On March 19, the portal SPBDNB.RU held the second awards ceremony in the field of drum and bass music, the SPBDNB Awards 2004. The winners in 10 categories were determined through voting on the website and surveys conducted at drum and bass parties from October through December 2004.
Best DJ: Bes
By a majority of the votes, DJ Bes was recognized as the best DJ of the year. We saw this name on perhaps every other poster. His sets featured the latest trends in drum and bass music — neurofunk, technoid, unique energy, excellent technique, and consistently fresh and interesting material.
Best Producer: Dissident
For the second year in a row, Dissident was recognized as the best drum and bass producer. His music changed significantly over the year, and he continues to experiment. Released in early 2005, his album Kontext on TAM Records included the musician’s best work from the previous year.
Best MC: MC Munkie & MC Do$h
This year, two MCs — Munkie and Do$h — were recognized as the best. Last year, MC Munkie confirmed his standing as the city’s best crowd-hyping MC. Your votes in support of MC Do$h were recognition of his efforts and contribution to Saint Petersburg’s MC culture.
Best Track: Bes & Cobalt - Human
Despite the huge number of quality tracks written by Saint Petersburg musicians over the past year, Bes and Cobalt’s track “Human” won by an absolute majority of the votes. A hard beat, samples from a computer blockbuster, and a dark atmosphere determined the success of this composition.
Best Promo Group: Respect Family
Once again, Respect Family had no equal in organizing drum and bass parties. The All-Russian Drum and Bass Convention, Respect V feat. Nookie, Secret Operations feat. Seba — this is far from a complete list of the parties at which the promoters created a comfortable atmosphere for us and gave us genuine celebrations.
Best Party: The World Of Drum & Bass
On March 5, a rave organized by the company Contrforce and the British label Formation took place at the Yubileiny Sports Palace. Stars such as DJ SS, Killa Kela, Grooverider, Shy FX, and Skibadee visited the northern capital for the first time. This event became one of the most important occasions on the city’s drum and bass scene.
Best Label: TAM Records
The TAM Records label continues to delight listeners with the exceptional quality of its releases. In 2004, the label released the second installment in the Tamography series; DJ Bes’s mixes 78 RUS and 47 RUS; DJ Step’s mix Mindbombing!; Ruffen and Dissident’s album od1n; and an album by the Moscow musician nothing. Thanks to its high-quality approach to material selection, TAM Records was unmatched in this category for the second year in a row.
Best Radio Show: Pirate Station
DJ Gvozd’s show on Record Radio became even more interesting and even more popular among junglists and electronic music fans. The “Russian Hour” and “Listen Up” segments, the city’s best DJs and musicians as program guests, and information about parties and new releases were the ingredients of the show’s success.
Best Release: Bes – 78 RUS & 47 RUS
DJ Bes’s mixes 78 RUS and 47 RUS are compilations of tracks by Russian musicians, whose quality testifies to the rise of the domestic drum and bass scene. The popularity of the mixes confirms the standing of Russian musicians on the global drum and bass stage.
Best Club: Red Club
A huge number of quality events took place within this club’s walls. The interior, sound, and lighting of Red Club create ideal conditions for a homely atmosphere, bringing together positive people and creating a celebratory environment.
The winners in each category received a symbol of victory — a statuette of the goddess Nike. Your contribution to the development of this culture — as listeners and partygoers — was recognized. The results obtained through the voting fully reflect the situation on Saint Petersburg’s drum and bass scene.
Text: Yegor.
