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It might seem like an anachronism, yet King Cannibal is not alone. The past year or so has seen acts turn to dubstep to try and revivify drum and bass, the apparent backwardness of it being that dubstep was innovative where drum and bass was tired. Then again, why shouldn’t updating the genre be a valid thing to do? The preponderance of bad, banal dubstep made by precisely the people who have been willing to collaborate with drum and bass producers is one kind of answer.

King Cannibal, real name Dylan Richards and elsewhere known as Zilla, is caught in this movement. Let the Night Roar is a collection of dark tracks built of low frequencies, lyrical aggression and dystopia, and drums and rhythms combing dancehall, drum and bass and dubstep. By featuring MCs like Sasha Perera of Jahcoozi, Face-A-Face and Daddy Freddy, Richards situates his project in an international and intergenerational pool of artists producing different derivations of dancehall and everything after it. He is comparable to the likes of Canada’s Ghislain Poirier, Austria’s Stereotyp, or fellow labelmate and Londoner The Bug.

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Friday March 2nd is a landmark date in the history of drum & bass. Ram Records has been one of the most important drum & bass labels in the history of the genre. They have been at the very forefront of drum & bass ever since Ant Miles and a sixteen year old Andy C released the label’s debut ‘Sour Mash EP’ in 1992, and almost immediately wrote the label into jungle history with their genre-defining and scene-shaping magnum opus ‘Valley of the Shadows’ in 1993.

The years since have seen the label become one of the scene’s dominant forces with one of the tightest knit collectives. Along with the founding fathers, the talents of Shimon, Moving Fusion and Red One were soon incorporated in to their stable, and later the likes of Nightbreed and Subfocus were added, creating one of the most formidable collectives in the scene. Their music has been of such consistently high quality it’s possible to pick a drum & bass anthem of the year for every year from the Ram catalogue alone.

The success of Ram also went hand in hand with the development of Andy C’s career and helped shape him in to drum & bass’ undisputed heavyweight champion. Ram will not only be marking their fifteen year anniversary with this monster of a party, but with the release of a commemorative CD/DVD pack that will include live footage from ‘The Executioner’ recorded on the night, along with interview footage with all the crew and much more.

The night itself is a blend of Ram mainstays such as Sub Focus, Shimon and of course Andy C, and a select choice of some of the finest talent from across the scene in mouth-watering back to back combinations including Mampi Swift back to back with DJ Fresh, Bryan Gee back to back with DJ Die and Fierce back to back with Commix.

The lounge dwellers will be treated to some gems too, including the wonky hip hop, breaks and downtempo of Danny Breaks, the no-nonsense party breaks of Jay Cunning, Neil Mitchell’s straight-up house, and the cherry on the cake, a very special AWOL set from the legendary DJ Randall! Not to be missed.

An extraordinary line-up for an historic anniversary in drum & bass, and a night that is set to go down in folklore. Let’s all toast to another fifteen years from the Ram crew!

via: DanceNova