Review: Sure Thing presents Well of Sand, its second compilation. Six tracks from the label's friends and favourites, each new to the roster, offer bold, untempered explorations of tempo and weight, a concise yet expansive collection recalling the deliberate cadence of rippling sand and the sheen of shimmering oases. From Command D's subtly groundswelling, but snappy 'Half Blue (Violet Mix)', to Foreign Material's alarmingly alien 'The Living Planet' and Third Space's supremely stereoized, lowercase opus 'Push (Part 2)', this is a release for that large intersection of audiophiles and techno-philes.
Review: The always naughty Sneaker Social Club label taps up D3U5E for this fresh bass fiver tracker. It's a celebration of the UK's rich heritage of electronic music with the plunging bass and massive thwacking hits of 'Quasar' kicking off. There are dusty jungle breaks to 'Dust Particle', twisted dubstep contortions on 'HAL9000' and fizzing broken beats with a real urban menace on 'Deckman.' Closer 'The Abyss' is a collab with Gav that rides a more zoned-out and atmospheric groove and completes a varied and vital EP once more from this crucial underground label.
Review: London trio Damos Room serve up their take on dub-inspired bass music on this new EP which emerged from a rare collaborative session in Elijah Minnelli's loft. 'Commencement' opens with a deep, droning bass groove that's topped with a stream of conscious muttering to create a moody and hypnotic sound. 'Mineral Blend' brings a laid-back dancehall vibe with dreamy echoes of past sessions and remixers Gonjasufi, Lewi Boome, Dome Zero and Polyop individually infuse the tracks with dub techno, acid and experimental twists best highlighted by Gonjasufi's haunting transformation of 'Commencement' into a misty, immersive bit of sonic menace.
Review: .German low end collective Bass Come Save Me unleash a new 45 with a strong Portland portrait as Boomarm's Gulls makes their debut on the label with a warm beat that will keep the chills at bay this winter. Add Jamaica's Wayne Daniel on the vocals and another Portland native Madgesdiq on the conscious bars and there's a vibe that sits somewhere between Roots Manuva, YT and Wyclef. Yeah it's that toasty. Stay blessy.
Review: Lighting up the dance! Toronto / Tallinn tag-team Dima Disk come correct with their most comprehensive and substantial body of work to date. A sprawling web of heavy breaks and even heavy atmospheres, there's an old Botchit & Scarper style eeriness and tension here but brought slap bang up to the modern age. Digging into elements of prog, techno and trance just as much as it nods towards hardcore and jungle, highlights include the relentless bounce of '2kSamba' and the dreamy beatless finale 'Betty'. Ooh.
Review: Destination Venezuela: self-styled Raptor House craftsman DJ Babatr unlocks the cage and lets the pack loose right here on International Chrome. 'To-K' takes the lead with a Balie funk style stomp and old school stabs before 'Soundmind' takes over with a more rampant, electro rasp to the vibe while Amor Satyr takes 'Soundmind' in a much more technoid direction with his remix. Flip for more snappy action 'Butta' enjoys a superb, switchy remix (with nary a piano in sight) and the brilliantly titled 'Dance The Squast' closes with EP with a little hard dance panache. This slays.
Review: More funk for your trunk! Brussels most provocative player DJ Elephant Power stampedes back into the mix with more subversive, fully uncategorisable gold. Pick a genre, any genre and we guarantee you won't be thinking of what's here as we gently melt from the nifty ravey breaks the opening title track to the sleepy, woozy tension of the finale cut 'Infinity'. In between we have bumping bewitching house ('I Got You') and strange slow-mo electro ('Shades'). Thinking of sleeping on this? Tusk tusk tusk on you.
Review: UK garage goes increasingly wonky on DJ Jackum's latest EP for Time Is Now. Working in Skrillexy sound design - nasal growls, puffy metal snares, thin but heavy mixes - the enigmatic Jackum makes a real racket of a debut here, delivering four genre-poking bangers of a difficult-to-peg style. 'Vibe' is especially anthemic, being a rare example of a garage tune centred largely on the second and fourth beat handclap and not the kick; 'Push Dat' veers more into hooligan rave territory, pushing the to bass bus to redline; and the final 'Pimpin'' offers a crazed shuffle and vocal sample; this is a bold and creative expansion of an existing sound.
Review: DJ Plead & rRoxymore make for a fascinating duo and take aim squarely at the floor on this new outing, Read Round City, for Smalltown Supersound. Opener 'Celestial' is a loose-limbed rhythmic jumble with hand claps, trippy xylophone patterns and deep bass that lulls you into a trance while 'Read Wrong' is a more reggaeton-inspired sound with snappy snares and warped synth sounds. It's gluey and gloopy and subtly colourful. 'Round Echoes' is a third and final cross blend of techno, dub and house that picks up the pace and heads off into the cosmos but retains an organic feel thanks to the marvellous wet hand claps.
Review: A melting pot of UK garage, house and bass, DJ Swagger's latest release on Berlin-based label, 777, is a fascinating exploration in structure and chaos. Opening track, 'Thanks Felix', moves at lightspeed - a thrilling race through a gritty arrangement of blunted kicks, shifting in and out of focus, moving between order and disorder. 'Fingerclut' emerges with an instantly more house-facing feel - a satisfyingly hypnotic groove spirals in a circle motion, featuring a cyclonic gathering of subtle flecks of percussive variation over the course of the track. Offering a spliced, glitched-out take on contemporary bass, 'Final Bout' journeys through moments of airy weightlessness before being thrown back into the growling, driving bass section of the track. The perfect tension builder, 'Full Cycle', is an ingenious tease of a track, skillfully building up to, you guessed it, even more build.
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: Knee deep in the foundations, head high in the clouds, anchored by bass: Robin Clarke's Dream Cycle is the perfect match for Sneakers Social Club. Across five tracks he runs the gamut through precision 2017 vision; "Dream 93" is a steppy drop into a slo-mo rave, "Start While It's Hot" tips a nod to the warmer tones of Detroit with its lilting chords and persistent drums, "Sour" dusts off its reeboks for a little garage hypnosis while "Paradise State" is a hardcore flashback with strong twangs of early Moving Shadow. Closing with a mesmerising ambient remix from Them & Us, it's yet another unique trip from the friendly trainer crew.
Review: Dreamlogicc and SW are two standouts in the outlier world of leftfield house music, and they find a perfect home on the equally out-there label that is Kimochi. This is the first time they have been on the same bit of wax (though both have been here many times as solo artists) and hopefully, it won't be the last. There is plenty of unusual rhythm work here with wonky grooves that are enriched with a world of superbly futuristic sound designs. All of these hard to define cuts are serious curveballs that bring a great element of WTF to any set, so do not sleep and add them to your arsenal ASAP.
Review: The good folks at Baroque Sunburst are back with a 12th EP that once again takes minimal and tech house into new realms. Jay Duncan is at the buttons and 'Bitten Dream' opens up with dark moody and abstract sound swirling around a cosmic world. 'Via Tekh' is another out-there sound with beautiful ambient pads and warped, sparse bass keeping you afloat. 'Shrine' keeps the sophisticated sounds coming with more deft designs and original drum sounds and 'Catharsis' then closes down with a smooth and absorbing fusion of synths and drums from a reduced palette.
Review: Hyperdub kick off the vinyl side to their ten-year celebrations with this weighty four-tracker from some of the leading lights from the label's story. Mala is in a strident mood with "Expected, Level 10" carrying through that extra touch of melody from the Mala In Cuba LP. DVA cuts loose with the leftfield scattershot groove of "Technical Difficulties", reveling in tonal experimentation and jagged rhythmic flair to a stunning end. Still locked into the sci-fi trap tangent that characterised Severant, Kuedo turns out the haunting "Mtzpn" and Helix pops up for a remix of Kode9's "Xingfu Lu" that strips down to bare essentials with a little starlit soul rubbed into the framework.
Review: Certified 'badmen of 2022', Atlanta's Nikki Nair links and London's DJ ADHD link up once again for four furious breakbeat jams. As you'd expect, it's naughtiness from the off as they pair guide us through a whole maze of bass and series of shells. Highlights include the rampant garage thrust and flex of 'Whaa', the wonky grit and rumbles of the EP's title track 'Golden Monkey' and the bashy dystopian radar ripples and eastern string stabs of 'No Pulse'. You'd have to have no pulse to not be feeling this. Go for gold.
Review: Following up releases by the likes of Mark Seven, Florist and Cygnus, Ari Goldman's Washington D.C-based World Building returns with this awesome varioust artist compilation. Neighborhood Watch Volume One features a wide selection of moods and grooves: NativeSun vs JamesBangura get stuck into some dark dubstep on 'Demon Mode' much like The Khan does later on the deeply meditative 'Part Of Me (Ode To DC), while Sami gets their swing on with the classic house of 'Marty & Jack', Juana's tunneling 'It's Low' gives you a dose of heroin house and over on the flip Max D gets deep down and dirty on 'No Snare'.
Review: We loved the first PUP release so are super hyped to get this second one. It's a fine various artists' collection that explores an array of tech, acid and minimal sounds. Rat Bastard opens up and doesn't muck about with a fast-paced groove and slick electronic bass. Deezy layers in some trippy acid and lively breakbeats on 'Earnin' Bumps.' On the flipside, 'Prima' brings some fresh UK funky drum patterns and wooden hits to the light-footed tune by FRND and more Uk styles are tapped into on Mr Bizmuth's bass-driven, bulky 'Charmed, Sworn, Severed, Torn.' Woof wood, we dig!
Review: AD 93 is fast approaching a century of releases and helping them on their way is this fresh 12" from TSVI and DJ Plead. It brings plenty of bouncy to the party with elastic opener 'Triple It' layering up big kicks and hits with playful bass. 'Swanky' is another blend of Afro rhythms and UK funky, fizzing synths and heavy bass and 'Gallop' picks up the pace with a more lithe and loopy groove. 'Breath Work' flips the script with Eastern string melodies and percussive beats and 'Twos & Fours' is a fourth and final fantastically inventive sound that will stand out in any set for all the right reasons.
Review: It makes perfect sense for the London trio of Carlo Anderson, Matthew Benyayer and Thomas Edwards to issue their debut Dark Sky album on Monkeytown as they've gradually become more and more affiliated with the network of labels overseen by Modeselektor. So how exactly does Imagin sound? It covers alot of the bases we've come to expect from both Dark Sky and Monkeytown; there's the skywards pointing melodic flex of the opening title track, a smattering of vocal numbers (such as lead single "Silent Fall"), some bass heavy floor burners ("Voyages" and the neck snapping "Odyssey" stand out) and plenty more to boot.
Review: Principe continue to rep the realest of Lisbon's dance culture with this sophomore adventure from long-standing resident and batida beatsmith Lycox. Often lending vocals to the tracks himself, he continues to build on that warm, relentless signature of his: Gutsy sample hooks wrapped up in traditional Latin instruments and motifs then blasted with gritty ghetto attitude. The results pummel and massage in equal measure... From the relentless kuduro turbo of 'Pedale Ku El' to the contemplative swells and graces of hypnotic tracks such as 'Guetto Love' and 'Energia', the whole range is rolled out right here in a way that flips between ghetto dreams and global reality. Ferociously fine.
Dom Maker - "DVD" (feat Choker - LP1: Dom Maker - Die cuts) (2:21)
Dom Maker - "In Your Eyes" (feat Slowthai & Danny Brown) (3:26)
Dom Maker - "F1 Racer" (feat Kucka) (2:28)
Dom Maker - "Heat On, Lips On" (1:44)
Dom Maker - "End Of The Road" (feat Reggie) (2:04)
Dom Maker - "Somehow She's Still Here" (feat James Blake) (2:58)
Dom Maker - "Kissing" (feat Slowthai) (2:58)
Dom Maker - "Say That" (feat Nomi) (3:51)
Dom Maker - "Need U Tonight" (0:48)
Dom Maker - "If & When" (feat Wiki) (3:53)
Dom Maker - "Tender Hearts Meet The Sky" (feat Keiyaa) (3:11)
Dom Maker - "A Deities Encore" (feat Liv E) (2:49)
Kai Campos - "Q" (LP2: Kai Campos - City Planning) (2:05)
Kai Campos - "Quartz" (3:29)
Kai Campos - "Transit Map (Flattened)" (2:58)
Kai Campos - "Satellite 7" (1:58)
Kai Campos - "Satellite 9" (3:04)
Kai Campos - "Satellite 6 (Corrupted)" (2:05)
Kai Campos - "Zone 3 (City Limits)" (1:39)
Kai Campos - "Zone 2 (Last Connection)" (1:15)
Kai Campos - "Zone 1 (24 Hours)" (5:15)
Kai Campos - "Industry" (1:31)
Kai Campos - "Human Voices" (1:18)
Review: Mount Kimbie's journey of self discovery continues with the next instalment in the MK3.5 series. Whether this really is a new era for the pair, or not is of course besides the point - Kai Campos and Dom Maker have displayed real evolution on the road to get their two-man project to this point, and at this point it really shows.
Dom's side is an altogether more colourful and varied affair in the sense it opens with sultry piano-driven late night drinks electronica via 'dvd', featuring the perfectly suited vocal cuts of Choker, before edging into rainier territory with 'in your eyes', welcoming everyone's favourite UK MC with loads to say, slowthai, and Danny Brown . Sparse but technically astute, Campos opens his lot with clubbier tones, namely the muffled crunch-house of 'Q', quickly moving through broken filter bass ('Quartz'), and warm, laidback beats ('Satellite'), among other vague descriptions.
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