Cat No: NB020
Artist: Ronin
Released: 16th June 2010

Tracklisting – click track title for 320kbps MP3 download

1: “That Golden Rule”

2: “Small”

3: “Koyoshira”

4: “Hey Joe”

5: “The Battledrums 2 EP (seamless mix)”

Paul Reset’s notes:

After 7 years, it’s time to bring Nerve Breaks to a close and I couldn’t think of a better artist for the final release. After totally blowing me away with his “Best Laid Plans” debut LP and the original “Battledrums EP”, I was all ears when Ronin told me that he’d almost finished work on the follow up – “Battledrums 2″.

This time it’s Biffy Clyro and Portishead that get the Ronin treatment amongst others and he’s outdone himself with these tracks. Huge soundscapes are coated in jaw dropping drums and hooks a-plenty, it’s brilliantly heavy but packed to the brim with atmosphere and depth.

I’ll let Ronin himself tell you more:

Where the first EP served to show a tougher edge to my output, this one is hopefully more of a balanced effort. Subtler stuff like the “Small” remix, although it still ends up pretty punchy, starts off kinda reminiscent of the chilled shit I started out doing, i think that serves as a nice counterpoint to the heavier stuff like “Golden Rule”.

Musically, I’m very happy with this EP, I’m using a wider variety of techniques than ever before, coming from the sample based MPC/Decks background, things like working with Sandie and Adam on “Koyoshira” were a huge challenge for me but I think it comes together really well.

That whole violin part was put down in one take and mostly improvised, pretty amazing to watch! Trying to move the track with that violin part led me to really start experimenting and opened me up to a lot of stuff I’d never considered before, I’d definetly like to do some more work in that vein.

The quality control was high on this one, I wanted to do something pretty impressive since the first BattleDrums got a bit of attention. Any fans of my previous output should know what to expect from this but it’s a further evolution again so there could be a few surprises in there, the “Hey Joe” remix is the kind of track I’ve wanted to do for a long time, a bit more progressive and experimental than anything on my last EP.

I’m really just trying to keep my stuff evolving and avoid repeating myself – it’s too easy to let your output get stagnant once you’ve found a formula that works, I think that’s where a lot of acts in my field have fallen down in the past. I was really concious of that when putting this EP together, hopefully it reflects in the finished thing.

Look out for material from Ronin our forthcoming Phuturelabs imprint and keep an eye on his Myspace for more info on releases.

Cat No: NB019
Artist: The Setup
Released: 28th March 2010

Tracklisting – click track title for 320kbps MP3 download

1: “Lizard”

2: “Lizard (Ronin Reconstruction)”

3: “Lizard (Tactus rmx)”

Paul Reset’s notes:

The Setup are a duo from Edinburgh comprising of DD and Big Fats and can be found punting their wares at various night around the city including Split and their own venture – Dirt. While their live set focuses mainly on techno and electro – “Lizard” sees them wander into the world of dubstep. It’s a cracking 4 minutes of dark dubstep goodness and I’m hoping they’ll produce more of this type of material in the future – so if ya like it – let em know!

Remixes come from two of the finest producers that Scotland has to offer – first up is Glasgow’s Ronin. With his Best Laid Plans LP and Battledrums EP establishing him as a versatile producer, this remix sees him in harsh breaks mode, notching up the noise factor and coating the track in trademark Ronin high quality dirt.

Edinburgh’s Tactus is up next and with a top quality catalogue of dubstep beats behind him on his own Abaga imprint, this remix sees him take the original down an even darker route and churn out a big dancefloor dubstep number in the process.

Ronin’s up next on Nerve Breaks with his “Battledrums 2 EP”, this’ll be the final release on Nerve Breaks as it morphs into a new project but more on that later…

Cat No: NB017
Artist: Ronin
Released: January 27th 2010

Tracklisting – click track title for 320kbps MP3 download

1: “Quarantine”

2: “If You Fear Dying”

3: “Vicious Tradition”

4: “My Own Summer”

5: “The Battledrums EP (seamless mix)”

Paul Reset’s notes:

I first came across Ronin’s work through a tip off by Venkman from Iller Clothing, he pointed me to Ronin’s myspace and I was literally blown away. Absolutely epic downtempo hip hop with jaw dropping production and hooks a-plenty. His first album “Best Laid Plans” (available to download for free) is a total must for anyone with a taste for Shadow’s earlier work and early Ninja Tune and Mo’ Wax.

I was delighted when he agreed to put together an EP for Nerve Breaks and off to work he went! I’m very very proud to present “The Battledrums EP”. Taking a harder route than his debut album but keeping up the epic factor, this serves as a taster for his second album “Remixes From The Field”. I asked Ronin if he’d explain why these tracks are on the harder side of things and he had this to say:

These tracks are a taste of things to come, they represent the harder edge of the album. Trying to show as much variation in style as possible to reflect my range of influence, so the album ranges from the downtempo ways of the first LP to 190bpm efforts like the My Own Summer remix. Composition is a big part of what I’m doing so I like to think some songs span the whole spectrum within the same track.

The song choices for this EP are amongst the heaviest on the album to contrast with my previous stuff.

In making this new effort I set out to make what I was feeling, regardless of what genre any given track might then fall into. With any luck they’re still all very much “Ronin” tracks, so not to fret – there’s still all the dreamy, cinematic stuff pulling these tracks together. The tripped out, spaghetti western shit is still very much a part of my M.O, I just like to think I’ve got a bit more in there aswell now!

So down to the specifics, Quarantine samples primarily “In a Heartbeat” from the 28 days later soundtrack, the vocals are scratched and cut from a Thom Yorke acapella. On “If You Fear Dying” that is indeed Zach De La Rocha (RATM being one of my all time favourite bands) The track remixed is from his One Day As A Lion EP. Vicious Traditions is a rework of a track by The Veils, and My Own Summer I assume speaks for itself, that track just deserved a remix that took it in the opposite direction from the downtempo NIN remix!

I’d also like to add that although in places it might not sound it, I think this is very much a hip hop album, using “old school” hip hop techniques. 99% of it is still MPC work, filters & turntablism, its just used to different effect in parts.

In my (humble) opinion, the original hip hop of old sampled and remixed soul & funk records because that was the music of the time. I’m just doing the same thing with the music that I love from MY era. It just comes down to trying to be as honest as possible with the music I create.

So there you go – without further ado I recommend you download this ASAP and get the headphones on LOUD. The tracks are supposed to be listened to in order with no gaps so we’ve also included an MP3 of the tracks segued together. For more info on Ronin – head over to his Myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/roninonetwo.