Above Board レコード& CD

Review: Bushwacka! deserves any plaudits that come his way. He was there at the birth of acid house and went on to foment his own take on tech house. He held a legendary residency at the End in London and of course dropped countless seminal tunes alongside Layo, not least their epic 'Love Story' mash-up. Now the acclaimed but still relevant UK veteran dives back into his roots to serve up the sounds that came before tech house with highlights that would have been heard at the time at parties like Heart & Soul, Release, The Drop, Vapour Space, and at venues like Heaven and The End. Skippy, dubbed garage and driving house all feature in a fine collection.

Review: Anyone with an ear to the underground will be familiar with the name Kenny Hawkes. The late great house artists had a great influence on the scene and that legacy lives on through close friends such as Classic Music Company boss Luke Solomon, with whom he ran the legendary Wednesday night party Space from 1995-2002. Here Luke has linked up with Space regulars Jonny Rock and Leon Oakey to curate a loveling selected mix of tunes that pay tribute to Hawkes. Space Part 1 is a must for house fans - there is steamy deep stuff from Hawkes himself, post-rave dreamscape material from Cine City, punchy tech house done right and booming, and loopy grooves for dancefloor hypnosis. We hope there will be many more to come after this great first installment.

Review: Laggy Panteli and Zeno Messis (aka Megalon) were cult techno artists back in the mid-nineties. They released seminal albums like 1994's Pandora's Box and mixed up ambient, Detroit techno, electro, European electronics and their own experiences of London's acid house scene. The good folks at Above Board have been digging in the duo's vaults and put together this collection of all of their best EPs across four crucial sides of vinyl. This is deep, atmospheric techno for the small hours with the likes of skittish rhythmic workout 'Sorcerer' (Funky Magus mix) sitting next to the widescreen acid styles of 'Semblance' (Dim B) and the shimmering leads of future tribal cut 'Transition'.