Tuesday 25 October 2011

D/R/U/G/S - Connected

Unless someone manages to send the earth spinning in a different way, end of year lists are inevitable and it won’t be long before blogs and the press alike are littered with Albums of the Year, Singles / Tracks of the Year and tip lists for 2012. We’ll certainly be no different, with pretty much the whole of December acting like some sort of internet version of a musical advent calendar. Find out then if we put our money where our (twittering) mouth is and name Cinderella Eyes by Nicola Roberts as one of our records of 2011 and who we’re giving the kiss of death to as a One to Watch. We might even let Santa back in, as long as this time he doesn’t drink all the sherry and have sex with mother.

Whilst in previous years our Ones To Watch list has ended up containing some pretty big releases (Florence & The Machine, Mumford & Sons, La Roux, Ellie Goulding, The Vaccines for example) sometimes artists false start or fall at the first hurdle. For a while we thought that this fate had met D/R/U/G/S. With nothing more than the Love / Lust release and a reduction in forces down from two personnel to a solo project, D/R/U/G/S looked in no state to be marching boldly forward. However, Connected, out through Moshi Moshi offshoot Tender Age on Nov 7 on 12” (a digital release follows later in the month) manages to make that first confident stride. Callum Wright (for he is D/R/U/G/S) distances himself from past Orbital comparisons and instead crafts a piece of cybotronic sounding club music that still has a heart. With warm rave and house overtones and a techno core it progressively takes you away from the dance floor and way up high, walking through the clouds.

Callum’s second foot forward will come with a European tour with Digitalism before he wraps things up with two pre-Christmas shows at Manchester Warehouse Project and London Brixton Electric, leaving him just enough time to write his own end of year lists.

Connected by D/R/U/G/S

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