Now Chase & Status aren’t exactly what we’d call newcomers, they’ve been on the scene a good long time and are among the most successful Drum & Bass producers all time. However, a large amount of their work goes totally under the radar, and so I thought I’d do a round up of their greatest hits so far if you will, including the more and lesser known tracks.
With Chase & Status, you have to start with Pieces. While it isn’t their highest charting effort, most fans would pick it as their favorite track. It has everything, from soulful acoustic singing to a raging bassline fit for any party. Featuring angry verses from Plan B, this is Chase & Status’ title track.
Also featuring Plan B is their most recent track, End Credits, which serves as the soundtrack to the excellent movie Harry Brown, which stars the legendary Michael Caine. More dubstep than drum and bass, this track takes a similar acoustic/electronic structure to Pieces, but without the bassline and with more singing.
As far as I’m concerned, the best track by the duo is Hurt You, which I happened to feature in my last post. However, similar in style to that are Take Me Away, and In Love, which is by Jenna G, but produced by the boys. All these tracks take female vocals, which wouldn’t sound out of place on early 90′s dance hits such as The Source’s You’ve Got The Love, and cleverly weave them with a building tune and quick drums.
Aside from their own work, Chase & Status are notable for their excellent remixing. My personal favorite is their remix of White Lies‘ epic track Death, which takes the light piano elements and mixes in hard bass to create a melancholic dubstep anthem. It cleverly plays on the main lines of the track to create a memorable chorus, and change the emphasis of the song.
I also like what they’ve done with the Prodigy‘s hit Invaders Must Die. They take a song with ravey elements and elements which are what draws rock fans to the Prodigy. When I played this at a recent party people complained it was too close to heavy metal which I think is an exaggeration but is it certainly outside the usual style which Chase & Status’ are familiar with.
Similarly different if you will is their take on Nigerian soul singer Nneka‘s hit Heartbeat, with no electronic elements at all, and sticking to traditional instruments from rock/indie music. However, the change in style doesn’t prevent them from working their usual magic giving an excellent song, which is equally suitable for headbanging as any of their other work, as was demonstrated by Nneka’s performance of this song at a recent gig I was at.
Finally, I leave you with something new by the boys. They have produced Mad House for LA rapper Murs. Some fans may have heard Snoop Dogg Millionaire, but I think this West Coast/Dubstep combo is by far and away better. It’s a slightly sinister sounding track, but you can still get down to it, which is ultimately the trademark of any Chase & Status track – whatever the theme or genre, it’s still going to be a banging party anthem.
Vitamins
- Chase & Status - Pieces (Feat. Plan B)
- Chase & Status - End Credits (Feat. Plan B)
- Chase & Status - Take Me Away
- Jenna G - In Love (Produced by Chase & Status)
- White Lies - Death (Chase & Status Remix)
- Prodigy - Invaders Must Die (Chase & Status Remix)
- Nneka - Heartbeats (Chase & Status 'We Just Found A Guitar' Remix)
- Murs - Mad House (Produced by Chase & Status)
By: dwayne
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