How is Fred V still this consistent this far into it? “Vortex” is him doing the thing he’s been better at than almost anyone: melodic drum and bass with actual songwriting underneath the sound design, not a pretty pad slapped over a breakbeat. The lead melody in the drop is genuinely memorable, the sort you could hum with no drums at all and it would still stand up. There’s a real chord progression driving the whole thing, tension resolving in ways most dnb producers don’t bother with because a dancefloor doesn’t strictly demand it. Fred bothers. That is the difference. The energy stays lifted the whole way through and never once tips into exhausting, a tightrope a lot of this genre walks straight off. I’ve played it maybe six times today and the melody is still lodged in my skull. Since the split from Grafix he’s grown into a producer you could recognise blindfolded. Peak-of-his-powers stuff.
Not the first time Fred V has shown up here — Fred V & Ayah Marar - Daydreaming