It seems the ethos behind the Hospital Record label has swung towards to the more commercial side of drum ‘n’ bass, but this is no bad thing. Artists such as High Contrast and London Elektricity are appealing to the masses and are bringing in a whole new generation of drum ‘n’ bass followers and the latest producer to penetrate the commercial sounding side of Hospital is Mistabishi.
Mistabishi is a London based producer who is new to the scene; growing up in Essex he was exposed to Jungle and drum ‘n’ bass from a young age, describing it as his "local folk music". This influence sadly didn’t divert him from becoming a victim to the corporate monsters and finding himself a job in the financial world. However, all this time the D&B virus kept infecting him on a daily basis, preventing the one time illegal partygoer from completely losing his soul to the investment-banking world. Now with a range of releases on Virus and his recent singing to Hospital Records, Mistabishi is fast gaining respect as one of the most promising new producers to break through.
Falling in Love is Mistabishi’s second 12” single to come out on Hospital and features Danman on vocals. This reggae influenced liquid roller blends deep bass with artificial sounding drums that cascade to the clubbers eardrums. The best part of it is that it’s not the run of the mill 2-step beat heard in most liquid funk songs; instead the drums follow a pattern that was found in a lot of tunes released circa ’97. All good so far, but wait, oh no… this song is another victim of over production.
The drums in this song have that over-compressed snap often found in Pendulum tunes - it’s so present that the drums loose all their original dynamics and soul, making them sound incredibly artificial. Whether you like this is purely down to taste, but it’s mostly the new generation of fans who appreciate these sounds. The musicality of this tune more than makes up for the tracks down points, an eclectic range of modern samples, such as one blindingly obvious sample ripped from Sigur Ros, creates a very deep texture. The most standout part of this song, however, is the excellent vocals by Danman. The chorus perfectly compliments the rolling nature of this song, and simply amplifies the quality of the song tenfold. The commercial value of this song is very high, as unlike normal Ddum ‘n’ bass it’s structured very much like a traditional song, making it very radio friendly and more of a tune someone would listen to on their iPod.
For those interested in the 12”, the B-side She Lied is much a deeper, funkier and soulful liquid tune and lacks the commerial-fromage found in Falling in Love. From a personal point of view, I’d buy the 12” for this alone. As Mistabishi is now an exclusive Hospital artist, we can probably expect an album in the next year or so, it’ll be very interesting to hear how it turns out.