The Burner Brothers are literally setting the ‘Gold Standard’ with the mammoth release of 2021’s ‘One for the Road’. A 16 track LP, that manages to excel at every genre within the realm of drum and bass. Capturing each style like the taking the perfect picture of the most perfect moment in time. With the assistance coming from all over the globe. Fifteen amazing vocalists, emcee’s, producers, & engineers took part in this journey. If the mission was to make one of the most perfect d&b albums ever made. They fucking did it!

The Burner Brothers have been setting standards and raising their own bar within the realms of electronic music for damn near 30 years collectively as producers, label owners, and dj’s. On their own, Dj SEEN and CT Burner have always been at the top of the food chain in the Stateside drum and bass scene. Smashing some of the most loved anthems and hip hop remixes from the most coveted artists in the genres.

The History

Working on the infamous, legendary Rawkuts , Technique , Flex, & Jungle Sky labels. They are settled into their own brand now ‘Patrol the Skies’. It seems like they are more focused than ever on releasing amazing music, from some of dnb’s most seasoned vets, to bringing extremely talented new heads into the zeitgeist.

LET’s CRACK THE SEAL ON THIS BEAST!!

‘One for the Road’ gets our feet wet with the tune ‘Losing Myself’ slowly easing in the vibe. With a gorgeous vocal melody that is pitched back and forth, creating a chilling moment right before it catapults us into the growling bass and hoovers. It tosses us into a series of calculated drum rolls, hip hop beats, and triage of keys ascending and crescendoing between light and darkness. A great way to kick this album off.

‘Gold Standard’ is the first of many smashers . Led by ‘Armanni Reign’ , this track is the perfect example of fusing great hip-hop performances with stateside edm and dark jump up. This one is tough as hell!

‘Under your Spell’ , ‘Our Future is Forever feat. Irene Merring‘ , ‘A Whole New World feat. NoiseFloor & Jasmine Makota and ‘Live Again feat. Ill-Esha‘ come forward with the positive vibes and absolutely stunning vocal performances. ‘Under‘ is pure fun and happiness. Where ‘Our Future‘ is a little more serious and lands perfectly int the realm of a huge diva vocal roller. ‘A Whole New‘ is the liquid piano vibe catcher of the bunch. Nice and bouncy, leaving a moment to breathe in between the huge pockets of energy within the entire album.

‘Live Again‘ literally sounds like a nice day with your friends in Oxnard. A Cali/NYC hybrid approach to a fully fleshed out mainstream EDM banger. This hits trap elements, rnb elements , and post trance vibes. All crafted into a really good pop song that would kill in any club or in heavy rotation on the biggest radio/streaming playlists out today.

THE JUNGLE, OH THE JUNGLE!!

Coming in lava rock hot are a group of tunes and collaborations that bring back the vibe and the amens. ‘Vibe Ting feat. Pish Posh‘ , ‘Hot Damn Bass feat. Lion Dub‘ , ‘Lift Up feat. MC Foxy‘ all take me back. back to an era where bouncing and crushing amens lead the pack. Where just simple and focused basslines that rattled the walls were enough to vibe us into oblivion. Creating steppers out of the walking dead coming in from the pst-trance room.

‘Vibe Ting‘ is an upbeat roller similar to the essence of happy Q-Project or Digital. ‘Hot Damn Bass‘ is embedded in the essence of the title. Its a HUGE Herbert Hoover styled bouncing halftime stepper. With all the proper lickshot samples, lasers, whistles, and soundclash samples. A great dubby wall banger.

‘Lift Up’ feat MC Foxy’ is the knife that cuts the rope leading face first into the jungle. MC Foxy brings the heat up to another level with the hook on this one. This tune is amongst a list of tunes that are so bad they should be in detention. Dark, deadly, revolutionary, and bad to the bone.

BRING ON THE BANGERS!!!

‘The Ritual feat Josiah Scribes‘ , ‘Scheming‘, ‘Alchemy feat. T.R.A.C. Christine Tamayo CL Smooth & MC Posi-D, and ‘Bad Boy Style feat. Jamalski‘ literally write a new, undiscovered chapter of The Jungle Book. Between all these tunes, we hit about 1,000 vibes and almost every sub-genre fused together like someone owes these guys money.

‘The Ritual‘ has another powerful display of emcee mastery by Josiah Scribes. With a battlestar galactica terror drum step track as the backbone of this slammer. She rides, and when she gets to the second drop, she rides damn hard. ‘Scheming’ is a tride and true Burner Bros Banger . Their east coast history in the hip hop and rave scene, which is longer than most people have been alive, shines on this one. Is it hip hop, is it power stomp, old school acid hardcore? I don’t know, its all of it. One thing is for sure, it pounds the ba-jesus out of a sound system. This what banger dreams are made of.

Alchemy feat. T.R.A.C. Christine Tamayo CL Smooth & MC Posi-D is the truth, and would be considered the “money shot” in 90’s adult entertainment films. This track is where all the money, the dreams, and the cream come to life. In a star studded cast of some of the most influential players to ever touch the game. This track has everything. Great smooth deep rolling track, rich velvety diva vocals and harmonies, super slick and rugged emcee performances, and mf’ing CL Smooth. This tune is what the kids simply call “fire”

‘Bad Boy Style feat Jamalski‘ is the fucking truth! I have played this song at least 100 times already. It has this best part about a swing step beat that I love. Switching up the feeling in the same tempo, but doesn’t clown the style or flow like ‘Lazy Bones‘ or ‘Fast Car‘ did to clown step back in the early 2000’s. Take that style, add legendary Jamalski to the mix, add one part dope, and one part pure hype. The end result is a timeless dance floor stomper that goes down in the D_E_B_T list of “TUNES THAT WILL SHAKE A PANCAKE OFF THAT ASS!!!!!”

The Rockin Cut’s:

The homie PishPosh comes through again on this release. With something that is in the lane of the tech neuro-roller wizard himself. ‘Perfect Machines‘ is almost itself. Laden with technical drum edits, wobbling and shredding basslines filtered and engineered to crack speaker cabs. Staccato key lines dance across the dark landscape pushing an infectious melody in to our head, right before we meet oblivion.

‘Get Real High‘ reminds me oaf a post rock goth dnb banger. Pitched down vocals, 80’s b movie synth lines, and wet punchy drums cleanse the dance floor. Setting us up for a momentous push to the back half of this record.

Closing out this record is ‘Blue feat. Ash-Flo‘. This is the light that cuts through the crack in the door of the venue at 6am. The vibes that either carry us to the next after party, or with the homies to the bodega for wraps and bacon/egg & cheese sandwiches. Its a great way to end an album that practiced and exemplified all the elements required for life. Health, power, knowledge, wisdom and happiness.

THE VERDICT!!!

I absolutely love this album. I have been on these guy jock for over 20 years. Once again, they did not disappoint. This album for me, will go down in history as one of the best and most comprehensive look into the dnb/jungle genre as a whole entity. It is really tough to come across albums with this many track selections, that isn’t half filler. Or even worse, a collection of songs that all sound the same. Leaving the listener feeling like if you heard track one, then track 7 and 13 are probably the same.

This album makes you want to start at the beginning and take the entire ride without skipping a single beat. There is truly something for every basshead on this record. Most importantly there is a history lesson here. There is a junglist anthropology class is in session, aspiring emcee and vocalists take some notes. The performances on this record are not only as essential as the beats, but a battle cry for positivity and equal representation of all styles and people who love and respect our culture.

This album is a perfect 10. I will be looking forward to blasting this over, and over, and over again on the loudest speaker stacks I can find. It was an honor to sit through this record and experience the hard work and dedication put into it. It will be an honor to share this record with those who need to hear it. And even though I wish it would be as commercially successful as some of its UK “peers”. I also do not mind being the one to bogart these jams, and break all the damn necks at the clubs and raves when I drop the hotness upon the unexpecting and ravenous junglist massive!!!