Audio, Black Sun Empire, Drumsound & Bassline Smith, Phibes, Tantrum Desire, Toronto Is Broken and Gydra are some of the headline heavyweights involved in The Prototypes brand new remix album: Ten Thousand Feet & Rising (The Remixes)

Released last Friday, almost exactly two years since the Brighton duo released the original album, the remix collection rounds off one of the most successful – AND most turbulent – releases The Prototypes have ever dropped.

“We announced it at the start of 2020 expecting to go on a world tour but then covid came along and messed everything up,” explains Nick White, one half of the duo. “Eventually we just thought ‘fuck it’ and released it at the end of the year anyway because we were just sitting on these tunes. A lot of people messaged us saying the body of work kept them going and that made it all worth it.”

Making the best of a very bad year for all of us, the release of the album followed the duo’s hugely successful 24 hour live stream during which they raised almost £14,000 for the NHS. “Unfortunately club wise it never got the support it deserved, though,” adds Nick. “But then Reason came out and it blew up. It went A-list and became the most highly played independent dance track of 2021 which is insane.”

“That was a real tick for us,” adds Chris Garvey, the other half of The Prototypes. “We didn’t make it as a radio tune – it was an instrumental we’d had for years and years. The guys from Lowes really smashed that one.”

A triumphant and euphoric celebration of all things rave, Reason became one of The Prototypes’ biggest anthems and led to 2021 being one of their best years, including multiple nominations in the Drum&BassArena Awards.

Now, following a full uninterrupted year of touring – including two trips to one of D&B’s most alluring territories right now, New Zealand – the pair drop their remix album. The full list of remixes comprises Toronto Is Broken, Danny Byrd, Salute, Drumsound & Bassline Smith, Audio, Phibes, Black Sun Empire, Franky Nuts & Oliverse, Mal Madson, Tantrum Desire and Gydra.

“It came together over a long time because we kept on thinking about artists we could get to remix the tunes. It’s an amazing list of artists when we read down the list. Especially guys like Black Sun Empire and Drumsound & Bassline Smith. We respect all the artists on the album but some of these are real moments for us – people we’ve looked up to for our whole career!”

“If you told us those guys would be remixing our tunes we’d say, ‘Fuck off that’s not gonna happen!’” laughs Nick. “But we dreamt big and got it over the line and it’s paid off.”

More big dreams are set to be realised by the unstoppable duo before 2022 is out, too. Details are pretty slim as it’s not been announced yet, but it’s safe to say you can expect a very big US V/A release curated by The Prototypes on Bassrush / Insomniac very soon.

“We can’t say too much about the Bassrush compilation,” admits Nick. “But it’s really exciting cross-border range of drum & bass and we’re buzzing to put out name to it.”

Ten thousand Twenty thousand feet and rising… The Prototypes continue to level up.

Ten Thousand Feet & Rising (The Remixes) is out now

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