One of the changes the drum & bass scene has made over the last decade or so has been the shortening of track times. When the scene was really in its apex, a six or seven minute tune was normal. Hell, things didn’t even really get randy until that three-minute mark, especially if DJ Krust was at the helm.
Krust, who may be my favorite of the Full Cycle squad, knows how to ride the funk. The real meat-and-potatoes of tunes like “Warhead” and “Soul In Motion” are tough drums and magnificent bass, coupled with the otherworldly atmospherics he crafts. In a world where most new releases barely break the five-minute mark, Krust giving us 12+ minutes of “Constructive Ambiguity” is more than welcome, for me that is.
Krust’s return
The intense study of the scene that’s marked my journey back into the dnb fold has been during a year where Krust has been on the warpath. His Tempo release “The Fundamentalist” clocks in at over nine minutes of spacefunk, and classics like “Unit 23” from his “Legends” release sound right at home in an era where all of that old dnb feels new thanks to this revivalist ting we’re currently living within. “Constructive Ambiguity,” though, sounds like it was made for me.
2020: A Krust Odyssey
There’s just something about the way Krust taps into those moods. This feels like a film. The booming bass and distant blips feel like what Brad Pitt would’ve been hearing while traversing the galaxy in Ad Astra. (Can we get someone to redo that film’s soundtrack with a DJ Krust megamix?) Of course, when this one really drops (right around that three-minute mark—no skipping ahead!), it’s all space station battle sequences. A real eerie, really invigorating number.
What’s next for Krust?
Krust’s first album in 14(!) years, The Edge Of Everything, will be released on November 6, 2020—aka this Friday—via Crosstown Rebels. Be sure to have your spacesuit ready. #HRD
Bonus Beats Bailey recently had Krust on Mi-Soul to talk about The Edge of Everything and go in the mix. Listen below.
And if you want to hear JUST the uncut interview Bailey’s got you covered.