THE PROTOTYPES: HYPERCUBE REVIEW & INTERVIEW

2015 has been a huge year for The Prototypes, with them releasing their debut album ‘City of Gold’ on Viper Recordings, receiving overwhelmingly positive reviews, and containing a tracklist which continues to smash dancefloors every time any of the tunes are dropped. Having released the album, the enigmatic duo went on a ‘City of Gold’ world tour to showcase their work to the masses, and share the love of DnB across all corners of the globe. Clearly not feeling this is enough work for one year, The Prototypes have now dropped Hypercube. The intro is reminiscent of 80s sci-fi films, with pulsating plucks and huge spacey drum fills. A vocal sample emerges out of this, giving the song its title, before launching into a tribal sounding, drum driven buildup. Suddenly, a wild trademark Prototypes bassline kicks in, and all hell breaks loose. The second half of the drop switches things up, with a harmonically different bassline, sitting below a new percussive motif. This tune is a stomper, and not one to sit on! Once again, The Prototypes have made the world take notice, and it’s no surprise the duo have once again been nominated for multiples awards in the DNB Awards for 2015.

BannGr got all the goss from the guys themselves on their 6th track in a row to hit the number one spot on Beatport. Here’s what they had to say:

Following on from the City of Gold LP, it seems like you’re keeping the scifi theme going. Where did you find the Hypercube sample?

The Prototypes: We are big fans of Carl Sagan…. He also appears in Pale Blue Dot and we thought we would re-visit the don to see what he had to say. Out of that ‘Hypercube’ was born .

The intro of the track has an 80s movie soundtrack vibe to it. Did any films from this era influence your composition?

The Prototypes: We have been feeling the 80’s vibe musically and this particular intro was inspired by an old 80’s game. We won’t say which one though.

What was the trickiest element of Hypercube to overcome in production? Or was it one of those tracks that just came together of its own accord?

The Prototypes: The intro kind of just came together due to the inspiration of the spoken sample and the 80’s vibe but the drop went through many different phases. We played it to Ed Rush on the plane to ask his advice on it to which he said “I think you should double drop the fuck out of it” so we knew we had a banger then.

What are The Prototypes plans for releases in 2016?

The Prototypes: We’re keeping our lips sealed on that one so far. We are close to dropping the Remix EP of our album City Of Gold LP. It’s really really strong.

Label: Viper Recordings
Cat: VPR078
Genre: Drum & Bass
Released: 23 Oct. 2015

UKF Premiere: bit.ly/1MsbfpY
Beatport: bit.ly/vpr078bp
iTunes: smarturl.it/vpr078
More Info: bit.ly/vpr078info
SoundCloud Friction Fire: bit.ly/1Oh6T9G

Review & interview questions written by Greg Bannan