Back catalogue: Breakbeat

Review: Having inaugurated his Dynamics of Acid imprint with two solo EPs full of booming bass, sweaty breakbeats, trippy electronics and dreamy chords, Moy has decided to mix things up by inviting Zodiac Wax founders Zodiac Child to join in the fun on 12" number 3.Moy sets the tone with 'Ratufa', where sparkling piano riffs, gaseous chords and lilting lead lines ride rumbling sub-bass and crunchy, house-tempo breakbeats, before Zodiac Childs propel the track into deep space on their excellent accompanying remix. They then take over with the early Orbital-esque brilliance of 'Overstep', which Moy then re-frames as a punchy, acid-fired slab of electro-breaks excellence. In a word: excellent!

Review: Z Lovecraft (AKA Rhythm Section International family member Mali Baden-Powell) made his debut last year via an EP on No Bad Days that cheerfully joined the dots between acid, deep house, hip-hop and early hardcore style breakbeats. There's a far mellower feel to this three-track outing on Guru Meditation, even if breezy opener "Verge Dub" does underpin jammed-out electric piano chords and dreamy electronics with shuffling breakbeats and a bustling sub-bass motif. "Arklight Dub" joins the dots between dub techno and spacey deep house, while nine-minute B-side "Hannah's Theme (Bliss Version)" is the kind of fluid, exceptionally picturesque shuffler that could have come from the studio of one of Italy's leading dream house crews during the ambient house era.

Review: Newcomer Zara makes her debut on Salt Mines with an EP that takes its cues from "the sounds, colours and textures of festivals in the Australian bush." As a result, it is organic techno with a rich array of organic and natural details that make it an experience for both body and head. 'Breathe' opens with bird calls, the sound of scuttling insects and nice leggy, rubbery drums. 'Fragments' is a more ragged and rough rhythm with the sound of stampeding herds and 'Di Plastica' is a more aqueous dub with neon fireflies darting about the mix. A Mara mix offers pure liquid techno joy.

Review: Having spent the last couple of years concentrating on his collaborative Zenker Brothers project with brother Dario, Marco Zenker has decided the time is right to deliver a new solo 12". Predictably, he hits the mark from the off, successfully blending starburst chords and loose, clattering drum machine rhythms on the tech-jazz influenced "Amb-01". Those looking for a more metronomic, 4/4 club techno roller should check the bounding kick drums and restless hi-hats of "Isolated". B1 cut "First Feeling" sounds like a Motor City techno take on The Orb's 1989 classic "A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain", while closer "Motion" is little less than a sparkling, sunburst tribute to classic, hardcore-era breakbeat techno.

Review: Since they started properly working together some 6 years ago, Chris Vogado and Neil Combstock (aka Zero dB) have been concocting a provocative, innovative and addictive brew of hard jazz, electro, Latin, hip hop and house, laced throughout with their now signature dirty, heavy basslines. After releasing their early records on Vogado's own Fluid Ounce label, Zero dB are now signed to Ninja Tune and ready to step it up, with their debut album, "Bongos, Bleeps and Basslines". Their main starting point is usually jazz, but they dip into a multitude of different influences and work with talented musicians and vocalists to create a track. In contrast to the general climate of somewhat old, tired, formulaic and unmemorable dance music, Zero dB's meticulous production forces their audiences to discover previously undeveloped musical places. "A Pomba Girou" kicks off BB&B by combining disorientating echo with ridiculously fat electronic bass styling and the kind of rhythm designed to get the hips twitching. Title track "Bongos, Bleeps & Basslines" eschews the usual "nice" factor inherent in all things proto-jazzy, taking the music's rhythmic drive and harnessing it to earth-rumbling bass noises and enough squelching and bleeping to fill a large aerodrome with monged-out ravers. "Conga Madness" is Latino-space music, a pummelling, hard-as-nails rhythm. "Know What I'm Saying?" heads in a slower, more hip hop-influenced direction, verbals being beautifully delivered by Pase Rock, sometime member of Five Deez and regular Spank Rock collaborator. "Coisa De Gringo" returns to the production pair's love of turbo-charged, cyber-punk Latin, combining raw bass with a true musicality which elevates the tune to levels of euphoria it couldn't manage by use of rhythm alone. Heidi Vogel adds the requisite sweetness, the delicacy of her vocal perfectly offsetting the drive of the music. "Anything's Possible" is a super-mellow chunk of hip hop that draws on the classic early nineties school of Premier and Pete Rock, the finishing rap touches from New Orleans native Voice, whose cool school styling and thoughtful lyrics place her in the tradition of Bahamadia, Ladybug and What What? "Te Quiero" builds with all the beautiful self-evidence of classic house music, a variety of influences thrown into the blender in order to produce something pumped up and downright evil enough to blow away any of the froth which usually passes for Latin-influenced dance music. "On the One & Three" keeps the flick knife hip shimmies going right to the end, where "Sunshine Lazy" rounds things off in epic style with sweaty, drowsy, hot weather psych r&b. The result is hard-edged and exhilarating, a record which is destined never to end up on the Starbucks stereo. Not least because it would blow up the woofers.