Juno Recommends Bass May 2021

Review: Facta has long been one of the key innovators of rhythm and bass in his hometown of Bristol. His work on Wisdom Teeth is always well regarded and now he steps out with a full length there that builds on everything he has done to date. The rhythms are always inventive, broken, alluring, and the sound design here is pure, brain cleansing and brightly melodic. It makes for an otherworldy album of real charm and sensitivity that has your head lost amorist the ambient clouds one moment, and your feet taping to a gentle beatdown drum line the next.

Review: Fresh from his junglised Hoover1 investigations, Rene Pawlowitz returns to his Shed alias and makes his debut on Pinch's Tectonic with three ace flashbacks to an exciting time of fusion between dubstep and techno around the late 2000s. 'Try' sets the scene with those tumbling, smoky drums synonymous with the time. Set to the backdrop of a rising, psychedelic build and faraway vocal tones, it's a dubby side to Shed we're often teased with but never get to fully taste. It's backed by two more exemplary explorations; 'Box' is dub techno to the very core, all grumbling subs and industrial elements while 'Sweep' brings the four/fours into the mix for a big fat juggernaut finale. What an EP.

Review: Trule's 11th release is confusingly called Thirteen, and it comes from a master of laying down drum steppers, namely Bakongo, aka Roska. The UK funky pioneer has been turning them out under this name for a while now and he continues apace here with two rugged, skeletal tracks. 'Thirteen' has tough, minimal bass and the faintest trace of texture which means you will want to keep on turning it up loud. 'Level Cowbell' then gets more funky and upbeat with a playful feel, restless cowbell loops and bass that brings a certain feeling of weightlessness.

Review: It's a London meets Bristol thing right here as the Tribal Brothers and DJ Polo go toe-to-toe with some beautiful drumcraft. Sitting between kuduro, UK funky and afrobeat, each of these four club-ready cuts are stripped back to the bare rhythm essentials, honing our focus on different elements. On the opener '12hrs' it's the steel drum shimmers. On 'Three Tribes' it's the raw minimalism and human textures while 'Bullet Rise' is all about the big bulging bass tones. Finally 'The Problem' switches to a halftime, creating even more space and mysticism in the mix. It's high time we all linked up.

Review: Ehua debuted on the Nervous Horizon label in 2019 when it put out its third compilation. Now she returns with a full solo EP after also impressing not he likes of femme culture in 2018. Once again she layers up sub-aquatic rhythms with cavernous bass and deft sound designs to make for big, roomy tracks that also make a heavy impression. 'Xantho' is a brilliantly drunken sounding tune that rocks on its heels, 'Black' drills down hard on a UK funky tip and 'Jellyfish' they layers up rubbery bass and leggy drums into perfect body music.

Review: Standby for a killer album or pure bass and breaks badness from Etch. He says this record is inspired by his favourite iconic horror characters like Buffalo Bill, Leatherface, Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers. It also has tracks that take inspiration from his favourite band The Doors and 1995 film Strange Days. As a result the music if often cold and stark, hostile and confrontational and all the was intentional from Etch. "The tracks have been produced in an uncertain and quite downcast period of time for me," he says. Rather than being a depressive listen, though, there is charm in the darkness that cannot fail to get you locked in and moving.

Review: Par Avion co-head Henry Greenleaf is back with a new release. The Rush EP comes courtesy of Orson's Version imprint out of Berlin, featuring four choice cuts. From the contorted dance moves on the grime/dubstep fusion of "Pan Strings", you've then got some arcane and meditative rhythms on "Borrow", and similarly on the B side is the largely beatless armchair excursion of the title track - a heady number which will expand your mind.

Review: North UK bass fusionist Hypho continues to push his sound into all kinds of interesting spaces between breaks, dubstep, trap, grime and hip-hop with this vinyl version of last year's 'ENV029' EP for Encrypted. Four tracks heavy, 'Badman Tune' with Logan Olm takes us on a tropical grime flex before 'The System' takes lead with supersized subs built strictly for the massive rigs. Flip for two more slabs or low end luxury as 'You're A Neek' showcases Hypho's instrumental grime ideas before 'About Me' closes with a little window of dreamy two-step soul. The full Hypho and all the trimmings right here.

Review: Off Beat got off to a big start with Breaka's 'The Startup' getting picked u by plenty of bass heads across the board. This second serving is just as vital from label co-founder Ryvahl. It's an EP that cuts up all manner of UK sounds from bass to grime to club. The production is clean and crisp on 'Down Alarm', with vocal loops pulling you upwards while the tumbling bass brings you back down. It's brilliantly dynamic while 'Hassle' has a more jittery rhythm, peppered with hits and underpinned by drilling bass. Closer 'Footcell' pops right off in many different directions at once - the loose bass, the jarring hits, the clicking perc, it's all perfectly made for you to move your body.