuss streaming as well as real life issues, with a member list full of compassionate and interesting creative people who are full of drive for this music.

Until the next showcase, we hope to see you soon!

Guddah Twitch