Mr. Maverick / Highlander

In the mid-2000s, Drum & Bass was a tale of two worlds: the hyper-produced, technoid dancefloor destroyers rinsed by Grooverider, and the deeper, soulful "Liquid Funk" that made up the majority of Fabio's sets. Of course, there had been a distinction between these two UK titans well prior to this, but that period felt particularly pronounced. There were only a handful of tunes that would every so often cross that rubicon. Calibre's music was a fixture for Fabio (not only due to the fact that some of his earliest records came out on Creative Source), but would also be consitently played by Grooverider, due to the fact that it was, well... undeniably killer. Mr Maverick / Highlander was him at the peak of his powers at this point, forging an old-school, sample-based methodology with a totally fresh & deep take for the time. The a-side is now considered a stone classic for good reason, the Gregory Isaacs sample providing hands-in-air euphoria matched with one of the most devastating basslines commited to post-millenium DnB wax. For our money, Highlander is the sleeper killer here though, a fathoms-deep roller that evokes as much Dillinja's hard subs as it does Oblivion's minimal funk, whilst undeniably being Calibre. HUGE tip for those who don't know, and for those who do - time to replace your battered copy!