Three DJs walk into a bar in Montreal and heavy-bass banger tracks ensue. All joking aside, the French turntablist trio Turbine, who met in Montreal, has found a niche combining the art of scratching with modern produced bass beats and innovative sound design. It was that formula, along with their captivating performance skills, that lead them to a 4th place finish while representing Canada at the 2022 DMC World DJ Championship. For 2023, Turbine has been busy enacting their blueprint into the DnB music scene. This is from the release of two tracks, starting first with the dark and seductive Mind Control, and now, releasing a new charged turntablism & Drum & Bass music thriller of a song titled Reality.
Masterful sound design is one of the driving forces behind Reality. Comparatively, this skill was also present in the music of We Are Leopard, a Montreal-based music project in which members of Turbine had participated. Generally, a combination of tasty and powerful bass swells followed by unique eye-opening ricochet sounds is a constant in Reality. Guiding Reality into the DnB world is its beat that’s built upon a weighty but dry kick drum. Busy and crisp-sounding filtered snare drum and cymbals make up the high end of the groove. There is also a recurring melodic focus played on a wobbly mid-ranged synth that follows a root, fifth, tritone pattern. Haunted houses are usually the first thing that comes to mind when you hear this specific pitch sequence.
With the haunting melodic focus, invigorating DnB grooves, and impeccable sound design all in hand, the final ingredient that turns Reality into a real head nodder is the turntable scratching contributions from all three members. Precision is on display in Reality with the scrubbed vocal drops and percussive sound bites. If you’ve seen Turbine live, you’ll notice that they also take the art of the turntable to another level. This stems from constantly rotating all three members around the different turntables with no collisions or breaks in the track. It makes for an appealing visual aspect that goes well with their effervescent lit tracks.
Once you reach the end of the song, Turbine – Reality simply leaves you wanting more of this concoction of turntablism & Drum & Bass music. With just a limited catalog to this point for the French turntablist trio Turbine, the good news is the success seen so far in 2023 from them should ensure that more bangers shall continue to come.
