Clever - Offshore Presents Troubled Waters

a brilliant journey through drummed up dnb nutiness!

about halfway through the mix we hit a justice track with a sample that says "i think we've started something new tonight. we're on our way! where? i dont know..." that sums up this mix pretty well...it's equal parts heaviest dnb ever & lightest/most atmospheric...whatever it is it is def. more afx than adam f, digs? April 1, 2008

drift away...

I have never found another CD as mesmerizing and hypnotic than this mix. by all means, buy it, open your mind, and let this disc take you on a ride! September 11, 2007

Drums without the Bass

This album appears to represent an obscure sub-segment of drum'n'bass. A stripped down, aural desert of only drums. They are skillful, original drums, but they have nothing to accompany. Aside from the distant echoeing atmospherics, all you get on this album is one long drum solo. This may be just right for a minute sub-segment of the d'n'b listening community, but for me it lacks. June 3, 2006

CLEVER IS MY GATEWAY DRUG-PUSHER!!

... As someone who has only been into Drum & Bass for about two years now, I was starting to get let down by the lack of new, original Jungle music. It seemed like all that was coming out was the same-old two step and/or jump-up stuff. I had almost given up completly........ Then, along comes Clever and his Troubled Waters mix!! FINALY SOMETHING DIFFERENT!! If you like more complex, chopped-up beats that harken back to the Metalheadz days combined with new, crazy,jazzy, atmospheric soundscapes.... BY ALL MEANS, GET THIS DISK!! Favorites on here include Drum Track 1 and 2 by ASC/Intex System, Seba: Making My Way Home and Alaska: Rare Earth. But, really the whole disc is quite good and expertly mixed by the one like Clever!

BE BRAVE, EMBRACE SOMETHING NEW AND DIFFERENT!! ..... Be sure to grab up Breakbeat Science Exercise 5, also mixed by Clever. Out May 24th 2005 May 21, 2005

Original Offshore

I was feeling a little nostalgic the other day so I decided to dig out Goldie's Retro disc on his INCredible Sounds of Drum N' Bass collection. What I found was somewhat shocking; drum n' bass used to have it all. Crush, complex rhythms, dark menacing atmosphere but above all, it had more varierty in sound and patterns than most D'n'B today. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy a simplistic two stepper from Fresh or Andy C but it excite me with the sense of invention that I found on Goldie's disc(and the album is nearly 8 years old).

Thank the stars for Clever and his Offshore records label, the much needed shot of originality and freshness that's been lacking from Drum n' Bass. What's truly wonderful about his label how his artists not only pull from the glory days of Drum n' bass, but from so many other genres as well. Offshore may not be rocking the floors in the clubs, but it certainly demands attention (and certainly more than its getting now).

The album starts off on fairly minimal note (and with longest track on the album) with Fracture and Neptunes 'Normality Complex' tracks. The openner is a textured affair with an approaching menace atmosphere and a drunken drummer sound, it already shows that this is going to be a much different ride than some of its contemperaries, From there, the album moves in a seemless shift of off key melodies(Seba, Graphic, ASC, and Paradox) and complex drums, to bizarre left-field break workouts(Tundra, Justice, and Seileni especially) that can almost barely be labeled as Drum n' bass, finally working its way through some lush atmospherics that can only be described as an updated Good Looking Records sound(the latter Deep Blue and Pieter K tracks are absolutely killer).

What's also worth mentioning other than just wonderful track collection is the wonderful mixing from the aptly named DJ, Clever. His mixing is spot on, with beautiful pacing, track selection and beatmatching, showing profiency beyond the average DJ. What makes his mixing that much more interesting is how and when he decides to do his blends. Its kind of hard to put into words but listen to the first few tracks and try to figure out where the next tracks start coming in. What this equates to is mixing that's so seemless that you'll be referencing the jewel case just to make sure that one track has ended and the next one has begun.

Wonderful, colorful, diverse subject material. Clever (pun intended) mixing. Offshore is doing a good job at help break up the monotony and stubborn rut that Drum n' Bass is often criticised for. Having also taken a look at other Offshore materials (check out Graphic's chunky collaberation with Beans for further proof), it looks like the innovative signature shows no sign of letting up. Don't sleep on this release May 10, 2005

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