Back catalogue: Breakbeat

Review: Chestnut People finds NAFF champ Priori teaming up with Ludwig A.F. for some deep-diving trips somewhere between ambient, trance, deep house and techno. It's a sweetly melodic space where immersive beatdowns can sit comfortably alongside blissfully beatless meditations, leading in with the dreamy breakbeat roll of 'I' and the snappy drum blasts of 'II'. It's the B-side where the project's sound really deepens, finding new scope for aqueous sound design and fragmented electronica on 'III' before the pure, new age leaning melt-out of 'IV'. It's a sophisticated record with a sound that should draw in a huge spectrum of machine dreamers.

Review: Those renegades at Ilian Tape are back once again with another forward-thinking album of fresh and potent techno, this time from Packed Rich. His long player "depicts the journey of an individual traveling through a field of energy that connects different locations in space," we're told, and along the way, it warps space and time to leave you spellbound. Punchy broken beat drum programming, hyper-real synth lines and cosmic colours all bring this record to life. It's a psychedelic mix that sometimes sounds like an MPC jam amongst the stars, at others like you're in freefall through the cosmos and sometimes laid back, stoned as can be gazing off into the heavens. Lush.

Review: Taking off where her debut album Spurn Point left us in 2014, musical innovator and serial boundary blurrer Shelley Parker returns with another long playing adventure. Her debut on Hypercolour, it's another immersive and very fluid experience that rattles through a whole range of flavours and forms. From the slower hardcore breakbeat style cuts like 'Glisten' and 'Cage' to more up tempo fires like the dubbed out 'Scrubs Lane' and the rampant sci-fi sizzler 'Coldstream' by way of raw, uncompromised experimentalism like 'Deluge' and 'The Faun', Wisteria is another exciting reflection of Shelley's wider work as an installation artist and sound performer. Highly recommended

Review: Breakbeat Paradise indeed! British breakbeat producer Paul Sitter might as well stand in for Saint Peter at this rate, as we'll happily ascend to the place after death. This new LP, we imagine, is what plays in the background, as we float on upwards: with collaborations with some of the dopest MCs on the planet, such as Craig G, Andy Cooper, Birdapres, Chrome and Dr Syntax, the album is a celebration of the tidal forces of old skool hip-hop and breaks that later fed into one of the best dance genres to grace our ears over the last 40 years. Packed with exclusive vocal cut-ups, mix-disturbing scratches, and mega-raw b-breaks constructions, Hip-Hop Delivery is an incredible tribute to the era.

Review: Three years in the making, Peaky Beats' debut ten-track LP Bloodlines takes us on a journey through ancient and modern Middle-Eastern sounds fused with the whole gamut of UK bass music. Whether riffing off the mystical promises of the Jewish 'Kabbalah' or the feline gaze of the 'Cats Of Iraq', this is hardly a record sharing in the moody obsessional headnods evinced by Muslimgauze; instead, all tracks here are weighty two-steppers' gut-punctures, squeezing reams of tricksy garagey fun from the otherwise sparse reference to the Middle East - though this is eventually thoroughly fleshed out, especially in the use of characteristically Levantine samples in the breakdowns and transitions.

Review: Phatness is new and so-far anonymous side project from two producers based in the Swedish capital and who have connections to soundsystem culture through Trensum Tribe, Soft Pace and Otonos. This is their debut outing and it's a fresh blend of original jungle infused with inspiration from a wide world of sounds. There are tropical but physical sounds like 'Diplomatico Dub' packed with smart effects, minimal head spiders like the sci-fi styled '$nkt Erik Jamboree' and experimental vignettes such as 'Olearie$ Dub' with well-worked vocals and snaking basslines. It's colourful, unusual, and perfect for late-night sessions.

Review: Back in 2021 Adam Pits heralded the start of the On Rotation label with his own debut album, A Recurring Nature. Now he's back with a follow-up which finds him stretching out as an artist ever more - a fact which is absolutely evident from the gorgeous ambient swathes of opening track 'Lost In The Ether'. Even when the drums kick in on 'Sleepless', they're more tilted towards fragmented patterns and organic tones rather than rote drum machine sounds. There's space for peppier electronica and steppy heads-down gear, but throughout Pits imbues his sound with the richest synthesis imaginable. In that sense, you can track the path of development from his earlier work while enjoying the adventurous new terrain he's exploring as an artist.

Review: Pixel82 hails from Portugal and has been making music for the last 20 years. Early on they made punk/industrial and were then in a metal band but now they deal in powerful techno. Infinity is a concept album about "the continuum of life, of a constant loop that evolves over time. It is a discovery of myself musically, a rediscovery of the past to find the future." It is also full of club cuts designed to drive a crowd into overdrive. These are emotive tunes laden with synths that bring rushes of euphoria and plenty of psychedelic colours. It's a widescreen and rewarding listen.

Review: Joey Kendrick is perhaps better known for the braindance gear he's put out under his own name for Rephlex and the like, but he's also played around with plenty of aliases over the years too. His work as +10 actually predates his breakthrough years on Rephlex, having been released on the classy Canadian label Napalm Enema. Grace came out in 2007 and it sounds a little rowdier than later Kendrick works, but that's also part of its charm. Hence stalwart Belgian braindance believers WeMe have opted to reissue the CDr-only album as a double vinyl for your twitch, glitchy, acidic pleasure. It's a feast for the cerebellum, no doubt about it.

Review: Posthuman, the duo of Richard Bevan and Joshu Doherty present the latest full length release on their Balkan Vinyl imprint titled Requiem For a Rave, where they get nostalgic about their teenage years growing up in Scotland and the north east of England. The album conjures up memories of raves in the fields, cassette recordings of pirate radio stations, mixtapes, strange warehouses, strobelights and dancefloors. Indeed you can pick up on these sentiments throughout the album, from the ruffneck ting of opener 'RMX', to the cavernous tunnel vision of 'Fontalic', the acid trance euphoria of 'Proof & Fade' and the early '90s rave throwback of 'Rushing High'. Prepare to go all the way back.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Creasing to corner of outer sleeve but otherwise in excellent condition***


Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned sees producer Liam Howlett deliver a hook-ridden album that nods to the British rave scene with uninhibited bass and bleeps, but plenty of blazing guitars that maintain The Prodigy's bridge between rock and dance. Hollywood glamour shines with Juliette Lewis on standout track 'Hot Ride,' channeling PJ Harvey's energy. Lewis also appears on the opener 'Spitfire,' an alluringly sinister track. The Gallagher brothers bring aggression to the closing track 'Shoot Down,' with Liam on vocals and Noel on bass, showing Oasis's punk side. Howlett's battle with Kool Keith on 'Wake Up Call' and the exuberant 'Girls,' featuring disco-punks The Ping Pong Bitches, showcase The Prodigy's willingness to experiment. Fans might miss Keith Flint's ghoulish presence, but the album's flair remains strong. Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned is a storm of apt samples, grumbling percussion, and memorable riffs, reaffirming The Prodigy's place in the dance-punk genre.

Review: Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned sees producer Liam Howlett deliver a hook-ridden album that nods to the British rave scene with uninhibited bass and bleeps, but plenty of blazing guitars that maintain The Prodigy's bridge between rock and dance. Hollywood glamour shines with Juliette Lewis on standout track 'Hot Ride,' channeling PJ Harvey's energy. Lewis also appears on the opener 'Spitfire,' an alluringly sinister track. The Gallagher brothers bring aggression to the closing track 'Shoot Down,' with Liam on vocals and Noel on bass, showing Oasis's punk side. Howlett's battle with Kool Keith on 'Wake Up Call' and the exuberant 'Girls,' featuring disco-punks The Ping Pong Bitches, showcase The Prodigy's willingness to experiment. Fans might miss Keith Flint's ghoulish presence, but the album's flair remains strong. Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned is a storm of apt samples, grumbling percussion, and memorable riffs, reaffirming The Prodigy's place in the dance-punk genre.