High Contrast Talks ‘True Colours (20th Anniversary Edition + Remixes)’ And AI In Dance Music

High Contrast is one of the most famous artists within the drum and bass scene. The early 2000s drum and bass and jungle royalty, formally known as Lincoln Barrett, is celebrating 20 years of his debut album, True Colours, for which the heavyweight producer has enlisted some of the scene’s most promising talent to put their own spin on the originals he made 20 years ago. True Colours (20th Anniversary Edition + Remixes), which dropped June 24, boasts artists such as Pola & Bryson, Camo & Krooked & Mefjus, Flava D, DJ Marky, Winslow and Logistics on the LP.

“It felt like a milestone worth celebrating,” Barrett says. “Some of [the remixers] were people who were contemporaries of mine back 20 years ago, and then others who are new school producers who may have only been children when that album came out. I thought it’d be interesting to get a mix of perspectives on it.”

Barett, who is known for his uplifting and melancholy sounds that features sampling, adds that he chose artists whom he believes would be a good fit for each track. For example, the title track is a garage-influenced song, so he asked Flava D to create the remix as she started off in the garage world and made a name for herself in that genre.

The renowned artist, who has been in the game for numerous years, believes the democratization from the internet and digital technology has made creating music more accessible, which can be done from something as widely-available at YouTube. He says that now there are more women and people from around the world getting involved in creating dance music. As for the future of dance music, he sees artificial intelligence (AI) affecting all art forms.

“I think there’s a battle ahead between AI technology and humans in making music, and the ideal would be if we can integrate AI into the music production process and just reap the benefits of having that technology,” Barett says. “But the risk is that Spotify playlists will be full of weaponized AI produced tracks.” He adds that he doesn’t think the music industry is ready for this change, but he has seen the effects AI has made in the visual arts industry, which he thinks can have a positive impact on things such as visual production for live events.

Learn more about High Contrast here.