We reach double figures for the DnB Advent Calendar with a tune that really should be played on hot summer's day rather than in the middle of winter. This was only the second ever release I bought from LTJ Bukem's Good Looking Records stable, following the 12" that immediately preceded it, PFM's 'For All Of Us'. I'd just started buying records seriously in 1996 though and I've added a few from the GLR catalogue since!
Axis was an alias of Illian Walker which he used only for Bukem's labels. He is best known simply as Ils and made several drum & bass tunes alongside DJ Solo before switching to the UK Breaks scene in 1998 where he found more success with tunes such as 'Next Level'. A sad loss for our scene and a decision he recently suggested he regretted:
"I would make an album if the I knew a large enough audience wanted it. Breaks has always been a very specialised field. I sometimes wonder what I would be doing if I had kept on making drum & bass with LTJ Bukem".
'One In Ten' is a great example of Bukem's style of DnB. Shimmering pads and rhodes are accompanied by bursts of flute and horn while lively drums that occasionally use the Apache and Think breaks provide plenty of energy. It's a tune that both moves your feet and warms your soul and it made a perfect start to Bukem's second Essential Mix appearance back in March 1996, with MC Conrad on the mic: