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Monday, 21 May
Welding together contemporary dance music and traditional Angolan kuduro isn’t easy by any stretch, but Portugese act Buraka Som Sistema actually pull it off with ‘Tira O Pe’, and do it without a hint of arrogance. The framework of ‘Tira O Pe’ is still distinctly kuduro, but the sounds – rich bass, bubblin synthesizers and choppy drums are far more recent. The set of remixers don’t have it so easy, and the fragile rhythms of the original are lost in many of the treatments, that’s not to say they don’t work; far from it, but to work on both levels at once is pretty difficult. The R… Read more
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UNO NYC have assembled a killer remix package for Fatima Al Qadiri's 'Genre-Specific Xperience' EP. Girl Unit reworks 'How Can I Resist U' with a freestylin' Electro flex and white flash synth bursts, while DJ Rashad gives our percy 'Vatican Vibes' a pensive yet pummelling Juke overhaul and Kingdom gets to grip with 'Corpcore' on a percolating future Bass tip. New York's Dutch E Germ is a new name to us, and on the strength of his smartly diffused 'D-Medley' remix we hope to hear much more from him. P'raps best of all though are Dubbel Dutch's sparse and infectiously bubblin' re-do of 'Vatican Vibes' or Ikonika's exceptionally iced-out, droning and beautifully sculpted take of 'D-Medley'. Recommended!
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Last we heard of Deutch bass-head and best bud of Mr. Apparat Phon.O, he was crafting fluorescent Euro-rap with ex-Funkstoerung bloke Chris De Luca, but forget all that – he’s on 50 Weapons now and has a brand new MO. ‘Black Boulder’ is Phon.O’s take on the UK funky/2-step sound and who better to re-engineer that sprawling niche than someone with his production smarts? From the very beginning it’s clear we’re listening to something that has been sharpened by a diamond tipped blade – sure there are references to Burial, 2562 and Martyn (to name just a handful), but Phon.O’s crisp, clean production elevates ‘Black Boulder’ into plac… Read more
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After releasing on practically every Dubstep label in the game, Truth drop two halfstep heavyweights on Tempa. 'Last Time' plays out a darkly seductive, highly pressurised jungle vibe hinging on swollen subs and darting breaks under cinematic synth arcs. Working with vocalist Yayne, 'Dreams' comes as close as it gets to Kryptic Minds' hallowed halfstep dramas.
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Superb debut drop from a mysterious East London operator by the name of Buzzin10. The three tracks of his 'Basement Mood' EP are pieced together from samples twocked off of old tape packs - mainly Garage Nation's legendary late '90s cassettes of DJs like EZ, Ray Hurley, Karl "Tuff Enuff" Brown and co - and fused with really trippy, sparing melodies reminding of classic AFX, Zomby or Drexciya. If you ask us it's one of the best things Frijsfo have released, and that's saying something when you consider their killer Sully releases. Highly recommended!!!
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Idle Hands sustain the vinyl pressure with two nimbly crafted 2-step/Electronic-pop infusions from Kahn. Following sessions of computerised halfstep, rooted '06 styles and mercurial garage, 'Margeaux' continues his tradition of flipping styles on each new single. Here, we'd gauge possible inspiration from the likes of Four Tet, Floating Points or Gold Panda's widely appealing electronic soul grooves. Part 1 works a wispy, diced up vocoder vocal into a deftly scissored 2-step fray, while Part 2 reveals the vocal with clearer enunciation blurred into a dreamier, dubbed-out framework of glancing garage swing.
WONDER FEATURING TRIM
Wonderland Records
MP3 Download // £1.70
FLAC Download // £2.50
Cat. Number: WND007
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Wonder reprises his role as Grime producer with a deadly riddim for Trim on 'Something You Know', backed with a weighty, rolling House remix from Kozee. Better watch yer bassbins when sampling the original - the bass is set to eye-quivering levels and those drums are trained to bite. Kozee's Graver remix doesn't hold back on the bass either, only this time the drums are more sprightly, dancing, allowing more room for Trim's strangely Guru-like delivery. Get on this, it's wicked!
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Dramatic dread halfstep motions from the barrel of Compa. 'Security' is the one you need: a deftly detailed drum pattern rendered 3D with dynamic echo chamber FX guaranteed to spark up the dance.
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Hardcore Dubstep weaponry. Kromestar pulls no punches with the metal-tearing mid-range synthlines and trilling Trap 808s of 'Noiz', while Dark Tantrums hinge on silvery hi-hats over abyssal bass swerve on The Growler'. No messing, mate.
Review to follow shortly…
DEV79
Some Smut Only Comes Around Once
Made In Glitch
MP3 Download // £3.99FLAC Download // £4.50
Cat. Number: MIGREC23
Finger-licking fluoro Grime/Electro-House from the one like Dev79. Perhaps taking notes from Jimmy Edgar's hypersexual aesthetics, 'Some Smut Only Comes Around Once' has one thing on its mind, and it's not nice. This is some nasty ish, from the distorted burn of 'Roscoe's Twist Up' to the rutting bass filth of 'Proper Gagging' and the grinding, pounding delirium of 'She Want The'. Remixes highlights have to be Loon's broad-bottomed slowfast mix of 'Roscoe's Twist Up' and the Knight Riderz booty scrambling Moombahton refix of 'Proper Gagging'.
Sunday, 20 May
Review to follow shortly…
Review to follow shortly…
Monday, 14 May
Proving they’re still alive and still on point, here’s another winner from the mysterious Various camp, showing their darker, more soulful side with the silky vocal cut ‘Moving On’. Somehow this reminds us of early Leila, all woozy, slightly f*cked up and sort of delicious in its reimagining of digital soul music. For those who miss the dancefloor-heavy end of the label though there’s ‘Bolts’ on the flip that shows a rare Drexiyan electro bent and a new twist in their evolving catalogue.
The scariest man in Grime, Slew Dem's Chronik slays it on a hype riddim from Skitz Beatz. It's a simple as that, really. Ruff Sqwad affiliates Trim and Roachee step up on the remix. But seriously: it's all about Chronik. Big TIP.
SOUTH LONDON ORDNANCE
2nd Drop Records
MP3 Download // £1.70FLAC Download // £2.50
Cat. Number: 2NDRP12019
Arriving to acclaim from MAH and FACT, South London Ordnance debuts with his brilliant 'Sanctuary' and 'Roofy' cuts on 2nd Drop. Little is known about the fella and that's just how it is: his tunes do all the chat. A-side's 'Sanctuary' is a serious groove tool, body-syncing hi-hat strafes and ruffed-up snares with the deftness of a Beneath riddim, but placing more emphasis on wide-assed, 'floor-consuming bass and dark-end-of-the-warehouse reverbs for those who prefer to dance in the shadows. B-side's 'Roofy' is slower, murkier: voices are half-heard from the pill-eyed patina… Read more
Cracking UKG number from new-skool Garage patriot, Powell, backed with an updated 2012 remix. If your memory stretches that far back, you may recognise 'Brake' from Hot City's double rude Fact Mix in 2009 (if you don't - get to know!). But no worries if not, coz it's here and still bubbling like DJ Haus' bong. The 2012 mix evens the kink with a more direct drive locked onto salty 4/4 kicks and buttery bleeps.
Blue 2-step skipper from the MoM producer, readied with OPR8 and Troy Gunner remixes. The original features what sounds like a soul singer with a speech impediment woven into an Footwork/Garage rhythm and soaked in fine ambient vibes. OPR8 brings the tempo down and dances with twinkling bells, clipped Funky/Garage drums and swirling chords, for Troy Gunner to give the highlights, a glyding 4/4 roller over on the flip.
Deep Medi unveil the debut from South London's secret weapons, K Man and Mr Kerox. Well, OK, they're not that secret: they've already notched up the opening track on Chef's Dubstep Allstars 07 mix and are regular players at DMZ and Subdub sessions; but to all intents and purposes, this is their debut and stands to put them properly on the Dubstep map. A-side 'The Clash' is a stone cold Mala favourite and it's easy to hear why: those, cattle-prod stabs, the divebombing bass, the explosive claps - it's a proper vibe. Flipside, 'Highest Strain' displays their mellow side with swirling, portside guitar licks and magical boogie chords on a slick bass roll. Smoke on it!
Future-fresh Dubstep-Boogie weight from one of Bristol's most colourful producers. The one to check is obviously the massive 'Da Dodgems', finding a sweet spot between jerkin', late '90s Timbaland-style R&B and rolling Dubstep-Boogie like few others we could think of. The flipside 'Too far' is a cool and kinda unusual piece of halfstep funk, but trust us, you simply need this for the B-side!
It's a bold move, but dropping tunes on 1-sided 12"s shows a label's confidence in the material as being of the highest possible quality. We can't really argue with Brainmath on this point, as that Zomby 'Rumours and Revelations' was just f*cking amazing, and we're inclined to say something similar about this plate from the mysterious Spiders. The untitled track in question is a creepy web of scuttling Shackleton-style percussion mixed with a psychoactive attention to detail, meaning lots of subtle drops and half-heard glimpses of sounds showing their beady eyes before retreating into the darkne… Read more
Review to follow shortly…
Monday, 07 May
Slamming old-school visions by 20-year-old London producer NKC. 'Fading Floor' channels 1991 in a big way, all organ stabs and blissed-out vocal pressure, but its gnarly subs and tough, cannily syncopated, dancehall-style riddim bring things back up to 2012 inna Lone style; Raimo's plays it straight on his trippy, cumulatively powerful house refix. Zed Bias dusts down his Maddslinky cape to deliver a fierce, fast 4/4 rework of 'Shockout', creating a bastard fusion of ghetto-tech and speed garage that will cause mayhem in the dance; the original is a raw, post-UKF killer engineered with … Read more
Girl Unit returns to the Night Slugs mothership with an EP hefty enough - six tracks - and rewarding enough to be described as a mini-album. We'd almost forgotten how good this fella is, and 'Ensemble (Club Mix)''s boogiedown synths and deadly drum programming instantly set us straight. 'Cake Boss' is quite simply mental, seeming to re-imagine 909-bashing techno brutalism according to the jagging, stop-start demands of a grime dance, and 'Plaza'' is a ghetto-electro bouncer for the jeeps, while 'Double Take' strips away the feelgood synths and pushes the same rhythmic template deep into 'fl… Read more
Rinse present the superb debut album from one of their most respected resident DJs. A long time coming, 'Brackles' is the logical successor to a stream of cracking singles with fused Funky, Dubstep and Garage is stripped down and striking new forms which have more or less spearheaded the whole Future Garage thing, in the truest sense of the term. Much like his revered DJ sets, the album is curved between sweeter feminine pressure, infectious strains of roadwise House and plush bass playing out a proper summer-in-the-city vibe. Vocalists are prominent, from Lily Mckenzie's floral … Read more
Two highlights from Clubroot's end-of-cycle album 'MMX III'. 'Scars' seduces to the darkside with haunting vocals (or are they strings?) and scowling rave stabs hanging on a halfstep lurch. Meanwhile 'Hellion' nods to Burial and classic No U Turn's in strong style.
Clubroot closes his album triptych with the cinematic 'III - MMXII'. As with its predecessors, the mood is anguished, desolate, hankering for that certain something which Burial isolated so acutely. Over two discs and eight tracks the narrative curves from widescreen, string-heavy instrumentals ('Ennio's Eden'), to emo Dubstep ('Left-Hand Path'), and (sub)urbane bounce ('Lurking In The Shadows'), with highlights occurring on the twitching halfstep D&B of 'Garrison' and the the John Carpenter-does-R&B soul of 'Restraint'.
Cheeky bizzle from arguably Liverpool's greatest MC of all time, backed with a chunky DJ Q remix. Aberdonian producer Cruicky handles production, bolstering Bang On!'s street truths with a warped hybrid of Hip Hop drums and Dubstep-style LFO Bass twists. You might have to stifle a snigger at the vocodered chorus, but we're assured that it's all tongue in cheek. DJ Q's remix boosts the energy levels with a bouncy step and roll rhythm devolving into Breakbeat brukkout.
JOKER
Skitta / I Think You Should Know
KAPSIZE
MP3 Download // £1.49FLAC Download // £2.49
Cat. Number: KAP008
Joker returns from a wee absence with two Hi-Tech Dubstep Funk and Grime cuts on his homebrewed Kapsize label. 'Skitta' finds your boy locked on a tight halfstep lean blazing trance riffs and ecstatic breakdown from the hip. In collusion with Newham Generals on the flip, 'I Think You Should Know' arrives with melodramatic intent, before bouncing out with a taut flex matching D Double and Footsie's swagger.
Bristol's Pollen label back in action with two Neo Garage pivots from Portrait. 'Because' configures shimmering keys, crisp 2-step frictions and squiggly jazz-funk vibes, but the highlight is 'All Me', a more introspective and tightly clipped groove tensely syncopated with synthetic marimba and floating chords like some cyber El-B oddity.
