Back catalogue: Breakbeat

Review: The basslines might be big, but Berlin collective Cheap Fast Worldwide are keeping budgets tight with their brand new vinyl concern. Already an established podcast mix series, now a fully-fledged label, this launch release lays down everything we need to know as we flip and fly between the flavours. Cats like Lou Raw lay down golden woozy UKG skippery, B is all about the lo-fi flavours and warm and warping house and Olli Oski and EE bring the EP to a wonderful psycho dub finale. What an entry EP.

Review: Filth Rich gets suitably filthy on this fresh outing on Zimp. His Rave EP collides many different influences from techno to electro, acid to rave, and also chucks in some classic samples to really make the tunes pop. The first is a peak-time breakbeat bruiser with slapping hits and yelping vocals, then 'Hippies Gathering' is a prog techno classic from the late 90s Castle Morten rave scene. Randolph offers his own Filthy Rave remix that gets even more wild and included along the way are some sample-tactic snippets to liven up your set no end.

Review: The first anyone heard from Robert Fleck was an early drop on Well Street back in 2018, and it's been quiet since then. Anyone following Well Street knows it's a hot tip for upfront artists in the fractured fissures of the UK underground, and Fleck makes a welcome return to prove the point. There's a lot of different touchstones you could point to on this release, from nimble-footed broken beat and a whiff of nu jazz orchestration, not to mention a bass music sensibility and an appreciation for deeper strains of UK techno. But more than all that, Fleck merges his unique spread of influences into something fresh and unique, comfortably slipping between conventional genre markings with the kind of flair we've come to expect from Well Street.

Review: The Florence label is back with more of its high grade funk here with the eponymous artist or artists behind another healthy dose on this new 7". 'Dancing' is a raw sound with slapping drum hits and plenty of noodling synth lines that elevate the whole thing next to big horns. But the icing on the cake is of course the raw vocal lead that is offset by some more sooth female coos. A more funky and bouncy break is the foundation of the flipside joint 'Be My Baby' with its alluring vocals and raw 60s aesthetic serving to get you up on your toes.

Review: It's all about the early 90s vibes on this 12" from Fauvre as four underground anthems from the era are revisited. Forty Wings Dynamo's 'Inversion' has a dubby, dreamy progressive house feel, its epic outlook and echoing percussion inevitably bringing Leftfield's first handful of 12"s to mind, before 'Raveolution' (Acid mix) brings a more jungle techno feel with sliced up breaks skittering around the four-to-the-floor kicks. Pedro Bertho's 'TOITOI' starts side two, nodding to Jaydee's 'Plastic Dreams' with its soulful keys creating magic over a simple, banging techno framework before COEO's 'Vertigo' gets to work with its proto-breakbeat beats and one utterly orgasmic breakdown. Well worth a step back in time.

Review: Aiden Francis brings a superb mix of influences to this EP, from trance to breaks, house to tech house and it makes for a third fine offering from this young but promising Ellipse label. 'Atacama' opens up with blistering pace and molten synths tightly woven over the propulsive drums. 'Twilight' is another track seeped in lush melodies and with a throwback techno sounds that is full of subtle dancefloor electronics. 'Awareness' (Sunset mix) is one to get the hands in the air as the trancey chords and acid rain down. Energy levels don't dip on the flip either on this most powerful and consuming of space-techno trips.

Review: Demon Singles Club's latest addition to their fantastic catalogue comes in the form of a re-issue of Freestylers' 'Ruffneck' EP. Formed in 1996, when DJs and producers Matt Canro and Aston Harvey made the wise decision to join forces, the duo went on to release their now iconic debut album We Rock Hard on legendary imprint, Freskanova. Met with quick critical acclaim, We Rock Hard became the duo's most commercially successful release to date. This latest release, 'Ruffneck', cherry picks four standout tracks from the hit-studded album. 'B-Boy Stance', 'Ruffneck', 'Here We Go', and 'Warning' are a journey through classic big beat and breakbeat electronica, which has remained the band's trademark sound to this day. Also including the original artwork, this is a thoughtful ode to the duo's boundary-pushing work.

Review: The Psychic label comes on strong with its inaugural EP here from Philadelphia-based rave rebel Furtive. His Muscles Hug Your Bones EP is indeed a rugged and tough affair that opens with the searching psychedelic synths of 'Convoke', an intensely atmospheric piece that sounds like being trapped in a factory in meltdown. The title track is a strobe lit techno anthem that takes no prisoners and 'I Always Try To Be This Gentle' then slows it down, layering up grimy sounds, smeared metal pads and rickety drums. 'Intrepid Smiles (Golden)' shits down with a more hopeful vibe that takes you into a brighter future.

Review: There's a reason that Future Sound of London's 1991 debut single, 'Papua New Guinea', is periodically reissued: it's a stone-cold classic that sounds unlike anything else. In its original mix form, the track combines traits borrowed from early breakbeat hardcore (booming bass, house-tempo breakbeats) with saucer-eyed vocal samples, twinkling pianos and sounds more often found in ambient house and chill-out tunes from the period. This remastered, hand-numbered vinyl reissue boasts all of the 1992 remixes (as well as the original mix), including a suitably psychedelic, tribal-tinged Andrew Weatherall revision, the duo's own spaced-out ambient style 'Dub' mix, and a sax-sporting Manchester re-wire courtesy of 808 State's Graham Massey.

Review: Think Bicep but with a darker, deeper undercurrent and you have this latest release from DJ and producer, Franky Wah. 'This is Shen' is a tour-de-force in vocal sampling, featuring vocals from Luisant, Robinson, and Lunar June. The opening track, 'Pandora', strikes the perfect balance between euphoria and driving breakbeats - an ideal selection for those moments of dancefloor reflection. The tonally darker, 'Patroller', fuses a nu-disco style chorus with softly spoken verse vocals - an impressive merging of styles. Another standout track, 'EYWA' merges a spliced, distant voice over a dance-ready garage beat. 'Hausa' deploys a rousing reggaeton-esque rhythm melded with melancholic pads which, again, reach towards Wah's signature, deeper sound. This offering from Franky Wah is a wonderfully varied introduction into the soundworld of Shen.

Review: There is a great selection of reissues of Future Sound of London's back catalogue going on right now. It goes all the way back to 1988 when they first started chaining the game with their forward facing electronics and mix of rave, breaks, hardcore and ambient into something utterly fresh. It still resonates today, hence these reissues, and this one is a 25th Anniversary edition of Accelerator. This one was, at the time, seen as the group's most "commercially-minded" album but that takes nothing way from its visionary sonics and immersive sonic landscapes.

Review: Tracing The Future Sound of London's back catalogue right back to 1988, when 'Stakker Humanoid' blew minds with a blueprint that would go on to define the standard formulas for British electro and breakbeat before either had been drawn, you quickly realise the journey back to where we are today involves passing landmark after landmark. It's hard not to consider Rituals as another. Marking a return of the outfit's Environments series, which already had six innovative instalments preceding this, hit play on opening number 'Hopiate' and you're immediately transported to every great morning after a night of amazing hedonism before. Pretty, reflective refrains and warm, Earthly details parting for a moment of silence before unifying rolling drums kick in - soundtrack to the best rave at 9AM you've either been to or not. Cue another 12 tracks that are equally transportive and explain so much about why, decades after these tones first hypnotised youth, we're still lining up for more.