Seba and Method One
Heavy Traffic / Mr. Downstairs
Secret Operations [SW]
12”
Release date : 02 28 11

Before I begin, let me be clear about one thing, this is a very heavy, heavy tune. Seba takes a step away from the more laid back sounds which have somewhat defined his career over the years and released an absolute monster of a track. This isn’t to say that the man isn’t known for creating some heavy weight tunes, on the contrary, with releases on Metalheadz and working alongside sometime partner in crime Paradox he is no stranger to the darker side of DnB. When it comes to mayhem, trust that Seba can roll with the best of them. However this is an altogether different animal, a beast with different stripes. Dance floor devastation at its finest. At a time in the history of DnB when noise has become just that and to create a dark DnB tune means relieving the work of any type of funk or soul this is a refreshing tune and restores a fans faith that being "hard" doesn’t mean being "loud".

The intro to the track is subtle enough. Upon first listen its just your standard two-step break, some eerie strings and a haunting vocal stab. All of that changes however once the bass line starts rolling and suddenly,  before you know it, the amen breaks have started dropping and "heavy traffic" becomes, well…. heavy. This is a no frills ride into sub bass heaven. There are no over done build ups. No real breakdowns. No cheesy heavy metal samples. Instead, Seba just gets on with the business of creating. In the end whether this track is aimed at the dance floor is irrelevant as it stands on its own as a pure work of art. Its almost an homage to the golden days of tech step when labels like No U-Turn were king and the songs just rolled out for what seemed like hours. Anxiety, fear, darkness. Its all here rolled into five and half minutes of blissful listening. Seba…its a pleasure. -Matt Caulder

Editors Note: A big how low can you go to our newest reviewer Matt Caulder, he will be contributing to the Drum and Bass reviews along with other ins and outs of the trade.

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