Most fans of turntablism & Drum and Bass music will by now be familiar with French turntablist trio Turbine – purveyors of a variety of gritty and dynamic DnB tracks including Maze, Mind Control, Reality, Bounce That and Bassquake. Now, the trio is back with their latest single Turbine – Pills, and it’s as energetic, hard-hitting and intense as you might expect.
The first thing you’ll notice about Turbine – Pills is its blasts of proclamatory synth, which signal the track’s arrival like a burst of buzzing fanfare. No doubt you’ll also pick up on the vocal sample that goes on to dominate the song – a woman’s voice saying the name of the track as if she is savouring every letter of the word, something that helps to build up the excitement and momentum as we head for an explosion of fast, uncompromising beats. As is often typical of turntablism & Drum and Bass music, the deep, rattling bassline that is introduced during that all-important drop is subsequently repeated for a good portion of the track’s three-and-a-half minutes, giving Pills that dark but restless feel that we have come to expect from French turntablist trio Turbine. The track then changes slightly, with those intense synths and bassline remaining as the percussion is pared back slightly. Things soon take off again though, and for the final minute of Turbine – Pills listeners are left to enjoy those raw, savage rhythms in all their glory, as well as an effective combination of samples and bass parts that dip in and out in order to establish further momentum.
If anyone does turntablism & Drum and Bass music well, it’s French turntablist trio Turbine, something wholeheartedly established by the group’s body of work up until this point. Turbine – Pills, meanwhile, builds upon the expectations set by these previous tracks, but all the while sees the group pushing themselves to make music that is both palpably intense and steeped in their unique artistic flourishes.
