Calyx and TeeBee: Drum and Bass Has Become Formulaic

As much of the drum and bass scene still seems stuck in an arms race to bash the living fuck out of everything, the duo of Larry Cons and Torgeir Byrknes, together as Calyx and TeeBee, school so hard they could lead a seminar on how to bring headiness along with the heaviness.

Last week, the boundary-pushing veterans released the "Ghostwriter/Where We Are" combo on essential London drum and bass institution Ram Records. "Ghostwriter," the A-side, is a spacious heater that alludes to everything from dub to jungle to hip-hop, dashing it all with that neurofunk tech swag, while the B-side heavily features some chiptune bleepery that's from deep in left field.

The release is just another reminder of Calyx & TeeBee's unique ability to bring bruising, visceral drum and bass that maintains an elevated musical sense. When we grilled the duo on how they keep it so fresh after all these years, they just decided to show us by making us a top notch guest mix.

THUMP: You guys bring a lot more to the table than just bangers
Calyx: One of the advantages of having started out in the early days of drum and bass is that we still see the genre as a melting pot of sounds and influences from other genres. We certainly came into it from diverse musical backgrounds, whereas many of today's emerging producers grew up listening only to drum and bass, which in turn leads to artists mimicking other artists.

TeeBee: What made us fall in love with drum and bass was the diversity and musicality from the early years. The genre, or at least the big room stuff, has become quite formulaic, so we strive to bring a little bit our influences into the current format and maybe that will convince someone new to drum and bass to dig a little deeper. There is a wonderful history of exceptional tunes out there.

So what in particular do you listen to?
TeeBee: We are just fans of music. Listening to the same thing all the time would kill us off. Also, when making drum and bass, it is really good to come with a mind-set of different genres and making that work for you. There is nothing more boring to us than dnb emulating dnb. Historically, it was a huge melting pot where anything goes,and we strive to keep that alive. We love house, techno, hip-hop, pop, rock. Lately, I've been listening to a lot of Brian Eno, Matt Lange, Trentemøller, Kendrik, Dr.Dre, NWA, Gang Starr, Ennio Morricone, Vangelis, Biosphere, the list goes on forever.

Many drum and bass sets days lack a sense of flow. Why is that?
TeeBee: I think everyone just comes on and tries to smash it. Usually this was a UK phenomenon, as every DJ got one hour and they usually showed up right before their sets due to other gigs on the same night. But now, it has spread to all around the world. Unfortunately, the warm up sets have been in large lost due to the locals bashing out the loudest, hardest tracks at 8PM! I would like to see more of a build in a night, and I think the audience would like that too.

Calyx: I certainly agree that many people's sets don't have much flow or contrasting dynamics. We love sets that represent the diversity of drum and bass. We love periods of depth and calm between the storms, rollers that bridge the smashers, old classics meeting modern tracks. Sets are so much more exciting and rewarding that way for us, whereas a set comprised of smasher after smasher, or just a constant journey in only one style or sound - even if I love the tracks individually, that sort of set leaves me a bit numb.

…And what about the music in general?
Calyx: There's definitely a distinction to be made between sets and the music that's being made. The genre itself is still amazingly diverse.So many different angles are in play with such a great variety from Alix Perez, Sam Binga, the Manchester and Bristol crews all doing great stuff, to Noisia and beyond. We are growing as a culture both musically and in size every single year .We're not going anywhere but further.

Calyx and TeeBee are on Facebook // SoundCloud // Twi-tter
Find Ghostwriter/Where We Are on iTunes.