Cat No: NB013
Artist: Diazepam
Released: September 26th 2009

Tracklisting – click track title for 320kbps MP3 download

1: Departure

2: Autumn Tides

3: Distances

4: Sunkheart

Paul Reset’s notes:

I stumbled across “Departure” on Diazepam’s Soundcloud page and it literally blew me away – an absolutely beautiful slice of downtempo beats with slick production and an epic feel. I dropped Diazepam a message and after hearing more of his material, knew I had to get some of his work signed up for Nerve Breaks!

Each of the tracks stand alone as beautiful pieces of music, with the tempo reaching as high as 170 on “Distances” without losing any of the space and atmosphere, but I highly recommend listening to the EP from start to finish to get the full experience. I think the tracks sound like a meeting of minds between Max Richter and Burial and the production is on a par with both of those amazing producers.

Diazepam is a 19 year old Parisian and this is his debut release, I’m extremely proud to have him on-board and hope we’ll see much more from him in the future!
Find out more about him on his Myspace page.

Diazepam’s notes:

I’ve been making tunes for about 2 years now. I don’t really belong to a specific style, and my productions simply reflects my desire to blend acoustic instruments and minimal electronic atmospheres. Also, I would like to personally thank Paul for believing in me and letting me release my debut EP! Enjoy !

Cat No: NB012
Artist: Phuturelabs
Released: 2009

Tracklisting – click track title for 320kbps MP3 download

1: The Herd

2: Foregone

3: Childhood

4: What’s Behind Door 23…

Paul Reset’s notes:

After Basepair’s EP on NB010 featuring tracks from his archive between 1998 and 2001, we decided we’d go back in time once again and resurrect these tracks from the Phuturelabs archive.

Phuturelabs was a collaborative project between myself and Scott English AKA The Noisy Minority. We made our debut with “Code 420″ on NB004 and worked on these tracks around the same time in 2000-2001 also.

“The Herd” is a moody downtempo breaks track featuring an inspiring sample from the legend that is Bill Hicks. The other three tracks take things down a darker route with the beatless “Foregone” leading the way. It’s moody ambience and evil drones throw a dark atmosphere over the EP while “Childhood” is erm..a tad strange even by our standards. Nothing really to say other than give it a listen.

“What’s Behind Door 23″ closes the EP and it’s more dark downtempo breaks. I was never really sure about the flute in this but I love the muffled drums and glass smash samples so we decided to have this on the EP.

We always talked about working on more Phuturelabs material but never got round to it, the darkness may yet return!

Cat No: NB011
Artist: The Figures Of The Lost Dawn
Released: 2009

Tracklisting – click track title for 320kbps MP3 download

1: Not In My Town

2: “Lone Standing”

3: “DeadF”

4: “Mullen Cholly

Paul Reset’s notes:

The Figures was a short-lived collaborative project between myself and Martin BSE – we scratched out heads and sent samples back and forth and these are the four tracks that were born of that. Ranging from moody downtempo breaks to weird ambience and with some randomness inbetween.

I was really chuffed with the way these tracks came out and we always meant to work on more material but life and alcohol got in the way. The Figures may one day rise from the darkness.

Cat No: NB010
Artist: Basepair
Released: 2009

Nerve Breaks bursts into life for 2009! First up in our new release schedule is an EP from my good friend Basepair – lovely mixture of breaks, ambience, drum n bass and downtempo bizness. I’ll let Basepair explain more! Find out more about Basepair…

Tracklisting and info – click track title for 320kbps MP3 download

All were completed using Emagic Logic Audio sequencer running on a PC, Yamaha QY70 tone module, SU10 sampler and various outboard rack gear. As with all my tunes I like to mess about with stereo panning/ phasing and including sub bass in my tunes. A decent set of speakers or quality headphones to listen on are recommended…..

“Code 420 (Basepair rmx)” by Paul Reset vs The Noisy Minority – remixed by Basepair

From 2002. An unreleased remix submitted for Nerve Breaks 004 which didn’t make it onto the pressing. Quite a dark moody version & one I really enjoyed working on at the time. Additional mastering by the Rephase Engineer.

“Mobius Incursion”

From March 2001. Minimal dnb track with some harsh stabs, spacey pads and sub bass action…..

“Ambient Journey Trip”

From May 2001. Recorded this live using just my voice, two mics and a handful of delay pedals which I manipulated on the fly.

“Another Day (Beginning of)”

From early 1999. Begins with ambient samples I recorded in and around Byres Road in Glasgow’s West End, June 98. Features Iain Kennedy on Trumpet.

“Good Looking”

From late 1998 I think. Written in the classical form of the “Rondo”!
Submitted at the time as part of my music degree portfolio. Begins with some samples I took from the Shipping Forecast. Features Iain Kennedy on Trumpet.

“Claustraphobe” (Open Source mix)- by Piccardo – remixed by Basepair.

From April 2001. Guitar by Piccardo. At the time I had been messing about remixing a couple of Piccardo’s songs and this quickly became my favourite. Had to do a lot of editing on the guitar parts so that the delays and pitch shifting worked. You can hear some audio artefacts caused by the pitch shifting in places which I quite like.

“PIL”

From June 2000. Started (and almost completed) after returning from a heavy night of d’n'b clubbing in Glasgow. The seashore samples were recorded on Westport beach near Campbeltown on the Mull of Kintyre.

“Place in your Mind (Boom Boom dub mix)”- by Moje, remixed by Basepair

From 2001 I think. The things that sound like tom drums are actually children’s toy bats for playing tennis with.

Basepair and Paul Reset getting drunk on Islay, pretending to discuss this EP..

Cat No: NB009
Artist: Paul Reset
Released: 2008

Tracklisting – click track title for 320kbps MP3 download

1: Wake Up

2: “Self Sufficient (Stabilizer rmx)”

3: “Self Sufficient (Dubwise Selective rmx)”

4: “Dark Dawn”

Paul Reset’s notes:

I decided to bring Nerve Breaks from the grave in 2008 with an EP of my own tracks that had previously come out on vinyl but weren’t available anymore. The first track “Wake Up” was originally released on Breaks4Ever coupled with an AMB remix which was then featured on one of Distinctive’s brilliant Y4K mix CDs. It’s a big chunky breaks track with nice ravey stabs and a bowel troubling bassline.

Next up it’s two remixes of my track “Self Sufficient” – originally released on Backroom Records. The original isn’t here unfortunately as the file was lost – I’m still looking for it (after all these years) and hopefully it’ll feature on another EP of bits and bobs from me on NB later in 2009. To the remixes – first up is Stef Stabilizer’s remix – a lovely slice of progressive breaks with a kinda early morning/really late night type vibe about it. Secondly, Dubwise Selective delivered a lovely old skool-esque remix with a garagey bassline.

To finish up the EP I dug out a track from the archives called “Dark Dawn” – this was originally a remix of Martin BSE’s “Skeeb Dut” for Space Industries. It’s a bit ambient, a bit eerie, a bit moody and a bit dark. Inspired heavily by Future Sound of London’s “ISDN” album.