Back catalogue: Breakbeat

Review: Handsonwax top up their esteemed repertoire with another four tracks added to their anonymous white labels series. 'Volume 3' continues the elusive label's preference for cheesy breaks lent to classic dance music motifs, leading the charge with a whomping breakstep version of Max Romeo's 'Chase The Devil', followed by a blissful dub techno excursion. The B-side rerubs Moodymann to delicious ends, while the star of the bunch reworks a rework; that is, Herbert's snappy version of Louie Austen's 'Hoping', except this time it's lent a swath of extra soulful house ornamentations.

Review: We're surprised that the superhero league The Jazz Avengers aren't more spoken about: the idea seems so familiar yet uncannily unknown, we wonder if the notion of a superhero troupe composed of entirely of Black jazz musicians would've been too disturbing for the US Empire not to suppress. Taking after the idea, Bryan Hervieu's 'Jazz Avengers' EP is an elegant quadruplet of boat-rocking house beats, holding more sway in the domain of vibe than they do in the way of big generic ideas. Igaxx and DJ Dreamboy's 'Through The Night' and 'New Life' move at similar tempi yet vibe at different freqs, the former waxing cowbell and dusky padwork, and the latter serving a relatively purist, calculative 808 jam energy. Jarren's 'Summertime In The 323' segues quite seamlessly out from this session mood, though it does add some surreal, pitch-convected plucks; Hanna's 'Prayin'' is the only soul curveball, its syncopated, pre-one DX7 E-Piano chord preset mixed to an impeccable, gut-churning quality.