DnB Fix 009 - Baby T - Portra EP (SMDE15)

Published on 2020-04-04 00:00:00 by Meg Lyon

You may recognise household name Brianna Price AKA B.Traits for her contribution to the bass house and breakbeat scene over the last 10 years. ‘Portra’ couldn’t be any more dissimilar to her 2011 single ‘Fever’, which paid homage to the up-lifting piano house tracks of the 90s. Albeit, ‘Fever’ was indeed a wicked track, but it’s nothing like the new material Baby T has in store for us. As happens quite regularly in the Dance Music scene, we see DJs and Producers go back to their roots through aliases or forever. Price started off with the alias Baby T, though she felt she needed to change this to get further in the scene, wherefore she abbreviated the Baby to B so that the “name was more androgynous, to prevent the unnecessary attention and bad-mouthing I got whenever people found out I was female”.

Describing her new, or should we say original alias, Price claimed that “I played faster back then; hardcore, drum & bass and jungle- and that’s where I’m going back to with Baby T…but this time I’m not 18 and I have zero fucks to give”. This is exactly the sentiment and kick up the proverbial backside the Drum & Bass scene needs right now; girls coming forward and holding back no more. For more great gals killing the scene right now, check out Kyrist, Charli Brix, Missledz, Euphonique, Iris; just to name a few.
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\ \ Portra is a 5 track EP. We’ve focused here on the Jungle mix for our Drum & Bass fix however the EP features fire remixes including one from Homemade Weapons and one from Hybrid. Perhaps the title is somewhat of an eponymous reference to Price herself, and somewhat her musical self-portrait of the ‘zero fucks to give’ unyielding ‘breath of fresh’ air we can expect from Baby T.\ \ Baby T has really rolled back on the drop on this one; 45 seconds of eerie style pads reminiscent of Adam F Metropolis ‘96. These textures come swimming towards you before the kick, heavy with reverb, takes over, plunging the track into a proper head-nodder, and this is before ‘Portra’ even drops. At the 2 minute mark, we’re treated to crisp jungle breaks with a sprinkle of acid 303 style, bubbling away in the background. Techy stabs drive this track forward with the help of the ghostly synths and pads from the intro. Though Portra (Jungle Mix) is rather stripped back, it’s addictive and a great progression of a track, which maintains the same elements from start to finish; though they’re weaved back and forth in different styles through ‘Portra’s’ musical loom. Definitely one for the headz, “Portra” is one to look out for; we can definitely see this being an iconic set opener for many due to its brilliant texture and atmosphere which set the mood just right.\ \ Pre order limited edition marbled 12″ and digital over at [Samurai Music](http://samurai.lnk.to/smde15)

Written by Meg Lyon

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