Review: Remixes by 30Hz & DJ Quest. "Robots Ready From Mars" is tackled by Quest who gives the track a heavier, clubby breakbeat mix. Fits nicely next to tracks from the likes of The Stanton Warriors or Tayo.
Review: A² was the electro, breaks and tech house duo Andy Panayi and Alec Stone, and this outing on R.A.N.D. Muzik Recordings is a four-track collection that comes years after the tragic passing of Panayi so serves as a poignant tribute from his close friends and family. Honouring Andy's legacy, the release captures the duo's innovative electronic spirit and is both a celebration of their work and a touching farewell. Musically 'Street Renegade' is a lithe breakbeat sound, 'Upton Park Breaks' is more dark and textured and 'Electro Boogie' is just that while 'Reckless' closes on a more spaced out and cosmic tip.
Review: Breakbeat means many different things to many different people but in the case of this new EP from Aggresivnes on Electroshock there is something of a turn of the millennium nu-breaks feel. Synths sounds like video game effects from a retro future world with crisp drum funk powering each track along. Spoken word samples, sirens, rave-ready piano stabs and warped leads all add extra personality to the playful beats. 'Popcorn' is our pick for the sheer neck-snapping crispness of the drums and hits.
Toby Tobias - "Streets of Gold" (Alphonse remix) (5:12)
Pyramids Of Space - "Quantis" (5:20)
Dance - "Amber" (4:25)
Review: Voice Notes is a new imprint run by London underground veteran Toby Tobias with Alphonse. A five track various artist EP, Voice Notes 002 is a time-honoured memorial for its sister label London Housing Trust, that they shut down a few years ago after 10 releases. Featuring tracks by label boss Tobias who delivers some emotive electro on 'Streets Of Gold', his evil twin Alphonse on the UK flava of 'Rujac', plus introducing Dance with the dub techno deconstruction of 'Amber', Rodney Bennett with the classic Stateside deep house of 'Palm Sunday' and Pyramids of Space with the downbeat IDM journey 'Quantis'.
Review: Ilian Tape staple Andrea returns to the imprint, marking a big one for the Munich-based operation with a massive album by Skee Mask also this week. As always, UK and rave influences are abundant throughout the talented producer's work and this one is no exception. This EP is called Sktch and features the cavernous, glacial and downright knackered dub techno of 'Sarec', followed by the sinister subterranean breaks of Auxl and the meditative deep dubstep frequencies of 'Kjones' which sees him delve deeper into off kilter territory.
Review: British producer, party set designer and DJ Angel D'Lite is known for her sickly sweet and high energy mixes and solo work. An avid vinyl collector and happy hardcore indulger, '303 Dalmations' feels like biting into a sour sweet and the headrush from the sugar high thereafter. 'Just Trippin' and '7am' are evocative of the 90s records that D'Lite digs for in her local shops and collection and are bubbly dance tracks with classic breakbeats (Producers will recognise the opening amen break vocal sample on 'Liquid Skies' very well). The feel of the EP is a classic club experience, and you can't help but dance along and smile - as D'Lite says herself "Happy Hardcore is good for the soul".
Review: French finesse with German fusion... Willis Anne makes his Shall Not Fade debut with this killer 'Movement' EP. As with previous missives on his LAN imprint, the beats roam and romp freely between footwork, jungle and ghetto-tek with strong twangs of Detroit bringing it all together. Highlights include the wonderful layers of organs and vibrant chords of 'Direct Effect' and the fully-swung breakbeats and bellowing sub of 'Unison'. Get moving.
Review: As well as being one of electronica's most distinctive, recognisable and long serving warriors, Richard James is a man of many surprises. From his massive Soundcloud dump in 2015-6, to this unexpected 2023 EP - which was his first fully released material for around five years and appeared without warning - he likes to stay several giant leaps ahead of his public. Across its four tracks, it showcases his unmistakable, queasily melodic touch while revisiting the roots of his drill 'n' bass sound with a modern twist. Opening with 'Blackbox Life Recorder 21f', the EP sets a reflective tone, its light breakbeat and melancholy melody underscored by 80s-inspired drum textures, evoking a wistful yet futuristic atmosphere. This track encapsulates the beauty of his signature style, fusing emotion with intricate production. 'Zin2 Test5' shifts the mood slightly darker, with crisp production and an optimistic undercurrent woven through its melodies. It feels like a contemplative counterpart to the opener, balancing light and shadow with finesse. The second side dives deeper into experimental territory. In 'A Room7 F760' is a fast-paced, broken-beat journey through eerie soundscapes and sinister rave melodies, teetering on the edge of chaos while retaining a hypnotic allure. Closing with 'Blackbox Life Recorder 22 (Parallax mix)', the EP ventures into dubstep territory with a deeper, growling bass and ominous undertones. a dubbier reinterpretation that offers a more textured, shadowy perspective. Black (box) ops indeed - as ever.
Aquasky/The Drummatic Twins - "Bring It On Down" (Aquasky VIP mix)
Aquasky/The Ragga Twins - "Ready For This" (Baobinga mix)
Review: It was a year ago that the much anticipated Aquasky "Teamplayers" album was released and here is the final installment of remixed, revamped and rejigged tunes, released on the Passenger label.. 'Bring It On Down' features Aquasky loosening up the bassline of the original, slapping in a nasty new vocal and giving it a heavy electro funk work out. Also, Baobinga goes on a solo run with a party vibe meets dubstep feel.
Review: Plenty of neologistic fun can be had with the work "break", but we must admit that "breakflow" is a new one on us. Lisboa produtor b0n impresses such sonic and titular genii with a new, green-goo-hued four-track EP on Portgal's fantastical Magic Carpet label, spanning clean future progressive and garage-acid tempos. The title track and 'Sasha Palomal' only tease the unortho-breaks with tricky garage beats and straighter but admittedly still formative breaksteps; it's only by the point of the B-siders 'Positive Morph' and 'Fractures' that any such fluvial breakbeat is properly put back together and course-corrected. Be warned, the latter track moves through the nicely rare variants of freestyle and "electrance"; careful not to dance yourself to breakdown.
Review: San Francisco-based Indian duo Baalti really do bring plenty of freshness to this, their third EP outing. They have said this is their most personal and authentic rase to date and it is about as kinetic and impact as house music gets, all infused with myriad samples from their own heritage. Those nostalgic South Asian flavours derived from classic Indian, Pakistani, and Bangaldeshi sounds are carefully sprinkled into percussive workouts, leftfield dancefloor rhythms and club-ready grooves. A perfect fusion of modern electronic music as traditional Asia sounds.
Review: There's an abundance of crafty, ear-snagging gear coming out on Telomere Plastic these days and the steady stream of VA releases are a handy window into some of the freshest operators in the more creative ends of minimal tech house. Baenglund is having a jolly time of it tweaking out the freaky synth riffs on 'Funk Inspector', while Aspetuck creates a teasing, strung-out after hours sound which tips towards electronica on 'As The Fog Rolls In'. Anderson brings a little trance influence to the crooked groove of 'Aquabound', and Watch Patrol softens the edges with an acidic bubblebath on 'Wandering In The Garden'.
Review: Brooklyn is not often somewhere you think of when it comes to minimal, a sound more usually associated with European artists these days, unless of course, you're talking about early US originators like Dan Bell and Robert Hood. This release suggests that view is wrong with a trio of classy cuts. Mike Berardi's 'Helicopter Ride' is lively and jazzy and rides a nice broken beat. Samuel Padden's 'String Theory' is more icy and paired back to a minimal cosmic trip and Jay Tripwire's 'Floorboards' a wonky late-night charmer.
Review: Billus is a new name to be emerging from the Melbourne scene and here he shows his mastery of groove and percussion. There is a real lightness of touch to the breakbeats of the opener 'Cubic'. They mean you instantly take flight and drift through the skies next to pillow melodic clouds that cast your mind adrift. It's deliciously deep and colourful stuff. 'Shifting Sands' is another mix of suspensory chords that pan all around and bubbling, percussive drums that are hard to define. 'Splay' sinks into a watery world of dubby chords and skeletal but compelling beats and 'Under The Canopy is melodic minimalism of the highest order.
Review: The Betonska label is on an ongoing mission to release and re-release hidden gems and wantless must owns from the past. This time it's D.Wave's unrelenting yet funky techno offering Biotone that gets pressed up. The title tune is pure, thrilling club music with high-speed Millsian techno vibes. 'Mellectro' plays with a broken rhythm and alien sound designs that are as good for brain as body and 'Oscilloclast' then dresses a perfectly fused jungle techno sound with warped video game pads and 'Paper Tigers' ends on an all-out peak time gem.
Review: Community minded eclecticists Neighbourhood continue their unifying work with the latest boundary-bender from label co-boss Birke TM. With each cut sitting in a different tempo territory, he paints a vivid picture. 'I Dream Of Jeannie' is a mid-paced 160 jungle breeze while 'Eden' is a classic atmospheric two-stepper that wouldn't have gone amiss on GLR back in the day. Flip for a tempo dip as both cuts on the B smoulder with slow beauty. 'Sanctuary' hits like a cosmic UR escapade while 'Never Lose Touch' bids us an emotional and heartfelt 150BPM farewell. Visionary.
Review: Transmitting out of Australia and packing some serious Antipodean rave heritage in their collective bones, Boo-Boo, Mace & Nutcase return with some precision tooled rave wreckers for those who like their electro-techno fun and freaky. Boo-Boo (aka Andy Rantzen) and Mace (Paul McDermott) are perhaps best known for their work reaching back to the early 90s as Itch-E and Scratch-E, while Nutcase has plenty of behind the scenes credits to his name. On this collaborative release The veterans trip through gritty, low-rolling breakbeat and spiky, bleepy electro on 'Digital Rubber' and 'Hejaz' respectively, while Rudolf C delivers tweaked out version of 'Digital Rubber' that feel indebted to the freakier end of the rave spectrum.
Review: Aquasky's massive rework of the classic Booka Shade tune "Mandarine Girl" finally gets laid down on wax. Already seeing huge support from all the key jocks including Stanton Warriors, Vigi & many more.
Review: Club Glow powerhouse and all-round Bristol bass-bin baiting badman Borai returns to his Higher Level label with three new drops of elevated breakbeat science. As well as his work alongside Denham Audio, L Major and Mani Festo in Club Glow, Borai has been busy landing uptempo slammers on Hardcore Energy, Vivid, E-Beamz and Infiltrate in the past couple of years, and he returns to home turf in peak shape.
The A-side lights up with the dizzying break-juggling ruffness of 'Lights On', a surefire call to squeeze the last juice from the party, while 'Bobbi' opens the B side treading an artful line between deep and depraved as immersive tones face off against taut, driving rhythms. 'Sargasso Sea' smooths the proceedings out good and proper in true B2 style with a pitched-down slice of soul-charged broken beat that smacks where it counts, Borai's established instinct for forward-facing melody shining through in the interplay between 90s keys, diva vocal samples and illustrious pads.
Review: Bristol producer Borai (Boris English) and London's Denham Audio (Peri Ashwood) pulled off a remarkable feat with 'Make Me/No Good', an unequivocal release put out on Higher Level Records in 2019. Repurposing the unmistakable hookline from Donna Allen's g-funk jacker 'Serious' from 1986 into a fully re-recorded sample all their own, 'Make Me' set alight the feet of the breaksy raver, striking serious gold in the classic formula of easily-recognised old-school-soul vocals and sculpted tearout heft. As anthemic as its original B-side, 'No Good', the original latter half of the record now comes substituted by Big Ang's Rave To The Grave mix, whose blooping trooper sound design and mains-hum Reeses provide an ecstatic alter. A can't-go-wrong reissue by the Room Two camp.
Review: Border Patrol (Stu Adam) brings his talents to Rezpektiva, who gladly represent his first and only EP for the 29th edition of their EPs series. Originally recorded for Middlesboro's Tumblin' Records in the mid 90s and released only in small quantities, the EP displays a canny sense of variety in painting pictures of house music's many possible worlds. The hilariously named 'Mobius Trip' leads the way, trailblazing a fiery string of pitched-up synths and watery stabs in its wake; the more experimental of the bunch, 'D'ya Want Business', is our favourite, bringing pure lowpassed kicks, infectious two-tone electroclash-ish basslines, and what sound like computer keyboard and lasershot sound effects into one heady cyberspatial stew.
Review: Brako continues to go it alone with self-titled releases on a self-titled label, and why not? When the tunes are this good you don't need the extra boost of a big name label. There are just two of them on this punchy EP, the first being 'Bandit' which has a snaky bassline and loose-limbed groove. It is run through with spaced out pads, gurgling cosmic lines and silky hooks that are finished to perfection with a great neo-soul vocals. On the flip, 'Police' is a more dubbed-out and stripped-back tune with elastic rhythms and heady pads. Great work.
Review: Dance music is rife with megalomaniacal personalities eager to carve their names in, well, whatever the techno equivalence of blue-plaque posterity is. Here, however, the producer Brother Nebula (Lance DeSardi), from Texas, flips the desire to delusively status-climb for such trifles on its head, inverting the idiom "delusions of grandeur" in naming their EP 'The Grandeur Of Delusion'. Informed by delusion or not, this is a grand EP, rendering the problematic of grandiosity somewhat moot: from dark future garage faceoffs ('Ice Giant', 'God's Green Earth') to brooding halftime ice floes ('The Grandeur...'), Nebula has thoroughly honed his craft since relocating to London, not failing to blur genre categories across borders, nor to compel with huge, still technical broken beats.
Review: In the summer of 2023, Upgrade Records launched via a nostalgic, party-starting EP from the previously unheard artist In 5 D (likely an alias for someone a bit better known, but don't quote us on that). For the label's return, long-serving DJ/producer Buckley Boland (best known for his releases on Made To Play, Black Riot and One Records) is the man at the controls. What he's delivered is a nostalgic, sample-rich affair that combines the angular wonkiness and mind-mangling noises of early-to-mid-2000s tech-house with nods towards vintage acid house, electro-house and the hard-to-pigeonhole house filth of the (long gone) Music For Freaks label. Basically, it's all fun-time, party-starting fare, with the bump-and-squelch of 'Daft Sandwich', the bustling brilliance of 'Nude Night' and the break-sporting hustle of 'S/A/M Real Man' standing out.
B-STOCK: Slight surface marks, record slightly warped
Buckley - "I Like" (5:13)
Buckley - "Nude Night" (5:08)
Buckley - "Daft Sandwich" (5:19)
S/A/M - "Real Man" (4:34)
Review: ***B-STOCK: Slight surface marks, record slightly warped***
In the summer of 2023, Upgrade Records launched via a nostalgic, party-starting EP from the previously unheard artist In 5 D (likely an alias for someone a bit better known, but don't quote us on that). For the label's return, long-serving DJ/producer Buckley Boland (best known for his releases on Made To Play, Black Riot and One Records) is the man at the controls. What he's delivered is a nostalgic, sample-rich affair that combines the angular wonkiness and mind-mangling noises of early-to-mid-2000s tech-house with nods towards vintage acid house, electro-house and the hard-to-pigeonhole house filth of the (long gone) Music For Freaks label. Basically, it's all fun-time, party-starting fare, with the bump-and-squelch of 'Daft Sandwich', the bustling brilliance of 'Nude Night' and the break-sporting hustle of 'S/A/M Real Man' standing out.
Review: Analogue pressure from Bufobufo, who stops over in Japan for Cabaret Recordings after earlier international stints with Art Of Dark, Partout and Furthur Electronix. His second single for the label, founded by So Inagawa and DJ Masda, proffers a hypnotic blend, binarising the mood with the sliding melodes of 'Watercourse' and 'Armour Plated' with comparatively sparse and gritty perc-slaps of 'Wood Ant' and 'Cinnabar'. That strange but difficult-to-nail split between of hypnotic intrigue and immediacy is well and truly nailed.
Review: The Red Bul & Gyn label made a good impression with its first release and now the founders Thomas Bulwer and G Glynn step up with a second collaborative EP of fresh tech and minimal. 'Caffeine' is a shot of energy with its rising synth lines and dramatic sense of intergalactic space travel over a busy, acidic bassline. 'Like It Ruff' is an old school throwback with rap vocals and electro beats, then 'Acid Wash Conflict' is a thumping tech house sound with unsettling pads. 'Techno Talk' closes down with a mid-tempo electro sound and retro-future edge.
Review: It's five up for the CCCP Edits label which deals in serving up nicely reworked jams from house and disco's past. The eponymous and mysterious production team is in fine form here with four more cuts out of Russia that all have Cyrillic names but have been transliterated for English audiences which means '??? ???? ????' becomes 'Moi Drug Tima'. It's a funky cut with house and disco elements over a punchy break. 'Ektoplazma' is rugged electro that races through the stars and 'BBC' is a heavyweight tech-house stomper. 'Choovak' closes with more rough-edged grooves.
Review: Darwin Chamber is an alias of Mark Greenfield, an artist who has very much shaped the Bay Area sound across his career. He has done it all from ambient and trip-hop to breakbeats as far back as the 90s. This EP distils all those many years of sound into some sophisticated cuts that go deep. 'Hush' is a quiet downtempo opener, 'Cat Daddy' (Meow mix) brings some funky beats and 'Subway (M Train mix)' has more unsettling texture and languid percussive drums that lock you into a groove then 'Droptone' closes out with nods to a raw 90s rave sound and psyched out synths.
Review: Hey boys, hey girls... Chemical Brothers are back with some superstar business and all is well with the world. Instantly slipping into their signature, 'No Reason' smacks with everything we love about Tom and Ed. Big funk bassline, cheeky party samples and a presence that could get everyone from your nan to your naughty next door neighbour dancing. 'All Of A Sudden' takes us up a few gears in a way that only the Chemmys can; unrelenting laser bass marching music that pushes and pushes and pushes to the very end. Here we go!
Review: Some 18 months on from the launch of his Better Together Records imprint, Sydneysider Chech is finally ready to deliver another expansive EP. Standing six tracks deep, Gemini Era tends towards the loved-up, saucer-eyed and gently psychedelic, with colourful melodic motifs aplenty and tons of audible references to early progressive house, ambient house and ambient techno. There's plenty to admire, from the spacey, analogue-rich dreaminess of 'XTC' and 'Gemini Era', to the low-tempo ambient techno head-nod of 'Slowride (93 Theme)' and the dusty, piano-rich deep house of 'Interstate (M1 Mix)'. Elsewhere, 'Jia's Dance' sees the Aussie explorer wrap vintage New Jersey garage-house sounds around a punchy breakbeat, while 'Birds of Prey' is a dubby chunk of sunset-ready dancefloor bliss.
Review: Whatever they put out from whatever genre, you know the Furthur Electronix crew does it right. Electro is their most common sound and that's what we get here from CRC. It takes the form of a reissue of his hard-to-find, expensive and damn-good EP from Zyntax Motorcity. This one comes with an extra bonus track, too. 'Disposal Robot 139' is wonky acid and electro with prickly breaks, while the much more trippy and psychedelic 'Blueshift' has softer, smoother lines. The bleeping tones of 'Influence Device' fire at your brain while while warped bass and metallic drums get your body moving and 'Traveller' is another dreamy and rueful breakbeat viber.
Review: The Shot of T label serves up a versatile new split EP with CV Smiles kicking things off. A long, drawn-out and emotive synth opens up on 'Home-schooled' and comes layered with bubbly pads and serve effects that soothe the mind. Then comes a rap mix that is detailed with louche bars and more 909 production to make it pop. On the flip side, the masterful Porn Sword Tobacco flips the script with a gurgling, pulsing, deep and linear techno roller in the form of 'Techno Story' which is perfect for late-night sessions.
Review: Bang on trend grooves from the Vivid camp, exploring the current fascination for all things that intersect both the garage and breaks genres. Lead track 'Wicked & Wild' is the one that leans furthest into UKG territory, its bumpy bassline and MC-style vocal giving it heaps of energy and attitude. Flip side instrumentals 'Push Past It' and 'Ronin' meanwhile, evoke the early 2000s spirit of breaksteppers such as Horsepower Productions, the latter especially maintaining the bassline pressure and adding it to the more hardcore vibe of rawer, sampled percussion. Maximum respect!
Review: The NOID imprint out of Belgium returns with its second vinyl drop, and this time takes you into some serene realms of breakbeat-driven pleasure court yes of Dave NA. His Altura EP opens with 'Escape', a wide open and airy mix of wispy synths and dusty, floating breaks. 'Elevation' has a more churning rhythm and dubby undercurrent and 'Pulse' (feat Freq444) has a hypnagogic feel, smeared vocal cries and more raw percussive patterns. 'Novox' (feat Freq444) shuts down with the most heavy and moody breakfast of the lot, a certain jungle swagger and plenty of heavy bass.
Review: Dawl is behind the first two drops on the new Under The Radar label and they are dropping in quick succession. 'Unleash The Sound' opens up and doesn't mess about as it first lasers from a machine gun and old school jungle breaks smash away below. 'Sound Reckage' then pairs a bold bassline with bleeping dial tones and distant rave motifs while 'Visitor' is intergalactic warfare with all manner of scraping hits and cosmic lines, sharp snares and bumping drums. 'The Land Of Those Beyond' shuts down with another breakbeat powered trip to the stars.
Review: Breakbeat brederen unite for another sermon at the altar of Dawl who brings the chaos to this new 12", Slice & Dice. The title track kicks off with some mad old school scratching before fresh breaks bounce along and a ragged bassline joins in the fun. 'Let's Go For A Ride is another percussive workout with snares and toms all flapping away at high speed and 'Sonic Boom' keeps up the madness with slick, high-speed beats and corrugated bassline. Last but not least, 'Ready To Go' completes the picture with another fresh collision of breaks and scratching.
Review: Whatever you were expecting from an album named 'Superflous', forget it. An exploration into all the many paths of light that refract from the prism of house music, Bagarre commands the dancefloor with every track, placing specific emphasis on keys - a side of the genre that the mainstream has fallen out of love with in recent years. The silky smooth jazz house of 'Espirit Coubertin', a more classic NYC brand of vocal house (beset with 80s synth phrases) in 'Truman Flow' and a divulgence into some driving piano acid house with chopped up vocals in 'Annees Folles' to even a more modern, turn of the century approach with the big hit 'Eurovision' - I could go on. A wonderful and tight package, this LP almost feels like a compilation for how varied and versatile the tracks are. The packaging being one of the selling points of course, the carbon impact of the vinyl production promising to be compensated by a French organisation. You certainly don't have to feel bad about dancing to this now.
Review: New label Outside In Spain takes an old school approach here by serving up a white label 12" adorned with a lo-fi black and white sticker that looks like some long lost classic you'd find on a dig in a record store's back room. Musically it doesn't disappoint either as Deiv kicks up some funky electro-tech energy on 'Secrets & Lies' and 'We Hope!' then gets more technoid with lashings of acid and brain-frying synths. There is a more stripped-back sense of minimal cool to the bumpy beats of 'September' then it's psyched-out deep space trippiness on the closer 'Warning.'
Review: Trident is dropping a couple of top EPs this month. One is from Derrek Carr, and one is this double white 12" that finds Deltamaxx and O En One join forces. They take us on a storytelling trip through cosmic techno that varies in mood and tempo. 'Conexxion' rides a nice rubbery, bumpy groove with incidental and wispy synth sounds, then 'Delta Pavonis' seems to soundtrack a beach party up amongst the stars. There are darker, more heady cuts like 'Donnager' and icy electro cinematics on 'Isonoe' to make for a worthy collection of sounds that work on the dancefloor and beyond.
Review: DIGWAH marks its tenth release in style, maintaining its signature mystery while delivering two standout cuts that embody the British label's underground ethos. Side-A's 'Wayside' is a clutch tech-house banger that has finesseiclean, classy and an irresistibly groovy. A crisp breakbeat underpins a funky rhythm, while a strong vocal hooks you in, giving the track a timeless yet fresh feel. This is underground house at its best, effortlessly balancing sophistication with dancefloor heat. On the flip, 'Demeanour' leans into ghetto tech-house territory, with a weighty bassline and infectious r&b vocal samples. The groove is deep, the funk is undeniable and the track's raw energy makes it an instant mover. Another essential release from DIGWAH - stripped-back, hypnotic and built for those who know.
Review: Salford's finest DJ Absolutely Shit delivers part two of his 'Memoirs Of A Crust Monster' series, this time entirely disavowing that the series is even named as such at all. Why the sudden change of heart, we don't know; perhaps it's an attempt at committing the good times to memory. Aiding these mnemonic sonics come four new utter heaters of the yellow-grinning variety, whether that be the opening 'Higher' - which blows us away with its candid echoings-out-before-the-beat-drops - or the high-reg bleep-breaks 'Out On Love', a truly experimental rib-tickler of a track that proves the experimentation inherent in breakbeat, one that only geniuses of the sound could attest to - should they move beyond its surface cliches and go on to nail the essential form.
Review: Those oh-so-rude and too-cool-for-school cats at Red Laser have tapped up the ironic provocateur DJ Absolutely Shit for another quartet of club cuts that are designed to blow the roof off. These tracks all make use of a bold sample and bring some hefty breakbeat energy starting with the loved up r&b vocal hooks of 'Bridge To Your Heart' and then upping the level for the more raves and synth-laced 90s menace of 'Bolivia'. 'Rocking You Eternally' is a pure jungle frenzy with icy synths and deeply buried vocal soul then 'Gong' shuts down with some shiny 80s sounds that bring to mind shellsuits and old Fords.
Mias Void - "We Used To Be Detroit" (Iron Curtis remix) (6:29)
Review: Following great releases on Dansu Discs, Carpet & Snares and Timeisnow, Italian DJ and producer Davide Piras aka DJ Chupacabra returns this week on the second part of Innsbruck-based label Mont Lake's five-year celebrations. His track on side A 'Growler' is a dusty and swing-fueled deep house jam that is as much off-kilter as it is absolutely infectious. Over on the flip, it's over to Mias Void - better known as Matthias Vogt - the veteran German producer who delivers another offbeat cut on the darkly emotive hi-tech soul of 'We Used To Be Detroit' receiving a remix by Berlin's Iron Curtis up next, injecting it with some mad breakbeats.
Review: DJ Plant Texture is Donato Basile, a diverse producer from Bari. He returns to Munich-based Ilian Tape to follow up 2017's The Bongoman Archive with four slamming cuts on his latest EP. Whether it's pummelling, bass-driven ruckus of 'MPC Jam 1' (Breaks mix) or the off-kilter slam of MPC Jam 2' (Saturator mix) on the A side, to the proper, peak time heads-down stomp of 'MPC Jam 3' (Exp Forever mix). Finally, the early '90s zeitgeist of 'Ciao Ragazze Jungle Style' goes out all guns blazing. On the MPC Thangs EP, this talented Italian producer is at his most fearsome yet.
Review: New York City-based DJ, producer and impresario DJ Spun aka Jason Drummond has been involved in many different live bands over the years but also knows how to kick out the jams in solo electronic mode. 'Tribal Toilet' is a twisted, percussive techno tune with abstract motifs, bells, warped bass and layers of vocals that make it evocative and unhinged. 'Hear My Mega' is a throwback tune that rides on dusty breakbeats with old-school rap samples, whistles, helps and everything you need to get the party going off.
Review: The revered DJ Stephano delivers his signature unconventional style on this blistering new outing for Kiteforce and manages to skilfully blend and bend genres while maintaining a razor-sharp focus on fierce and innovative jungle beats. He is already well known for his unique use of samples and experimental formats, and again here Stephano manages to pay homage to old school jungle but also adds his own fresh twist. The result is Love, an EP packed with creative energy as well as plenty of clout for jungle heads old and new.
Review: Dogpatrol returns to Sneaker Social Club with four more tracks of gritty, genre-bending rave damage. Despite hailing from Offenbach in Germany, his sound blends UK influences like breakbeat hardcore, dubstep and garage and that results in a mutant style that's uniquely his own. '1200kcal' features jagged UKG drums and cosmic bass arps while 'Baby Flame 'channels warehouse electro with a heavy synth splat. 'Ya Playin Yaself' delivers a dubstep roller with playful keys and 'Offgenbach HBF Riddim' adds a breakbeat twist with echoes of The Blapps Posse. Dogpatrol's irreverent, misfit approach to rave shines again here.
Review: The Not An Animal label, which rose out of the "debris left uncleaned from London's infamous Bad Passion parties" arrives at release number 20 here and a fine one it is too from Donald's House and DJ Chrysalis. They open up with the prickly percussive prog of 'Pound Bend' with its warped lines and glistening snares. The Apiento remix is a snappy one with more synth patterns layered in before 'A Curious Warmth' strips it back and gets a little more deep and dubby with a mix of abstract sounds and aching vocals. 'Tingler Ring' closes down with a Balearic late night feel.
Review: Double B is Barry from 2-X-Treme and is surely the most famous rave producer to have come out of Portsmouth. The dance floor don wrote this one at the same time as his celebrated 2-X-Treme EP so brings back plenty of the scone pleasures of that ear. Now pressed up once more it blends breakbeats and UK hardcore across five unrelenting cuts that very much chime with the current leanings of the underground scene towards harder, faster sounds.
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