Playlist of the Week: Delta Heavy
Delta Heavy
Aug 21, 2024
One of the most definitive duos in the drum & bass scene, Delta Heavy, usher in the arrival of their new 'Midnight Forever' album by sharing some of their most supercharged summer tracks for Beatport's Playlist of the Week.
Our new album Midnight Forever is out this Friday. This is our third album, and it encapsulates everything that has brought us to this point: every club, festival, and rave; every hour in the studio, whether frustrating or fruitful; every high and low on this wild journey. It is a tapestry of diverse influences and personal experiences that have guided our musical path. Having experimented with various genres in the past, we see Midnight Forever as our ode to drum & bass, a love letter to the music that captured our hearts as underage teenagers exploring the London scene. The process of writing this album has been cathartic, providing a space for introspection at home and hedonism on the dancefloor. We put together this chart to demonstrate how healthy and varied we feel drum & bass is at the moment, and to highlight a bunch of the tracks we’ve been playing in our sets this summer.
Delta Heavy's latest album Midnight Forever drops Friday, August 23rd. Buy it on Beatport.
Check out Delta Heavy's Playlist of the Week on Beatport
Delta Heavy - Never Alone (feat. Hayley May) [Delta Heavy]
"Never Alone" is the sixth and final single taken from Midnight Forever and features the vocalist from Get Down Tonight, Hayley May. We wrote the vocal at a slower tempo ballad-style over a simple RnB beat before taking the acapella and speeding it up to 174bpm. As soon as we put the sped-up vocal over DnB, we felt some magic in the room, and the track almost wrote itself. We chose more of a 90s rave palette for the sounds in this track, and that era of dance music was a big inspiration for the writing of this album.
Sub Focus - Wildfire [Positiva]
Sub Focus has been on (wild)fire recently, and this record is yet another anthem from our favourite DnB producer. Nick's genius is making huge-sounding records from relatively few elements, and this is demonstrated here; each sound has a perfectly defined role and place in the arrangement. Wildfire feels both slightly haunting and uplifting at the same time, and the vocal is a real earworm.
Fred V - Luminous [Hospital Records]
One of our favourites and the title track from Fred's recent album. The plucky lead melody is both catchy and hypnotic and we love the euphoric and dreamy musicality in this record.
Culture Shock - The Time Is Now [Culture Shock Music]
Classic Culture Shock dance floor weapon. Chunky drums and immaculate production. The vocal is slightly reminiscent of the Chemical Brothers which is always a good thing.
Sonny Fedora - Mind Still (1991 Remix) [SOLOTOKO]
We've been loving all our 1991's remixes of late and for us this is the pick of the bunch. Remixing house tracks into DnB is never straightforward due to the significant tempo change but Fred has pulled it effortlessly here. It's a fairly understated and floaty track but still has plenty of energy to really work in the mix live.
Chase & Status, Stormzy - BACKBONE [EMI]
This is an absolutely huge follow-up to "Baddadan." Recently entering the UK charts straight in at Number 1, the growth of DnB into the mainstream consciousness has been incredible to witness, and C&S have played a major part in that. Expect to hear this in every rave around the globe for the foreseeable future.
Delta Heavy - Punching Holes [Delta Heavy]
The third single from our album ended up being quite a different-sounding track than we originally envisioned it. By switching up the drop into something dark and more minimal than what we usually do, we created a moment of impact, and the contrast to the epic, soaring intro has really worked live.
Skantia - Yoyo Bop [skant.net]
It's one of the standout jump up tunes this year and has caused a huge reaction every set we have dropped it in. It's super minimal for maximum impact on the dancefloor, and that bit-crushed formant 'yo' bass is so distinctive. There are a lot of very similar tracks being made in this style, but Skantia has a unique sound that really sets him apart.
Delta Heavy - Ecstasy [Delta Heavy]
Our second single from 'Only In Dreams' and our take on the four-to-floor sound that has been taking over DnB in recent times. We were heavily influenced by a lot of melodic techno and artists such as Anyma, Massano and Kevin De Vries and you can definitely hear that in Ecstasy. The basic idea in the breakdown came from speeding up the LFO that is modulating the lead riff to a point where the sound turns into a sustained note and that note then pitches up before dissolving to nothing. The moment of silence before the drop created such a huge moment in our sets we always knew this had to be a single.
Kanine - Chemicals
New single from our buddy Ferg Kanine and it's a big one. Love the stuttered, syncopated lead riff and the energy on the drop. Kanine packs a lot of musical depth and energy into his music and that really aligns with what we make and play in our sets.
