Tough Guys Don’t Dance

Submit Content

This feature allows you to filter content in the Main and Community Feeds by your chosen genres.

You must login to use it.

2008	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov
2007	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec

Main Feed

Tough Guys Don’t Dance

High Contrast [Hospital Records]

4 December, 2007 | 1.33PM

Section: Music Recommendations
Written by: The Last Real DJ Alive

The peculiarly named ‘Tough Guys Don’t Dance’ represents a Herculean effort by High Contrast – a magnum opus if you will.

It goes back to the root of jungle and away from the mad, incessant clown-step that has become rampant in the scene due to hordes of Pendulum impersonators.

Here, it’s all about seismic sine basslines, clickety-clack beats and ecstasy-soaked vibes.

So, when dipping your toes into ‘Tough Guys Don’t Dance’, look no further than its lead track ‘If We Ever’ featuring the voice of jungle, Charlemagne, for an indication of what’s to come.

It’s made up of a break sampled from the Foul Play remix of ‘Renegade Snares’, an irrepressible piano hook, a rub-a-dub sine staccato bass, reverse Rufige Kru strings and, of course, Charlemagne doing what she does best.

Classic.

Pretty much every track on this album is above average at worst, so let’s just focus on the really decent ones.

‘In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida’, rather than pretend to be an original song, names itself after the original as sampled by Will.I.Am on Nas’ ‘Hip Hop Is Dead’.

High Contrast plays it in a stabby organ style which fits the drum & bass mould perfectly and makes you wonder why no one thought of doing this before.

Watch out for the excellent-sounding ghostly guitar that filters in towards the bridge!

Another real gem is on this LP ‘Forever And A Day’ featuring J’nay.

We can’t quite put our finger on where High Contrast sampled these beats from but it’s definitely a top record… we’re guessing a Full Cycle one.

This is basically an update of High Contrast’s seminal ‘Return To Forever’, complete with a sticky sawtooth bass, masterful string manipulation and mind-boggling melodies.

The final song we want to highlight is ‘Tread Softly’, which is a delicate drum & bass composition by name and by nature.

It stimulates mental images of wandering through an icy cavern, surrounded by glistening, frozen stalactites with strange shadows flickering in the background.

All the padding and FX here are high grade; just showing how far High Contrast has come since his first release.

So whether you’re a diehard raver or just a casual dance music fan, ‘Tough Guys Don’t Dance’ represents an essential album purchase that will be listened to for years to come.