BASS RECOMMENDATIONS MAY 2016

Review: The steady rise of Joe Cowton has been such that Utility, his long-awaited debut album, is arguably one of the most hotly anticipated techno sets of 2016. Happily, it's a fine set, brilliantly showcasing his instinctive way with booming, stripped-back drum patterns, sparse textures, and alien electronics. While there are forays into more house leaning pastures - see the dreamy, metallic shuffle of "Scido" - and cascading ambience ("Some Cats" and "A Bluish Shadow"), it's naturally the album's more bombastic, club-ready stompers that really stand out. These include two subtle reinventions of early British bleep techno ("Balance" and "Shots Fired") that aptly showcase the London-based producer's Northern roots.

Review: Since 2010, and coming out of the whole post-dubstep scene, Manchester's Alex Coulton has been among the best of the UK bass artists. His skills being the mixing board have seen him travel from label to label, stopping off at the likes of Idle Hands, All Caps, Livity Sound, and even the mighty Tempa. Coulton returns to the latter with a follow-up to last year's "Recall" bombshell, and he's in no mood to mess around here. "Ambush" is a tribalesque tech-house number with a rattling percussion that renders it UK through and through; "Direction" sees the producer return to his more usual mood by serving up a broken bundle of drums and percussion curling around loose melodies and a dubbed-out makeover. For fans of Hessle output - what that bassline, son! Hot!

Review: Doncaster's foremost expert on all things rave, Mella Dee, steps up for the latest release on DEXT. He's got a hard act to follow after 'that' Hodge remix of Callahan on the previous DEXT missive, but Mella Dee proves he's more than up for the challenge with this Deep Soul 12". Indeed DEXT are calling it his strongest fusion of house, techno and jungle yet and we can't really find any cause to disagree. The title track sets a thunderous tone, throwing down a crucial melange of filtered amens, chopped-up vocals and Reece bass lines that will grip hold of your affections immediately. From here, Mella veers off into straight up jacking house territory on "Universal", whilst "Circular" is there for the heads down crew. Sandwiched inbetween is a rather moody refix of the title track from Endian.

Review: Happa's rise through the UK bass-hedged techno scene has been both quick and steady, with the whipper snapper releasing increasingly impressive 12" after 12" for labels such as Church, Bleep, Boomkat Editions, and his own PT/5 Records. His first EP for the label came late last year, and this return to the label is marked by a wonderfully diverse cascade of rhythmic melodies that begin with the polyphonous chimes of "Blackberreh!", followed swiftly by the more heads-down, lighters-out bass drums of "Catch-22". Over on the flip, "Drag" transforms what at first seems to be a sullen bag of drones, into a deep and soulful house burner for the heads.

Review: The mighty Keysound come through with this killer 12" orchestrated by former LV man and Hyperdub associate Okzharp and Swing Ting lynchpin Samrai aided by an international cluster of voices, a "chromatic collaboration" indeed! "Gated" is where it all began, an instrumental cut from Okzharp and Samrai that has become a cornerstone of Keysound sessions, leading all involved to ponder it's mileage as the backdrop to some vocal input. Cue some live one take recording sessions with three different vocalists: Jamaican Shokryme, UK singer Specialist Moss and South African MC Ruffest, who previously appeared on LV album Sebenza. Take your pick, all five versions here exemplify the freshness Keysound are consistently promoting.

Review: The Mu come through with a debut proper for Silk Road Assassins. Formed of Tom E. Vercetti, Lovedr0id & Chemist, Silk Road Assassins previously featured on the exhaustive label compilation Planet Mu put out last year and contributed to the Peace Edits 12? on Gobstopper too. The Reflection Spaces 12" represents their debut release proper, and sees the trio investigate a loose narrative theme based around a "retro-futuristic/dystopian city, with development into game music in mind" across seven evocative soundscapes. If you maintain any semblance of interest in current strains of instrumental grime you should be all over this!

Review: One of the earliest wave ambassadors to enjoy large label accreditation, Sami Baha delivers his first full Mu EP and doesn't disappoint: "Mavericks One" is laden with so much sub bass it's clinically obese while its topline remains slim-line and floaty. Deeper into the EP we're seduced by oriental charm throughout; "Still" and "Dough" massage the soul while "Tozko Paran" twists the senses with trippy Q&As that shouldn't work but really do. "Cataphract" plays the consummate slow-trap club bumper while "Chunk" pays homage to all the fatties out there with its restrained energy and delicate arpeggio-led dynamic. A stunning debut EP for Mu.

Review: Not to be confused with the controversial plagiarising German rapper of the same name, this particular Bushido is Glaswegian, this is his debut EP (following cameos on the likes of LuckyMe, AstralBlack and TryYaLuck) and it's 100 percent original as you'll learn the second the needle hits it. From the cascading bleeps, MAW-style drums and rifle vocal shots of "Palm Trees" right the way through to the devilishly stampy dancehall-in-space rhythm of "Jersey", Bushido builds on what has become one of the UK's most exciting musical melting pots of the century in his own inimitable fashion. Cashflashingly good.

Review: Finally! We've been waiting for a vinyl version of Rustie's third - and arguably most accomplished - album Evenifudontbelieve and it's landed at long last. From the dense rifle choir hits of "Peace Upzzz" to the epic cinematica of "Atlantean Airship" by way of the stomping hedonism of "What U Mean", Rustie's smelting sensations sit somewhere between trance and trap, fairgrounds and the underground.. And sound all the better for being on vinyl.

Review: There's little info at hand regarding DJC, the latest contributor to the Night Slugs Club Constructions series. Some are saying its Jam City working under an alias, whilst there is also the possibility it's an unknown producer who put his music forward after the label's open call for music back in 2014 with the Club Constructions Community. If the latter is the truth, it's easy to see why Bok and LVIS 1990 were impressed by the producer's sound, with this 12" brandishing a quartet of precision tooled instrumentals that will offer the more skilled DJs the chance to bring the tempo down and get those hips rolling. Big boom bap business!

Review: Rabit's Halcyon Veil welcome an all-star international troupe from the very fringes of electronica, bass, beats and techno. Nigga Fox, Hvad, Bekele Berhanu, Zutzut and Draveng all plough deep into their blends to paint pictures we've never heard before, from the stuttering jazz drums of Draveng's "Internal" to Hvad's rampant slimy steppy techno "Bleeding Grey Wall". They're also joined by a mysterious unknown artist for the final warped trip; the untitled "Track 6". Who knows where the Rabit hole will take us this time?