Emperor Drum And Bass

There was a time when you wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of a drum ‘n’ bass label boss. You might have been thrown down a set of stairs. Or woken up in the middle of the night with an offer you couldn’t refuse.

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In the process, Kasra’s created a broad church: neurofunk specialists Mefjus and Emperor, with their obsessive pursuit for technical supremacy akin to Noisia and Phace, sit alongside Ivy Lab’s futuristic experimentation into halftime beats and bass that make you go “oooof”. And Critical has already racked up 100 releases, not bad for a label that’s essentially “music that I like,” says the understated bossman, as he looks out at the dreamy cobalt blue Adriatic sea during this year’s Outlook Festival.

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He’s not alone in liking Critical’s music. The label pulls massive crowds from London’s fabric to the Let It Roll festival, a sci-fi d’n’b fantasyland in the Czech Republic. Standing under a pregnant moon, surrounded by uplit trees and skanking ravers at Outlook’s Critical stage, the dedication to the label is clear: a blogger enthusiastically explains that he’s travelled from Toronto; a Belgian guy gasses about Critical shows at Star Warz in Ghent; and a raver in a cardboard box (nationality unknown) dances appreciatively as Kasra drops Enei’s infectious, rolling earworm ‘The Process’.

It wasn’t always this way. Imagine a time before Facebook and selfie sticks, a time when everyone had a friend called Tom on MySpace, a time when the Dogs On Acid forum was one of the busiest on the planet.

If people weren’t paying attention before, they were by the time Calibre’s ‘Rockafella’ came out. “That was a watershed moment for the label, really. We were nine releases in and the people so far weren’t exactly household names. Dom [Calibre] was really flying then. It put us on the map.”

And despite Rockwell moving over to Shogun, most of the current roster has a long-standing association. Sabre, one third of beat scientists Ivy Lab (with Stray and Halogenix), goes back even further. “I’ve known Gove [Sabre] for nearly the whole time I’ve been running the label,” Kasra says.

“I love their music,” he continues, contemplating Ivy Lab’s rise to become one of the most exciting acts making beats today, “so when they come with the halftime curveballs, or the liquid stuff, it’s a natural thing to want to work with them.”

15 years strong: Critical Music has become a drum 'n' bass empire
15 years strong: Critical Music has become a drum 'n' bass empire
15 years strong: Critical Music has become a drum 'n' bass empire

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Afterwards, as everyone staggers back up the hill, an excitable fan shouts, “Emperor and Enei was the best set I’ve ever seen!” But it’s the sounds of Ivy Lab and Sam Binga that leave the biggest impression; their set effortlessly bounced between 80 and 160 BPM, cutting and splicing through junglist vibrations, snippets of Dirty South vocals, stuttering snares, wonky and utterly infectious beats and bleeps, and bassline pressure so weighty it leaves you gasping for air.

Their importance is not lost on Kasra: “We are predominantly a drum ‘n’ bass label but that doesn’t mean it all has to be. I would struggle to run a label if I was putting out the same music every month; it would be boring.”

A couple of weeks later we’re back in London, N15 to be precise, on an industrial estate. Croatia is lovely and that, but this is more familiar territory for UK drum ‘n’ bass heads. As a JCB claws its way through grimy mattresses and urban detritus across the road, there’s a hive of activity at Ten 87 studios, a complex that’s home to the likes of Kasra and Alix Perez.

In a unit where Ivy Lab and Foreign Beggars have been cooking up future beats (using Sriracha hot sauce as a secret ingredient, by the looks of it), Kasra picks up the thread about the label’s sound. “There’s talk that we’re just a neurofunk label, but I think we’re one of the most diverse labels out there,” he says with just a faint sense of frustration in his voice.

He’s got a point. There’s no doubt the label does rep that sound in a big way, and Mefjus, who is mixing the forthcoming Fabriclive 95, has become a star in that world, but Critical deserves better than to be pigeon holed. In any case what’s coming up is the perfect response. Sam Binga and Rider Shafique’s ‘Champion’ EP is a futuristic dancehall release – and it’s fucking great that a d’n’b label is confident enough to put it out.

“I listened to it and wasn’t sure whether it was right for the label,” Kasra reflects, “and then I saw there’s a bigger picture. I’m a big fan of putting out records that people might not expect.”

When Kasra set up Critical 15 years ago it was unheard of for a drum ‘n’ bass label to put out a dancehall record. This openness to outside influences and unshackling from the confines of tempo means Critical – and, as a result, drum ‘n’ bass - is in a very healthy place.

“A lot of people regularly write drum ‘n’ bass off as being ‘that stuff that was popular in the late ‘90s’, so it’s inspiring to see we’re being given the opportunity to play on stages to tens of thousands of people this year. A lot of the music scene is based on hype and fads. For the most part, I’ve never known drum ‘n’ bass to be cool. That’s fine. We just get on with it. The people who love it, really love it.”

Mark O'Donnell is a freelance journalist. Follow him on Twitter

Asia Huddleston is a freelance photographer. Follow her on Instagram

Emperor goes straight for the Boghorn - forthcoming on his Backchat EP on Critical Music alongside 2 other crucial cuts. Get it here: https://fanlink.to/Backchat_EPEmperor:Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/EmperorDNB/SoundCloud → https://soundcloud.com/the_emperorInstagram → https://www.instagram.com/emperordnb/Critical Music:Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/criticalmusicdnb/SoundCloud → https://soundcloud.com/critical-musicInstagram → https://www.instagram.com/critical_music/Drum&BassArena:Join the family → www.family.breakbeat.co.uk/Spotify → www.open.spotify.com/user/officialdnbaYouTube → www.youtube.com/user/officialdnbtvInstagram → www.instagram.com/officialdnba/Mixcloud → www.mixcloud.com/drumandbassarena/Facebook → www.facebook.com/officialdnbaTwitter → www.twitter.com/OfficialDnBAMusic news → www.breakbeat.co.uk/Subscribe to our weekly newsletter → breakbeat.co.uk/#modal

Genre: Drum & Bass

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