Back in stock: Hardcore/style

Review: By now, almost everyone knows what to expect of the sight of the collective image that is the rave smiley: on sight of its semicircular grin, its jaundiced jowls, and we know we're in for an ecstatic treat. So too does the Suburban Base long-timer known as Mark XTC understand rave music to be un-ownable by a single person; it takes a Hacienda veteran and rave flyer staple to know the true collectivity of the UK hardcore diaspora. XTC's latest EP 'Old School Massive' betrays his many decades' worth of expertise, his borne witness to the musical mass, by pairing two early 90s creations with two further, more recent drum & bass works. Both pairs of tracks work well side-by-side and the titular 'Old Skool Massive' stands out as the revving breakbeat ransom demand, to which we all owe payment in the form of a pinging dance.