Over the last six months, I’ve posted predominantly indie-electro, distorted bangers, gnarled electro-tech and fidgety tunes with wonky basslines. I’ve displayed a beset fixation on the likes of the Black Ghosts, Fake Blood, Switch, LA Riots, Justice and Does It Offend You, Yeah?. I like vocal based remixes, distorted bangers and gnarly basslines – and I hear you say it’s all getting a little samey? Call me old-fashioned, narrow-minded, stuck in a rut, monotonous or unadventurous – though I’d prefer you to call me Pelski – but I generally stick to a certain vein of dance music. However, a couple of artists are currently producing the type of music that I usually look down my nose at. Drum and Bass, Heavy Bass, Breakcore, and the similarly grimier sides of dance music have always seemed monotonous to me: uninviting and unimaginative. But the likes of Drop The Lime, Si Begg and Pirate Soundsystem are artists who really command some attention and manage to draw on all aspect of dance music – be it modern electro or old school breakz.
Of course, two years ago Justice sounded inventive and fresh, but now the scene has been flooded by hundreds of imitators and has subsequently turned stagnant. Fortunately, at last, newer fresher sounds are arriving in forms of bassline, 2-step, crunk and old school rave revivals, alongside more glitchy and fidgety tunes and even the melding of dubstep, breaks and electro. Drop The Lime is one such innovator (though he’s actually been around for a good six years now), and one of my all-time favourite producers, whose DJ sets have become legendary; as he spins booming old-school classics, long forgotten bangers and new (often hidden) gems alike – all spread across every dance genre imaginable.
Brooklyn’s Drop The Lime – or Luca Venezia – has been pushing the envelope in all fields of dance music for at least six years now. He’s switched back and forth, from genre to genre, experimenting with every kind of music that involves heavy bass. He was DJing Jungle, D’n'B, Techno and House from a young age after emercing himself in the New York rave scene. He hit it big in the (er…ahem…) breakcore scene. He then moved his sound somewhat closer to Chicago-house and heavy bass. He pulled in techno, grime and breaks to create this strange and wonderful amalgam that is the sound of his Drop The Lime alias. He his music as “bass-heavy breaks.” But enough with the genre perimeters…
Drop The Lime has released a vast quantity of material, at first predominantly on the Tigerbeat6 label. ‘I Want 2 Know’ is a DTL classic typically heavy on the bass with an old-school house vibe, a nice cheesy female vocal hook and warbling basslines that wouldn’t sound out of place in a bassline or dubstep tune (DTL has cited that he was heavily influenced by the UK garage scene). Pirate Soundsystem’s remix, however, is even better, glitching the vocals and adding an even heavier, reverberating bassline:
Drop The Lime – I Want 2 Know [pelski highly recommends]
Drop The Lime – I Want 2 Know (Pirate Soundsystem Remix) [pelski highly recommends]
It seems Drop The Lime (and his other alias Curses!) has a fixation on high-pitched chipmunk vocals. You will either love it or hate it. But as Pirate Soundsystem rightly put it: ‘I love cliched samples’. The 4X4 dub of ‘Hear Me’ illustrates more of his cheesy old-school diva-house style, alongside some wonky basslines and techy, grinding beats:
Drop The Lime – Hear Me (Monster Mosh 4X4 Dub) [pelski highly recommends]
My favourite Drop The Lime album is We Never Sleep (a wild swing from the breakcore genre
of his debut to this grimey techno), released in 2006, and features the most consistent array of tunes on any of his albums yet. The problem with his continual – almost fervent or manic – production is that with all his enthusiastic experimentation and speedy output he’s bound to end up with alot of surplus crap. For instance, as I sifted through the hundreds of DTL tracks on my computer in order to decide what to post, I came across tonnes of tunes filled with manic drum beats and clattering noise that amount to mere discordance (for example listen to this tune; one of many of DTL’s overly experimental pretensions: Drop The Lime – Rocker Party). ‘We Never Sleep’, however, is filled not only with banging dancefloor tunes but also genuinely melodic vocals and ambient atmosphere. He even incorporated poppy elements into this diverse album. At live gigs, the crowd even greets ‘Butterscotch’ with a sing-a-long to the chorus. Similarly, ‘Full Moon Rising’ is a strange but bizarrely enchanting addition:
Drop The Lime – Full Moon Rising
Drop The Lime – Hot Sauce Grillz
His latest EP ‘Like Thunder’ features the title track and ‘I Love NY’ . More warbling basslines and low-frequency booms. It is to be released on July 1st on Trouble & Bass records – the record company he set up himself, and has signed similarly heavy and experimental artists: Mathhead, Star Eyes, The Captain and Starkey. Additonally, the Trouble & Bass blog is worth a look, displaying a rare example of free-thinking artists who interact with their audience (they also hand out a majority of their tracks for free).
Drop The Lime – Like Thunder [pelski highly recommends]
Drop The Lime’s remixing touches utilizes his trademark deep, wonky bass, but drops the vocal-house style. His most recent two are that of Boy 8-Bit and Robyn:
Boy 8-Bit – Suspense Is Killing Me (Drop The Lime Remix) [pelski highly recommends]
Moby – Alice (Drop The Lime Heavy Bass Remix) [pelski highly recommends]
Robyn – Who’s That Girl (Drop The Lime Remix)
Mathhead – Drop It (Drop The Lime Dynasty of Fury Remix)
Fugees – Ready Or Not (Drop The Lime Remix)
Party Crashers Unite – Put Ur Hands Up 4 NY (Drop The Lime Edit)
In 2007, Luca Venezia (DTL) turned his attention to a new project under the name of ‘Curses!’. And for those who feel Drop The Lime’s assault on your ear drums is just too much, Curses! may well be the safer option. Curses! is altogether more accessible, often with a more consistent beat, and lacks the hyperactive and chaotic elements that are jumbled together under his Drop The Lime alias. Curses! is different to DTL, but still relies heavily on cheesey high-pitched-chipmunk 
vocals diced up, but now alongside infectious glitchy electro. Furthermore Curses! is signed to the Parisian electro label Institubes, a label that has come to command some real respect – home to Surkin, Bobmo, High Powered Boys, Midnight Juggernauts, Para One and Orgasmic.
The first single was ‘What I Need’, with a glitched sped-up diva vocal. One of the excellent Top Billin crew, calling himself Sharkslayer, adds some bmore slapping, a wobbly bassline and glitchy electro-cuts in a brilliant remix. That garage Londoner – Dexplicit – adds a welcome bassline lick to proceedings. (The Bulgarian has also produced a superb but annoyingly evasive remix, if anyone’s mananged to get their hands on it please post below):
Curses! – What I Need [pelski highly recommends]
Curses! – What I Need (Sharkslayer Remix) [pelski highly recommends]
Curses! – What I Need (Dexplicit Remix) [pelski highly recommends]
‘Died Tonight’ also relies heavily on repetitive high pitched vocals – this time sampling Cutting Crew’s 1986 number one single ‘(I Just) Died In Your Arms’. The deliciously cheesy diva-vocals of both ‘What I Need’ and ‘Died Tonight’ are strangely addictive listening:
Curses! – Died Tonight [pelski highly recommends]
The booming, thrumming stomper that is ‘Hungry 4 Love’ booms and
blasts its way along at a fast and boisterous pace. ‘Tearing Me Apart’ is another of my favourites: an all rasping, blasting and screeching banger underlaid by wobbly bass:
Curses! – Hungry 4 Love [pelski highly recommends]
Curses! – Tearing Me Apart [pelski highly recommends]
‘This is the way’ is another four to the floor banger (with yet more vocal-house snippets), but – as if to prove he hasn’t lost his raw and gritty touhc – Drop The Lime remixes his own track, transforming it into a pounding altogether dirtier, version:
Curses! – This Is the Way (Drop The Lime Remix)
Juiceboxxx and Dre Skull – Center Stage (Curses! Remix)
Midnight Juggernauts – Road To Recovery (Curses! Remix)
In a recent interview Luca admits he wouldn’t mind a little mainstream attention, and I suppose it could only come in the form of Curses! – but that’s still a very long shot indeed. Curses! 
maintains the gritty, raw sounds of DTL and still smacks of progression and uniqueness (and certainly lacks the commercial accessibility). Though that said, he is edging ever closer, especially with his collaboration with the likes of Fake Blood, Herve, Sinden, Detboi – called Machines Don’t Care. His first track under Machines Don’t Care is a collaboration with Herve and does not disappointed – warping, warbling tune filled with punchy drum patterns, a strange, eerie build-up and a deep wobbly bassline. Amazing:
Drop The Lime & Herve [Machines Don't Care] – Spycatcher (edit) [pelski highly recommends]
Drop The Lime is one of the most inventive producers out there right now – his frantic, hyperactive and DIY style is inspiring and makes for a energetic mix of dancefloor beats, and both his live and DJ sets aren’t to be missed. See him on Friday 4th July, at London’s Fabric alongside Switch, Sinden and Toddla T (and Pendulum… if you must…). Here’s a recent live turntable mix filled with bouncy beats, cheesy old-school gems and heavy bass:
Drop The Lime – Bass For Golden Pudels [50 min mix]
00:07 KRS ONE – Step Into A World (looped)
00:35 Green Velvet – Explorer [Relief Records 1995]
2:43 Drop The Lime – Set Me Free [White Label 2008]
6:04 Machine Don’t Care – Spycatcher [Counterfeet 2008]
7:46 Drop The Lime – Hot Sauce Grillz [Tigerbeat6 2006]
10:40 2 Bad Mice – Strip Search [Sm:) Communications 1995]
12:37 Drums Of Death – Breathe (Curses! Remix) [Greco-Roman 2008]
15:33 Regina Belle – Good Lovin’ (looped) [CBS 1989]
16:20 Curses! – This Is The Way (Drop The Lime Remix) [Institubes]
19:11 Drop The Lime – Fever Gasp [Broklyn Beats 2007]
22:08 Klassic – Let Me Love U (Herbzman In The Hood Rmx)
23:03 Drop The Lime – Hold On [Rag & Bone 2006]
24:48 Blaqstarr – SHake It To The Ground (DTL Remix) [Mad Decent 2007]
27:15 Paul Johnson – Get Get Down [Fuel Records 1999]
29:21 Paul Johnson – Get Get Down [" "]
30:20 Q – Walk On By [Mystical Dubz 2007]
33:05 T2 Feat. Sharnell & Danica – Why [Nocturnal Records 2007]
35:10 Boy 8 Bit – The Suspense Is Killing Me (DTL remix) [Mad Decent 2008]
37:26 Drop The Lime – E Lock [Tigerbeat6 2006]
39:44 Drop The Lime – Pump Up NY [Trouble & Bass 2007]
41:23 Party Crashers Unite – Bullets 4 Brunch [Tigerbass 2007]
43:18 Voicemail from Dad [2007]
43:30 Jr Walker & All Stars – Shotgun [Tamla Motown 1965]
44:48 Infants – Firetruk Theme (DTL Remix 2007)
47:04 DJ Pierre – Box Energy [Trax Records 1988]
49:17 Fire Camp – War Riddim [white label 2006] w/ The House Crew “Dance To The House” [Strictly Rhythm 1990]
Here’s an interesting interview with Drop The Lime, especially in regards to blogs’ influences on the music industry:
